Sister's Choice Quilts

I Am Sew TIred

I was in a scramble yesterday to mail off a box to my quilter. I got the borders on two quilts, and backings pieced. I decided last minute to add in two table runners, which needed finishing. The acorn one is pretty darn cute I think and will look super on my dining table in September or November. Here is a link to the pattern.

 

This little log cabin runner features a darling Squirrelly Girl print made by Bunny Hill. I used it on the back and in the background. The border is a print by Kate and Birdie that I had in my stash that I thought worked really well with the other fabrics.

This is my backing fabric. Cute, right?

This project is what took most of my time. I spent hours getting the lattices on the Christmas Amongst the Stars Again quilt. Good grief that took a long time. Anyway, the lattices and inner borders are on. Now I have to construct a fairly fussy outer border that is going to "make" the quilt.

I spent well over an hour piecing together the units for the twenty border blocks for this quilt. I think it is going to look amazing, but I just had to stop for the day. My eyes were beginning to cross with all the sewing. I was at the point where I was just tossing things onto the floor like the "Quilt In A Day" woman, what's her name? Eleanor Burns! She would always toss her scraps over her shoulder onto the floor for someone else to deal with later. I had to deal with them myself, but I was sick of having them in my way on the cutting table, so onto the floor they went.

So, I'm done for now. More tomorrow.

Oh, and guess what? I've been exposed to COVID. I had lunch with Eva's Other Grandma on Saturday, and it turns out Other Grandpa came down with COVID on Monday. We all sat together at a small table and had lunch together, so I definitely had a chance to be exposed. I am now in quarantine until June 7. What next, right?

 

Busy Week, Busy Time of Year

Ok, so I am pretty sure this is the cutest mug rug I've ever made. I used an apple block pattern from one of Lori Holt's Farm Girl Vintage books. How adorable is the apple core block? This is teacher appreciation week and we wanted to give Miss Kelly a little token of our affection.

Eva is in a play this weekend. The Enchanted Bookshop. She has two roles, "the Lady in Red" and "Little Red Riding Hood". We were asked to bake cookies to be sold at intermission and to display them in a way that relates to our kid's part. We filled a big basket with Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies (pretty perfect recipe if I say so myself) along with a propped-up picture book of Little Red Riding Hood. I think it makes a  nice display. We made 100 cookies and placed them in 50 cello bags. If they sell for $2 a pop, that will be a $100 donation for the school.

Goodness, have we been busy. Lots of trips to her charter school over the past two weeks. It is about a 25-minute drive, so it's a major back and forth. She had state testing last week, every day, and rehearsals for the play every day this week. I won't be sorry to see the end of this school year!

I am taking a break from seeing my dad this weekend. My sisters are covering for me. We will attend Eva's play on Friday and Saturday and with any luck do absolutely nothing on Sunday.  Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms out there. I feel as if I don't have to do anything on this holiday because my mom and mother-in-law are no longer with us. Book of the Month Club did something kind of nice, I thought. They have had a very active ad campaign promoting that a subscription to their service would make a nice Mother's Day gift. They were sensitive enough to realize that not everyone has a mom anymore and that this could be a tough holiday for some. They told the folks on their email list that if they didn't want to receive these ad emails for Mother's Day to click a button in the email and they would not see any of them. I thought it was thoughtful.

Happy Friday, and enjoy the weekend!

Pretty Little Baskets Table Topper

I am so pleased to have finished my Pretty Little Baskets Table Topper before Easter. I wasn't sure I could do it, but somehow it happened. I made four of the little basket blocks and sewed them together with two-inch lattices to put a little space between them. It just shows that if you put your mind to it, and spend a few hours sewing you can get something done.

I love the pastel "Eastery" colors of Carrie Nelson's Nine Dots collection. The quilting was super simple with the use of one of my Bernina presser feet with a seam guide that I could adjust to one inch. I just quilted in straight lines one inch away from my previous line. It came out great. The pattern is Pretty Little Baskets by The Pattern Basket.

The binding I sewed on by machine, which is my new favorite thing to do with small projects. The whole project didn't really even take all that long. It was more a matter of making time to cut out the pieces and have it all ready to go.

The more years that go by, the more I seem to enjoy these smaller projects. I especially appreciate not having to send them out to be quilted. Not so much for the cost, which is only around $25,  but for the time it takes to get them back! It can be two or three months sometimes, and by then, the project is completely out of season. 

I am getting ready to go on a family vacation, believe it or not. First time in over two years. My husband and I, our daughter Sara, and granddaughter Eva are going down to Palm Desert for a week!  Woo hoo! Look for posts picturing my toes as I sit by the pool with my book.

It's Beginning to Look Like Easter Around Here

I brought out this mini quilt for the first time yesterday. I kind of did my own thing when I made it. The center bird is from a Pattern Baskets pattern called "Feathers". The surrounding stars are a block called "Twin Star" from an old Frivols project I had on hand. The fabrics are Strawberry Fields Revisted by Fig Tree and Co.

Eva and I had fun selecting the right size button for the bird's eye. We got a big laugh when she tried a big goggly button on it for size. I love the quilting design, and wish I could tell you what it is, but it was something my quilter came up with. I think it is perfect.

We've got it on the table in my front entryway. That birdhouse is kind of fun. I've had it for years. The roof is an old license plate! I want to say my son gave it to me, but I can't recall for sure.

If any of you have clever husbands or are so inclined yourself, this could be a great DIY project!

Hope your week got off to a great start. It is supposed to really warm up here by the end of the week and I can't wait!

April Mug Rugs

April Mug Rugs of the Month are almost done.  I got them quilted and still need to attach the binding.  With luck, I will get that done today or tomorrow. I am late with these and have half a notion to say they are April Easter baskets and May flower baskets combined, and save myself some work next month. Clearly, I am having a hard time getting up into my sewing room and producing anything.

I am pretty pleased with my straight-line quilting. I used painter's tape for the first diagonal line and then just stitched one inch away for the subsequent lines. Easy peasy.

Eva and I made baked donuts this week. I think they are pretty spectacular looking. Here is the recipe if anyone is so inclined. The frosting was more of a glaze. We dipped the donuts into them and then immediately sprinkled them with our sprinkles.

Eva is gung ho to get our Easter decorations out, so we put a few things out this weekend. I worked on the binding on an Easter/Spring table runner I made last year. Got that binding on! Here is a sneak peek:

Hope you all had a great weekend! It is starting to feel like spring around here.

Gasp. She's Going To Quilt It Herself...

Yikes. I wish I had more confidence when it comes to machine quilting. I can manage a small project most of the time, but I have a few sad efforts in the closet that I am not proud enough of to actually use. I am going to go with a diagonal grid design, with the stitching lines pretty close together. An inch, maybe 3/4". The tighter the stitching the better it looks I think. 

Honestly, this little table topper is only 20" square. How hard can it be? Oops, hope I didn't jinx it. In case you didn't read yesterday's post, the fabric is Nine Dots by Carrie Nelson for Henry Glass, circa 2010. The pattern is "Pretty Little Baskets" by the Pattern Basket (Margo Languedoc).

My four mug rug gifts are still to be backed and quilted. I just got a bee in my bonnet to make an Easter table topper. I was up in the sewing room by 6:15 AM trying to get some blocks made before Eva arrived. She is otherwise occupied on Wednesday, so that is when I hope to finish my gifts.

Did you all watch the Oscars on Sunday night? We weren't going to because it just seemed kind of pointless. We have watched a few of the nominated movies/performers on tv, but honestly have not been to the movie theater in over two years. We caved in and gave it a go. I was pretty shocked to see Will Smith get up out of his seat and go up and pop the MC Chris Rock for insulting his wife Jada Pinkett Smith. Seriously? Violence against someone who made a poor joke is just not ok. Will Smith seems to be wrapped a bit too tight. Eva brought up the subject and seemed shocked and appalled, but in the end, she expressed that she felt Chris Rock deserved it because he said "something mean". I gave her the "take the higher road" talk, but have to say I see where she is coming from. She is 10 after all. She said that if you say something mean to someone, you might get a result you won't like. (From the mouths of babes).  At any rate, people seem to be getting less civilized by the minute. All this nonsense from ill-behaved airline passengers, and now fisticuffs at the Oscars? What are we becoming? What are your thoughts?

New Arrangement and Perfect Machine Binding

I took apart a couple of old fall arrangements and created a new one. I didn't have to spend a dime. I quite like how it looks with my new table topper.

That bird is so well camouflaged. Can you even see him? I am enjoying the colors in the little table topper. You wouldn't think aqua would work in a fall color scheme, but it works well.

I attached the binding on by machine and could not be happier with how it turned out! This technique is perfect to use with smaller projects where you never even see the underside of the piece.

Honestly, with thread that matches perfectly, you cannot even see those stitches. If you haven't tried machine binding, I urge you to give it a try. What a time saver. Check out Vanessa's tutorial.

Not To Worry

Another table topper back from my quilter. I used Sandy Gervais fabrics for this one. I loved it when she designed for Moda. Her colors are so rich and saturated. I know she is still designing, but I am not sure for whom. Does anyone know? I miss her collections. I don't think I used an actual pattern for this quilt. I believe I used triangle papers. Each block is made up of two large half-square triangles in a color family, and two units made up of four smaller half-square triangles in the same color family.

I saw my doctor yesterday about my black-out issue on Monday while eating a sandwich. Some food I was eating got stuck partway down my esophagus and when I stood up to go get some water I keeled over in a faint. He explained to me that the esophagus is a very sensitive area controlled in part by the autonomic nervous system. If something is going wrong there (like food being stuck), blood will leave your brain and go to the affected area. When blood suddenly leaves your brain, you black out. That is exactly what happened. He is positive my fainting was directly related to that specific incident and not anything more dire. Of course, if it ever happens again I am going to be having a boatload of tests. 

Hope you all have a terrific weekend. October has definitely left the party and we are suddenly in gloomy grey November. I am really in the mood to sew, but I am at my father's so that will not be in the cards. Maybe this coming week if I have time I will cut out a few easy things I could stitch on my Featherweight at his house.

Oooops. I Am Too Old For This.

This week, I'm sharing some of the little table toppers I just got back from my quilter. This little quilt is about 24" square. It has a nice fall/winter feel to it.

I had the strangest thing happen yesterday. I was eating a sandwich at the counter with Eva and felt like it was kind of sticking in my throat. I wasn't choking, but wanted some water to try to "wash it down". I got up to fill a cup with water, and the next thing I knew I was lying on the floor. I had fainted apparently. As a result of the fall, I have really done a number on my right hip and my back muscles on the right side. I can barely move now and sitting down is so uncomfortable. Honestly, I am too old to fall down. And of course, when you black out, it is so sudden that you don't have time to ease yourself down gently. You just go down like a ton of bricks. Luckily I didn't hit my head on the counter or break a tooth or anything.

Eva was cool as a cucumber. She didn't panic, just came over to my side and said "Are you ok?" I was so discombobulated and shocked I just wanted to lie on the floor for awhile until I figured out what the heck had just happened. It was very odd. I seem to be fine now, just sore as the dickens. I sure do hope that doesn't happen again. I see my doctor this week for another matter, so we shall see what he says.

My plans for the afternoon went out the window. I just sat on the couch playing solitare until Eva's daddy picked her up. 

More Fall Mug Rugs

These photos aren't the greatest, but how cute are these mug rugs? They are around 8 1/2 inches wide. I have to admit I have made six of them and only four are worthy of gifting to people. A couple of the earliest ones came out really wonky. I have improved my trimming method and am better at lining things up so it comes out symmetrical. The fabric I used above is absolutely the cutest, and I may have to stick to it for future efforts. It is Kitty Corn by Urban Chiks. It is selling out fast, so if you want any, you had better act now. Eva quickly claimed that one as hers.

I would have bet Eva would have chosen this one for herself, but nope, her tastes have evolved it seems. I could see she was hesitating over it, but in the end chose the one from the Kitty Corn collection. This one was made from bits and bobs in my scrap bin.

This last one seems a bit dull after the fun Halloween ones, but it is a nice one for fall I guess. The fabrics are from an ancient collection by Brannock and Patek called Four Seasons. I am guessing it is ten years old. Anyone know when it came out?

I have more mug rugs lined up to make, but I have the busiest week ever planned for this week. Every day I have work assignments or places to be or homeschooling projects to do with Eva. No idea how I will get it all done. Burning some midnight oil is in my future I think. Please stick with me if my posting is spotty.

Hope you all had a great weekend. My dad is doing great. I fed him fish two nights in a row over the weekend, so he was a happy camper. And best of all, my husband's oncologist called to tell him that his latest test results were excellent and he shows no sign of prostate cancer right now. Now that is a cause for celebration.

Talk soon!