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“I have given skill to all the skillful, so that they may make all that I have commanded you. “ Exodus 31:6


“O Thou who art the all pervading glory of the world, we bless Thee for the power of beauty to gladden our hearts.
We praise Thee that even the least of us may feel a thrill of the creative joy when we give form and substance to our thoughts and, beholding our handiwork, find it good and fair. “.
Walter Rauschenbusch


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"Come, and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what He has done for me.
I cried out to Him with my mouth; His praise was on my tongue.
If I had cherished sin in my heart, the LORD woud not have listened and heard my voice in prayer.
Praise be to God, Who has not rejected my prayer or withheld His love from me!" Psalm 66:16-20
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Monday, January 29, 2024

SNOW DAYS ! ---- A FINISH

 Shame on me !   A week ago, we here in Middle Tennessee got one of the biggest snowfalls that I have seen in years around here, and I forgot to blog about it .  And the hardest part of that was the below zero temperatures that came along afterwards.

                       Downtown Main Street (not my photo)

  But even with concerns that pipes might freeze , and a little scare with my heat pump, God's gracious mercy saw me through again.  My water bill and my electric bill will show a bit of an increase due to the faucets left dripping faucets I"m sure, but that's nothing compared to being stuck with out water and heat and having to wait in line for repairs !  

  So, you guys know what this gal does when she's stuck at home for days ( I sure ain't drivin' on snow and ice' !)    I sewed,,,,,,of course !

   So, this past week was spent with me working on this little quilt....with white representing all the snow I could see out of the window in front of my old Singer 15-91 sewing machine.


  I chose to use IT because of it's location, and the birds outside of it, feeding all of the birdseed I kept putting out for them.


After finishing it, I realized that it would go perfectly with one of the Pioneer Woman fabrics that I picked up on clearance at our local Walmart.
Eventually I got around to quilting it, stitching in-the-ditch for the interior piecing, and then nervously experimenting with free-motion-quilting for the white borders.  After success doing the wishbones,
I started doodling on paper, and I made up the silly little triangles/circles quilting in the second white border.  

The outer big border, although I took the time to miter the corners, just got meandering quilting in it, since the quilting design there wouldn't be identifiable anyway.  I think that I could actually enjoy doing MORE fmq if I had a big table/cabinet that my Jazz 2 was sunken down into.  I use a SewSteady extension table, 18 x 24 inches, that came with the machine, but the quilt gets hung up on the edges of it, and lifts it up when I try to reposition the quilt.  I just don't think that I have room for those, even if I was willing to put out the big expense.

I bound it totally by machine, on my JukiTL2010q, using that 1//16th-inch left compensating foot that I am so appreciating. What a wonderful top-stitch it makes SO NEAR the folded edge.

Speaking of bindings, I have been invited to assist the ladies in our church that are making quilts for a good cause.  They were sorely in need of another stitcher, and I am happy to help.  I've bound 3 fairly big quilts for them so far (they do prefer that I do the finishing by hand).    We may even have a road trip to Marshall Dry Goods in our very near future.......I think that could be fun, although it IS a 6 hour drive each way !  Stay tuned for news about that.

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Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Snow Days ! String piecing

 

                                                    32 inches square

Pieced on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, Jan. 14th, 15th, and 16th , while snowed in under 4 1/2 to 6 inches of snow !!!!

To be continued !

 

Friday, January 12, 2024

FINISH ! First quilt of 2024 ! Four-Patch Squared

 This little guy only finishes around 38 x 39 inches.  

Here's the finished top before being quilted.

Nothing purchased for this one.  Made from 2 1/2 inch squares and 5 inch charm squares halved, for the colorful blocks, a grey print for the alternate setting blocks,  and 2 1/2 inch strips for the binding.  Blocks squared to 6 1/4 ".

I loved how this one looked after quilting on my Jazz 2, with a diagonal cross-hatching. 


 I used more of the 80% cotton/ 20% wool pre-soaked and dried batting.  I hoped that it really wouldn't get that crinkly post-laundry look , but IT DID.

And here is an 'after' photo.....



EDIT : *****************

Following a kind suggestion on FB, I ironed this little quilt, and I must say that I am much happier with the look.  I used the wool setting on my little iron.

          I couldn't resist including the birds in this block.

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EDIT:  I gifted this small quilt to Janice Bridges this past Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024, in appreciation of all of the volunteer work that she does.


 

Thursday, December 28, 2023

FINISHES- (2).... Star Boxes ... and...Aqua Rolling Stones

 I think that this will probably be my final finishes for 2023.  For me, it's been a really good year for quilting.

In the last couple of days, I finished these two quilts......

 

Star Boxes, measuring 53 x 64 inches.

Pattern adapted from Missouri Star Triple Play video
   Diagonally machine-quilted on Jazz 2.  Cotton/Wool batting
  58 inch wide backing from Hancock's of Paducah

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Last finish, Aqua Rolling Stones, finished at approximately 52 x 71 inches. 

Standard Rolling Stone block, original design setting
            Backing purchased at Hobby Lobby, Hobbs 100% cotton batting
  Basic hand-quilting in majority of quilt, BigStitch quilting in Flying Geese borders




 

Wednesday, November 8, 2023

FINISH (1) Three new (October 2023) pieces in the works, and one earlier, (Spring ?) one being hand-quilted



3 in-progress projects from October of 2023


 One
(approximately) 52"x65"  quilt top made from Annies' jellyrolls (Threads that Bind) .  It's called Star Boxes, by Misty Doan of MSQC.  I LOVE THIS TOP.  The colors are so muted and dusty and soft !  I especially love how the sashing fabric that I used blends in softly instead of standing out.

At this point, I'm waiting for just the right backing fabric.

*****

Secondly, this little table mat/wall quilt......I do not recall a name for the block, but I'm calling it HALF AND HALF.  I love this design done in solids.  I could see a whole quilt done in it, but quilting it in this way would be a pain.  I still need to get it bound, but am waiting on a special (backordered) foot to arrive. It's a bi-level foot by BabyLock, and I just wanted to see if I like it as well (for the final phase of machine-binding) as the compensating foot that I use on my Juki.

 EDIT: 




I finally got around to putting the binding onto this little quilt.  It now hangs above my p.c., and I have to say.....I really like it !  The Babylock feet that I ordered were not up to what I desired, so they were returned.  The binding foot actually never came ....I had it cancelled as well.

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Thirdly is another little project I made from part of my Annie's order.  Got a couple of these Sunflower-themed charm packs, and just threw this together with some solid brown fabric.  Got it basted but never went further.  Not decided on a quilting design yet.

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UPDATE EDIT:

I named this one Autumn Charm, and I finished it around the 13th of December, 2023, and put if for sale on Facebook the next day.  It sold IMMEDIATELY for the price I asked, to one of my faithful buyers.  She said that it would be perfect for her retro kitchen of Avocado Green !


 

 

I don't generally post items that are still in the 'making' stage, but time gets away from me, and I wanted to document exactly when these were in the works.

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Along with that bi-level foot, I also ordered a Babylock quarter-inch foot with guide, and a Babylock Stitch-in-the-Ditch foot. (These are ALL snap-on feet.)

Interestingly, though, I discovered yesterday that many of my snap-on feet tend to jiggle a bit after being snapped on, causing a seam allowance to vary as you go along.  I always blamed the feet with guide for having a flimsy 'bar' that lets your fabric press it to the right, so that the seam grew, but I've glued that bar so that it can't move, and that's when I discovered that it is the entire foot that can move !!!!!!!!!  

My hope is that these new feet, all being actual Babylock brand, will have a tighter fit where they snap on, thereby canceling the variance.  I do have a couple of snap-on feet that have a nice tight fit and don't wiggle.....not sure what brand (probably Amazon purchases-many of my feet are).

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Almost forgot to mention that I am enjoying some hand-quilting currently.  I got this Rolling Stone quilt thread-basted, probably a couple of months ago, now, but just put it aside, not knowing if I wanted to quilt it by hand or by machine. (So glad that I rolled up and tacked the backing fabric around the edges to contain the extra batting) I finally started some hand-quilting on it a  few days ago, and it is going pretty quickly right now.  I do one stone block per evening, and some of the ditch-quilting on the flying geese borders.  There are 12 stone blocks, and I have done six already, but there are MANY other blocks, as alternates and side/corner setting triangles, plus an  outer plain border.  Looks like this one may be done in stages as my fingers toughen up again.





 

 

 

 

Wednesday, October 11, 2023

FINISH........Modest Tiles quilt, including update

 These are follow-up photos to my earlier post,  As you can see, I finished this quilt.  I machine-quilted along all of the black strips, using my Babylock Jazz 2 machine.  I switched to doing 'big-stitch' hand-quilting in all of the colorful rectangles.  The curvy quilting in the borders was also done by machine, after the quilt was bound.

  Quilting approved by Marley Jo.....say 'hi' to Marley !


Here's a better look at the hand-quilting.
  I didn't actually measure the finished quilt, being so excited to get it into the mail.  But it measured somewhere around 54 x 88......the next photo shows it covering a twin-sized bed, with a bit of a tuck-under allowance at the foot.  I made it for my grandson, T.J., to use as an extra-long throw, or as a bed cover/topper.  He's now well over 6 feet tall, and he told me that he had outgrown the last throw that I made for him, so Nana had to get it in gear and correct that.
That's my bed.........the quilt is currently on it's way all the way across the United States. 
 100% Hobbs bleached white cotton batting inside....hope I quilted it closely enough for it to withstand the washing machine !
 One last photo.......I had a wider-than-usual piece of flannel that made for a wonderfully snuggly-feeling backing.  I'm hearing that this younger generation no longer feel the need for top sheets..?????... I know, right???  So this one should feel wonderful against the skin.

One more note.....because the batting was shedding while I handled the quilt, I went ahead and sewed on the binding after the machine-quilting was done, but before I did the hand-quilting.  Wonderful results !

And I finished the binding by machine, using a 1/16th" left compensating foot , on my JukiTL2010Q sewing machine.  Game changer !


UPDATE:  Video of T.J. opening the package with his quilt.




Monday, October 2, 2023

A DIFFERENT kind of FINISH (TOTE-BAGS)

 Well, I've taken a bit of a twist on my sewing adventures.  I've made a couple of quilted tote bags. 



The first one, on the left, I made from leftover orphan blocks,  for carrying on days that I go to our Senior Center or our Church,  for playing Bingo.  It's handy for carrying my phone stand, which holds up my Bingo card, and then for toting home my winnings !  With prizes donated from Walmart's returns or clearance items, and sometimes donations from Cracker Barrel, or even other members' own homes, it is handy to have a bag ready.  Our Church makes sure that everyone wins, and the prizes are lots of snack cakes, crackers, and fruit !

After receiving numerous compliments from other players, I decided to make the yellow, black, grey, and navy one to donate for use as a 'Coverall' prize at the senior center.  

 I enjoyed piecing this bit of 3-d illusion patchwork, but sadly it didn't come off nearly as dimensional-looking in the finished bag, after quilting.

Thursday, September 21, 2023

FINISH--Table topper with yellow pieced border

 Just wanted to try out an album block, and not caring for it so much, I just made 3 more to be big enough for a table-topper or wall quilt.  I love the border of yellow squares, so I backed it with a piece of yellow gingham.  Very happy with how it turned out, including the free-motion quilting in the borders. Quilted on Jazz 2, bound on JukiTL2010Q.



The duck is a tureen that I won while playing Bingo at our local senior center.


MODEST TILES-- basted and ready to be quilted

 I got this one ready a week ago, but have been slow to post, and slow to start the quilting.  

 I moved the furniture around and basted it in my living room.  It's pretty long, calling for my longest boards for pinning out.

I'm not sure what I want to do, hand-quilt, machine-quilt, or a combination of both.

Whatever I choose will really show up on those solid fabric rectangles/tiles, so I'm still thinking it over.

 This is another quilt based on a catalog/magazine cut-outs that I have saved in an "inspiration folder".


More photos to come, hopefully, when the quilt is finished !

Saturday, August 26, 2023

FINISH---Strips-Weave .....all done !

 

Last Monday, September 21st, I finished binding this quilt.  I dug out all of my binding strip leftovers and made it scrappy.  I sewed the strips onto the back and finished them on the front using the new foot I bought, a 1/16th inch left compensating foot.  It's beautiful to see that stitch line so very close to the fold of the binding, but also still possible to veer off once in awhile and miss the edge altogether.  Makes you have to pay CLOSE attention, but surely makes for a quicker job than finishing by hand.

I mentioned this quilt-top in my last post.  This one gave me a perfect opportunity to try out my curvy ruler-quilting ruler.  I made a few oopsies, but finally caught on to using the marks to match things up as I had to move the ruler down the length of the quilt. This ruler was actually intended for use with a longarm machine, being a bit thick for working on a domestic machine like my Jazz 2 from Babylock.

After quilting the wavy design, I still didn't think it was enough, so I quilted down along the ditch of each vertical seam as well.  Now I'm very pleased with the look of it, although I haven't laundered it to see how much it crinkles.  As I've said before, on some of these quilts, I'd prefer that they retain that well-pressed look, but it's not a deal breaker either when they don't.

Keeping to the scrappy theme, I brought out my leftovers binding strips that were already pressed in half.  I lay them out around the perimeter of the quilt to get colors in the places that I wanted, and after stitching them to the quilt, I was well pleased with the final look. One more thing that I need to do is sew a label onto the back.............OH, THAT REMINDS ME...I didn't show you this pretty BACK !  I don't know that   it actually coordinates with the quilt, but I just love it.  It was with some fabrics that were donated to me. It has a coarse texture, and there were six identical pieces that were a bit bigger than fat quarters.  I am very seriously thinking that these were feedsacks, although I can't find the big stitching holes that are usually caused by the thick thread with which they would have been stitched closed. Anyway....have a look.  Marley Jo won't mind.

And, so, we finish here.  This quilt measures approximately 52 x 58 inches, making it a decent throw, or bed-topper.