That Pile of Fabric Again !!



A Different Pile



I didn't get anything posted on the "tomorrow" that I mentioned at the end of my last post as the sewing took longer than I thought. Doesn't it always? Here is the main body of the quilt without borders. I had planned to put a scrappy inner border around it with the bold colors but I don't know if I have enough. The pile at the top is the waste that I cut off from each block. I hate waste when making a quilt, especially as expensive as the fabric is getting. I had thought this would make a good scrappy quilt someday but I have had second thoughts now. I would not make this pattern again! Does anyone have any suggestions on how to use these pieces of waste? I was looking at the quilt top last night, I thought about a fuchsia or purple with white polka dot border or something jazzy. I need to go look at fabric tomorrow because I don't have the outer border either..Sometimes I like to wait to buy borders, it's like living on the edge and you just never know what you will do or find. Anyone else like doing this?? Does anyone have any other suggestions for borders? I am open for ideas.

I've been blog hopping for a while today. I just can't believe the wonderful blogs that are on the internet. I can't even begin to mention the ones that I thought were great. Before I know it, an hour or two has gone by and I didn't even realize it. I know I spend way too much time on the computer and need to discipline myself better. How do you discipline your time on your computer? I think I am a computer junky!!

That's all for today, folks! I have to get busy getting caught up on a few things around here but I'm sure I'll be back many times before the day is over...have a 'Stitches' kind of day where ever you are. P.S. I love comments.

Remember That Pile of Fabric?

   Remember that pile of fabric in my last post?  Here it is in the next stages. I have sewn 6 strip sets together (only half of what I will need) and cut them into 10 1/2" squares..then I have cut my accent fabric into rectangles 4 1/4" x  9 1/2". I took out some of the colors and only kept the purple, turquoise, lime green, orange and fuchsia. I am thinking that will be enough colors to make the quilt pop! Today I am going to start sewing them together. Hopefully, by tomorrow I can show you a couple of rows but I'm not going to tell you anymore about the pattern. You need to return and check it out.  Can anyone guess what the pattern might look like?  By the way, my flowers still look really fresh and perky!!

I almost forgot.  I went to a P.E.O. meeting last night and our hostess gave me the most beautiful African Violet. I hope I can keep it alive.. It's bigger than a dinner plate, gorgeous. She, also, grows orchids and makes it look so easy. They are so perfect that they look artificial..She has a 'dark' green thumb for sure.

That's all for today, until tomorrow, have a "Stitches" kind of day!!!

Here's to a Lovely Day!

   We have had  unbelievable weather this week for February in Iowa. It even got up to 68 on Wednesday. A week ago the yard was covered in several inches of snow and now it's all gone and we can see the brown/green grass. I looked yesterday and my Surprise or Mystery Lilies are up about 1 1/2"..they don't know about March yet!!  Yesterday morning a friend asked if I wanted to go to Omaha with her to return some things and I debated. It was going to be so nice, should I stay home or should I go because it was so nice? Yeah, you guessed it, I went. After her errand, we went to Trader Joe's. It is a fairly new store in Omaha and I hadn't been there yet. The first thing I saw was beautiful flowers. I procrasinated for only a few  minutes and bought a pretty bouquet of little pink roses, blue statice and some little pink lilies for only $3.99! I don't think you can see the lilies but they are there. The big red rose was a freebie. I thought they were really, really nice but when I got to the check-out, the gal said "I'm not going to charge you for the flowers". And I asked, why? She said she thought they didn't look very good and I'm thinking, do I need my glasses changed? I thought they were lovely and brought them home and you can see for yourself. Oh well, I didn't argue with her about the price of them and I am really enjoying them. The little pink roses even have a very nice smell to them. Love, love, love fresh flowers in the house..then we made a stop at Hobby Lobby. A lot of their beads were on sale for 1/2 price and I thought I needed some for a project. (Phyllis, don't roll your eyes at me!)  Below  is a picture of my next quilt. Not very impressive, is it? Well, I hope the next time you see it, it will be more than a pile of strips and yardage. I have to get this pieced and ready to machine quilt as it will be a graduation gift in May. I gotta get goin'.  I have put my Phd"s on the back burner until this pile looks like something that resembles a quilt top.

I wanted to show you a picture of a quilt that my sister, Deb, made for a friend's Valentine birthday. I think it came out really nice and I'm sure the friend loves it. I have never done anything with the crocheted doilies but it would be fun to do sometime. Another one for my bucket list!

Well, until next time, I hope you are having a "Stitches" kind of day. That's my kind of day........

Snow, Snow and more Snow and Sewing

Where did that week go?  I've been stitching whenever I can and I managed to get my Quilted Village top put together. I used the freezer paper and glue technique when I machine appliqued the blocks so I spent the best part of two evenings getting the paper out. Maybe it wouldn't have been such a job if the glue hadn't been there for several years. :-) This is the Quilted Village in pieces.

And here is the top sewn together. Now to decide on how to quilt it. The first part of the week I was housebound because of the weather. We had snow and wind and school was closed for two days. I got a lot of sewing done. There is some advantage to living in Iowa!! Here is another quilt that I have been working on for a couple of years. I had the sashing and borders machine quilted and I have been hand quilting the pieced & appliqued blocks. On Thursday, I went shopping with some of the gals and I got fabric for the binding on this one. It was a nice sunny day but very, very cold but it was nice to get out of the house and get some fresh air.  I also got the shirting fabric that I wanted for the scalloped border on the Dear Jane quilt. I think the shirting will be nice instead of the plain muslin that I was going to use. What do you think? I still plan to work on a couple of the corners and see if I can improve on them before I add this last border but I have to get my nerve up to mess with them again.  aaaagh!I haven't shown you the little embroidered basket blocks that I have been working on. They are so much fun to make. I took my patterns and had them reduced as I wanted to make a small quilt, perhaps doll cradle size. The blocks will finish at 6" so it will be small. I wanted the quilt to have a Victorian feel to it and have been looking for sashing fabric for a while. I think I found one that will really look good. It's a mottled lavender, pink and blueish and really brings out the mottled colors in the background fabric of the baskets. I will embellish the baskets after they are quilted, however, I have beaded one of them. I couldn't stand to wait until it was quilted to see what they would look like embellished. Here is the one that I beaded, I don't know if you can see it that well or not. The picture doesn't do justice to the beads tho.

Well, I think I have just about brought you up to date on my sewing activities for the week. (although I haven't mentioned the Redwork that I'm doing) That will be saved for a later date. The Super Bowl will start in a couple of hours and I am not a very good football fan. But I have been invited to my daughter's house and I will go, just so I can be with family and all the action.  I hope you are having a 'Stitches" kind of day. Until next time......