The design bed strikes again

A number of years ago - maybe 12 or so - I saw the most wonderful quilt consisting of embroidered baskets and alternate solid blocks. It was at the annual quilt show in Tyler, Texas. (Side note: My personal advice, based on my experience, is to try never to live in Tyler, Texas).

Anyway, the minute I saw the quilt I knew I had to put it on my "must make" list. I don't know if it won viewers' choice that year, but I think that it did; I know it got my vote. I stared at it forever.

There's something so special to me about simple embroidery. Maybe because it was the first craft my mom taught me, or because all of our pillowcases were embroidered and all our our dressers had embroidered scarves on them.

Fast forward to last year when my LQS featured Cake Walk by Sandy Brawner as a block of the month. It's not exactly like the one I saw in Tyler - in fact, I might like this one more. I was thrilled to sign up for it, and here it is, about a year later, ready to be put together. Well, almost. I've only done one corner setting triangle and one side setting triangle.

The picture does not do it justice. I know 30's repros are not everyone's cup of tea, but I love them.

Playing catch up

Whew! I was way behind the rest of my Jo's Little Women group, but today I finally got caught up with Holiday Inn. We meet next week to work on the final installment of this four part project. Yes, that's 72 1.5-inch half square triangles and 48 2.5-inch hourglass blocks. I'm loving it, but I'm sorry for the less than beautiful picture.

Here's a Jo's Little Women from way back. It's my version of Cabin Corners, which I think was in Jo's Little Women I. I took liberties with the center block.

Having a nice pre-Father's Day. Being a clergy family, we usually celebrate Sunday holidays the day before. We presented the dad of the house with a new mega-capacity bird feeder and bird seed containers. He was pleased, I think. We'll take him out to lunch tomorrow after church.

A Friday Finish

Here's the finished Black and White and Red All Over top that has been on the design wall, I mean, bed, for a couple of weeks. It's not a great picture I know but the wind was blowing and my holders quickly grew impatient. I can't wait to get this one quilted, but I still haven't decided how yet - hand, my machine, or the lovely long-armer.

My LQS is offering "Southern Stars" by Pacific Patchwork as their Weekend Sampler ($5 quilt). Here are blocks 1 and 2.:

And other than that, I'm working on the third round of "Holiday Inn" from Jo Morton for Jo's Little Women (series 8). It will probably be ready for picture-taking tomorrow. Didn't really think I'd be crazy about it, but the larger it gets, the more I like it.

Off to play Dogopoly with husband and daughter. Have a good weekend, everyone!

I'm getting there

Here is Black and White and Red All Over one week later. During the week, I only get to sew about one hour a day - usually from about 5 - 6 a.m.

I like to put quilts together in quarters - not row by row. It's easier for me to manage a big quilt in "chunks" and I could be wrong, but I think it makes it easier to match up the seams.

I fixed the block with the half-square triangle that was turned the wrong way. I debated with myself about it for days. I really prefer leaving mistakes in place unless they're just completely distracting. When I was finished fixing it I was kinda' sorry I had - I couldn't really get the points to match up when I re-sewed. Of course, my eye goes straight to that block every time I look at the quilt, but no one else's will.

Here's a border option I'm thinking about. What do you think? Maybe when I get the top sewn together I'll take some pics of some of my other options.

Next decision: hand or machine quilt or send it to the long-armer.

On my design wall, I mean bed

My LQS started a block of the month program called "Black and White and Red All Over" last year. The patterns are Moda University patterns and each month we got fabric for three 9-inch blocks. It was an eight-month program, so 24 blocks total.

I love this approach to setting sampler blocks and love, love the Windham fabric I found for the alternate blocks. Black/white florals always remind me of my grandmother, for some reason.

I had to add some extra blocks to the 24 to get the size I wanted, so I consulted Around the Block with Judy Hopkins for the perfect additions. They blend right in, because I had in my stash some of the same fabrics as we got in our block kits (see why it's good to have a healthy stash!).

Of course, you can see the downside in having a design bed instead of a design wall. Her name is Chip, because we were told at the pound that she was a he. Thinking that surely they knew what they were talking about, we named her before actually verifying the facts.

Isn't it funny how photographing something can reveal a mistake you hadn't noticed in "real life?" Can you spot it?

Visit Judy for links to more design walls and add yours!

Tip of the Week

My eyes are not what they used to be, apparently. I've been having trouble cutting very dark fabric, especially when I'm cutting on the whole inch mark. I use my 5-inch square Omnigrid ruler a lot, but it can be really hard to line up the skinny black whole inch line on black fabric.



So, I came up with a solution that works on lots (but not all) black or really dark fabric:




Just turn the fabric over and cut on the wrong side, which is likely to be quite a bit lighter than the "right" side! Sooooo much easier to see. Like I said, it won't work for all black and dark fabrics - if your fabric is yarn dyed, like a homespun, you're probably out of luck.

I'm probably 100 years late in discovering this trick, but I thought I'd pass it along anyway.

The other wall

This is the fourth wall in the sewing room, the one I haven't photographed before because nothing was on it until yesterday.

I've had the rack for years, but just had never put it up in this house until yesterday. I've talked about the Tennessee Puzzle quilt on the end before, here. I found the Fancy Dresden Plate in a trunk at my in-laws' house in Florida after my mother-in-law died. I think my husband's grandmother must have made it.

The kaleidoscope is just a top. I think my mom pieced it, or maybe my grandmother. I actually have two - I guess they were planned for twin beds. I hope to quilt them soon.

The little sofa is not centered under the rack for a reason - I wouldn't be able to get in the door of the room if it was! I'm really thinking of taking out one of the closets on the other wall and converting that space to either a cutting center or a sewing center. The latter is appealing, especially since the machine and its table would be up against a wall, which would be beneficial for supporting the quilt while machine quilting.