Easter sunrise table runners

There are 2 of these sunrise table runners - appliqued, pin basted the layers together, and ready to quilt. But I'm just not sure what I want to do with them in terms of quilting.  Help??

I plan to use black thread to quilt up against the edges of the black silhouettes at both ends. And I'm thinking that I'll do some simple straight line quilting radiating from the crosses to look kind of like rays of the sun. But should I use black thread for that or a rich gold/yellow thread for those rays?

Or is there some other quilting design I should use? I'm kind of stumped on this one and would welcome some ideas.

Design Wall Monday - Allietare is halfway

Easter Sunday was spent sewing and relaxing since we didn't have any plans. I made some progress on my Allietare mystery quilt and it is half done. Not counting the borders, and maybe I'll decide against borders. Who knows at this point. This will be a big quilt with a ZILLION little pieces so I'm taking my time on it. The units for all of the rest of the blocks are ready to go, so maybe it won't take so long to get the rest of the blocks made and assembled.

Check out other quilter's Design Wall Monday at: http://www.patchworktimes.com/ 

Sunday stash report - March 27

Happy Easter!  

I forgot all about a Sunday stash report the past couple of weeks. Maybe that was my way of avoiding the addition of new numbers to the "in" column. I've made some purchases, but it's been mostly background, borders, backing, or binding fabrics. I needed those to finish some projects, right? 

As for the "out" column, I've finished a couple of small things. The 3-D Pinwheel table runner was a finish this week. And I have the Dresden Plate quilt top ready to be quilted. That makes 2 child sized quilts hanging in the closet, ready to quilt and bind. 

And this baby quilt will go to the quilter this week because I will need to finish this one and mail it to the new mom and daughter. And now that I see the photo, I think another dark chevron at the bottom would balance the design better and won't be a problem for the length. Back to the sewing room to cut and sew a few more HST for that last row. I am counting 3 yards for this top. 

In this week (actually 3 weeks): 8 yds

In this year: 25.75 yds

Out this week: 7.5 yds

Out this year: 42 yds

I am still ahead of the stash!

3D Pinwheel table runner

I bought the kit for this table runner over 2 years ago on a quilt shop hop bus trip to Minnesota, and I know that because it still had the shop's label on the bag. It's made completely from 5" charm squares that were already cut. 

The 3D pinwheels and the colors are what made me buy it, and I must admit that I had forgotten all about it until doing a little organizing this winter.  The actual top only took about an hour to sew together. And of course then it hung over a hanger in my sewing room closet.  Last weekend I worked on the quilting and binding while riding to/from Rapid City to visit family.  I added the buttons because it needed just a little something more, and I hand quilted around the edges. 

It's small, but it's a finish! Yay! 

Purple Dresden flimsy

I found just the right purples for borders yesterday over my lunch break, and last night I got them added. So the purple Dresden Plate quilt is now a flimsy. There is a LOT of blank yellow space on this quilt so I think it will need to be quilted with the same variegated thread I used for the applique.

This will make a good donation quilt or maybe a gift. It's child sized - about 50" square.

Blanket stitching

I thought that I bought some purple thread recently to use on this, but if I did it's lost in my cluttered sewing room. Or maybe somewhere else in my house. Who knows?  So I dug out some variegated thread that was leftover from a quilting project and used that for the blanket stitching around my Dresden Plates. Maybe it was a happy accident that I lost the other thread, because I really like the result.

The applique is all done on this and maybe over my lunch break today I can go to the LQS and look for some border fabrics . . . because my stash had nothing large enough to use.

Purple Dresden Plates

I had these purple Dresden Plate sections made ages ago and stuffed into a bag. Guess that makes this a PIG (project in a grocery sack). I decided to use them on a baby quilt and this is the plan so far. 

The background is a 36" yellow square.  The purple pieces are just pinned on for now, but I plan to machine applique these with purple thread and a blanket stitch or maybe a decorative stitch. Then I think it will need a couple of purple borders - maybe a narrow dark one to stop the eye, and then a wider medium purple print. Wonder what I might find in the stash? Purple isn't a color I've used very often.

Bonus block

The greens in this bonus block are just perfect for St Patrick's Day. Or for spring.

This is a green version of yesterday's block, which is block 1 of the new Saturday Sampler. This block would look great in any color combination I think. I may have to play with this one with some other stash fabrics. 

A New Age

This block is called Carina and is the first block in a 13 part BOM we're just starting at The Pin Cushion. The BOM (A New Age) is from Nancy Rink Designs. And the fabrics are all "new age muslin" by Marcus Fabrics. I've never used this over-dyed muslin before but it is a dream to sew.

My experience so far is that there is very little stretch and it presses wonderfully. Every seam has a nice crisp press. The color here is a bit brighter than it really is. The colors are a bit more "dusty" than they look in the picture.  

My next task is to make a bonus block using greens from my stash. Anyone who brings a bonus block next month to the Saturday Sampler session will get an opportunity to win those bonus blocks. I have 3 greens pulled from my stash already. 

Penny Pig

Penny Pig is a bonus block from Lori Holt that goes with the Farm Girl Vintage blocks, but is an extra purchase.  Recently I purchased 3 of her extra blocks but this is the only one I've made so far. Isn't it cute? 

I can't wait to make the cow block too. Maybe later this week. 

I'm linking up to Design Wall Monday at http://www.patchworktimes.com 

More Farm Girl Vintage

The teapot block is my latest Farm Girl Vintage block. Our Sew Vintage group met yesterday afternoon and this is the block assigned next. And it's been fun to dig into my stash of 30s reproduction fabrics as I work on these.  

The Sew Vintage group "sew-along" accounts for 9 of these, plus the star block was last week's assigned block for a Facebook group I'm following. And I made the house blocks - just because. These are 6" versions and I'm also doing the 12" version of each block so far. 

The blue and pink block in the second row doesn't look like it's big sister, because I laid it out wrong and decided I wasn't going to do any ripping out to fix it. I can live with it, I think.  

I have another Farm Girl Vintage block cut out and ready to sew.  Charming - that is what I would call these blocks. 

March Madness

No sewing or quilting - or working - for me that past few days because I was on a mini-vacation. We love college basketball so this is a fun time of year.

My husband and I spent the past 4 days attending the Summit League basketball tournament in Sioux Falls, and watched both the women and the men Jackrabbits win. So both teams will advance to the NCAA tournament.

We met as sophomores at South Dakota State University and have been loyal Jackrabbit fans ever since. We are season ticket holders and make that 2 hour trip to campus frequently for games. But this tournament was held in Sioux Falls and that is only an hour away, so very convenient.

Now, today I have to get back to reality and had to go back to work. Although we may go watch some high school girls basketball at the state tournament later this week. March Madness!!

Marking quilting lines

How do you mark your quilts before quilting? When hand quilting I really like the purple pen with disappearing marks. 

This little table runner is all Easter egg colors so the purple shows up nicely. And it fades quickly so I only mark part of the project as I go.

On dark fabrics I have a white pen that erases easily with a damp cloth. I've also used masking tape for straight line quilting. I only hand quilt small projects because I have a short attention span - or at least that is my current excuse.

Sunday stash report

It's not a good photo, but the blocks are all made for the Yellow Brick Road quilt. Ironically I was so focused on the assembly-line sewing on Saturday morning, that I made a couple of small errors, but I dug into the stash and found some additional green, yellow, and orange fabrics to add into the mix. And it turned out just fine.  The top should be complete later today. Now I need to get back to work on the yellow and grey chevron baby quilt.

I didn't purchase any fabric again this week but I forgot last week to add in the backing for my RSC15 quilt, so that is 6 yards added to the "in" numbers. And I'll be looking for backing soon for the 2 baby quilts I'm working on.

I finished the binding on the Cottage in the Woods quilt, so that is 8.5 yards to add to the "out" column. Yay! 

In this week: 6 yds

In this year: 17.75 yds

Out this week: 8.5 yds

Out this year: 33.5 yds

I am ahead of my stash by more than 15 yards. And so far most of the "in" numbers reflect backing for finished quilts. 

Farm Girl Vintage blocks

Our Sew Vintage group here has been working on the Farm Girl Vintage blocks each month. I've been making both sizes - 6" and 12" and using my stash of 1930s reproduction fabrics. Such cute blocks! This last month we made Out To Pasture.

And now I'm following along with a Facebook group working on the blocks, with a new one every other Friday.  I just couldn't resist joining in. Today's FB block was the Simple Star. I made both sizes right after work and they were quick to sew. They were done before supper.  I used a 30s print for the center with solid star points. Loving this one!

Ready for assembly line sewing

As usual, I can't be happy just working on a single project at one time. So, since I only had about a half hour in my sewing room last night - I got another quilt top ready to sew. 

These strip sets are all cut and ready to sew for a kid-friendly version of Yellow Brick Road. That pattern is an oldie from Atkinson that I've used several times. It is fast to prep and sew, and is really set up to use fat quarters. I had pulled out of my stash 3 bug prints, a sun print, and 2 "kind of solid" fabrics weeks ago and put those fat quarters into a bag with the pattern. 

And I cut lots more 6" squares for the baby chevron quilt that I'm working on - lots of yellow, grey, and white squares.  So I'm ready for some focused assembly line sewing this weekend when I will finally have some time in that sewing room.  I'm hoping that by Sunday night I'll have 2 flimsies done and ready to quilt.