Design Wall Monday - February 25, 2019

My mind was blown by quilters on the Internet this last Monday!  I talked to you about this UFO that I pulled out of storage to finish:

BUDS IN A BASKET

After blogging about it, a friend, Gretchen, who links up every Monday, (Gretchen's blog post here) commented that she had just discovered the book that this pattern is in.   Her blog post told about another blogger who was also making this quilt.  And what blew my mind is the other blogger (Kim) is from Tazmania!  I went to Kim's blog and saw her lovely pictures of the book and the Buds in a Basket quilt that she is making (Kim's blog post here) 

I am so happy that I live in the age where I can connect with Gretchen in Indiana and another quilter in Tasmania, 9,828 miles away......on an island off the coast of Australia!  And talk to them on the Internet about the same quilt and book.  Kim linked up with my blog last week, and her blog has such beautiful pictures.  

Our grandmothers would not have believed that such a thing would be possible.  I can hardly believe it myself.  Thank you Kim and Gretchen for blowing my mind!

Last week I worked on making more triangles for Broken Dishes blocks, and getting the binding sewed down on the large Valentines Quilt.  I have three sides finished and one to go.  My goals for this week are:

1) get the sections of the cheddar small basket quilt together and get it off the design wall.  I must not like this part of the project because it is taking me a long time.

2) Get the white border on the Buds in a Basket quilt (pictured above).

3) Sew more Broken Dishes blocks for the quilt I'm making for our bed.  I try to make 10 or more each day.

There should be lots of quilting time this week, as hubby is flying off to Florida to golf with 17 other golfers for a week of golfing fun.  I am happy to be staying home with the puppy dog and will be quilting away.  I'll treat it as a "quilting retreat" as the weather here in Michigan will keep me happily snowed in.

What are your plans for this week?  And what is on your design wall if you have one?  I love to see what you are working on, and enjoy having you add your blog post as a link to Design Wall Mondays.  My only request is that you please include a link back to this particular blog post somewhere within your blog post.  Thanks!

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Design Wall Monday - February 18, 2019

Last week I looked at a UFO to see what needs to be done to finish it.  It's called "Buds in a Basket" and is almost finished.  I got stuck on the two outer borders.  One was a simple white border, and the last border was thirties fabrics.  I remember that I put it away because I attached the white border and it was wavy, so I took it off, and put the project in time out.  Looking at it now, I see that the white border was cut unevenly.  So instead of a 4 inch wide border, it is now trimmed to an even cut and will be slightly narrower.  I also will be more careful to measure the length of it and sew the exact same length border on each side.  That problem will be solved so, I looked at the final border instructions.  Ahhhh, I see why I stopped working on this quilt (besides the wavy white border)....the final border is random lengths of all of the fabrics used in the quilt.  Random?  I'm a precision accountant control freak....how do I do that?  Plunge in and do it, that's how.  This is not rocket science!

Here is a picture of part of the quilt, so you can see what it is:

The fabrics are all "thirties", so I took out my stash of thirties fabrics and cut a piece from each one......and tried to "randomly" sew pieces together for the outer border.  I confess, I actually divided them into four piles, red/pink, yellow, green, blue/purple.....and then tried to randomly sew one from each pile to the strip....not necessarily in any order.  Very hard for me to do.  Do you struggle with random? 

Here are the strips, and a few extra pieces:

I am also continuing with construction of small Broken Dishes blocks:

Last week I finished 50 of them.  By the time I'm finished with this quilt, I will probably be able to assemble them in my sleep!

What is on your design wall this week?  The small cheddar baskets quilt is still on mine, but the rows are half sewn together, and it should come down soon.  Especially since I have the Baskets of Buds quilt that I want to put up there.

I am so happy that you participate in Design Wall Mondays, and all I ask is that you refer back to this particular blog post somewhere within your blog post.  Thanks!

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Design Wall Monday - February 11, 2019

Happy Valentines Week!  My small Valentine quilt and her larger counterpart are out this week in celebration.  You probably remember this quilt when it was on my design wall:

Here's the little one, 14" by 15", which is hanging in the dining room:

My large postage stamp Valentine quilt just came back from the long arm quilter, and is now waiting for final binding and a hanging sleeve.  Here it is on the railing by the front door, and as a bonus; Penny Lane is in the picture too.

The top half of it is seen down the stairs, but is upside down.  I need to get the hanging sleeve on it, so I can hang it on a wall, all right side up.

Measurements are 81" width by 77" height.  Since each square is an inch, it must mean there are 6,237 pieces in the quilt, although I didn't count them.

Here is the cross-stitch pattern from the Internet that I used:

And lastly, and sweetly, here are our initials in the center of the center heart.  Awwwww......ain't love grand?

What's on your design wall this week?  I have been away from home most of last week, and didn't get a chance to look at every one's walls, but I plan to this week.  Show us what fun is happening on your design wall.  Only request I have is that you refer back to this particular blog post somewhere within your post.  Thanks!


  

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Design Wall Monday - February 4, 2019

I'm still sewing rows of baskets together into the quilt top on the design wall.  I did cut the corner and side triangles for it, but it looks pretty much the way it looked last week, so no picture for you.

But here's a picture of Gideon, a sweet child of some friends of mine.  He is pictured on a quilt that I gave them as a wedding gift.  This quilt is so cheerful and spring-like, and Gideon is so cute on it, that you get this picture instead.  Much better.

Most of last week was spent on prepping half square triangles for the Broken Dishes quilt.  There are 1300 Broken Dishes blocks in the quilt, and I am almost at the half-way point.   Since I try to make 100 each week, this week I prepped the last 292 needed in the red and shirting colors.  The thought of having all of the red/shirting ones made was enticing.

Progress made:

1) cut Triangles-on-a-Roll papers into units that make 40 half square triangles
(which is 10 Broken Dishes blocks)  I cut 29 sheets.

2) Sandwich them with squares of one red fabric and one shirting fabric, making sure the fabrics were right sides together, with the paper pinned on top. x 29

3) Sew on the sewing lines while watching the snow come down.  This part is mindless, yet somehow very soothing to me.  27 sewn, 2 to go

4) Cut the units apart and tear the paper off.  This is as far as I got this last week, and I will be finishing them this week.  Still cutting units apart.

What I discovered that may be useful to you if you use these papers:

When you cut the units apart, keep all the two hsts units together and don't make the last cut down the middle to cut them apart.  Then tear the paper off the two.....and after that make the final cut down the middle between the sewn lines.

This way, you are only tearing off 3 pieces of paper.....instead of tearing off 4 smaller pieces of paper if you had made the final cut first.  The final cut can be made without the paper guidelines attached, as it is just a cut between two seam allowances of two hsts.  Hope this makes sense to you.  After making so many of these, I'm thinking about the easiest way to do every little part of it. 

I will be trying the "Magic Eight" method of making triangles on the final green and shirting ones, as I am out of the papers, and haven't been out and about to buy more.

We have been snowed in for most of the week, and it is finally melting away.  Here is a picture of my patio furniture taken last week, to give you an idea of how much snow we had.

What have you been sewing on this week?  I do enjoy your pictures and thank you to all who link up and join the fun.  Please provide a link back to this particular post within your blog post.  Thanks!







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