Saturday, November 17, 2012

Grandma's Sewing Room (Spools Block) - It's a Flimsy


I've hand sewn together all the points I didn't think met right, ripped off the border and added a think black inner border and now my UFO is a flimsy that I think will go back to being a UFO until after Christmas since I need to get some more Christmas gifts finished.

 And, this Grandma's sewing room (notice I don't have a "studio") is full of other things besides spools like jars of buttons, peanuts...

...jars of M and Ms and, I don't know if you can see them or not...but this Grandma even has a few spiders and spider webs in her sewing room.

I'm not sure of what to use for the back and was contemplating bow tie blocks made of black and sewing themed fabrics for the back to make it a reversible quilt but these look kind of blah but I could make a separate quilt out of them and maybe embroidery sewing related items in the center. Hmmm... decisions, decisions...

And since this is a UFO turned flimsy I'm linking up at Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project - UFO Sunday.    This is the second UFO I've been motivated to work on. And thanks to the UFO Sundays I've got one UFO finish (Spider Web Quilt)

I'm also linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times. 

Friday, November 16, 2012

Telltale Hearts


I believe pieces...


...unite to make a whole...with a heart. I believe this is a quilt before the final stitch has been taken and a label attached.

Who are these women who want the right to silence the beating heart?  And after the silence do they hear the beating of the telltale heart?

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Looking for Fun and Feeling Groovy (and Nostalgic).

Remember the '70s? Long hair, no bra, flowers in your hair! 

 Did you drive a VW bug like I did? My first car - a 1969 VW beige beetle. Remember "slug a bug, no return"?
 Peace, love, and flowers...
 And even more peace, love and flowers.
 Happy block quilts aren't just for kids. This one is for my brother and sister-in-law for Christmas. Peace, baby. I'm feeling groovy. Can you dig it? I think they will think it lots of fun.

And the local thrift store had a perfect backing. It's been here in a pile for about 2 years waiting for the perfect quilt.


I have fond memories of the 70s. We had two children in the 70s, got married (yes, in that order), bought our first house (3 bedroom, 2 bath for $32,000.00) and lived in Florida at the time just a short walk from the beach. Ah, to be young again! (I still have long hair and prefer to go braless ;-)

Linking up to Linky Party Tuesday at Freemotion Quilting by the River. 

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Grandma's Sewing Room


The UFO I've been working on a little bit here and there for the last couple of weeks has been my spools quilt aka "Grandma's Sewing Room" .   I didn't have enough blocks to complete the top but now I'm glad to say I have a lap quilt flimsy.  Spools are 6.5 inch and all are red, black and aqua.  There's a few other blocks in this quilt so I don't want to show the entire flimsy just yet. 



Unfortunately, I'm my own quilt police. It bothers me when things don't come together quite right. I can live with a little wonky, but not much. This quilt is just for me and I know I will always look at it and know where the "bad spots" are.  So, I put a pin at those spots (see below) . I will rip and hand sew these spots back together again until it meets my own standards.

 And speaking of ripping...I added a border of sewing items. I've added the border to the two sides. I think I should have added a thin black border before I added the border seen here. So, I'm stalled for now.


I have to figure out how to quilt my Attic Windows now. I don't want to destroy the 3D effect. Any ideas??? 


Saturday, November 10, 2012

There's a Hole in the Barn Door and other Tales from the Stash Pile



Today I sewed on quilts for donation and am trying to use up scraps and stash.  Easily bored I switched back and forth between 3 different quilts.

I made 7 (13 to go) Hole in the Barn Door 12 inch blocks using some 6.5 inch squares I have on hand from various  I Spy type swaps.  These blocks will go to either Wrap a Smile or Wrap Them in Love. 



I also made 5 more crumby stars and...


...I also made 42 - 12 inch Rail Fence blocks (white, gray, blue)  from scraps and stash that I will probably assemble for the Hurricane Sandy quilt drive started by Victoria Findlay Wolf of Bumble Beans.  



Tomorrow I need to work on some Christmas gifts.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Feeling Crumby

As much as I want to follow along again with everyone quilting one of Bonnie Hunter's (Quiltville)  mysteries, I won't be participating this year. I still have the last two mysteries, Roll, Roll Cotton Boll and Orca Bay still sitting on my UFO table unquilted.  Instead I feel this urge to get rid of some scraps. Small scraps. String scraps. Really small scraps. Big scraps. Cute scraps. Ugly scraps. I really can't bring myself to waste anything, especially fabric (yes, I'm a hoarder).  So, instead of starting a new mystery which I will leave sitting unquilted for years I'm going to use that time I would have spent using scraps. And, the results will be donation quilts.  I have various places to send them now.  I wonder how many quilts I'll get finished and donated that are made from scraps.



Today's 4.5 inch crumb blocks - 20 of them. 
 And some crumb stars. 

Feeling crumby.

Linking up at Sew Many Ways...Sew Darn Crafty

Friday, November 2, 2012

CQJP November Block - Crazy Basket Case

 This is my November block for the Crazy Quilt Journal Project.  I have 7 blocks to go for a lap quilt.
 Oh, my blurry photos!...my hands seem to shake a little when I hold the camera... I added a basket charm with french knot flowers, some gathered gingham ribbon flowers, some leaves, some chain stitch...
 ...some feather stitches and lazy daisy stitches, some feather stitches and french knots...
 ...some feather stitches and pistil stitches, some polka dot ribbon and herringbone stitches.
And here are all my blocks so far pinned together. I put muslin in the blank spots. So...I just need to make some blocks to replace the muslin and need to make 5 blocks for another row down the side.  Then I'll piece some red and white crumbs for a little border.  

I've used primarily red and white, added one or two baskets to each block and tried to make each seam different. Oh, and I've made it all washable - its a lap quilt called Crazy Basket Case.  Crazy, huh?

And, it's time to register for CQJP 2013 now. And...I'll be making another lap quilt.  Can't wait to start.