Mini quilt updated

oh yeah....I like this much better.  I took the batik off the border, added a tiny word border, then a floral.
It's bound with commercial binding and finishes out at 9 X 11 1/2 inches.

This is the second mini I've completed with the tiny bonus triangles from the Morning Star Quilt I've been working on.



Note:  This found a new home with my sister who lives in Manhattan, KS who stopped in for a visit and admired it.  I know she will find a special place for it in her new home and that it will be well loved.

Mini pinwheels

Here is another mini I'm working on.  It should finish out about 9.5 X 12.
After posting this and seeing the picture I'm going to take that outer border off and replace it with something else.  Not sure what, but I don't like what I'm seeing in this picture.  While the colors aren't true, I don't care for the batik for that border.  Stay tuned - we'll see what I can come up with. 

Working on the Morning Star

I finally got some work done on the Morning Star Quilt.
It is sure slow going - getting the 4 little corners on all the sashing pieces, but I am making progress. Today I decided to start putting some of them together - if nothing else just to inspire me that some day if I keep at it - this WILL become a quilt!!

So far they are just one strip of blocks sewn together with one sashing strip. I will just continue this way so that if I need to move some around to keep the colors pleasing - I will be able to.

The solid blocks are nickels, the sashing is 2 1/2" X 5" an the little corner pieces are 1 1/2 sq.  


I have also been working on getting my Virginia Mountains done. It's on a new Quick-Snap frame and is progressing along. I just needed something else to do while my fingers healed a bit!!

Big Stitch - Light bulb moment

Eureka - no more pliers!! I have been working away at hand quilting my Virginia Mountains quilt and wishing there was some way I wouldn't have to stop every 3 or 4 stitches and grab the little pliers to pull the needle through. I am using a size 5 betweens needle with size 8 pearl cotton and you just can't get that needle and thread through without the help of the little pliers..... or so I thought!

OK I know there are these little needle grabber things that you can use, but you still have to stop, pick up the grabber and place it on the needle.... I don't know if that's a big improvement over the pliers. Plus I have a lot less chance of losing the pliers than one of those little grabber things. (Not losing things is something I always have to keep in mind because I lose things - a lot!)

Anyway - I had a thought pop in my head today about this medical wrap. I've always thought of it as horse wrap, but I know it's used a lot at Veterinarians. They use it to secure bandages and it sticks to itself. It may also be used in regular hospitals – I just know I’ve typically seen it used for animals. This is what it looks like:

The Inside of the core say coFlex.com.  It's really stretchy one way and not so stretchy the other, but the main thing is that it sticks to itself a lot like floral tape does - only in a bigger way.

I wrapped some around my index finger and thumb and sure enough it grabbed that needle, but it also stuck my fingers together so I took it back off the index finger.

Walla!  It grabbed hold of that needle even though there were several stitches on it and pulled it right through the fabric.  I was able to go right back into stitching the next several stitches without having to set down the pliers and pick the needle back up.  I felt like I was flying through those stitches!   I'll have you know I don't really fly when I'm hand quilting - I'm still so very clumsy with it, but it still felt that way! 

OK - that worked - how about going away from myself.  This quilt is big enough that turning it every 4 inches was really getting to be a pain too.  I added a couple more squares of the tape from the piece I took off my index finger to the pad of my thumb....sticks really good:

....and it worked!!  It would work even better with a little something under all the tape I think, but with a little more practise and experimenting - I think I'm going to get this quilt quilted !!!

When your tape starts to lose it's stickiness, just cut off a little strip of the tape and push it on top of everything that's already there.  Once your done - you just take the tape off and throw it away.  There's plenty enough tape for many, many sessions and they come in lots of colors.   I wonder if floral tape would work too.  I don't have any around to try, but maybe some of you do and could let me know.

4-Patch Posie Improved

Remember the 4-patch posie that I didn't like? I was playing around with some of the left-over fabric and decided to try the blocks on the left....can't remember their name right now... anyway the smaller wedges and more repetitions really make a difference for this fabric.

Earlier the quilt ended up at 46 X 56 - not really big enough to me because I think a quilt should cover both the shoulders and the toes to truly be functional!! When I added the additional blocks, it stretched the finish size to 46 X 72 - ah..... much better!

Forgive the poor photo. (Cell phone and no good place to hang a quilt for photos, but I wanted to get it documented that I'm now happy enough to call this top done. Off it goes to the short stack to go to the quilter.

Clean your machine reminder!!

I knew I was pushing it - trying to get one more thing done before I pulled things apart and cleaned my machine, but I guess I overdid it!!

4-Patch on Point top done

I finally got this top done. It will go with a couple of others to a nearby quilter to get the quilting done, then I'll get it bound and off the list.

The 4-patches are bits and pieces I've had in a scrap pile - just not enough to do much else with. The light colors are also scrappy though they don't show up as well.

The green is fabric from former curtains or table-cloth! I really don't remember - but I think it was a table covering from the holidays years ago. It has a woodgrain to it and I just loved it - - then!!

It was all assembled in the grocery sack fashion - don't look - just grab a 4-patch and put it in. There are several patterns bunched together and such, but that's OK for this one. It will probably go in a car and get used for a variety of reasons....so it really won't matter.

I'm glad to have this done, and I think we'll get a lot of enjoyment out of it - It turned out pretty darned good for scrap material IMHO.

Finished top 57 X 78 inches.

Shouldn't start anything more !!!

I really don't need to start any more projects and below is the proof!!! I also have a few I didn't even take pictures of including:

Double Irish Chain King Size
Alyssa's I-Spy Quilt still needs quilted and bound.   http://mudpotter.blogspot.com/2009/04/i-spy-alyssa.html
A very old log cabin I started a very long time ago!
and probably some others - and then there is these:


A 4-patch posies that I tried and just didn't care for - but will finish it.
This one is further along than it shows - but you get the idea.  I ended up using the gold for the sashing, but once I got this all together - it just doesn't talk to me.  This is the first try at 4-patch posie and I need to improve on the fabric selections.  This just doesn't give enough definition of the different blocks for me.  I've loved other people's results so I just need to keep trying.

These are 6" 4-patches that I've used as leaders and enders as I worked on other projects. I now have 70+ of them so plenty enough to make a throw for the car or the couch. This is all stash busting material - either left over from another project, scraps, or old fabric that I really just need to use up. The green fabric is very old.....I used to have curtains made in this fabric. It almost has a wood grain to it.

7 1/2" denim squares that I'm adding stars to. I have 45 of these finished and if I mix them with some plain denim, could have a healthy sized quilt!

There are 36 of these 6" squares - using up little bits of fabric that are too small for anything else.  I'm not making much of a dent in the box that holds those little bits though....I'm going to have to keep working on them.  I think they breed during the night or when I'm not looking!!

I thought I'd do something like the top photo of 4-patches, but they just don't look right on point.  I'll probably just do them in a regular setting.

This is the boxes that hold the "Morning Star" in progress.  While I have a plenty of the nickel blocks for this quilt, the little sashing pieces are taking me forever to get done.  To the left of the upper box is 100 in those 2 stacks, but I figured I will need close to 240 to make the size I'm wanting for a full size bed.  You can see some of the sashing in progress in the middle of the top box, and those waiting their corners to the right.

Have you ever thought of computer keyboard boxes for organizing your projects?  They are fabulous and don't take up much room.....thank goodness!!



This is my latest 'start'.  It's a Dresden Plate quilt that will have 3 different sizes of Plates.  The large one is made out of 7 1/2" blades (have 4), the middle size is out of 4 1/2" blades (have 7) and the small ones are 2 1/2" blades (have 7).  I have no idea how I'm going to put them all together, but I fell in love with the Kansas Troubles Butterfly Garden and these are all out of one layer cake.  I still have 42 nickels left out of the layer cake and haven't even cut into the Jelly Roll!!! 

Oh my - just thought of two more- but they're gifts - so I can't show them here yet....so the UFO count is 13!!

Dresden Plate from Butterfly Garden

I didn't really need another quilting project, but I did need something portable that I could work on when I was away from my sewing machine and had free time.  I just hate sitting doing nothing - whether is watching a TV show or movie (drives the DH crazy) or traveling in a car, or just sitting waiting on an appointment etc...

I've been intrigued with a couple of quilt blocks.  One is the Grandmother's Flower Garden and the other was the Dresden Plate.  I love that both of these are fairly old designs, made by our grandmothers and before.  I recently purchased a Layer Cake and Jelly Roll of the Kansas Troubles Butterfly Garden that was on special online and while I was at it I ordered the easy Dresden Plate ruler from http://missouriquiltco.com/shop/.

I got the order so quick - and when I did I just loved the fabric.  It is so soft and wonderful and the colors are just what I'm drawn to.  I just found out that the designer of this fabric lives only about an hour away from me!
Anyway - I couldn't wait to tear open the Layer Cake and see what I could do with it.

I cut each of the 40 pieces in 1/2 then one of those pieces in 1/2 again - ending up with 40 5"X10" pieces, and 80 5" square nickels.  Then I took each of the 5"X10" pieces and cut 2 7 1/2" Dresden plate blades  for 80 blades.   Today I'm putting the blades together and making 4 large plates.  I'm having so much fun!
Click on the pictures to make them larger. 

And now there are 4!  These went surprisingly fast for me.  I started at a landmark...on the above one it was the upper and lower light blade, then I just worked my way around chain sewing picking up the next piece as I went.  The background pieces are 20" square.

I haven't decided yet how I will put them together in a quilt, but I'm looking for a smaller Dresden plate that maybe doesn't have as many pieces to put between them and separate them out somehow.  I would welcome any suggestions or ideas.  I still have nickels and a Jelly Roll in this fabric to work with.

Day & Night baby quilt delivered

Our first grandson is here!  Even though I was counting on him waiting till my birthday to be born and be my birthday buddy, we're thrilled that Brian Thomas has made his appearance on the 17th and everything is going great.  I just got pictures of him with his quilt that I made him.

I put minky fabric on the back to make it super soft then hand quilted it.  I still have to quilt in the big stitch mode, but that worked out just fine for this quilt. 

The Day & Night pattern gives you 3 quilts in one.  The main quilt above, and 2 smaller quilts with the leftover pieces after you've cut the first pattern.  I made DGD a quilt for her dolly to match her little brother's quilt.  Here she decided that little B needed to cover up - so she went and got her dolly blanket to put over him.  I think this is just adorable!! 

The baby quilt has warm and white batting.  The dolly quilt has no batting.