another summer day

Big excitement because out on my patio--my baby toes plant has blossomed!  The rest of the year it's a quite uninteresting succulent plant, but when it blooms with those little daisy-like flowers, that really makes my day.  And I took a photo of small children playing in the fountain in our shopping center. Cute. The last photo shows the progress I'm making on free-motion quilting my latest effort.  Oh, I have so much quilting to do, what with 3 quilts that I'm working on--or planning, plus Tonya has issued a new challenge.  Her's are the only challenges I'm ever interested in.  And this one is a doosey!
http://lazygallibamish2010.blogspot.com/

working on the Get-Well quilt

I've been doing a lot of sewing today.  I did manage to vacuum and go swimming, too.  I guess that I'm "well rounded" and that's in more ways than one!  Anyway, I sewed this lap-sized quilt top together and I cut out the borders.  I'm putting on white borders and plan to use a bright color for the binding.  I might add on more than that white border--I'll decide later.  My granddaughters received their quilts that I made with their names sewn in.  So that's a good thing.  They love them.  Have to wait for colder weather to use those quilts, though. 

Sabrina's Quilt

I managed to take this photo of Sabrina's quilt by spreading the quilt on my bed and standing on a chair.  I'm so excited to have completed all three of these granddaughter quilts.  And it just so happens that relatives are traveling to Las Vegas this weekend, and they can bring the quilts to the girls.  As usual, I have made something nice and warm for them during the time when the weather is at it's hottest!  I'm in the middle of knitting them warm sweaters, too.  I hope that the sweaters will be completed by the Fall, when the weather in Las Vegas is much cooler. 

On another note, I'm posting a photo of some string blocks.  These blocks are for the Emergency Get Well Soon Quilt that I'm working on.  The quilt will have six free-pieced star blocks and six string blocks.  If you look at the photo you will notice that I'm making these blocks using a method similar to making a Courthouse Steps square.  I sew a strip onto each side of the block. Then I press the block and trim the edges before adding more strips.  I find that by adding on to each side before pressing, the sewing of the blocks is much faster.  When they are all big enough, I will square up all the blocks.

I've been busy

The good news is that I've completed the last of the three quilts for my three granddaughters.  But it will take a couple of days for me to find someone to hold the third quilt up for a photo.  Meanwhile, I've begun making two other quilts.  I'm making an Emergency-Get-Well-Soon Quilt.  That is a nice little lap-sized comfort quilt that I make and keep on hand in case someone we know, or a friend of a friend, relative, or person needs a quilt while going through illness and the tough medical stuff that goes along with that.  I believe that an avid quilter like me needs to have one of these gift quilts on hand.  And I have cut out thirty-five 4 1/2 inch blocks of conversation prints to make an I Spy quilt.  The I Spy quilt is intended as a donation to the Mommy and Me at the library where my daughter works.  The photo above shows some of the conversation blocks, plus a star block for the Get Well quilt.  I plan to make 6 stars and 6 free-pieced log cabin blocks for that quilt.

Sabrina's quilt binding, plus a crochet baby sweater

I can hardly believe it, this is such a "cold" summer. Today it's 78 degrees ( 25 Celsius) and that's only when it warmed up in the afternoon, this morning I needed a sweater.  Here's a photo of sewing down the binding on Sabrina's quilt.  I'm using a dark green binding to match the sashes on the quilt.  And the backing is a flannel with dolphins on it.  I looked up the name "Sabrina" and it has something to do with dolphins--I don't know what exactly. Remember Sophia Loren's first movie, "The Boy on a Dolphin?" (1957).  Well, I'm digressing all over the place.  Meanwhile,  as I was enthusiastically  sewing these three quilts, I have let my sewing-computer room go to rack and ruin--there's bits of fabric and batting all over the place.  No matter, I will be trying to use up all these scraps right away on the next quilt.  It seems that I have now given away my baby quilts to a new baby cousin (probably my second cousin or first cousin twice removed or some other technicality of relationship) and also my daughter's neighbor was having a breast operation and there went my emergency Get Well Soon quilt.  Furthermore, the "Mommy and Me" at the library where my youngest works needs an I Spy quilt.  So I have lots of quilts to sew.  One thing I want to ask anyone reading this post--have I Spy quilts gone out of style?  I had a lot of trouble finding a web site that was selling those bits of kids fabric. 

And I'm also posting a photo of my latest creation, a crochet baby sweater that I made for my great niece.  The pattern is on the Internet at http://www.coatsandclark.com/ pattern number WT2154.  Except that I added the crochet flowers myself.

Jera's and Jenna's Quilts

They're finished--two of the three quilts are completed.  And I'm planning to start on pin basting the third quilt!  So much fun. Some folks have commented asking about the free-pieced letters.  I learned about them on Tonya's blog  http://lazygalquilting.blogspot.com/  Brenda also has some info on her interesting blog http://scrapsandstrings.blogspot.com/2009/01/strip-pieced-letters.html  And so I sew.

Adding the binding

I'm sewing on the binding today!  It's easier than doing this post. What a struggle for me to get this post going.  The "new" Google needs some improvement, especially for us grandma types, I think. Anyhow, I really get a lot of satisfaction when I have finished free-motion quilting and sewed on a binding.  My sewing machine adjusts for sewing on thick items such as quilts. I cut a binding on the straight of grain in a  1 3/8 inch width, sew it to the edge in a 1/4 inch seam and then I hand hem it to the back.  I like to hand hem while I'm watching a TV show.  There's a  few shows that I really enjoy on TV right now, like "The Glades," "Memphis Beat," and "The Closer," for instance.  (I like detectives.) I'm getting a lot of mileage out of my DVR these days.  And I've got some photos here of Jenna's quilt.  I pin basted it today.  The green fabric with the turtles is the flannel backing of Jenna's quilt.  I think that I've made quite a bit of sewing progress this week. Well, one thing I find, this Google thing doesn't understand about making a new paragraph, if I hit the space bar, it shoots down the page. Anyhow, pretend I made an new paragraph.  The weather has been mighty strange here in Southern California.  While most of the USA has been blasted with heat, our weather is very moderate.  I needed to wear a sweater yesterday morning, and none of my neighbors (I live in a Condo--lots of neighbors) needs to have on air conditioning.   I've not only been sewing quilts, I've been knitting and crocheting too.  I made a baby sweater for my dentist because she's expecting.  I posted a photo of my latest knitting and crochet on my Flickr, and it can be seen by clicking on the Flickr thing on this page.

the next phase

Jera's quilt being pin basted

You know what I always say, "It ain't a quilt until it's quilted!". I'm so happy to post that I have now finished making the three quilt tops, including appliqueing on the rest of those umpteen hearts on Jenna's and Sabrina's quilts.  I did add a bright green border to Sabrina's quilt, also.  Now it's time to put the band aid on my left index finger (before I hurt it with the safety pins, I put on the band aid, and when I finish putting in all those pins, presto--no hurt finger) and put in all the pins I can find.  I decided that I haven't been putting enough pins in when I pin baste lately, and so I put in a big bunch (that's a quilter's mathematical term) this time around.  I think that Jera will like this backing fabric, because it reminded me of the flowers that she draws.  Jera is an artist.  And knowing that she will be checking out this blog, I want to wish her a Very Happy Birthday next week.