Binding progress

I've shown this quilt top a couple of months ago - before it was quilted. Now it's quilted (by Carli at the Pin Cushion) with a warm fuzzy backing. And I'm plugging away on the binding for it. There is a deadline since it's a wedding gift for the end of the month, so I need to move a little faster!

The fabric line was Frolic and it was made from "turnovers" - a triangular precut. Very fun to use precuts.

Too hot for quilting

It has been really hot and humid here the past few days. Other than my Saturday Sampler block #6, the only other sewing I've been doing is putting the binding on a wedding gift quilt. But even with the air conditioning it gets too hot with a heavy quilt and a big heavy cat all occupying my lap while I do the hand stitching.

My 19 pound cat assumes the quilt is spread out just for him to lay on - even when it's in my lap. Gotta love the way their minds work!

Block #6

Block #6 for Saturday Sampler is done. I really like pinwheels, so this block was especially fun. A soft dusty aqua seems to be a common color emerging from these blocks so far. I need to keep that in mind when I choose sashing and binding fabrics.

I still need to make my own black/white/bright variation and the bonus block this month is red/white. Those will have to be an evening project this week.

The weekend was pretty much taken up with family events: a baby shower and a bridal shower. Fun times!

Twister is completed

My Twister placemat is completely finished. I handquilted this in random circles in 2 different sizes. And then I bound it in another batik.

I think I'm going to do another of these but with a different layout, maybe putting the background in between the colored squares. This afternoon I stopped in at the Pin Cushion and Cindy showed me one done in a wreath shape. That would be really pretty done in Christmas fabrics.

Swap block received

Look what the mailman brought me on Saturday! I joined a block swap recently and this was my first month to be involved. My partner was Jen from Pennsylvania. Thanks Jen - I love this block!

The rules with this swap include being able to specify a preference. Jen wanted a log cabin type block in batiks. I sent her one in blue and green.

I specified black and white with a bright accent since I've been having some fun with that colorway lately. Jen did a great job meeting my expectations. This block will fit perfectly into a black/white/red quilt top that I recently pulled from my UFOs to work on again. It is a sampler, but set in a very non-traditional setting. The blocks are random sizes and shapes, with a narrow black sashing. I had been making practice blocks for various Saturday Samplers and other projects a couple of years ago. These practice blocks were then being added into this quilt top - and this new one is perfect to jump start this project again.

Quilting my Frenchbraid

Friday afternoon I didn't work, and finally got a chance to take this quilt top over to my friend Sylvia's to get it quilted. Love her Qbot machine! The top is my Frenchbraid and it's going to be a wedding gift. Can't keep every quilt I make even though I'm tempted with this one!

I have a dark green back on this and am quilting it with a gold thread in a large leaf design. It's turning out very nicely. However - there is about 10 inches left to quilt and we ran out of time. So I plan to go over again in the next couple of days to finish up.

June accomplishments were modest

Good thing I didn't really set any goals for the month of June. I knew with the arrival of our first grandchild that I would be a bit distracted from my sewing room. So the accomplishments listed below are small and pretty modest.

1. Saturday Sampler block + black/white/bright version for me (Jacob's Ladder this month)


2. bonus block for Saturday Sampler


3. July appliqued mini quilt from Count On It


4. swap block (batik log cabin variation)


5. 36 pinwheel blocks for a charity quilt project


6. applique "seeds" onto my watermelon table runner (halfway on hand quilting)


7. loaded my French Braid quilt on Sylvia's quilting frame to quilt TODAY


8. hand quilting and binding on Twister placemat

Yesterday evening I went down to my sewing room in the basement to sort through my batiks for the upcoming house blocks. However - unkown to me, my husband had decided to open all of the basement windows to get some fresh air. Then he went to work in the morning and played golf at the end of the day. We had a 95 degree day with 95% humidity!!!!! Needless to say my sewing room felt like a sauna. The fabric even felt wet. Guess it was an example of a good idea gone wrong!