putting it all together

I looked at the blocks today, and spread them out to see which should go where. It was pretty simple, actually, I just tried not to get the same fabric facing itself on any neighboring block. Then I put out more of the coppery blocks as corners. Then I got one row sashed. I should remember that there are times that I'm a very linear thinker, and so, since I grabbed the bottom row first, it is now, by virtue of the sashing I did, the top row. Oh well.

Here's how it looks now. I was rather log cabin building in adding the sashing, but I think it worked all right. I don't know if you can tell with the photos, but there are ink issues, left over from measuring and marking.

More log cabins

Well, not really more squares, but I sewed more strips on the squares I have. In fact, I'm to the point where I don't have a complete set of strips left for the squares I have. I don't know how big Mom intended these squares to be, but I know I don't have enough strips for that. Not nearly enough. By at least 2 strips per block that I've put together, and I only used about half the centers she cut. So... now the further decision making.

My first thought is to just stop where I am, or at most add enough strips to make an even set out of the strips I have left. Just keep the blocks as a they are what they are project, which is pretty much what I intended for them to be. Except that I want to finish them into something useful. Three by six squares could probably be worked into a baby quilt or something.I'll frame them to even things up, and I'm thinking that if I orient them all the same way, then it won't be so noticeable that they aren't "finished" squares. Will it? I mean, I probably wouldn't notice, looking at someone else's finished piece, but will it just cause someone else to have the heebie jeebies or something?

So, for the rest of the project, I think I probably have fabric I can repurpose for a backing, and some batting as well, especially if it is baby quilt size. I think I'll incorporate the leftover "center" pieces into the sashing, if there are enough of them to work with, and I think there are. I'll get to try out my new bias tape foot for the binding, and the free motion foot for the quilting. Sweet, huh.

Well, no pictures today, but if I lay out the blocks tomorrow and add sashing, I'll be sure to show it off.

Log Cabin Quilt Blocks

I've been going through things in my craft room, trying to organize and simplify them. There is a lot of stuff being stored in there right now, and if it wasn't, crafting would be oh so much easier. That said, some of the things I find aren't easy to find (emotionally) and then aren't easy to know what to do with.

Generally, I'm getting to a place where deciding whether to let go is getting easier. Still, yesterday, I found several sets of quilt block pieces that my mom had cut out. Not enough for a whole quilt. At least not a whole quilt with any one of the blocks. I know I could talk a lot right now about my mom, and her love of crafting, and making things. I could go on and on about how diabetes took her eyesight, and how much that sucked. And it did. Instead, I'm going to talk about a journey I took, today.

I started with a decision. am I going to keep this project or get rid of it. I'm sure I could find someone, somewhere who would be ecstatic to receive these pre-cut pieces. I'm still working on that decision on some of the squares. But, I decided to sew these up. Roxanne and I have been building some quilt blocks of our own, so these didn't seem too far away from that. The centers for all theses blocks is some coppery squares, then there are strips of (mostly) flowers. I put them on the table with my sewing machine thinking... hmmmm log cabin quilt. I know how that works. I'll arrange the strips by length and go to town. And so it started. I had enough short strips for 18 blocks. There were more squares, and I'll figure out what to do with those some time.

I wondered briefly what my mom's plan for them had been, and then decided that I just needed to move along. The next few strips went on fairly randomly, mostly alternating dark then light. That really wasn't so esthetically pleasing though as I would have liked. Now, I'll be working through 2 darks and 2 lights. I've learned some about this quilting process, even with such a basic task. I'm not sure I think these blocks are pretty, but I certainly think the finished product could be useful. I'm still not sure what that finished project will be. It won't be whatever Mom had in mind, but perhaps it won't be so far off, either.

By the time I had ironed my last square for the day, I felt like I had dipped into a hope chest from my mother, and found the hope, still there, waiting for me.

Hand Dyed Yarn

I like to visit the Farmer's Market this time of year, to pick up fresh produce, especially tomatoes. This morning, I happened upon a woman and her spinning wheel. Cool, huh. She had a few skeins of hand dyed sock yarn that was really beautiful. I picked up the blue one and didn't put it down. Now, it is mine, all mine, and I guess I'll have to get out the knitting needles for another pair of socks!

Shelbi Fashion Show

About a month ago - while school was still in, and finals were approaching - the craft blogs I look at had a week of sewing for kids, and showing off what was made. It wasn't a good time for me, although Roxanne and I could have whipped something out. We had other things on our plates. This week, while Shelbi has been visiting, we worked on some clothes for her to take home. Like most families, new clothes that parents don't have to pay and arm and a leg for are welcome. She got to help in the designing of them, and Roxanne and I got to sew some cute girlie clothes. It is a win all around.

At Joann's, Shelbi and I found some cute summery fabrics on the sale racks. She picked out what she liked, and I bought 4 yards of fabric, some cute decorative buttons, and elastic. At home, I cut out some simple shapes: an A-line skirt, a tiered skirt, a peasant top (the pattern even has the sleeves attached) and a top that has the bodice gathered into a neckband that also serves as shoulders. I also found a piece of fabric that I repurposed to a little dress, and enough leftover from a t-shirt I was making for myself to cut out one for her as well.

There were only a couple of issues that we had to correct. First the lime green top was just too long. Easy enough to shorten. Shelbi had picked out some fun buttons to embellish with, and the finished top is cute and summery. The other problem was the t-shirt. The fabric is soft, and stretchy, and the neckline turned out to be WAY too big. Our fix? We threaded a short piece of elastic through the turned neckline hem and gathered it a little in the center front and center back. I think it turned out really well.