4TH OF JULY SWAP GIFT THAT I SENT

This is the gift that I sent to Val in France. Although Val is French, she used to live in the USA, so I wasn't surprised when she joined the swap.

I enjoyed making this apron with its clean lines. It's so much more modern-looking to me than the gathered aprons of the past.

The apron is completely lined. It's from the pattern, Great American Aprons, that includes two other versions too. Of course I used USA fabrics.

This picture shows the pocket detail.

Here's the complete gift, including socks, pinwheels, recipe cards, buttons, and napkins with the apron.

I enjoyed selecting the USA 'things' to include, and in making the apron I got to use a Clover bias tape maker for the first time. This whole swap was very fun -- both the making/giving and the receiving.

BLACK/WHITE/REDS COMPLETED

Here are my 16 Grandmother's Flower Garden blocks all complete for the swap.

And here are my 14 Ohio Stars. There's two fewer swappers in that group.

Whew. All done 10 days early, LOL!

SKILL BUILDER SAMPLER, BLOCK 1, LOG CABIN

This is my first block, on Sewn's Skill Builder Sampler free on-line course. I'm pretty experienced with this type block, so I chose to make a harder version of this block than the one she posted. My strips are one-inch finished size. This is a ginormous 12" block. Well ginormous to me after working on tiny things for so long.

There's a link to this project on my sidebar -- Yes We Can!

4TH OF JULT SS SWAP ARRIVES

Yesterday my 4th of July Secret Sister Swap gift arrived. In this swap, we created one sewn item and whatever else would fit in a small priority mail box. Mary made this lovely wall hanging for me. Those tiny flag stripes (maybe 1/4") are pieced. What super work. She also included the flag panel fabric, the flag tile, and a post card of Shipshewana (one of my favorite places) 2011 events. She purchased the added items there during her recent visit to Shipshe. The wall hanging will be going up on the wall today. She even included a hanger!

The gift I sent is in the mail, and I'll post about it once it's received.

BOOKMARK HOSTESS GIFT

As a swap hostess, sometimes you receive little gifts tucked in with the blocks. Or not, it's all good. Hostess gifts are not expected nor required ever. I generally include a FQ, a spool of thread, pack of needles, etc., as a hostess gift.

I was blown away at the beauty of the hostess gift I received from Karen T. in the Black/White/Touch of Red Swap. She sent me this lovely bookmark. It is forged at a local (to her) shop. Amazing! Love it! Thanks again Karen, if you are reading, LOL!

PS: GFG count, 10 finished, 6 to go.

GARDEN GROWS

My garden is growing. Seven down, nine to go.

WHAT I"M WORKING ON

I'm working on my 'other' Black/White/Red swap blocks. You may remember my little red bird in the center of my Ohio Star blocks. I finished those a couple months ago, I think. Somehow, my Grandmother's Flower Garden blocks just got pushed out of my mind. They are due the end of this month. Yikes! But I'm the swap hostess, so no mail time needed, LOL. Good thing I'm fascinated by the Casey Anthony trial. It gives me plenty of tv time, ergo hand-sewing time.

Some gals have hand sewing lap pillows. I love using this June Tailer Quilter's Cut 'n Press. Holds everything up, I can use it as a pin cushion, I can lay pieces and completed blocks out flat, etc. When done stitching, I just move the whole thing off my lap and onto a table.

There are many ways to make hexagons, including paper templates, and Inklingo. This go around I'm using Simple Shapes, teflon reusable templates. They work very well!

Here's a close up of one finished block. My fabrics will vary through the 16 blocks I need.

DJ SS QUILT TOP

If you've been following my blog very long, you know that last year my Dear Jane Secret Sister, Marianne K., sent me a DJ quilt block every month as part of my gift. Yesterday, while unpacking some sewing things from Florida, I came upon them. They were just too special to leave as a BOB (bag of blocks) so I pulled fabric for sashing and setting squares, and got busy. The sashing is 1/2" finished size. The blocks finish at 4.5". I put the top together yesterday.

This morning I pulled potential backing fabric from stash and also a spool of perle cotton. I've been itching to try large stitch hand quilting with the perle cotton. This may just be the project.

This will be a lovely table topper or wall hanging. Either way it will be a lovely memento of the 2010 Dear Jane Secret Sister Swap, and of Marianne.

SIGGY FROM GERMANY

This beautiful star arrived from Germany this week. I love how Annette sewed a smaller block within the block. She also sent a lovely hand-written letter about herself. This is certainly a fun way to get to know other quilters around the globe. Mine will go out to her on Monday.

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

Hope everyone has a safe and fun Memorial Day weekend, with some time to celebrate the real purpose -- remembering that we are the home of the free because of the brave -- and also some fun kicking off summer. Small town parades, barbeques with family and friends, it's all good.

YES WE CAN -- SKILLZ!

Leila, at Sewn blog, is hostessing a skill builder course. There's always more to learn, right?

Here's a list of what she will be covering, as quoted from her site:

"Here is the outline for Skill Builder Sampler:


June:
Skills: Cutting, ¼ inch seam allowance and value.
Blocks: Log Cabin and Around the World


July: Half Square Triangles and Quarter Square Triangles
August: Flying Geese
September: Wonky Blocks
October: Foundation Piecing
November: Paper Piecing
December: Raw Edge and Needle Turn Applique
January: Curves
February: Improvisational Blocks
March: Working with odd shapes (tumblers, hexagons, apple cores)
April: Inset Seams
May: “There's no way I can sew that block!!!” - but you totally can because we now have the Skillz.
(we will also learn how to draft and use templates - those skill will be used in multiple months)


The first three weeks of each month we will make blocks based on that set of skills and the forth week will be a catch up week. Everyone who is caught up at the end of the month will be entered in a drawing for a special prize. (Probably fabric, because everyone Loves fabric, right?)


By the end of the year you will have 36 twelve inch blocks you can make into a queen sized quilt or you can divide them up and make several smaller quilts. But more importantly, you will have the skills and the confidence to tackle any quilting project you can dream up. Priceless. "

I think I'm pretty good at most of the skills, but curves??? Improv??? I will be following along. There's always new things to learn, LOL! I've put a link on my sidebar.

FRIENDSHIP BLOCKS FINISHED

I finished up my blocks for my small group annual Friendship Block Swap. Every year we choose a different signed block for the swap. This year we are making Prairie Flowers from quilterscache.com. I used intensely colored fabrics from Jinny Beyer for my flowers and leaves.

Here you can get an idea of how they look when they are all spread out. Of course the varied colors of all the different blocks will really add. It will make a spectacular 'prairie of flowers'.

WHAT QUILT BLOCK ARE YOU?

One of my on-line groups posed the question, "What quilt block represents you?" That was easy for me. I chose the Wandering Star block. I have used it in several swaps where we are to pick a block that represents something about us. My husband and I are always on the move. I've surely lived in more different homes than most people, and no, we aren't military. We just keep wandering, LOL!

I'm not so sure about the star part, but the wandering part sure is me! The star shown is one I made for a Christmas block swap a couple years ago.

So, what quilt block are you?

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there, as well as to all the nurturers who aren't moms.

FOLDING BACKING TO FRONT FOR BINDING TUTORIAL

This is a neat way to do the corners of your 'binding' when turning the backing to the front to use as binding. I had turned the back to the front before, but this way you really get a nice neat corner miter. I saw this method at a demo at a LQS. I didn't invent it. It has probably been around a while, but it's new to me.

Being careful not to cut your backing or front, trim the batting to desired width. Mine is 1/4" out from the edge of the quilt top. Trim the backing fabric twice the size needed to reach from the edge of the batting to where you want the 'binding' to end.

Fold the raw edge of the backing fabric up to the batting and press.

Fold again, this time folding over the edge of the batting and press. Do this on all four sides.

Open the backing back out.

Fold at a 45 degree angle at the corner, backing sides together.

With your ruler lined up at the bottom fold (notice I have turned the fold to the bottom in this pic), and the edge of the ruler on the batting corner point, draw a line from the fold up to the crease mark.

Opened out it should look like this. Your line doesn't have to be so dark! Refold and stitch on the line.

Trim 1/4" out from the stitching, continuing past the stitching, all the way to the edge of the fabric.

This is how it should look now.

Flip the binding to the front, over the corner.


Tuck under on the fold. Then stitch it down, using invisible hand stitches, or using a decorative stitch, if desired.

I made myself a little sample with backing and batting about 6" square to keep to remind me how to do this. I finished each corner to a different step, so I could look and remind myself how it's done.

TWO SMALL FINISHES FOR APRIL

I have two small finishes this month. Both are mats to go with the coasters I had made up earlier.
A charm pack has enough to make 6 coasters plus 6 charms left to make a small table mat to hold a pitcher of lemonade, or ????

And here's the other mat with matching coasters.

This is the May Day Basket (box) swap that I sent to my partner, Sandy. You've seen the coasters before, but now it has the coordinating mat, and includes a pack of butterfly chocolates, a nail file, and a FQ of gardening fabric for spring.

I used a new (to me) technique on the mats. I've turned the backing fabric to the front for binding before, but this is a neat way to trim the bulk and get a really nice, stitched, miter. I saw it at a demo at a LQS and will share it with you in a tutorial here soon.

HAPPY EASTER

Happy Easter everyone! I made this Bunny Basket back in the late 80's. I used to sell them at craft fairs. I remember one year, when I had made too many, and had bunny feet dancing in my dreams!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

EARTH DAY

GOOD FRIDAY

CHOCOLATE!!!

This is Nancy's first row from the row swap, and the first one I get to work with, making a row to go with it. This 'Chocolate' theme is soooo fun! I can't show you what I created to go with it, because it's a surprise for Nancy. Expect full disclosure in January, LOL! But, I knew you'd enjoy this unique starter row.

Here's 'Grandma' up close.

WHAT A NOVEL IDEA!

Pat Sloan is sponsoring a blog hop called, What a Novel Idea, to kick off her new book that has lots of ideas for using novelty prints. Each day there's a different blog to hop to. Join in the fun here. The hop begins today. Did I mention prizes?

ROW SWAP STARTS THE ROUNDS

I managed to get the first row of the row swap I'm in mailed this week. I wasn't going to join the swap (who me? LOL!) until I realized I could make it one of the quilts I want to make this year anyway.

A dinosaur quilt for a DGS was on my list and I decided to go with it. The first row is the black background part. I used Sindy's Dino Rawr pattern on fatcats. The fabric behind it will be the borders on this bunk sized quilt. The seven rows will be the center of the quilt.

We each chose our theme and made our starter row. Then we included some fabric, and sent it on. We will make one row for each of the seven swappers. It's all a secret after the first row, so I won't know what gals come up with until next January, when it comes back to me.



The dino footprint fabric is what I included, as well as scraps from my dinosaurs. The teeth (or is that spine?) fabric will be narrow border or binding, and the large dinosaurs print is for border.

I really enjoy coming up with something for the other gals. The first quilt I will be making a row for is chocolate themed. The next is a garden. And so on. We have 6 weeks to make a row and send it on. Fun! But I won't be able to post about what I made for each quilt, because it's a secret for the owner, when she gets them all back.

MAY DAY BASKET SWAP ARRIVES!

This morning I sealed my May Day 'Basket' in its box, and so now felt free to rip into (did I say I was eager?) my box which arrived Saturday. All I can say is WOW! Cindy F. made me a cute mat to put under my sewing machine. Hanging off the table are pockets to put my 'stuff'. She filled the pockets with cute embroidery scissors (I've bought those same ones for a swap once, but never for myself!), a color wheel type color selector (no, gadget girl me, didn't have one of those yet!), straw needles (which I use all the time and go through a lot, due to my vise grip on needles -- never could get that gentle touch!), a 'P' key ring (did she know my car key is separate, by itself, because my 'up-north' keys are on my other key ring?), a note pad (did she know I was making a list at JoAnns pattern table last week on an old receipt?), and M & Ms (I always carry those for sugar lows!). OK. Either she is a mind reader via the net or she has a spy following me!!!

Also, did I mention the great machine embroidery label on the back of the mat??? Oh my! I may have to fall in love with machine embroidery after all! I never thought about using it this way! Oh, the labels I could make! Hmmm........................

It's a good day here!





Swaps are so fun! Thanks Cindy!

HEART

I had eye surgery a couple weeks ago, and my dear friend, Carol, sent me this heart in bright colors. What a sweet gesture. You have to really blow up this picture to read the inscription on the bottom right -- "Bright Eyes".

No, not cataract surgery like many my age, but rather a hoped for fix for my SLK issues, that just won't get better by conventional means. We'll see. I'll know if it 'worked' for me in about a month.

MODERN CLOVER BLOCKS

Block Lotto is doing a modern clover block for April. Here are my ten blocks. And if you are wondering, nope, I didn't win in March. I'll be mailing my D4P blocks off tomorrow to 3 of the 9 lucky winners. Yes, we had so many blocks last month, there were 9 winners!