Monday, September 25, 2017

Design Wall Monday–September 25, 2017

I’ve been busy getting ready to leave on vacation but I’ve managed to spend a little bit of time sewing three more of my Grammy Blocks.

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They still need to be trimmed but all the pieces are sewn together.  Here’s the next one waiting it’s turn to be sewn. 

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And in case you're curious, here’s a sneak peek of my sewing space. 

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Have I mentioned lately, I love my Juki. 

Now it’s time to get serious about packing for my upcoming vacation.  Have a great week, I know I will.

Enjoy,

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Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Grandma’s Kitchen–13 - 25

We made it, over half way there.  I’m still loving it as much as when we started.  Thank you Pat Sloan for offering this block of the week. 

This weeks theme is Sunday night dinner.  As I’ve mentioned before I really don’t remember my Grandma Eads and just barely remember my Grandma Ceniceros.  However, we do have Sunday Night dinner just about every week at my house.  It’s rare that at least part of the family isn’t here for Sunday night dinner so thankfully I have very strong feelings and memories of Sunday night dinners where I am the Grammy. 

Here’s my block this week.

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This was a chance to bring a little bit of grey back in to the color scheme.  I’m happy with it. 

Enjoy,

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Monday, September 18, 2017

Design Wall Monday–September 18, 2017

If you’ve followed along with me each week as I post my Pat Sloan Grandma’s Kitchen blocks, you’ve already seen each of these.  Since we’re just about at the half way point, Pat suggested we put the 12 completed blocks up on a design wall, step back and evaluate what we like, don’t like, or want to change.  Well I must say, I love my blocks and wouldn’t change anything.  I do want to add the plaid at least once more and I want to add the grey to a few more blocks.  But so far, so good.

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Hope you have a wonderful week, I know I will.

Enjoy,

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Saturday, September 16, 2017

Books–Real books printed on paper!

Remember back in the old days before we all read e-books on our Kindle or tablet?  Most of us used to ready the old fashioned way when books were printed on real paper.  Although I have lots and lots of books saved on my Kindle app on my iPhone and iPad, I’ve recently become nostalgic and want the feel of holding a book in my hands.  So the last several books I’ve read have been “books”. 

Last night as I was lying in bed (reading my book) I remembered that I used to have several book covers that I had made.  So I got up, opened a drawer on my nightstand and low and behold, there is a book cover I made quite a while ago.

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The only problem is it’s for a traditional paperback size book and what I”m reading right now is the larger size paperback.  So what’s a gal to do?  First I laid there pondering my dilemma, but finally I went back to reading and decided to deal with my problem in the morning.  You see I’m going on vacation soon and I certainly don’t want to be seen with a naked book on the plane. 

So after having my coffee this morning I headed into my sewing room.  What should I do?  I finally decided to keep it simple.  So I measured my book, found some left over 2 1/2” strips and started creating.  Success!!!!!  I now have just the right size book cover.IMG_7786

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And finally, the book I’m currently reading. 

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This was a fun, quick and easy project but it’s nice to have accomplished something bright and early on a Saturday morning. 

Thank goodness it’s a fairly long book so hopefully I won’t finish it before I leave on vacation.

Enjoy,

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Friday, September 15, 2017

Grandma’s Kitchen–Block 12/25

We are fast approaching the half way mark with Pat Sloan’s block of the week “Grandma’s Kitchen”.  This week the block is called Kitchen Door.

Here’s my finished block. 

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Have a great week-end.

Enjoy,

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Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Design Wall Monday turned into Finish Up Tuesday

Yesterday I really did plan to post a Design Wall Monday picture but when I looked at my design wall there wasn’t anything on it.  However that didn’t mean I didn’t have anything in process or quilts that needed to be finished up

So yesterday I finished adding the border on this Quartered Stripes quilt. 

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For some reason I felt the need to miter the border so that added a little time to the process.  In any event the top is finished and ready to be quilted.  See you tomorrow Vivs and Russ

Today was the day to add the binding on my first Quartered Stripe quilt that I shared a while back. 

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Here’s a close-up of the faux piping binding that’s become my go to binding.  Remember I have a link over there on the right to show you how I make it.  --->

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If you’d like to make your own Quartered Stripe quilt, Jenny at Missouri Star has a nice YouTube video that shows you how simple it is. 

Enjoy,

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Saturday, September 9, 2017

Lap Quilt for my Laptop

As some of you know, I can be easily distracted at times.  Yesterday I was sitting in my usual spot on the sofa in the living room, with my laptop sitting on a cooling fan base and realized the darn cooling fan was digging into my legs, leaving marks.  I’m a quilter so what do quilters do?  They drop everything and make a little quilt to sit on their lap to protect it from the base of the cooling fan.  Isn’t that what everyone does? 

So off I went into my sewing room and although this is a simple little project I spent quite a bit of time deciding on the fabric to use.  I finally realized it needed to be made with a fabric that you will find spread throughout my house, pillows as well as on the seat of all my dining room chairs and chairs in my library.  BTW, I still have enough of the fabric to make a gazillion more pillows or whatever, I doubt that I’ll ever run out. 

So here it is,…………..my Lap Quilt for my Laptop…………………………..

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And on my lap, doing it’s job.

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Simple, yes?  No not really.  I decided I wanted to quilt the center of it with overlapping circles using my Westalee rulers.  Great idea but the while practicing I continually had skipped stitches.  I tried everything, new needle, adjust the top tension as well as the bobbin tension.  I cleaned and oiled the machine but nothing seemed to work.  I finally changed the thread and all of a sudden no more skipped stitches.  It’s hard to see but here’s the circles I quilted.

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Of course then I had to decide on the binding and that took a while but I finally decided on two different greens and completed the little quilt using a faux piping technique that I explain in a tutorial that I link to over there on the right ------>.

So now I have a little quilt to sit on my lap when I set my laptop and cooling fan base on my lap……………….it only took me all day. 

But I like it.

Enjoy,

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Thursday, September 7, 2017

Grandma’s Kitchen–Block 11 - 25

We’re fast approaching the half way point and I’m still loving it.  This week we made Peppermint Swirls, a 10 1/2” applique block. 

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It’s all completed by machine using a buttonhole/blanket stitch in matching thread.  This week I introduced a light grey.  Those white peppermints needed something to contrast against.

Don’t forget you can check out Pat’s I Love to Make Quilts website if you’d like to make your own Grandma’s Kitchen quilt. 

Enjoy,

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Monday, September 4, 2017

Design Wall Monday–September 4, 2017

I’ve made some progress on my newest stripe quilt. 

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This one has gone together very nicely.  After making each of the blocks I squared them all up to 9” so they finished at 8 1/2”.  Kind of an odd size but in this case as long as they’re all the same size, it is very easy to assemble.  I also managed to spiral all the intersections, helping it lay flat. 

I still need to add a border.  I think this is what it’s going to be.

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Probably not that wide, but you get the idea. 

I also continue to work on my Grammy quilt but there’s no hurry on that one.  Enjoy your week. 

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Friday, September 1, 2017

A Fun Little Project

I had some leftover scraps from a quilt I made for my Granddaughter, so I decided to use up a little bit of it.

I’ve made lots of luggage tags in the past but it seems like I reinvent the wheel each time.  This is my latest version. 

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Here’s the back just waiting for the contact information to be added.

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And here’s the front, all from the same fabric but each different. 

I wonder who’s getting these?  And I wonder where we’re going?  Hmmmmmm, any guesses?

Enjoy,

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