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. 

Have a great week-end.

Enjoy,

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. 

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. 

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.  --->

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,

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…………………………..

And on my lap, doing it’s job.

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.

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,

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. 

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,

Design Wall Monday–September 4, 2017

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

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.

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. 

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. 

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

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,

Grandma’s Kitchen–Block 10/25

This morning Pat Sloan posted the latest block in her Grandma’s Kitchen block of the week, recipe box.  Once again it is a fun, fairly simple block but oh what fun it is to anticipate what it will be and finally getting to make it on Wednesdays. 

Here’s mine this week.

I also made some “bonus” half square triangles.  See them at the bottom of the picture?

I have no idea if I’ll actually use the little bonus pieces but I’ll hold on to them and maybe I can find a home for them when the time comes. 

Can’t wait until next week to see what Pat has planned for us. 

Enjoy,