{Post 1,188} Wedding Quilt

I am going to post my recently-pieced wedding quilt on here because I doubt the recipient even knows I have a blog.  If she finds it, she can practice acting surprised ;)

The bride-to-be picked out two fabrics.  I made a checkerboard style layout.  She had it displayed at her wedding, clothespinned to a sheet of plywood.  This was one of the most unusual weddings I've ever witnessed.  It was a cowboy-type theme.  The bride and bridesmaids wore cowboy boots (so did the groom and his men).  The bride was "delivered" to the barn and pasture in a pickup truck.  The flowers were sunflowers and daisies.  It was quite the rustic setting.

The top was pieced before folks started signing it.  A couple exuberant youths got carried away with scribbling.  I knew I'd have to remove those pieces, but I didn't have one bit of extra cream fabric.  Then I got the idea to put some pictures from their engagement, rehearsal, and wedding into the quilt!  I pulled out an ancient set of "Printed Treasures" fabric sheets I had.  My husband helped me figure out how to print 4 pictures per sheet.  I added a frame of cream from the blocks I removed.  Voila!  The pictures are a surprise for the bride.

Here are some pictures of the process.  There were two sets of blocks written with pink ink that were close together, so I purposely replaced those with pictures or relocated them.

 

She wants very little quilting on it, so I'll just use black thread and do a large meander in the dark blocks.  Should be finished in short order.  

I noticed one person at the wedding did not sign it, so I am waiting for them to let me know if they want me to add a message before it is quilted.

{Post #1,182} Some Sewing Time

I still don't have my new camera.  Bear with me while I post on my tablet.

Finished the wedding quilt top this AM.  I will post a picture after it is quilted.  INCREDIBLY boring...checkerboard of 2 fabrics.  

The shirt strings abound.  Now that the wedding quilt is out of the way, I am going to focus on finishing up my Squares Surrounded.  Here is a long piece of paper-pieced border.  I need to measure to see just how much I need.  

I am also starting string blocks for a quilt made with 20 of these blocks.  I printed the templates on phone book pages.  Then lines are really easy to see.  I was pleased and surprised that I could use my old phone book for these.  The original pattern is called "Virginia Bound", but I am going to call it "Shirts Abound".  Very clever, huh?

{Post 1,181} Catching Up

I haven't been posting a lot for several reasons.  The primary reason is that my camera broke.  I thought it was just needing a new battery (the old one was purchased in 2009!).  So I ordered a new one, and it came in after a few days.  Still not working!  I ordered a new camera Saturday.  Of course, that means learning a new camera.    I don't like learning new things that previously were second-nature.  But I shall learn again!

Last week I started putting out patriotic decor.  In January I bought a very faded wooden flag hanger that had potential.  Problem was, I couldn't find it.  Hmmm...

Found it this AM in the storage cabinets in my laundry room.  Oh, yeah, why didn't I look there in the first place?  Well, truth is, I did.  I just didn't see it.  There were a few things in the way.  So I purged and reorganized those four 6-feet tall cabinets this AM.  Here it is on the wall outside my front door.  Picture taken with my Acer tablet (another new skill!):

The search for the missing flag sparked a clean-o-rama here at the Parker Ranchero.  I started with our "under-steps closet".  You know, the one under your steps that has an awkward diagonal receding back wall and little storage space?  The one that you stuff with so much stuff that you can't get to the shelves at the back?  The one where the pile of new return vent filters are sliding all over a shelf?  The one where the box of your paints and brushes has spilled all over the floor, but you can't reach them because you'd have to risk life and limb to collect them again?  What--you don't have one of these?  Well, I do, and now ours has...wait for it...EMPTY shelves and floor space!!!  

The transformation was so inspiring that Saturday I did the next biggest trash heap--my walk-in closet.  My husband and I both have walk-in closets.  They are not huge, but they are there.  Mine would more accurately be called a lean-in closet, because I literally could not step one foot in there.  I grudgingly pulled EVERYTHING out of it (except my hanging clothes) and went through each and every item.  I went through each item on my hanging rod as well.  Ended up with 2 garbage bags of clothes to donate to Goodwill.  

My other reason for starting with these two closets was so I could move some of my seasonal wreaths and non-quilt wall hangings to the understeps closet.  That would keep them all together, and I can turn around in my closet without fear of losing an eye to a grapevine end or a wayward pine branch.

This AM I sewed a little while.  I have my Shooting Star blocks laid out on my design walls.  I put both walls together so I could spread out the whole quilt top.  I have two rows completely pieced and have the third laid out and partially sewn.

On the left side is a signature quilt I am making for a wedding that is in a couple weeks.  The cream has a little print in it.  I'll show a close-up later (after my new camera arrives and is used into submission).  It will be 14 x 16 blocks (4" finished) with a 4" border all around.

The missing block in my Shooting Star quilt is under the foot of my sewing machine.  I'm using the parts for leader/enders while I sew the wedding quilt.

Finished Memory Quilt

Here is James with his memory quilt. What a blessing to have him home for a couple weeks. The quilt will go back with him for his second semester of college. Blankets warm the body, but quilts warm the heart. I hope he enjoys reading the blessings others wrote for him on this new quilt.

~Joan

The Eagle Has Landed

It might be time to watch Apollo 13 again. Anyway...James's quilt is finished. It is waiting its turn in the washer and dryer. It turned out great. I have not sewn or quilted in such a long time. It is so nice to have this finished. Just wanted to post the update so that those of you who follow my life can sleep well tonight. Photo shoot after it is laundered.

~Joan

Picture of Frustration

This is the back of my quilt from last night. Houston, we have a problem. The tension was off...w-a-y off. I persevered. I adjusted. I rethreaded. Tonight I finished the outer part of James's quilt. Tomorrow my goal is to quilt the part with the hand-written sentiments. If I can get the binding on as well, all of us girls should all be able to pitch in and hand stitch the binding to the back so he can take it back to college next week.

Good night!

~Joan

Christmas Quilting

Our last two weeks or so have been so incredibly busy that today is just for relaxing. Part of my "day off" is machine quilting the above quilt. It's James's memory quilt. He is home from college for two weeks, and I hope to send this back with him. My ancient machine (made in the '30's--that's 1930's for you smarties) gave me fits last night. I was very frustrated, but was able to get it going this AM.

Stay tuned for more progress pictures later.

~Joan

Memory Quilt #1 of 3, Mostly Pieced

Below is the beginning of my son's memory quilt from high school graduation. If you look back here you can see its humble beginnings. I wasn't sure where to go from the signed blocks. My quilting e-friend, Sam, sent me a pic of her beautiful quilt of the same block where she made half blocks to finish out the design. So I adopted her idea, and below is the result.

Then I had to figure where to go from there. James likes blue, so I added an inner blue border, below. I added it so that the half block row and the inner border combined equalled one of the star blocks in size. That way I had several options of what to do from there.

For starters, I added a border of 4" finished blocks all around, using the same colors as were already used in the center. This was taken at night under fluorescent lighting, so the colors are definitely not true.

I haven't measure it yet, but it is quite large already. I want to make it large enough to use on his bunk at school as a bedspread, so there will need to be some additions. I am going to measure tomorrow or Saturday and see where I need to go from here. It is a challenge to be to keep it masculine in color and fabric design. So far, so good!

~Joan

Stretched Star Project

I had a few questions about the beginnings of this quilt. Before they were signed, I ironed freezer paper onto the back of large pieces of high-thread-count muslin then cut them into 4-1/2" squares. I marked the stitching lines with a blue water-soluble marker before the party so the signers would know where their script boundaries were! I would have hated to cut off a blessing with a seam line. We had a basket for each child's blocks (there were 3 children and 3 different patterns, naturally). The corners (that look like little bow ties when the blocks are assembled) are 2-1/2" squares.

One day after school was finished, the kids and I made up some unsigned squares with words of encouragement and parts of Bible verses to even out the number of squares.

My sewing time is severely limited these days because of school. eating. school. laundry. school. chauffeuring. Are you seeing a pattern here??

Stay tuned for more progress. Does anyone have an idea how to maintain the pattern design while enlarging the quilt to be twin-sized? I want to add more color (not so much more cream). I want to add borders but don't want to spend a lot of time piecing them. I also don't want to just use one single piece of fabric. Any ideas (especially with pictures!) are appreciated.

~Joan

Memory Quilt #1 of 3

Again, long time no type. Many changes here at the Parker ranchero. I had guests sign blank quilt blocks for our three graduates at the party several weeks ago. My oldest son leaves tomorrow for college. This is the beginning of his memory quilt. Lots more work to do, but we are in the beginning of our home school year, so time will be fleeting for working on this.

The pattern is called Indian Hatchet or Stretched Star. I think it's a good beginning!!

Enjoy

~Joan