Star Flowers

The StarFlower quilt is done... bound... washed... crinkled! I love using all cotton fabric and batting and thread so that when the quilt is washed and dried it will crinkle up.. gives it an old-timey look and feel to me.

This blocks for this quilt came from a group of quilty ladies. One of them donated fabric for the back. I have to admit that the first time I saw it in person I had two thoughts.. first I LOVED IT.. it is very much a ME fabric!  And secondly, I am not so sure this is going to work with the quilt top. I had seen a photo of the fabric, but it was brighter in person and the top is more muted soft colors. Well I love them together! I feel like this is a 2 for 1 quilt.. the front is soothing and comforting and the back is cheery and uplifting!  I think I am going to look at backing fabric a lot differently from now on... not sure I will always aim to be matchy with the front.

I had 4 extra blocks so made up a pillowcase that holds the quilt for shipping and storage and can be used with a pillow if our friend wants.

The quilting is straight line and creates these neat Xs and Star patterns on the back.  My sweet quilty husband, whom I affectionately call the mad quilter, quilted this. The man loves to quilt and is sooo fast!

Cannot wait to mail this off next week... wish I could see the recipient's face when she sees it!

The best part of quilting is giving it away!

"Belle"

Thank You for Serving

I have shared before that my husband is a quilter. After watching me for a couple of years, I challenged him to give it a whirl. He did.. and he loves it. He is a big fella and he makes BIG quilts!  One of his co-workers and friends has been was sent to Iraq a few years ago with the military... then after being home a year or so he was sent to Afghanistan. While Randy was gone, Bill decided to make him a quilt. You can see pictures and read about it here  Three Cheers for the Red, White and Blue  The back contains a huge label that was signed by others in the office, many with notes thanking Randy for his service. I really love the back!

Shortly after Randy returned to work, the office took him out for a celebratory lunch... at the same restaurant they took him before he left... and while there he was given the quilt.  I think he liked it. :-)

The guy that looks like Santa is mine. :-)  "Belle"

Finally some time to sew!

A group of quilting friends are making a love quilt for one of our own. I am the collector of blocks. Saturday my quilting hubby and I had time to lay them out and get them put together into a top. I think it looks great. Tomorrow we plan to get it sandwiched together with the back and some batting and then "Let the quilting begin!"

On a very different note, I had a bit of fun this afternoon. My mother needed a little happy for a young couple in her church expecting their first child.  They are using bees in the nursery decor. I whipped up 3 burp cloths for them.

The how-to for this project can be found here: Basket-O-Burpies

2 things I did differently. The instructions say sew down the top and bottom before the sides. I did that with the first one and ended up with a bit of a crease in the diaper when I sewed down the sides. So for the other two I just sewed the top then the sides and then the bottom. Worked great! Also, I used a straight stitch with the first one.. and it looks fine.. but with the other two I did a small zigzag right along the edge of the fabric. I really like the way it looks.

I will most definitely be whipping up some more of these for future baby showers!

"Belle"

Whole lot of quilting NOT going on....

Seems life has been flying in a zillion directions lately... add that to extreme heat and humidity... and you find a quilter too tired to quilt!  That is a sad thing.  I have continued to get some flowers made for my GFG and am working on piecing another section together. And I have 2 other projects in the works...

First... I worked on some blocks for a quilt being made for a friend with cancer. This is the Starflower Block found at Quilter's Cache. I love the way it looks and it really isn't a difficult block... this from someone who hates matching up points with triangles!  My friend loves calicoes, so that is the fabric being used. I am not a huge calico fan, so don't have a lot on hand... and what I do is pink and green (Gee, I wonder why! LOL!) I think the blocks I whipped up this weekend turned out well..

Second, I will soon start cutting those t-shirts below to make a t-shirt quilt for my son's girlfriend. I have made one other t-shirt quilt in my 6 years as a quilter. Love how they turn out, but whew!  they are work.... she is worth it and I have an idea to do something a little different, at least different for me, so that is motivating me.

See the GFGs in the picture? They are coming along. I need to make more white ones!

I have several other projects I NEED to get started and more than I can list that I want to do!

Our temps are still high, but the humidity has dropped.. so maybe my energy will come back and I will get motivated to spend more time in Sewing Central getting things done!

Keep Stitchin'

"Belle"

Progress...

Finally got to work on some projects this weekend.  I whipped up some blocks for a quilt I am doing with some friends. ... Nice crisp reds and whites (the dark ones in the photo aren't that dark in real life)... the pattern is Double Wrench from Quilters Cache (Check out the pattern here ).  Very easy and quick and cute block! I especially love it on point (look on 2nd page of the pattern).

I started a Grandmother's Flower Garden about a month ago. The plan is to make a Full Size quilt with 1930s / 40s repros for my mom for her 80th birthday (Sept. 2011)... all by hand.. piecing and quilting.  I have no doubt she will love it.. she has hinted and hinted for a repro quilt for a while now.  :-)  I am really loving making it... I just think I am wired for handwork. My Mama Rush (Paternal grandmother) never owned a sewing machine. She made a number of quilts.. did a lot of crochetting.. and sewed some of the lovliest dresses for me when I was a wee one all by hand.

No doubt machine work is quicker, but I love the control and creativity I feel when doing handwork.. and the connection I feel with my Mama Rush.

This will not be my last by hand project!

Anyway... I've been whipping up hexagons... and zipping them together into flowers... I really wanted to see what they would look like put together... so I pieced a small section, just to see. I think it turned out very nice. Ready to get more done!

I also did some non-quilt sewing this weekend. My son (college freshman) was looking online at Urban Outfitters for some shirts and shorts. Found some things on sale. The shirts were a good deal, so he got a couple, but even on sale the shorts were $40... and they were essentially non-denim cut offs.  I mentioned that he might have some pants here that he no longer wears that could be cut off. He remember some gray cords he bought a year ago that are way too short these days.  He used another pair of shorts as a guide.. added a 1/2"... marked a cut line and used my rotary cutter to whack them off.. and then I hemmed them. He doesn't like the ragged edge you get with cut offs.  Took about 10 minutes total and cost nothing!  Now that is a deal.  I have a feeling I will be hemming some more in the days to come.

"Belle"

Girlie Quilts

A friend has a sweet little granddaughter who will be 3 soon. She has a baby doll that she loves and cherishes... carries her everywhere. My friend found a great baby crib for the doll at a yard sale. She asked me to make a quilt for her to wrap the baby in when taking her out and about... and then a quilt and pillow for the crib.  So I played with some girlie fabric and came up with these... I think they turned out nice. I have to add that my hubby loves to do machine quilting and so he quilted the carry quilt real quick one morning.

The Quilt for Carrying the baby out and about..

A look at the quilting on the back..

Crib quilt and matching pillow....

I love making girlie goodies!

"Belle"

Three Cheers for the Red, White & Blue!!!

A co-worker and friend of my husband's recently returned from his 2nd tour of duty in the Middle East. While gone this time, hubby decided to make a quilt in honor of his friend. I am in love with this quilt! I have already requested one like it... but a tad bit smaller... one for tossing over the back of the couch.  I could not get a really good shot of the whole quilt...










Here is a bit of it up close...

The back is cool too. Several folks donated fabric as he was working on this.  Someone gave us these neat panels.  The muslin used on the back and for the big label is a good quality Kona Cotton Muslin.  He took the part with the panels to his office and had folks sign it and write notes to their co-worker.  It looks soo good!

I know this will be a treasured gift for the recipient.... I cannot wait to hear about his reaction!  And I am thankful for a hubby who uses his gifts to bless others! He is a keeper!

"Belle"