Blocks into rows

All the blocks are finished! 

The red/orange have 4 different orange fabrics with various red/neutral 4 patches.

The blue/greens had four different green fabrics in each block except for a few.

I put them in stacks so I could more evenly divide them into rows.

These are the rows stacked together. Some have 3 blue/green with 4 red/orange. The others have more blue/green than red/orange. They will be alternate rows in the quilt top.

Yes! The rows are sewn together. Today I will iron the seams in opposite directions and sew the rows together. The original pattern is 7 blocks by 7 rows. I added two rows to make a more traditional size.

Hope I have time to link up with Wendy's Peacock Party.

Blue and green blocks

The photo below shows all the sewing I have done this week. It doesn't look like much but it is progress toward my Good Fortune finish. I want to make my quilt a little bigger than the original, so I am making a few more of each block. All of the red/orange blocks are made.

These parts are ironed and ready to assemble into the blue/green blocks.

This week has been busy with errands with mom and volunteering at my former job.

Our neighborhood pool has been a yucky green, so my morning swims have been curtailed for now.

This week-end we are driving into the tropical storm that is expected to hit the coast. Our grandsons are visiting their other grandparents in Pass Christian and we have been invited to come for a party.

It might be a hurricane party!😲 Lots of rain and wind but we will be far from the actual storm center.

No sewing this week-end but I may get some crocheting in. 

Can't wait to see those grands.

How was your week?

Quilting break is over

The hat was the last piece finished. To cover the seam joining the crown to the brim I first used ribbon but it didn't have enough stretch.

There was enough of the brocade to cut a bias strip. It worked much better and was like sewing binding on a quilt.

The sleeves have ribbon closures.

Ribbon attaches the sleeves to the doublet, too.

Here is the singer, all decked out in hat and doublet. Can't wait to see it with shirt and pants.

My other non-quilting project was these bucket hats for my grands and their cousins. Each hat has a different ship centered on the crown. 

Now I'm back to working on my Good Fortune quilt. I made the half-square triangles a little bigger than called for. While I sewed the costume and hats, I had time to buy a set of Bloc-Loc templates and have them delivered.

On to trimming 200+ of these. It is very time consuming and boring so I will be watching some BritBox as I work.

How was your week?

Madrigal Costume

The plan for this week was to take a break from quilting and make a madrigal costume for a friend's son. Monday I cut out all the pieces. Tuesday I made the hat and broke two sewing machine needles in the process. I hand stitched the crown to the brim and will caution Noah to treat it gently.

By Wednesday I had the top of the doublet sewn together.

Thursday  saw the skirt of the doublet attached.

Today I finished the sleeves and made all the button holes for the sleeves and front of the doublet.

I think a black leather belt would look good and add some definition at the waist.

View of the back.

Imagine a fancy white shirt and tapered black Renaissance pants.

Next the hat needs a band to cover the seam joining the crown to the brim and my part of this costume will be done.

Linking up with Peacock party!

Wendy's sashiko looks great. Wonder if I should try doing one?

Taking a break from quilting

I finished making over two hundred half square triangles for my Good Fortune quilt.

But they all need to be trimmed and I need a break.

I cut out the rectangles and squares for the green chevrons but just couldn't face all that rote sewing.

I want a quicker finish as a break from this quilt. 

I bought these two fabrics to make hats for the cousins who will be gathering in July.

Their other grandparents have had a pirate ship playhouse built in their yard.

I thought some nautical sailor hats would be just the thing for them to wear as they play.

But before I make the sailor hats I have to make a hat and doublet for a friend's son. He chose the black and gold brocade for the jacket and black velvet for the hat. It took about an hour to cut out the pattern pieces from the tissue paper. I hope to get this costume made this week. That will leave me over a week to make 5 sailor hats.

What's on your list for next week?

Are mystery quilts for you?

Do you participate in mystery quilt-alongs?

A little background -

Last summer I took my first Bonnie Hunter class and loved it. She is a great teacher and a great person, very positive and helpful. I am scheduled to take another class from her in August.

I finished the Churn Dash quilt shown below.

I have never taken part in a mystery quilt-along. I like to know what I'm going to have at the end. I love reading mysteries but mystery quilting, no thanks.

BUT I had such fun with Bonnie's class last summer I decided to print all the directions for the Good Fortune mystery quilt. I waited to start because I didn't have time during the school year.

Below are my blues and neutrals, ready to be cut.

I just finished the X blocks and as you can see I did not strip piece the orange sections.

I ended up making 32 of these blocks. The directions said to make 240 small 4 patches. Each larger block uses 8 of these. When I saw that only 25 X blocks were to be made, I looked all over the directions to find out what to do with the other blocks. Also, I had cut out enough orange pieces for 32 blocks. So I decided to make a bigger quilt with 32 X blocks and 31 blue/green blocks.

I found I don't like working with so many seams. These X blocks were a bear to sew and I can't imagine how hard it would have been with strip pieced orange rectangles.

So, maybe mystery quilt-alongs aren't for me. I am going to try one more.

My Carolina Home has started Scrap Dance Minuet Mystery Quilt.

I have chosen some fabric and printed all directions.

The thing I like about this one is she has offered 7 different sizes. I'm going to make the throw size.

My question is, "Are mystery quilts for you?"

Day lilies and zinnias in our garden.

Have a great week!

Road trip and UFO finish

This morning I drove about 45 minutes to Yazoo City to see a quilt show.

Yazoo City was the home of writer Willie Morris and the setting of My Dog Skip.

The quilt show was in the town museum that I think was the old city hall.

There were three rooms of quilts hung in different ways. I liked this one of a town.

Unfortunately it was too big for the hanger, so it was hung over the rod.

The top is below. I flipped the photo so I could see the blocks better.

There were two quilts made with this Autumn pattern.

This one was appliqued neatly and embellished with beads and buttons.

This one was different with a 3-D magnolia flower in the upper right corner.

There were some barn quilts outside and inside.

Barn quilt cat!

It was a lovely day for a road trip.

The corn was as high as an elephant's eye.

Day lilies were blooming.

And my UFO finish - a charity lap quilt to be donated to Jackson Quilters. 

Hope you are having a great week end!