Ready For Borders...

I recently finished piecing the top for my vintage embroidery quilt...BTW, I need to come up with a snappy name for the quilt, so if you have any ideas, please post them!   I still need to add a border, but I need to go shopping because I don't have enough of any one 1930's reproduction fabric to make the border.  

The 25 pieced blocks sewn together measure 88" X 88" and I plan to add a 6" border all the way around to make it 100" X 100".  I've tossed around the idea of quilting this one "by checkbook"...which is where you send it out to be quilted by someone else, either longarm-quilted or hand quilted...in this case longarm quilted, because I don't feel like hand quilting this one and didn't feel that I could "do it justice" with my machine quilting.   If I did send this one out to be longarm-quilted, it would be the first ever that I haven't quilted myself, either by hand or by machine.  

I am still thinking it over, but am pretty sure that I am going to go ahead and machine quilt this one on my Juki TL 2000Qi.  After all, that is why I bought the machine last summer...to make machine quilting my quilts a little easier.  Sending them out to be quilted isn't cheap and I'm such a tightwad!  And my mediocre maching quilting skills will just have to suffice.  "Done is better than perfection" as the saying goes.

Here is the top draped over the pole on my hand-quilting frame.  Sorry that you can only see 2 of the 5 rows...but you get the idea.

The pinwheel cornerstone blocks were made from the leftovers that were cut off when making the star points, so no scraps were wasted!

My goal this year is to work on some of the UFO's and projects that I've started previously and keep my new starts to a minimum.  ("Yeah, right", said all the quilters out there!!)

About 2 years ago, I started making some strip blocks from scraps to be used in "Tulip Fields", a pattern by Bonnie Hunter in her book "String Fling".  You can see a picture of her completed quilt by clicking here.  

I pulled the string blocks out that I had started and started adding the "tulips" to them ...

I've had a lot of fun making these so far, so until I have the fabric for the border on the embroidery quilt, I'm going to continue to toodle around with them and bust some more scraps while making them!  

After being in my new sewing room for 22 months, I've found that there are a couple of things that aren't working for me just the way I'd like.  I've been doing some thinking and planning on what I want to do to make the room more functional for me.  Since I'm going to need Andy's help with hanging the shelves, etc., that I want to do, I'll need to share my plans/ideas with him at some point...preferably at a time when he won't roll his eyes and shake his head at me!  

Loretta

Bored Bored Bored Bored...

Quote for the Day:

"I think I could give up cigarettes easier than you could give up sewing."

~Andy Flood

I've been what seems like AGES since my sewing and quilting rooms have been torn up in the process of combining them into one room.  :(  I haven't been able to get to my sewing machine, fabric or tools for a couple weeks now.  And I haven't had a quilt in my quilting frame since Feb. 1!!!

YIKES!!!

No wonder I'm going "stir-crazy"!   First, I was waiting till we could go purchase the shelves for fabric storage...that happened last weekend.  Now I've been waiting for Andy to put them together for me...that's been occurring ever-so-slowly over the last several evenings...after he's put in a long day at work....and they still aren't completely finished.  One unit still needs the doors attached.  Then we need to figure out the exact spots that we are going to place them, so Andy can attach them to the wall for safety.  Then on Saturday, Erin is coming home to help me get everything back in working order...all nicely organized.

So, just WHAT IS A GIRL TO DO in the meantime to keep from going completely berserk???

I know...I'LL START A NEW PROJECT!!!

I can't get to my regular fabric and tools, but I can get to the cutting table.  And I *think* I know where a rotary cutter is, and I can get to my rulers, my boxes of scraps, and my Featherweight.  'Nuff said.

I know what I'll do...I'll set up on the dining room table and do a little string piecing!!!  :)

Originally, I was just going to do some mindless sting piecing, using used dryer sheets as a foundation.  (If you mention doing that on a quilting forum you will get LAMBASTED for using dryer sheets for foundation.  HOWEVER, this is MY blog and I *will* show you how to do it.  *IF* you know of someone who is allergic to dryer sheets, please, by all means, DO NOT give them a quilt that uses them for foundation piecing.  How simple is that???  It's not rocket surgery!!  Oh, you non-quilters out there, you have NO IDEA how passionate quilters can get when debating the use of used dryer sheets for foundation quilting.  Oy vey!  Most people use paper for foundation piecing, but life is too short to take the time to remove all that paper!  So I leave the dryer sheets on the block and just quilt it in.)

Anyway...back to the topic at hand... instead of just doing random string blocks, I decided that I actually wanted my strings to be made for a specific quilt, and not just another "string quilt"...I've already made one of those and I'm not into repeating patterns...life is too short to repeat patterns!  LOL

Since I have Bonnie Hunter's book, String Fling, so I perused it and found a pattern that I thought I'd like to make and cut my dryer sheets according to those dimensions.  

This is the pattern I decided to make...Tulip Fields!

(source) 

I took my Singer Featherweight, an ironing pad, my iron, and all my crumbs and scraps of fabric downstairs to the dining room table last night and set up little area where I can create until the sewing room is ready for use.  It was at that point, that Andy made the statement that I quoted at the beginning of this post!  :)

So now, here's how you use used dryer sheets for quilting...
First, using a very low setting on the iron, press them out so they look like this...

Next, using your rotary cutter and ruler, cut them into the size you need...in this case, 4" squares.  I am able to get 2 squares out of each dryer sheet.

Following the directions for the pattern you are using, sew your fabric strings onto the dryer sheet using the regular stitch length and a 1/4" seam.  (Since you are not removing the foundation, you don't need to shorten your stitch length.)

Make sure the entire piece of dryer sheet is covered.  They will look like this...an ugly mess!  LOL

Next, flip your "block" over and square up to whatever size you need...in this case, I need 3 7/8" square.  When trimming, make sure your 45 degree line on your ruler goes right down the middle of the center strip.

You end up with a pretty block like this...

Now the pattern I'm doing calls for the block to be cut into two, right down the middle of the first strip that was sewn corner to corner.  Like this...

These two triangles will be two "baskets" for the tulips.  :)

Here are some of the blocks squared up to 3 7/8", but not split down the middle yet.  I'll keep them in the square form till they are needed for the rest of the pattern...they will be easier to store and count that way!  :)  I need 144 of these squares, and last night I was able to make 12 of them in about one hour!  :)

BTW....just because you are using scraps, do NOT expect your scrap pile to decrease in size.  You see, there are two kinds of organisms in this world, ANAEROBIC...those that DO NOT need oxygen to survive, and AEROBIC...those that DO need oxygen to survive.  

Scraps are AEROBIC...meaning that as long as you keep them from air and light, they are dormant.  HOWEVER, when you expose them to air and light, they MULTIPLY like rabbits!!!   So what fit into three of these plastic shoe-box size containers will NOT fit when I am done!  :(  It's the law of scraps. Scraps beget scraps, ad infinitum!

Loretta