Mom's Mariner's Compass Quilt

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

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

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

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

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

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

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