A New Toy

It's not often that I succumb to the latest gadget or tool on the market. I figure I have enough to keep me busy without adding any new stuff to the mix.

That said, I had this lovely pile of Kaffe leftovers from a quilt I made a couple of months ago - Erin's Diamonds. And because the quilt was made of diamonds, the scraps were perfectly suited to make a Thimble Quilt.

This brings me to the tool. It's called The Crumbler, and it's a product of Miss Rosie's Quilt Company.

I tried it out this afternoon, and I like it! I think I will make these trial blocks and rows into something.

The top row is 5" wide. The bottom row is 3.5" wide. The directions are very clear about how to stitch them so that a straight line is achieved.

I attached a couple of rows of the 5" thimbles. Looks pretty good! It was as easy as can be. It will be fun to continue using up that stack of scraps. I do think I would like the shorter thimbles better, but there would be so much waste - and I hate the idea of wasting even an inch of KF fabrics!

See what I mean? That's the waste from a 5" thimble; you can see what additional waste there'd be if I cut all these at 3.5". So we shall have 5" thimbles.

I don't know if this project will be my main focus of the next few days or not. I find myself in between things at the moment, so I need to make a decision. This will do. It may turn into something big, or not.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Pineapple Table Topper Borders

I am just so excited to show you how I finished off that pineapple table topper from a week or so ago. I have dug and dug to find every last little bit of the fabrics to make a piano key border, and I am totally loving it!

Don't you agree that the border just makes it?? I don't know if you can tell or not, but I have not used true white in either the inner border or the blocks. In the stash, I had a very pale yellow-green and that is what is used in the blocks. It took the entire fat quarter. So I found another fat quarter of very pale light blue. Heck, why not? So chop-chop. I cut my strips and finish this little gem.

I have it on the porch table because that is where I've envisioned its being used. I plan to put the backing on it yet this evening and call it a total finish.

In other news, we had a turtle visit our back yard Thursday morning. It was pretty cool to see him lumbering across the grass. He had some sort of growth on the top rear of his shell. Ideas, anyone?

And, finally, I will leave you with a picture of our beautiful irises. DH is so proud of them. He works so hard on our yard and flower beds. This is definitely pay-off for him.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Loose Threads Quilt Club

Fun. Just plain fun.

That's what kind of day I had yesterday. My trip to visit the Loose Threads Quilt Club and my cousin (first cousin once removed) Marilyn surely ranks right up there as one of the most enjoyable days with quilters ever.

Quilting is such a hobby that invites sharing, and that is exactly what we did. This group has lots of laughs, while at the same time offering up a fair amount of helpful ideas and suggestions. I told Marilyn last night that it never ceases to amaze me how complete strangers can have such a fun day of genuine sharing, but quilters have figured out how to do just that.

Enough of the talking - let's get on with a few pics of the day! I must get this posted and then get ready for my next "event." (I've covered several in the last few posts, if you want to work backwards.)

Say hello to this friendly group! Marilyn is there in the first seat. They welcomed me with open arms and made my visit so special.

 

I took two baskets full of quilts, from oldest to freshly made quilt tops. I grouped them according to age and my progression through quilting.  That pile in the upper right is the antique stack. The two double Irish chains in the middle are my early chain piecing efforts (mid-1980s) and the pink Irish chain is the very first one I hand quilted.

 

 

I also took a fair amount of "flimsies" or quilt tops. These are representative of what I have made since retiring. I couldn't bring everything, and of course, I have had a few quilted and given as gifts.

 

Several of the girls wanted to know patterns and additional details. I will be happy to supply any information I can, so just message me however you like and I will be in touch!

 

Also, I will be cleaning some of my soiled quilts, folding them differently, and making labels for them! I took the antique ones to my grandmother's later yesterday; she helped me with details for the ones she'd given me.

 

Time to hit the shower! Frankfort girls await!

 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

 

Other Barn Happenings

While at Mary's Barn on Tuesday, a couple of gals worked on something other than the Peekaboo Bag. In a hasty post this morning (I'm off to Peeble shortly), I will share those with you.

Cherie came with a goal. She wanted to piece this entire quilt top. Her strips were cut out and she may even have had them in the order she wanted them. Anyway, we hardly heard a peep out of her because she was accomplishing her goal!

Her colors were medium browns with a few dusty pinks thrown in. I think they all work well together. She said all the fabrics came from her stash. That's my kind of project.

And here is the completed top. She did say she was open to adding borders, but had yet to decide about that. It looks just great.

While Cherie worked on big piecing, Laura worked on tiny piecing. Take a look at these pics.

Laura sewed these sweet stars on that lovely repro Featherweight machine. She had her little assembly line all set up, with pressing right there beside her. Talk about efficiency.

Her pattern is from the current issue of Primitive Quilts. As you can see in the next photo, I cut off the full title, but you can see the pic if you are interested in making it.

Well, the car is loaded up with quilts and quilt tops. I am off for a full day. I will report back in due time.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

The Best

The  best sewing/quilting is that which is done with friends. I am so fortunate to have a wide circle of friends who enjoy sewing together. This week, for example, 4 opportunities to sew with others appear on my calendar.

Monday had me with the Frienzies at Sherrie's house for sewing. We made lots of stars for a quilt that is sort of hush-hush. I don't think the recipient(s) is a reader here, so a tiny hint like this won't spoil any future plans for a surprise. Needless to say, though, you won't be seeing any pictures of it for awhile. *grin*

Tuesday, yesterday, took me to Grove City and Mary's Barn. Six quilters met and 4 of us worked on the project she was offering: a Peek-A-Boo Bag. We had such a variety of fabrics for this cute little bag. (I will share the projects of the other two girls in another post.)

Mary, our hostess and teacher extraordinaire, had the black
and white bag finished; she made the red one along with us.



Colleen, a new acquaintance, made this bag. I love the colors!

Monica made this bag. Love the colors on it, too!
It looks good in both traditional and modern prints.

Terry's bag featured polka dots, and it, too, looks great!
 



My bag was a bit of a bugger to finish.
Instead of using interfacing, I used a thin batting.
It wasn't such a good substitution.

I started a second bag while at Mary's and finished it here at home today.
I am much happier with the results.

Tomorrow I am off to Peebles for a fun day with my cousin Marilyn and her quilting friends in the Loose Threads Quilt Club. You will remember the posts from last month when my mother, grandmother and I went down for their show. You can refresh your memory here and here, if you like. In both of those posts, I referred to their group as a guild, when in fact, they prefer the term club. The term guild connotes a more structured group, and they prefer the looser confines that a club affords.

But I digress...the reason I am going to this club meeting is another first for me - I am invited to bring my quilts and do a "trunk show." Well, why not? Having never done that before, I figured I might as well, and I am looking forward to it. I have several quilts given to me by Grandma that she made and used. I have several that I made and Grandma quilted, and I have several that I've done all by myself. And then, of course, I have a growing number of flimsies or quilt tops, too. So I think I will find enough to entertain us. I will spend time this afternoon pulling quilts out of cupboards and deciding which ones to take. I will share pics of that in a future post.

Then on Friday, the Frankfort girls will be meeting for our regularly scheduled 9-noon get together, this time at Terry's. I blew up the last one as I went to Amish Country instead, and it was my turn to hostess. I think I am forgiven, however, as some of the others had potential conflicts, too.

So, there you have it! A busy week of QwF - Quilting with Friends! I am so blessed to have these wonderful ladies in my life. I know for sure that I wouldn't get nearly as much sewing and quilting done if I didn't have them to encourage and challenge me. They are, indeed, THE BEST!!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Making Adjustments

A few weeks ago, I joined several other gals at Mary's Barn in Grove City to make a Pineapple Block. It was a foundation-pieced block and was fun to make. It'd been awhile since I last did any foundation piecing, so it was nice to revisit the technique.

Well, that one block became 3, and I stitched them together with the thought of making a small, skinny table topper for our screened porch. The more I looked at that skinny thing, though, the more I thought it needed more substance. If I added 3 more blocks, it would be twice as wide and would make more of a statement.

So that is what I did.

This is the skinny table topper. With a border, it might have looked okay, but I thought I'd be happier with it if it were doubled.

I made 3 more blocks. Once you get into a rhythm with these things, they go pretty fast. I thought I'd never finish the first one that day at the barn. I kept forgetting to press back the piece I'd just sewn before sewing the new piece. (Those of you who foundation piece will follow that, I'm sure...)

The only thing I really needed to concentrate on was getting the colors placed the way I wanted them. That, and remembering to open the piece last stitched before adding a new piece. I've got that down, now.

I am so glad I added more blocks. This has so much more interest and the "pineapples" really pop. Now, I need to consider what I will do about a border. I have some of the four colors left. I could make a skinny white border, and then do something with the four colors. Piano keys? Four-patches? Maybe nothing? I will audition some things.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms out there! My kiddos came through with the gift certificates to Old Town Fabrics, so I'm a happy gal.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Run-of-the-Mill Stuff

Non-quilting folks probably wonder what on earth we quilters do that warrants such regular coverage on a blog. It just doesn't seem like there'd be anything to write about on a long-term and regular basis. That's what a non-quilter would think.

On the contrary, we quilters know that our little brains are always thinking of the next quilt, the next step, the next purchase, the next possibility and so on. And when we aren't thinking of our own quilty ideas, we might be thinking about the quilts our friends are making, for every quilt a friend makes is one more possibility for us!

Plans, plans, plans.

So yesterday, I stopped over at Terry's for a little visit. She was having us all in for quilting, but I begged off because of the sinus thing. Since I felt better by afternoon, I just popped in to see what everyone was working on.

Terry was working away on creating more 6.5" blocks for the Farmer's Wife quilt. Makes me think I need to get mine out and get busy on a few more blocks. It's fun to do in small bits.

This stack of blocks belongs to Monica. They are perhaps 3.5" square. Talk about tiny pieces! She was working on this at the barn last month. I have a picture of it here. It is going to look so great when it is finally put together. I can just imagine myself becoming so impatient at this point with all the tiny pieces!

One must take satisfaction in knowing that as the stack grows, the quilt is another block closer to completion. The anticipation is what keeps us plugging away at it, even when it becomes tedious.

So, while Monica and Terry are working at their run-of-the-mill stuff, I am doing the same. I pulled out that pineapple topper I made at Mary's Barn last month, which I shared here. I'm thinking I need to add 3 more blocks to give the table topper a bit more substance. That will be the objective for today, I do believe.

Hope you all have fun with your run-of-the-mill work today!

Happy Quilting, Friends!