USA Wall hanging

I sewed a bit yesterday. I wanted to make a wall hanging for the Fourth of July. However, I'm still having a lot of pains and will have to make this post brief.

Although I'm really busy making those log cabin blocks, I took a few minutes making this "S". Yes, I want to get into the free-pieced lettering some more. There's good and bad news. The good news is that between this log cabin quilt and some of the previous quilts, my stack of small scraps has really diminished a bit. I might be able to combine them into one laundry hamper instead of two. The bad news is that's not going to happen today. "S" could stand for Sciatica right now. I'm going to spend the rest of the day doing some serious resting and ice packing, and so forth. I've got the DVD "Australia" to watch. Not much sewing or knitting while lying flat most of the time.

I had a lot of fun surfing the Blogger's Quilt Festival last week. Nice to see so many different quilts and blogs. There was a really long list of quilters. Thanks to Park City Amy.

Quilt-as-you-go

There are several ways to join blocks for the quilt-as-you-go method. One way would be to do the opposite of what I have here, to join the strips to the back and front the other way up, and to end up with just hand hemming on the back. That's what I did with the baby quilt shown previously. But I decided to join these blocks a different way. This is how I joined the blocks together. I cut two strips, one for the back of the quilt which is 1 1/4 inches wide. I put the other strip on the front, and it was cut 2 inches wide and pressed in half (the long way.) I pinned the back strip to the edge, as shown in the first photo. And on the other side of it, I pinned the front strip to the same edge on the front of the block, as shown in the second photo. You now have a strip pinned to each side of the edge. Sew in a 1/4 inch seam. The third photo shows that the strips have been sewn. Open out the back strip and sew another block to it. You will now have the two blocks in place, and will only need to cover the seam with that top strip. Fold it over and sew it down. I just used a machine zig-zag stitch.

Wednesday

Blogger's Quilt Festival

I don't usually go in for blog contests, but this is such a big one, and so much fun. Here's my entry. It's a simple four patch quilt. Except that I added applique blocks here and there, and even a redwork square. As a matter of fact, the teapot that I use for my logo is appliqued on this quilt, but it's on the side. That's why I used the teapot for my logo, it's tucked away in the corner, and would never be seen otherwise.
Why did I make this quilt? For thirty years or so, we lived in a little house and had a full sized bed--couldn't fit a bigger one than that into our bedroom--and that was the "master bedroom." When we moved in 2004, one of the first things we did was to buy a queen-sized mattress. So I needed a queen sized quilt! And this was the one I made. Those three patchwork and appliqued love hearts were on my husband's side of the bed--I put them there on purpose. I also appliqued a pair of lovebirds on the quilt, not visible in the photo.

Log cabin setting

One of the things that's so much fun with a log cabin quilt is deciding how to set the blocks together. I think I like the diamond set the best, but the diagonal is very tempting. I'll just make a bunch more blocks (bunch is a mathematical term) and then decide at the last minute.
I just got my copies of Gwen Marston's books "Ideas and Inspirations, Abstract Quilts in Solids" and "Freddy and Gwen Collaborate Again." My eyes are dazzled and I never need another quilt book again (I must own about thirty or forty quilt books, anyhow) unless Gwen writes another one!

Quilt-as-you-go Baby Quilt

This photo is a bit fuzzy. I didn't have a digital camera in those days. I made this baby quilt over five years ago. Probably in 2003. I know because I moved away from the house that had a clothesline back then. Anyway, I designed this quilt myself. It's got applique stars in the alternate blocks. And it was made by the quilt-as-you-go method. I remember this being a very quick quilt to make. You can see in the photo how the borders are added when using this method. And the yellow fabric was used to join the blocks. And that would also mean that the baby to whom I gave the quilt to is in grade school by now.

Quilt-as-you-go wonky log cabin

This is the first block in my wonky log cabin quilt. I'm using a quilt-as-you-go method. I learned that from now on, I should press the strips before I sew them on, as they look a bit wrinkly. I guess that I was just too eager to see what the block would look like. I'm cutting out the backing and batting in 10 inch squares. I have lots of dorky fabric that I'm using for the backs of the blocks. I certainly have bunches of scraps and strings for the fronts. And I have so much left-over batting. It's trying to take over the world--or at least my sewing room. Sometimes, I have to put my foot down, and move it to a plastic bin in the garage. The trick with sewing these blocks is to make an adjustment to the pressure of the sewing machine. If I had no such button on the machine, I would have to use a walking foot. In order to join blocks together I use the method in the book "Reversible Quilts" by Sharon Pederson. I've made two other quilts using her method. I think that I ought to post a photo of that. I'll have to get that quilt off of the shelf pretty soon. The other one that I made following her method was a baby quilt, and the baby has probably about used it up by now. I must have a photo of the baby quilt in my scrapbook, though. I made my own design for that one, just as I have done for the wonky log cabin. I just use her method of joining the quilt-as-you-go blocks. It involves sewing a strip to the back seams to join the blocks, and then another strip in the same seam that will cover the front of the seam.

It's Wednesday

Welcome Banner

Here's the finished banner. I'm really happy. The banner came out to be bright because of the colors of the letters. I'm already thinking of making a banner or wall hanging on another theme. However, I have run out of doors to hang them on, and even running out of the pants hangers! What about the walls? They are covered by art works produced by my DH over many years. Plus pictures of my adorable children and grandchildren. I must confess, I even tried moving some of those photos, but there's not enough room in the front hallway to really view this "Welcome" thing. You need to step back a bit from it, because of the size. I have to learn to make much smaller free-pieced letters! I'm going to rotate them, though. Tonya (http://lazygalquilting.blogspot.com )wrote to me and suggested a border at the top and bottom. Too late, Tonya. Thanks so much. You're correct as usual. But I finished making the hanging last night. As far as the quilting--I have posted a close-up. I used a machine stitch. It's a serpentine stitch that my machine produces. I have a setting on the machine that allows adjustment for thick objects, like quilts.
I think that the "Peace" banner that I made last month is one of the best quilts I ever made. I have a few favorites--my top ten, as it were. Although some of them have been used up and fallen into rags over the years, while keeping kids warm in a drafty old house.

Welcome progress

Here's the banner so far. Actually, it needs quilting now. After a lot of thought, I realized that the letters needed to "float." Luckily, I had enough of the off-white left to make two strips for the sides. That off-white stuff is mostly bits of fat quarters. And I already used some of it on the previous banners. Then what to do? I decided that patchwork would compete with the lettering. I picked some printed fabric instead. I plan to work on the quilting in the next few days. Making free-form letters turns out to be a lot of fun. The banner is approximately 16 by 40 inches.
This week I was honored to attend a lovely luncheon at the Newport Beach Yacht Club in honor of the volunteers for SPIN-OC. Our Nifty Knitters group keeps making all kinds of hats, scarves, sweaters, afghans and quilts for the homeless, and for the folks that SPIN is helping to get into housing, overcome addiction, and so forth.

Wordless Wednesday, San Clemente, CA