Gettin' there

Twiddletails posted one more block.  So I did it right away so I wouldn't get behind in case 'life' happens.

I can see how nice it's going to look.  I love the colors.














I found a quilt top that I hadn't completed last year.  I don't know why I wouldn't have finished it because I don't like to have unfinished tops laying around but I'm glad it was there because it'll come in handy for one of my grandchildren.  I'm trying to accumulate four quilts before the first week of May.

The 'found' quilt is predominantly green so I'm going to sew a green border around it, then piece a backing out of various green fabrics I have on hand.  Then I can test my machine quilting skills.... yikes!!

I shouldn't be afraid; I'm sure I'll do okay... but it is kind of scary to quilt a quilt that I'm going to give away.

And here are my other greens....

Yes, they're pretty different one from the other but they seem to go together.  I'll probably make simple square blocks for the backing so it won't be too difficult to machine quilt through.

That bottom fabric has frogs on it.










My rosemary has been blooming for a few weeks now.  I've seen the birds grab the flowers and fly off with them in their beaks.  My son says they're building nests.  Scented nests!

And the sage is looking good too.  There's also red leaf lettuce and garlic growing there.  The tomato cage is awaiting a tomato plant... it's still a little early to plant a tomato yet.  The ground has to warm up more I'm told.

I may plant the tomatoes in the hanging planters again this year, although I've had little luck with growing them that way.  Guess that makes me an optimist.

Linen Closet Quilts: French Wrens Giveaway

Linen Closet Quilts: French Wrens Giveaway

Go on over to Linen Closet Quilts and sign up for the giveaway.  Beautiful pattern.

Block 8

I spent a couple of days making the additional four blocks that Twiddletails had posted.  Thanking her very much again for her generosity. 

There is now a Little Monsters quilt pattern for sale on Twiddletails; it's really cute and I'm seriously thinking of buying that pattern to make in the future.  What's stopping me?  The trapunto!  I've never done it and I'm wondering if it would hold up to daily use or if it's only meant to be a wallhanging.  So I have some checking to do, but either way it might be a nice gift for some little baby's mama and papa.  Look how cute it is....

Looks like lots of applique also.  Scratching my head.... should I or shouldn't I?

Slowly but surely

I keep getting interrupted but slowly I've managed to do some more blocks... two to go and I'll be caught up.  I have to admit that I'm getting tired of cutting out square blocks of differing sizes in order to make half-square triangles but they're so cute in the quilt.  It more than makes up for cutting squares.

Fourth block added.. a BIG half-square triangle!















Lots of ironing to be done to make these little guys but it goes fast.  I have a cheap $9.99 iron that I found at RiteAid, I think and it works like a charm, unlike the expensive one that wouldn't steam on request.  I figured that even if this one didn't do so well for long, I could buy ten of them (or more) for the price of the $$$$ one.

Anyway......

Now to sew another block together and get it on the wall.  I liked this block.

And there it is... up on the wall.  It's starting to come together.


My viewing wall is an old cotton spread that I didn't really use very much so I hung it from a curtain rod that I nailed to the top of the wall and it just hangs down loosely so that I can pin blocks to it without putting pins in the wall.

It looks terrible without a quilt on it so it encourages me to be working on something all the time.  lol

Putting together the next block... getting it ready to be sewn.  This one is pretty neat, too.











And so I now have six blocks done.  I feel like I should be making these faster but honestly, it takes time to cut all those pieces out and put them together with their points meeting in the center.  I'm trying to do a credible job so that this is a learning experience for me. 

And poor Jaik.... he was worn out from watching me do all that work!  He stole Jules' favorite sleeping spot, that is until Jules noticed and kicked him out.  lol

'Bout time

Finally.... from McCall's Quilting magazine - May/June issue.

I think this wall hanging turned out nicely.  Not perfect, but okay.  It's now hanging on my wall and I've started another small quilt with lots of half-square triangles... the one from Twiddletails, which she is generously posting the blocks for.

So here's the first row.

So, the first row is done and hopefully tomorrow, the second row will be completed also.

I love the colors!  It's gonna be cute, I think.

Binding

The Pear Quilt/Wallhanging is coming along nicely.  The orange flange around the edge really looks good, I think.

And I'm in the process of sewing the black binding to the back.  I started last night because it took me all day to sew on the orange flange and the black binding.  I really like the quilting.  I would never have thought of doing it that way... but I'm not an imaginative person.  I really appreciate that quilters with imaginations are so generous as to share their genius for people like me to make and enjoy... and share with our families.

Of course I had the usual assistance from Jake, who likes to make sure everything is as comfortable as can be in case he gets to lay on it in the future, which won't be happening because this little quilt is going on a wall.

But he can dream, can't he?

My daughter had an accident yesterday at work.  She was cleaning the cheese slicer (without her metal gloves) and sliced the bottom of her right index finger off.  The emergency room doctor said he wouldn't reattach it so she's going to have an oddly shaped finger from now on.
 




Gives me the chills to think about it.  She has a large bandage on her finger and some throbbing pain but she's back at work today.  I'm going to walk over there and see how she's doing right now.  My poor baby!

More Fabric

I have shelves (5) full of fabric but had to buy more so I could do the Pinwheel Party quilt that Twiddletails is posting blocks for every week.  I'm excited to finally make a 'black' background quilt and I love the bright pinwheels.... it will be perfect for my son's kids.

I'm sending 4 quilts - all different - down to San Diego for his birthday in May.  They'll be great for him to put in his VW van for the kids to wrap up in after they get off the beach.... or they can sit on them on the sand. They spend a lot of time at the beach so they should come in handy.

I had to stop quilting on the pear wall hanging.  My daughter celebrated a birthday yesterday and it was a long day.  Her brother and sister took her over to Seattle for dinner, drinks and some jazz and they came back on the 1:35AM ferry... the last one for the night.  I picked them up so no one would have to drive after drinking.  So I didn't feel much like quilting today after my 4 1/2 hours of sleep.

Tomorrow, I will possibly be able to complete it so I can find a nice place to hang it.  Then... on to the Pinwheel Party quilt.  I'll have to rush to catch up on that one but it'll be fun to do it.

A Wall Hanging of Pears

On Friday, I received the new copy of McCall's Quilting magazine and my eye was caught by a wall hanging - Pear Still Life - designed by Joyce Robinson that was not only beautiful but was done with a technique that I had never tried.  I had black and orange in my stash so on Saturday I picked up some bright green batik and a chunk of brown from my LQS (local quilting store for those who are new to quilting) and today I began cutting out the pieces from the templates given in the magazine. 

I just love the website for McCall's quilts; I've made a few of their quilts... mostly from their Golden Quilt collection but their magazine has some lovely ideas for quilts also. Lots of scrappy block quilts which are my favorites.

I had a kitty helping out so thought it would be advisable to wait until tomorrow to do the applique/quilting to finish up.

So here is what I got done in about 3 hours today. 

The technique used to appliqué the pieces onto the quilt also is the quilting.  The background is stippled and the bottom/table is done with lines.

I've never applied fabric to fabric in this way before... I've always turned the edges under and hand sewed the edges down, then added the batting and backing and quilted. 

But here, the quilt 'sandwich' is done; the pieces are pinned on.... and the quilting will begin.





I'll use green thread to make it look like the 'pears' are round and 3-dimensional.  Then I'll use orange thread to zigzag the stems on with only a few lines to pin down the leaves.  None of the edges are turned under so this should be a pretty quick quilting job.








Though I still have remnants of a cold, I feel so much better than I have for the past two weeks.  Hopefully I will lose this little cough and I won't get another cold for years and years!