Scrappy 16-Patch Blocks

   I finished my red plaid nightgown.  I didn't match up any of the plaids on the seams so it's not very pretty and I won't show a picture of it.  Suffice to say, I love it and that's all that matters sometimes.

   I started working on my next quilt project.  I'm making a scrappy quilt with 16-patch blocks set with white sashing.  I finished these three blocks.  I'm planning a quilt with 35 blocks, 7 rows of 5 blocks each.  The white sashing fabric should arrive by Saturday.

    I washed 4 1/2" yards of muslin this evening.  I bought it this morning at Walmart.  It was $3.97 a yard and I took all the material that was left on the bolt.  I will be making a lining for the "Needle Art From My Heart" vest with some of this muslin.  The rest of the muslin will go into stash.

Look What I Found In My Storage Box Of Projects

   I bought this vest a few months ago and completely forgot about it.  It's a panel by Leslie  Beck called "Needle Art From My Heart."

   I love the artwork on this panel, it's sew cute.

   I'm going out tomorrow for some natural muslin for the lining for the vest.  I'm looking forward to making this project.  

   I had a productive morning cutting out and sewing the plaid nightgown.  I'm almost done with it.  I just have to apply the bias binding on the neck and armholes, and hem it.  That project will be finished tomorrow.

 

Change In Sewing/Crafting Strategy

    I'm changing my sewing/crafting strategy.  Instead of only working on one project at a time, I'm going to try to work on a couple of projects at the same time, one big quilt project and one smaller project. I'm hoping I can work my way through my big storage box of projects which include all the patterns/fabrics/findings to make each one.  The projects include:  a doll pattern, a teddy bear, a Gadget Girl Tool Kit bag, several embroidery/cross stitch projects, another dog harness, a table topper kit, a lap quilt, and a jewelry project.  

  I had no business planning two new projects with all the items I have waiting, but I did.  I'm cutting fabrics for a scrappy 16 patch block quilt with a white sashing.  I'm making the scrappy blocks with 3" squares cut from my stash.  I also ordered the white fabric for the sashing on Saturday.

    I have this almost full box of 3" squares ready to be sewn together.

   And yesterday I picked out a lovely foundation paper pieced pattern on etsy to make a wallhanging for my living room.  I also bought some fabric (on sale) at Connecting Threads for the wallhanging.

   Pattern:

Fabrics:

   I've only done a couple of small paper piecing projects so this should be fun.  I'll probably get the fabric next week and I should be finished with my current project by then.  

   I'm currently working on my red plaid Christmas nightgown.  I finally ironed the fabric last night, next step is cutting my pattern pieces out.

Fabric for nightgown:

   That's all I'm working on now.  I'll let you know how the new sewing strategy is working for me. 

Plaid Flannel Rag Quilt

  I finished the rag quilt today and just finished washing it to rag the edges.  I made the quilt 6 blocks by 7 rows with 126 - 10" blocks.  I made three layer blocks with the plaid on top and the blue flannel in the middle and on the bottom.

   I love the way the blue flannel comes through in the seams.  This was a lot of fun to make and I can't wait to put it out at Christmas.

My First And Last Hand Sewn Quilt Is Finished.

   The Scrappy Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt is now finished.

    I did very big stitch quilting around the yellow centers and the beige hexies so it would go faster.

   I hand sewed hexies to the uneven sides to bind those edges.  Today I applied the binding on the straight sides with the sewing machine.  It felt really weird to use the sewing machine after spending so many months hand sewing all those little hexies.  I love this quilt and I'm so glad it's finished.

      I'm so happy I will be able to use my sewing machine to make my next couple of projects.

      I bought fabric to make myself a flannel rag quilt for Christmas.  I want to start it next week.  It's going to be made with a lovely red plaid flannel for Christmas.  I love plaid fabric.

      I'll be using the red plaid for the top.  I will use the blue flannel for the middle and backing fabric.  I bought 3 yards of the red plaid and 6 yards of the blue flannel.

     I will cut all the fabric into 10" squares.  I will need 108 of them to make a 6 block x 6 row quilt.  The blocks will be assembled with the red on top and the middle and bottom layer will be blue.  I made two flannel quilts last year and I really enjoyed the process.  

     Another project I have fabric for is a new cotton nightgown for the winter season.  I bought some red plaid cotton fabric, like the red plaid above, to make this one.  I won't share a picture of this sewing project because I'm not going to take the time to match my plaids at the seams and it will look very wonky.

Worked On This All Day!!

   I sewed the 7th row onto my quilt top today.  It was a long day, but now the top is done.  It's ready to sandwich and quilt.  Can't wait to get started on that phase of this project.  The top measures 51" x 58 1/2".

    I will be following this tutorial for the binding of the sides of the quilt with the peaks and valleys.  The other sides will have the tips of the hexagons cut off to make a straight side to bind with regular binding strips.

Update On The Grandmother's Flower Garden Scrappy Quilt Top

   Here is my current quilt project with the sixth row added to it.

     I have one more row of flowers to add.  I'm hoping to have that last row done by Sunday afternoon.  Then I'll move onto the next step of sandwiching this with the batting and backing fabric.  I have decided to hand quilt (something I have never done before) this quilt and I will be using large stitches in order to get this done a little quicker.

 

Quilting Book Purchase

    I couldn't resist getting a used copy of Playful Petals by Corey Yoder from the Alibris.com website saving about 47% off the Amazon.com new book price including shipping.

    I love the cover quilt.  I've done a little fusible applique for wallhangings and door decorations but I haven't made anything larger than that using this technique.  It should be a fun book to have in my library.

I've Basted The Last Of The Hexagons Needed For The Quilt Top

     I finally finished basting the last of the hexagons to finish my scrappy Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt top.  These represent what I need to sew up the last two rows, there are 10 scrappy flowers, 2 scrappy half flowers, 134 beige hexies for the third round of each flower, and 92 green hexies to finish the connecting path around each flower.  I'll start sewing these together tomorrow.

   I'm almost to the end of my first spool of thread (Essential Quilting Thread from Connecting Threads, 1200 yards).  I can't believe how much of this top was done with one spool of thread since I basted each hexagon and sewed them together with double thread in the top.

Tea Dyeing Doilies

   I made a couple of small doilies from this pattern which also comes with a lovely comprehensive video of how to make the entire doily that you can view on youtube.  The pattern is free and so is the video.

   I made two of these over the last couple of days.  It took me about 1.5 hours to finish each one, it's quicker for me to crochet if I just read the pattern, watching the video seems to take me longer.

 

   I crocheted these in white size 10 crochet cotton thread and I used a size 0 (3.25mm) steel crochet hook.  The hook was a little too big for the crochet cotton, but I was trying to make the doily a little bigger and I think the larger hook help.

   When I tea dyed them, I steeped 6 tea bags in about 1.5 quarts of boiling water in a large Pyrex mixing bowl in my kitchen sink.  I left the tea bags in the water for about 20 minutes.  I took the tea bags out of the water and put my doilies in and let them sit for 1 hour 20 minutes.  You are supposed to wet your item before you put it in the tea bath, but I forget to do that.

   This is my result.  They are a lovely beige/ecru color and I don't think I could ever find thread in this particular colorway so I'm very happy with these doilies.