Two Finishes

    Last night I started hand sewing the binding on to the Christian wall-hanging.  This morning I finished the binding and added a label.  I am pleased with it and hope the receiver will. 

     This afternoon I sandwiched another small comfort quilt but instead of quilting it, I made a quick casserole carrier.  I saw a great tutorial by Crafty Gemini.  She also has a great video tutorial on YouTube.  You can find the directions and the link from her blog..

 Instead of using 2 plain pieces of fabric I decided to piece one for the outside.  I used 25 -5” squares.  I trimmed ¼” all around after piecing to get the 22” square needed.  I quilted the top to  Insul~Bright heat resistant batting  and the inside fabric to cotton batting (23” square).  I quilted with the serpentine stitch and the walking foot. 

After quilting, I trimmed and sewed the 2 quilted pieced right side together leaving an opening for turning. I also top stitched all around the edge. Here the strips are stitched and ready to sew on.  1 long 5” by 22” and 2 short 4 ½” by 7”  

I ironed interfacing to the inside of the straps to give extra strength.

I hope this will make a good item for the GCQ guild silent auction in September.  I may make some for Christmas gifts.

I will be home for Labor Day and quilting on 2 comfort quilts.   Enjoy your holiday.  

Progress on Several Projects

   Second comfy pet bed is finished and the third is begun.  Tuesday a guild member contributed 3 grocery bags of her fabric and batting scraps.  I also brought home a small bag of trimming from GCQ comfort quilt sew day so the pet bed was filled quickly.  I think this is a great idea for using the thread and fabric trimmings instead of just putting them in the trash. 

    Wednesday’s SQG ladies finished paper-piecing blocks and today I sewed them all together with sashing, cornerstones and a border.  This wall-hanging is being made as a gift for a pastor who is leaving.  It is ready to be sandwiched and quilted with custom quilting designs. 

    For the remainder of the afternoon I sandwiched the tumbling block lap quilt and have started quilting the diamonds in the ditch.  Then I will do some FMQ motifs to fill them. 

Second Crumb Piecing Class

     Last night was the second of 2 classes I was teaching for crumb piecing. One SUPER achieving student, Rita, went home with her blocks from the first night and a handout with more directions.  She came back a week later with a full size quilt.  WOW! 

She spent class hand sewing to finish her binding.  

Here are samples of blocks students made: free- pieced, stars and hearts. 

      One more lovely quilt I want to share was from GCQ Tuesday's Show and Tell made by Dee D.  The blocks were paper-pieced.  Her special use of a border print for the border was wonderful. I LOVE the circle print.

Two More Tops Complete

      This has been a good weekend for sewing.  I finished piecing the Maverick Star top for GCQ comfort quilts.  

 Next week is guild comfort quilts sew day.  I will take it for batting and backing to be fitted so it can be given to someone else to quilt it.  I would, but my stack of quilts waiting is out of control.  I was making some progress on my UFO list for the guild UFO challenge until recently.  

     I added a plain border to the 3D Tumbling Blocks so that top is also finished. 

 It will wait for quilting.  I’m not sure how many finished tops are waiting but I know it is too many.  It is much easier to spend the day piecing.  When I quilt, I enjoy mostly doing free-motion.  It takes time to choose and practice the design to be quilted.  

      Enjoy working on some sewing and quilting projects . . . or just relax. 

Sharing and Wonky Stars

    Tuesday morning was GCQ Day Bee hosted by Rosina.  We enjoyed a great time of sharing with a little show and tell.  Beverly has been making table runners for gifts.  She found some beautiful fall fabric and adapted a pattern that she liked. 

She bought this tote bag made of gum wrappers by crafters in a third world country. 

In the afternoon I made more wonky stars for an adult comfort quilt.  I am using fabric squares from a guild kit.  Half is pieced and another fourth is on my design wall. I love these stars.

Cloth Doll Weekend

     I spent a long weekend visiting my sister Irene.   She quilts but this time we had our own cloth doll workshop.  Irene has made various dolls before and had a couple of books on cloth dolls.  We used a pattern from Cloth Doll Workshop by 3 designers.  We chose a doll pattern by Patti Medaris Culea.  In the photo you can see one of Irene’s finished dolls and our 2 in progress. 

      Even though we started using the same basic pattern, we used different fabric styles.  I

used an upholstery trim for hair.  Here I am hand sewing it on.  

Here her body is finished.

Now she has on an outfit and shoes.  I used parts of old t-shirts for her shirt and pants.   I might give her earrings and paint her fingernails.  

       This was my first cloth doll so I learned a lot.  There are things about her that I don’t like ( the angle of her head) and I will do some differently next time.  I used many of Irene’s supplies so I need to gather my own to make another on my own.

     Now maybe I will get back to quilting projects for awhile. 

Playing with Irregular Scraps

     Several years ago I took Bonnie Hunter’s workshop on crumb piecing and fell in love.  A crumb is a small, maybe even irregular shaped, scrap of fabric.  I save down to 1 1/4”.  Then I found the work of Victoria Findlay Wolfe.  She extends the use of scraps to create not just blocks but larger pieces of fabric ( which she calls “made-fabric” ) from which you cut units for traditional quilt blocks.  I will be teaching a 2 evening class at Midlands Tech - Harbison campus starting Thusday, Aug. 14. Click for details. 

     I am inspired by the work of Victoria Findlay Wolfe.  Not long ago I created “made-fabric” and pieced a giant hexagon flower.  The flower is sewn together but I have been struggling with background and border.  I am definitely playing with this quilt top.  There is no pattern and the plan keeps changing.

First I tried piecing 3 D tumbling blocks but the ”made-fabric” flower become lost.

Next I thought I would simply applique the flower to a dark blue background or add another ”made-fabric” round to make it larger.  I spent a day or two playing in my blue crumbs and scraps to piece blue ”made-fabric”.  It was too strong next to the hexie flower. 

I still LOVE ”made-fabric” so decided to try red ”made-fabric”.  I like it better but again too strong.

Sister Irene suggested a softer background color so I finally pulled a light green print from my stash.

The flower edges have been turned over 2 layers of freezer paper and starch basted so it is ready to be sewn to the background. 

   You may remember the tumbling block hexies.  Well, they have been sewn together and appliqued to a print background fabric.  They may become a lap size comfort quilt or I may add borders to make it twin size.  It just went into my UFO pile.  

     Hope you find some time to play with your fabric. 

                   Elizabeth