The Grandmothers Flower Garden quilt is finished

I'm finished quilting the top last night and the binding was finished today.  I'm so glad this is done because I can't make myself have more than one quilt on the go and I want to make other quilts.  I have loads of scraps for string quilts and some charm squares set aside for another quilt.   

I took this picture outside hoping it would show the quilt colors better.  I was wrong.  I didn't do a great job picking my colors because they are the same bright tones, but I loved them when I got them and thought they would be an awesome combination.  They look cool, but it's hard to distinguish the pink from the orange in my pictures.

More pictures.

Garden Apron - Repurposing Old Blue Jeans

About a month ago my dear daughter asked me for some advice on making a garden apron from some old jeans she had cut up.  She wanted to gift the apron and she had cut the piece with the back pockets for the apron.  I told her I would use quilting cotton to make a lining with a pocket on the inside, bind the two pieces together and make a nice long tie threaded through the belt loops and securely fastened.

We made her garden apron using the piece of the pants she had cut and raiding my quilting cotton stash.  It turned out really cute and when I left her house that day I knew I wanted to make one for me. 

I had to go to Goodwill and buy a pair of jeans for this project.  I bought a big pair of men's jeans because I wanted my apron to be a nice size.  The jeans I found had some lovely embroidered omega symbols on the pockets and I couldn't resist the colors.  The back pockets originally had buttons or rivets but they had been ripped out, so instead of replacing the buttons, I layered two buttons on the flap and glued them on so it looks like the pockets button but the pockets will be easy to get in and out of.  I lined it with some fabric I had leftover, added a colorful pocket and made my binding and tie from fabric my daughter bought me to replace the fabric she used on her garden apron.

Here is my garden apron all done.  It took me about 3 and a half hours to make.  The jeans cost me $7.00.  This was a fun project and I love the result.

I'm making a purse from the legs of the jeans.  I have it cut out and all I have to do is sew it up.  I'll show that next time.  

Still haven't done much in the way of quilting my hexie quilt.  I'll probably start working on that over the holiday weekend.

Grandmother's Flower Garden Top Is Finished

Okay, I finished the seventh row this week, added the borders and sandwiched the top for quilting.  Here is a picture of the top with the gray borders.  Not a very good picture showing the colors.   It's currently draped over my cutting table waiting patiently as I do my version of hand quilting.  Once it's finished, I will take a picture outside in good light to show the colors properly.

All The Hexagons Are Ready

   Here they are.

    All the hexagons I will need to finish my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt top.  I have two flowers for the 5th row put together already.  I need three more flowers then I will add the green path to each and add them one by one to the quilt top.

    It takes me approximately two hours and ten minutes to make each flower including the green path.  Then it probably takes another hour and a half to sew each flower onto the quilt top.  No wonder its taking me so long to finish this quilt.

Organizing, Knitting and Quilting

   I split my time over the last month working on two big projects.  One was the Grandmother's
Flower Garden Quilt and the other was an organization project.

    I organized all my craft supplies and projects that have been stored into big, medium and small storage boxes over the years.  I have over 48 storage boxes and they hold fabric, yarn, buttons, zippers, pins, pin cushions, rotary cutters, snaps, Velcro, excelsior, batting, fiberfil, batting, embroidery floss, embroidery hoops, tape, paper, greeting cards, thread, stabilizer, beads, jewelry findings, paints, glue, and glue guns, etc.  Some have specific projects in them that are ready to be started (or finished) and some boxes just hold several items that go together like yarn, pom pom makers, and a nostepinne.  I organized all the like items together, labeled the boxes and indexed the box on the computer.  I put most of those boxes in my office closet and I have a legend that tells me the location of each box and what is in it.  It's nice to know where everything is.

     Here's are a couple of pictures of the inside of my closet.

    I spent about 3 weeks last month working on the Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt.  After I finished putting the third row on the quilt top, I figured up how many hexagons I need of each color for rows 4, 5, 6 and 7.  I traced them and cut all of those out.  I paper punched more hexagon papers for basting, then I basted and sewed together all the flowers for the fourth row of the quilt top.  I just have to add the green path to each flower before I sew it to what is already together.

    Here's a picture of the flowers for the fourth row.

    On Saturday and Sunday last weekend I spent time knitting dishcloths.  They are a thank you gift for my DD for helping me with some yard work last Saturday morning.

    Here's a picture of the knitted dishcloths.  I love the yellow yarn.  I have to get more of that color for me.

Getting Back to Hand Sewing on the Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt Top

   I pulled out my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt top on last Friday.  I had to add three flowers to the third row to finish it and I finally finished those tonight.

     I started this quilt top way back at the end of May, 2017 and I can't believe that I am still working on this.  I have never had a project linger this long.  I really, really, really need to get this one done, so I am committing two hours each day during the week and more on Saturday and Sunday to sew on this top until it is finished.  I have four more rows of flowers and path to add.

    I notice in the second row that the half flower on the right hand side is wrong.  It should have an orange outer ring and a pink inner ring.  I will be taking that half flower off and fixing that. 

    I fell out of love with this project before, but looking at this picture reminds me how much I like this and I am excited to work on this again. 

    Here's a picture of the three rows finished.

Woo Hoo! The Second Row Is Done, Well Almost.

    I finally finished the second row of the Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt top.  Actually, it's not totally finished.  I need to add three green hexies to the bottom of the each of the half flowers on the end, but I was so happy to get all these pieces put together that I rushed taking my picture.  It won't take long to add the extra hexies.  Now it's time to cut more fabric to make flowers for the third row.

    I made a decision last month about how I'm going to finish this top when I get all seven rows finished.  I will applique a silver/gray border to all four sides of the top.  I don't know how wide the borders will be yet.  I will use the same silver/gray fabric for the backing.  I have decided to piece the back with a row of flowers, as well.  I bought eight yards of the Mirage line of fabric in the silver lining colorway at Connecting Threads on line store (Link to Fabric).  I'm glad I finally picked a border and backing fabric.  Now all I will need is a batting and I don't have to buy that until I actually finish the top and at the rate I'm sewing now, it may not be done until next fall. 

     I took a day trip to Jacksonville, Florida on September 23rd to see the quilts in the Quilt Fest 2017 show.  This show is held each year and this was the first time I had ever been.  The show was fun and there were a lot of great vendors there.  Since it was fall, the vendors had a lot of fall and Halloween patterns.  I was on the hunt for a nice quilt pattern and the gray fabric for my current quilt project.  I did not find anything I couldn't live without, but I had a blast looking.  Dear daughter found a backpack pattern that she had to have.  There were lots of local quilts and quilters.  It made a nice change from all the international quilts I saw in Paducah last year. 

Still Hand Sewing

    I don't sew everyday, but I try to sew a few days a week.  I get a lot more accomplished on the weekend.  Here is an update on the Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt top.

    I have started the second row.  The second row flowers still have to be attached.

Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt Update

   The first row is almost done.  I have five full flowers in my first row.  I still have to make a half flower to put at the end of the row so when I add the second row the edges are pretty even.  I will be appliquing this finished quilt top to straight edge borders and I think half flowers on the end of rows will make the quilt look more even.

More Sewing, No Crocheting

   I have two more flowers done on my Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt.  I love the way this is turning out.   I should have taken this picture when the sun was out so you can see the colors clearer,  but the weather was not cooperating today and I wanted to get this posted.

    Here is a picture of my yarn for the Hotel of Bees Shawl that I will start soon.  The yarn is Knit Picks Comfy Sport, the dark pink is Peony, the beige is Parchment, and the light pink is Flamingo.  I'm looking forward to starting this project soon since I did manage to finish the Christmas towel embroideries and that project is half done now.

A Slow Start To My Slow Stitching Project

   I finally started my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt.  I started this on a day I spent at the beach with dear daughter and friends.  I knew I wasn't going to be swimming in the Gulf and that I wanted to spend my time on the beautiful deck with a sea breeze and some hand stitching.  I finished my first flower for my new Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt during that beach trip.  I have since added the green path.  I am totally in love with this project.  I can't wait to see more of these lovely flowers appear.

  The green fabric almost looks minty or blueish, it's not. I tried to get a good picture using my faux Ott Light.    I will try to get a picture where the colors are more life like on a day with more sun.  We have had some rain the last couple of days and it's hard to get a good picture indoors.

    I was kind of worried about the pink and orange clashing but it looks stunning in this picture.  I originally bought a very pale yellow for the center, but I changed that to a bright yellow when I saw how dark the orange and pink are and I'm so glad I did.

   So there you have it, the beginning of a another quilt top.  

 

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.

 

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.

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.

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.

Slow Progress On The Grandmother's Flower Garden

   I now have three blocks done.  Each block takes a while and I take a little time off each time I finish a block.


 

    I have a three new sewing projects ready to do on the machine and I'll be taking a couple of days to finish those before I start making hexie flowers again.

Upgrading My Front Flower Beds

  I have three flower beds in my front yard.  There is a short one on the right side of the front steps as you are looking at the house, there is a long bed on the left side of the steps as you are looking at the house and there is a circular bed I created in the center of my tiny front yard.  The long and short flower beds consist of loropetalum bushes in the back against the skirting of the house, then the Knock Out rose bushes, and the border plants are liriope.

The short bed.  It's really hard to see six rose bushes in this bed, but they are there.

The long bed.

The round bed.

    A few years ago I expanded my long front flower bed out about 3 feet so I could make room for more Knock Out Rose bushes.  I love Knock Out Roses and they do very well in my sandy soil.  I really enjoy the flowers and my plants flower from April until well into November.  In the process of expanding my front flower bed I had to relocate all the liriope plants.  It was a pain and I didn't quite finish the job.  I left 5 liriope plants in their original spots and I finally moved them the other day.

   This is the placement for the new plants.  I wasn't sure I could fit all ten of the roses in this section, but I made it.

   Here they are in their new home.  Some of the new plants are interspersed with older plants so I marked them with a white piece of fabric to make it easier to find them while I water them in the next six months.

    My next gardening project will be moving some of the plants in the circular bed to make some room for more rose plants.  I have three drift roses spread out in too large a space, they are circled in the picture below.  I will be moving two of the drift roses closer to the one in the center so I can add more Knock Out roses in this bed.  Wow, I didn't realize how really bad my grass looks.  That will be a project for next year.  I don't like to mow anyway.

 

Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt Start

   I have started my Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt that I have been dreaming about for a while.  The flower centers will be bright yellow, the second ring will be scrap fabrics, the third ring will be white, and the finally ring will be light green for the garden path.  This will be an ongoing quilt project for the next year or so.

    I bought a hexagon paper punch last year to make my own 1 inch hexagon papers and I did make some hexagon papers from some old greeting cards last year.  Last week I pulled out some 110 lb. cardstock from my paper stash and made more hexagon papers.  I can punch out 19 - 1 inch hexagon from one piece of  8.5" x 11.5" cardstock.

   These are my first ever hexies and they were a lot of fun to make.