Getting the quilt ready for the quilter!

C & S's Irish chain quilt top is now ready for the quilter.  Sometime back I took a class at our LQS "Material Obsession" about getting your finished quilt ready for the quilter.  So here's what I did:

1.  Square up the quilt.  It's hard to put a wonky quilt on a Longarm quilting machine and not have the wonkiness show up.

2.  Iron and snip.  Even if you were careful about snipping threads as you made the blocks, there are still thread here and there sewn into the seams. 

 It helps if first you can give the quilt a good shake to lose a batch of the loose threads.  Then Press, snip, press, snip, press, snip.  It helps to have a large ironing surface.   One thing I learned is to keep a trash bin next to you for the threads you are getting rid of.  If they brush on the floor, you will pick them up again on your quilt as you continue with the pressing.

One thing I forgot:  Measure the quilt for the back before you fold it up nice and pressed.  I did have to lay it back out and measure for making my backing.  

I am using one of the leftover plain blocks for my label, so I need to make my backing in strips.  I know the quilting will affect my label, but that's okay.

Here is the beginning of the quilt label:

It's kind of big for a label, but I had the extra block and I wanted to try this old applique pattern I have.  It's from Mckenna Ryan's designs but I can't seem to locate the pattern cover right now, but it is an old one, pre block of the month.

Now onto the back!

On my Knitting needles:

I've been finishing up my Seaweed Vest that I started last year. 

  Since we are planning a move and I started packing up my books, I didn't have the pattern so I could do the finishing on the edges.  I know it was planned to be an I-cord finish, but I chose another I had done in the past instead.  I picked up the stitches around the neck and proceeded as follows:

purl 3 rows, knit 3 rows, purl 3 rows.  Bind off loosely.

Do you like how it finished?

For the armhole I just purled 3 rows, then cast off.  It curls in just right and finishes it off without adding to much width.

I like how it turned out.

It's a bit shorter than I wanted, - and I thought I measured well -

so I might just add the same neckline edging to the bottom and it might add about 2".

The Irish Chain saga

I titled this 'saga' but it's not a sad saga.  This was fun starting while visiting my daughter in Oregon, T.  I had an idea of colors, but with her help and a trip to JoAnn Fabrics we came up with these:

Basic triple chain block - 38 done!

New DIL3, S, said she would like neutrals, but T said green is the new neutral!  (It doesn't hurt that that's her favorite color).  But I think the colors work well together and we forged ahead and made all the triple chain blocks together, all 38 of them!

 Then I came back to Arizona, picking up Mom on the way home.  Mom and I worked on cutting and getting ready to sew the alternate blocks.  We had a nice time chatting and I cut - then I realized I had cut the base color too narrow!  
When we originally bought the beige - a very nice linen looking fabric - I bought 2 yards.  When we left T's in Oregon I started thinking I would need more so in Santa Clarita, CA with DIL2, Tf, I went to JoAnn Fabrics there.  Lo and Behold we found the exact fabric!  I bought another yard, so thought I was good till Mom and I chatted my way into a wrong cut.  I know, I know, "measure twice, cut once".  Any way - when we took Mom home to So. CA, a 5 hour drive, we stopped in Hemet at a JoAnn's but after much searching I couldn't find the exact fabric.

Now, back in Arizona, I decided to drive the hour or so to JoAnn's in Bullhead and my girlfriend found the right stuff nearly as soon as we started looking!  Yay!  So I could continue on.

 Now it's all laid out with 3 seams to go!  Son, C & DIL3, S arrive tomorrow from their home in Ecuador so I'm hoping to have this all together as a taste of what's to come.  

So now I have a question for you.  I usually buy my fabrics for quilts in a quilt shop.  This time we did what was easy and didn't search for one in Oregon, but went right to JoAnn's.  I found that a couple of the fabrics frayed.  One is actually fraying A LOT!  Do you find that?  Also, this was the first time I didn't prewash - we wanted to get right to the stripping and sewing since T had that day off work.  Do you think had I pre washed the fraying would've been less?  Just wondering.  Let me know what you think in the comments.  
Hopefully there will soon be a totally completed quilt to photo shoot for the next blog.

Still Sewing ...

Since Felting the beautiful sweater I made for my daughter - that I hadn't even given to her yet - I just haven't had it in me to get into a knitting project.  So I've been sewing & sewing & sewing!  The Mom & Me quilt is still being worked on.  Right now it's the size of a generous baby quilt, but I do have more circles ready to go!   

It is laying on a queen size bed and I'm hoping it will fit a double when finished.

I'm waiting to get together with my mom to work on it some more.  She's such a big help!
In the meantime, I've started a new project.  At the Bullhead City quilt show I bought a 'ruler' called Fun & Done.  Here is what I have started with it:

 I have a ton of strips left over so I'm making this of strips that I already have cut.  I'm using various squares for the backing, and I'm hoping it looks okay when it's all put together!

Here is a closeup of 4 blocks together.  I like them, but I'm already out of one of the strip colors and now need to start varying the colors a bit.










Also, I joined an online swap on www.myquiltplace.com to swap sets of mug rugs.  They are all done, but I don't want to spoil any surprises by showing you them now.  I'll put on pictures of what I made and what I receive when the time is over.
This weekend I'm doing a "Stitch Weekend" on www.stitch talk.com where we only work on one thing all weekend, starting last evening and lasting through Sunday.  I started on an apron for my Sister In Law and am having fun with the details!  
I have some special friends that do a lot of wonderful volunteer work in the ministry and I'm trying to make aprons for them.  I've made 3 so far and have 8 to go.  I hope to have a blog full of wonderful aprons and ideas when I'm done!


That's enough for now - more next week!

Sampler's Galore!

Today I wandered through the 'hometown' quilt show that the Colorado River Quilters put on in Bullhead City, AZ.  I took a couple of snapshots - and I wish I could give proper credit to the quilters - but these Samplers were especially nice.  I'll be teaching a friend how to quilt and we will end up with a sampler full of quilts and these are such nice ideas for setting the blocks ...  enjoy ...

A close up.  Isn't the way she set the 6" blocks in the center
attractive.  They really catch your eye!  

Sampler with Sashing with Posts

This quilt is a sort-of sampler but without a
strong background fabric.  It's done
very effectively and still is pleasing to the eye!

The turtle pattern

Wow, are there a lot of pieces to this Turtle!  We got them all cut out, they are sewn together and now just waiting to be put together.  
Mom had to leave (:-(  but I got the 2 last pieces sandwiched together.  She will return next month and we will get the puzzle put together.
It's kind of cool how this goes together.  
Each piece has 2 pieces of flannel and 1 matching piece of batting.  They are then sewn together as a sandwich, right sides out, batting in the middle.  Then, as you can see on the head, each piece is simple machine quilted to make a pattern for the final quilt.  Very easy and fun!

More to come when assembled ...

The turtle pattern, a photo by desertnettie on Flickr.

The turtle pattern

Sewing, Knitting, Cooking - Can it Get Much Better than this?

So my mom is visiting and the inspiration is thick in the air!  We've started a quilt that I've been wanting to make, but the oomph had gone out of my sales for starting.  It's from a set of templates that I bought at our nice little home town quilt show 2 years ago.  When I saw them again this year (it's a 2 year quilt show) I remembered them and dug them out.  The templates are from www.quiltershaven.com  and make a quilt as you go 'Orange Peel'/'Robbing Peter to Pay Paul' quilt:

You see at the back, it starts as a square of scraps, then the batting and circle is sewn in, then turned right side out (lower right).  These are then sewn into a 4 set block.  Here is a shot of the other side, with the "Orange Peels" showing:

Then we put 4 sets together and got these 2:

These sets will be sewn together then more sets made and added on.  What is so nice is that it is actually quilted as you go, so when we decide it's the right size, it's done!

I'm going to name this "Mom and Me" because this will be the first quilt my mom and I actually made together!

Then we sat in Hobby Lobby looking at patterns and got more inspiration for a Turtle Rag Quilt from a pattern by Simpicity.  It's #2493 and there will be more on this next time!