Mixed bag of finishes

This week I finished the birthday boy's play mat.

I thought I would use hook and loop tape to close/fold the mat.

Instead I threaded cotton cord through the loops as I originally planned.

The cord is from a stash of mom's so little boy has a connection to his great-grandmother.

The mat is quilted around the road sections. It does not have binding.

Miss A has a new dress to wear when she vacations at the beach in a week.

The fabric has vintage bathing costumes in the light blue and sailboats in the dark blue.

I added a bit of red and white striped fabric to accent the bodice and pockets.

Brother has a matching short overall.

In the photo I was auditioning red buttons but I decided to use navy on the finished outfit.

I used snap tape on the crotch and cording on the button holes.

The lining and pocket fabric features croquet mallets and is in the same fabric line.

Red and white stripes for the pocket accents like his sister's dress.

Celebrate wall hanging is finished.

I sewed gold pony beads on each flame to add a little sparkle.

Hand quilting in the letters of 'celebrate' and jingle bells on the large cupcakes

finish the wall hanging.

I changed my mind about more hand quilting.

Center of wall hanging with hand quilting and bells.

Finished on my birthday!

Birthday present from our son's family.

What's next?

We will see - maybe small zip bags for silent auction.

Have a good week.

 

Celebrations Quilt & Present for Birthday Boy

Celebrate wall hanging/quilt has been machine quilted and bound.

It is in the process of being embellished with big stitch hand quilting and beads.

Sneak peak below after it was trimmed and before binding.

The backing is enough to make me hungry for cupcakes.

The machine quilting was done with black thread on the top and pinkish thread in the bobbin.

Just enough quilting to keep the layers in place.

Also finished this play mat for the birthday boy.

I intended to make a drawstring so the mat could be picked up easily with the toy vehicles inside.

Rethinking that idea. May use hook and loop tabs to fold the sides to the middle instead.

In other non-sewing news - I joined the Memphis Symphony Chorus on Monday.

That fulfills the 'Sing' part of my blog title. I'm looking forward to making music with the group.

I also joined two books clubs at the library. (Read) One by zoom and one in person.

Mr. M and I got Covid boosters this week, too.

Ready to head to NYC and the grands.

More photos next time.

 

Delta Fair Show & new project

I tried something new. I entered three quilts into the Delta Fair.

My purpose was to support the quilt guild by participating in an activity that promotes quilting.

I was surprised to get red ribbons for each of my quilts.

Some of the quilts were hung in glass fronted cabinets for display.

This is a mini quilt of the block "Geese round the pond".

I hand quilted it.

Next is a crib size Christmas quilt hung way out of reach with other quilts.

I embellished the quilt with jingle bells and gold beads.

Last is a wall hanging with raw edge appliqué.

It hangs over my piano at home but was in a glass case at the fair.

Reflections from the glass.

My new sewing room has a small white board that I am using to keep on top of deadlines.

My grandkids both have birthdays in September and I planned to make them clothes.

They are going to the beach in October so I have a little time.

I'm making a play mat for Kenton's toy cars and trucks. His birthday is the 25th.

But I got side tracked from my list by the "Celebrate" quilt below.

I saw it in an email and thought it would be great to have for family celebrations.

I am finished with the top and ready to baste, quilt and bind it.

The kit included backing and binding fabric.

I think I'm going to add some beads to the quilting.

Check back next week end for a progress report.

 

Primer Quilt is Finished

My Primer Quilt AKA Sally, Dick, & Jane is quilted, bound, washed and dried.

It is minimally quilted-just enough to keep the batting in place.

Photo overload to follow.

The yellow binding was exactly enough.

I sewed it on the front by machine, then ironed it, wrapped it around to the back 

and machine sewed it on the back.

The label is sewn on with the binding.

I'm gifting this to a teacher friend who retired this year.

She was always supportive and listened and gave insightful advice 

while we taught in the same school for about 25 years.

We often worked together in summer school with my Multilingual Language Learners.

Each corner has a different colored pinwheel.

The center blocks were a little smaller than the others so I grouped them

and made the sashing wider to compensate.

These blocks are quilted with a simple outline of the center.

All the other blocks are quilted with an orange peel pattern.

I cut a half circle and chalked it on each side of the block.

Then I stitched continuously in one block at a time.

There were two sizes of blocks on the panel I used.

The smaller blocks are framed this way.

I grouped the blocks by color in columns because that looked best to me.

There are ten plain sixteen patch blocks that were added to make the quilt bigger.

I used up lots of scraps in the sixteen patch blocks.

Some of the scrap fabrics were leftover from small quilts I made for Vicki's daughters.

Showing the corners.

After washing and drying.

I love the crinkly look.

Next up - some birthday sewing for the grandkids birthdays.

Happy sewing!