Blissful stepping stones

I finished putting together my Blissful Stepping Stones quilt top. It is made from part of a layer cake from the Bliss line. I loved the pinks and greens.

This quilt is lap sized and used 14 of the fabrics. The pattern called for putting a 2.5" sashing on all 4 sides of 12 layer cake blocks. I mixed in a couple more, so I actually have some blocks left to use on the back too or maybe for a matching pillow.

Once you put the sashing on, then all of the blocks are cut into equal quarters. That gives you a smaller block with a colored square and background on 2 sides. There are a lot of different ways to turn them to make different patterns. But I chose a stepping stones variation.

Now I need to find some backing and get it quilted.

Family heirlooms & vintage fabric

Yesterday I delivered a family heirloom to my oldest daughter to use for her first baby. It's a cradle, hand made in 1954 by my uncle Doug (my mother's brother) as a baby gift for my parents on the occasion of my birth. It's a beautiful cradle and I can't wait to see my grandchildren sleeping in it.

Both of my girls slept in that cradle for the first couple of months of their lives. And now my first grandchild will sleep in that cradle too. And hopefully it will go to my other daughter's home some day too.

The original mattress was wrapped in this cute quilted fabric. The mystery for me is this - was this fabric from 1954 and put there by my mother? Or was this fabric from 1981 and put there by my mother when she gave the cradle to me for my first baby? Anyone have any ideas on the age of this fabric?

My dresden selvage pillow

I forgot to post a photo of my dresden plate/selvage pillow when I finished it. Can't say that it turned out quite as I pictured. I think I needed to use a smaller dresden plate in order to make the selvages show up better on this 16" square pillow. The back also is done with selvages.

It will look cute in my sewing room.

Design Wall Monday

This is what is currently on my design wall. I used about half of a layer cake of Bliss that I bought at least a year ago. I loved the colors, but had no idea what I wanted to do with it.

But I saw a quilt done in this manner and decided I had just the right fabric to do this justice. I have all of the blocks done, but not up on the design wall yet.

I will share more later in the week.

A little finish

In a previous post I showed the beginnings of the Twister project I had begun. Well yesterday I finished cutting the 2 inch squares out of the foundation piece with my newly purchased small rotary cutter. This is the result - a whole lacey sheet of 1.5" squares all connected. Isn't that fun?

And here is my finished Twister placemat. Batiks were from a charm pack and a couple of scraps to fill it out. I love the colors and patterns in batiks and this little placemat should look really good on my kitchen counter. I'm going to add just a little hand quilting and a bright batik binding.

Twister

OK - my little "food for the soul" project has a good start. The first step was to cut the 3.5 inch blocks and sew them together to make a foundation. I used a charm pack of batiks plus some scraps.

Next step was to add the white borders. And then the fun begins. Using the little 2 inch twister ruler, I started to cut the pieces. Twist and then sew back together forming little pinwheels.

But I hit a snag - and so the rest will have to happen this weekend. I thought I had a small rotary cutter. But a thorough searching of drawers in the sewing room failed to produce it. So - tomorrow after work I'm going to buy one. That will speed up the cutting process considerably.

Food for the soul

A new project - food for the soul.

I needed a NEW project to play with! And I should be able to use stash to do it, so I can avoid the guilt of buying more fabric.

A couple of nights ago I attended a fun little evening program at the Pin Cushion where all of the projects shown were done with pre-cuts: layer cakes, charm packs, jelly rolles, etc.

I ended up buying this cute pattern and the small ruler that came with it. The ruler is just 2 inches square! Hope I don't lose it! And just an FYI - there is even a smaller version (ITTY BITTY).

This little pattern from Primitive Gatherings uses 3.5" squares that can be cut from charm packs or even just from scraps. I have lots of scraps that should be large enough to use for this. Can't wait to come home from work tonight and play with this project.

Pattern frustration

This is a small look at a table runner that I made from a kit I bought last fall. It is made from 4 fat quarters and is even called the Fat Quarter Table Runner VI. It is from a company called Out of the Blue.

I really like the end results, but have to say the pattern was a little frustrating. They used nice little color graphics to show how each unit goes together and then how each row goes together.

But the key word here is LITTLE. The print is so small that I could barely read it. And the pictures and words were all mashed together in an effort to get everything onto the front and back of one sheet. It took a lot of extra time trying to figure out. My suggestion to this company is this: make your pattern more user friendly even if it means using 2 sheets of paper! The directions would be good if they were larger and spread out instead of squished together so you can't tell if the writing refers to Unit 4 or Unit 5.

Busy weekend

Normally my social calendar is pretty open. But this weekend was one of those crazy times when everything happens at once. Yesterday I had Saturday Sampler, then went to coffee with friends, then had a Delta Kappa Gamma meeting, and then headed to my nephew's high school graduation.

So I had to wait until today to get in some stitiching. I made my 4th block for Saturday Sampler and also got my black, white, and bright block done as well. The bonus block for next month is to be done in patriotic colors and I gathered some in preparation of getting that block done this week too. This is a really nice block to make. But the traditional one looks blue and red in my photo - and it's actually green and rust. Wish I knew why my camera does that.

And I worked on a few other little things as well that I'll share in the next few days.

Spoofed!

Another charity project is completed! This quilt was made for the local high school student group called Spoofed. They do skits and performances to raise awareness of various social issues such as bullying, drugs, suicide. They are selling tickets for $5 and hope to raise money so they can attend some training.

This batik pinwheel quilt was made by a few of the Friends in Stitches group. We each made some of the blocks, and then Tina put the top together. And the quilter donated her time, and the thread and batting for it.

Every time we use this pattern for a project I get the urge to make more. The pattern is so fast and easy.

Pink & white

Just a quick look at the bonus block I did for this month's Saturday Sampler that is coming up this Saturday.

Each month we have the option of making a bonus block to enter into the "pool" of blocks as a chance to win them all. Each month there is a color selected or some theme. This month was PINK.

I've also been making a black/white/bright block for myself. So when we finish the last block for this year's sampler, I'll actually have blocks for 2 quilts. Maybe 3 if I win any sets of bonus blocks.

Knitting - but not by me

My younger daughter Laura made her sister a beautiful knitted baby blanket as a gift for her future nephew. She learned to knit a few years ago while living with my cousin Julie one summer. Julie was obviously an excellent teacher. This was Laura's first attempt at a cable stitch pattern. It turned out beautifully and is just as soft as it is pretty.

Good job (soon-to-be) Auntie Laura!

In need of repairs

Sunday afternoon my Pfaff sewing machine suddenly became a casualty. I'm not sure what is wrong with it, but it appears that the bobbin casing is broken, or loose, or something. So I'm dropping it off for repairs. And I had to pull out my 30 year old Singer to finish what I was working on. I couldn't just leave a seam half stitched. But it broke my concentration enough that I didn't finish up the pillow top I was working on.

Now I just hope it isn't something really major. But then again maybe I need a reason to buy a new sewing machine. . .

Happy Mother's Day

My oldest daughter is about to become a first time mother. And we are about to become first time grandparents. That is definitely a reason to make a quilt - as if I really needed one. Here is the baby quilt I made for the baby boy who will make his appearance sometime in the next month.

The pattern is called New Wave (which I found online) and the fabric line is called Rusty Pound Hounds. The back is a soft fuzzy beige. It is very cuddly.

Now we just have to be patient for the baby to wrap in this quilt.

A productive morning

It was a very productive morning. I finally got the yellow border sewn onto the top for my Wildflowers friendship exchange quilt. I've been plugging away the last couple of evenings to get the 5 sections put together and then last night I got the narrow red border on. This morning - it was time for the last border.

I have enough of the aqua left to do the binding. Now I need to find something for the back that picks up some of those bright colors too.

May goals

Too many things on my May calendar to get very ambitious about setting any quilting goals. But I have a couple:

1 - finish the top on the friendship exchange quilt. This is the first supersashing set together with 2 more blocks. 4 more sets like this and they fit together in different directions.

2 - finish the dresden plate pillow

Anything else I get done is just "icing on the cake"!

April accomplishments

I did not do very well on my April goals. I had good intentions, but it just didn't happen. I was out of town for work a lot, including part of one weekend. So much for my excuses . . .

• bind the baby quilt in time for the baby shower DONE



• bind the Frolic quilt not started yet



• UFO - put together my spring friendship exchange blocks into a top 3/4 done



• mail the "Just One Star" blocks to Moda DONE & even made 2 more



• continue hand quilting on wedding quilt (slow and steady) still chugging away on it



• make more Heart Strings blocks from stash didn't happen

However I did get a couple of non-goal items done as well. So it wasn't a completely lost month.

• Saturday Sampler block for April



• bonus black & white block for April



• April & May mini quilts for Count On It

A baby shower

Younger daughter Laura hosted a lovely baby shower for older daughter Jerilyn on Saturday. Lots of cute baby stuff!!

I forgot to take a photo of Jerilyn with the baby quilt I made, so I'll just have to take some with the baby and quilt - when he arrives.

Laura even made the cutest diaper cake. Four layers of diapers and onesies, tied with ribbon. One decorated with little wooden zoo animals in bright colors that will match the crib bedding and nursey decor.