Something New

  Today I am trying something new - home made spray starch.  "Why?" you ask.  Mostly because I am too lazy to go out to buy some and partly because I don't want to spend the money.  So yes, lazy and cheap.  I have found that I am not the only one making my own spray starch though, as there are recipes that are around to make it.  I'll let you know how I make out in a little while....

and actually,  next week is sewing week for me I can't wait and am preparing this week so that all the projects are set up and ready to go under the needle!  Having this starch is just part of the preparation process.

I made maybe too much of it (I think) as I put 3 teaspoons in cold water to dissolve and then heated it, adding more water to make it thinner as  needed - during the week I will be using it on fabric 

Freedom

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

Thomas Jefferson

 

I Wonder Wednesday

  Today my thoughts are on thread and whether or not I should use a variegated thread on the back side of the quilt shown in the previous post.  The top will have a solid color thread but the back is a solid color so to add interest maybe the color should be from the multicolor thread design that the quilting will make.  Any thought on this from readers?  Has anyone done this?  What were your results and were you pleased with them? 

This is just my wooden spool collection some of which were my mother in laws, thanks Ida.  One time in the not too distant past all thread came on wooden spools, now I don't think that there are any that do.  Do you have a wooden spool collection?   

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Saturday Stitches

  This is today's progress, not really a lot but I am "sketching" out my stitch layout for this next small quilt that I am working on.  Not sure if you can make it out very well.  Here is what you are looking at a large piece of clear vinyl overlay with the pattern drawn on with erasable marker over the quilt top.  This gives me an idea of how the stitching can be done on the machine.  It helps a great deal, when the quilt is rolled up on the bars, I don't always remember exactly what I wanted to stitch in a particular area.  This way it's all there for me as a reference once the final decision is made as to pattern.
  You can buy the vinyl in most fabric stores or hardware stores.  There are different thicknesses as well, choose what works best for you.  Any erasable marker will work, just make sure that when you are finished with the design that it is well wiped off so that the next quilt isn't soiled.  
  Take a look.

The black lines are drawn onto the clear vinyl.  This gives you the idea of  what the stitch pattern may be, of course at this point you have the option of change and experimentation without ripping out stitches.

Here are some of the experimental ideas that I am playing with.  These are from my sketch journal.  Click on the pictures to have a closer look.

 

Pasquetta

   In Italy the day after Easter Sunday is celebrated as Pasquetta or Little Easter. So in honor of this official Italian holiday Buona Pasqua!  Enjoy.

Warm and delicious home made by Erran, Pecan Cinnamon Rolls, nice and sticky and then...

Little Peeps Chic and Bunny with eggs basket...

and their friend the Easter Chicbunny. Created by the very talented Miss Sarah.

Happy Easter

Brown eggs, hand painted by me.

and now another one

and then another one.  Click to see a close up.

1, 2, 3 look what the Easter Bunny left me 

and in a nest of fabric scraps!  

Thanks Easter Bunny.

Seriously though, Easter is a time of re-birth, the day Jesus is resurrected from the dead as promised by God the Father.

Happy Easter Everyone!

Better Pictures ... maybe

quilt front

Quilt front

showing a section of the back

close up of half square triangle strip

mitered corner binding

   These pictures show a more accurate representation of the colors of the fabrics used in this serendipitous lap quilt. (See previous post and you will see what I mean.) I love the "bird footprints" on the blue and the little dots of color on the other blue fabric.  I just kind of threw them together with out thinking and they worked.  The red pieces are there because I need extra length and the half square triangles were to match the front of the quilt that this piece was originally made for.  That particular quilt is just waiting to have a binding sewn on.  Then I will show it on this blog.  The quilting was done on the idea of the lines that form the square pattern of the binding and matching fabric in the body of the quilt.  Hope you like it.

The Unexpected Quilt

The unexpected quilt you ask?  Sometimes while thinking of making a quilt complete I must decide whether to make a one piece backing or look through my array of fabrics and piece a backing big enough to cover the backside of the quilt I'm working on.  Many of us quilters have been in this spot at one time or another. This one quilt I decided to piece the backing.  Well the backing appealed to me so much that I just had to make it a quilt on it's own with a pieced backing as well.  So the original back is now the front.  Here are some pictures of the "new" quilt, they are a little darker than the actual quilt, the lighter strips are a white back ground with blue lined design that has little dots of different colors in the middle of it (not easy to see), then the red is apple red, the main color is a sort of cornflower blue that could be persuaded to lean on the light purple side if it were paired with just the right color.  It has little bird foot prints on it, not sure who the manufacturer is.  Then the half square triangle strip was sewn in place to compliment the quilt that this "backing" was originally sewn for.  Sometimes you just never know what you might come up with. 

 

  The original quilt that I was working on has a half square triangle center bordered by a white back ground and an inch wide secondary border with yet a third wider border in white.  Right now I am in the middle of quilting it... and unfortunately rippng out  stitches, first in the beginning at each corner (mostly just because I did not like the design of the quilting) and then in the center where all of the half square triangles are, again the stitching design isn't what I am looking for.  So I am going a little bug eyed looking at all those stitches!  When that one is finally finished I will post a couple of pic's of it - if I can still see when it is done, lol.

 I know with all the blogs out there and the busy lives we all are living these days our time is valuable I just wan to say thanks to all of you who stop by and visit my blog,