Teacup quilt top assembled

I have finished sewing the quilt top of the "I love coffee, I love tea" quilt.  It turned out to be a twin size. I don't know if you can see in this photo (taken on a queen-size bed) that I have added a purple paisley border.  I can't make the photo any bigger, it will just appear fuzzy if I do.  Now I must find a backing fabric and do some machine quilting!  I have a big weakness for paisley fabric, and when I found this purple on sale--well you know the rest of the story.  There used to be a TV show called "Simply Quilts" and one day they had a guest who showed how she did the borders. She took the border fabric and tore it length-wise (not cross-wise.) If the fabric will tear easily, you can have equal borders in no time.  That's what I did.  Then a bit of steam pressing, and it was good to go.  Afterwards, I took a rotary cutter and a quilt ruler and squared up the corners.  Meanwhile, I'm still hand quilting the Amish-style quilt.  I've been very busy lately, so I'm not making very much head-way in that department.  But I should have a bit of time the middle of next week, perhaps.  We just never know what life has in store.  So I just try to do my best every day.  A great man once said "the more charity, the more peace."

Pin basted

Some progress, I have pin-basted the quilt.  I want to hand quilt this, even though it is rather large (about 50 by 60 inches).  The reason is that Amish quilts are usually hand quilted.  Although I read an article recently that said that Amish women send their quilts out to be hand quilted by Hmong women who live nearby! So wow.  However, if my arthritis starts bothering me, I may end up doing some machine quilting--so, knock on wood for luck, or whatever.  It's been fun sewing this quilt so far.  I will be slow with the sewing this week, as I was sick last month and got behind in my housework, and it's Spring cleaning time.  Recently, I have littered my sewing room floor with little tiny snippets of cloth.  Did you ever watch Eleanor Burns on TV, she throws little bits of fabric over her shoulder while she sews?  I think that she might have sneaked in here while I wasn't looking.  I have a special magnet that I got at the hardware store.  It's on the end of a stick.  I use it to go over the floor by the sewing machine and pick up any pins before I bring in the vacuum cleaner.  Now, I've spent more time explaining that it would take me to clean, I guess.  As soon as I have taken enough pins out of this quilt, I still have to finish the tea cup quilt and pin baste it!

Liberated Amish quilt

Here's the quilt that I have sewn. Yahoo!  I love you Tonya, what a fun challenge!  And now I can let myself look through the blog to see all the other quilter's creations.  I didn't want to look before I finished sewing, in case another quilter influenced me, or I might have gotten discouraged when I saw all the great ideas of others. Of course, this quilt will require a lot of quilting.  I must say that I became obsessed with sewing the quilt today.  I'm even late for supper.  And behind on my spring cleaning.

Now it can be told

Here's where I was!  I went to Florida to visit my youngest daughter!  I didn't want to tell until I arrived back home, because I was leaving my home empty for a few days.  Oh, I had a great time, and I'm posting a photo taken in the Everglades of our future alligator purses--ha ha.  And a photo of the beach.  It was a nice day, but not swimming weather.  I had a wonderful time with my daughter, who I hadn't seen in a long time.  And we also were invited to the home of our cousins in Boca Reton for a delicious meal.  So now I can hardly wait to cut into my collection of solid fabrics and sew up my "Amish" quilt!  It's about time.  By the way, at last I can report a big improvement in my health. 

Oh happy day! teacup quilt update

Good news today, I've gotten the teacup quilt top assembled.  It's still awaiting measuring and a decision on the borders.  One thing you can notice from the photo, is that when I sewed the lettering I didn't pay attention to the warp and weft of the fabric, and the shades of blue are definitely different in the photo.  But in this style of quilt, I don't think it matters at all.  If I ever make anything really fussy (when would that be--when the cows come home) I'll have to keep the fact in mind.  It was great fun to get this quilt top together and I was glad to be using up fabric left over from the 20th Century (a little joke--ha ha.)  And I have some idea of what I want to make for Lazy Gal's Amish quilt challenge.  I've been trying not to peek at the Challenge blog until I have my Amishish quilt under way, because I don't want to be influenced by everyone else's ideas, or get discouraged when I see how great the creations are!
Personally, I'm nearly better from the sicknesses I had, and I have some plans to do some things with my family, so I might not post anything for a couple of days.

I Love Coffee quilt

Not a great photo of my work, but you can see that I have pinned on the hearts to be appliqued. I'm really having fun with this quilt. I use freezer paper patterns and iron it on the back of the fabric, baste down the edges, and press them.  Then I remove the paper and pin in place.  This applique is placed by eye, and not at all measured. I guess I'm way past the accurate placement of applique stage. 

I'm not all better from my health problems yet, but I'm improving.  I was well enough to go and get my hair cut this morning, and to sew on my quilt this afternoon.