Early May Projects

This is the finished flimsy for a donation quilt for UTQG.

I love the pattern. It is very quick and easy.

I had a plan but some of the rows weren't put together according to the plan.

I worked on the June piano runner.

This is the Farm House block.

The other block is the Farm Fresh Flowers block.

Both blocks are from the Farm Girl Vintage book.

I have wanted to make the blocks from this book since I bought the book. 

I'm happy to have this year long project to try out the blocks.

Here is the finished runner.

It is about 15 inches by 40 inches.

I quilted it with a zigzag stitch that has 3 stitches on each zig and zag.

The backing was a half yard from my stash.

I love the pink castles but never found the right project for it.

The binding was cut length-of-fabric from strips trimmed from an earlier quilt finish.

We had our last Color Theory zoom meeting Saturday morning.

Each of us has learned a lot from reading the book and playing with fabric in the challenges.

The block below represents the sea.

The sand, water, seaweed, and fish.

I see two blocks that are turned the wrong way.

I will fix it before making a quilt with the blocks to remember what I learned.

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In the challenge below I took fabric I love and use it as inspiration for a block.

Now on to finish the donation quilt and modern mini.

What are you working on?

Happy Sewing!

 

Listening to an audio book while sewing

This last week I have been listening to The Women on Hoopla. The book is almost 15 hours long!

At the same time I was working on a mini quilt for an online modern quilt show.

I made this with some 2.5 inch squares and some 5 inch white squares.

I had limited colors and only one square of each color.

 

At first I tried placing the colors on my white table to make a pattern.

Then I used graph paper and things were much better.

There were only three squares of shades of green.

I thought alternating with white squares would convey a stem.

After looking at this photo I could see that didn't work.

I ripped out some seams and turned the sections around to get the greens together.

The flimsy is done. 

Now I'm thinking about how to quilt it.

Many ideas but we will see how it finishes.

I know I'm going to use facings instead of binding.

I love irises.

These are in our tiny backyard.

We have two types of yellow irises, two purples, and a white.

They came from my mom's yard.

She had so many more colors.

Maybe one day I will have more colors, too.

Last Tuesday at quilt guild I picked up a charity quilt kit.

This was a quick finish. 

Should have it quilted and bound by next meeting.

This week I will be working on blocks for our Color Theory group zoom on Saturday.

Happy Sewing!

 

More April Finishes

A couple of recent finishes.

This was in an earlier post but now it is finished.

The pattern is "Fetch" from the All in a Row book. 

The orange fabric is for the binding.

Here it is quilted and bound.

Since it is a piano runner it has very little quilting.

The back is one of my favorite floral prints.

The binding was sewn down by hand.

This is the second Ava dress for Ava.

I made the buttonholes in the bodice before I attached the skirt.

That makes it much easier to sew.

In this version I added fusible interfacing before I sewed the top together.

I think interfacing makes the buttons and buttonholes more stable.

The pattern does not call for interfacing.

I put the cap sleeves in before I sewed the sides together.

It is much easier to sew the very small sleeves in when the fabric is flat.

I zigzagged the trimmed armholes to keep them from fraying.

Most of the seams are either inside the lining or French seams.

It takes a little longer but I think it is a better finish.

The front of the dress above.

The back below.

Close up of the covered buttons.

Covered buttons are easy to assemble.

Another finishing touch that is above ready-to-wear garments.

All caught up.

Next - work on Color Theory and maybe a mini quilt.

Happy Sewing!

 

Spring Dresses etc.

Here is the finished Sadie dress for Ava.

The outer panels are Kaffe Wobble fabric and the center is pink lightning bolts.

Very Ms Frizzle combination.

The back was changed from a button closure to a zipper.

When we bought the fabric I didn't take into account that Wobble is directional.

So the back center lining was the only place to put this sideways piece.

The pattern calls for a wide facing at the hem.

I didn't have enough of either fabric to do that.

I was able to cut a bias strip for the hem.

I think it worked fine.

All the seams are finished or enclosed in the lining.

Here is my new blouse made from the Liberty lawn I bought in London in October.

I'm pleased with the finish. It will be perfect for our hot summer days.

I have two thread cases of my mother's thread.

After dropping the opened cases several times,

I decided to dump all the thread out and organize by color.

Now it's so much easier to find the thread I need.

Working on one more dress for Ava from the Children's Corner pattern -Ava.

Photos next time.

Happy Sewing! 

 

Sewing for Ava & other finishes

A few weeks ago Jessie, Ava, and I visited The Sewing House to choose some fabric for Ava.

She found a pattern called Ava and had to have a dress made with this lovely Liberty Lawn.

The pattern had multiple sizes but the largest was one size too small, so I added some to the length and width. I wanted to remember how I finished the armholes and gathers of the skirt.

The pattern instructions were confusing for the version Ava wanted. 

I looked for more information online but didn't find anything.

I made French seams for the side seams and zigzagged other seams.

I chose white shank buttons for the back closure.

I tried two buttonhole stitches on my sewing machine.

I found stitch #152 was better for this pattern and fabric.

Here is the Ava dress for Ava. It has cap sleeves. 

I used width of fabric for the skirt panels so it is very full.

Lawn is light weight and will be perfect for spring and summer wear.

The dress above has two skirts.

Ava chose the moth fabric and Jessie suggested the peach stripe.

Above is a new Violet Fields pattern - Sadie.

It is fully lined. Ava wanted the rainbow fabric - Kaffe's Wobble pattern.

Jessie paired it with the pink print.

The pattern has buttons down the back but we decided a zipper would be more comfortable.

The pattern calls for a facing for the hem. I'm going to cut bias strips instead of the pattern pieces.

I will share the finish in my next post.

In other sewing, I made some little felt bunnies for my little choir friends and grandchildren.

Below are the ones for choir and some tea towels for the choir workers.

The tea towels used leftover fabric from spring napkins and some stash muslin.

I made 16 bunnies and 10 tea towels.

Uncommon Threads Quilt Guild's monthly challenge is to make two blocks and share them each month.

I'm making runners for the piano.

I found this pattern in the book All in a Row.

I changed the layout a little. 

I will share the finish next time. 

Below are some Kaffe squares.

I'm trying to decide what to do with them.

There are so many possible patterns, I can't decide.

The irises are blooming here.

Martin put these on the south facing wall.

This seems like a great place for iris and dianthus.

Yellow iris in one bed, purple in another.

I'm making one more dress for Ava, then a blouse for me.

Happy Sewing!

 

Finish Reveal for SAHRR 2025

I had fun with the SAHRR.

The final finish is at the end of this post.

I hand stitched the binding, something I rarely do.

Total machine binding is my go-to finish.

But I was concerned that the thread would not match, 

so I hand stitched using clips, size 10 straw needle and the cranberry thread.

Above I checked that batting and backing before pin basting the layers.

During construction I tried out different block configurations. 

Half square triangles make so many different patterns.

Which ones to use?

A quarter square log cabin block.

The label for documentation.

The back is an 18 inch width of fabric from the Cats of Paris collection. 

Ta-Da! The finished wall hanging.

So pleased with it.

Kaleidoscope blocks, stars, hour glass, Johnny in the Corner,

Crown, more hour glasses, quarter log cabin, sliced block, and pinwheel.

Thank you Gail and your team for helping us create our own quilts.

Happy Sewing!