{Post 1,078} Shower Curtain 6/7 Finished

Making up for all those days of not posting, yes??  Here is my progress on the shower curtain:

I just have to add the last printed piece on the right and then line it.  There will not be any batting.  I will sew 3 sides and then turn it right side out.  Then I attach binding to the top of the curtain just like a quilt (only on one side).  Then 12 evenly-spaced buttonholes.  No quilting either, so I'm nearly finished!

~Joan

{Post 1,077} Three Panels Together

My Christmas shower curtain is coming along.  I have 3 of the 7 verticle sections sewn together.  You can get an idea of how it looks here, pinned to my existing curtain.  I have all the panels sewn, just need to sew them to each other, line it, and make those 12 crucial buttonholes.

I'm pretty sure I like it.  Finished is good, yes?

So, I'll have another pieced panel, a print panel, a pieced panel, then end with a print panel.  This uses up every last inch of the Christmas print.  

I just started using a new system for remembering about a week ago.  It's collosal...it's life-changing...I'm calling it "writing it down on paper".  I was trying to remember how big different runners and wall hangings that I made my girls were.  So before I gave Elisabeth this wall hanging to take to Wisconsin, I measured it AND WROTE IT DOWN.  I wrote down the measurements of Emily's table runner.  Even when making the shower curtain above, I am constantly having to make calculations then remembering them.  Funny thing...the weakest ink is stronger than the greatest memory.

~Joan

{Post 1,076} New Shower Curtain Construction

I knew I'd have a little more sewing time today.  So I am starting (and possibly finishing) my Christmas shower curtain.

Recently I was shocked to find out that my husband LOVES Christmas decorations at our house.  He even said something like, "I'd leave them up all year if I could."  

I made us a Christmas bed quilt this year (just finished recently) that has its own story (click the underlined words to read all the posts about the quilt).  That led to buying inexpensive but perfect red valances to match the quilt.  Few know that our shower has a quilt for a curtain!  I patterned it after one I saw in a magazine years ago.  I made it when we moved in here 6-1/2 years ago.  Here it is...

My current bedroom and bathroom valances are made from the fall print that is the large alternate block.  

Here is a peek at what I'm doing for a new curtain:

I needed about 70" of the focus fabric (which is not pictured).  It was still on a bolt foundation on my shelf.  I didn't know how much was there...it didn't look like much!  72"!!!  Just enough!!

Stay tuned...I plan to sew, sew, sew on this puppy today.

~Joan, who is making her own design and holding her breath that it looks good

{Post 1,075} Lone Star Quilting Finished

Finished the hand quilting on this mini.  I quilted it to death.  I like to use matching thread when possible and in certain instances.  

I am including a picture so you can see where I quilted the straight lines since they are in matching thread and difficult to see.

Emily sewed the binding on her last quilt.  I think she'd like to do this one, too, wouldn't you, pumpkin?  ;)

~Joan (or Mom if you're Emily!)

{Post 1,074} Mini Lone Star

Here is a little UFO I picked up recently to finish hand quilting.  I bought it on eBay from a woman who made mini quilts a long time ago...I'm thinking about 5 years ago, at least.  I had to remove and reapply all 3 borders.  She was so precise in piecing the centers, but must have just sewn on the borders w/o measuring (you know--just sew as you go?).  

Nearly finished with this.  The backing fabric has the words to the pledge of allegiance.  It's about 15" square!  The yellow thead is my basting.

{Post 1,073} New Purse

If you knew me well, you would find out that I use things I like until there is just no life left in them.  My "purse" is one example.  What I was using as a purse was a glorified tote bag.  I have already recovered the handles twice.  They just wore through again.  It was much taller than I needed.  The pictures started flaking off, too.

So I went through the patterns I've taken from magazines and put into page protectors.  I came across this pattern.  It is a little too color-specific, but I'm going to carry it for a while to see if I like the pockets and size.

The best part is that I made it for free, using materials I already had on hand.  I think I'll make a brown one in the future if this one works out well.  

~Joan

{Post 1,072} SSSS First 2 Rows Together!

I have the first two rows of 6 blocks sewn together.  I need to make more green blocks before I can move on.  

Here it is so far:

{Post 1,071} SSSS Blocks

This AM while I was cooking grits, I tore off the papers from the back of my green units for the scrappy string selvage spiderweb blocks.  Here they are on the design wall.

A reader asked if I wanted her selvages.  YES!!

BTW, I mailed an envelope of fabric to someone today.  Let me know when it arrives, won't you?

The blocks are 11" square.

I cut out the purple sections for the next diagonal row.  Stay tuned!

~Joan

{Post 1,070} Spiderweb String Selvage Blocks

It's been over a week since I posted!  So much has been happening.

Quiltwise, I started a new project.  It's a spiderweb block made from selvages and is a string project.  Natasha--see any of your fabrics???  I do!

Here is a close-up of a finished "web" with the blocks just stuck to the wall, not sewn together yet:

I am going for a diagonal rainbow color look...red, orange, yellow, green blue, violet, then reverse back out to a red in the bottom corner.

Here's what I have pieced so far.  The selvage strips really multiply and go much farther than one thinks:

More updates later as time permits.

~Joan