A Wedding Is Near

Bride-to-be and niece Abby asked me about an alternative to a traditional guest book at her upcoming wedding. She wondered if it was too late to have guests sign fabric that will eventually be turned into a signature quilt.

My immediate reaction was "let's do it!"

She wants 4-inch squares of muslin. I dug through Grandma's fabrics and found oodles of muslin to use. I have cut all the 4" strips of muslin and freezer paper, and they are all adhered. Now I need to finish cutting. I cut about half of the squares before leaving for MB, but have about half to finish when I get home. I also bought the Pigma Pens that we will use. I hope no one is concerned that this will be sort of a last minute finish.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Grandma's Quilts - Updated

This is probably going to happen quite a lot. As I get or take more pictures of the quilts Grandma has  made, I will be adding them to the "Grandma's Quilts" page, accessed by clicking the tab up there on the banner.

This quilt is the one I was talking about on the twin bed in the little bedroom. Grandma uses this room and frequently has "stuff" on the bed. The pretty little Monkey Wrench quilt is generally covered with a few jigsaw puzzle boxes, a board on which she works her puzzles and other assorted stuff.

We cleaned it off a week or so ago. Here it is!

Hand-pieced and hand-quilted, of course. Notice the design in the setting blocks - it's the same as one I'd previously mentioned.

Another quilt at Grandma's is the signature quilt I made for her commemorating her 90th birthday in 2006. Guests signed it at the big bash we had for her, and I pieced it. Then SHE quilted it! One of the last ones she did, actually. She really enjoyed quilting it she said, as it gave her a chance to think about so many fond friends and family members as she quilted the block each had signed.

This quilt is dispayed in her sitting room, where she watches TV. I used scrap blues and reds to give it a patriotic feel, since she is so fond of patriotic quilts. Still after nearly 6 years, she enjoys looking at it.

I will add these quilts to the page of Grandma's quilts. One job on my to-do list this summer is to photograph all the quilts I have here that Grandma made or quilted for me. Stay tuned!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Fabric Bonanza

It just doesn't get much better than this!! I am in fabric heaven this week! I've invited all my friends to play along: Lynette, Judie, Johanna, the 3 Sisters, the French General, Robert, and a host of others. We've had quite the bash!

The two projects I currently have out are ones that will be very scrappy; therefore I have pulled lots and lots of fat quarters out of the stash - some of them well aged - and have been cutting away! The assortment above has given  me 6 7/8" squares for Chantilly.

The pattern is in the book Mulberry Lane by Teri Christopherson, copyright 2000. Ever since I bought the book, I have wanted to make this quilt! I even plan to make it a bit larger, as illustrated below:

I think it's evident that I've drawn on additional blocks, right?

So, I'm happily cutting away. I  have a stack already put together from a few days ago.

And I have a hefty pile of newly cut squares from my stash that need to have the diagonal line drawn.

There are some golden oldies in there. And some newer stuff, too. But mostly old.

Besides cutting and prepping more HSTs for Chantilly, I've been working on Mom's signature quilt. I'm using two lines of Fig Tree Co. fabrics - Mill House Inn and Patisserie (sp?). I had a charm pack of each. It will be a nice, soft-color quilt. These signatures were collected at the big 75th birthday celebration my siblings and I had for Mom back in October. There are over 80 signature blocks, and I will need to hunt for more charm packs of these fabrics, because 2 weren't enough!

Do you open up/unfold all your fat quarters when you get them home? I sure don't. But maybe I ought to because I found one fat quarter that wasn't fat at all! It was about 4" too thin! I got ripped off! I pressed all the fabrics and when I laid this one out on the cutting board, I discovered the dastardly truth.

Aren't fat quarters supposed to be 18" x 21" or 22"?? Fortunately, this is the only one that was short. And probably whoever cut this just had the ruler in the wrong place (I know first hand how easy that is to do!!) I have asked myself if perhaps I'd cut off a 4" swath, but I don't think so. Anyway, buyer beware, right?

Happy Quilting, Friends!