More Jumbo Granny Squares & 16 Patch Blocks

I pulled the 2.5" square box and pieced two more jumbo granny squares. Now I have 12 blocks, enough to make a charity quilt.

 Click here for the jumbo granny squares pattern.

Since I had the squares box out, I decided to make some 16 patch blocks using whatever I found in there. I pieced 10 squares.

I've got quite a pile of the blocks and I'm starting to think about how I want to finish these blocks.

I could just put sashing and cornerstones in between them but then sometime, somewhere I saw a quilt that had used the sashing and cornerstone idea but had added an alternate puss in the corner block. I loved how that quilt looked so that is what I'm going to do. First the 16 patch blocks -

Then the 16 patch blocks with the alternate puss in the corner block. You need to use your imagination and pretend there is sashing and cornerstones. I added 4 patches to the center of the alternate blocks to use more of the squares in the box.

Linking to Scrap Happy Saturday, Oh Scrap

Pillowcase for Mom

School will be starting in two weeks, time to get those projects and plans accomplished that were decided back in June.

The older grandson selected these fabrics to make a pillowcase for his mother. She loves purple!

His eye hand coordination is much better than when we made pillowcases last year. We didn't add the flange, just a little too advanced for a 9 year old. Maybe next year we'll work on a simple quilt.

I washed the pillowcase so it wouldn't bleed. She is thrilled with her new pillowcase.

Here is a link to the Magic Pillowcase pattern.

Another thing scratched off the list was stopping at Subway on the way home from the playground and getting carryout for lunch.

Since were in Wakarusa, I took updated photos of the quilt garden.

The next picture is of a bench set on the west side of the quilt garden. This gives you a nice view of downtown Wakarusa on a hot July morning. 

Linking to Put Your Foot Down, Peacock Party, Whoop Whoop Party, TGIFF!, Finished Or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Brag About Your Beauties, UFO Busting

Busy July

Most of the photos in today's post are from the first of July but I'm getting around to sharing them now.

The lilies are the shining star of the early July flowerbeds. They're so pretty! 

The purple cone flowers were just starting to bloom the first of July. They are very invasive and threaten to take over my flowerbeds.

I clip off the seed heads every year. Last summer I took the seeds and walked along the south edge of a hay field that is located along the road. I threw a handful of seeds in the road frontage all the way west to the line fence with our neighbors.

Purple cone flowers don't bloom the first year they're planted from seed, they just grow. I'll find out in 2022 if my experiment was successful.

Little wireman is almost overgrown with this ground cover. I'll make sure he doesn't get completely buried. He's been decorating my flowerbed since 1999! He was made in art class by a son, I put him in the flowerbed for his high school graduation open house back in '99. He never made it back into the house.

I haven't had my own garden for several years. Our local son has a garden and I've been helping with his this year. I ran out of green beans last winter so I've planted plenty. They had tiny flowers the first of July, we're getting plenty to eat and put in the freezer. Yes, I freeze my green beans, I hate the canned ones.

The grass needs mowing and the garden needs to be weeded but we had too much rain the end of June. I feel guilty for saying that when the western US states need rain so badly. I just couldn't get yard mowed with it raining every day and I don't like to mud around in the garden.

Twenty plus years ago I planted two different varieties of blackberry bushes in a corner where the west barn intersects with the west shed. I made sure I planted thornless plants. They're loaded with immature berries, I should have plenty for the freezer.

Of course I had to use up last years frozen berries so I baked a blackberry cobbler, it was delicious!

I love summer, so many beautiful flowers and the bounty of all the fresh vegetables and fruits, it's wonderful!

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, Stitch, Sew & Show, , Needle & Thread Thursday

Appliqueing Lady Jane

I'm not a fast appliquer, some people speed along and finish their projects fast. Not me, I applique slowly but eventually the applique is finished.

This week I managed to get 2 flowers and 4 other parts accomplished.

I also appliqued some circles in place. The circles are lightly stuffed with batting to give some dimension. They'll be ditched in the ditch around the outside not stitched inside where the batting is.

The blue fabric that was used for the things sticking out the bottom of the large bottom flower is a different fabric from the partial flowers. They look the same in the picture but you can definitely tell a difference in real life.

I'm using blue fabrics I have in the stash, no special fabric collections here here!

The pattern for Lady Jane is found here.

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching,  Oh Scrap, Show & Tell Monday, Monday Making, Handmade Monday, Design Wall Monday, BOM's Away

Gray Circle of Squares

July seems to have devolved into whatever color for RSC. For my circle of squares blocks, I pulled gray strips and made two 12" finished blocks

I never know for sure how the blocks are going to look since I'm using a variety of background fabrics.

Block 1 has the colorful circles background. I thought the gray would show nicely against all those colors but I think they seem to have gotten lost.

Block 2 looks very distinguished with the black and off white background. I had thought they might blend in with the neutral and be rather blah. I definitely like this block the best.

Here is a link to the Circle of Squares pattern.

Linking to Scrap Happy Saturday.

Bonneyville Mill Quilt

In my county we have a park called the Bonneyville Mill Park. Supposedly it is the oldest grist mill in continuous use in the state of Indiana. 

Over the years I have purchased flour from the mill. The flour comes in muslin bags, I've been saving the bags for years intending to make a quilt with them someday.

That quilt finally happened this summer. I had several days in a row with no outside work or grandsons so I  came up with a quilt flimsy of my own design. I just had an idea in my head and went with it. I didn't even sketch it out before hand!

It was really windy the day I took a picture so I didn't do the best job, sorry.

After the bags were emptied, I would hand wash them. The mill uses a red stamp to stamp the bag with the type of flour. I tried to set the ink before washing by pressing with a hot iron but it didn't help, the ink still bled. Hopefully, over time, the red ink will wash out.

The bags are in two sizes, depending on the amount of flour purchased. 

The size of the flimsy is 80" wide by 78" long. Now I need to get this quilt quilted and I'll do a better job of taking pictures.

This quilt isn't meant to be a beautiful show quilt, it's going to be a functional picnic quilt used by the grandchildren, perhaps a picnic at Bonneyville Mill park someday.

Linking to Put Your Foot Down, Peacock Party, TGIFF!, Finished Or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Brag About Your Beauties, UFO Busting, Oh Scrap

Split 9 Patch Blocks

By sewing whenever I had time, all the split 9 patch blocks are pieced. I've arranged a few on the design floor to show you. Unfortunately I arranged them incorrectly but didn't realize that until I downloaded the photo and had stacked all the blocks.

We don't have air conditioning in our home so windows are wide open in the summer. A breeze coming through open windows is NOT friendly to blocks displayed on the floor, I've learned that the hard way.

For now the blocks will be stored until the windows are shut tight which will be sometime this fall. Then I'll be able to arrange them to my liking and the wind won't rearrange them. 

Besides, I need to trim the blocks to 6.5". Lately I've been watching the drama of Downton Abbey again. Lady Mary and her cohorts will keep me entertained while trimming blocks.

Split 9 patch is a free pattern from Bonnie Hunter. I've changed the pattern slightly by adding a solid square in the center of my blocks. It changes the look which I like.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, Stitch Sew & Show, Put Your Foot Down, Needle & Thread Thursday

Lady Jane, Starting the Applique

A friend and I spent a day together in June working on quilting projects. I had the center of Lady Jane traced onto the backside of the fabric so I took it along. At Lori's, I back basted stems so I could start applique as soon as I finished blue Stars Around the Garden.

Several weeks later, Elaine invited a group of us from the guild to get together and do some hand work while visiting. Of course I took Lady Jane.

The stems are all completed so now the flowers are started. i was going to take a picture of just the stems but I forgot.

The background fabric is an 'old' white with tiny gray dots.

I see on other blogs that some appliquers stick all the pieces on their background fabric with glue stick, I don't know how they keep pieces from falling off, I just work at my applique one piece at a time and eventually it is finished.

Click here for a link to the Lady Jane pattern.

Here is an update on the Quilt Garden in Wakarusa. The flowers are growing! And here is a link to a post about the Quilt Garden in June. You can learn more about the Quilt Gardens along the Heritage Trail.

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching,  Oh Scrap, Show & Tell Monday,  Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, Handmade Monday, BOM's Away

Jumbo Granny Squares

Since the RSC color for July is darker blue or darker fabrics, I decided to just use up more of the older squares in the 2.5" box.

As you can see by looking at these blocks, I am using a variety of fabrics that are close shades. Even though they're not exactly the same, they work just fine. This way I can use more of the blocks in the box and don't need to cut new squares.

Sometimes the squares don't match as well but these brown blocks are all in the brown family so I used them.

Sometimes the added blocks really aren't the same shade but I use them anyway.

I made 5 more blocks. With the blocks I sewed earlier, I now have 10 blocks completed. Just two more blocks and I'll have enough for a charity quilt.

It's so nice to open that box and see the amount of squares being reduced.

The directions for making jumbo granny squares is found here on Becky's blog.

Linking to Scrap Happy Saturday

Thank you Emily!

The generosity of the sponsors for the H2H 2021 charity challenge have been amazing this year. For every quilter who donated a quilt, Emily has rewarded them with, not 1, but 2 free PDF patterns from her Aunt Em's Etsy Shop!

For my 2 patterns, I've selected Mountain Retreat 

And Divine. Both of these quilts look like fun to make.

Thank you Emily!

Please excuse the quality of the paper I copied the patterns onto. I reuse paper that is printed only on one side.

This year must be a great year for for rabbits, they seem to be everywhere on the farm. The other day I looked out the window and saw a bunny in the yard looking at something. When I looked over to see what he was looking at, it was another bunny!

This picture was taken through a window screen.

Blogger isn't cooperating with picture placement today.

Linking to Peacock Party, TGIFF!, Finished Or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Brag About Your Beauties, UFO Busting

Thanks Lorna!

I've participated in the Hands 2 Help (H2H) charity drive for several years. I make charity quilts anyway but I sign up because it's fun to see how many charity quilts are made. I also like to see the variety of quilts.

I don't participate because of prizes or rewards. I do appreciate the sponsors who gift awards. 

In 2021,195 quilters made and donated 1034 quilts, the most ever!! This was a wonderful response!

This year Lorna gave every person who completed a quilt a free pattern from her Sew Fresh Quilts website. That is a lot of patterns to give away!

I selected the Black Birds pattern. This will be a fun pattern to piece next winter, I've already pulled some fabric to be used in the quilt.

I have more yellows and oranges than I need but I will check and see exactly how much red is left in that folded piece. I also need some darker gray fabrics, guess I'll have to do some shopping.

Thank you Lorna for the wonderful pattern. Thank you Sarah for all the planning and hard work you put into this fantastic charity project. And thank you to every single quilter who participated in the H2H 2021 project. 

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Stitch Sew & Show, Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, NTT, Put Your Foot Down, Whoop Whoop Party

Blue Stars is Completely Finished!

The first post about blue Stars Around the Garden was posted September 4, 2020. It has taken me less than a year to applique, piece and hand quilt this quilt. That is actually good progress on a hand appliqued and hand quilted quilt.

Here is the quilt with the binding applied, labeled and washed to remove markings.

I like flange binding but the problem is when the quilt is washed, the flange doesn't lay flat afterwards. Who wants to mess around pressing the flange on a quilt so it lays flat? Not me for sure.

Instead of flange binding, I added a yellow outside border. After the binding was added, the yellow border measures 3/4" wide. The binding is the same fabric used in the blue outside border.

The next picture is a close up of the blue quilting on a border.

A view of the back side of the quilt taken outside. The muslin backing does a great job of showing the quilting designs.

It was windy when I was taking the pictures so I included a few of those pictures too.

A close up of the blue quilting on the backside of the quilt.

The next three pictures are of the quilting on the backing when it's displayed on my bed.

After washing the quilt measures 82" by 100", it measured 90" by 106" before quilting, at least. At least I thought it was that size, I never thought it would shrink that much.  Oh well, it is the size it is.

I like the way the quilting has turned out, you never know for sure if the design will come together like you view it in your mind. I would make a few minor changes but overall I'm pleased.

All the blue fabrics came from my stash, not a designer collection so this is a true scrap quilt! I did need to buy more of the yellow fabric. 

Several people asked me last Sunday what I'm going to do with it. She's a donation quilt and will be sold during the quilt auction at the Michiana Mennonite Relief Sale which will be held Saturday, September 25, 2021 at the Elkhart County Fairgrounds, Goshen Indiana.

I was planning for blue stars to be a donation quilt last fall when I started piecing the blocks.

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching,  Oh Scrap, Show & Tell Monday, Monday Making, Handmade Monday, Design Wall Monday, BOM's Away, Stitch Sew & Show,  Wednesday Wait Loss, Put Your Foot Down, Needle & Thread Thursday, Peacock Party, Off the Wall Friday, Brag About Your Beauties, UFO Busting

RSC Easy Breezy Blocks

I dug through the 2.5" strip box and pulled out a variety of strips. A lot of them were just dull colors or not very pretty but it was time for them to be cut up and sewn! They'll calm down the brighter yellows. I ended up with 20 8" finished easy breezy blocks.

I also needed to pull more yellows, some of the yellows left in the box are more orange than yellow but they work.

I've counted the blocks, I need 20 more then I'll have enough blocks to make 3 flimsies. I'll sew those 20 next month.

There are some teal strips in the box so in August I'll be sewing the last 20 blocks in teal no matter what color is designated for August.

Linking to Scrap Happy Saturday.

Sewing the Binding

It's been awhile since I've turned and hand sewn the back of the binding onto a quilt, machine sewing both sides is a lot faster! But special quilts need special attention and to me, blue stars is a special quilt.

After I trimmed the quilt edge, I took it to the sewing machine to sew on the binding.

I learned the hard way years ago to always prepare the binding when I finish piecing the quilt, especially when you don't quilt the flimsy immediately! It's too easy to forget and use the fabric in another quilt.

I got out the small plastic bag with the binding (always label that bag of binding too) and found that I had cut the strips but hadn't sewn and pressed the binding. So I needed to take the time to do that. Finally, an hour later, I was ready to attach the binding which I did. 

Then I was ready for the hand binding. First I stitched the label onto the bottom right hand corner of the quilt. I always stitch my labels into the binding. If anyone is going to plagiarize my work, they're going to have to work at it!

So often I want to add a label but don't get it made ahead of time. But this time I was on top of things and made the label several months ago. I pinned it to the design wall so I could find it when the time came. 

With the backside of the quilt facing me, I use these clips to hold down the edge. I know there is a newer type of clip a lot of people are using, but those cost more and I think these work better. Someone felt sorry for me and gifted me some of the new clips, they're languishing in a tin somewhere in the cupboard.

And yes, I know, some people don't clip the edge of their binding at all. That's fine, you don't have to clip if you don't want to, bind your quilt however you want! 

I always bind with the right side of the quilt over my lap. Hand binding a quilt is not the best activity to do when the summer temperature is in the 90's! I put the bulk of the quilt over the ottoman so that helps to hold most of the quilt off of me.

Fortunately we had a cool down and it got rather chilly (to me anyway) in the evenings. I had to put on socks and took the quilt off the ottoman. The extra warmth felt good then.

I have been trying to bind a side a day, I'm making decent progress.

After the binding is finished, I'll rinse the quilt in cold water to remove the markings. After she's dry, I'll take the final pictures for a final Sunday post.

Linking to Put Your Foot Down, Peacock Party, Whoop Whoop Party, TGIFF!, Finished Or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Brag About Your Beauties, UFO Busting