LEquilts

Chenille Hot Pads

2012-02-08T08:57:00.000-08:00

This week Mary Lawrence came to teach us how to make Chenille Hot Pads from flannel. This was the easiest project that we have had, and it was LOTS O' FUN as you can see in the photos.
Here Mary is showing us the fabric combinations that we can choose.

Tutorial for Chenille Hot Pad

Use 2 contrasting colors of flannel fabric.

Cut 2 large squares 9 1/2" of the focus fabric.

Cut 1 smaller square 9" of the focus fabric.

Cut 2 smaller squares 9" of the contrasting fabric.

Cut 1 square 8 1/2" of batting.

Cut 1 strip 3" x width of fabric

Make a quilt sandwich of the 9 1/2" focus fabric squares and the square of batting.

Lay the 2 contrasting 9" squares on top of the quilt sandwich. Lay them both right sides up. Then place the remaining focus fabric 9" square on top of them. Again laying the square right side up. Pin all 6 of these layers together.

Now sew diagonally from corner to corner. (Use a stitch length of about 3). Then sew parallel lines about 3/8" to 1/2" apart on each side of the original diagonal line.

Sew until you have 6 channels on each diagonal as shown below.

Then carefully cut up the center of each channel. You will be cutting through the top 3 layers only! Stop about 1/4" from the stitching lines that crisscross in the center of the hot pad.

All that is left to do is to trim the sides and square up the pad. Attach the binding using a 1/2" seam allowance. The binding can be sewn down on the back side by hand or by machine.

Here we are finishing our chenille pads and lending a helping hand. It's so much fun sewing with the ladies at Coastal Haven. They are all so helpful and willing.

Yes! Rosanne did not escape my camera today!

You can brush the cut sections to "fluff" them or simply toss the finished hot pad in the washer to "fluff" them.

Aren't we proud of our work? Just look at those big smiles.

Even left-handers can do this project ;-)

Of course, our cook was on hand to feed us a nourishing lunch. (I think Sandy offered a helping hand.) This time it was sloppy joes and 2 kinds of soup! The chicken soup was soooo full of chicken and vegetables, there wasn't any room for noodles. For dessert there were 2 kinds of brownies. Thank you, Linda, once again for a great meal.

Breakfast at Panini Pete's

2012-02-01T18:29:00.000-08:00

About once a month during the winter, the ladies at Coastal Haven go into Fairhope and have breakfast at Panini Pete's followed by a visit to The Company of Angel's store.
These pictures say it all. (And this time Rosanne is in the pictures!) Thanks, Deanne, for sharing your photos.

Starburst Hot Pad Tutorial

2012-01-27T09:50:00.000-08:00

These directions are the best of my recollection from the class I took a few days ago. The instructor did not have written directions, so I've tried to recreate what we did in that class. I've also added a few of my own suggestions.

Starburst Hot Pad Tutorial

Materials:

Fabric A

Cut 12 – 3” x 4 1/2”

4 – 3 ½” x 3 ½”

Fabric B

Cut 8 – 3” x 4 ½”

Fabric C

Cut 8 – 3” x 4 ½”

Fabric D

Cut 8 – 3” x 4 ½”

Binding = Width of Fabric x 2 ¼”

Hanger = 1” x 5”

Backing = 10” x 10”

Foundation = 10” x 10”

Batting = 10” x 10”

Directions:

Cut fabrics. You can use any number of fabrics that you like – 2,3,4, or 5. These directions and photos show 4 fabrics. Fabric A was used for row 1 and row 4 in the sample. Row 1 uses 4 rectangles while all other rows use 8 rectangles. Careful measuring is very important in making the stars symmetrical.

Row 1

Step 1:

Take the 4 rectangles for the first row and press ½” along one long side of each rectangle

Then fold the pressed rectangle to form a square. Press again. This pressing line is used as the sewing line. You may want to draw a line down the middle of the rectangle for the sewing line instead of pressing.

Step 2:

Draw a line down the center of the foundation fabric from top to bottom (I’m using a scrap of brown fabric). Then draw a line across the center from left to right. Finally, draw diagonal lines from corner to corner, so that all of the lines cross at the center of the foundation. These lines will serve as guides when you begin sewing the star points.

Step 3:

Place one of the Row 1 rectangles along one of the guidelines. Make sure that the center of the rectangle aligns with the center of the foundation, as shown in the next picture.

Stitch down the center of the rectangle. Use the fold line on the rectangle to align with the line drawn on the foundation fabric. Take a back stitch at the beginning of your sewing for reinforcement.

Step 4:

Place another rectangle above the 1^st one and stitch down the center of the 2^nd rectangle as shown below.

Fold as shown below.

Step 5:

Lay the 3^rd rectangle as shown and sew down the center. Do the same with the 4^th rectangle.

Then fold the 3^rd and 4^th rectangles the same as the first 2. Then press.

Your center should look like the photo below.

Step 6:

Place the foundation on the piece of batting and sew ¼” around the outer perimeter of the center pieces.

ROW 2

Step 1:

Measuring down the center of 1 of the pieces, place a row 2 rectangle ½” from the center as shown. Careful measuring is extremely important in making a symmetrical starburst.

Stitch down the center of this piece like you did in row 1.

Add the 2^ndrectangle directly above the 1st one. Add the 3^rd rectangle to the left of the 1st one & add the 4^th rectangle directly across from the 3rd one. Your first 4 rectangles should look like the ones below.

Fold and press these pieces

Step 2:

Add the 5^th rectangle to row 2 as shown, making sure to place the rectangle ½” from the center.

Add the 6^th, 7^th, & 8^th rectangles in the same manner as 3, 4, & 5.

Fold and press. You should now see the center star being formed.

Stitch 1/4” around the outside perimeter of Row 2. Stitching around the perimeter helps keep each row flat and in place.

Do Rows 3, 4, & 5 in the same manner as Row 2. Always start a row with a star point that was one of the first 4 in the last row. I don't know if that is clear, but if you look at the picture above, you can see that the last 4 star points sit on top of the first 4 in that row. Always measure ½” down from the inner star points for accurate placement. Remember to stitch the perimeter of each finished row.

Here is the completed Row 3:

Row 4:

Row 5:

Corner Squares

Step 1:

Draw a diagonal line on the back of each of the corner squares.

Step 2:

Place a square back side up on the block. Line up the top edge and the left edge of the square with a 4^th row star point as shown below. Then stitch on the diagonal line.

Press down to form a corner triangle. Repeat for the other corners.

Step 3:

Stitch around the outer perimeter of the block. Check that you are satisfied with all of your star points. If not, rip out to the offending point and fix your problem now.

When you are satisfied, trim your block.

Finishing

Step 1:

Lay the block on the backing, wrong sides together. Stitch about 1/8” around the perimeter of the block. Trim the backing even with the block.

Step 2:

Press the binding down the middle of the long side. Attach the binding to the front side of the block. Do this the same way you normally put binding on your quilts.

Step 3:

Take the 1” x 5” hanger piece. Fold it down the middle (long ways). Then fold each long side to the middle. This makes a ¼” x 5” hanger. Press. Then stitch the long edges together.

Step 4:

Attach the hanger to a back corner of the hot pad as shown. Stitch about 1/8” inside the seam allowance.

Hand sew the binding to the back of the hot pad.

Here is the finished Starburst Hot Pad!

Hot Pad Class at Coastal Haven

2012-01-25T11:12:00.000-08:00

Our sewing guild, the Coastal Haven Sew 'N Sews, met on Tuesday for a class. Mary Lawrence from Magnolia Springs came and taught us to make beautiful hot pads. There were 13 ladies who took part in the class, and, of course, Linda Saunders cooked us a fabulous lunch.

Mary has the patience of Job. She worked slowly through the instructions to get everyone started, and then she wandered throughout the room and gave each of the ladies some personal attention and encouragement.

It's easy to see from the expressions on our faces that we were taking this project very seriously. We worked very hard to make sure that our final product would be one that we could show with pride.

Here is Bonnie...

and Alece....

and me carefully working.

By lunch time our projects were beginning to take shape.

We never have a Sew 'N Sews workshop without having a fabulous lunch. Actually, the Sew 'N Sews never do anything together without having a fabulous lunch. Linda outdid herself this time. She fixed Italian beef, 2 kinds of soup, and 2 kinds of brownies for our lunch. I threw together some Chinese slaw to go along with her Italian beef. Needless to say, we did not go away hungry. Here is our cook after she finished the clean up of the kitchen.

.

Here are some of the finished hot pads. Aren't they all beautiful. There is such a variety of beautiful fabrics that make the hot pads unique.

These three hot pads are made from the same fabrics, but look how different they all look because they all use a different order to the fabrics.

Joan, Linda, Sandy, and Marilyn are proudly showing their finished projects. Wait a minute! Linda, that is not a finished hot pad; that's a corner square that you ~~stole~~ borrowed from Joan. Now give it back so she can finish.
Somehow Rosanne eluded my camera. I know she was there, but I don't have a single picture of her. Hmmmm ..... How did she manage that???

Biscuit Baskets

2012-01-16T17:28:00.000-08:00

The ladies at Coastal Haven have begun their winter sewing again. Today, Marjie came and taught them to make fabric Biscuit Baskets. Four of the ladies were able to complete the baskets today. Marjie brought her serger and serged beautiful waves on the edges of all of the strips for the baskets. That took her about 6 hours. Thank you Marjie for all of your hard work.

Joan, Roseanne, Sandy, and Felicia working hard at weaving the strips. Roseanne and Sandy helped the other ladies with the basket weaving portion of the project, since they had already made their baskets several weeks ago.

Linda and Deb keeping Marjie company while she worked on the serging of the strips.

Roseanne, Marilyn, and Felicia weaving the strips into their baskets.

Here is one of the finished baskets. Isn't it cute?

While all of the basket making was going on Dodie was working on some other projects. Here is the bear that she made using an old Superman costume.

Superman

Mittens and Tissue Covers

2011-11-16T16:17:00.000-08:00

Lately, I've been working on some Christmas gifts for family and friends. First I made several sets of wool mittens. The mittens are made from felted wool. I bought some 100% wool sweaters and jackets at thrift shops, and then felted them by washing in hot water and drying on high heat. The mittens are lined with fleece which makes them very cozy as well as quite warm. The pattern is found here.

I also wanted to make some easy stocking stuffers. I was reading Erin's blog a week or two ago and she was making travel size tissue covers. These little covers are so handy to use and so easy to make that I really got into the swing of things. Before I knew it, I had made a couple of dozen. So, those of you who actually know me will probably be getting one. If you'd like the pattern, it can be found here.

The covers can be made very quickly with a pillow shape, or you can spend just a bit more time and box the corners. I personally like them better with boxed corners. This is really a fun project that uses up lots of scraps in very little time.

If you find these patterns useful, leave a comment so I know if anyone actually likes what I put on my blog.

Roll Roll Cotton Boll is Finished

2011-10-07T15:07:00.000-07:00

I finally finished my Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt from last winter - Roll Roll Cotton Boll. This is a very large quilt with many, many small pieces. I particularly like the pieced border. At first, I was somewhat leery of using such an intricately pieced border, but it went together very well and really sets off the rest of the quilt. I am so glad that I stepped out of my comfort zone to make it. Those of you who follow my blog have seen pictures of it in progress. Most of the fabric in this quilt is recycled from men's shirts.

I actually finished the piecing of the quilt last spring. But, it took me all summer to do the quilting on my Elna sewing machine. I chose a wreathe pattern to quilt into each string pieced block and into each dark pieced block. There are 30 of each of those blocks in this quilt. It's hard to see the quilting on the front, but the back shows the quilting very well.

Now I am looking forward to Bonnie Hunter's newest mystery quilt which will begin sometime in November.

Placemats from Scraps

2011-09-27T10:03:00.000-07:00

It has been a VERY long time since I've written anything new here on my blog. It's not that I haven't been working on a variety of quilting projects, so I don't know what my excuse is.
One of my projects last spring was making placemats. Linda Saunders returned from Coastal Haven in April with a bag of scraps from Roseanne. There were so many nice sized triangles that I thought would make some great placemats. With just a little extra fabric from my stash, I used up most of her scraps.
I made a total of 6 placemats. Since I still had some of her fabric left, I also made about 2 dozen coasters. I'll bring them down to Coastal Haven this winter.

Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt as you go

2011-04-06T12:41:00.000-07:00

While I was in Alabama over the winter, one of the ladies in the RV park showed us her Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt. It was wonderful! She explained that the pattern had been published back in the 70's in Better Homes and Gardens magazine. She showed us how it was made which is really relatively easy. So I've started making a GFG quilt for myself, and as I've gone through the basic steps I've taken pictures. I'm going to attempt to write this as a tutorial for anyone else who would like to make one.

The original instructions directed us to make cardboard templates for hexagons with 2" sides, but I purchased a set of hexagon rulers developed by Marti Mitchell. They are the Quilt Sense Cut Shapes Hexagons.
The package came with 3 sizes of hexagons - 1", 2", and 3". I'm using the 2" for my GFG quilt.

I cut 4" strips from my fabrics and 3.75" strips from my batting. I cut the batting a slight bit smaller than the fabric, so that there would be a bit less bulk in the seams.

Next I put the fabric strips right sides together so that I could cut out both the front and the back hexagon pieces at the same time.

Then I placed the hexagon ruler on the strip, making sure the flat side edges of the ruler lined up with the edges of the fabric. Then using a rotary cutter I cut out the hexagons. I followed the same procedure to cut out the batting hexagons. Using this ruler and strip method creates a bit more waste of fabric than some other methods, but I found it to be more accurate and quicker this way.

When the above step is finished, you will have 2 fabric hexagons and 1 batting hexagon. As shown to the right.

Now layer the 3 pieces. Put the 2 fabric pieces with right sides together and place the batting piece on top.

Using the quarter inch foot on your sewing machine sew around 5 sides of the hexagon. You want to leave the sixth side open so that the hexagon can be turned right side out. Before turning, trim off the corners to about 1/8" from the stitching of the sandwiched piece. This helps to alleviate some of the bulk in the corners. Now turn the piece right side out.

After turning the hexagon right side out, you need to use a pointed object to push the corners out from the inside. I used a chopstick that I sanded to a point on one end. This works really well to get the corners nice and sharp.

Now you begin the hand sewing. Fold in a quarter inch of the front and the back of the open side and using small stitches, whip stitch the side together. Next work 2 lines of small running quilt stitches about a quarter inch from the outside edge and then another quarter inch inside that line of stitches, so that you have 2 rows of hexagons quilted in the individual petal. The picture on the right is my first hexagon, you can see that it is not perfectly hexagonal, but I have gotten better as I've made more petals. (Actually, I think the picture is slightly distorted. Look at the "straight" line below the petal.)

To assemble one complete flower block, sew a round of 6 individual hexagon petals to the center hexagon. Use small overcast stitches at the hexagons' edges. Turn the piece over and sew overcast stitches along the edges of the other side, too. Since this will be a 2 sided quilt, you want the stitching on both sides to be nice.

Attach the third round of 12 individual hexagon petals to this sewn piece, adding the hexagons one at a time. This completes 1 of the quilt's flower blocks.

I'm using unbleached muslin hexagons to join the completed flower blocks together by stitching 1 row of muslin hexagons between each flower block. My finished queen sized quilt will have about 39 flowers.

Coastal Haven Sew 'n Sews

2011-02-11T07:10:00.000-08:00

The ladies at the Coastal Haven RV park have formed a guild!
We have had such fun sewing together for the past month that we thought it was time to become an official guild. We are truly a national guild since we have members from throughout the U.S. Some of us have real brick and mortar homes that we go back to after the winter ice and snows are gone and the weather warms. Others live full time in their RV's and live wherever the weather blows them. Most of us have come back to Coastal Haven for several winters and plan to return next year. Therefore, our guild will remain viable, and the membership will increase as other RVer's join in our fun.

We've been sewing regularly on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Most of us made purses under the direction of Joan and Rosanne who are our resident "purse-making" experts. This project, of course, required a couple of road trips to quilt shops in Gulf Shores (or was it Orange Beach?) and Magnolia Springs, Alabama. Fabric shopping expeditions always include lunch. We have to keep up our strength, you know.

Our second shopping trip resulted in talking with Mary the owner of the Magnolia Springs Fabric store. Mary offered to come to Coastal Haven to teach a class. She listed several techniques that she could teach, and we chose to have her present a class on foolproof binding. On February 10th twelve of our members assembled with our sewing machines in the clubhouse for Mary's binding class. Her class was very clear and concise with easy to follow directions. Everyone was able to master her smooth binding technique as we attached binding to place mats.

Naturally, those of us who were working on our binding didn't have time to prepare our own lunch. Linda and Chris did that for us! They prepared 2 delicious homemade soups, garlic bread, and brownies. A few ladies brought salads and desserts to add to the menu. Needless to say, we were well-fed!

In addition to our sewing sessions, we attended the Quilt Show in Robertsdale, AL at the Methodist church on Feb.3. This was a fabulous show that featured about 300 quilts. All types of quilts were on display - antique, patchwork, applique, stack and whack, etc. We worked up quite an appetite while looking at the quilts, so naturally, we went to lunch together and had a lot of fun.
As I begin to reflect on the activities of our guild, I see that we eat almost as much as we sew. Maybe we should change our name to the Sew 'n Eats!

Well, it's time for me to get back to my sewing.

Log Cabin quilt

2011-02-03T12:16:00.000-08:00

I have been working on a log cabin quilt with 3" squares. I save the smallest of scraps to use in this quilt. When I buy shirts to use for my quilting, I use the button plackets and the collar bands in my log cabins. I only work on this quilt when we are spending extended time in our 5th wheel RV. I bring my 1935 Singer Featherweight sewing machine with me and a container of light scraps and a container of dark scraps. Then I am ready to sew!

So far I have 256 blocks sewn together. I love looking at all the different fabrics. Many of them are pieces from many years ago when I sewed clothing for myself and shirts for my husband and boys. It's like walking down memory lane when I recognized pieces from various projects from the past.

Bonnie Hunter Mystery Blocks

2011-01-05T09:27:00.000-08:00

I've been working for the last month on Bonnie Hunter's new Mystery Quilt. Last Friday she gave the clue that put the many pieces together into 2 blocks. One is a variation of the Prickley Pear block, and the other is a string block. I only had time to assemble 3 of each block - just enough to give me a good idea of how my quilt will look. I love it! The contrast between blocks is very good. When the quilt is finished, these blocks will be set on point with 1/2 string blocks being used for the side setting triangles. Bonnie still has another clue to release on Friday which will show the borders for the finished quilt. We have pieces cut and sewn that will be used in this border. The picture below is Bonnie's quilt top.

We left home on Sunday for our winter destination - Fairhope, Alabama. We will live here for the next couple of months in our RV, so I won't be able to finish this quilt until I return home in mid-March. That's OK though, since I know how the quilt will look when it's finished.

Mystery Quilt

2010-12-12T08:41:00.000-08:00

I am working diligently on the new Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt. Bonnie has been putting up a new step every Friday for the past 4 weeks on her blog http://quiltville.blogspot.com/ . For my very first time, I'm not going to use her suggested colors. I've substituted blue for her green, gold for pink, and green/brown for brown. My constant fabric is a rusty color with gold. I'm anxious to see where it fits into the mystery since it hasn't appeared in the first 4 steps. Bonnie encourages the use of all kinds of scraps in her quilts. I am using lots of pieces that were cut from recycled shirts. You will see lots of plaids in my quilt. Only time will tell what the quilt will look like when it is finished.

Step one (above) consists of blue and gold squares sewn into 3 piece rectangles with the blue in the middle.

Step two (above) is half square triangles in green/brown and gold.

Step 3 (above) is the most time-consuming step so far. We made 60 8.5" string pieced squares. Bonnie encourages everyone to step outside our comfort zone and throw in any fabric that has 50% neutral background regardless of what other colors might be in the fabric. So you'll see that some of my neutral fabric consists of plaids, paisleys, dogs, flowers, etc. and when it is sewn together it all blends in well and reads as neutral. Amazing!

Step 4 (above) was another quick and easy step which consists of blue and neutral twosies and 2" blue squares.

Roll Roll Cotton Boll Mystery

2010-11-24T10:39:00.000-08:00

I've joined the current mystery, called Roll Roll Cotton Boll, hosted by Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville. I've changed up the colors a bit from those that Bonnie is using (Pink is not my color). I'm going to use Blue, yellow/gold, green/brown, neutrals, and a rust color for the constant.
Bonnie is well known for her complex scrap quilts which use many, many small pieces. Her mysteries are lots of fun to do. Bonnie will send out a clue about once a week. The clue will tell which colors to use and how to cut them and sew them together. Little by little the blocks come together and the mystery is solved. I've always loved the quilts that I've made from Bonnie's mystery clues. Stay tuned; I'll try to post pics of each of my steps as I work through the clues.

Woohoo! I'm a Winner

2010-11-12T12:31:00.000-08:00

This morning I turned on my computer and found an email message from Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville.
Bonnie is my all-time favorite scrap quilt designer. If you look back through my blog, you'll find several of Bonnie's quilt designs that I have made. Actually, the quilt that I use as the background to my blog's heading is made from one of Bonnie's patterns - Carolina Crossroads.

The email message from Bonnie told me that I had won a drawing that she had on her blog (Quiltville Quips and Snips) yesterday. The drawing was for a copy of the new Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Vol. 2. Bonnie has designed one of the blocks in this magazine. Her block is called Birthday Girl, which is a 12" block made up of 52 tiny pieces. Tiny pieces are Bonnie's forte. I'm looking forward to receiving my copy of the 100 blocks book. Chances are pretty good that you'll be seeing a quilt on this site in the future made with Bonnie's Birthday Girl block.

Kindle case

2010-10-23T17:32:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to get a Kindle for a very long time, but the cost prevented me from doing so. Last month when the price went down to $139, my husband bought me one for my birthday. I had to wait nearly a month to get it because Amazon was inundated with orders and the Kindle was on back order. It finally arrived last week.

I am really enjoying it. I downloaded World Without End by Ken Follett which is a 1000 page book. Reading it on the Kindle is much better than holding the heavy tome in normal book format. I spent an hour or so and made a quilted case from 2 fat eighths to protect it.

Mom's Mariner's Compass Quilt center

2010-09-02T09:41:00.000-07:00

I finally finished making 50 Ohio Star blocks for the border around my sister's Mariner's Compass on the quilt that we are making together for our mother. I am very pleased with the outcome. Sadly, this picture does not show the colors as well as I'd like. Now Mary needs to add a couple of large plain borders to get the finished top to the correct size for a double bed. Oh, yes, and then she gets to quilt it on her longarm quilting machine.

Mom's Mariner's Compass Quilt

2010-07-20T13:58:00.000-07:00

One day a few months ago, my mom was talking with my sister on the phone, and Mom said that she'd like to have a quilt made for her bed. Mary immediately said, "Sure, I can do that." Then later I mentioned that we could make one together - sort of a round robin between the two of us.

Last week Mary came down for a visit and brought her finished center for me to add on to. It's a very beautiful Mariner's Compass surrounded by flying geese in a circle with appliqued vines around that. She finished this center with a plain border of 4 different shades of pinks and purples.

I've decided to add a border of 4" Ohio Stars around her center. Each star will be a different combination of purples and pinks with light green centers. In order to accommodate this star border, I need to add a very thin 3/4" border around the existing center panel. I auditioned several different greens and have decided on using this shade of green as shown in the last picture. Unfortunately, I don't think there is enough of this fabric to make the complete border. I guess that means I'll have to visit a fabric shop while I'm in Northern Illinois next week visiting my son and his family ;-)

Cutting men's shirts for quilting fabric

2010-06-17T10:25:00.000-07:00

Recently on Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville Chat group on Yahoo, there has been some discussion on how to cut up men's 100% cotton shirts for quilting fabric. Everyone seems to have their own personal preferences on how to do this. I like to cut them so that I get the most usable fabric that I can from each shirt. So my process is to cut off all of the seams and use everything else including the cuffs, collars, and button plackets. The most fabric comes from the sleeves, fronts and backs.
I use the small pieces from the button plackets for my 3" log cabin blocks which have 17 logs in each block. Since these blocks use such small bits of fabric, I can easily use the little pieces from the button plackets. The pieces from the cuffs and collars are great for making string blocks. I made a beautiful Virginia Bound quilt using primarily fabrics from collars and cuffs.

This morning we had a power outage, so I took a couple of shirts outside on the covered deck and cut them up for fabric. The picture on the left shows the cut off seams that I discarded. It's actually only a large handful of seams and old interfacings.

The photo above shows the results of my cutting session - the large fabric pieces from the fronts, back, and sleeves are on the left; and the collar pieces, cuffs, yokes, and button placket pieces on the right.

Carolina Christmas Borders and Basting

2010-04-27T12:05:00.000-07:00

The pieced border that Bonnie Hunter designed for this quilt is absolutely perfect. The border really sets off the quilt very well! I was quite surprised that the border went together so easily. I was very careful in my measurements, pressed and trimmed each block to the exact size before stitching it together. The extra care made all the difference. The border blocks fit together perfectly and attached to the inner border exactly as they were supposed to fit.

The quilting step that I really dislike doing is the basting. However, since I adopted the method used by Sharon Schamber, basting has become much less of a hassle. You can find Sharon's basting videos on You Tube. There are 2 videos to watch which are easy to follow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhwNylePFAA

Now that my basting is finished, it's time to start the quilting on my Elna Pro Quilter's Dream.

Carolina Christmas

2010-04-26T09:12:00.000-07:00

Last week I took out the blocks that I made after Christmas for the Bonnie Hunter Mystery called Carolina Christmas. After laying the blocks out on the floor, I realized just how gigantic that quilt was going to be. I really didn't want another huge quilt, so I rearranged the blocks to make 2 large snuggle-on-the-couch quilts. I think these twin quilts will be nice to use in our 5th wheel when watching TV on cold nights.

Now that I have the blocks sewn together, it's time to start working on the borders. Bonnie designed a patchwork border that I think I'm going to try. I've never done a pieced border so this will be a new adventure and learning experience for me. I just hope I can get the border to fit since I changed the large quilt into two smaller ones.

Carrying Case for Hope

2010-04-13T11:33:00.000-07:00

The carrying case for my 1936 Featherweight, Hope, does not have a carrying handle. Some previous owner tried to refurbish the outside of the case by removing the black covering. I suppose the old owner didn't know what to do after that; therefore, nothing was done, and the case is down to bare wood. I definitely didn't want to fool with the outside of the case, and the inside of the case is in very good condition. So, I found a pattern on the Internet to make a cloth carrying case that the old wooden case would simply slip into. I wasn't particularly pleased with the pattern. I found it to be hard to follow. The diagrams and cutting directions were not clear, so I made some of my own modifications and am basically pleased with the outcome. At least now I can easily pick up and carry my Featherweight.

Hope

2010-02-16T05:17:00.000-08:00

Steve and I are spending the winter months in Fairhope, Alabama, in our 5th wheel RV. While it's cold down here this winter, it's much warmer than at home in Illinois, and we haven't had to shovel any snow down here.

My sister loaned me Lucy, her Featherweight sewing machine to bring along. I enjoyed using her so much that I began looking to buy one myself. I found the perfect machine on Ebay, a 1936 model AE Featherweight in very good condition. The best thing about this machine is that it was located in Foley, Alabama which is about 15 miles from our RV Park. I bid aggressively for this machine and won the auction. When I contacted the owner about picking it up instead of having it shipped, I found that the owner worked very near our RV Park. She brought the machine to work with her, and we completed our business in the parking lot. The transaction could not have been easier.

After cleaning, oiling, and lubing the machine, I gave her a trial run, and she runs great! I've named her Hope, since I got her in Fairhope, AL. Hope and I have been busy making 3" log cabin blocks from very small scraps that I brought along with me. So far we've made about 140 blocks, but haven't made much of a dent in the scrap bins.

Christmas Lights

2009-12-15T09:10:00.000-08:00

I finished my Christmas Lights quilt, a Bonnie Hunter Mystery, that was published in 3 issues of Quiltmaker magazine. It's a beautiful, colorful quilt. I used a different setting than the one that Bonnie published. Another quilter on line suggested several alternative settings and I chose to use one of hers.. I still need to quilt it. I have never done any hand quilting, but my husband and I are going to be wintering in Fairhope, Alabama, and I won't have my sewing machine, so I might use this as my first hand quilting project.
Have you ever participated in a Virtual Quilt Show? Want to see what's involved and how to participate? Visit this website and join in the fun:
http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com/2009/12/virtual-christmas-quilt-show.html

Christmas Lights Mystery Blocks

2009-10-25T10:40:00.000-07:00

I have been working on Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt "Christmas Lights" that was published in the last 3 issues of Quiltmaker magazine. All of the blocks have been finished for several weeks. I have been mulling over the setting for my quilt. The Cozy Quilter has provided several interesting settings for these blocks. I'm sure I will use one of these settings. I really like both settings 2 and 3, but I'm still debating which setting to use. Check back here in a few days, and I should have a picture of my quilt in its final setting.

Carolina Crossroads

2009-10-22T12:12:00.000-07:00

This afternoon I finished piecing my Carolina Crossroads quilt which is a pattern designed by Bonnie Hunter and is found in her book, Scraps and Shirttails.
The quilt top is made from 100% cotton shirts which I have found at thrift shops, rummage sales, garage sales, etc. It's a great way to make something useful without having to spend a lot of money on fabric.
There are over 2700 pieces in my quilt which measures 77" square. It was a fun quilt to make. Now I will have to wait until I visit my sister in Wisconsin, so I can quilt it on her long-arm machine.

Blogger's Quilt Festival

2009-10-10T05:41:00.000-07:00

Park City Girl is having a virtual Quilt Festival which is a lot of fun. Bloggers from across the world are posting pics of their favorite quilts for all of us to view and appreciate.
The Park City Girl, Amy, who's blog is here is hosting an online quilt show for those of us who can't get to Houston this week. Actually, she's hosting it for those who can get there too! It's not a competition. What you do is choose one of your quilts and show it and tell its story on your blog, put a link on her blog and that's all. Then you can follow all the links for an amazing on-line quilt show. Oh yes, and there are prizes too, which I think are won in a draw.

My favorite quilt of the year is Jacob's Train quilt that I made in May for my newest grandson, Jacob Scott. Since he is now enjoying the quilt, I don't have it to take more pictures. The quilt was made from a kit by Fons and Porter. It took 5 months to get the kit because it was on backorder month after month. I had almost given up on getting it when I finally received an email message telling me it had been sent. In the long run, it was worth waiting for!
I used machine applique to put the train pieces together, and there were lots of little pieces on each train car. The smoke coming from the engine stacks is small rickrack and the train tracks are a larger rickrack. I wish I had taken some close up photos of the individual train cars for you to see. Oh, well... I think if you click on the picture, it will open in a larger size so the details can be easily seen.
Now click on the bloggers quilt festival button in my sidebar and visit other blogs that are showing their quilts.

Thrift Shop Shirts

2009-09-14T10:18:00.000-07:00

It has been quite some time since I've posted anything on my quilting blog. That is because Steve and I have been on a 6 week trip to Oregon. While we were traveling, I didn't have my sewing machine; therefore, I didn't get any quilting done. However, I did visit thrift shops while in the Portland area. Goodwill had such high prices I didn't buy any shirts, but I did find several large pieces of fabric for 99 cents each. I quickly bought those.
I hit the jackpot at Value Village where everything with a purple tag was on sale for 99 cents that day. I found 9 very nice cotton shirts. The best thing about shopping in Oregon is there is no sales tax. So, my 9 shirts cost me $8.91. The total full price would have been $57, so I feel very good about having gotten a real bargain.
I didn't just shop thrift stores while in Portland. I also shopped at 2 wonderful fabric stores. Both of them are huge! The Mill End Store in Beaverton was great. I was able to match several fat quarters for a table topper that I intend to make. I found some great black print background fabric, too. The other fabric store was Fabric Depot in NE Portland. That is the biggest fabric store I've ever seen! It is several acres of fabric and notions. They were having a big clearance sale outside while I was there, and, of course, I found some great bargains on backing fabric. I love to find quality fabric at low prices when I'm looking for backings. Don't you?

New Year's Mystery Quilt

2009-06-22T08:45:00.000-07:00

I made my first mystery quilt in the early days of the new year. This mystery was designed by Ann Smith over at the Yahoo group Fabricaholicsanonymous. It was a fun project to make. The blocks could be arranged in a variety of patterns. After playing with several different settings, I decided on this one. I really like it!
To add to the fun of this project, I took it along to my sister's house a couple of weeks ago and had my first experience of using her longarm quilting system. I quilted the entire 76"X76" quilt in about 3 hours using a meandering pattern. It sure was a lot of fun and very rewarding to finish in such a short period of time. I love doing the piecing for quilts, but am less enthusiastic about the quilting of them. Quilting a large quilt on my shortarm Elna is arduous for me.
Today I will finish sewing on the binding and the quilt will be ready to give to my mother-in-law for her 93rd birthday in August.

Quilted Purse

2009-06-18T12:06:00.000-07:00

This morning I went to the quilt discussion group meeting at our local public library. It was an enjoyable time. Everyone brought something to show and talk about - either a work in progress or a completed project or a favorite quilt book.
One of the ladies had a quilted purse that I admired. I knew that I had a purse pattern which I bought about a month ago and hadn't started, yet.
Our discussions also included talk about invisible thread. Since I have never used it in a machine quilting project, I decided to try it this afternoon on a quilted purse.
Here is a picture of one of the purse panels that I quilted onto cotton batting. I really like the quilted effect that is given by the invisible thread without the thread showing. Since there is a variation of dark, medium and light fabric, the invisible thread was perfect for this project.
I have probably already mentioned on this blog that I do not have a digital camera, so I often use my scanner to take pictures of sections of my projects. One of these days, I'll get a digital camera so I can take proper pics of works in progress.

Jacob's Train Quilt

2009-06-13T09:05:00.000-07:00

Back in December our son and daughter-in-law told us to expect a new grandson in early May. I immediately found this Fons and Porter quilt pattern and ordered the kit. In January, I received an email message saying the kit was back-ordered. In February, March, and April, I received the same message. I was getting frustrated with waiting, but I really wanted those fabrics for this quilt. Well, on the night that my daughter-in-law went into the hospital to deliver Jacob, I received the email message saying that the kit had been sent. While I would have liked to have finished the quilt before Jacob's birth, I did finish it in time for his baptism. Tracy thought it was worth waiting for, since it came out so beautiful.

I really am pleased with the final result. I have enough leftover fabric to almost make another one. I think all I'll need to get is fabric for the background panels. Maybe I'll make another one and donate it to our church dinner auction.

Tea Dye Fabric

2009-06-12T09:44:00.000-07:00

I've been collecting 100% cotton shirts to make some scrap quilts ala Bonnie Hunter. I find that many of the white shirts are just too white, so I've been reading about tea dying and decided to give it a try. I dyed 3 shirts by letting each one rest in the tea for a different amount of time. You can see the results in the picture to the left. The shirt that I left in the tea for 3 hours turned out a dark tan. The middle fabric was in the tea for about a half hour, and it is a nice off white. The 3rd shirt was in the tea for about an hour, and it is a nice light tan. I am very happy with the results of my first experience with tea dying.

To make the dye, I boiled 2 quarts of water and put in 10 tea bags. I put one of the shirts in a dish pan and poured the hot tea solution, including the tea bags, over the shirt. I added a bit more water to make enough solution to completely cover the shirt. When the water cooled, I gently massaged the fabric to be sure that the solution was completely saturating the fabric. Then I just left the fabric in the solution until I liked the color.
When all three shirts were dyed, I put them in my washing machine and ran a small warm cycle to wash out any excess tea dye. Then I dried them in my electric clothes dryer.

5K Training

2009-06-11T07:30:00.000-07:00

When I was in my 30's, I was an avid runner. I faithfully ran every other day for about 8 years. In order to keep myself motivated, I kept a mileage journal. I found that I was running about 2000 miles a year. No wonder I kept wearing out my running shoes!
Then in the spring of 1989, I slipped on some ice and injured my back. This injury kept me out of commission for about 2 months. After my back healed, I simply couldn't get motivated to get back into my running routine. I tried off and on, but just wasn't consistent.
Last year I found myself becoming quite overweight, so I made up my mind to do something about it. I started by changing my eating habits. I cut out the between meal snacks and started eating half portions of my meals. At the gym I began working out much harder. I started pushing myself to increase my strength and endurance. Slowly the weight came off - about a pound a week. By the first of January, I had lost 35 lbs.
My goal for this year was to get back into shape so that I could run the Popeye 5K in September. At age 60 this is not so easily done. I've been running on the treadmill, and about once a week, I run through the neighborhood about 3 miles. My endurance has increased, but my speed is still not so good. Currently I can run 3 miles in about 34 minutes. My goal is to run the Popeye race in about 30 minutes. At this point I don't know if that is possible, but it remains as my goal.

Bonnie Hunter Quilts

2009-03-14T16:54:00.000-07:00

I really, really love Bonnie Hunter's quilt patterns. She has so many great ones on her website: www.quiltville.com . I plan to make many of these. I recently finished making a Cathedral Stars quilt to use in our RV. I love to snuggle up in this quilt while watching TV.
This is the first full size quilt that I've quilted on my new Elna sewing machine. It came out great!

I've also recently finished piecing Bonnie's Virginia Bound quilt which is found in her new book "Scraps and Shirttails". I made it from recycled men's 100% cotton shirts. I mainly used the collars and cuffs of these shirts; therefore, I call my quilt "Collars and Cuffs". I haven't done the quilting on it, yet, but hope to begin that process next week.

Little Fabric Baskets

2009-01-04T08:33:00.001-08:00

I love these little fabric baskets! I found the pattern online. I need to go back and find the blog where I found the pattern (found it - Pink Penguin) so I can put a link to it here. I made these 5 baskets as Christmas gifts for the women on my list. They all seemed to love them!

2008-09-17T12:18:00.000-07:00

I've been going through my smallest crumbs and making quilted coasters. This is an absolutely mindless endeavor. I love it! The coasters finish at 4". They are perfect to use in our RV and to give to our RVing friends.

It's Been a While

2008-07-14T08:55:00.000-07:00

I have not been very good at keeping up regularly with this blog. It's not that I haven't been quilting; I have! In fact I have completed all of the blocks for my Quilting the Psalms. Here are the final 2 blocks. All of the blocks can be found at my webshots site. http://community.webshots.com/user/lfegge

2007-09-13T08:01:00.000-07:00

I have just begun participation in Quilting the Psalms a yahoo group that combines Bible study with quilting. This week's study is of Psalm 1. "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. Ps.1:1-2.

The first 2 verses have nudged me to take a closer look at the 10 Commandments again and to meditate on them.

1: Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.

2: Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord, they God, in vain.

3:Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

4: Thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

5: Thou shalt not kill.

6: Thou shalt not commit adultery.

7: Thou shalt not steal.

8. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

9. Thou shalt not covet they neighbor's house.

10. Thou shalt not covet they neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.

L-1 Friendship Quilt

2007-07-03T11:13:00.000-07:00

I finished the last of my 5 blocks for the SBS block swap. It is called Friendship Quilt. I like the muted tones of the blues in this block.

Now all I have to do is finish making and sewing the labels on and get the package ready to send to Jennifer Chiaverini.

It will be fun to see the different blocks that I get back in exchange for mine.

M-5 Ohio Star

2007-04-13T18:21:00.000-07:00

I have finished my 4th swap block, M-5 Ohio Star. I like it in this 30's blue print!

2007-04-01T08:29:00.000-07:00

Block I-8 Birds in the Air is the 3rd of my 5 SBS Swap Blocks.

2nd Swap Block

2007-03-29T12:42:00.000-07:00

I have finished the second block for the SBS Block Swap. It's L-6 Steps to the Altar.

SBS Block Swap

2007-03-22T09:18:00.000-07:00

After a great deal of vacillation, I decided to join the Sylvia's Bridal Sampler Block Swap. My uncertainty about joining came from my fears that my blocks would not be good enough. However, after reading many encouraging emails from quilters on the SBS list, I figured I'd give it a try. I'll do my best work and hope that it will be satisfactory to those quilters who eventually receive my blocks in the swap.

The blocks that I have been assigned are: I-8 Birds in the Air, J-1 Sawtooth Star, L-1 Friendship Quilt, L-6 Steps to the Alter, and M-5 Ohio Star. I have begun with the Sawtooth Star block. After making 2 blocks that didn't quite measure up, I have finished 5 that satisfy me.

The block above is one of the Sawtooth Star Blocks. (The shadows in the background fabric were caused when scanning the block. They don't show up like that on the original.)