I'm getting behind !

 I finish things now, and I think, "I need to make a new post on my blog about this !"  But time passes and I start something else, and..................I GET BEHIND !

So, to catch up, I think that I have just two new finishes.  

First, if you've read my blog for a while, you may remember that last year I made a very big throw quilt,       

close to twin-size, for my daughter, using her papa's flannel shirts.  It was her memory quilt, and she loves it.......snuggles in it on her couch.   Well, it's been bothering me, since then, that I still had a big zip-lock baggie of the leftover pieces that were just too big, and frankly, too dear, for me to toss out.  

So, I got them out with the idea of making myself a rag quilt.  Instead, it turned into a lap throw without a batting, just big enough for me to snuggle under in the recliner, and feel like I still have James close by (just a little bit) !

 I bought a piece of flannel, for the back, that reminds me alot of the brighter flannel shirts that he wore in his younger days.  As he got older, he got more conservative.

I included a couple of pockets, and several of the shirt labels, and I'm really happy with it.

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Then while a friend and I were visiting another widow last week, I showed her my memory quiltie, and she acted (teasingly) like she was going to keep it.  I said, "do you want a quilt?"  She promptly went back to her bedroom and then returned to hand me a plastic bag filled with pieces of poly-cotton solids in quarter-yard or so cuts.  I thought, "oh, no....not poly !  

But I told her that I would see what I could come up with, and she told my friend that as long as it was made with love, it would be wonderful.  Well, later I went to a secondhand store that I haunt, and I was hoping to find more fabric, possibly for a backing .  Then I came upon this beautiful sheet, and realized that the print contained several of the fabric colors from her bag.

 I went right home, washed and dried that sheet, and cut out my design.    That was Saturday, and on Tuesday I put the last stitches into the binding. This is a photo of the top before quilting.

  It was a challenge to work with the poly-cotton after so many years of 100% cotton fabrics, and don't even ask what it was like to join two pieces of extra-loft batting together by zig-zag stitches on the machine !   But, I am very happy with the finished product, and I hope to be able to give it to Mama Nelly on Sunday, at church.

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And, oh yeh !   This will be an upcoming finish.  The center portion is all pieced, BIG HEXIES !   But I haven't decided whether or not I want any borders. Stay tuned !

Yard sale treasures

Hello friends.  Just popping in to journal my treasure find.

  I came across a yard sale today at the end of my street.  The man who lived there died this summer, and the house has now sold.  The people who bought the house also got all contents of whatever was left in the house and sheds.  

 I walked up to a tarp lying on the ground, scattered with what looked like quilt piecing.  Turned out they were quilt tops, hand-pieced (tucks and all), and the lady said that they were priced at $5. each.  I chose this one with black blocks as it's piecing seemed to be the best of the lot, and I was intrigued with what could be a somewhat more masculine colorway.....the others were pretty bright, or very pastel/girly.

 When another shopper saw me looking at these, she told me that there were more in one of the sheds.  I went through those also, and then chose this one with string blocks.  I'd like to copy the design if I don't actually finish this top into a quilt.  I mean it's a simple block that I see everywhere, but perhaps having this where I can see it often, I'll be more inspired to actually make one. 

 It's mostly hand-pieced, but I can see where someone took some of the quarter blocks and machine-sewed them into the final block size.  There are bits of newpaper stuck in some of the seams as well. I sprayed them both down with my waterhose, and the fabrics in this one dried VERY stiff.  They don't seem to be thicker, so I don't know what that's about, but I wouldn't want to try hand-quilting through THEM !