Michigan baby quilt finished !

If you remember, I made a quilt for my cousins first grandson, and another family member, attending the shower, called me to request that I make the same design for her grandson who is due in October.

I know it looks alot like the first one, but then it's supposed to !

Actually, though, this one finishes just a bit smaller.

Approximately 33 inches square.  I think the other one

must have been more like 35 inches.

The small difference in the size of the inner square

made a really big difference in the flower

pattern of the corner triangles.  I couldn't fit

quite as much of the fleur de lis stencil.

Once again, I used a cotton flannel fabric for the back,

this time in tan.

I continue to measure my bindings, just as if I were

adding another border.  This is working

much better than the old days

when I just started sewing

at one end, and lopped off the excess

at the other.

Fun at the mailbox !

Lookie what my gal, JodieAnn, sent me as a little bonus for piecing that pinwheel top for her.....treasures from Hancock's of Paducah !  A charm pack AND jelly roll !  WooHoo !

And try to ignore everything about the lady in this photo.......EXCEPT the look of JOY on her face as she picks one of only 3 tomatoes she has growing in her little garden !

Heading out the door now..........I'll catch up on the blog roll later ! 
Thanks a million, Jodie !!!!!!!!!

Tuesday APRON DAY......and quilter's meeting

Just one today..... 

I prepared this one and worked on it

at the quilter's get-together, so I didn't

throw off my "apron-day" schedule.

When I finished that, I lay out all my hexagons

and made my arrangement for

my Bible bookcover.

This is one of the tops that was brought to show and share.  Actually, it's a very informal gathering, where we just come in, pull us up a table and go to work on whatever we've brought.  If there's a lull in conversation, one of us will show something that we've been working on.  They just loved Autumn Taylor's dotted quilt.

I got a letter from my brother, Richard, today.  He's the only brother that I haven't actually seen since returning here after my 32 year absence.  We've been writing to each other, as he doesn't drive, and hardly uses their cell-phone.  Today when I opened his letter, I found that he had enclosed a photo of himself that had been taken at Thanksgiving.  I was so excited to see what he looks like after all these years.  I've GOT to make plans to visit him soon........he's only about an hour and a half away, I think.  He helps his wife make quilts every summer, when she's not teaching school !

I also spoke to the lady for whom I'm making the latest baby quilt.  She was really excited to hear that it's nearly finished.  She was wishing the baby to hurry, and I told her, "NO, no !  The baby can take his time......the quilt WILL WAIT !"

They DO get under your skin......

.....hexagons, I mean !

I guess that's why people put a 'hex' on you !

Anyway, I haven't been posting, but I have been working.  The baby quilt is coming along fine........a corner of the design takes me all afternoon.  I try to quilt a corner per session, with a day off in-between.

Then, I get to play a little.

I'm making a new cover for my Bible.......

......this is the current cover that I have on it........from my "dotty" days.  (By the way, looking at it here, I realize that this is THE BEST polka-dot fabric I have EVER seen, and I have NO IDEA where I got it !)

But a new idea came to me the other night as I was playing with my hexagons......

So, here's my start. 

Doesn't it sortof put you in mind of stained glass?

I'll probaby take the project

with me tomorrow.

 

Tomorrow afternoon is the monthly get-together

of the local quilters.  I hope to

go and take

Autumn's Awesome Polka Spots

for show and tell. 

Autumn's birthday is this weekend, 

so this is my only chance to

share it before I

say goodbye to it.  It's one

of my favorites I've ever made.

I'm so glad that bloggers' work

convinced me to give

machine-quilting another try ! 

Who is like our LORD?

My morning-coffee view.

He is just so wonderful to me !

I went back to the 4th grade class this evening,

 and was on my knees helping a

table full of boys put foam picture frames together. 

When I knelt there,

Andrew

(from "what are YOU doing in here, anyway?" fame)

recognized me and kind of sneered. 

 I said,

 "yep, I'm back Andrew and I love you."

  It was kindof loud around us and he said,

"what?" 

I said,

" I love you"

.......he said,

"what did you say?"

a little louder.

I quietly mouthed

"I------love-----you !"

He heard me that time,

 and I thought

"uh-oh, here comes the smart remark !"

Instead, he just gives me this little twitch of a smile

around the corner of his mouth,

 and goes back to working on his frame.

The rest of the evening was a piece of cake !  

Ah, this has been a wonderful week,

and I got my fix of 'missing grandkids' ! 

Now, back to quilting !

I've gotten to spend a few hours 

working on the baby quilt this week

 ....... here's what I've gotten done so far.

Hello all !

I'm still around........just not posting much.  I think that busy summer days do that to alot of us.  4th evening of Vacation Bible School went well. 

I went there around 4 p.m. today, to help bag the cotton candy for tonight's snack.  That was interesting !  The machine was loud and fibrous bits of spun sugar were flying through the air, coating the walls and filling the slits in the airconditioner vent !  I'm glad that I thought ahead and wore a cap.  The air in the room looked like a fog after an hour of operating the machine, and I started to wonder what that was doing to my lungs !  I had trouble drawing a good breath, so I went outside for a breather.

But, OH ! the cotton candy was GOOD !  And it was definitely well-received by the kids.  It was so funny to see 3 or 4 year-olds licking cotton candy, having it for the first time, and trying to figure out what in the world it was. 

Tomorrow night is pizza night.  I've spent 2 nights in the 4th grade class, and I had no idea how rowdy boys of that age can be.  One asked me, "what are you doing in here anyway?" ! ! !

Hmmmmmmmm......but he didn't run me off !        I've got two grandsons , so I'd better figure out how to relate more to boys.  I don't have any trouble with Christopher, my great-nephew.......I suspect that these boys just haven't had as much Christian love as some.   Well, that's what we're there for, right? 

Stripes in hexagon piecing

Yesterday's hexagon-piecing was inspired by something seen in this video.

At one point, she shows some piecing that she has done with striped fabric, and it just clicked something in my brain.    So I started playing around with a striped fabric of which I only had a very little !

Naturally, that means that I was just CRAZY about the results, knowing that I don't have enough of the fabric to really do anything.   Still, it's a good learning process, and I'll find SOMETHING to do with these.

On some of them, I didn't do the GREATEST job matching up the stripes, but the overall effect is good.  This last one is pieced together, and so is the one that I showed yesterday.  The top one on this post is just basted to paper.

VBS lag !

Headache here, but hexed a little today !

What in the world do I do with these?

Too much internet influence !

I keep seeing all of these hexes

everywhere,

basted around paper,

but not assembled !

Today I got out an old kit that I had

for making a Christmas wreath

wallhanging.  It has about 50 or so

paper hexes in it, precut and

tempting !

I'll probably take these apart and

try to do something with a

real color scheme......

but boy did I see how you can quickly get a

whole shoebox full of them.

These ARE addictive.

Head on over to Jess's blog to

see how she made something gorgeous with her

hexes.........

and she didn't wait to stitch them by

hand !

God bless all my friends tonight........I

hope you felt the LORD's presence

in your life today !

I'm a BAG lady !

I'm over-run with grocery bags that I save to use instead of store-bought trash bags.....

I'm sure some of you do this too. 

 But, they seem to multiply when you don't need them

and disappear all of a sudden when you do......like for a garage sale !

Well, mine have been multiplying

and I kept promising myself that I would make one

of those doo-hickies to dispense them.  So, today was the day !

I looked up my sunflower fabric,

to go with my kitchen curtains and few accessories,

 and I found these coordinates.

I spent about and hour or so working on it,

 and it seems to work well, so I'm satisfied.

Now, on to cleaning out some drawers ! 

 Clothes are multiplying too ! 

 We are SO BLESSED in this country......

our chief complaint is usually "TOO MUCH stuff" !

Hand-quilting has begun......

.....yesterday, I basted the little quilt in my little kitchen whilst my little kitty supervised from beneath.

Today I quilted........just a little !

Trying to save it for carry-along quilting,

but it's so soft and fun to quilt on,

I couldn't resist the temptation !

Dimensions of "nearly whole-cloth" baby quilt--2nd

I'm using today's post as a true web-log, to document, for myself, what the measurements are as I make this quilt.  I wish that I had done this on the first one, as this one is coming out a bit smaller.  I've had to guess, since that quilt is in Michigan or Florida, not sure which.

This quilt:
Center square--cut 1 @  20 1/2 inches.
White border frame--cut 4 @ 2 1/4 x 22 1/4. (actually, I marked them at this length measurement, then sewed and trimmed.)  I let each border extend past the quilt center one border's width, ala Judy's star construction.  Look closely at the photo below and you'll see what I mean.....that makes all 4 borders be cut at the same length, rather than 2 short and 2 long.
Corner triangles--cut 2 @ 19 inches square/slash once diagonally.

Top measures approximately 35 inches square before trimming up.....expected to finish at 34 inches square.

Sorry about the bad shot.......the deck's siding is showing through the quilt-top.

The quilting design in the corner triangles is not exactly the same as before, as these triangles are smaller than on the first quilt (you may not be able to make out the design from this photo).  Apparently, I started the other one with a bigger square than 20 inches, thereby causing the corner triangle to also be larger. 

I have the entire quilt marked for quilting now, and just need to see about a batting, iron the flannel backing fabric, and baste the quilt for hand-quilting !  I'll use a polyester batting for good quilting definition.

Second post for Tuesday.........APRON !

I had to post again since I got this finished before bedtime.

I think that this one turned out pretty, and I have a special lady in mind for it.  

In April of 1950, Hubby's brother, who was 15 at the time, drowned while messing around at the river with some cousins.  The water wasn't deep at all......it was just a freaky thing that happened.  Anyway, there was a local country store where all the people who lived out that way did business.  You know stores back then were a little bit of everything.  Well, the woman that ran the store had them bring Sewell (the brother) to her store, where she cleaned him up, ready for the mourners.  Imagine.......I've been thinking about it all evening as I sewed.  She was probably a fairly young woman, and maybe had children about that age herself. 

There were 6 kids in the family, and Sewell was a twin to a sister named Jewell.  It turned out that hubby's mama was pregnant at the time of this death......about 3 months along..........I just can't even imagine how she kept from losing that baby with the grief that she must have suffered.  Come October, my husband was born.  They didn't find out ahead of time back then whether it was a boy or a girl, of course, and it had been 13 years since the last child had been born, so hubby must have been some welcome sight after a bunch of sisters, and then the loss of this brother. 

The reason I've gone into this is that the lady that took care of the brother, to spare hubby's mama, is down here at the nursing home.  That was 60 years ago, and she talks to you as well as you or I .  I look forward to giving her this apron tomorrow and loving on her just a little.

Pinwheels top........FINISHED !

Yep, time to celebrate, .........it's all pieced, and the quilt-top is pretty big, 92" x 92"........but, really, not THAT BIG !

Here's what's left from a kit that is meant to make a top that measures 86" x 92".  There's about 20 inches, by width of fabric, of the white with red paint splatter,
6 inches, by width+ of the red plaid, and small pieces of each of the prints from making the pinwheels.

I would NOT recommend this fabric
 line(Martha's Vineyard Watercolors)
 to anyone as it has lost threads
 more than any that I have ever dealt with.
  I think it is a very loose thread count.......soft for hand-quilting, but very prone to fraying.  It is made by RJR.

I have gotten used to making smaller things for so long now, that I've forgotten what a bed-sized top was like.  And I always used to make quilts to fit my full-sized bed, not a queen.

Still and all, if Jodie doesn't have one of those wooden rails along the side of her bed, she may have to add one more border to hide the box spring. 

Anyway, I think it turned out well, and I know she'll be happy to have it back.  I imagine that this one will be quilted on Mary Ellen's long-arm quilting machine.

Now I need to see what I'll make the next apron out of, and then it's on to the baby quilt.

Those sawtooth borders....

....it sounds silly for a quilter of my experience to carry on over simple half-square triangles, doesn't it?

Well, it's not the triangles, it's those 37 seams......if they're off just a smidge, the whole thing comes out the wrong length, and I can't STAND wobbly borders or, on the 'other side of the coin', borders that are too tight, so that they pull on the quilt !

With the first triangle border, I sewed all of the half-squares together into pairs, and then measured........2  x 2 1/2 inch (minus seam allowance eaten  up) = 4 1/2 inches.  Each set measured perfectly right.  Then I joined those sets into sets of 4 squares = 8 1/2.  Then 8 squares........16 1/2 inches.  Each time they measured perfectly right, and I thought,....wow, no problem.    So, I went ahead and kept joining until I had 38 squares joined for a 76 1/2 inch border.  Well, when I measured the finished border, it measured a full INCH too long ! 
How did that happen?  I don't know !  But it meant alot of resewing just one thread farther over until I got it right.
This wouldn't have been a really big deal, except that I had pressed the seams open as the pattern suggested, for ease of bulk, and now the seams didn't press as prettily.

On the second border, I'd sew and measure, sew and measure.  Before long, the longer and longer units that were joined were measuring too short, but I kept going anyway (worried).  When I finished and measured the whole thing it was perfect ................... ??????????????????????????

So, that's the story.....I had not made a pieced border in a very long time........now I remember why.   But, boy, is it worth the extra effort.  This quilt is going to be NICE.......back to work !

I think I read it somewhere........

There was this blog where some lady was going on about how she was going to try to piece a sawtooth border and "LOVED A CHALLENGE".........I remember laughing when I read that, figuring someone had spiked her 'sweet tea' !

Oh, wait a minute.......that was no LADY !  That was ME !

And challenge IT IS !
 The first one just about bent me over backwards !  But I catch on quickly, and the second one went much more smoothly.    It almost seems a shame that there are only two more..............

WHAT ! ? !

DID I REALLY JUST SAY THAT?

Maybe I SHOULD check this tea?

My order arrived !

I ordered a whole yard and a half of a tan print from Keepsake Quilting's sale, just incase it wouldn't work with my tan I already have......that way I could use just ONE print in the baby quilt.  It just arrived, and it's JUST PERFECT with the first lighter print I bought at Hobby Lobby !  Hooray, this is going to work just great !

Outside photo........

Inside photo.

See, it works in either light !  (The darker fabric, on the left, is the other one I bought with the one next to it........it was just too dark, but this new one, on the far right is just great !

I was watching for UPS since KQ gave me a UPS tracking number, but they used something called "UPS innovations", wherein UPS delivers it to the local post office and then pays them to deliver it to your mailbox, I guess ! 

However it works, I'm just tickled pink to be ready for more projects !

And I woke up to the sweetest emails from my BUSIER THAN A BEE daughter !  Love you, baby girl..........slow down if you can, and catch your breath !

Oh, and check out this machine quilting class that Oh Franson is giving (you can get the details through links in this post........isn't the pebble quilting just OUTRAGEOUS !  I've got to sit down and try to do this........wish I could get to the class !  It's in PORTLAND, OREGON !

Gettin' back to work........

.......but first, I stumbled across this cute giveaway

over at LaDolce' Boutique !

You have an opportunity for 3 entries, so go ahead and check it out !

 Maybe one of us will win........ I can be happy for you !

I finished the interior of the pinwheel quilt top !  Hooray !

On to the borders !

Terrible photos of today's aprons

 I felt sorry for the "shoemaker's wife" today, and just made aprons for use here at home, but I just couldn't get a good photo. 

I even dropped my camera and thought that I had broken it,

 but it's working just fine, Praise the LORD !

I feel like I lost my momentum on the pinwheels, knowing that tomorrow will be a busy day, and also, that the tan fabric that I ordered for the baby quilt will probably arrive.  That baby quilt isn't due (or the baby that it's being made for, really) until October, so I'll probably go on piecing on this top.  I am so curious to know if the measurements will be good so that the sawtooth border of triangles will fit just right.  It's going to be difficult to find a place to measure a quilt that is 72 inches square (and larger) as it grows.  Love a challenge !

Don't go barefoot at Nana's/ Pinwheels, day 5?

I've lost count of how many days I've been working on these !
Anywho, I had a really good and PIECEFUL day !  Ha, my spellcheck is going crazy !
Got the last of the fabrics pieced into pinwheels, ........ greens this time !

Then I went to sit in the yard chair.

I thought I'd sit outside and pin an alternate block to each pinwheel block.  As I set my pins on the arm of the chair,

I took a look around and thought, "hmmmmm......

how difficult will it be to pick up these pins if I spill them out here?"

 Sure enough, when I reached for the FIRST pin, the tin slid off onto the ground !













 Grabbed the camera for posterity's sake, and went to work trying to insure that there would be no surprises to be found by little (or big) bare feet !

Back into the house to the couch for this bit of work, I got everything pinned on and sewn.

Next, I lay out all the blocks into color groups for choosing.

 Time to start making rows........12 rows with 12 blocks in each row, counting alternate blocks, of course.  I've pieced 6 of the 12 rows, and then joined 4 of those.

I had some momentum going, but decided to leave more work for next time.  It makes my days fun to know what it is I'll be working on, and be able to get right to it after chores.  (Yes, MAW, I got them there chores done like ya done ast me to !)

But, tomorrow is Apron-making day, right?  And hubby needs a couple more for himself, before I think about making any for the nursing home friends !

So, I'm going to bed content with today's work and looking forward to tomorrow's..........how about you?  What did you get done today?

Oh, by the way, we had a really good time at the picnic, and here's a quick shot of me, Allyssia, and her mommy, Mandy.

RED LETTER FABRIC DAY

Hooray, hooray, got all the sawtooth triangles trimmed up today !  I was saving the shavings to stuff a pincushion when I saw them out of the corner of my eye.......it looked like a bowl full of peppermint candies !

And the red print pinwheels are now pieced and squared up, too !
Since I had just finished the blue pinwheels too, I had to snap a photo to make a "Fourth of July" picture banner for my blog header.   Very festive looking, right?

I hope you all have plans for tomorrow that involve family, and taking a moment to thank God for the freedom that you enjoy. My freedom means more to me now than ever before. 
Hubby and I are invited to my brother's house (Jeff) for an after-Church picnic.  Should be FUN !
I'm bringing the banana pudding,

 deviled eggs,  freshly picked corn on the cob (from a sweet neighbor) and store-bought sweet Hawaiian rolls.

Be blessed and BE SAFE !