HL - One Bound, Four to go

Considering that I picked up the pieces at Thanksgiving, and that my machine was in the shop for all of December, I'm thinking that having five quilts so very nearly done is not bad for three months of work.  And, I have the binding cut and ready for the four remaining quilts.  Since I'm not thrilled with my first solo binding, I'm holding out until I can get some hands-on help from someone I trust. (More pictures here)

Thing is, I'm visiting Mom in May (Happy Birthday by the way!), and she's got quite the agenda planned for me.  She's made a date for me with a long-arm quilter so that I can learn how to use the machine, and then set me up with three more days for on-my-own quilting.  So between now and then, I want to get four more ready to go.

First is a scrappy nine-patch - I just need to piece the backing for this and it will be ready.  I think it's a rescue quilt, as none of the fabrics seem to read "Hazel".  It's a complete lap quilt, ready to go.  It will probably be my first practice quilt for the long-arm.

Next up, 8 sampler blocks in cream and green.  They just need sashing (purchased) and a back and they will be ready to turn into either a wall hanging or table runner.  The backing will be part of the stash from Hazel as well.

Then, there is the (Tetris) Irish Chain.  Three partial quilts, each with the same print, but different solid colors to compliment it.  Not enough of any one for a full quilt, but with some juggling, perhaps I can get a decent size out of the three.  I've picked up varying polka-dots in the complimentary colors for the backing.  In my mind it's a happy thing.

And then finally, the churn dash.  Le sigh.  This one.  This one seems so close to final assembly, and yet, the blocks are all of a different size.  I've recently picked up some very cheap muslin that I think is similar to the muslin originally used in the blocks.  If it is close enough, I will sash the blocks on two sides, and then cut them down to a consistent size.  This one may not be finished when I fly up, but hopefully when I fly back home (fingers crossed). 

Oh, and PS - when two 'coons fight on your front sidewalk in the middle of the night it sounds like a pair of screaming girlies.  Just thought you'd want to know.

HL - Road to OK? and a busy weekend

Or at least I think that is what this one is.

This weekend I had a house to myself, well not including the dogs that is. So Saturday I had a "ladies who lunch" kind of day - which included a class on combining zen tangle and free motion quilting on my aging lady of a sewing machine, picking up Snowball, lunch at the Yard House, some shopping in Santana Row, and a trip to Jo-Ann's to see if they had anything workable for the quilts I'm working on. Success or near-success on all points.

Once I got home I pieced the remaining blocks for the Jacob's Ladder Road to Oklahoma (I think). There were only enough to complete nine blocks, but that was enough to turn this into a king size spread. There were many more pieces for partial blocks, and I put together a strip of them thinking I would insert them into the back of this monster.

The next day was shining bright and the coffee was fresh and hot. I sewed the blocks into strips (two of them) and then attached the strips to the main body of the quilt. "Modern" quilts these days tend to not include borders but this isn't one of those. I pieced two borders to attach and then the top was done. It took a lot longer on the machine than it does to type out in a blog post, trust me on that.

I had rescued a long piece of red toile print fabric from Hazel's stash, and felt that it would make a perfect backing. Measure (88"/100"), slice the back and where are those blocks? I *still* can't find them and I have put everything away since then. (Let me see, I sewed them together, ironed them, admired them, and then where did they go?) I've since decided that it was the quilting muse telling me it wasn't the best choice, so moving on I've extended the red toile with some navy pin-dot that will be used for the binding as well. I will piece the back some time this week and then it will be ready for drop off this weekend.

Opinion please - I'm auditioning the cream/chocolate toile for the space blocks in the churn dash. I'm thinking this is going to be low volume, the muslin in the pieced blocks is very, um, rough? It's a loose, coarse weave and all the churns are scrappy prints that look like they were printed anywhere from the 60's to the 90's - maybe even up to 2010. There's not going to be a match to anything, but I'm kinda liking this.

HL - Lone star & ???

Two more tops are ready for the quilter this weekend. I can hardly wait to see how the one I dropped off comes back.

So first - the Lone Star. As previously shown, it was quiet, shy, and almost nondescript, in spite of the bold colors Hazel used for the diamond shapes. A simple change out of the fill colors from that baby blue to teal and the whole thing has a new look. She glows! I had to do inset seams but they either weren't as bad as I expected or I didn't do them right.. It surpasses my expectations though. A modern print for the back and I'm thinking of binding in red. Let me know what you think. It's 80" x 80", so a decent bed size.

The second is ready to go as well. Hazel had assembled 14 2x2 sets of the blocks, however one was too small to be used with the others and two had been misassembled. Three of the 2x2 sets she had stripped together. My job - assemble three more strips and join them together, well after fixing one of the poor assemble jobs. A simple yellow border and I am done with this top. My question to you - what's the name of this block? I can see houses or arrows or pinwheels or ??? This one is too small for even a twin bed so it'll become a couch snuggle blanket.


And a quick p.s. Larry Bob, one of the dogs we adopted last year, definitely has allergies. The worst ones are for ragweed and oak trees, but he also has allergies for human dander, redwood trees and soybeans and about 15 other things. Looks like I get to do allergy shots. Poor doggie. (Larry Bob is the dark boy, and Sophie is the tan girlie)