Fit for a King

What do you do when six children want to be Wise Men for the Christmas pageant and there are only three costumes? Well, you make three more costumes, of course! Mark, Elise, and Evan had so much fun modeling and playing with the robes that I am making three more to send to them.

A Good Day of Quilting

I spend all of yesterday at Sandy's with the quilt group. We all worked very diligently and I sewed almost all the squares for my quilt. I've made 45 and have 3 left to do. I thought I'd get them all done but at 4:55 (just before the men came with our dinner) I ran out of bobbin thread. A good time to stop for a glass of wine!

The pictures show one completed square and 4 squares placed together for a unit.
It's starting to come together.

A Short Quilt Day

Last Saturday my quilting friends came over for a day of quilting, eating, and talking. We did lots of all three. I sewed a number of "strip B to strip C" to start putting the blocks together. I'm about half way done with this step. We had split pea soup and egg salad sandwiches for lunch. No dinner this time - two of the men were off on a fishing trip and not available to cook for us. Still - a very good day!

One Down, Forty-Seven to Go

I just completed the first of forty-eight blocks for the new quilt. It's fun to see how the strips come together to make a pattern. The light squares on the corners will be what make the all-over design.

Strip Sets

I've taken all those beautiful batik strips and sewn them together into "strip sets". Each set is made up of five strips. It's all rather random except for the white print which will form the background. That determines how the pattern is created. I can't wait to see how this will all come together.

56 Fabrics

This is how it starts: fifty-six beautiful batik fabrics. I bought a "jelly roll" in Atlanta. That's a set of 40 coordinated fabrics of 2 1/2 inch strips. That's not enough for the quilt I want to make for our bed. So Alan and I trekked out to Fenton to the quilt shop that specializes in batiks. The clerk patiently helped us choose an additional 16 fabrics and cut them into 1/4 yard pieces. I LOVE these fabrics and will enjoy working with them.

Hint: click on the pictures to see the fabrics up close.

Design Wall

Mark and Elise created a beautiful quilt on my design wall. (And you thought I didn't use all those old scraps.) They had fun arranging all the fabric and were sure to cover all the white flannel. I would love to actually make this into a crazy guilt. A project for another day.

Main Street Quilters in Colorado

These beautiful quilts are the result of a year-long challenge to make a log cabin quilt. There is such variety in these quilts, who would ever think they were basically the same pattern. I am proud of the craftsmanship of my friends. The quilts are hanging on the railing on the deck of Berte and Carl's house. What a view!

That Was Fast!

When I bought the kit for this table runner I wanted something I could do quickly. Well, it worked. This project came together in just one week. Now I have something bright and cheery to put on the breakfast table. By buying a kit I also allowed someone else to pick out the fabrics and pattern. This was fun and easy.

Quilt Day at Diane's

I started a new project today from a kit I bought at a quilt shop in Fenton, MI. It will be a table runner. (I'm into small pieces for now.) I hadn't tried this technique before, so once again I am learning something new. First I spray-glued the batting to the backing. Then I placed the center square exactly in the middle. It took me three tries to get the bars sewn on in the right place - not centered on the bar before; not to the outside edge; but on the inside edge. I did quite a bit of ripping out that day! Once I caught on to it, everything went smoothly.

Sneak Preview

I'm finally back to quilting after taking two months off to nurse a broken ankle. Before I fell I had put most of this "table-topper" together. You can't see more of it yet because it won't be revealed until I'm at that log cabin in Colorado with the Main Street Quilters in June.
After the sample square turned out so well, I made four squares out of the Christmas fabric and then added two borders. This took quite a bit of experimenting until I got it just the way I wanted it. Today I quilted the piece in the "stitch in the ditch" pattern. That just means that I stitched right along the seams. The red thread is perfect.

Sample Square

I'm excited about my project for the Colorado trip with the Main Street Quilters in June. Our challenge is to make something using the Log Cabin pattern. Log Cabin has countless variations. The one I chose to make has a star in the center with the "logs" around it.

Since I've never made this pattern before, I decided to make a sample square. Now I feel confident that I can do it. For the sample, I found some fabric in my scrap box. It turned out so well I think I may make it into a pillow for the guest bed. For the challenge quilt, I'm making a Christmas table topper. Can't wait to get started!

Tying the Quilt

Since my last posting I have finished all the borders, cut and sewed the backing together, sewed the backing to the top, basted the batting to the quilt, turned it all right-side-out (with the help of Alan, Lauren, and Paul), pinned it together about every 6" to stabilize it, stitched the red thread, and tied it. Whew! I removed all the pins and now I just have to trim off off the knots. Diego will get his quilt this weekend - just in time for some cold Michigan weather.