Joan's Windows with Two Sides Bordered

Here is the intersection of four of the blocks. You can see the 1/2" finished frame around each block. Varying these colors would make for a very dramatic quilt. I was trying to play it down some with the gold.

Here is the pieced border. I cut up the extra strips I had already cut for the center and used them so it would sort of match, but it would be hard to tell if a stray got in there!

What appears to be spots are drops of water from the iron. Didn't wait for them to dry.

Lastly, a picture of my progress tonight. I did not have anything else to do. My oldest four were at college or work and my youngest four were watching a movie. I'm so lonesome I could cry.

~Joan

Joan's Windows

I worked on a cool quilt tonight. I was rewarding myself for cleaning off my cutting table. I feel like a new woman!!

I am not into randomness when it comes to quilts. I typically select the blocks with carefully measured and very precise units. But not for this one. It's in a magazine. The name of the pattern is Sonja's Windows. But my name is not Sonja.

You piece two blocks that are later trimmed to 14" square, so I cut a bunch of scraps from my cutting table top into 15" lengths. All I did for the set of two blocks was make sure I didn't use the same fabric in each. I didn't try to match the colors in each block or anything. I also used a variety of widths of strips. From one-inch to three-inches wide.



Then you lay the blocks so that the seams of one go horizontally and the other is vertical.

Trim and pin. I pin very sparsely. The fewer pins the better.

My camera is acting up. It skipped the picture of sewing a 1/4" seam around all the edges and then cutting diagonally through the sewn blocks. The next pic shows me peeling back the left triangle to reveal that block.

Here are all twenty of the blocks laid out with sashing. There will be sashing all around the edge as well. My camera also pretended to take pics of sewing a one-inch cut piece of gold around each block. That will be a half-inch finished frame. It really sets the blocks off.

I haven't picked a border fabric yet. If I remember correctly (and I rarely do), there is a border of another color, then a pieced border with the half-inch finished gold on both sides, then another outer border of the same color. Green? Blue? Cream?? Black??

This makes a very large throw. So fun to piece. You just piece five sets of two blocks and you end up with 20 blocks.

My camera has been giving me fits. The pictures are slightly blurry and it doesn't save each picture I take. Hmmm...old age? I mean of the camera, not me.

Naturally I used every color imaginable in this quilt...blues, blacks, pinks, purples, oranges, greens, golds, creams, browns...it's all good.

~Joan

Child, Where Have You Been?

The above is a picture of scenery in Canada. I don't think THAT is where she's been. My sweet, sweet Susanna saw my Steps and Stars quilt from the back (neatly folded in my sewing room). She said, "What's that?" I pointed out the nifty quilting from the back. She opened it up and commented, "I've never seen this before!" She spends far more time in my sewing room than all of my other 7 children combined. Proof that I could sew a queen-sized quilt right under someone's nose and they would not notice.

~Joan

Scrumptiousness

This is a new recipe I tried for supper. It's a pizza braid. I used cubed ham, browned pork sausage, pizza sauce, and 2 cups of mozzerella cheese for the filling.

The recipe is from a blog (that I can't remember visiting...). It's http://amysfinerthings.wordpress.com/2008/10/13/pizza-braid. Your family will appreciate it.

I mixed the dough in my bread machine and it. turned. out. perfect.

~Joan

Steps and Stars Machine Quilting Started

Here is the progress on the Steps and Stars. These first two pictures show the dwirling from the front then the back. I am getting the hang of this. It is different for me...well, new is the word, I guess. The quilted lines are about an inch apart.

Here is a triple paisley shape in the border with thread matching the border print. Again, this is from the front and the next picture is from the back.

I am taking a break for now, but hope to do more tonight. I have had lots of questions from other home quilters using a domestic machine. I feel like all of us quilters should help each other do our personal best. I have a lot to learn, but here are some tips from me. Maybe you will find some of them useful...

*I use straight pins to baste the quilt. I put all the pins going in from right to left. They are about 4-6 inches apart in a grid. The reason I use straight pins is that it is so quick to whip them out as I quilt and toss them towards the magnetic pin cushion.

*I often quilt the border first to get rid of a bunch of pins so it's less like wrestling with a porcupine.

*Pick a design that gives your a place to stop (with needle down to keep the quilt from slipping) so you can reposition your hands.

*There are times I don't use any aids in moving the quilt. I just purchased a pair of Machingers and LOVE them. They are snug but not warm, give enough fingertip control to remove or place pins, and are inexpensive.

*Practice drawing new designs on paper or a whiteboard to imbed the design in your mind.

*Plan ahead for where you're going to quilt toward so you don't "paint yourself into a corner".

*Keep as much of the quilt up on your sewing surface as possible to prevent drag on the quilt as you sew it.

*Prefill as many bobbins as you think you will need.

*Practice practice, practice!

That's it!

~Joan

Steps and Stars on Deck Today

I plan to start machine quilting on this quilt top today. I've had a productive last few days. Today it's just my husband and 3 youngest boys home. I will have to make a couple meals, do a little more room clean up (Susanna will be expecting great things when she gets home tomorrow), and a little more putsy-ing around (it's been a long time since I've heard someone say "putsy")...

As I searched for an inexpensive place to buy the new Pajama Quilter DVD (and didn't find one!), I came across Dawn's gallery. I am going to do dwirling on this top just because I've wanted to try it, and it looks so cool on this quilt.

Off to the races, and thankful for the energy to get things done today. I pieced a backing for the Steps and Stars last night. Had to make the backing 4" wider than it would have been just using width of fabric pieces, so I used some more 4-patches from the "where did these come from" drawer.

~Joan

This Makes Me Smile

This is the first thing you would see if you came in my front door, our main entrance.

Have you seen the acrylic signs? I don't think signs is the right word. Wall words is more like it. I picked this up at (of all places) Wal-mart this morning. I have seen these in magazines and in decorating blogs. I. love. them.

I was picking up som DIF for my son who is taking down a wallpaper border in his bedroom, in preparation for painting in there tomorrow (can I get an amen??). I glanced up, and there it was. This was calling my name.

Despite there being few directions, I managed to get it up straight, centered, and fairly evenly spaced. In person there is very little glare from the acrylic backing.

I am showing a pic of the lamp on and off. This is so heart-warming!!

Best part? Even with the measuring, putting up a "level" made out of paper, etc., it only took about 15 minutes to apply. As someone who has painted signs on wood that take hours and hours, that blows my mind.

I don't usually post more than once in a day, so don't miss my other new post below.

~Joan