Thursday, October 30, 2008

Waste Triangles

I have been making some Flying Geese segments since the beginning of the year from a kit for a Stars quilt. The instruction were to use rectangles and put squares on each end, sewing a diagonal seam. Press outward along seam, then cut off the extra corners Nothing was said about the "waste triangles", or the part you cut off. I have been double sewinig the seam, cutting off the sewn corners, saving them, pressing and squaring them to 1 3/4". Then sewing them together as Leaders & Enders. Each foursome came out to 3" square.


Finally I have them together in a quilt top, about 36" x 36".
Don't tell. The main quilt is for my Secret Sister.
Sara
Gratitudes:
I was the only person walking in sunshiney McGraw Park along the Grand River.
Phillys won at home.
Banquet tonight, so no cooking required.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Daughter of Whacky Basket

Here is an old photo of our Whacky Baskets quilt, before the binding was put on.

When the SpoolSpinners Bee made all the Whacky Baskets for our raffle quilt (given to the Guild for the Quilt Show in early October), we made double the number needed so that we could make a second quilt. That way we could have our our "lottery" among the Bee members for the second quilt.



I have charge of the "second" quilt (not shown yet), but even after that top was made, there were more blocks left.

Lynda DeVries said that she would make some additional items so that MORE of the Bee members could have something. This month she brought them to our meeting---and she had made enough for EVERYONE!

Here is mine.
They are covers for spiral notebooks. She put this lime green binding around all of them.

These are so much fun!

By the luck of the draw, my notebook uses a basket that myself had made. I plan to use it to keep a diary of my quilting progress.

Thanks, Lynda!

Sara


Gratitudes:
RED red maples along the driveway
Only one more week of policial advertisements
Ready-made meatballs

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Finally a UFO finish!

Here's what I had.

I went to a quilting retreat in 2005, and one of the exchanges involved making several black and white nine-patches with a colored center. When we were together, we were instructed to sign each white patch and then cut the nine-patch into quarters. It was these quarters which we exchanged, ending up with the signature of each other Retreater.

These blocks sat in a stack for a couple of years, and then just to "solidify the stack" I sewed them together. So now I have had this piece for a year or so.


I'm not going to see these people again. It was a one time thing, far from home.

Today I decided to cut it into strips, eliminating the signatures, and then see what I could do with the strips. Maybe I would just throw them away, or maybe not.

The strips laid nicely together, and then I remembered that our Guild will be collectiing doll quilts in November for the Santa Claus Girls. This could be a DOLL quilt, for a very with-it child. One strip wasn't quite the same, but I used it anyway! Just a little whacky.

With the wild and crazy border fabric, I sized it up to 21"x22". Bound and quilted at home this afternoon. So Finn, I finished the first of 5 UFOs I said I'd do before Dec. 31.

Now I just have to buy a with-it doll to match!

Sara

Gratitudes:

Good meeting with photos of our wished for Nature Park
High hopes that the millage will pass on Nov. 4
Sunshine on the fall foliage today

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Fall in Ontario




Charlie and I were in Stratford for three plays, and also enjoyed the display of quilts there to raise money for cancer patients.


I got a kick out of this one of cats and flowers because of the funky cat stripes and the tail,





but I liked it even more when I realized that the cats' whiskers were made from rick-rack and stood out from the face of the quilt. Lots of fun!



Then we spent four days over at the coast of Lake Huron, staying in two different B&Bs and really enjoying the provincial parks and the nearly deserted beaches. Too bad Zeke was back home at "camp" instead of travelling with us.




We walked across an old railway bridge in Goderich that went over the Maitland river, and the color of the sumac was blazing.






Sara
Gratitudes:
Beautiful, warm weather on the days we wanted to be outside
Two spectacular gourmet dinners
"Opening night" for DVD of Seven Passages:The Story of Gay Christians