Tell Me a Story Swap Flimsy

Photo overload.

Just scroll down.

I am posting this to save and remember this great block swap.

I signed up for two swap groups.

I made the cat blocks quickly.

The general blocks took more time.

I made four different blocks for each swap.

Then I tried different settings.

It dawned on me that using only the swap blocks would make a small quilt.

All the blocks above are the ones I made to swap.

My plan to alternate the story blocks with setting blocks led to the X blocks.

I used 4 neutrals and a blue print from my stash.

The next few photos are layout mock-ups.

There was a cute dog fabric at the local shop.

I made 5 puppy blocks and one bunny block.

Swap blocks started coming.

It is interesting that I had not seen any of the focus fabrics in the swap blocks.

As the blocks came I sewed up the rows.

I put one of my blocks in most rows.

The finished flimsy uses the neutrals as the border with 4 of my blocks as the corners.

Next step to make the sandwich, baste, and quilt.

Hoping for a quilt finish next week.

 

Quick finish for SAHRR Round #4

The prompt for round #4 is Flying Geese.

Once upon a time I vowed to never make Flying Geese again.

But then I was taught the no waste/4 at a time method.

If you don't know it, look up No Waste Flying Geese.

It was a game changer for me.

I wanted to narrow this border so I marched my geese across the top and bottom.

I flipped them up and down. It looks like they don't know which way is up!

I made 16 Flying Geese - 8 on each end.

Surprise. It looks like a lattice to me.

Above is a view of the reverse side of the top.

The hour glass block seams spun nicely.

I thought about ironing the seams open but decided to iron them to the sides.

The left and right sides are solid. The strips were cut 2 inches and will finish at 1 1/2 inches.

I repeated the flower fabric from the second row in the geese.

I limited myself to fat quarters of these fabrics.

I have an idea for the final border that will use all the bits of leftover fabric.

Ta-Da!

I'm loving it.

Thanks to the SAHRR Team for a fun sewing project.

 

SAHRR Round 3

Third Round is done.

Hour glass blocks

The top and bottom hour glasses are on a black and white background.

The side hour glasses are black and white on green/blue background.

Trying the layout. I cut 3 inch squares to make the hour glass blocks.

They finished at 2 1/4 inches.

The half square corners were made from the leftover bits of the 3 inch strips.

I like the way the corners make the border turn the opposite color.

Meanwhile,

Tell me a story blocks have been coming steadily.

More cute swap blocks.

Today I enjoyed taking Miss Ava to her horseback riding lesson.

She is learning how to care for the horse as well as how to ride.

Linking up with round 3 SAHRR.

 

Frigid Week in Memphis

Quite a mixed bag of sewing this week.

UTQG's block of the month for February is curved piecing.

I looked online for tips and finished these in short order.

I wanted an embellishment for my SAHRR center block and checked in this book.

I used yellow DMC pearl cotton and a milliners size 3 needle to add an edge stitch.

Last summer grandson David pinned these fabrics to my dress form.

He has been asking when I was going to finish his creation.

I tacked all the pieces together and here it is.

Sort of like fabric armor.

Miss Ava spent the day with us Friday 

because her school was still closed from the freezing weather.

She loves penguins and I found this strip of penguin fleece leftover from another project.

She cut strips with scissors and a small rotary cutter to make fringe on each end.

Now she has a scarf to wear that she made.

Then she noticed a felt bird panel I made. 

She wanted to make one with a robin instead of a red bird.

She drew her idea on freezer paper. 

I ironed the pattern on the  felt she chose and she cut it out.

Here is her version.

It has a ribbon for hanging.

I need  to practice embroidery stitches so I can finish my Tinsel Trees from 2022.

So I joined Beth Colletti's 30 Day stitch along.

I whipped 30 circles to a fat quarter of quilting cotton.

Below are the first two days.

Day 2 was Fly Stitch on the left.

Day 1 was blanket stitch on the right.

I discovered that felt is very forgiving.

I had to undo and resew several times and the holes from those stitches don't show.

Happy sewing!

 

Second Round of SAHRR

Star block was chosen for the second round of the Stay at Home Round Robin.

I wanted to use fewer small bits but still make a 3.5 inch block.

I cut 1.5 inch strips of the background and 1.5 inch yellow squares.

Sewed them together just a thread over from the diagonal.

The first block was made with 3.5 inch by 1.5 in strips of background.

After measuring this block I cut the other background strips 2.5 inches by 1.5 inches. That worked perfectly.

I am using some fat quarters of Curiouser & Curiouser that I bought at Gotham Quilts in NYC when I visited our grandsons in the fall.

I used the rose on yellow for the center of the star blocks and added two strips on either side of the block in the border.

This star block is tricky to make but I love it.

The first side piece is only partially sewn on the center block.

The second and third side pieces are sewn completely.

The fourth side piece is a little twisty to sew.

The key is leaving 1/4 inch unsewn on the first seam.

The corner fabric is the roses on yellow that ties in with the center queen of hearts.

Below is the back of the star block.

Here is my finished 2nd round.

I'm going to add some decorative stitching around the heart.

Will show that in the next round.

Happy sewing.

 

 

Charity quilt finish

This week end I worked on a charity quilt kit I was given at UTQG Tuesday.

It was an easy pattern with 4.5 inch strips of several dog themed fabric.

The flimsy was made in a couple of hours.

I wanted to return a finished quilt, so I looked in my stash for batting, backing, and binding.

The batting was assembled from one big piece and a few smaller bits.

I found a funny cat fabric for the backing.

The binding only took 15 inches WOF.

I used small clips to flip the binding to the front and hold the corners in place over night.

The quilting is straight line quilt in the ditch.

I plan to wash and dry the quilt before I turn it in at the February meeting.

Hopefully some of the wonky quilting will crinkle out after washing and drying.

I love how a folded quilt looks.

A quilt for a dog and cat lover.

Don't my corners look great?!