More Quilting Going On...

I've been making more selvage blocks over the last couple of weeks, but instead of making them so scrappy as I had started out, I decided I wanted a more "controlled scrappy" look.  I decided to use a blue calico and a white-on-white for the star points and background.  The center of the stars are the scrappy blocks made with the selvages.  

The blue and white fabrics are from my stash, so no wallets were harmed in the making of these blocks!  :D

I have 27 blocks finished right now and many, many, many more selvage centers that still to have star points added to them.  The blocks are 8" finished.  I don't know how big the quilt will be...but basically, it will be as big as I have blocks for when I'm done!  I have used all the selvages with wording/number/dots from my selvage basket.  The only selvages I have left now are the ones that have no white at all or only plain white with fabric, but no words, numbers, or dots.  I plan on using all of those selvages to try my hand at fabric-covered clothesline bowls.  


My "Christmas Stars" quilt is sandwiched and ready for me to start machine quilting on it.  I have to figure out if I'm going to try some sort of design in the body of it or just do meandering in the body and then a design in the borders.  Still thinking on these things...waiting for the quilt to speak to me and tell me what it wants!  :D

Loretta

A Quilt Showing and A New Project...

Quote for the Day:

"In this world, there's always going to be people who are better then you, so stop comparing yourself to others, and just be the best you."

~author unknown

Our local quilt group, the Millennium Quilters, held their quilt show.  I had never entered any of my quilts in a show before because:  1)  I give away almost all of my quilts so never have one here to enter;  and 2)  I don't think my work is "show-worthy".  

I wasn't going to enter one this year because the only quilt that I have of the six I made last year was the one I sent out to be long-armed and there isn't enough quilting on the borders, and knew I'd get dinged for that.  The rest of the quilt is beautifully quilted, but there just wasn't enough quilting done in the borders.  :(  I should have added more quilting there myself before I added the binding, but didn't...and if I try to add some now, it will all just pucker because of the binding being on already.  

Then about 2 weeks ago, I was laying on the decompression table at the chiropractor's office and saw the "Mr. Chillingsworth" quilt hanging on the wall...the one that I had gifted to him last year...

I asked to borrow it for the show and entered it.  The show was this past weekend and here is it hanging in the show...

Well...would you look at that???  It got "Honorable Mention" in it's class!!!  Wow!!!  Cool!!!

So...yeah...I'll be entering more quilts in future shows!  LOL


I have started on a new project...
I save the selvages off of the edge of my fabric (for those "non-quilters" out there...the selvage is what they put on the edge of the fabric to hold it onto the printing machines in the making of the fabric.  The make-up is denser and has printing on it, so you don't want to put it into your quilt.  However, many people save them and make them into a separate quilt...aptly named "selvage quilts"!)

This is what my selvage basket looked like...time to use them up!!!

I am making these star blocks using up some leftover 2.5" HST's from other projects as well as some new ones made with my new Accuquilt GO...all made from my scraps!!!   The selvages are foundation-pieced to used dryer sheets...which I press lightly with a cool iron, then cut down to 4.5" using my Accuquilt GO.  (I use my dryer sheets 2-3 times in the dryer before using them in a quilt to make sure there are no more oils or softener on them.  Once the softener is gone from them, they are merely a lightweight piece of non-woven material...similar to very lightweight interfacing.  I keep an empty tissue box on the dryer to put the used dryer sheets in when I pull clothes from the dryer.)

These blocks are so much fun to make and go rather quickly because there is no sewing/flipping/pressing like with other blocks.  Here is the tutorial I used:  http://quispamsisquilter.blogspot.com/2011/08/simple-selvage-square-quilt-block.html.  I use all the selvages...not just the ones with writing.  Here is a YouTube video showing how to make a selvage block, too, for those of you who like to actually see them being made:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKniayPTeKc.  

This is what the creative mess process looks like in my sewing room...

Hope this gives you some ideas of what to do with that fabric that you've been cutting off and not using.





Loretta