Sewing Patterns

 
   I finally broke down and looked through some sewing patterns at the McCalls/Butterick/Vogue/ Kwik Sew pattern site.  Link here. 

   I found two top patterns and one jacket pattern on sale that I could not live without.  These patterns are basic and will be great to add to my work and casual wardrobe.  Another good reason to get the patterns today is because they were all on sale for $1.99.  These three patterns cost me $10.72 which included $4.75 for shipping, handling and sales tax.

Progress On The Scrappy Grandmother's Flower Garden

    Row 5 has been attached to the quilt top and I have 2 more rows to make.

    I wanted to share a picture of my crazy boy cat, Merlin.  In order to get the maximum amount of sunshine in the dining room for my little dog, I take my dining room curtains and fold them up onto a microwave cart that I use to store cookbooks and extra silverware.  Merlin has decided that this is his place to take a bath and a nap.  He has been using this spot for the last few days.

Wow, I Was Way Off

    A few days ago I wrote a post about choosing my backing fabric for my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt.  I wrote that I chose a yellow and green floral print that would go well with my top.  I was wrong.  I don't know how I got it mixed up but I actually ordered this:

    I received it on Friday and it's ready to wash.  I do wash my fabrics.  I wash yardage and fat quarters.  I don't wash pre-cuts like layer cakes or charm squares.

    I won't need this backing fabric for a while yet, but it does have a chemical smell on it that I want to try to eliminate.

    I love the floral print and it still has the yellow and green in it, so I'm happy.

Crochet Day

 

  I took a few hours off today from sewing my quilt top to crochet myself a soft, cozy scarf.  This pattern is called the Big Rib Scarf.  A link to this super simple pattern is here.  This scarf took me about 2.5 hours to finish and it was the perfect project for two skeins of Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable yarn in the Cappuccino colorway.  The finished dimensions are 42" x 10".  I made my scarf according to the directions, but you can make the scarf as long or as wide as you want as long as you have enough yarn.  At the end of twelve rows I had a little bit of yarn left from each skein, but not enough for another row.

Hexagons

     I made 67 beige colored hexagons in the last two days to added to my scrappy flowers for the next round of my scrappy Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt top.  Here's a picture of these lovelies after I pressed them.

Time To Make A Backing Fabric Decision

    I've finished the fourth row of my Grandmother's Flower Garden English paper pieced hexagon quilt top.  I have to add three more rows and I will be done with the top.  Now that the top is over half way done, it was time to look for backing fabric and order my batting.

     

        The batting is an easy choice, I bought a twin size Heirloom 80/20 batting.  I love that batting and it's easy to get online from Connecting Threads (none of my local stores carry it, darn it).

        The backing fabric wasn't such an easy choice.  I had to decide on color, print or solid, and wide or regular width fabric.  I looked at lots of options and nearly drove myself crazy in the search.

         I picked a wide backing fabric with a floral design since it is a garden quilt top.  I like how the green and yellow match the path and center of my flowers in my top.  I  found this 104" wide print at Connecting Threads and ordered 3 yards, which will be more than enough for the back and binding.  I usually piece my quilt backs with blocks from the front of the quilt, but I won't be doing that with this quilt.  This quilt will have a plain back.

         I'm working on the fifth row now. I'll update this blog when I have that done.  See you soon.

More Progress On The Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt Top

  The third row has been added to the quilt top.  I have to make four more rows.  I can't believe I'm almost half done.  I'm having a blast making this and I love how it's turning out.

My Favorite Cotton Quilting Thread

   I buy my favorite cotton quilting thread from Connecting Threads.  The 1200 yard spools of Essential Cotton normally sell for $2.79 but it's on sale now for $1.95 which is a 30% discount.  Nice. When I want to use cotton thread, I don't hesitate to use this in any of my sewing machines.  I'm now using to hand sew all the the hexagons for my current project.  I love this thread.

   I bought six more spools of the Cream colorway so I would have enough for my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt.  I started this quilt top with a brand new spool of the Cream colorway.  I have used over half a spool on the two rows of the quilt and flowers I have already put together and I wanted to stay with the same thread all the way through the quilt top.

   I haven't decided how I'm going to quilt or bind this top yet so I have not decided what color thread I will be using quilting or binding.

   Here are my new spools of thread.  I should have plenty to finish piecing the quilt top.

   Here's a new spool compared to the spool used to make the flowers and two rows so far which means that six more spools should be more than enough for the five rows I have to finish.

Second Row Of The Grandmother's Flower Garden Attached

   I finally got the second row added to the first row.  I also worked on 7 half flowers to add at the alternate ends of every row so the sides of the quilt are equal and there aren't big empty spaces at the end of each row.  I have 5 more rows to make.

   

 

First Row Of The Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt Top

   I have the first row of the Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt top put together.  This has taken me over a month to make, but I love how it looks.  Each block is about 7 1/2" wide without the green round and 12" wide with the green round.  The row is 47" long.  I have 6 more rows to make.