Box Number 3

I have been feeling really good about making a quilt out of the fabrics in box number 2, getting the binding made and the backing fabric picked out and washed, and hanging all of them on a hanger waiting to go to a longarm quilter for basting.

With that machine work done I went back to hand quilting on my 4 patch quilt from box number 1. That quilt is now over half quilted.

Since I am on such a roll I decided to see what else I could find in the basement. This time I came up with a box that contained twenty-two 6" squares from the Lasting Beauty Collection of fabrics by Classic Cottons. A few years back I sent some money in and, as I recall, about every three months I was send a packet from Classic Cottons that contained 6" fabric swatches from one of their new collections, plus a pattern for turning the blocks into a quilt. Well, their pattern made a quilt 37 x 41 inches. That would be way too small a quilt for me to make so I played on my EQ6 and came up with a design that would finish at 58 x 81 inches. Much more my size! I had also pulled 4 fabrics to use in the blocks.

It will be interesting to see how closely I follow my own design or if I end up making changes.

Scraps From Under the Cutting Table - And Now They Are Neat

All done! Note the empty basket.

I think I stated before that I like squares much better than strips so most of the fabric was cut into squares of various sizes. I did cut some short strips (approx. 7") that I use to make 9-patch blocks. And I cut some long strips because someday I am going to make another strip pieced quilt.

The odd scraps in the lower left corner will be made into hexagons and will go into a shoe box with other basted hexagons that will (someday) be turned into another scrappy hex quilt.

The rest of the day was spent quilting and starting a new project from a box in the basement.

Scraps From Under the Cutting Table

The last thing that anyone who knows me can call me, is organized. But I keep trying to keep chaos under control. To this end, I keep a small basket under my cutting table to keep project leftovers in, you know, the pieces too small to go back into my fabric cupboards.

That little basket has been full to over flowing for a few months, so yesterday I decided to dump it and begin cutting. Please note: this is not one of my favorite things to do. I get bored with it and being the old lady that I am, my knees start to ache from standing. But start I did. No, I didn't get very far but I left it on the cutting table so I will get back to it today. I spent most of yesterday avoiding it by quilting a bit and working on the computer. Well, yes, I did do a lot of eating, also, especially the leftover Christmas cookies.

Old Projects

One box from the basement totally empty. Do I feel good or what! Yesterday I finished up the doll quilt and have it nicely folded and tucked away for next Christmas season. It is a 24" square with flannel on the back.

Yes, you that know me well know that I do not like applique very much but I used the Quiltsmart preprint interfacing for the hearts. On the doll quilt, I machine sewed them on with a small zigzag. That's the way the Quiltsmart people do it and it worked really well, plus I even like the look. I had better watch out or I may end up liking applique after all.

And here is a picture of the finished quilt top. It is 53" x 79". I will probably take it to a long-armer to machine baste for me, then I will set it aside until that "someday" when I have time to quilt it.

Don's ask me why but I just had to put a flower in the lower right corner. It will get a button in it's center after it's quilted.

Sometimes I wonder just what kind of a quilter I am? If anyone out there has a clue, let me know.

I am having so much fun with my latest project. I was getting bored with making the log cabin blocks out of the shop fabrics that are on sale, so I sat that project aside and went to the basement to find something new to work on.

What I brought upstairs was a plastic container with 2 yards of a dark (blue) green fabric. A couple of hunks of red with spriggy leaves and some fabric that was red and green preprint log cabin blocks. The log cabin fabric had been cut into 17 squares matching the design with each square having 4 log cabin blocks. Each equaled 11 inches square. Well, I would like to say they were square but they were lopsided, of course, just like any preprinted fabric, it had been stretched funny in the printing.

I should have taken a picture at this point but I didn't.

Now, I will let the pictures I did take, speak for themselves.

But it wasn't long enough! I had a strip of blocks that had been next to the salvage. So new top and bottom borders were born!

Next came the applique, something needed to be put on those BIG RED SQUARES! I'm working on that part right now.  Besides the hearts in the blocks I am going to add them in the corners of the quilt. Something to help fill up the corners.

And here is what the log cabin blocks look like close up. It really makes you wonder when and why I bought this fabric. It must have been years ago, my taste in fabric has changed.

So that brings me back to the question of what kind of a quilter am I?

I have had so much fun making something out of a little bit of nothing. Like seeing if I can make a "silk purse out of a sow's ear". No, the quilt definitely is not any kind of silk purse/show winner, but it has been a fun journey to make something that is sorta' pretty and very useful.



View from my window.

This was my view, out the front window of the shop, of the snow we received yesterday (12/11/2010). We had big, beautiful snowflakes in the afternoon.

It is so much fun to sit by the front window of the shop and sew when it is snowing out! More later on the quilt I was working on.

Please note: This is not a black and white picture. It was really that gray outside!

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good night!
It's up to you to pick the response that best suits the occasion!

I'm in a happy mood. Buying new fabric seems to do that to me.

I got a good deal so I am passing it on to you.

The following fabrics should be arriving in approximately a week to 10 days,

and they will be priced at $6.99 per yard.

I'm having fun thinking about how I can use these fabrics. As the main fabric and/or borders for a new quilt. Or as the inspiration to pull colors for a new scrap quilt.

Or, to use as the backing for one of my pieced tops.

Put your mind to work and I bet you can figure out a good use for them, too.

Another quilt done! Title: Hearts Together

It's done! Yes, it took way longer than it should. All quilts seem to do that for me. I guess I just have too many other things I want or need to do.

Since the front of the quilt was so plain I decided to jazz it up with an interesting print on the back. 

Yes, the quilting is all done big stitch.

Stencils

I ordered some new quilting stencils.

This is "Simple Flower" Circa 1850. It fits an  8 inches block.

Price is $3.35

Next is "Sunwheel" it comes in both 7" and 9". I can't wait to quilt this design. In fact, I have just redesigned the scrap log cabin blocks quilt I am making. I think now I will made every other block a solid one and use this design for quilting in the plain blocks.

Price is $3.00 and $3.75.

My next big hexagon quilt.

I have to tell you, when I got done with my Grandmother's Flower Garden hexagon quilt I was at a loss as to what project to have in my traveling hexagon box. Not to mention, what project to work on at home in the evenings watching TV. Well, after a couple of days of sitting around twiddling my thumbs, I decided to dig out an old project and make it work.

What I found, while digging around, were 17 diamond shapes that I had made sometime between the years 1997 and 2002. Each diamond has three small flowers with a solid yellow center. The center flower is surrounded with a white print and a neutral finishes off the diamond. Next question to ask myself was, do I have any of the white fabric? I thought I had but, where! Good news, I found the white, almost a whole bolt of it. Considering it was bought before I opened the shop I have wondered where I got it.

While looking for the diamonds I found a cigar box with precut squares in groups of six for the flowers. It's nice to have a head start with the flowers. Then I started wondering if I still had the soft yellow for the centers. The first thing I found was a small piece that would cut about 100 squares. Not enought! Last night I just happened to glance in the fabric stash cupboards and guess what I saw, yup, a great big hunk of the yellow. One more ingredient ready to go.

 

 Then it was on to the neutrals. My original plan was to have each hexagon using a different neutral. This must have been on my mind when I've gone shop hopping with friends. I found a bunch of  fat quarters in the cupboard, also. Add to that a group of 2-1/2" strips of neutrals from Blank Quilting and the 2-1/2" strips that I received in an exchange with the Mississippi Valley Quilters Guild, that will give me a very good start. In fact, I think I will have enough

.

 So now we come to the design. My original idea was to lay them next to each other. I laid out the 17 finished blocks and said, "No, I didn't like that." Then I laid them out another way, I didn't like that either.

Then I thouht about laying them out and putting a new diamond between them. That appealed to me so I went into my EQ7 and came up with the new idea. 

I like this a lot. The new diamonds will have only two flowers but I will be adding three green leaves. The green will be all the same fabric. The neutral border will be made scrappy using all of the neutrals. This will be a combination of planned and scrappy. Always my favorite. 

This is 1/4 of the quilt. I was too lazy to color a whole quilt!