Last Finish for July

Here's the finished pink version of the double pinwheel quilt...(see Monday's post for the blue one)...

A closeup of the quilting...loops and a few hearts again...

And a closeup of the front, back, and binding....

Every fabric for both quilts except for the binding and pink backing was from my pre-2013 stash...about 5 1/2 yards worth. That makes for a total of a bit more than 61 yards for 2013 out of my stash!

Giving In

OK, I finally succumbed to the temptation and now have an account on Pinterest. I've discovered that it really is a good way for me to organize my bookmarks.

If you are so inclined, you are welcome to follow me there...here's the link.

And whoever said that "Pinterest is crack cocaine for middle-aged women" hit the nail on the head!

A Finish for July

The first of my blue/pink double pinwheel quilts is finished. Here's the blue version...

Here's the back (I had forgotten to take a picture before adding the temporary sleeve -- this quilt is going in a show in August). I didn't have enough of the print fabric, so I just added the last of the solid blue.

A closeup of the quilting...loops and a few hearts...

Closeup of the quilting from the back...it's a better shot of the backing fabric...

 The pink one will be in an upcoming post...

Cute!

Some of the fabrics in Monday's post have the cutest selvages!

Fun

The music could be better, but the video is cute...

Down the Shore*

Last week, the guest speaker at my guild was the owner of Endless Mountains Quiltworks. (You can see photos from the program on my guild's blog by clicking here.)

During the program, lots of wonderful quilting goodies were given away, thanks to the generosity of the shop and the guild. Many guild members went home with prizes, including me!

I won this gorgeous bundles of fq's from the "Seascapes" collection by Deb Strain for Moda.

Here's a better view of the designs....

Lovely, isn't it?

* -- Those of us from New Jersey say we're going "down the shore"...not the beach!

Cute Story

This will put a smile on your face.

Have a good weekend!

More Gingham Love

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I've been working on a project using various colors of gingham. A couple of months ago, I picked up a package of gingham pieces from SewGreen for just $5 and decided to try making patchwork half-square triangles (yes, the points are cut off on some of the triangles and the squares don't all line up perfectly, but I don't care). Last week, I stopped in at SewGreen again and decided to buy another package of gingham. At $5, who could resist...and the $$ goes toward a good cause (read about what SewGreen does by clicking here).

The top is now finished and ready to be quilted...I even have several yards of pink gingham that I picked up at a yard sale for $2 that will make a great backing.

In Love With Gingham

I've been working on a larger project involving gingham fabric, but took a slight detour today to make this scrappy block from a tutorial that I've been meaning to try for quite a while now. You can find the tutorial by clicking here.

I love how this has turned out and plan to make a larger quilt with all of the gingham scraps I have. But I really need to finish the other gingham project first...

My Favorite Thread

I love using So Fine by Superior Threads when sewing on binding. It's nice and strong, but thin enough to barely be seen when hand-sewing multi-colored binding. I'm using this white color on the striped binding and the stitches almost disappear. I'm a very happy camper.

So Fine is the thread I use most when machine quilting on my HQ16...and since I have so much of it on the large cones, I often use it for piecing as well.

You can read more about So Fine thread on Superior's website. The site is full of information, especially on their "education" pages. (No affiliation, just a very satisfied customer.)

Happy "Birthing" Day To Me

I can't believe it, but we've raised an adult!

Happy 21st Birthday to my son Nicholas!

More Progress

I've now completed the second Double Pinwheel top, this time it's the mainly blue version. Check my blog post from a few days ago to see the pink one.

And the binding for both is ready...

Mini-Quilt Challenge -- IMQG

A few weeks ago I blogged about cutting 625 1-inch squares for a challenge in the Ithaca Modern Quilt Guild.

What you see in the photo is the final result -- my own QR code in fabric! (click here to learn what a QR code is)

The whole quilt is 12 1/2 inches square -- the individual squares are 1/2-inch finished...well, they're mostly square.

I took pictures as I went along and plan to blog about the process of making this quilt when I have more time.

Even though the pieces aren't all perfectly square, I've tested this out by scanning it using the Google Goggles app on my tablet and it worked! Cool!

Progress

The fabric that I showed a couple of weeks ago is now made its way into one quilt top. I hope to get the second one together soon and then get them both quilted and bound! Stay tuned.

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy Fourth of July to my American readers! And since I don't have a patriotic quilt to show, here's some red/white/blue fabric that's in my stash, just waiting to be put into a new project. Maybe by July 4, 2014!

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

I'm almost too embarrassed to show this, but...

...I finally took some time this past weekend to clean out my travel machine, the Janome Jem Platinum 720. I mostly use it when I go somewhere away from home to sew, so it usually spends most of its time in the travel case. I never seem to get around to giving it a good cleaning.

The photo shows what happens when you wait too long to clean. My machine had been a bit noisy lately (but was sewing just fine), so I opened it up for some surgery. I removed a lot of lint buildup (and I mean a lot), added a few drops of oil, and closed it back up. Now the machine is a lot quieter. Oh, yes, I changed the needle, too.

See that big hunk of lint in the left center of the picture? That was in the bobbin case! I'm amazed the machine sewed at all.

I resolve to do better and not wait so long to clean my machine!