McCall's 7028 fit version

This was the first version, yet finished second.  Made of inexpensive fabric and once I saw it fit moved onto nicer fabric and then came back and finished this one.

McCall's 7028 In Progress

Highly recommend.  Flattering

2013 Quilt for a Vet

This year at my quilt guild meeting I was given a stack of cut up men's shirts to make into a quilt.
So I came home, sewed em all together, one big strip, then divided it into 6 equal strips, added some sashing, sewed on Thursday until I ran out of bobbin.

I figured it wouldn't take long in the morning to finish up. Then I couldn't use any of the backing pieces I wanted so i used a piece of my fabric for the back but I couldn't make the sandwich due to the fumes bing bothersome to some.  So I got the keys to the building and came back Friday evening and put the standwich together and started quilting.

Saturday I sewed the binding on, got two movies, started on a long side and when I got to the corner I discovered I had done something goofy and had to take the binding off the other three sides.  Sunday I went back to the library, where my machine has been since Friday and sewed the binding on again.  I'm almost done sewing the binding on.

 

Last year I was afraid to attempt machine quilting so I hand quilted my Veterans quilt.  And it seems I have no pictures of a quilt I not only hand quilted, but gave away.   That just doesn't seem right.  hmm, found one from an email, this is last years before I hand quilted it.

I think I should work on collecting my fabrics myself in the future.

Thread Holders

I've tried em all, they take up valuable wall or counter space and they don't hold enough thread.

My solution:

I'M a Winner!!!!!!!!!

Wow, wonders never cease. I was catching up on my reading, of blogs, and low and behold, I see I actually won a give away on a blog, The Middle Sister. She has lots of stuff on her blog I'm into: rug hooking, applique, hexagons (wonder if I'll ever get my hexagon quilt done?). And following her blog, get's me traipsing off into the never never land of internet blogs from her list of blogs that inspire her. So you just go to her blog and check her stuff out and then you go visiting to the list of people that inspire her and there's just a wealth of creativity connected with that blog.

Thank you so much. And thank you to your son for picking my number.

Four Patch Pincushion

What does one do when they have lots they should do? Make a pincushion. It's not like I started another huge project that ate up the entire day and it really came under the heading of cleaning up because I used some left over pieces, that were already pieced, that I came across while looking through scraps while contemplating yet another scrap quilt. This while listening to some news show on TV where they were discussing how some municipalities are banning leaf blowers. I sure wish my town would jump on that. Of course I was listening to leaf blowers while the program was on. I don't get it, winds predicted to be 30 mph today and people are out there blowing their leafs. I'm just watching mine blow away.

So I took the four patch, lined it with some sheet sewing around the edge 1/8", found some more of the yellow fabric and cut it out the same size as the 4 patch, lined it, sewed em together leaving a small opening, turned it inside out, filled it with ground walnut shells, and then blind stitched the opening and sewed two buttons on in the center. Use a long sturdy needle for the buttons. Sewing the sheet to the pieces first and then sewing them faces together makes it so you are only dealing with the face fabrics when you slip stitch and my guess is walnut shell dust won't be coming through the fabric because it's lined and has to work through two layers.

And as for walnut shells, the prices some people charge is ridiculous. You can get walnut shells, in bags at your local pet store. They sell it for birds and lizard cages. You can get enough to do a gazillion pincushions for about $7.00. Or you can but it on Ebay or Etsy, or your local quilt shop for around $3.00 a cup. My bag had 5 quarts = 20 cups.

IT'S NOT A QUILT TIL IT'S QUILTED

I have two tops finished. I just need to sandwich them and quilt em. They will be my first attempt at machine quilting. This is from the scraps from the wedding quilt. The delectable mountain blocks made in a weird fashion that makes blocks that aren't square. So this was the layout I came up with.I should probably practice on pot holders first. Will that happen? It's doubtful. If I can get these sandwiched this weekend, I'll be quilting em next week/weekend.

And I have another all cut up ready to sew. Except I have to check all my pieces before I sew because I was on heavy duty prescription pain killers when I cut it up. I did have the good sense to leave myself a note that says: "double check everything, you were on pain pills and muscle relaxers when cut out." I had forgotten about the muscle relaxers.