Hanging a Quilt Without Sleeve

      I am use to sewing a hanging sleeve on quilts to hang them for display whether at a show or in my home. My church group SQG recently wanted to improve the way we display a quilt.  Online I had seen drapery ring clips so I went looking locally and found the perfect ones.  The rings have attached tiny metal clothespin type clips.  The rings slide onto the rod.  

It was very easy to clip rings onto a 60" wide quilt.  Then the rod was lifted to the holders.  This was a super way to hang a quilt for display without having to sew on a hanging sleeve and it will be easy to change the display.

      This evening I finished the class sample for a JoAnn Fabrics Quilting Trend class.  I have taught a couple of Beginner Quilting 101 classes where students construct a "Hole in the Barn Door" block and have enough fabric to construct 2.  This class is designed as the next step.  After they complete 6 blocks,  they will learn how to add sashing, cornerstones and borders to piece a small quilt top that will finish approx. 38” by 53”.  It would be a good size for a baby quilt. 

      This makes another finished quilt that was not on my list for 2012.  Oh, well.  
GCQ is starting a challenge in November to encourage members to finish their UFOs.  I turned in a list of 16 and then thought of several more that could be on the list.  I will do well to finish my list.  I will post it later and hopefully, do better about finishing ones on the list instead of starting new projects. 

Dress Finished

      Lily's dress is now finished and I just have to be concerned that it will fit well.  The pin tucks around the skirt were more difficult that the shorter ones for the bodice.

I love the insert panel on the bodice.  A blouse for an adult with one would look lovely also. Maybe one day.

Heirloom Sewing

    After a fun busy weekend of family, today I spent time sewing.  Instead of a quilt project I am sewing a baptism dress for my younger granddaughter.   It has been several years since I stitched pin tucks so I had to find the right foot, twin needle, the right small cord and stitch a test strip.  Then I stitched 2 pin tuck panels and added lace on both sides.  That involved stitching a narrow zigzag on the edge, pressing to the backside and stitching a second row of narrow zigzag along the same line, then trimming the back as close as possible to the stitching. That took some time and here are the first resulting panels.

Next strips of entredeux and embroidery were added to complete the fancy panel.

Finally the side fabric was attached and the bodice pattern cut out.

 

I stopped for the evening with the bodice pieced waiting for the sleeves and skirt to be attached.

Lone Star Top Finished

      Today was a great day to finish up several projects.  My Lone Star top is done and looking good.

The background fabric has dots which don't show up in this photo.  It looks like large plain areas that will benefit from some special quilting.

A friend recently asked me again about how I cut my borders so they are not wavy so when I had the lone star laid out I took a photo to show.  I measure through the middle with 2 border pieces together and cut them that length.

I need to find 4 yards for backing unless I decide to piece together smaller pieces. The quilting will wait at least a week. Several ladies in our church group are following the same pattern from Eleanor Burns. It will be interesting to see how different they turn out.  This small lone star was not too difficult so maybe I will try a larger one before too long.

   I also took a little time to machine sew binding to the tops of 3 doll quilts.  Beverley said she would help hand sew the back of the binding.  These are ones that I pieced and members of  my FMQ class quilted.

They will be matched up with dolls or stuffed animals for a child to love.

Progress on Lone Star

        Instead of starting on my granddaughter's baptism dress, I did a little sewing on my lone star quilt.  Those "Y" seams take time for marking so I only got half together.

The small plaid is hard on my eyes but I do like the different textures. I hope to get the rest together after church tomorrow.

Update: After supper out, Barry went to watch football so I sewed more and got the center star together. Now tomorrow I will just have borders to add.

     If you are in the Columbia, SC area, Devine Quilters has an exhibit of Lone Star quilts hanging in the main Richland county library on Assembly Street.

Witch Costume Finished

    The witch costume for Halloween is finished and it is cute.  I look forward to seeing my granddaughter dressed in it.  Since she is some distance away I worry as usual about fit and hope it fits like it should.

    I had some time to spend piecing and worked a little on the lone star diamonds.  All eight are pieced.  I decided to use Jan Krentz instructions from Lone Star Quilts and Beyond to block the diamonds instead of sliver trimming like Eleanor Burns describes in her Radiant Star pattern.  I will find out when I sew them together how they fit. 

    Now for an evening to relax before working on the baptism dress for granddaughter Lily.

Sewing on Witch Costume

     The witch costume for my granddaughter is taking shape.

The bodice is not yet attached to the 3 layers of skirt but parts are ready.

The last part will be a matching hat and band. This is Simplicity pattern #3680.  Normally Simplicity is my favorite pattern company.  The instructions on this one could use more details for clarity on the bias tape used. Overall it is a good pattern. 

Home from Festival

      I enjoyed a busy yet fun time out of town with my sister and more family.  Friday I helped set up and Saturday worked at their church Fall Festival.  Here are a few photos.

My sister made lots of items for their booth.  The trees' colors were disappointing.

      Today was a day for catch up from being out of town.  I made a shopping trip to get the rest of the fabric needed for my granddaughter's Halloween witch costume (not a scary one) and trim for the other granddaughter's baptism dress.  My sewing focus will be on those 2 dresses until they are finished. Hopefully I will have something to show soon.

SQG Sew Day

    Today was sew day for my church quilting group.  We were few but enjoyed the time together.  Bev sewed labels on and turned in 2 finished.  Most of the ladies in our group have used the Pina Colada pattern from Fons and Porter.  Here is Beverley's finished.

I pulled a bunch of orphan blocks and Beverley volunteered to put them in a quilt.  Here is her finished work.

Now many of us are working on a 4 color Lone Star quilt.  I continued sewing on my strip sets and got all the sub-
units cut.  Here is what one large diamond laid out.

We discussed things this pattern requires and one strongly mentioned was time for accuracy.  I plan to take my time sewing the large diamonds together and I have a Halloween costume and baptism dress to make so it may be awhile.

Progress on Trapunto

      My afternoon was spent FMQing around the trapunto design on alternate blocks.  The first round of the quilting is finished.

On one block I did the micro stipling and one echo of the design.  I used Superior "bottom-line" thread (which is 60 wt.) for this part because I did not want it to be very visible.

The water-soluble thread and markings will get washed away after all the quilting is finished.
There is still a lot of quilting yet to be done.  It may wait awhile to be finished so that I can make a Halloween costume and a baptism dress.

    Last night at the last FMQ class ladies turned in doll quilts that they had quilted.

Most used meadering and several quilted leaves in the border.  They did a great job.

2 Placemats Finished

      I feel like I accomplished a huge amount toward getting my house back to normal since the kitchen  remodel. I took a load to Habitat Restore, Goodwill and some to the dump.
     In the afternoon I finished 2 placemats as class samples for the Quilting 210 class "In the Pines".  With the wedges I cut from the 6" WOF strip, I have enough for one more placemat.  I did very simple straight lines with a walking foot.  I like these and plan to make some more.

One Finish and Another Started

    The third grade Museum School wall hanging is finished and in the mail to them. I like how it turned out.

Today I started working on a class sample for the Quilting 201 In the Pines Placemats at JoAnn Fabrics.  

I have one pieced and ready to quilt. Saturday is Open House so I want to have them finished.  

While I was in the store, I saw this cute sewing Halloween t-shirt decorated by 2 ladies at the store. I did not  ask if they are giving out instructions for making one.  Enjoy!