Spring has FINALLY come!!

What a beautiful day we've had here in Indiana!  We haven't had so much sun since last summer.  The kitties & I have enjoyed sitting outside and getting some sun.

Otherwise, I'm still sewing red & white blocks!  I'm determined not to get behind.  The new installment will be out 3/15 on the Dear Jane website. I still have a big feathered star  & a geese block to finish.  I should make it before the 15th.

I also started hemming a huge stack of new napkins and kitchen towels.  As you can see, I didn't get too far.  It's amazing how much time it takes to iron the fold & the hem, then clip the corners, pin them down, then sew!  This will have to be a "slow but steady" project, as there is still a big stack to be done.  We always use cloth napkins for meals, and it will be nice to have new ones.


Does any quilter not LOVE the vintage towelings out there??  I'm hooked on them right now, and have started to embroider 2 sets of the "days of the week" designs.  Someday, when I get to be a good weaver, I'm looking forward to weaving some cool toweling!

One last look at my experiment with "Cattails & Clover" by Moda.  I love this line, and will most likely use it for a large quilt.  Today I finished up the machine quilting on it.  I'm going to use it on my coffee table (a cut down, old fashioned dining table with pull-out leaves--oak).  I'm happy with how it turned out, and it does lay flat without ripples!

Well, I should go start dinner....  (cooking is not my favorite thing to do!)  Feel free to leave me a comment, and tell me what you're sewing!  ttfn

A workroom day...

More squares!  I've been trying to finish up this quilt.  I have had 1.5" strips, and 2.5" strips from my precut boxes out all week, making the last few blocks.  Over the years, I've cut my scraps into squares, strips and other pieces that can be pulled out and easily cut into useable pieces.  For this photo, I used old fashioned clothes pins to hang the quilt above to photograph.

I've promised photos of my fabric storage areas.  Today these photos are from my main (most frequently used) area.  I have bins in the lower squares, marked with the contents.  In the middle areas there are fabrics folded and sorted by color, recycled fabric (cut from clothing or other items) that have been washed, cut apart, and wrapped around sheets of plastic (some cardboard used in a pinch, being replaced).  Then on the top shelf are my cubbies for yarn.  This is only one of my yarn storage places!

On the very top I keep bins with lids that hold all my knitting needles, works in progress, and other things..... that I can't remember right now!!

Wool yarn in bags, cut fabric, recycled fabric

Lots of stuff

 

 

More stuff -- in the lower left side, my recycled wool is felted, and ready to be used.

A close up of  a small section of recycled, felted, over-dyed wool

Have a good weekend!  I plan to sew most of Saturday & Sunday.  I should make good progress on everything that's spread out over my work table!  ttfn   

Nine-Patch finish

 This nine-patch was made last winter, and is almost the last of my "need to be quilted pile".  There is now a large stack of "need to have binding" quilts, but that isn't nearly as bad.  This quilt was totally put together from scraps and yardage on hand.  I'm not real happy with the inner border fabric, but I picked it and put it on before finding the outer border fabric in a long forgotten storage box.  It was mostly an experiment with color, and was fun, so I'm not terribly troubled with disliking a fabric.  As my machine quilter said, "it's finished".

 This close up shows her really nice ivy vine quilting pattern.

This week has been filled with days of sewing quilt blocks together.  I'm attacking my UFO stack now.  I can think of three projects that are on my sewing table now, that hopefully in a week or so will be on their way to be quilted.  I can't express in words how much pleasure it gives me to see almost finished quilts piling up! 

This photo to the right, nine-patch blocks without borders, has sparked an idea.  How would the same diagonal colored nine-patch blocks look, perhaps a 4.5" block?   With smaller squares, more colors, and the only border would be more white space and a white binding?  Or use Amish dark solids on gray or black background?  I really want to do both!

In the next post, I'll show you a top that is almost finished, and finally -- pics of my fabric/yarn storage.
ttfn

Bitty Baby Love

 This week has just flown by, and I'm not sure why.  Of course, there are the things we must do like marketing, pay bills, laundry...  all the stuff we do between quilting.  I had to add sewing to my list this week.  In particular sewing a new dress for Bitty Baby.  We are meeting one of our friends 6 year old daughter tomorrow, and I thought it was high time this little baby had a new little girl.  This dress was exactly like making a little girl's dress, just much smaller.   Years ago, I spent many Saturday evenings whipping up a new dress for my little girl to wear to Sunday School the next day, so this went together easily.

Of course, you knew I couldn't let this baby leave my house without a blankie.  I had this little piece of patchwork already put together, so putting a flannel backing on it wasn't much more work.

There will be a 3 - 4 hour car trip tomorrow.  That should be more than enough time to knit or crochet her a little bonnet!

I did manage to finish most of the work on the Just Takes 2 blocks before new blocks were issued on March 1.  All of these are paper pieced, so I'll whip them up on Monday. 

Enjoy your weekend.