{Post 1,120} Bed Pillow Finished

A decorator I am not.  But I wannabe!!  Those of you who have been patiently reading along have seen the lovely quilted pillow shams I've made for my everyday bedding and my Christmas quilt.  Well, I thought it would look better with a red rectangular pillow in front of the shams.  This is not exactly the look I wanted, but it's close enough for now.  I thought it would be taller.  It is a plump little pillow, not too much unlike a sausage!

Without and with:

The two quilts I'd use it with have different reds, so I decided (after much contemplation) to make a top using many different reds.  The dark chunk on the right side stands out too much (not as much in person as in the picture), but it's good for now.  When my teenage daughter came in my room and said "love the new pillow", I figured finished is good!

{Post 1,088} New Hand Project Started

This is my latest hand-piecing project.  It will be a very long and slow process, but I wanted to document it for myself for the future.  I started by cutting up one brown and one cream (for alternate squares).  I have used 2 pinks so far.  As I come across pieces large enough (5-1/2" square) of the creams for the alternate squares, I will add them to the pile.

These are LeMoyne stars.  I am making them all brown and pink with one cream background per block.  If history repeats itself, I will have many fabrics represented by the time this is a finished quilt top.  I am thinking of making a bed-sized quilt and quilting it by hand, so look for the finish in about 14 years.  In the meantime, I'm enjoying the hand piecing.  

I might even get all fancy and use some brown alternate squares or (!) pink ones.  Pink was the favorite color of one of my grandmothers.  I've never been fond of it, but I like it in these.

Here is the other project I am working on today...machine quilting my green scrappy square shams to match my Christmas quilt (which is on the bed as I type).  I took my DH's advice from the last time I nearly went blind quilting with matching thread and am quilting with the muslin on TOP instead of the usual backing location.  It's going well, and I might finish them today!

{Post 1,050} Pillow Sham Fabric Quilted

My house is decorated for fall, such as it is.  I put out the same decorations I do every year.  If you want to see some, put "fall decorations" in the search box to the top left.  I enjoy fall.  The weather cooling off is one reason!

I am thinking ahead to Christmas decorations, so I quilted a large piece of one of my favorite cream fabrics.  I am going to make pillow shams to go with my new Christmas quilt.  The thread matched the fabric so well that I had a hard time seeing where I had quilted.  The blue Mark-B-Gone line is showing the edge of the quilted area.  I had to find it by Braille!

Yes, difficult to see on the front.  I wanted a subdued design, but this is ridiculous.  My husband said I should have quilted it from the muslin side.  A great idea, but too late.  Anywho--I hope to get the backs put on tonight.  I think I'll just put a binding on like I did the other set I made.

~Joan

{Post 1,025} Scrappy Wreath Top Center

Here is my Scrappy Wreath top w/o the final single-fabric border.  It will have the same fabric for an outer border as the alternate blocks on the top.  This is the top that had the horrible circumstance.  Looks better now!  I ordered curtains that are red and camel/cream striped, so they will be good with most of my bed quilts.  I was thrilled to see that this top actually matches my bed skirt, so no making one of those any time soon.  I do have a plan (after searching in vain) for pillow shams.  I think I'll quilt some cream Thimbleberries and just make my own.  Like these, but all cream.  


I am hoping I have enough of the Christmas print to add a 12" border on all sides.  *crossing fingers*


Here it is:

I'm just weird like this, but I added another row of 3-1/2" green squares and 2" of red at the top.  I didn't want a big expanse of just border fabric, but didn't want to make another row of wreath blocks for a pillow tuck either.  Hence the need for pillow shams.  

~Joan

{Post #919} HQ Frame

Used my HQ frame for the first time last night.  The machine glides soooo effortlessly on it that I nearly pitched it out the window on my first attempt.  After I got a grip, it was a breeze.  I have been using smoky monofilament thread for the last few quilts I did and just changed it out for a wheat color.  Thought all was well until I advanced the quilted part and saw what the back looked like:

Here is a shot looking down the quilt while it's on the frame:

I unsewed all the quilting once I saw the tension was horrid.  Thankfully that is really easy because all you have to do is pull out the bobbin thread and then pluck off the top thread.  I am also really glad that I started with such a small project so I didn't have that much unsewing to do.

I sewed the shams together with a tiny seam to make them one continuous piece to quilt.  The white on the top sham is the sun.  Remember the sun?  Hahaha...

Just got two cheap pillows to put in these, so I'm off to go down and add the backings and make the binding for the outer edges.  See ya!

~Joan

{Post #866} Sewing Room Happenings

Once Susie twisted my arm and dragged me into the sewing room (ahem), I started on some pillow shams to match this quilt that is currently on my bed.  I had this boxful of leftover pieces...

So I started sewing and sewing.  I had 4 strips going, two of each direction.  I sewed from the time Maria arrived at the mansion until they escaped from the Germans (wasn't the wedding beautiful).  The hills are alive, with the sound of sewing.

But I digress.  I also was moving forward on another quilt I'm piecing via leaders/enders.  Here is a picture of many of them, grouped by tens and held together with safety pins.  They finish at 1" x 2".  Project picture to come later.

I was just a rollin' along on my Texas Braid strips.  Here is one finished on the cutting table, ready to be trimmed down.

Then a few chops later, I haphazardly put these on the already overburdened design wall.

Do you even SEE them?  I have the well-developed ability to tune things out, but it takes regular upkeep and plenty of practice, Practice, PRACTICE!  After I cut up the 4 strips, I needed two more pieces, one of each direction!  Ack!!  That does mean more tiny flying geese (I might call them goslings, they are so small) to come!  I had to dig these out of the trash can (one for each direction) to have a starter for my next sewing session.

I don't have a pattern for the shams.  But I always have a plan.  I am making shams for standard sized pillow forms.  I am going to make them with 5 Texas Braid strips across, which = 30".  Then I'm adding the red of the center squares in a 4" border and quilting those.  Then I'm going to make backings that are two pieces that over lap and are Velcroed in the middle (that way they can be easily removed for washing).  I will run a seam along the edge of the red so the pillow doesn't slip around, but will have a nice edge.  That's my plan and I'm stickin' with it (unless I need to change it!).

The not-so-surprising part is that my box is still so full of pieces for this quilt!  I may have to crank out a baby quilt to use them up.  I can't stand having a project just hang around like a piece of gum on the bottom of a shoe!

Going to read a while then hit the hay!

~Joan