Saturday, June 8, 2013

And so you're wondering what I have gotten done in the two weeks since my last blog. Probably, your thinking, that it was lots, well that's not the case, unfortunately.

First I will apologize for the photo's. The computer turned the

 first two upside down and I can't figure out how to get the them back the right way.

And why the third one is correct is beyond me.

I was lucky enough to get two hexagon flowers sew onto the quilt. These are the new ones.

The blocks for the outside border of the mystery quilt are still in approximately the same stage as they were two weeks ago. I did get the small squares sew on the 2nd corner but they are not trimmed nor pressed yet.

The granddaughters quilts are all quilted, outside edge included. The binding strips are cut and sitting by the sewing machine so I can sew them together. What happened is another project got put "front and center" so the little girls quilts were put on a "back burner" for now.

Oh, and I know your are eager to see what the project is, right?

Well, my daughter Andra has decided that I need to put up a new "totally finished" quilt in the shop so she has designed, pieced, and hand quilted the centers of 10 blocks with those tiny little stitches of hers. Then she handed it over to me to Big Stitch in the framing that goes around each block. And the center block and border. Right now I am working on the framing strips.

And, as the cartoon at the movies used to say, "That's all folks!"

     Jo             

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Great news on the hand quilting saga for the granddaughters quilts.

I now have all the stars quilted in the outer border on both quilts. I love getting to that "next stage" on a project. Next goal is to hand quilt around their initials that I've put in a corner of the outside border, then I will quilt around the outside edge before I put the binding on.

 

Before we go any farther, I will confirm that the color in these pictures is pretty messed up.

Yeah, your right. Last week I told you that the 1st border was pink. It still is pink. Don't ask me why it turned out orange, nor why the outer border is such a dark blue. Must have something to do with all the cold rainy weather we have been having in Iowa. I even turned the furnace on for a bit this morning.

 

And I also got one more flower sewn on the hexagon top.

 

And last, and probably least, I finished up sewing the rest of the small squares on the lst corner of the tan squares. With a little more determination on my part, I am hoping to sew the rest of the navy square on the 2nd corner this week. Guess it shows that I would rather hand quilt than machine sew.

 

With that said. Check back next week and see how I'm coming along.

Jo

 



    Good day (or night) to all.

 

 In looking back over the week I did see some accomplishment in the hand quilting department. I was able to get the quilting on the 1st border (small 2" and pink) completed. I quilted a line 1/4" on the inside and two lines at 1/4" & 3/8" on the outside. Considering it is a smaller size quilt it probably did not add up to much but I will take any progress as a good sign. 

Another small accomplishment was making and attaching one more hexagon flower.

 

And for my piecing project. I did get the 1st and 2nd borders on the quilt. Now the mystery quilt is complete.

Except:-

I can't leave well enough alone and I have decided that I like the quilt. (Even after all my bad mouthing the directions.) So I now have to add a plain 3rd border and a pieced 4th border, to make the quilt large enough for my twin bed. Here is how my piecing is coming along. As you can see I have a bunch more sewing to do as each tan square get two small squares sewn on.

 

And remember, enjoy your hobby!  Jo

 

 

 

   Hello to all,.I know, it's been a long time since I've posted anything, but I am hoping that this will be the first of many.

   So, what has Jo been doing in the meantime? Nothing comes to mind, of course. I always end up with a completely blank mind when ever I'm asked that question. I reviewed my pictures and found this one of the current hexagon quilt that I am actually working on.

I have a friend living in Montana (I'm in Iowa) and each month we make two sets of  small hexagon flowers that are exactly alike. Two to keep and two to exchange. The flowers are a center and one round, from there we each add another round using our own fabrics (I am using fabrics from my stash). Then we started putting them together for quilts. I am making my quilt like a traditional Grandmothers Flower Garden by putting the flowers together using neutal fabrics (two) for the path. My friend is using tone-on-tone fabrics for her second round and putting them together with little diamonds. I have to admit that her quilt is simply stunning.

Other than that, I'm hand quilting a couple of new quilts for some sweet little granddaughters in California. Sh-h-h-h-h-h-h, don't tell them because it's still a secret.

And I have been piecing a mystery quilt with the Dubuque IA guild. Wow! there were a lot of 4.5" squares and scads of 2.5" squares to cut, then sew into blocks, then put the blocks together. But that part is done and I have the first narrow 2" border sewn on. Next comes a 4" pieced border. I'll let you know next week how that's coming.

For now, remember to enjoy your quilting.  Jo