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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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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.


EDIT:(Finished quilting in December of 2023

Then came back and doubled the quilting in April of 2024.)  Look for more recent FINISH blog post.


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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.