Fine Lines and Facings

I learned something new this past week.

I had The Fine Lines Project sewn together, quilted and ready to finish, but I wanted to do something other than a traditional binding.

I did some searching and found a couple tutorials on Facing A Quilt.

One of the most simple and straight forward tutorials I found was from Joe Cunningham.

 I had a smaller project that I wanted to practice on...I also tried out the idea of folded corners on the backside so that I could hang these quilts simply from a wood slat, dowel or ruler.

 Holy Cat Hair!

This shows the facings on the backside and the corners for holding whatever I choose to hang it with.

Little Girl inspecting the backside of The Fine Lines Project.  I suspect she would like to add just a little more cat hair to the composition...

Little Girl and Little Man inspecting the top side before trimming and facing....

The Fine Lines Project, faced and ready for hand stitching.
25.5" x 34.5"
I like that clean finished edge on this quilt, and it was super simple to do.  It just required quite a bit of steam and pressing to get it to be smooth and flat.
I'm looking forward to getting the hand stitching done and then I'll find a place to hang this!

S

Giving myself Permission to Play

Too frequently I tell myself that I cannot start a new project because I have too many others in progress.

What I find, when I do that, is that not only do I not play with new ideas or experiment with different techniques but I also don't work on the projects I think I need to finish.

That results in a frustrated me, and I start to think I need to bag this entire quilting/sewing thing and take up something different like woodworking.  Or Gainful Employment.

Today I decided to give myself permission to play.  

There are two techniques that I want to work with more than any others...so I flipped a coin and decided that Straight Lines, a technique I found on the blog Art With A Needle by Kathleen Loomis.

I've experimented with it before, more than a year ago, and had such a good time with it that I"m excited to try it again.

(It will be a welcome break from my Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt!)

Here is a reminder of what I did last time I used this technique:

I was Surprised at how soft the fabric remained.  I thought with all the intersections and seams that it might end up a very stiff piece, but I was wrong.

Today's work/play started with black Kona and this black/white/grey fabric.

After a few slices and insertions:

(bobbin to show scale of strips)

And then I worked my way toward this:

I like the way the pattern of the fabric distorts some of the lines and intersections.

I still have some work to do .  I have several more panels cut that I want to use this technique on.

S

Instant Gratification!

Today's project is intended to be a part of a housewarming gift for a girl I've never met but think of as a friend.

I don't even know what colors she likes, but I had a couple of pretty fat quarters that were begging to be used and I though microwave bowl cozies would be a great, quick project.

I hope she likes them!

On Ringo Lake! The Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt, 2017

Here we go again!

Here are my cute little 9 patches, step one of On Ringo Lake.

I was only going to do half the blocks but after cutting strips to make the 9 patches I had more than enough to make them all...so I did.

I'm looking forward to seeing the blocks from some more of her followers on Instagram and her blog 
http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2017/11/on-ringo-lake-mystery-monday-link-up.html


I'm attempting the link-up with Bonnie and her other followers this year...

 Some people have such a great color sense and change things up a bit.   

I am using black in place of the chocolate brown Bonnie used.  

I have tons of black, but little to no brown. 

I have my sewing space all cleaned up and I'm looking forward to clue #2!

S

Prepare....To have your MIND blown!

This one is for you, Quiltnbe!

This will make 4 days in a row that I'm posting.

Don't ask why.

This could end just as abruptly as it all began.

First Up!  
A pair of pillowcases ..a gift for a recipient who won't be named at this time lest they discover these are for them.
I believe I bought the kits from the AQS Grand Rapids show this August.  They have been completed for awhile now, and hanging out in the gift box in my secret hiding place.

   

And then there is this little quilt top, currently on my design wall and waiting for it's borders.
My scrap box is never ending, and even though I had plenty of UFO's waiting to be worked on I decided to put this together near the end of summer when it was too hot to go outside.
The pattern is from www.quilterscache.com,
and it is referred to this as the Helter Skelter version of a Spiderweb quilt..
There are 8 sections to each block, and I have enough scraps that I could have made this larger but I found myself losing interest after making 72 sections.
I used a couple selvedges in the piecing, and wish I had used a few more.
Before borders it is approximately 30"x40".
I have no idea what I will do with this quilt, but for now I enjoy looking at it while I'm on my treadmill.

S

Instant Gratification

I've had this project in my head for quite awhile, 

ever since I made my first quilt with thrifted shirts.

One of the shirts had a U.S. Polo Assn tag on them.

For some reason I had it in my head that that was connected to Ralph Lauren,

and someone I know works for a R.L. company.

So I made this little mug rug for them to use at work.

(I thought I was being so clever!)

Just before I mailed it I did a little quick research.  I'm not sure why I started doubting myself but I'm sure glad I did.

I discovered that U.S. Polo Assn had absolutely nothing to do with Ralph Lauren.

So now I had a dilemma. 

 Do I not send this to the intended recipient?

Or do I send it with an explanation.

I chose to send it with an explanation.

I'm hoping they got a little bit of a laugh at my ignorance.

S

Just tying up loose ends...

I wanted to show that I did finish that crazy Hibiscus quilt.

This was NOT my best effort.

(I didn't even try very hard on this photo..the colors are actually much more vivid!)

If my kids want to use it some day for a moving blanket, or a dog crate cover, I'll be fine with that.

S