Puppy Love Finish

    Finally the puppy quilt for my younger granddaughter is finished and in time for her 5^th birthday.  It is twin size so good for her age to use on her bed.  

    Since I was not following a pattern, there are a couple of things I wish I had done differently; however, overall I am pleased. 

    I quilted a small meander around each dog face and minimally on the face so it stands out. ( This one is one of my favorites.)  I tacked by hand some of the ears so they laid better but are still free to flop.

    I echoed the bones and dog silhouettes which was good practice.

 I quilted a continuous curve design in the small squares.

     I have a huge stash of fabric and have only been buying when I really needed a piece. The past week I have been too tempted by clearance fabric at my Walmart. Most of this fabric was $1 a yard and one piece $2 a yard.  The 3 darker will make wonderful quilt backs and I think the lighter will be a great addition for a low volume quilt.

Hope you get to enjoy some sewing or quilting time this holiday weekend or enjoy family time.

I've linked up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Crafting Week with Granddaughters

     This has been a week of Grandma Camp with my granddaughters and lots of fun crafts.  They have enjoyed time making things as well as playing with dolls.  They made a birdbath by gluing tiles to a tin pie pan (from Goodwill) 

and then filling in with grout.  It is lovely. Sorry this photo does not show the bright colored tiles. 

They each made sock monkey heads (directions from American Girl crafts).

  Since there was a pair of socks leftover from the package purchased to make the Sock Monkey heads, Mattie asked to sew a whole sock monkey. I was apprehensive because I thought she would become too frustrated.  She is becoming a great sewer and did a super job! 

I provided directions, marking and pinning.  She did all the machine and hand sewing and stuffing.

Lily insisted on doing some sewing like big sister so I helped her sew a doll quilt.

     The younger granddaughter had cooking camp in the mornings so the older granddaughter and I had some craft time for more complicated crafts.  Mattie used paint markers to decorate a mini china tea set. The blank was leftover from her Great Grandmother and one tea cup has flowers painted by her.  

   

     For Thursday night family supper the girls made guacamole which Lily had learned to make at cooking camp.  We also spiralized zucchini which was delicious stir fried.  We tried ribbon cut spiralizing sweet potatoes but that did not go well.

    I set up Mattie’s sewing machine next to mine so we both could work and I found time to turn hand embroidered pillowcases done by a great-great aunt into pillowcase tops for the girls.

Hope you get to enjoy some sewing or quilting time.

Quilting in Progress

     This week I did in-the-ditch stabilizing quilting on the dog quilt

... and a red version “Star Gazing” comfort quilt.  I used fat quarters from our church donated stash so there are a couple more colors.  You can find out more about the “Star Gazing” pattern in this post.  

  

 Those 2 are ready for free-motion quilting; however, I have not started that.

     Wednesday at church sew day I sandwiched a wonky star comfort quilt so I have plenty to quilt on. 

Check out my Wonky Star tutorial if you have not tried them.  

     Next week I will spend another week with granddaughters.  I expect to do some sewing but no quilting.

Hope you get to enjoy some sewing or quilting time.

Wonky Stars Tutorial

     A friend asked how I made my wonky stars so decided to share a tutorial.  I really enjoy making them in all sizes, colors and settings.

     I was first introduced to similar stars in Bonnie Hunter’s Crumb Workshop where she taught Maverick Stars.  Since then I have seen other similar stars called Wonky Stars.

You may want to check out :

Elizabeth Hartman’s Sparkle Punch quilt 

SewMamaSew blog  tutorial 

You can watch Jenny at Missouri Star Quilts on YouTube.  

Following is my preferred method.

     I begin with 8 squares of consistent size and value plus 5 of the same size and opposite value. (either with light or dark stars.)

Of the 5, leave one alone and cut the other 4 diagonally into triangles. (You can use scrap triangles instead.)  Layout the 8 similar squares as you would a 9 patch with the opposite value in the center. 

    Work with the middle square on each side of the nine patch to sew the star points. 

Lay a triangle RST onto the square so that at least ¼” inch is off one edge and the other about in the middle of the adjacent side. The star point can be tall, thin, short or fat depending on how “wonky” you want your stars.  Sew about ¼” along the edge of the triangle.

Press out and trim to match the square. Then trim away behind the triangle.

Next sew a triangle onto the opposite side of the square and about the middle of the adjacent side covering the previous triangle seam by about ¼”.

Press out and trim to match the square. Then trim away behind the triangle. Repeat for all 4 units.

 

Now you can lay out as a nine patch and sew 

OR  the stars can be offset in 16 patch for a floating setting

OR wait … if you want the stars points to float with other stars.  For the following setting, the star units are constructed separately and sewn in rows after the layout is determined.

 

I hope you will give the Wonky Stars a try.

Enjoy.

UFO Progress and Scrap Play

    The dog UFO is finally getting done. My younger granddaughter will be 5 next month and I should have it finished for her birthday.  The center section is all sewn in the photo. 

Since then I have added a breaker border and flange. Here is a peek at the border fabrics.  I used the yellow for a ½” 3D flange.

    I needed some play time with this month’s scrap color of “yellow”. A really pretty yellow fabric is often hard to find.  Digging through my stash of precut units, I found I was very low on yellow. I only found 1 – 4 ½” square so that size wonky star blocks will have to wait.  I had to cut a few more 3 ½” squares and 2 ½ by 4 ½” bricks to even make these blocks. 

Hope you get to enjoy some sewing or quilting time.

Check out SoScrappy for inspiration with scraps,

Great Time with Granddaughters

   This summer I will be spending several weeks hosting granddaughters for "Grandma Camp".  This past week I spent 4 days with them playing, crafting, and swimming.  Only 5 minutes of sewing got done so I have nothing to show for sewing. 

    The girls enjoyed building with a home gathered PVC construction set. Here is their castle. If you want to gather a kit you can find information here.   It is good for indoors or outdoors.

 

They made felt finger puppets (no sewing – only glue) and put on a show of “Three Billy Goats Gruff”. 

They decorated t-shirts with fabric markers, 

 made a fairy house and enjoyed time playing with dolls.  Saturday I got to watch one tournament soccer game of my 40+ son and saw him score a goal.

It was a busy week.  Now for some sewing time.

Hope you get to enjoy some sewing or quilting time.