{Post 1,487} Two New Baby Quilts

A couple weeks ago, I had to drive my children about 90 minutes away for camp.  Before I left, I Googled quilt shops on the route.  There was one less than a minute off the path I'd be taking!!  There I bought a charm pack of Moda's Fresh Aire prints.  They are 30's style.  I didn't realize so many of them were going to be bright!

Once I got it home, I wondered why I bought it.  They didn't all seem to go together. 

We have a soon-to-be-born girl in our church family.  Off and on, I make the new babies a quilt.  So I played around with some of the fabrics and came up with this design with the addition of muslin.  It measures 40" square.  I will quilt it tomorrow, Lord willing.

Then I started playing with the lighter ones in the set.  I came up with this, which is still a work in progress:

Oh, I failed to mention that I bought a second set on eBay or Etsy (can't remember which one now).  I like them both, but the new parents-to-be picked the brighter one.  

Can hardly wait to add some life in these with quilting!

{Post 1,486} Grandmother's Flower Garden

Here is the most recent picture of my GFG.  One of the blossoms is not sewn on.  After taking the picture, I will not be putting it where it is lying now...too similar in outer colored ring to its neighbor.  I have many more blossoms to make, so no problem there!  I'll just hold on to it.  The unattached one is the very top left.  Navy blue center with dark tan outer circle.  I am going to work more blue into this quilt.  Picked up 3 blue FQs recently.  

{Post 1,485} Where in the World is Joan?

I have had many folks ask if I stopped writing a blog.  Well, obviously the last 2 months have been too busy to put anything down here.  Many family activities, short trips, life in general!

Here's a few pictures from the last couple of months, in reverse chronological order!

I still quilt as often as I can.  That just has not been much lately.  I have started teaching a friend to quilt.  Here's her first little quilt top, which she promptly quilted and bound.  It turned out beautifully.

Finished this quilt (crumb HSTs--twin bed sized) and gifted it to a friend at church who has faithfully served there before we even arrived over 15 years ago:

Quilted this beauty (also twin bed size to be used as a throw) for a wedding gift in September.  It still needs binding, washing, and labeling:

Finished this quilt for my soon-to-be-born grandson:

Started hand-quilting this beauty...it is 88" square:

Hosted one of my other grandson's first birthday party and made these cupcakes:

Worked many hours on gutting and rebuilding our downstairs bathroom.  I love the wall color.  It is called "rainwashed".  The only thing left to do is put the shower walls up.  Here is an in-progress picture:

A picture from the window of our room at our church's family camp, near the Smoky Mountains:

Had a visit from my favorite (and only) sister, my parents (dad pictured), and my niece:

So, yes, I am still here.  I am doing well.  Busier than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.  Thanks for asking :)

I will try to update more frequently, but there's no telling!

{Post 1,484} Three Mini Quilts Finished

I have a customer for whom I have made a 12" quilt for every month of the year as well as an everyday one.  The everyday is my favorite.  Truly.  Here it is first:

Here are July and August (obviously):

I like them all.  I don't know what I was thinking, saying I'd make them all for her.  Quilts take so much longer than I think they will.

We had vacation Bible school all last week.  It was draining.  I did very little sleeping or sewing!  Insomnia--the silent killer.

I want to make a few quick baby quilts to have on hand.  Anyone have a favorite quick pattern that finishes about 40" square?

{Post 1,483} Top is Webbed

My HST shirt quilt center is webbed.  Now I am embarking on sewing rows to each other.  Here are a couple close-ups for those who wondered what some of the fabrics (aka upcycled shirts) look like.  There are several crumb tutorials online.  This is the 3rd crumb quilt I have made.

Notice that the creams in the top picture are one piece.  I had just cut the sleeves off two new shirts (well, new to me), so I cut 5" squares from what I could.  It wasn't long before I had to piece cream squares like the ones you see in the bottom picture.

{Post 1,482} HST Shirt Quilt Center Blocks Finished

The title pretty much says it all.  I have 12 x 14 blocks finished for the HST shirt quilt.  Here they are laid out on my design wall.

Last night I could not sleep at all...so I ended up staying up until 5 AM.  Slept until 10:45 this AM, and I feel fine.  I figured sewing was as good of a past time as any.

My next sewing chore will be webbing them.  I think I'm going to laboriously piece a back like I did for this quilt to use up large chunks of shirts that don't do well in blocks.  They might be an odd color that stands out too much, too soft to piece well, or whatever.  I have a strip of crumb blocks that I'll be putting on there, too.  A lot more piecing.

Of course, the above one needs borders.  I'm thinking of treating it like I did this quilt and use a similar color for an inner then an outer border.  Maybe green this time?

{Post 1,481} Amazing Weathered/Beach Wood Treatment

I have made a few of these metal star with berry wreath on chicken wire hangings for my daughter, sister, and friend recently.  Doesn't that sound like a Hallmark commercial?  Anyway, one of my other daughters asked if I would make one for her with "weathered wood", a cream star, and brown chicken wire.   I love everything about this, but especially the L-shaped connectors that hold the mitred wood frame together.  They don't show up much in the picture.

I found this treatment on good ole Pinterest, and let me tell you, it works like a charm.  

Put steel wool in a canning jar and cover with vinegar (I used white).  Let sit 12-24 hours.  Mine sat 36.

When your vinegar/steel wool solution is ready, brew two tea bags in about a cup of water.  I used orange pekoe because that's what I had.  When the water is really dark, take out and discard the bags.  Brush the tea water on your naked wood with a cheap paintbrush or foam brush.  All it does is make the wood look wet.

Here is the bare wood:

Here is the tea-wetted wood:

Rinse off your brush.  Take your white vinegar/steel wool solution and brush it on with the same brush.  Here is the first edge.  This happened immediately although I'm hearing that different woods react differently.

Here are all sides of all 4 pieces brushed with steel wool/vinegar water right after I brushed the last piece.