It's a Finish!

It's a finish!

I've seen the block called St. Bridget's Cross, Whirligig and Windmill. 

8 inch blocks made from 2.5 inch width scraps

40 x 56

I finished the top in November 2022.

I quilted it with spirals in lime green thread on my Brother DSM.

The backing is lime green with pink dots. And the binding is a pink/purple/green stripe.

And sew on...

 

Crocheting Edgings for Pillowcases

I used to pick up a lot of needlework projects at the thrift stores years before I retired thinking it would be nice to have a stash of things to work on when I retired. I used to find such good bargains especially at the D.A.V. (Disabled American Veterans) thrift store but then I guess in later years folks were buying up the things I was buying to sell on Ebay or Etsy because a lot of the crafty/vintage type items just sorted of disappeared. Six plus years into retirement that time to work on my bargains has come and I've been having fun pulling things out of a couple of boxes I've had stored away for quite awhile.  Lately I've been working on pillowcases -embroidering on some and adding crocheted edgings to some. I also have a box of crochet threads and some of those were picked up at the thrift stores as well.  For my edgings I've been using size 10 crochet cotton and a size 7 crochet hook. I was pleasantly surprised my eyes and hands still worked well enough to crochet those edgings. 

The set of two pillowcases was 45 cents. They are made of pillowcase tubing so no side seam on them. The bird motif was already done in ballpoint embroidery paint. I've never tried using that but it is surprising that even pretty close up it looks like it has been embroidered.   These look like they will need a good soak after I finish the edging but otherwise they are in good shape and of very nice fabric that feels like 100% cotton. 

Since last Sunday's blog post on pillowcases  I've finished the embroidery and crochet edgings on a set of stamped and hemstitched pillowcases with horses.  I used some variegated embroidery threads and then found some variegated crochet cotton in my stash to use for the edgings. 

To continue with the theme I added a crochet edge fence post pattern. 

After I finish the edging on the bird pillowcases the next one to get a crocheted edging is the one above - another 45 cent bargain.  Someone has already done the embroidery - an Autumn theme - and I have some variegated crochet cotton that will go nicely with the colors whomever did the embroidery used.   

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all of these pillowcases when finished but if nothing else they might make a fun gift wrap for a quilt stuffed inside. 

And sew on...

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

 

Red Odds and Ends

Squared Away

7.5 inch blocks

Red is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of the month. Time to move on to a new color. I had a few 2 inch width scraps left over from scraps I used to make Stars and Happy Blocks last week  so I used those up this week.   Now that I look at the picture I see two of the bottom blocks are put together incorrectly. I'll blame the heat. We've had a heat wave that last few days and this old farm house does not have air conditioning. Thank goodness after last nights thunderstorms we now have cooler temperatures. 

Bow Ties

3 inch blocks

Indian Hatchet

4 inch blocks

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

 

Finished Soul Searching

Soul Searching

It's a finish!

42 x 60

The quilt was inspired by a quilt called Soul Searching in the book Making Quilts by Kathy Doughty. I say "inspired" because her blocks called for 2.5 inch width rectangles and I used 1.5 inch width rectangles instead.  

I started making blocks last year when I finally cleaned out my 1.5 inch width scrap bin.  I finished enough blocks to make a small donation quilt top in April of this year. 

And now I've finished it with some spiral quilting on on my DSM. 

The backing is a green floral and the binding was a neutral. 

And now it has been washed so it's soft and crinkly and is ready for donation.

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

 

Assessing The 2 Inch Square WIPs

Over the last year or so two different people have gifted me with gallon bags full of 2 inch squares. I have been having some fun since then figuring out different ways to use them.  Earlier in the month I finished a child sized donation quilt top using dark and light squares. 

I'm almost finished with the one above. I just had to see how far my lime green solid would go before I decided how to finish it up around the edges. 

I wanted to make the border like the inner sashings. I had enough lime green for the longer sashing pieces but not enough to put into the nine patches so I'll make the nine patches in the border all from 2 inch squares without the lime green squares.   Now that I have the pieces cut and a lot of the 2 inch squares sewn together I have no excuse to turn it into a UFO. 

You know...originally I was making the Sixteen Patches for Arkansas Crossroads blocks. After I made a few blocks this old lady was getting an old lady vibe from the blocks so I kind of put them aside thinking maybe they would go into the orphanage.   Then someone gave me that lime green solid piece of yardage and a different quilt that gave off a bright and wild vibe was born that used the Sixteen Patches I had made. 

I recently finished a Paper Chain quilt using 2 inch squares.   I mentioned in that blog post that I was thinking of making a baby quilt in that pattern using pastels. 

And so I have now started a baby quilt using 2 inch pastel squares and a pink floral I had in my little stack of pinks. I wasn't sure if I was going to have enough of the pink floral and thought I might have to add in another pink fabric so I started cutting pieces of pink for 49 blocks (42 x 42 quilt) and when I made that goal I did the math to see if I had enough pink fabric to make 7 more blocks for a little quilt 42 x 48. Well, I did!  

So I just need to make more of these easy blocks.  I have no excuse to turn this into a UFO.

And not only was I separating out the pastels from the bags of 2 inch scraps as I made quilts - I was also separating out the black, white, black and white and solid color or TOT squares to make Four Patches with black, white and one other color.  I was thinking of a small quilt for this one. 

And I am thinking right now of alternating the Four Patches with some solid color squares. I have a little baggie of 3.5 inch width solid scraps I'll be able to use. 

And now I am down to this right now. I know when I get around to processing a few piles of scraps I will have more to add because I have been adding to it and not just taking out of it.  I might have to finish a quilt with an old lady vibe for an old lady. Or...

I was reading Maureen's blog this morning and she was talking about how she didn't want to get her smidgy bits muddled.  That made me laugh. My smidy bits are always muddled!  But what a fun name for scraps...Muddled Smidgy Bits!

And sew on...

 

Embroidering Pillowcases

I mentioned a few weeks ago that long long ago I used to pick up different needlework projects at the thrift store to work on after I retired.   One of the things I've been working on lately is embroidering stamped pillowcases.    I picked up this one for 65 cents as you can see from the thrift store tag. 

It must be a very old pillowcase.  It has some brown storage stains that I think will come out with a  soak in oxyclean. I didn't want to soak it before stitching for fear I would lose the stamped design.   And look at the original pricetag...from Penneys and 2/1.00! Gosh the pillowcase is so soft and according to the gold tag on it the pillowcase is 100 percent cotton with 140  threads to square inch. 

Well, now it is finished and ready for a soak!

Next up - a pair of stamped pillow cases I picked up for $1.95.

Those are finished now too.

And now in the hoop -- pillowcases with horses. I picked this pair up at the thrift store for $2.95. Looks like originally they were sold at Ben Franklin for $7.99.  

I have been using some variegated threads to stitch on this one. 

This set of pillowcases has a hemstitched edge for crochet. I do have a couple of old vintage pamphlets of patterns for crochet edgings for pillowcases so I guess I need to dig those out as well as my crochet hooks and box of crochet threads. 

Working on all of these pillowcases has kind of inspired me to make some pillowcases. I have quite a few vintage embroidery transfers for pillowcases. 

And sew on...

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

 

Square in Square Transformations

 One of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) projects to make from scraps and black and white fabrics started in January 2021 was 3 inch Square in Square (SIS) blocks.  After more than a year of making them I ended up with over 300 SIS blocks. This year I divided them up into piles for 3 different comfort quilts.   I finished top #1 that alternated SIS blocks with squares in May. 

Quilt #2 will consist of 6 inch stars with SIS centers.  Since this month's RSC color is red I transformed some SIS blocks into stars with red backgrounds. 

After all of this pile of SIS blocks gets transformed into 6 inch Stars I think there will be enough for a twin sized quilt. 

These are kind of fiddly with 21 pieces in a little six inch Star but they are nice and scrappy - just the way I love a quilt.

For quilt #3 I pulled out most of the I Spy type SIS blocks and have been using them as the centers for six inch Happy Blocks that will make a fun comfort quilt for a little one. 

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

 

Paper Chain Finish

It's a finish!

Paper Chains

60 x 78

Most of the pieces came from a bag of 2 inch squares I received last year as well as some of my own squares.   At around the same time I received the squares someone posted a link to the Paper Chains pattern at Wedding Dress Blue blog.   So I guess I was meant to make Paper Chains.

I finished the top in May 2022.

And now I've finished the quilt -- quilted on my DSM with spirals. 

The binding is scrappy and all of it came out of my leftover bindings bin.

The backing is a gentlly used sheet that came from the thrift store. 

And now it is ready for donation. 

I think I will keep this block in mind for a baby quilt and use some of the pastel, mostly pink, 2 inch squares. 

And sew on...

Finished or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

 

Bricks And Stepping Stones Finished

Bricks and Stepping Stones

40 x 59.5

It's a finish!

Made with 3 inch scraps last year. The top was finished in August 2022.

This month the theme in my sewing space is Squares and Rectangles and this little quilt has both so I decided it was time to find a backing and get it finished.   I quilted it on my DSM with swirls.

The backing and binding.

And now it is ready for donation!

And sew on...

 

Wednesday Wandering

I had a wonderful walk through my cottage garden the other day. I can't even begin to describe the scent in the air from the Oriental and Orienpet Lilies ! Mixed with the scent of a few other flowers like roses and mints there is no perfume like it. 

I was fortunate to see two Pipevine (or Blue) Swallowtails in the Bee Balm (Monarda).  The adults live only 6-14 days so I guess that day was my lucky day. I was at the right place at the right time. I was also lucky to get pictures since their forewings never stopped beating and as soon as I focused in the camera it seemed they would take flight, dance in the air for a bit and then visit the Bee Balm again. 

Evidently the Pipevine Swallowtail is quite rare in Iowa. 

They live on plants species belonging to the genus Aristolochia like Dutchman's Pipe and I happen to have some of that invasive vine growing on a trellis in the middle of my cottage garden.  And in the picture above those heart shaped leaves that look out of place is Dutchman's Pipe that escaped from the trellis. 

As a defensive adaptation, the Pipevine Swallowtail draw aristolochic acid from the food plants they consume in order to protect themselves from predators by being poisonous when consumed by the latter. 

Oh joy!

And continuing on...