Showing My Patriotism!

In less time than it took me to write yesterday's post listing unearthed UFOs and PHDs, I finished this patriotic mini-quilt. I mean, good grief, what on earth do I think when I let things go for so long??

We'd originally planned to have a little date last night, but we talked ourselves out of it. That left me with a wide-open evening, so I decided that I ought to just get going on an easy item from the aforementioned list.

I had the smaller of the two hanging in my quilting room, so I found a piece of scrap batting, a piece of scrap fabric for backing and even a piece of scrap binding, and went to work.

This mini is 16" square; consequently, the effort to finish was minimal. I did the simplest, most basic machine quilting on it, and got 'er done in no time! The quilting shows up pretty good from the back.

So now I actually DO have a pretty little patriotic table topper for use as we celebrate over the July 4th weekend.

Celebrating big-time over here! Both our country's independence AND my checking an item off my UFO and PHD list!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

It's May! Slow Sunday, Too!

Gosh, how to handle all the excitement?! First we'll welcome in May,  then we'll take a look at some recent slow stitching.

May Day! I doubt there will be any celebrating around here today; the weather is gray and rainy and cool and breezy - not very conducive to being outdoors. I can, however, see the lilac bush out the family room window, and that's worth celebrating in itself!

Now for the slow stitching. I opted to hand stitch the binding on the most recent quilt I finished on the long arm. This is Patriotic Dreams from last year's sew-along Spring Dreams. Here's a post to read about it.

The birds have been singing in full-throated glory lately, so even though it is cool and raining, I tried stitching on the front porch. I didn't last too long. Even though I could use the quilt to wrap around my lap while stitching, I still got too cold.

 I will link up with Kathy for her weekly Slow Stitching Party. It's been awhile, and I like to check in on the participants to see what all they've been working on.

Tomorrow, the April wrap-up, and after that I've been remiss in posting some recent activities, so I will get on that. My April numbers for posting were down and I attribute that to this darn allergy I've dealt with since mid-month. Perhaps I can redeem myself in May. 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Patriotic Dreams

A spurt of creative energy has me making Spring Dreams Sew Along quilts one after another. Yesterday, I finished the patriotic version, and gosh, it looks so festive! 

While sewing it, I was struck by the chaotic nature of the fabrics - almost garish in the variety. Just keep on stitching, I told myself. It's supposed to be a celebration of the USA! Think fireworks, banners. parades, streamers - all the stuff of the Fourth of July. So, I think this works quite nicely.

Draped over the front porch settee, I like the way it pulls out the red of the shutters and chair cushions along with the white of the wicker. This quilt is square (6 blocks x 6 blocks) so will make a nice porch throw.

And if I don't use it as a porch throw, I can always use it as a table cloth. I won't have to work too hard to decorate for the Fourth; this quilt will go a long way to adding a festive punch to the decor.

The fabrics that make up the 9-patches are all from a jelly roll with a couple of minor exceptions. The sashing and the cornerstone fabrics came from my late grandmother's stash. She was exceedingly fond of patriotic quilts, so there was a hefty collection from which I could pull.

Here is Patriotic Dreams all folded up and waiting her turn in the long arm queue. (That's a long, long queue, but she might get bumped up.) This photo gives you a closer look at the fabrics. Busy, isn't it? With so few blocks (36), this throw-sized quilt went together quite fast. I love making this pattern!

You can see earlier renditions of this quilt through these links. They will also provide information about joining us in this sew along.

Original Spring Dreams Quilt

Scrappy Spring Dreams

Sharon's Paris Flea Market Spring Dreams

Lulu Lane Spring Dreams

The Inspiration Picture from blogger and Instagrammer, Helen Philipps.

Important note: I am double-checking my math on the chart provided in a couple of those links. I have a sneaking suspicion that I may be off with some of my numbers, so proceed cautiously until I provide an update one way or another.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

 

Two Near Finishes

On Friday the Frankfort girls were here at my house for sewing and fellowship. We had Sharon O. on our minds as she was undergoing surgery that day. I'm happy to report that she got along fine, and is mending at home with her husband and worthy caretaker Fred.

As for stitching news, two of the gals had quilts very near to being finished, and I thought I'd share those with you today.

This is from JoAnn; it's a gorgeous patriotic quilt, quite large and very striking.

Above is a quilt from Terry. She bought the blocks at either an auction or tag sale, and set them together, quilted it, and is currently binding it. This makes me think of the quilts I saw my grandmother making as I was growing up. She made countless LeMoyne star quilts for all the grandchildren.

That's all I've got for today, peeps.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Welcome July

Happy July first, Quilters! We are sweating it out here in southern Ohio. Friday night's quick storm brought extensive power outages in my area, but we are lucky in that our power was only out for about 3 hours. The family over in Hillsboro are partially restored; Mom and Grandma have power; sisters Sandy and Carol do not. Father-in-law and brother-in-law in Coshocton will have to wait up to a week for power.

Quilt camp is over for another year, but I do need to do a couple of follow-up posts. First, I will update my quilting for the past week. I feel pretty darn good about what I accomplished.

I picked up Mom's signature quilt from Terry's on Monday morning. Made a binding for it on Wednesday morning, and had it finished and in Mom's hands by Saturday morning.

Since the Fourth of July celebrations are approaching, I decided that I needed to make a patriotic wall hanging or table topper. As far as I can think, I don't have any truly patriotic quilted accessories! So I dug around in the ol' stash and searched a couple of favorite quilt books, and came up with one that suits me just fine.

This is from a Thimbleberries book, adapted from what was pictured as a table runner. I used one block instead of 3, and am quite pleased with the results. So pleased, in fact, that I made a second one for a gift.

On the second one, I took liberties with the directions and added corner squares out of that lovely paisley. I do love paisley, you know.

Finally, I received the 1-yard cut of Butterfly Garden fabric I needed to finish the quilt I began with last Monday. Since I made this quilt up from a picture of a quilt in a shop, I did not know the proper name for it. That sent me to a couple of books I have which identifies blocks. The closest I could find to this pattern is one called Thrifty. I think that's an apt name. I am making a total of 3 of these quilts, using from the stash (mostly), so therefore I feel like I am being thrifty in making them. So this version of Thrifty will be finished this coming week, I hope.

I plan to get back to work on that ASAP, as well as get busy quilting the 2 patriotic blocks. The fun just never ends for quilters, does it? I can't wait to finish these and get something else started!!

Stay cool, Quilty Friends!