Nine Patch, continued

My quilt group got together for the first time since before summer about a week ago. There were many "show and tell" items to enjoy. I took the Necktie Quilt. Of course my friends all told me how much they liked it. I worked on the nine-patch I started a while ago. Each of the squares got a white strip sewn on two opposite sides. These were then sewed together into seven long strips.

Arts and Crafts

Jurdis and I had so much fun when we were able to do our favorite crafts together. We had plenty of time to paint, sew, and talk. She started a beautiful plate and I made a top for a pillow using a new technique. I loved seeing how her leaves and flowers come together. Would you guess that each leaf starts out as a yellow oval? My piece is called "pinwheels". I sewed together squares of fabric and then cut them apart, made a quarter turn and sewed them into small pinwheels. Something new for me.

New Quilt on the Bed

It's taken me quite a while, but the "Necktie Quilt" is now complete. I chose the "Bubbles" quilting design and sent the quilt off to the long-arm quilter for the all-over quilting. While it was gone, I cut and sewed about 400 inches of the binding fabric. When I got the quilt back, I sewed on the binding by machine (Alan had to help with this by holding the large and heavy quilt) and then I turned the binding and hand stitched it on the back of the quilt. I love how it turned out and I can't wait to sleep under it tonight.

Nine Patch

Nine patch is an old traditional square. I'm using some fabric I bought at a silent auctions. It's pretty, but not the colors I have at home. This quilt will be given to a charity. I paired off the material and cut each piece into 2 1/2 inch strips. I sewed them together with 2 of one fabric and 1 of the other. Cut them apart and sew them back together with opposite squares matching. You'll have to lo0k at the pictures to see what I mean.

Two Little Boxes

I took a break from working on quilts to make these little boxes. So simple: just little squares, interfacing, and backing. Now, what should I do with them?

Laying It All Out

All of the quilt squares are strip-pieced and now it is time to lay out the design. I used the floor to place the squares into five columns. Alan then helped me organize them into a pleasing design. After moving the squares around for a while, we declared the pattern complete. Next I picked up the squares and pinned each row together. Hopefully I'll sew them back in the right order.

The Neck Tie Quilt

Exactly one year ago I posted a picture of Alan cutting apart a number of his now-unused ties. About a month ago I started working on the new neck tie quilt in earnest. I've cut all the ties into narrow strips of various lengths, and cut white cotton into 6 1/2 inch squares. Beginning on the center diagonal, I sew the silk strips onto the cotton squares. This is called "string piecing". When the square is covered with strips, I flip it over and trim off the excess. Currently I have 74 such squares and I will be making 16 more - 90 in all.

Guest Blogger Lauren

I am honored to be a guest blogger on my mom's blog today. I must admit that I do not sew very often or very well. I have a lot to learn! My older son is in Cub Scouts and has a lot of badges that he has earned over the last three years. He wanted them on a blanket instead of a vest. A few weeks ago I finally got motivated to attempt this project. My first step was to consult the web, which did have some good ideas about sewing badges (which have a plastic backing to hold the badge thread in place) onto fleece (which likes to stretch). One site recommended lowering the feed dogs (I had to learn what a feed dog was!) and sewing free hand to avoid turning the blanket around and around. I also read that I should use clear thread on the top so that it does not show and a bobbin color to match the blanket. So I bought clear thread, blue thread and a few new needles. My first attempt, with the feed dogs down, on scrap material, was a mess. Jumbled thread everywhere. I decided to see if I could just get my machine to sew normally with the feed dogs up. That was a mess too. So I called my mom! We thought it could be that the bobbin wasn't wound evenly or that it was a tension problem. So I took all of the thread out of the machine, wound a new bobbin and started over. After adjusting the tension and working through a few more problems, I finally got a simple stitch! I was thrilled and I had not even started sewing the blanket yet. I decided to sew 'normally' with the feed dogs in place. I couldn't get a feel for the other way. Unfortunately for my son, I learned a lot sewing his badges. This means you can see all of my learning experiences on his blanket. I learned that badges and fleece like to move. There is one patch that turned 90 degrees from where I thought I was sewing it. I didn't realize it until I was done with that badge. I started pinning the larger badges in multiple places in multiple directions in an attempt to keep everything still. The patches were so stiff that I bent many straight pins in an attempt to pin the badge in place. I also learned that even though I was using clear thread, I would (inconsistently) see the bobbin thread on the patch. The most challenging part of the blanket was sewing the 20 or so tiny badges around a circular badge in the middle of the blanket. There were so many of them and they needed to be lined up properly so that they would all fit in the circle. But as I got going, I found it easy to hold the little badges in place and see instantly if I need to shift anything. It was a lot of starting and stopping since I was spinning the blanket around and around, but it worked! I think that the Boy Scouts of America should have a badge for the parent who sews all of these badges onto uniforms, blankets, vests and sashes! We all deserve it! Thanks Mom for your help!

Change of Pace

After all the quilting and sewing I did before Christmas I decided to take a break and return to my needlepoint. This is "Creation - Land and Sea". It was designed by Alex Beattie as a part of a creation series. I love the rhythm of the needle going in and out, and seeing the colors come together. The first picture is my work in process and the second is a photo of a completed project