Sister's Choice Quilts

Table Runners Off and Running

I got upstairs yesterday before it got hot and finished up the borders on my little gold half square triangle table runner.  Now I am all set to mail this trio of toppers off to my quilter.  I am really looking forward to getting these into my late summer/early fall decorating rotation.

Decorating with small quilts is such fun for me.  Do you enjoy it as well?  At this stage of my life, I have so many large-sized quilts, making more of them just doesn't make sense.  I have given quilts to absolutely every single person in my family, and I doubt anyone needs another one.  I still love keeping up with new fabric collections and using them in projects, so making smaller quilts is the answer for me.  With each new season I can use three or four small table toppers or runners in table vignettes and satisfy my desire to keep current and up to date with something new.  My budget is also reduced now that I am retired, so it helps to buy a layer cake or a fat eighth bundle and save money on what I do decide to buy.  

So many quilt patterns can easily be adapted to make smaller or fewer blocks.  I will be sure and talk more about this in a future post.  

Have a great weekend, and stay cool!

 

Book Winner

Yes I really did buy two of the same book.  Luckily my random number generator picked commenter number 17,
Nancy Watkins, to take one of them off my hands!  Congratulations Nancy.  Send me an email with your address and I will get one of these in the mail to you right away!  Thanks to everyone who participated.

In other news, we had a great weekend.  I was able to sew my free little gold half square triangles into rows.  Just waiting for some gold fabric to come in the mail for my setting triangles, backing and binding.  Love this little table runner for late summer/early fall.  It is so wonderfully scrappy.

Best of all, my Eva is home from a week at camp!  We celebrated a great week of adventures in the forest and a grateful safe homecoming by going to Jamba Juice for smoothies.  One more week of summer vacation and then it is back to school (3rd grade!) for Miss Eva.

Hope your week is getting off to a splendid start.

Corn and Beans

This little table topper featuring the Corn and Beans block turned out pretty cute.  It is small, about 18", but perfect for the end of my island where I like to have a vase of flowers and a candle.  It will be wonderful in August with some sunflowers.  I actually sewed for a couple of hours yesterday.  I got the border on the Corn and Beans topper and have half of Sweet Escape sewn together.  Can't wait to show you that one--it is really nice.

We were off to the pool for an early evening picnic yesterday.  Pasta salad and fried chicken, yum.  Eva is wearing a cute new terry cover up I got her at Target.  The pool we belong to has switched over to salt water, which seems ever so much nicer than the previously over chlorinated water.  The water seems softer and lighter if you can believe it.  And no itching after I swim, which is a huge relief to me!

It feels as if summer has arrived.

Another New Table Runner

Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day.  Mine was lovely.  It was also Sara's birthday, so we had a double celebration.  She and Eva came over for brunch and we sat outside and opened presents and had mimosas and a nice breakfast.

I managed to catch the miserable cold my husband had while we were on our vacation, so I was down for the count last week.  I still have a lingering cough and am blowing my nose all the time.  Such fun.  I have not been doing any sewing, so I apologize for the lack of quilty content, but it will probably continue like this for the foreseeable future.  Eva has three more weeks of school, and then I will be spending more time with here during the summer.  I hope to get some kind of schedule in place where I sew for an hour or so a day while she is occupied with something else.

The table runner in the photo above is super cute, in spite of the terrible lighting.  I will get it trimmed up and bound this week, and think it will be a pretty addition to my dining table.  Inside or out!

 

Red Runner and Robbery Storytime

Ah.  I am home from my trips, my laundry is done, the Easter decor has been put away, and my husband has gone back to work.  That man has been sick for ten days with a horrible cough, fever and an ear ache.  He lost his hearing in the affected ear and every time I spoke to him he looked at me with complete incomprehension.  That got old pretty fast I tell you. 

It wasn't that I was completely unsympathetic, but he refused to go to the doctor in spite of indications that it might be a really good idea.  What is it about men and going to the doctor?

Here is a close up of the quilting, which I think is so pretty.  My roses are going nuts, so I sacrificed one for the bud vase.  It matches perfectly!

I am so glad to be home.  Did I say that already?  I am a creature of routine and it just was too much to be gone to Palm Desert, home for a few days, then off to Lake Tahoe.  I have no plans to go anywhere for the foreseeable future.

I have a story to share.  Our son Ahren lives in Dublin, Ireland, as many of you who follow me know.  Well, last week, his house was burglarized.  While.he.was.home.

He had worked late and didn't get home until nearly 9:00.  He'd had a long stressful day, and had over an hour commute on public transportation to get home.  His habit is to come in, disarm his alarm, and re-lock his front door.  He thinks that is what he did that particular night as usual.  He threw together a light dinner and went upstairs to sleep shortly after 10:00.  He took his laptop upstairs with him to look at something before he fell asleep.  He sleeps with his bedroom door closed and locked (kind of weird, I never knew that about him).  So, obviously sound asleep after a long day at work, with his door shut, he wasn't really hearing anything that transpired downstairs.

At some point during the night, someone either used a pick on his front door to gain entry, or (if Ahren forgot to lock up, which would have been very unusual) just opened the door and came into his house.  They didn't seem very professional, just stepped in, probably looked around for a purse or car keys, grabbed his bag from the foyer and ran back out.  What they took was Ahren's messenger bag that contained just about everything that meant something to him.  His eyeglasses, his iPhone, his Filofax (with all kinds of personal information), his wallet, his cash (only 20 Euro thank goodness), his house keys (!), his ATM card, his writing journal (with all his stories he had been writing for the past year), a sterling silver fountain pen his ex had given him that he treasured, and an expensive leather pen case his sister had given him for Christmas.  There may have been more things in the bag, but those are the major losses.  The main things they didn't get were his laptop and his passport which were elsewhere.

He got up in the morning, came down stairs, saw his hall table drawer ajar, a book on the floor and his bag gone.  And his door unlocked.  It took all day to go to the bank and report his missing cards, go to the Gardai (Irish police) to report the break in, acquire a new iPhone, try to get new glasses, a new National ID, a new public transportation pass, new wallet, new FIlofax etc etc.   He also had to go buy a new lock for the door and install it.   The Gardai were real interested that the crime had been committed while the resident was on the premises, but so far nothing has been retrieved and nothing really done about it.  

He is going to put a deadbolt and chains on his door, and will be setting his alarm while he is in the house, which previously he had not done.  He feels pretty shaken about the whole experience but is being philosophical about how lucky he is.  "At least they didn't take my favorite Staub Dutch oven, or my Baccarat wine glasses".  As if the typical thief would know the value of those items.

Have any of you been robbed?  What is your story?  The most memorable one that has stuck with me over the years is the woman whose house was broken into and her husband's guns stolen.  She didn't give a hoot about the darn guns going missing, but the fact that they stole the last quilt her dearly departed mother had made to wrap the guns in was a very hard blow to take.

May Flowers

I've decided to call this little quilt May Flowers.  My quilter took a photo of the quilting she had just finished on it, and I could not be more pleased.  One thing she does with my mini quilts is that she reduces the scale of the quilting design to fit the smaller size of the quilt.  It makes sense, but a lot of quilters don't seem to do it.  I love the detail and how the quilting design really enhances the quilt top without dominating it.  This one will go on my kitchen counter with some yellow flowers.

A vacation update:  it is cold and cloudy today.  We have had a couple of snow showers, but nothing is sticking.  My husband came down with a miserable cold a couple of days ago and really felt crummy yesterday so we stayed in all day.  Fine with me.  I curled up with a big fat Elizabeth George mystery and a bag of Harvest Snaps and read all day.  Some napping may have happened as well.

Have you tried these?  They are so good, and actually made from green peas.  I try to tell myself they are nutritious.

Our house sitter shared this picture of Ozzie relaxing on the front porch.  She says he has been full of mischief and has been keeping her busy.  You would never guess he will be 12 next month.  

Hope you are all having a great week.

My Latest Distraction

My latest distraction from reorganizing my sewing room is this little mini quilt in the Corn and Beans block.  I got my little pieces all cut out and sorted with my Alphabitties.  If you don't have Alphabitties, you might want to consider adding some to your collection of sewing notions.  They are double sided plastic squares labeled with the letters of the alphabet, so you can keep multiple block units all clearly organized.  There is nothing worse than grabbing your C triangles, when the ones you meant to sew together were the F and G triangles.  These little squares help you out with that.

This is as far as I got yesterday.  Today I hope to finish the border of flying geese and maybe even get it quilted.

Yesterday was a big day.  I got new canvas covers for my retractible awnings that shade my front and back porches.  One of them in particular was completely shredded in the bad storms we had this past winter.  They are colossally expensive, but have a ten year warranty, so we should be good for awhile.  

It was such a gorgeous day I sat outside with my book instead of sewing.  There is always tomorrow...

Corn and Beans

I did make it up to the sewing room yesterday, with the idea that my re-organization would commence.  I started with the dresser and this adorable little kit was in the first drawer I opened.  

How cute is that little Corn and Beans kit?  It measures 17" square when finished and would make the summeriest little candle mat or place to put a vase of flowers.

And just look at the sweet little pouch it was packaged in.

I think I need to make this right away so I can enjoy it over the next few months.

I can see how this re-organization project is going to go, can't you?

A Breath of Spring

I just can't seem to get enough of cheery spring like fabrics lately.  My desire for the rain to stop and the sun to come out is taking over my life.  I am also stuck waiting for my fabric for the Sweet Escape Sew Along to arrive.  I ordered my background (Moda Bella Porcelain}  on Feb. 27, and the company is saying It takes 10 days for me to get it.  If I had known that before I hit "place order", I might have made a different choice.  It was only $5 postage, so you get what you pay for I suppose.

So, at loose ends, I jumped into this project over the weekend.  The pattern by Carried Away Quilting was my inspiration, and I was able to duplicate the look of their fabrics by using  pieces from several Sherri & Chelsi collections.  The pattern is called "Fat Quarter Flourish".  Here is a closer look at my fabrics:

This little mini quilt went together quickly and was fun to make.  I made a lot of half square triangles using my Angler 2, which is such a great device.

You tape the plastic film to your sewing machine throat plate, and using the lines on the device, you are able to sew gazillions of half square triangles without drawing those dreaded diagonal lines.  Unfortunately, this particular item is no longer produced, due to the untimely demise of the inventor, Pam Bono.  There are similar items on the market, but I prefer this original to anything else.  When we moved, I tossed mine out, thinking it was easily replaceable.  Imagine my dismay when I found out it wasn't.  Luckily a friend sent me an extra that she had, but when this one wears out that will be it.  Here are two other similar devices.

Hope you all had a great weekend!  

 

 

Shop at Home

Since I am desperate for a touch of Spring, I've been in a mood to make some small quilts in a lighter color palette.  My favorite dark reds, golds and browns seem so heavy right now when my soul is craving lighter more delicate tones.  Pale green in particular.

I recently rediscovered a tub of Fig Tree fabrics that I had packed away.  I used to do a lot with Fig Tree fabrics, and then for some reason, fell away from it.   Lately, I have been paying attention to the Fig Tree Christmas and Halloween collections and it made me recall my stash.  In the tub I had some very pretty light greens that paired well with some butterscotch tones which were also on hand.  

Along with the stash of vintage Fig Tree fabric, I also had a number of Fig Tree patterns.  The one I pulled out to use for this project is called Sweet Clover.   I doubt if stores still carry it, but I did see a couple of patterns for sale on eBay.  What I thought was in keeping with my Spring theme, was that the block forms a sweet flower design.  It is basically four inch half square triangles with sew and flip corner squares to give the block unit a rounded petal shape.  I will have to machine applique the center circle, but that is not a big deal.  This pattern is giving my Doug Leko Folded Corner ruler a real work out.  I have used that little ruler in so many projects lately.

I've really enjoyed working with these pretty fabrics and think I may order some future Fig Tree lines.  Their "Christmas Figs" collection was wonderful and they are releasing a Halloween themed group  "All Hallow Eve" in June.   

How about you?  Are you fighting the Winter doldrums as well?  What springy projects are you planning to counter act the gloom of Winter?