Robin's mom's quilt is done

A few days ago, I posted that I was working on a friend's mother's quilt and showed you the back. I finished it today. The binding is done!

That's me peeping over the top. It's hard to see the detail of the handkerchiefs, but it is beautiful in design and heart. I'll be handing it over to my friend tomorrow.

I'm tying my hexagon quilt when I have time and working on a denim quilt of hexagon flowers for myself. In the meantime, I have my eye on a culotte's pattern I want to try and will probably make a coordinating top to go with.

I'm not retired. I still work, but maybe 30 hours a week. It's been great to rediscover my sewing projects and to complete another one is just magnificent.

My next big project will be making 100 tote bags for the parents and children of Child Development Resources. I have been trying to figure out how to destash without just giving away yards of fabric again and the parents can use the bags with their kids for trips to the library. I did this one time in the past and look forward to my stack growing. I have SO MUCH fabric! 100 16"x 18" bags might make a dent! By the way, their the best and if you ever have a dollar to spare, they can always use donations of any kind, be it money or time or whatever. Okay, enough shameless plugging.

Keep sewing!

Sewing in June

I've had a couple projects going for a while - a friend's mom's quilt and one last quilt for myself. They're still in progress, but I'm ready to share some of it with you.

My friend's mom approached me toward the end of her life and asked me to "help her finish" a quilt. She wanted to make one out of handkerchiefs she's received over the years, some of them from her aunt. I said, "sure, let me see what you have." Out came a hat box filled with handkerchiefs sort of pinned together. Right about there, I asked if I could just make it for her. It took her 2 shakes of a monkey's butt to agree. We were visiting her in Florida at the time and I said I'd take them home with me, find a complementary fabric to go with the handkerchiefs, and get started. She asked me to give it to her daughter if she was not around to see it. On the drive home from Florida, I asked my friend if we could stop at Walmart on the way home, knowing that I had seen some sky fabric that would be just perfect there. So we did and I bought it. They didn't have much, so I wrote to the manufacturer and they sent me some more.

I've been doing a quilt-as-you-go method for this one and yesterday, put on the last row. It's ready now for the hand stitching on the back I have it pinned and should get that done in a day or so. The back is not a pretty sight, but it is what it is as they say.

Today, I made the binding and got it all rolled up. I do not use bias binding with quilts as there are no round edges to navigate. This is a 3" wide binding and I'll hand apply it as well.

I suspect in a couple weeks, this one will be done and delivered! I'll show off the front when I'm done.

As you might already know, I'm addicted to hexagons. I like to have a portable sewing project, and they fit the bill perfectly. I'm working now on what I deemed to be our last quilt. Yeah, right. I've made hexagon flowers with the same fabric for the centers, 9-patch denim squares (using 4" squares), and will be using a 2" spacer between the blocks. I'm not very excited to match up corners and with the spacer/sashing, I don't have to. Here are some in-progress pics:

Hand stitched flowers using English piecing.

One flower attached to a 9-patch with sashing attached. 

A couple of squares sewn together to begin a row.

Stack of 9-patch denim squares ready to embellish.

I have a beautiful piece of fleece for the back and will stitch the rows one at a time onto that as I go. This is a great way to use up old denim regardless of whether you do a hex flower on it or not.

So, that's my sewing for June. I hope you all have something going on as well. Sew on, my friends!

Sewing a memory

My best friend's mother recently died. About a month after, she came by and brought some sewing items of her mom's. One of them was a cross-stitcher organizer. It was a fabric three-ring notebook with floss organizers, pockets, a zipper closure, and handles to carry like a tote bag. She asked me if I could use it. I don't cross-stitch, so was sort of befuddled as to what to say.

Then I looked at it closely. Hmmmm....if I take the three-ring part out and take the pockets off, I could make a tote bag. The pockets would make a great potholder or oven mitt. Hmmmmm. So, that's just what I did. The fabric is quilted, so it's nice and sturdy. I removed the binding and took out the zipper, I discarded the three-ring thing and the pages that were in it. Yes, I do discard things from time to time, rare though it may be.

I folded down the top of the remaining binder fabric and stitched it down, catching the handles in the seam to provide stabilization. Then I sewed the sides together, starting at the top to make sure the top lines matched up. I double stitched this and then turned it inside out. Here's how it looks:

Not bad if I do say so myself!

Next to use those pockets. I found an oven mitt pattern on line and put it together. Ooops, the pattern required enlarging and I didn't do that, so the oven mitt was a) too small to turn properly and b) too small to put my hand in it! What now? Potholder! I cut the forlorn mitt into an almost square, rescuing what I could of the fabric. I found some matching bias tape in my stash, made a hanger with a piece of fabric that I "unquilted" from leftovers, and done.

It's not he best potholder I've ever made; it has a seam up the middle and the binding bunched in one place, but I don't dare take it apart! this is one of those "thought that counts" items, right?

I'll be giving these to my friend on Thursday. They're her memories now, and mine because I made them.