She Who Sews Panel Quilt Project

     I'm working on another quilt top using two panels of She Who Sews (by Janet Wecker Frisch).  I received a partial panel in a Christmas swap last year and I bought another panel because some of the blocks are really cool and I'm only going to use the ones I like.  I'm supplementing the panel blocks with trimmed up leftover disappearing hourglass blocks that I made last summer and some yellow polka dot cotton.

   Here's a sneak peek at the fun:

Latest Quilt Finished.

   I was able to get the back pieced and the quilt sandwiched by Saturday afternoon.  I quilted it on Sunday and Monday, finishing the binding yesterday.  Here it is.

    Front:

   Back

    I did simple straight line cross hatch quilting on this one.  I tried to free motion quilt it with my new Janome 7700 but it didn't turn out very well.  I did two blocks before I decided to remove that quilting and use my walking foot to straight line quilt it.

    I need to practice free motion quilting on this machine so I can get the speed of my sewing coordinated with the movement of the quilt under the needle.   The next time I try to free motion quilt with this machine, I think I'll do a simple stipple and see how goes.

   I've already cut 5" squares of pretty floral fabric for my next quilt top.  It will be a simple design with the floral squares framed by green fabric strips.  I haven't started sewing it yet.  I'm taking a break for a few days to look at my to do list and get some other things done around the house.

Further Adventures In Making The Disappearing Hourglass Quilt

   The top is finished:

   I'm really happy with the quilt top and how the disappearing hourglass blocks look with the sashing and the cornerstones.  The dimensions are 68 1/2" x 68 1/2" square.  I love the way the black sections create circles in a secondary pattern that you can see when you squint at the pictures.  Those black circles remind me of the pictures on Viewmaster cards like this:

   As you can see or can't see, the blue starry fabric is barely noticeable in my cornerstones.  The print was super small and the blue and yellow colors are hard to see.  I can't wait to see if that fabric makes a bigger impact on the binding.

    I have a bunch of blocks leftover.  I have two rows of 5 blocks each sashed and six blocks that are loose.  I originally made 41 of these blocks but I never considered how big the blocks were going to finish at while I was making the darn things.  I ended up using 5 rows of 5 blocks for this quilt top because that's the largest size quilt I want to try to quilt myself on my domestic sewing machine.  I'm a hobby quilter, I don't make anything larger than a generous lap size quilt.

     I'm working on the back of this quilt now.  I'm expecting solid royal blue fabric to be delivered today and I'll be using one of the leftover rows in the center of the back.  I have to put some sashing and cornerstones on the row and then I'll piece the back with it.  This quilt should be sandwiched and ready to quilt by Tuesday.

Disappearing Hourglass Blocks Done And The Rest Of The Quilt Is Planned

  I have 41 black and white disappearing hourglass blocks done.  All pressed and ready to sash and set into a finished top.  I'm planning a top with 5 blocks x 7 blocks.  The rest of the blocks will go into the back.

   I also finally decided on the material for the back.  I bought a solid light royal blue by American Made Brand.

    That material will go nicely with the blue starry material I'm using for the binding and cornerstones.

   This top and back will be fun to put together.

Progress on the Black and White Disappearing Hourglass

      I managed to get some quilting done this past weekend while I had company staying with me.  They are late sleepers, so I had plenty of time in the morning to play with my fabric.  I now have all my half square triangles sewn and I'm in the process of ironing them and trimming dog ears for the next step, making the hourglass blocks.    I have six completed blocks and another 35 to finish.  I haven't decided how I am going to set these blocks or what fabric I'm using for the back.  I'm thinking about placing some sashing in between the blocks.  I do have the batting for this quilt, at least that is something I don't have to think about.

     My company leaves today and I have a few things to do to get settled back into my bedroom, and after that I'm planning on getting Magnolia fired up (my new Janome 7700) to see how she does piecing hourglass blocks.  I want to test it with the cotton quilting thread I bought at JoAnn's that I'm using on this project.  I hope she is not going to be fussy about what thread I use on her.  I'll let you know how that experiment goes.

New Chapter, New Project

    My life has changed in the last couple of months.  I left my job of 27 years and I'm taking some time off before I look for work.  I've been thinking about what I want to do for the rest of my life and taking care of some things around the house.  It has been very nice.

      Last year I purchased a low end DSLR  camera and I've just gotten around to taking it out and trying it out.  I took pictures of some of the flowers in my yard.  I have lots of knock out rose plants, drift rose plants, and marigolds in pots. The last picture is of the yellow knock out rose and the fragrance on those yellow blooms is amazing.

    I have started a new quilt top.  I'm making a disappearing hourglass in black and white.  The black fabric is actually a polka dot which I love.  You can get a great video tutorial on the pattern from Missouri Star Quilt Company on youtube at this link.   I love the MSQC video tutorials, they are so much fun.  Here is a picture of my first wonky block.  My measuring and cutting needs some work to get this block to look nice.  I'll be more careful with the rest.

   The work on the quilt top is going slowly, but I'll have more to share soon.

   

Disappearing Hourglass Quilted Stand Mixer Cover

      I've been wanting to make a disappearing hourglass block since I saw the video by Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Company demonstrate the process.  I even bought fabric to make a quilt top with this block in the future.

     Yesterday I decided to make a stand mixer cover to replace the one I bought many years ago.  I was only going to make the blocks and jimmy up the cover with some white borders, then I thought the whole thing would look better quilted.  So I put borders on the blocks, added some white fabric at the top to pull the two blocks together.  I used the white fabric as backing and leftover batting from my last quilt to sandwich it.  I quilted it with straight lines and put the blue binding and blue ties on it.

   I really like this stand mixer cover and it was the perfect project to get me out of my daylight savings time slump.  Now I can move on with my vinyl pouch project.