Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Farewell to Summer....Almost
Vacation time with the family is now over and school will be going back into session next week for my boys. Usually, these two things indicate that summer is over and I can start looking forward to Autumn and all of the glorious sights, smells and tastes that Fall brings. Mother Nature seems to be pulling a fast one on us this year, though. We've been sitting pretty the past week or so with upper 60 to mid 70 degree temps and loving it. Then today, we get hit with 86. 86! Now, my friends back home would be laughing at me, saying what the hell are you complaining about; 86 is almost winter weather in Southern Nevada. I suppose all I can say is I've become a "Heat Wimp". I've never been a fan of hot weather and the older I get, the less tolerant I am of anything above 78. Bring on the snow! Ok, maybe not just yet, because I really do love Autumn, but the 86 degree stuff needs to go!
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Patriotic and Pack Rat Scrappy Quilts
Connecting Threads is one of my favorite online stores for quilting fabric and thread. I'm not exactly crazy about some of their color themes but I adore their thread, so I go shopping there often. A while back, I bought a fat quarter bundle of "Hearth and Home", or something along those lines. It sat in my "favorites" trunk for a good while until I decided to make some oven mitts for the new camper we bought. 
With the rest, I made a chair runner for the living room recliner. To my surprise, the colors seem to blend into the fabric of the recliner instead of standing out against it. Hmmm...funny how things work out sometimes.
In between quilting and binding the chair runner, I made my very first queen sized quilt! My oldest son needed something new for his room as his old quilt was store bought junk made in another country and falling apart. He chose a patriotic theme and even helped me to design the quilt top and iron the blocks. We had a great time working together on this quilt and I know at least one of us learned something. (I'll not be making another queen sized quilt again anytime soon!) ;-)
Like most quilters and crafters, I have more than one iron in the fire at any given time. Lacking the cream muslin I need to complete my friend Heather's quilt, I moved on to a quick little Christmas themed table decoration that I saw while browsing on Etsy and Ebay. Not having a pattern to go by and no experience making Flying Geese, I had to do a bit of reading to figure it out along the way. It isn't perfect, but I know what corrections to make should I decide to make another in a different color.
This little runner took all of about 4 hours to make even without a pattern. I just love evenings when I'm feeling inspired!
Having nothing better to do and still lacking Heather's muslin :-( what else is there to do but to dig into what is around and make do? Bored as could be, I jumped back into the wicker basket full of old clothes and Gymboree blankets my sister gave me to make her a keepsake quilt. This whole project started out as a disaster and if I haven't lost count, this will be my third try at doing something with what she gave me. The fabrics are the stretchy ultra soft t-shirt type of cottons and they drive me nuts! Having mutilated quite a few of the larger pieces trying to come up with a suitable design, I've decided to make a crazy quilt. I think this will work because I'm using 10"x10" muslin backers which helps to keep the cottons from stretching so much while working with them. Three blocks completed and so far so good.
While I was digging through all of my sister's goodies, I started thinking about just how much stuff I have in my scrap box, or should I say boxes, now. Tired of working with patterns and measuring, a scrappy quilt seemed like the way to go to make some space in those boxes. I'm not talking about a pretty little pieced scrap quilt with a sweet design built into it. Imagine your whole scrap box dumped upside down and sewn together willy-nilly. No white borders, no pretty patterns. Just sew, sew, sew all of the colors together, cut them into 10" sq. blocks and there you go...a whole stack of blocks in every color of the rainbow. Frogs and airplanes pieced next to gorgeous florals and calico. hahaha! Sounds crazy, yes? We shall see.
Well, that's all for me for the next few weeks. We are expecting family to start arriving tomorrow. How I wish I had made up a few quilt tops to take along for the road trip to Lake Placid and Niagara Falls. Happy Summer to all!
With the rest, I made a chair runner for the living room recliner. To my surprise, the colors seem to blend into the fabric of the recliner instead of standing out against it. Hmmm...funny how things work out sometimes.In between quilting and binding the chair runner, I made my very first queen sized quilt! My oldest son needed something new for his room as his old quilt was store bought junk made in another country and falling apart. He chose a patriotic theme and even helped me to design the quilt top and iron the blocks. We had a great time working together on this quilt and I know at least one of us learned something. (I'll not be making another queen sized quilt again anytime soon!) ;-)
Like most quilters and crafters, I have more than one iron in the fire at any given time. Lacking the cream muslin I need to complete my friend Heather's quilt, I moved on to a quick little Christmas themed table decoration that I saw while browsing on Etsy and Ebay. Not having a pattern to go by and no experience making Flying Geese, I had to do a bit of reading to figure it out along the way. It isn't perfect, but I know what corrections to make should I decide to make another in a different color.
This little runner took all of about 4 hours to make even without a pattern. I just love evenings when I'm feeling inspired!Having nothing better to do and still lacking Heather's muslin :-( what else is there to do but to dig into what is around and make do? Bored as could be, I jumped back into the wicker basket full of old clothes and Gymboree blankets my sister gave me to make her a keepsake quilt. This whole project started out as a disaster and if I haven't lost count, this will be my third try at doing something with what she gave me. The fabrics are the stretchy ultra soft t-shirt type of cottons and they drive me nuts! Having mutilated quite a few of the larger pieces trying to come up with a suitable design, I've decided to make a crazy quilt. I think this will work because I'm using 10"x10" muslin backers which helps to keep the cottons from stretching so much while working with them. Three blocks completed and so far so good.
While I was digging through all of my sister's goodies, I started thinking about just how much stuff I have in my scrap box, or should I say boxes, now. Tired of working with patterns and measuring, a scrappy quilt seemed like the way to go to make some space in those boxes. I'm not talking about a pretty little pieced scrap quilt with a sweet design built into it. Imagine your whole scrap box dumped upside down and sewn together willy-nilly. No white borders, no pretty patterns. Just sew, sew, sew all of the colors together, cut them into 10" sq. blocks and there you go...a whole stack of blocks in every color of the rainbow. Frogs and airplanes pieced next to gorgeous florals and calico. hahaha! Sounds crazy, yes? We shall see.
Well, that's all for me for the next few weeks. We are expecting family to start arriving tomorrow. How I wish I had made up a few quilt tops to take along for the road trip to Lake Placid and Niagara Falls. Happy Summer to all!
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