Tuesday

Antique Quilt WIP

I am working on a really interesting client project. This is a quilt that was started by my client's husband's grandmother. Unfortunately, she passed away before finishing it. When I received the package containing the quilt, I was amazed at the work. The basket blocks were nicely done and the setting squared were all cut. The odd thing was that the setting triangles were sewn to the border.

The first thing I had to do was take the setting triangles apart then unsew the border pieces. After that, I laid out all the quilt blocks and determined where each basket block will go. I sewed the entire top together then put the border back together. I was amazed how nicely all the pieces went together. Especially after all that unsewing.

The fabrics for this quilt consist of blocks that look like they were made from men's shirts. The fabrics are both faded, stained and discoloration has occurred. The setting square fabric has worn thin. I was happy that the pieces went together so well because if I had to stretch the setting square fabric even a little, I am sure I would have torn it since it is in such delicate condition.

I would love to know the history of the shirts in this quilt. I imagine that they have some sentimental value. Now I am ready to pick out some backing and binding fabrics to finish this quilt.

Wonky Sashing Quilt WIP

I used up some Quilts for Kids donated fabric to make the sashing around these cute animal print blocks. I love the wonkiness of the blocks, it really makes the cute animal print even cuter. I found the tutorial for this quilt here. All I have to do is pick out some backing fabric and I will be ready to quilt this little gem.

Thursday

Quilting Project on the Machine

Free-Motion Quilting
I finished another client project today. I started quilting it yesterday while my granddaughters were here. I was worried that they would need lots of attention because they usually do right after school. I fed them their supper and that seemed to settle them down so it turned out to be pretty easy to do.

Avery hung out with her grandpa and Chloe sat at my computer desk next to my sewing table and played one of her online games. We chatted while I did some free-motion quilting. It was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon.

This morning I thought I would finish it to both get it off my machine and my to-do list. I am happy I can give it back to its owner this week!

Wednesday

Client Project - An Antique Quilt

Today I worked on an interesting project. It's a very, very old quilt. I received it in a box that has definitely aged. Inside the box, there were finished basket blocks made from men's shirts. The setting squares were made from a pink calico floral fabric. They were stacked nicely in the box. The box also included a pink calico floral border with half-squares attached to the borders. Yes, the borders were finished before the blocks were sewn together.

The first thing I did was get out my seam ripper and take the border/half-square triangles apart and stacked them up. Then, I rearranged the blocks with the help of a quilting friend. Sue and I arranged and re-arranged the basket blocks until we had a reasonable layout. I quickly snapped a photo of the arrangement before I started sewing the blocks together.

I ironed each block out carefully. After all the fabrics were pretty delicate due to their aging. I mean the yellowing, aged fabrics and the thinner spots in the floral print were signs of how old this quilt is. I then squared up the blocks before sewing them together. Some had to be stretched a little because the piecing was a little off. I got the whole thing sewn together the worked on adding the borders. Much to my dismay, they were too short to complete the quilt top. That was disappointing. It also explained why the pieces were in the box; I bet the sewist knew there was an issue.

So now I have to think a little about how to resolve this issue. The client really wants this heirloom completed. It has so much sentimental value. Now that the top is sewn together, I will have to give them a quote on the backing, batting, quilting and binding.

Sunday

Happy Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day and I had a wonderful day filled with family and love. I really felt like a queen. Spending time with my mother, sister, daughter, granddaughters, husband and son made the day perfect.

My husband made me a wonderful breakfast. My son brought be the beautiful flowers. And my daughter and granddaughters spent the afternoon with me while visiting my mother and sister.

My sister made this amazing cheesecake and I added some fresh strawberries and whipped cream to it. There are none better than her cheesecakes.

Tuesday

Quilting Project on the Machine

This is my second client project this month. I'll finish the quilting on this today and then I have a little project to complete for a client in Illinois. After that I have another quilting project to complete by next week.

I have a very large quilt project coming up where I'll take antique quilt blocks and piece them together with setting squares and add a border. Then I'll have to quilt it and add the binding. After that, I have another quilt to complete.

My client projects are keeping me pretty busy and I am really enjoying the variety in them. I love sewing!

Monday

Quilting Project on the Machine

I have a quilting project on the machine today. I promised that I would get two baby quilts quilted by Saturday.

I purchased the batting today and did my best to get them pinned and ready. I've got half of the quilting completed on one of them already and I am happy with my progress so far.

Friday

City Sampler 100 Layout Plans

The Tula Pink's City Sampler 100 quilt blocks need to be sorted. I have to decide how to lay out each of the blocks. I am certain I don't want to just go from block #1 to #100. I am not certain exactly what to do. I'm thinking about an arrangement where like colors are all together. Maybe with 10 rows of 10 blocks...or maybe not.

I will try an arrangement where all the colors are intermingled to see how that looks but I have to say, moving around 100 blocks can be pretty exhausting! I think I will get some opinions from the family to see what they think.

I also might try to stack them up with more blocks in some rows and less in others so it looks like a city. Once I decide on a layout, it should be pretty easy to sew everything together, I just need to make that final decision. It sure was fun to make these blocks and some of them I will definitely make again.

Tuesday

My Small World Quilt Project

I completed the 16 2-inch pinwheels for the My Small World quilt project. I thought it would be difficult to sew such very small blocks but I pressed open the seams of the half-square triangles that make up the pinwheels and that really helped keep the bulk to a minimum.

It was great fun to choose the color combinations for the little pinwheel blocks. They are so much smaller than the 3 pinwheel blocks I made for this quilt earlier. Now I will start on some of the paper-pieced little blocks.

Every part of this quilt project is a bit of a challenge and I look forward to learning from each and every part of this process.

Monday

What's on the design board?

I have this one lonely block on my design board today. I've dug up the 182 day winter solstice project and completed the block for week #12. The block is called Buckeye Beauty.

Currently, my view on this project is that it's become the thing I work on when I am between projects. I think I like the blocks with the least amount of white in the backgrounds. I just might re-do some of the earlier blocks. I am pretty sure that will help turn my lack of interest into enthusiasm.

The My Small World project is still in the works and I am at the point where I have to do some hand applique. I look forward to honing my hand sewing skills.