Saying Goodbye

My youngest daughter, Alissa and her husband Andy are moving to Tacoma, Washington.  She will be working in downtown Seattle, and Andy will be going to graduate school.  We are going to miss them sooooo much!

We had a going away party on Sunday afternoon.  As a going away gift a few of us from our church,  put together a quilt for them.  Sue Foster, had the idea to begin with, Sue owns a long-arm quilting business.  We needed to make it modern, Alissa is not a "country" lover.   We found the pattern Modern Chevron Baby Quilt, from You Had Me at Bonjour's blog.  It is a great pattern, easy to follow.

I had found a group of fabrics all in neutrals at Hawthorne Threads.  The collection is called Preeti, by Jessica Gonacha Swift, the nude palette.  We chose four Kona Cottons in nude colors to match for the background.

We had people in the church sign a solid square, which we placed around the top.

For the back I wanted to have some bold bright fabrics.  I found a this Kona Quiltcon fat quarter pack at the Fat Quarter Shop, choosing one blue and one green to make the pattern.

The design from the back was from a pin that I found on Pintrest.  I wish I could credit the original, but have looked and can't find the original creator.  Really a simple design, and easy to do.

Sue quilted it in straight lines about 1/2 inch apart, but stopping at the signature blocks.  This created a really cool pattern on the back.

There were a few signature blocks that did not come in time to put them in the top, so I incorporated them into the label.


They loved the quilt!

They leave Friday morning, and will have a great time driving across the country, seeing the sights along the way!!

Hope you are having a great week.

Cindy

Happy 4th

We are relaxing at home...our BBQ will be here this afternoon.  We have 8 pounds of meat!  Everyone better come hungry!

Hopefully fireworks later, if the rain stays away!

Been doing a bit of sewing the last few days

Not a great picture, but, having some fun with Kona cottons!!

Have a Great 4th,

Cindy

Seam Ripper, My New Friend

My seam ripper and I are becoming better acquainted.  I am experimenting with some more modern/freestyle patchwork, and mini quilts.  I have TONS of scraps and it seems a shame to let them just sit idle when they could be something cute...

My new friend

I began by sewing a few pieces together, cutting so edges were even and I could add more.  then surrounded the patched piece with white Kona cotton.  I am falling in love with solids, slowly.  They have always seemed so plain, but, when you add the quilting lines it suddenly has dimension and texture.  Rather a fun exercise.

After taking off the first binding...

Really loved the quilting process

I got all the way to the binding...which is where the problems began.  I did not want to hand sew the binding.   I was trying to be smart and sew the binding on the back bring it around front and sew down with the machine.  Reading some tutorials I thought I would do a half (1/2) inch seam, which meant there was not really enough binding to bring around to the front.  Well,  my bright idea was to cut off a quarter of an inch and then there would be more to bring around...HELLO WHERE IS YOUR BRAIN????  This meant that I also cut the corners, rendering them useless...

The finished product

The squiggly line of quilting was another bright idea that I decided not to follow through on, but did not take it out

My inclination at that point was to throw the whole thing away.  But, after I calmed down I decided to take the binding off and start over.  This time I read carefully this tutorial on Red Pepper Quilts.  Luckily I had enough of the scraps to make a binding, this time using a quarter inch seam and sewing onto the front and then sewing with the machine.  It WORKED!!!!

The bits of binding I had left from what I had removed I sewed together with some added bits and I have another small quilt, or mug rug.

still needs a binding...will do it right the first time!!!!

Despite the issues it was a fun exercise.  I think I will list these in my Etsy Shop if you are interested.

Have a whole dryer full of fabric to fold.  Won't be ironing today...93 degrees.  Nice in my bedroom with the AC on!!!!  I suppose I could bring in the ironing board...hmmm

Have a great weekend!!

Cindy

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