ONE TOP AND ONE BLOCK DONE

I finished the pinwheel quilt top that is going to be turned into a 25th anniversary quilt for DS/DIL on July 1.  The size of  85" x 108" is quite large so it can hang down and tuck in pillows on their full size bed.  The blocks are 12" on point so I had to I make it 5 by 4 blocks and because of having sashing instead of alternating blocks, I needed 32 of the blocks plus 205 pinwheels.  That's 820 HSTs by the way.  Actually, it didn't seem to take too long to do them.  It's not going to have a border.

This is a corner section - I don't know why the color came out so strange.

I haven't been doing very many Dear Jane blocks lately, but I did finish this one by hand.  After making two of them by hand, I think I'll opt for paper piecing!  Hee Hee!

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Last night at my guild meeting, the guild president said she wants to start a Dear Jane quilt and asked if any other people were interested, so I think we're going to start a "support" group.  That should be an encouragement.

Spring is arriving in Texas!  I noticed our neighbors forsythia bush is starting to bloom on the other side of the fence.

A TRIP TO COLD COUNTRY - BRRRR!!

Last week I flew up to Chicago to visit my sister who lives in one of the suburbs.  Actually, she lives in the house that we grew up in - that my Dad, Grandpa and Uncles built in 1948.  It's always good to go home for a visit.  I should have taken a few pictures of the house, but didn't have my good camera with me.  It was very cold and there was lots of snow on the ground.  It snowed a few more times while I was there.

This is a picture of my sister's sewing machine, a Singer Spartan, that I used while there to make lots of HSTs.  As you may or may not know, I get up real early in the morning and like to get a little sewing done then.  Since my sis is a night person, it works out fine.  I stayed in the master bedroom (we didn't call it that at the time), and there is a tiny sewing room off the back.  This is the room where I learned to sew.  All you can see in the picture is part of the wall.  There is a window looking out into the back yard.  In this room, I sewed my finger while using Mom's Kenmore sewing machine.  I never liked that machine, but never sewed my finger again!  I started making my own clothes while in junior high and spent many hours sewing clothes for myself so I could have more clothes for less money!

Singer Spartan - I had a sewing machine just like this when I first got married.  I bought it for $30 at Marshall Field's in Oakbrook Center west of Chicago.

I finished this DJ block while there also.

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I decided to leave on Sunday because Monday had a bad weather forecast.  Since I fly stand-by thanks to DS#1's employer, I didn't have reservations.  I flew Southwest both ways and had really good luck by being able to get on the flights I was aiming for.


When I got home to Texas (70 degrees) I couldn't wait to get some of my HSTs put into the pinwheels I needed.  I want to get this top finished soon - it's for DS/DIL's 25th anniversary in July.

Thanks so much for the many kind comments on my last post.  I didn't have much computer access and didn't reply to many of the comments, plus we were really busy.  But I do appreciate all the visitors!

TWO QUILTS STARTED

I have 2 quilts that I need to make as gifts for this summer.  First is for my DS#1/DIL's 25th anniversary on July 1!!  This is what I have started.  In the 9-patch there will be 4 of a dark blue print and 5 pinwheels.  There will also be a pinwheel for each cornerstone.  Here is what I have on my design wall - and that's all I can fit on it.  I put it up "on point," but I might not make it that way.  

I'm going to need a gazillion pinwheels for this quilt, so I've been making tons of HSTs and will need to get more fabric.  Since I'm not using a pattern, I still have to figure out exactly how much fabric I need to buy.  I have enough of the blues - I have 7 different ones and there will be 30 12" blocks.

Next, I need to make a graduation quilt for my GS, son of the above couple, who is graduating from high school in June.  I decided to make the "Star Gazing" quilt from this book by Bonnie Hunter.

Here's the picture in the book.

I have just started making a few blocks and because I'm making 2 quilts at the same time, I can use them for leaders and enders for each other.  I wasn't sure I would like it, but now that I have a few blocks done, I do!  I will be putting sashing between the blocks like in the picture above.  Can you see the musical triangles?  He plays the piano and organ so I thought I would add that.

I have a plan!  I am going to get one of my oldest UFOs quilted before my next guild meeting on Feb. 10.  It's all basted.  Then, if I can squeeze it in, I also have another wall hanging top that needs to be basted and quilted.  I also have my appliquéd basket quilt that I'm working on finishing up the hand appliqué for the medallion and another hand embroidered project for handwork.  I like having several different things to work on - it's more interesting that way!

Not to mention several other UFOs!  We'll see if I can squeeze a couple of them in to finish up this year.

This is the book I'm currently reading.  I love Marie Bostwick's books!  I checked it out of the library last week and started reading it; then I discovered that it seemed familiar.  I looked on my book shelf and found that I had a copy, but I decided to re-read it anyway and am enjoying it immensely!  It's in the series of "the Cobbled Court" novels and I highly recommend it.

Are you excited to get going on your quilting projects in the new year?  Good luck with them!

NEW IRONING BOARD COVER AND PINWHEELS

In my last post I told you I got some fabric to make a new ironing board cover but I didn't tell you how much I paid for it.  The fabric price was $5.99 a yard - not too bad.  With 60% off, it came to $4.19 for the piece I got and I can get 2 covers, so for one, the price is $2.10!  

A couple years ago I saw this idea on the internet, I suppose on someone's blog, but I don't remember where it was.  It gave these instructions.

1.  Cut off the casing with the string running through it to reuse on the new ironing board cover (IBC), with enough extra fabric so you can sew the new fabric onto it.

2.  Lay the old IBC on top of the new fabric and cut around it.

3.  I cut about 1/2" to 3/4" out from the edge of the old IBC.

4.  Pin the new IBC onto the extra fabric that is attached to the casing for the drawstring.

5.  Sew the new IBC onto the casing.  I used my serger, but a regular straight stitch will work just fine.

 6.  View of it after I sewed it on.

7.  Put on the ironing board.  I added two layers of batting.

Doesn't that look better?  It didn't take very long at all.

I love my old fashioned wood ironing board!

Before we went on our trip, I started gathering up extra HSTs and made pinwheels out of them.  There were all different sizes, so I sewed extra fabric on the smaller ones so they would all be the same size for a donation quilt that I'm going to make.

Oh no!  I just found some more!  They keep appearing out of nowhere!

After squaring up the HST's I put them in plastic baggies so I could use them as needed.

I'm not sure if I have enough for the donation quilt yet, but I'll try to keep working on them as I find them and hopefully can get the quilt put together before December.  My guild is planning a workshop in January where we will donate a big stack of quilts to the children's hospital in memory of our member who died this year - she was a doctor at the hospital until she got sick and she got us started making quilts for them.

Have a good week!