3 Finishes this Month

Okay, sure they are small ... These were flimsies I finished in the spring of 2022. I was striving to use up some my juvenile prints, and by making these I have put a little dent in that stash collection. 

I have recently been bitten by the "binding bug" so I am now happy to report that these three are done.  Hand sewing on binding is my usual MO while in a sewing slump. I am hoping these finishes bring back my some mojo in the sewing room. What do you do to keep your mojo running on high?

The smallest finish is this Red and Green Train baby quilt. It measures 47" x 47".  I used up 3.5 yards of fabric.

I used a fleece backing and it is now so cuddly and soft! I am very happy with this application and will try it use it again.

These are the only pictures I have of this baby quilt. It has already been gifted to dear friends as they just announced their first grandchild!

The next small quilt I finished is a blue and gray Boomerang quilt made from a 3 yard quilt pattern by Fabric Cafe. Their 3 yard quilt patterns are very easy to make and you could "reverse-engineer" them and make yourself without a pattern. BUT, I think it is worth the money to purchase the pattern as all cutting requirements are already figured out and less waste and time is spent in the long run. IMHO

This one was also backed with fleece and is very soft and cuddly. It finished at 44" x 58" and I used up 6 total yards of fabric to call this finished.

And lastly, I found this un-quilted top in plain site (as mentioned last post). It has been draped over a little grannie rocker for years in the sewing room and I just now got it out and sandwiched it with some pieces of yardage.

I wanted to hand-quilt it along with the plan to machine quilt the long plain rows but found a nice cable/rope pattern that I used instead. It is now all hand-quilted, binding attached, label on, and washed. It was quite dirty and "ripply", but all those puckers and dye stiffeners washed out nicely.

It finished at 47.5" x 57" and I used up 8 yards of stash to call it finished. 

She is now back in her place along with the little country cloth doll who sits with her. 

Now on to working on Jaybird's quilt and I still have a couple tops queued for binding. Don't you love hand sewing?

Meanwhile, according to my calculations, I have used up 47 yards of fabric stash so far this year. Surely, I'll make the 50 yard line but will I make it to 100 yards?

Our bee-keeping status is still quiet. Yet while they are quiet, it is a good time to weed, cultivate the wildflower beds, and mulch around the work area so not to disturb them and risk getting stung. Our cold nights keeps the insulating blanket on the hive for now. We are sure hoping for a thriving hive again this year.

Happy Stitching and Happy Spring!

Spring is for New Beginnings

I recently made the commitment and signed up for Kori Turner's Block of the Month. The name of the her quilt project is Jaye's Bouquet and features embroidered blocks along with patchwork blocks that are kitted up each month. 

 

She is local (lucky us) so I opted to pick my kits up at her shop. It is always a joy to visit Kori's shop, Olive Grace . She is a farm girl at heart and her designs are charming and youthful. Her little schoolhouse converted shop is packed with delightful fabrics, patterns, and numerous original quilts - all from her own personal line. If you get the chance to visit her shop, you will not be disappointed.

 

But, I am already behind because I have been working on hand quilting a quilt top I long forgot about. Kind of funny, since it has been draped over a rocker for years. Hidden in plain sight. 

 

I purchased this top somewhere (cannot remember from where or from who) and the piecing is pretty rough. Hopefully, it will "quilt out" and the flaws will not be so obvious. 

No matter, it will be draped back over that little rocker along with her little dolly. They compliment each other - doll and quilt.

I hand quilted the 9-patch blocks with diagonal rows of stitching and outlined each block and setting triangle. Hopefully the quilting is close enough that the batting won't migrate when washed. And I used a rope cable border design for the plain brown vertical rows. 

This is probably more work than this little quilt deserves but I enjoy handwork in the evenings and dread machine quilting because my skills are quite lacking. 

You can see it is "rippling" along the outside borders. Again, this should not be a big issue because it is just going over the back of the chair. It hasn't been washed yet so maybe that will shrink up some ripples?

I played "binding chicken" and won by a few inches as you can see. My bobbin was running low too but I managed to get to the end before running out. Phew!

Actually, this was the second binding I chose to sew on. The first one was too directional and looked jarring so I picked out the stitches (on just one side) and removed it. This diagonal print looks like bias so it was chosen. I even considered removing this too, and putting a safe, plain black binding on but working with black is so hard on the eyes. Especially in the evenings in artificial light. So this will stay and I can soon call it done. I'll be sure to post a final picture on that infamous granny rocker. 

Then I can get back to Jaye's Bouquet and polish up my embroidery skills. I used to embroider a lot and that is why I thought this project would be fun. Do you have any embroidery tips to share? I would love to read your comments below. 

Happy Spring. I hope all your trees are standing upright. We recently had a storm and because the ground was so saturated, our pine went down. So sad. We considered propping it back up to see if it would re-root itself but: a) it was too big, and b) it was not is good shape. So many branches have lost needles due to lack of sun in that corner. So now she is stacked up to be carted away. And time to shop for a replacement.

Happy stitching!