Student Tops Ready to Quilt

       Tuesday evening 2 students mitered their borders and got their tops ready to quilt.  I love what they have done. Check them out.  They have very different colors.

I would have posted photos earlier except the weather interfered with my DSL connection.
       Wednesday morning was sew day with my church group.  I did not get much done because for some strange reason Tuesday night after class I had not packed my sewing machine pedal where it belonged. found it after I returned home.  It was one of those days when my brain just was not functioning normally because I also told them to cut some strips the wrong size.  Ever have one of those days? At least they cut them larger not smaller and I do have more fabric the same.  I'm looking forward to a much more productive day today.

Borders Attached, Handwork and More

    Yesterday I attached the borders for the class practice quilt stopping at ¼”, so it is waiting until class next week to do the final stitching of the miter so I can demo.  In this photo I have the miter folded in place.  This will be a very nice comfort quilt when donated.

    Because I had to change allergist and start my shots over with new serum, I have had to spend at least an hour a week waiting in the allergist’s waiting room so I decided to take along some handwork.   These are some of the hand appliqué blocks I have done recently.  Eventually they will be part of a child’s quilt.   I prepared the pieces with freezer paper templates, starched the edges and pressed with a hot iron then removed the freezer paper.  This method works great for gentle curves.  The problem is that some of the animal shapes have tiny parts, which don’t do well.  These I have tried to needle turn which is not my strong skill.

     Last night I also spent a couple of hours planning for the move of my sewing room.  I am changing my current sewing room back to a bedroom and changing my current den into my sewing room.  I drew the rooms to scale and pieces of furniture I want in the rooms.  Then I played with the pieces to try out various layouts.  These changes will also necessitate changes to my living room arrangement, which I am finding the toughest. 

3D Stars Class Practice

    Tuesday evening was 3D Star class.  Most of the ladies have made great progress on their quilt tops. It is fun to see the variety of fabrics they have chosen.  I’m sorry I did not take photos.  I will next week if the ladies don’t mind.   I demonstrated a construction step and then they practiced using fabric I provided.  They could keep their block and piece as a model; however, several shared them  to complete the class practice sample which I plan to give to a charity when finished.  Today I have done a little more work on it and am about ready to sew the last 2 rows on before finishing the borders.

     A friend loaned me a library copy of Karen McTavish’s Whitework Quilting.  I have done trapunto on 2 quilts but would like to do a whole cloth whitework quilt or some color trapunto.  That is another quilt or 2 on my list of quilts I WISH to make someday.   I love to spend hours looking at the designs and dreaming about what I would do. 

     Now back to work.