{Post 1,043} We're Quilting!

Ivy could come over and play today, so she started her machine quilting.  She carefully laid out the ironed backing, batting, and top.  She carefully pinned an all-over grid.  She carefully machine quilted in the ditch around the star inner border.  

Saturday we will *carefully* machine quilt diagonal lines in the blue squares.  She is a careful quilter.  I should know...I am, too, and I am teaching her!

I did NOT get any good pictures of Ryan receiving his quilt, but I did come across these two fuzzy ones that I just realized were on my camera card (obviously candid pictures):

I will have to get a better picture of him with his quilt, with him smiling.  He has a smile that puts the sun to shame.

Check out my secret blog for a new project.

~Joan

{Post 1,040} Washed, Dried, and Quadrupled

Here's Ryan's quilt, washed, dried, and quilty:

I will give it to him tomorrow.

And this:

Became this:

Yes--just *that* fast!  These are pieced, but the sashings and cornerstones are just stuck to my design wall.  I think I'll call these the "Tree of Life" blocks.  Read Genesis 2:9.  Part of the verse says "And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food..."  Pleasant to the sight, for sure!

The blocks finish at 8" square, and the sashing is 2" wide.  The quilt has 25 blocks.  Four down, 21 to go!

Off to list a bunch of stuff in my Etsy store...ShelbyStitcher.  Come check it out!

I mentioned to my quilt-lovin' daughter this AM that I'm going to list and sell some of our older quilts (as in several years old, not antiques).  I actually saw her mind go into hoard mode.  What a shame!  I'll be checking under her bed soon ;)  She's already told me the first two she has decided to snatch/claim when the time comes for her to move out.

~Joan

{Post 1,039} Top Finished!

The Bricks top is finished, and it's halfway quilted with loops!  I needed a break from the machine and wanted to update the status on this gift quilt.

I also started another leader/ender project that I've been wanting to make...Crabapples by Bonnie Hunter.  I'd like to call it something else as the name always makes me think "crabby", which is something I'm trying to avoid.  Any suggestions?

Here is my first block:

I keep two boxes under my sewing table for 1-1/2" strips, one each for creams and colors.  These blocks will come together in no time because of that!

Here is the Bricks in the Barnyard top.  I did not carefully press out any "wrinkles" on the top when I stuck it to the design wall, but you get the picture.

Sooo much variety in here.  And yet, when I sewed on the LAST braided border, look what I found (on the same side!). There was no way I was unsewing all those bias edges!!

Notice the light blue/brown plaid near the inner border?  They are touching!!!

Here is the OTHER end of that same side.  But whatever will be, will be!  See the bright green/dark blue?  Of all the nerve!

{Post 1,037} Two Braided Borders On

I am stopping here for today on this quilt top.  I have two of the braided borders on and two more about halfway pieced.  I get to take my daughter's car in for a check-up, and that will be a little time this afternoon.

For those who asked, my headache seems to be at bay (mostly) for right now.  Thank you for asking!

I am going to put another blue border outside of the braids because they are on the bias and are so s-t-r-e-t-c-h-y!!  I don't think they could withstand the pull of the HandiQuilter frame without becoming a trapezoid...or worse.

~Joan

{Post 1,036} Braided Borders

Here are the 4 borders for Bricks in the Barnyard.  I cut the rest of the pieces this AM so I could get them all mixed in.  I am adding one piece to all 4 at one time, then pressing.  Going well, but I need a nap.

I stuck with higher contrast darker fabrics for the center.  I'm using a lot of my lights up here in the borders.  I think there is a good mix of color value.

The last 10 days or so I've had a headache of mammoth proportions.  Went to my chiropractor yesterday and today for adjustments.  Hoping things will settle down soon.  Fortunately, I don't work, so I can pretty much rest whenever I want.  

~Joan

{Post 1,035} Bricks Progress!

My Bricks in the Barnyard is coming along very quickly now. I had nearly all the blocks pieced last night.  I haven't sewn much today with a lot of other things going on.  

Here I have 3 of the 10 rows sewn to each other.  The other rows are sewn into rows, so it won't be long now.  I have one piece of border started.  I guess I'll keep adding onto this and chop it off as I have enough for a side.

There is a blue border around the center, then the braid outside of that.  This is fun to piece and see the progression.

~Joan

{Post 1,034} Happy Anniversary to Us! 40/80

My wonderful husband and I celebrate 24 years of marriage today.  Easiest 24 years of my life ;)

I did not get a picture of us (there's one on my phone if you want to stop by to see it).

Here are 40 out of the 80 blocks needed for Ryan's quilt (with the rest well under way):

As I saw and stitched these, my Northern Comfort top was hanging over my quilt frame directly in front of me.  I realized the blocks are identical except that NC has two more strips sewn onto it.  Check it out to compare:

They are also the same size pieces.  They look soooo different!  Which do you like better?  Shirts and muslin or Thimbleberries scraps?

~Joan

{Post 1,033} Northern Comfort Finished, Bricks Started in Earnest

This AM I got up bright and early.  Hubby and I had a "project" that was going to take most of the day.  He got up not feeling 100% and went back to bed.  Whilst I waited for him to get up, I put the inner and outer borders on this quilt, Northern Comfort.  It is in Scrap Bag Sensations by Kim Brackett.  I added another row on the top and bottom in addition to what is shown in the book.  I have measurements, but I left them downstairs!

I am selling a kit of this pattern to my friend A, in Australia.  Here is a close-up of the inner and outer border prints for her.  A brightish green tone-on-tone for the inner and a tiny flowers on a black background for the outer:

I also put some time into a Bricks in the Barnyard for a friend from church.  He picked out the pattern.  As I look at the small stack of squares and rectangles, it is hard to imagine that they comprise a whole large quilt top.  But indeed they do.  I have some more rectangles to cut out for the braid border, but that comes last anyway.  I'll piece the center blocks and use the border for a leader/ender in the meantime.  

I used the same pattern to make a baby quilt for my daughter's sister-in-law.  Just used fewer blocks.  Here is the baby quilt, then the piles and box of pieces.

{Post #984} Bricks in the Barnyard Top Finished

Went ahead and put the plain blue border that matches the triangles on this baby quilt.  The backing is in the washing machine (it's a brushed cotton, and I expect shrinkage).  I hope to get it quilted and the binding sewn to the front so I can hand-sew it at one of the baseball games this week.  Forty inches square on the dot.  This is made from salvaged men's plaid shirts.

i

{Post #983} Barnyard Center Finished

I also laid out a potential border for the Bricks in the Barnyard quilt.  The center of this is all pieced and sewn together.  After the center was finished, I spied my stack of yet-unused rectangles and squares.  I laid them out on two sides of the quilt.  I wanted a thin border, and this might fill the bill.  Maybe a plain blue one would be better?

Without the border, the quilt is 36" square.  If I make that border and add it to all the sides, it will be 40" square.  That is about the size I like to make all my baby quilts.  One WOF fills the back, and it's not too big to lug around with a newborn.  


One nice thing about having all these baby quilts to finish is that I get the pattern "out of my system" and have a nice finish as well, albeit a small one.  Do you have a pattern you just HAVE to make?  I have books full of them!


This is for my daughter's SIL.  I was hoping to finish it by the time my daughter arrives on Friday AM.  Isaac has FOUR baseball games this week.  That seriously cuts into my piecing time.  As it was, I stayed up till after midnight getting this one finished last night.  


I will be feeding 18 people most meals from Friday AM until Monday afternoon, so a lot more time in the kitchen for me.  I have a plan in place, but time will tell if it actually works out.  Lots of shopping, cooking, and cleaning in my next few days.


~Joan

{Post #982} Bricks in the Barnyard

Here are the humble beginnings of my next baby quilt.  I need to make 9 more blocks for a 6 x 6 layout.

{Post #969} Bricks in the Barnyard

Here is my humble beginnings of Bricks in the Barnyard (I will probably change the name at some point, but that's the pattern name in Bonnie's book).  I am making this for a friend whose favorite color is blue, so I am using a blue with stars fabric for the consistent color and muslin for all the creams.  I don't have many light-colored shirts.  


I used a couple "medium" value prints, but they washed out too much, so I replaced them.  Here are my blocks WITH the mediums and the bottom picture is where I replaced them with other darks.

~Joan, enjoying another laundry/sewing day :)