And Still Working on the Baby Quilt!

Hi! It's me again, and no, I didn't quite finish the baby quilt. Sigh...It's at the staring stage when you just stare at it, trying to figure out what to do next. (Ummm, if I would have kept it at simple blocks, it would have been finished at least 2 weeks ago!) I'm really loving it though. The twister tool is fast becoming a favorite, and I used my Accuquilt Go! to make the Rose of Sharon flowers and leaves. 

Look at my new goodies! I got them at Missouri Star Quilt Company . If you sign up for their newsletter, you'll get the daily deal which is always a steal! The Yuletide Magic pack was 99cents for the deal of the day. (The second one was $ 4.99) Still, not bad for 2 charm packs! The Misty Light charm packs were on sale for $5.99 each. Then I got the Kaufman Kona cotton solid in black to match both charm packs. Yep! I'm going to make some more Twister blocks! I'm so addicted!

And then there are my grandbabies! Addi and Aiden! Looking most very cute, on their way to the circus with their Auntie Susan! (Susu as they affectionately call her!) What a great Auntie to take them to the circus! They came back home with tales of highflying people on wires, an elephant that could stand on it's head, and clowns with big funny noses. We left at home enjoyed some peace and quiet!!!!

I'm No Speed Quilter !!!

I am not a speed quilter! I know of folks, have friends that can whip together a quilt top overnight! I'm not talking the simple 4 inch block quilts either! They can whip together basket quilts, star quilts, fancy applique all in the blink of an eye!!! I scratch my head and wonder how the heck do they do it! I admire these folks that seem to have a happy new blog post sporting their latest accomplishments at least once, if not twice a week... I think to myself, if it had been me, it would have taken at least a month or two! Don't get me wrong, I'm not depressed over it. I'm content to poke along, taking a day or two to make up my mind what color scheme I'm shooting for. I took forever to make my quilted bag. It sat in the corner for days on end, waiting for me to make up my mind.

The point of all this?  I've been working on a friend's baby quilt for far too long! Actually I had it all pieced together. It was plain 5 inch blocks and then I was going to use a quilting program on my machine to embroider each block. It was what she said she wanted,  but it was so simple looking, I just wasn't feeling it, ya know?. What's a gal to do??? Which would you prefer? Plain blocks?

 Or Twister blocks? Hmmmm? The twister blocks make me smile! They look so much happier! Or is it just me? Magically, the quilt came together in my head! It shall have borders, and applique flowers, and a bit of embroidery. I have matching canvas to make a bag and maybe enough scraps to make a changing pad. I'm so glad I didn't settle. I'll be much more pleased to gift the new design!

And then there's my blocks for the Grandmother's Choice BOW. I've been trying to keep up! Here are my two New Jersey:Suffrage blocks. Purple and gold....

 Blue and gold. Wasn't these blocks fun to piece! I really like them!

 And, I have my two Aunt Eliza's Star. Poor lady! Thank God for Women's right! To not be entitled to your inheritance and to be stripped of your child to the likes of a womanizing twit? GRRRRRR!

 I put my favorite gold print roses in this and my heart went out to Eliza's plight.

So there you have it! Slowly but surely, I've been making progress. I have to finish the baby quilt this week, as another friend is going to visit her next week, and I want to send the gifts with her. 

More Treasure!

Looky, Looky! My good friend Ms Julie gifted me a whole bag of yummy scraps to help me out starting my own string stash! It was so much fun to go through all the scraps and sort them out.

 

I found lots of 2 inch and 2 1/2 inch squares. Lot's of triangles, bigger squares, and some large peices of fabric. Wooo Hooo! I feel rich!

Then there were the stings and the crumbs. I'm really excited about all this because....

I finally have Bonnie Hunter's books. String Fling and Leaders and Enders! Now let me tell you, these are both wonder books, the directions and pictures are fabulous and I can't wait to start my own Sting Fling quilt! ( Sting Fling is autographed by Bonnie too! I love that!) I think these are just the best quilt books I have in my library by far! Bonnie is definitely my favorite quilter!

 Then I got a new Supreme Slider for my machine. Leah Day recommends them, along with the Machingers. The slider goes on top of your machine bed/table, and has a hole for your needle. It's teflon on top, and gripey on the bottom. It's suppose to help you slide your quilt around as you free motion quilt. Leah Day says she can't do without it or the Machingers, so we shall see.

Sometimes It Just Don't Work Out!



So I was working on the Sunflower Block of the Grandmother's Choice BOW. I was rather unsure of my skills, there were so many of those Y intersections I'm not so hot at doing. Well, right off the bat, I realized that I'd sewn the center petals upside down! Rats!

 

That doesn't bother me so much. I've learned the hard way that the tiniest stitch your machine can sew is not the way to go. Rule of thumb, I generally use 15 stitches to inch. Why? Well, when it's time to rip out a seam, the tip of the seam ripper fits inside the stitches perfectly, and having to rip out a seam is not a problem. With a tighter stitch per inch, your bound to rip your fabric instead of stitches. 15 stitches per inch is perfect, and still makes for a secure seam. See how easily my seam ripper just slides up under the stitch?

Anyway, that was just the beginning of my woes. I found when I joined the last section, instead of a nice flat block, I had a coffee filter shaped mess! What to do, what to do?

Ok, I thought I just gather the inside petals, and Wah Lah... a nice flat block! I patted my back for my ingenuity and thought I had the whole thing licked, and then....

I sewed the outer block. Twice! ARGGGGH! Look at that floppy block! No way I'm going to put it into a quilt! You are now looking at a future pot holder! The End!

Grandmother's Choice Quilt Along Progress.

Progress being made on the Grandmother's Choice Block of the Week! Block number 2 is Amethyst - Suffrage. I had a slightly difficult time peicing this block. Never really dealt with a Y seam on machine before. I know the hexies in Nana's Flower Garden have Y seams, but handstitching and machine stitching are two different things! I had to rip out seams a couple of times to get this one!

But with endurance, I manage to get my 2 blocks done! I'm so pleased! The seams lay flat, and I'm liking these colors together. This is fabric I've had in my stash for sometime. I'm quickly running out of the gold, but am sure I'll be able to find another gold color print that will suffice.

Here's the Amethyst and Grandmother's Choice side by side. What do you think? Poor picture quality, but the white print in the Grandmother's Choice has just enough gold to pull them together in real life. At least to my point of view! I will be putting sashing in as well.

Then I have two completed Union Square blocks. Easy-Peasy! They stitch up fast! I love how they came out!

And here is the contrasting twin. I really am digging the thought of having 2 completed tops when I'm done! This is a fun quilt along and the history of the women's suffrage movement makes for a good read as well!

 

 

On a final note. If you've noticed the Grandmother's Choice badge on the side bar, here is the html code to coopy and paste to your gadget bar on your blog should you decide to join along!

 

 



<a href='http://grandmotherschoice.blogspot.com/'>

<img alt='A BUTTON' height='151' id='Image9_img' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgryRSTvpdODN2mSXy2yMWLdySXihF2FHVTfKSIn68ZbSFC5KYb0FlQAYMYZ4AamC-y6oRibsqKP2yzMPIn-dzBIYbwNOMgLAJaQCTn_lpLgYbyvZ1P8tmXY1Wyxg8P4ZHmNG1GhFcV_nk/s250/GMCHOICEBUTTON.jpg' width='125'/>
</a>