Good Morning Quilters!
I am making progress on my bowtie blocks UFOs. Here is the design wall with my yellow skirt fabric and the solid red bows. It will finish at 45 inches square.
Good Morning Quilters!
I am making progress on my bowtie blocks UFOs. Here is the design wall with my yellow skirt fabric and the solid red bows. It will finish at 45 inches square.
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My enthusiasm for quilting was high this week. I finished sewing together all the hourglass blocks for the final border of the quilt that has been on the design wall for weeks. The quilt top measures 80” x 80”, with blocks that are 2” finished size. Here it is, and I will use the dark navy from the quilt as a binding, to repeat the color again at the edge:
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This Monday marks the start of the second half of 2024. What is going to be on your design wall in the next six months? My plan this week is to look at all the UFOs in my studio, and really examine whether or not they will get finished by me. The last time I did an inventory, I liked them all, and didn’t want to eliminate any of them. I am also going to divide the lot of them into two piles: small or doll quilts vs. bed quilts.
The finish this week is a small quilt, 20” by 20”, and was not even on the UFO list! But that is the way it goes sometimes. Here is my small quilt version of “Two Step” a Barbara Brackman pattern:
Here is a picture of the blocks laid out before sewing them together:
And next, the finished quilt, next to it’s king sized version:
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I am happy to report that I am all well. (knee replacement surgery June 3), and am back to quilting. It is so good to be back. I finished the binding on the Two Step Quilt and here is a picture of it in the family room, on the couch. The squares finish at five inches, and there are 20 squares across and 20 down. Making the finished quilt measure 100” by 100”. King size for our bed.
While finishing the binding on this quilt, I decided to make a small quilt/doll quilt of the same design. So here’s my start, with four little blocks made yesterday:
Aren’t they cute? If you would like to make a little quilt too, here is my plan:
Finished block size will be 2.5 inches square, and I will make 32 of the indigo centered blocks and 32 of the shirting centered blocks. The little quilt will then be 20 inches square. I am thinking 8 squares across and 8 down.
Cutting directions:
Cut the centers at 2” x 2” (32 dark and 32 light)
Cut the shorter borders at 1” x 2” (64 dark and 64 light)
Cut the longer borders at 1” x 3” (64 dark and 64 light)
Let me know if you decide to make one. I think it will go quite fast. It can be a little leader/ender project.You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
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What is on your design wall? As most of you know, I am recovering from knee surgery that happened two Mondays ago. Everything is going as planned and I will go to the surgeon’s office to have the stitches (actually staples) removed in two days. My progress has been great in all areas except getting back to my design wall. So my design wall looks the same as it did two weeks ago.
On June 15th, we celebrated 61 years of married bliss. We ventured out of the house that day to go to a graduation party, and on the way there, we stopped at a drug store to buy me a cane. I am recovering enough from a borrowed walker to move to using a cane. Anyway, when we got back into the car after purchasing the cane, hubby looked at me with a grin and said “Happy Anniversary”. lol.
Actually, a cane is probably a needed 61 year anniversary present in a lot of cases. I must report that he also bought me flowers and candy, and has been a great nurse while I’ve been laid up. I am blessed to have such a great hubby.
What is new on your design wall? Or what are you working on? Please link up below and show us. Reading your blogs and seeing your pictures makes us happy. Thanks for joining our Design Wall Monday Linky Party.
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This is the last picture of me with my vintage 81 year old right knee before it got replaced with the new one. DH took a picture of me in my lovely “disposable fabric” hospital gown in the pre surgery area last Monday morning.
Of course, after we figured out how to unfold it and get the thing on, I remembered that the nurse had wanted me to swipe down my entire body with antibiotic wipes before I put it on….which I had forgotten to do. That’s what we were laughing about as I posed for my “before” picture…….that I would have to take it off again and do the wipes….and then hopefully figure out how it went back on. These hospital staffs have us do everything for them nowadays! haha
So surgery went very-very well, and I was back at home by 2:00 PM the same day! All week long I’m in pjs, compression socks, ace bandages around my right knee, an ice water pump attached to my knee area, and a big blue elevation wedge under my right leg. Any walking is done with a walker.
Wedge looks like this:
Nurse Penny Lane thought that besides the compression socks, I needed a little dog “chest compression” time. She did her best to comfort me, and was especially helpful with nap time. She is a very good nap taker.
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When you read this post Monday morning, I will be in the hospital getting a brand new titanium knee. Surgery is scheduled for 7:30 AM, and I will be in surgery for about 2 hours. It is going to improve my mobility when I am healed, but I will not be sewing for a few days. Please pray for a speedy recovery for my body.
This past week I did sew some more hourglass blocks and now three of the outer borders are complete. Here is my design wall picture:
I looked at my pile of hourglass blocks that are made, and calculated how many more I need to complete the fourth border. I need to make about 150 more hourglasses. Here is the progress picture from a few days ago:
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Click here to enterToday is Memorial Day (which was called Decoration Day years ago.)
I remember when I was a child my brother and I would decorate our bicycles with red, white and blue crepe paper and ride in the parade that ended at the town cemetery. The ceremony at the cemetery, included speeches, prayers, taps, and a 21 gun salute. My father wore his WWII uniform, and would be proud that it still fit. I would guess this memory was from the mid 1950s, as I was 10 years old in 1953.
Here is a small quilt that I made that is on my coffee table today: I blogged about it (Here)
What quilt or quilts do you display on Memorial Day? I have lots on red, white and blue quilts, as I love our country so much. Red, white and blue make a great quilt color combination.
Please join in our Design Wall Monday Linky Party, and show us what you are displaying, or working on this week. Thanks so much for participating. I appreciate you so much.
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I have been sleeping on whatever quilt she has on the couch. I like them all. Here is a picture of me on an old scrappy tied quilt that is one of my favorites to sleep on.
I also keep a close watch on her and try to encourage her to take breaks from quilting so we can go outside in the sunshine. I can be very persuasive when I just stare at her, giving her long looks with little sighs.
She did finish the binding on the quilt she was working on for two weeks…….so I wagged my tail in approval.
Now she has started binding another one, and if she finishes it this week, you will see it next week. I am pretty persuasive though about getting her to quit and take me outside. My favorite thing to do outside is to roll around on the grass on my back. It gives me the nicest feeling.
What have you been doing this nice spring week? If you have nothing on your design wall, that’s o.k. My owner understands. But she does want to hear from you, and see your pictures. Please join our Design Wall Monday Linky Party below.
Thanks for your participation. My owner loves and appreciates you. .
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Well, I am ashamed to admit my binding project of the last two weeks hasn’t progressed to the finish line. Two sides are finished, and two yet to go. I have no excuses, but here are some feeble attempts at ones:
1) It’s spring and so many other distractions are happening.
2) Several friends have no car transportation right now, and hubby and/or I have been giving people rides to and fro.
3) I bought some plants and received a gift of a new gardening tool for my birthday. It is a very sharp Japanese hand hoe, and I now have three stitches in my right hand palm. So gardening has also stopped temporarily until my cut heals. Note to self: Be more careful!!! And wear gardening gloves!!
4) I’m scheduled for knee replacement surgery on June 3rd, and have several “pre-op” tasks on my schedule. The operation is something that I’m looking forward to because it is needed, but not looking forward to at the same time - ya know what I mean?
So, here I am on a Monday, with not much happening on my binding project. I will share what is now up on the design wall:
The hourglass and hst quilt on the design wall needs top and side blocks of a border added. I am sewing them in “blocks” of 6X6 hourglass units, as you can see in the picture below:
What is on your design wall? Thank you so much for joining our Design Wall Monday Linky Party. I so appreciate you, and I look forward to reading your blogs. And I especially love seeing your project pictures.
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Good Morning Quilters!
I saw this paragraph on the internet last week, and wanted to share it with you:
Some people get addicted to chain-smoking their problems. They spend all day going from sorrow to sorrow. It doesn't have to be that way. You can live each day going from joy to joy—like a sunflower that turns to face the sun as it moves across the sky. It's not about having a problem-free life, but about focusing on the light. Sunflowers still have shadows, but they are always behind them.
Today is a day to look toward the sun, and enjoy my blessing and not dwell on problems. This past week has been a slow progress week in quilting for me. There are two quilts that need binding, and I am working on one of them. It is a quilt I made from the "Grandmother's Choice" quilt blocks from the Barbara Brackman's blog about women's rights. She put out a series of 49 blocks and very interesting stories about the history of women's rights (or lack thereof). Her blog is (Here) This quilt is now an almost completed UFO that was started back in September of 2012. My, how time flies when you are having fun!
My quilt is made of fall colors, with lots of black and cheddar, and the quilting pattern is fall leaves. I plan to display it this fall, for Thanksgiving. Thankful for all the rights women have today. Here is a picture of my progress in hand sewing the binding to the backside.
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Last week I started a tutorial on how I made my fabric baskets, and didn’t get very far into my instructions before I had to stop to get to bed. I told you I’d continue the instructions this week. Well, writing instructions are a lot of work, and after looking at some youtube videos, I decided to direct you to some good instructions there - and not try to reinvent the wheel. One video that I really liked was (Here)
The basic concepts are the same, no matter the measurements. I started by making a “turning inside out” space in the bottom of the lining seam. Then I switched to leaving a “turning inside out” space on one of the side seams….so the lining wouldn’t have an obvious extra seam where I closed the turning hole. But this video leaves a space for turning right in the seam around the top of the basket. And it is sewn shut with the final top stitching of the seam around the top of the basket. Sweet!
So I hope you forgive me for not continuing my tutorial. But, I know when I’m trying to do something that has been done better many times on the net.
My retreat in Shipshewana was heavenly, and I had such a great time. Having my daughter with me made it extra special, and the quilts these women make are spectacular!
Here are my contributions to the Friday Night Show ‘n Tell:
And my daughter, Christa showed the apron she made at the retreat, and two white geese that she crocheted.
I had a birthday Tuesday, April 16th, after I returned home. Now I am 81. If I was dyslexic, I could be 18! Many friends called, some stopped by, and others filled my Facebook page with well wishes. Plus the usual cake and candles. I felt really blessed.
So I’ve had some very full days since we last talked. I hope you have been blessed too. Please share your post below in our Design Wall Monday Linky Party so we can read your post. Thanks to all who participate, you are appreciated.
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Click here to enterSome of you wanted instructions for the little bags that I gave to fellow quilters at the retreat last week. Here’s what I did:
Cut 4 outside pieces (two for body and two for lining) at 10 inches X 12 inches.
Cut 2 pieces of batting the same size, 10 X 12
Place an outside piece with a piece of batting behind it, and quilt it with an easy crosshatch pattern. I start at the upper left corner and sew a line diagonally to the lower right corner. Then I lay a strip of scrap fabric the width that I want to have the lines be (apart from each other) and sew next to it, in the same direction. I keep adding straight lines, using my scrap fabric guide for making the lines even with each other. Then I start in the opposite corner and repeat the whole process until the crosshatch quilting is complete. Do this with both outside pieces. See example below:
In the above case, I didn’t even have to use my fabric strip to guide where the next line of stitching went - I just used the fabric motifs as my guide.
Do this until the grid is complete. Repeat this on the second outside fabric with a batting piece behind it.
After the 2 battings are quilted to both the front and the back pieces, put them right sides together and sew around three sides…..Down a 10 inch side, along the bottom 12 inches and up the other 10 inch side. Set aside.
For the lining put the lining 2 pieces right sides together and sew the same as above EXCEPT leave open a “turning space” of about 2.5 inches in the middle of one side.
Folks, this is as far as I got with the directions before I left for the retreat.
I’m back home now and am very tired. The retreat was wonderful, and I will finish the directions next Monday, when my brain is more alert. Right now I am home safe and sound, very happy, and had a wonderful time with my daughter. She flies home this afternoon.
I’m looking forward to seeing what you have accomplished while I was away playing. Please join our Design Wall Monday Linky Party below and show us. Thank you so much!
Hugs, Judy
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This week I have been preparing for a week’s quilting retreat in Shipshewana, Indiana. The special treat for me this time is that my daughter is flying in to go with me. That is making it really special.
Getting ready involves making lists of what to take, changing my mind about what to take, and making more detailed lists. We leave on Wednesday, after I pick her up at the airport. My daughter does a lot of crocheting, but she may do some sewing, so I am taking two of my sewing machines.
This group of women often wear old fashioned aprons while they sew, so I washed and ironed all the aprons that I have inherited. I am ready to be “stylin” in my pretty aprons. Here’s a picture:
Five are made by my mother and I remember her wearing them all. The one in the upper right was made by my younger sister in home economics class in probably 1963 or 1964. It screams “made in the 60s” with the lovely purple and orange print! I think it’s so ugly that it’s cute.
Also this week I worked on a small gift for some of my friends at the retreat. I found instructions on the internet for a small fabric bag that they can use to put supplies or scraps in while they are sewing. The pattern is really easy and if anyone is interested, I can share the instructions with you another week. I had fun choosing two coordinating fabrics to make each one. Sometimes I couldn’t choose which fabric should be the liner vs. the outside. See?
Here is a picture of ones I have made so far:
They are made with two outside pieces of fabric cut 10” by 12”, to give you an idea of their size. They are fun to make, and very easy.
What are you making this week? I am looking forward to seeing your pictures and reading about them. Thanks so much for faithfully linking up with our Design Wall Monday Linky Party. You are appreciated.
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Here’s one of my Dad’s corny jokes for you:
He walks slowly into the kitchen, draggng his feet on a morning like this one and says….………..….”Boy, am I TIRED!”.
And either my brother or I would answer…..”Why?”
He would very slowly explain….……”Well, who wouldn’t be, after a March of 31 days!”
As an Army infranty man, serving in WWII, he especially enjoyed his yearly joke for us.
My week has been one of travel. And today I will be traveling even more. We are driving from Grand Rapids to Chicago and back to help a friend who needs transportation. So this post will be short and sweet. What is sweet about it? How about finishing the binding on a quilt….actually two UFOs in one. Hurrah!
The front view:
Back view:
Close-up pictures of the blocks on each side:
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Well, some weeks are productive, and some are not. This week was not. Here is a picture of the start on my Cousin’s Walk borders, as it looks this morning:
So, with my lack of quilting progress, I am looking forward to reading your blogs and seeing progress happening. Don’t disappoint me! Join our Design Wall Monday Linky Party below and show me up big time. Thanks for participating. I appreciate you.
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This week has been a productive week for me - quilt wise. Remember when I showed you a challenge quilt that some friends are making that was all hourglass blocks? (Here). The blocks finish at two inches. Here is my progress on my version:
Here’s my beginning on two borders:
I think it is going to be faster as I’m doing the same flower twice in a row, and sometimes I learn a better way to do it, as I compare my work with the first one made to the second one. I have 10 more bird blocks for the center of the quilt, and I am happy to be starting on the borders because they are full of flowers and leaves.
Penny Lane thanks you for all the nice remarks about her, and she says Thank You.
I also relayed to Elise all of your kind remarks about her. (Elise and her quilt) She is still sewing together her blocks into a quilt top (at her home). I hope to get a progress report from her tonight. I will keep you updated.
Design Wall Monday Linky Party is below, waiting for you to join in. (I just read that the English “rule makers” have given us permission to end a sentence with a preposition. It makes me happy because I no longer feel like I’m breaking the rules when I use one to end a sentence with). Of course with our hobby of quilting, there are no rules, and I like that very much!
Thanks for joining in and showing us your work, or play, or anything related to quilting. I appreciate you.
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