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!

 

Homage to Helen: Quilter & Encourager

My mother Helen was the middle child of seven.

She was born a few minutes before her twin brother in the mid 1920's in Brookhaven, MS.

Corona, her mother, sewed clothes for Helen and her younger sisters 

assembly-line style on a treadle sewing machine. 

Helen was sewing for herself by age 13. 

Above she is dressed as Martha Washington for a ladies' club revue.

Below the girl reading represents mom as a child to me.

She loved to read. The other children could easily be her siblings.

As a young mother in the 1950's Helen sewed, knitted, and crocheted for her children.

When the kids were grown she began making quilts, machine piecing and hand quilting.

She won blue ribbons for her handwork and took part in quilting demonstrations at the state fair.

In the 1970's she wrote to Martha Skelton, a famous Mississippi quilter, about an appliqué pattern she wanted to try. Martha wrote back with suggestions and pattern pieces traced into the letter.

Mom was thrilled to be recognized as a Mississippi Heritage Quilter by the Mississippi Quilt Association in 2011. She had two quilts exhibited at a Jackson, MS museum.

My mini quilt features a 1920 era girl reading surrounded by her granddaughters in appliquéd circles.

Helen took the photos and printed them on fabric to be used in a memory quilt.

The buttons on the corners of the center block represent her interest in sewing.

The herringbone stitch around the appliqué reminds me of her skill in hand sewing.

The big stitch quilting is a modern take on the hand quilting in mom's quilts. 

The buttons in the middle of the chain blocks remind me of other aspects of mom's life.

Flower basket = sharing flowers with nursing home residents.

Dragonfly = enjoying nature around her home.

Gingerbread man = making cookies for grandchildren.

Fish = fishing in her pond.

Peter Rabbit's mother = reading books with her grandchildren and great-grands.

Ball and glove = games of catch with visiting children and softball games at church.

Teapot = tea parties with all of us.

Dog = her faithful companions around the 8 acre home place.

Flower = sharing bulbs with anyone who showed an interest.

Of course a mini-quilt doesn't tell the whole story of a person.

Most of the fabric in this quilt was given to me by my sister-in-law, Doreen.

Mom encouraged Doreen to sew and Doreen became an outstanding seamstress and quilter.

Mom made quilts with all three of her granddaughters.

She always complemented me on my attempts at sewing and quilting.

My scrappy quilts often received comments like "that is so colorful".

Scrappy was not her style.

I hope this will inspire those interested in fabric art 

to try their hand at this useful and decorative endeavor.

 

Closing in on two finishes

The two projects from my last post are close to being finished.

All the blocks have been quilted in the Dick & Jane quilt, most with an orange peel shape that I chalked on each block. Wondering if fluffing in the dryer will remove the chalk residue.

I had to add a little to the backing and small strips of batting on two sides.

I quilted straight lines on the borders and diagonals on the corner pinwheels.

Below is my corner label ready for the binding.

One of my favorite parts is trimming the quilt before adding binding.

I like how neat and clean it looks.

View of quilting on block and border.

Ready to trim the first corner.

Binding sewn on the front.

Corners ready to be turned.

I will iron the binding towards the back before turning it and sewing it by machine.

The mini quilt needs a little more hand quilting, then binding, labeling, and sewing on a hanging sleeve.

I changed the stitches on the appliqué bits and I'm very happy with the new look.

The buttons have been attached.

Only the green quilting shows on the back.

I want to complete these two by Tuesday so I can share at quilt guild.

What have you been working on?

 

Working on two things at once

I'm hand quilting the mini quilt for the Cotton Museum exhibit.

First I machine basted using the 6.0 setting on my straight stitch.

I stitched around the featured blocks with ecru pearl cotton # 8.

Almost invisible on the back. 

The blue basting threads will be removed when I'm finished.

The Sally, Dick & Jane quilt is being machine quilted.

I decided on an orange peel design and made a paper template.

Started out stitching outside the template.

It was difficult to do this way.

I am trying chalk on the next block.

We will see if the chalk brushes off.

A couple of photos of the process.

The block below was done with the paper template pinned in place for each side.

Months ago I wrote with washable markers to find out if that would be a better

way to mark the quilting lines on a quilt.

Below is the after shot.

The original writing with the date.

The yellow and pink washed out best after so many months.

Not sure if I'm going to use markers on my Small World quilt.

Progress on the mini quilt.

All the blue blocks have been stitched with green pearl cotton #8.

I think I am going to add green decorative stitches around the 3 photos on the quilt.

How was your Quilty week?