Border Options

I've been 'staying on task' with the Double Four Patch Strippy quilt. I love the red and browns, the last time I spread it out on the floor - it's grown to 89" x 106" - I was so excited by the *red*.

This is the corner treatment I'd planned when I drafted it in EQ. But when I laid it out, it looked like there was a hole in each corner, what was I thinking?

So back to the piecing stage, rummage around for a few more pieces of that background fabric, which I was running out of, didn't want to add a new fabric in the final stage.

But after all the back tracking and effort, I like the new corners much better.

When a quilt top gets this large, I don't want to sew each border on one at a time, it takes so much effort to muscle all that fabric around and under the needle. So I sewed the pieced border to the final border and added them as one; the blue line drawn indicates where there's another seam. It's not the conventional way of attaching borders, but it goes a whole lot faster!

February Sew Day

Finally called a Sew Day during the President's Day weekend. It seems if I don't have a sew day with friends at least once a month I feel out of touch with my quilty circle. Well as it fell out, I called ten people, the usual attendees and one after another said they couldn't make it; illness, family visiting from out of town, schedule conflicts... Life just has a way of getting in the way!

Chari and Fran came and we had a good time anyway. I made cinnamon french toast strata for morning snack and tuna salad served on greens for lunch. Nobody complained. :)

Fran's working on her maple leaf wall hanging.

And Chari was proud to complete her Broken Dishes mini. She asked me if I remembered giving her the HST's a while ago at another sew day. I'm pretty much the only one in the group willing to work with these cut-a-ways, but that day she agreed to use what normally gets thrown out with the thread bits.

So over a year later...
She said I'd inspired her to try. How nice, I'm a mini grandma!

I continue to work on my leader-ender Ocean Wave quilt. Sometimes I just sit and make HST's, they're very restive.

I have this great bend wood Shaker box that sits on my sewing table.

It holds the sewn HST's until I feel like pressing.

Once in awhile I sew a five and a half inch block or two and add 'em to the stack. Seven down, ninety to go. :)

Victorian Scissor Caddie Necklace

I love it, but I never use it. Can be seen on eBay here.

Not Your Typical Brown Bag

I take my lunch to work and I've been using a double sided fabric lunch bag for almost 15 years. They're easy to make and last about three years with daily use.

I use coordinating cotton fabric, from the stash of course, and heavy Heat n Bond. This is one time the heavy Heat n Bond is really the one to use. It adds body to the lunch bag and makes it somewhat leak resistant.

Cut outside and lining fabrics 12" x 22" Cut the Heat n bond 11" x 21". Following the fusing instructions on the package, iron the shiny side to the wrong side of the lining, leaving a half inch margin of fabric all the way around the piece. Peel the paper backing from the Heat n Bond, place on wrong side of main fabric and fuse.

Stitch a 1" hem on the 22" end. Fold in half with right sides together and sew the bottom and side seam to make the bag.

Open up bag and 'box' the bottom as shown, the side seam will now be down the back. Using a ruler with a 45 degree line on it, measure in 2.5" from the corners. Click the image to zoom in, I've drawn a red rectangle around the corner measurement to help explain this step. Draw a stitching line.

Then stitch the corners as shown.

Turn the bag right side out and press the boxed corners. You could add a velcro strip to close it, but I always just grab and go!

Sunday in the Sun

It's been in the low 70's mid-afternoons lately. Wow! We drove to the coast and I couldn't believe how clear it was, no fog in sight.

The northern California coast is mostly bluffs, signs say "Coastal Access", not "Beach Path."

But we found a beach... and we had it to ourselves for hours. Man I couldn't believe how beautiful it was, smell that!! How long has it been since we came out here last? Too long...

The sound is just so soothing. How can something so big and so constant calm rather than annoy? Always a wonder to me.

Went home tired, but happy.

Ninepatches for Bumblebean

Blogland is an interesting place. Quilters write about what they're working on, swap with friends they've never met and put out requests for fabric or blocks, which are readily answered.

I read Christine's blog, which asked for blocks for Bumblebean and so many quilters responded that she closed the request within two days! I'm sending mine anyway. I'm sure they'll find their way into a charity quilt somewhere along the line.

I made scrappy

and planned. Which kind do you like to make?