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Monday, August 31, 2020

Design Wall Monday - August 31, 2020

Good Morning Quilters!  The picture below is of my friend Bonnie on the right and me on the left, holding up a quilt I was finishing this week. Bonnie knows my BFF Dee, from St. Louis, Mo, so we held the quilt up together to say Hi to Dee and show Dee the quilt’s progress.




This quilt finish should get a trumpeters fanfare !! 

UFO Chapter 1:   This quilt was started when I moved from St. Louis, MO to Williamsburg, VA., about 17 years ago.  My dear friend Dee, who makes wonderful MODERN quilts, attempted to make me a “you are going away-I will miss you” quilt of nine patches.  She knew I was a traditional quilter and what could be more traditional than a nine patch?  As my departure neared, she came over with some nine patches in a box with other uncut blue and white fabric.  She was frustrated about which way to press nine patch seams so they would be opposite the neighbor nine patch when the two blocks were joined together.  So she gifted me the box, the idea she had, and said she would miss me.  I think she said something about not ever sewing a nine patch ever again, but I could be wrong.  

UFO, Chapter 2:  While living in Virginia, I decided to add smaller nine patches to the ones Dee made, and put together a quilt top of two sizes of nine patches, Dee’s 4.5”x 4.5” blocks and mine at 3” x 3”.....I avoided seam joining issues by inserting white squares between them.  I don’t know exactly when I finished the quilt top, but I would guess sometime around 2005.  I thought I would machine quilt it on my domestic machine, and so I had a long armer baste it for me in anticipation of me learning machine quilting.  I was wrong.

UFO, Chapter 3:  It sat in this unfinished state until I moved from VA to Michigan.  This move forced a reality check on just how many quilts I had in UFO status.  In 2020, I’m focused on finishing some of them.  I pulled out the machine basting stitches, and asked my long armer to quilt it with a nautical theme.  It came back from her in July.  She quilted it in anchors and waves, as it will be used on the couch at the cabin.  I like the quilting, much better than I could have done.


UFO, Final Chapter: August, 2020:  Binding......I thought I must have something in my stash to finish this off, but what?  After “shopping” in my stash for a while, I found one fabric that would work, but I didn’t exactly like the way it looked.....

The solid blue stripe blended too well with the nine patches, if I used it either straight, or on the bias.  I did like the checked stripe part of it.........Wait!  What if I used the back side?  



That will work!!  I cut it on the bias, and sewed the binding on this last week - before I could change my mind about any of it!  Yeah!  The label will be an easy addition and this will be a UFO no more.  I showed the binding fabric via text with Dee and she said either side could be the “right” side.  



What have you finished this week, or what have you moved along the line toward a finish?

Please link up and show us a picture to encourage us.  I ask only that you link back to this particular blog post and mention Design Wall Monday within your post.  Thanks!



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Monday, August 24, 2020

Design Wall Monday - August 24, 2020

 Hi everybody!  Here’s the final pictures of the gingham baby quilt.  It is bound and ready for a baby. The quilt rail fence pieces finish at 2.25” by 6.75” and when sewn together they make a block that finishes at 6.75” by 6.75”.  There are 4 across and 6 down, making a finished size of about 28” by 40”.  


Someone asked with all the seams in the binding, did any seam wind up at a corner....almost, but not quite, and all is well that ends well.  You can see that some seams came close:

The quilter put A,B,Cs and crayons in the quilting.  Cute!


Another fun fabric project happened this week because Bonnie Stapleton sent me a ziplock baggie full of her civil war scraps.  Bonnie (In Stitches With Bonnie) is one of our regular Monday linkers.  https://institcheswithbonnie.blogspot.com

First, let me say PLEASE don’t anyone else do this.  I have enough fabric in my stash to last until I’m 150 years old.  Bonnie said she had a few civil war fabrics and would I give them a home.  In a weak moment I said yes.....and I have had such fun with them today!  Bonnie I love them, and they are now ready to join my stash. I’m posting to show how I add to my “controlled” scraps.  First, I put each scrap on my little Omnigrid pad, and figure out how to get the most squares out of the scrap.  Once I cut all the squares, I cut any 1” or 1.5” short strips from the remainder of the scrap. For a future tiny log cabin.  Here’s a typical example.  Scrap before it is cut:


What was cut from it:

Here is the stack of squares to take to my shoeboxes of different size squares:




And what I put in the trash:

Two other fun serendipities from the gift:

#1. One long strip a little over 2 yards long that I think I could use as binding on a doll quilt.  What do you think?  It is being rolled up and put in my binding fabric drawer.


#2.  Some of the scraps were already sewn into cute little half square triangles that will finish at 1.5”.  I put them aside, added more scraps, and a tiny little quilt is appearing:


So thank you, thank you, thank you Bonnie!  It was a lot of fun.

Our company has all gone home, but I wanted to share one more adorable picture of the two little girls who were visiting us with their parents recently.  They had such fun playing with my log cabin doll house, and having tea parties with my dolls. 


What are you doing?  Please link up below and share with us.  I thank all of you who are so faithful in sending your pictures.  As usual, I only request that you mention Design Wall Mondays in your blog and provide a link to this post.



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Monday, August 17, 2020

Design Wall Monday - August 17, 2020

 I am starting on binding one of the four quilts I’ve gotten back from the long arm quilter.  This one is the gingham check baby quilt.  After so much company, I’m starting with the smallest quilt.  

When I looked for something to bind it with, I saw these extra parts from the rail fence front of the quilt, sewed them all together, and there was just enough to use for the binding.  It has a lot of seams, but the gingham fabric is so thin that the seams are not a problem.  

Trimmed the binding to 2.5 inches wide:


Pressing it to make it double fold:


Here is a picture of the start of the final hand sewing.  I will send a picture of the completed quilt next week.

 

 I hope to look at everyone’s blog this week and catch up with you all.  Thanks for being so understanding while I was entertaining.  It was a great week.

Please link your blog below and show us what you are creating.  As always, I ask that you link back to this particular blog post from somewhere within your post, and mention Design Wall Mondays in your post.  Have a great day!




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Monday, August 10, 2020

Design Wall Monday - August 10, 2020

 Nann just sent me a message - Did you forget Design Wall Monday?  OMGosh, I did!  Please forgive me, I have company and they have 1 yr old and 3 yr. old girls....and I have been busy playing with them.  Eating pretend ice cream cones and pretend french fries from their little play kitchen I set up for them.

Banks is taking a nap and Darcie is eating her lunch (real food).  Play kitchen is in background.


I shall be back next week with more quilting pictures.  In the meantime, you are to carry on without me.  lol








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Monday, August 3, 2020

Design Wall Monday - August 3, 2020


Good Morning Quilters!  I am using the new Blogger interface for the first time.  You can teach an old dog new tricks!!  

Our children/grandchildren left Wednesday to go home, and we have a few days to get ready for the next visitors.  We have had great weather and I am drying sheets outside on the line today.  Towels in the dryer, sheets on the line - that’s the story of our cabin between visitors.  

I am having fun putting together this quilt top of old madder prints.  There were 27 vintage fabric blocks, and I made 9 more blocks of repro fabrics to go with them.  When company left, I laid out the plan on the family room floor, 6 x 6 blocks:


I like it very much - so much so that I decided to make more of it.  I now want it to be 6 x 8, so that means I have cut out pieces for 12 more blocks, for 2 more rows.

Here is the first finished one of the additional 12 blocks:


I have three more days to get this top together (and off the floor), as more company is coming at the end of the week.  What are you working on?  Please link up and show us what you are sewing.   I ask that you provide a link back to this particular blog post from somewhere within your blog post.

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