Just Sew Quilter

Tuesday, March 16, 2021

Salt and Sand Coming Soon!

Next week is the Salt and Sand blog hop, sponsored by Carol of Just Let Me Quilt.

I'm on for the 26th. Be sure to check out all the bloggers--there is always plenty of inspiration!

Here is the list:

March 22
Creatin' in the Sticks
Selina Quilts
That Fabric Feeling
Days Filled With Joy
Elizabeth Coughlin Designs
Karen's Korner
Homespun Hannah's Blog
Crafts and Math

March 23
MooseStashQuilting
Life in the Scrapatch
Food for Thought
For The Love Of Geese
Becky’s Adventures in Quilting and Travel
Karrin’s Crazy World
Sew Many Yarns
Kathy's Kwilts and More

March 24
Ms P Designs USA
DayBrook Designs
Vroomans Quilts
Kathleen McMusing
Quilt Schmilt
The Darling Dogwood
Daughters of Dorinda
Annie’s Musings

March 25
Quiltscapes
Beaquilter
Stitchin At Home
The Joyful Quilter
Scrapdash
Freckled Fox Quiltery
Quilts Fabric and Thread Tales
Words & Stitches

March 26
Just Let Me Quilt
Websterquilt
Quilting Gail
Samelia's Mum
Quilt Fabrication
Little Penguin Quilts
Just Sew Quilter
Inflorescence

Monday, March 8, 2021

Two February finishes

This hop is coming up soon! Carol has a good line-up of participants, and it will be a great hop, as they all are! Hope you plan to visit all of us and see our projects!

I subscribed to Shabby Fabrics word of the month wall hanging kit program for the year. This is the one for March. Sweet! I love the colors too.

Here is the finished quilt for a nephew. I folded the backing over so it can be seen. I really like that backing--used it on another quilt a couple years ago. Not the greatest picture but it was nasty weather outside when I took it. Now that it's nice, I need to get some better pics.

A closeup of the quilting--triangles for a math teacher. A piece of the math symbols fabric is visible--that's what I bound it with too.

See you on the 26th, if not before!

Thursday, February 11, 2021

Design Wall

I want to show off my new design wall. Of course, I should have taken pictures with it empty and a step-by-step, but I didn't think about it at the time...

For years I've used an old flannel sheet, hung by needles. I taped down the edges in spots with painter's tape. It was about 6' x 6', I think. My dream was to cover some ceiling panels with flannel and tack or glue them to the wall, but that wasn't getting done very quickly.

About a month ago, I saw a 72 x 72" felt design wall on sale, for $30 or $40 which turned on a light bulb in my head.

Why didn't I just buy felt yardage and tack it up on my wall? I wanted something larger than 72 x 72". So, I ordered 2.5 yards of white 72" wide felt. I cut it 84" long and tacked it on the wall around 3 sides--you can see the right side in the first picture. The tacks are about 6" apart. I originally thought I would add another 12" to the bottom, but as you can tell, I can't access that part anyway, so didn't do that. I did tack the bottom corners and a few places across the bottom to keep the felt flat.

You can also see that I have starting trimming the edges. We originally thought we would get a wood strip to put across the top, but then I couldn't hang fabric on the wood, so my husband said, "Why don't you use fabric for the trim? Then you can use the entire surface." What a smart guy!! I have black felt, so I cut 3" strips of black and taped them up with painter's tape (what would we do without that stuff???).

Here's the completed design wall. The top edge is against the ceiling and the right side is in the corner. It is 84" wide and 72" tall. I think it's going to be great!

The quilt top in process on it will be going to my nephew who is a middle school math teacher. There are some blocks with kids, some with sneakers, and some with math symbols amidst all the colors. He knows nothing about it, so I sure hope he likes it when I give it to him!! I already know how I want to quilt it, so stay tuned.

Monday, January 25, 2021

Other projects

You know how you come across one of the "squirrel" projects--and you have to do it right now?

That's what this heart pillow cover is. While the Hearts on Fire blog hop was going on, I saw this project--whether it was on the blog hop or another blog I follow, I'm not sure...

Anyway, I already had the pattern from a year or so earlier--had to do it! I used scraps for the heart pieces. This is a cover for a throw pillow that usually sits on my couch.

The pattern is called "Bursting Heart Pillow" and it's by Blue Susan Makes. She was inspired by a pattern by Amy Butler. Anyway, I'm pleased with the way it turned out.

I don't know why this photo decided it had to be on the left side of the page, but this is my Here a Chick, There a Chick, pattern by Bonnie Sullivan. It's flannel. I hand-appliqued the blocks and then put them together with the red sashing instead of the half square triangles the pattern called for. I used the black polka dotted flannel for the back and the binding. Oh, and I hand quilted with a long stitch around all the shapes and in the ditches.

Here's a close up of one of the blocks.

And another.

This is the 2nd Bonnie Sullivan wall hanging I've done. Bertie's spring was the other. I also have the kit for a summer one. That one may wait a while. There are other things on my plate right now.

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Hearts on Fire--My Turn

Today is my turn for the Hearts on Fire blog hop, hosted by Carol over at Just Let Me Quilt.

It's not too hard to put hearts on projects, and some just happen to be there!

Christine, a teacher friend of mine (1st grade, taught 1 year right next door to my 3rd grade classroom before I retired), asked for help with seat sacks. You know, one pocket fits over the chair back and another pocket holds books, etc. She had had some that didn't hold up, and good ones were rather expensive.

A cousin (who is BFF with Christine) sent me an email: Chris needs help. No one else had offered to help her, so I was in full gear pretty quickly. Found a simple pattern on line, adjusted it for 1st grade chairs, ordered the duck canvas (via JoAnn's curbside service) so they would be sturdy, and was making my prototype the next day. Chris wanted them to be black, but I didn't like the idea of plain black so I decided to applique a heart on each. I had some leftover cut-outs from my Cricut Maker for a different project and soon cut out more from a variety of colors (to make 26 seat sacks). The prototype fit the chair, thankfully, so I was stitching away on these lovelies. After the first several, I got smart and used my serger to finish the sides whenever I wasn't using selvage for an edge. That helped speed the process. These should be sturdy, washable, and usable for a long time.

It didn't take me long to realize I could use these for this blog hop! Hee, hee, and yay!

Ok, there is red on that heart below, but the background is white...

Sew, the 26 are delivered and will be used whenever school can start in person again--the goal was for January 19, and I haven't heard if that has changed.

My next project is Love Notes by Kimberbell. I participated in the mystery quilt, sewing version, which started at the end of July, I think, and continued through August. I had it all together early in the fall but couldn't decide how to quilt it. Finally got myself in gear earlier this month and quilted it. Then I had to sew on the embellishments. The pictures at the top right are 3 of my granddaughters.

I know there are some red hearts on this project, but there are also white ones spilling out of this jar,

and on this typewriter keyboard (3 keyboards in all).

There are pink ones on the cameras (3 in all).

Lastly, I put a heart label on the back, using some leftover light gray from the project.

I enjoyed doing this, having never done a Kimberbell project before, but I'm not sure if I will do another. I have too many other ideas rolling around in my brain.

One last heart to share... I recently put together a Lori Holt 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle, and I think I counted 4 hearts on it, 2 of which are not even red. 😄