DESIGN WALL REVEALED

A couple months ago I found a set of red work vehicles that was started, but not finished.  I think 2 of them were done.  So I bought them and now I'm working on the last one.  I will put them together into a baby quilt when they are all finished.

Here's my second pink and brown HST doll quilt.  Not layered yet, but the top is done.  And I have a bunch of brown and pink ready to make another one.  I will sell these on my Etsy site.  They are so cute that I couldn't stop.  I have a bunch of triangles ready to sew together as leaders/enders.

Next, I have caught up on the Westerning Women blocks from Civil War Quilts.   I made the April and May blocks.

May Block

April Block

Here are the five 12 1/2" blocks up on my design wall.

I was planning to go with red, white and blue colors, but when April's block came up, I decided to go with greens - makes sense, right?  The blocks finish at 12" and she's going to do 12 of them, one for each month this year.  I might make a few more blocks so I can get a queen size quilt out of it.  

Hope you get some quilting in today!

UM YA YA (not) EXPLAINED

 A few of you asked what Um Ya Ya means.  I just asked my DGS and he said it's a cheer that the school uses at games.  It really doesn't mean anything, except to yell in a group!

I thought I would show you how I made it.  I traced the letters on tracing paper and then pinned it to the accordion pad.  Then I used the free motion foot to trace around the letters and removed the paper.

Next I just filled in the letters with the gold thread (gold and black are the school colors.  I used King Tut Quilting Thread from Superior Threads (100% cotton) on top and just a white thread that I used for the bobbin when I appliqué.

I just sewed back and forth or up and down until it was mostly filled in.

I kind of like how it turned out.

It's fun to be able to do little jobs for family members.  Sewing does come in so handy for so many things.

DEAR JANE PROGRESS

I just finished Row M of my Dear Jane quilt.  This means that I have the main portion consisting of 5"  blocks finished!!!  I had set the goal to get this part of the blocks finished by the end of June.  

Row M

 I had to put all the blocks up on my design wall so I could take a picture.

Rows A - M

There are 13 blocks in 13 rows for a total of 169 blocks which will measure 4 1/2" when finished.  Each one is different and has different main fabric (background fabrics have been reused in some blocks).  Some of the blocks have more than 40 tiny pieces to them.

I have purchased fabric for the sashing and backing.  Now, I will be taking a break from DJ due to family matters during the summer.  I have 10 of the triangle blocks made and I may take time to make one of those now and then.

It took me a long time to decide to go ahead and make this quilt because I really couldn't see how I would be able to make all these complicated blocks.  So now I want to encourage you if you are thinking about making one - yes, you can do it.

Maybe you need to be a little nuts (or a lot) to make this quilt, so there must be a lot of nutty women out there.  I admit, I am one of them!

I'm sure I never would have done this if it wasn't for the fact that with blogging you see all kinds of beautiful quilts and get so much encouragement from other quilters.  Thanks, quilters!

UM YA YA!

Before I explain "UM YA YA" I want to share some quilty items.  A blogger I follow had a post where she showed her ironing stick, which is used when you want to iron open a seam allowance and it raises it so you don't have to worry about messing up the rest of the seams when you iron.  I looked it up on some sites where it was sold and didn't want to pay anything for it, so I just got a strip of batting (which had been multiplying in my closet) and folded it over, sewed on 2 sides and slipped a dowel rod inside.  I could make it nicer by covering it with muslin, but I guess I'm too lazy to do that.

Home made ironing stick

I recently made a pink and brown HST doll quilt and decided to make another one to sell in my Etsy shop.  The one I made was a special order.  The HSTs finish at 1 1/4" and there are 12 rows of 10 HSTs per row.  It's just like one that I have hanging in my sewing room (I made it while I was a member of "Jo's Little Women Club" in Arlington, TX.  I love this little quilt made with all CW reproduction fabrics and alternating with pink and brown HSTs.

2 rows that need pressing

Using the ironing stick to press open the seam allowance

Here's what I have done so far on this quilt.  I keep running out of pink or brown HSTs because I don't want to put any fabrics next to each other, so I'm constantly digging out something different.  I have 9 rows almost finished, so I will need 3 more rows

The dark brown in this HST is one of my favorite fabrics of all time and I just happened to find one strip of it in my scraps so I made a few HSTs with it.

 I apologize that my pictures are kind of dark.  It was very early when I took these pictures.  Oh, and please excuse my ugly wrong board.  I need to put a new cover on it.

Now we come to "Um Ya Ya."  If you have ever attended St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, you will know what it is.  My DGS just finished his sophomore year there and he wants me to sew "Um Ya Ya" onto something.  Actually, its the pad for his accordion.  These are the letters I came up with.  Anyway, "Um Ya Ya" is what the students yell at sporting events.  Don't ask me why.  Maybe its a Norwegian phrase - must be.  He is home for the summer, but may take a job at a camp in Washington State and may want to take his accordion along, so I need to get these words sewn onto the pad ASAP.  I think I'll work on it now, just in case he gets that job and needs to leave soon.

Have a wonderful quilty week!  After a very hot weekend, the temperatures will be cooling off by Wednesday.  Woo Hoo!  Um Ya Ya!!