Making Changes

Well, I finished quilting the Mexican star block, the Dresden plate block, and most of the Grandmother's fan block on my niece's wall hanging when I finally admitted to myself what I had been trying to ignore since Thanksgiving. The more I looked at my niece's wall hanging, the more dissatisfied I was with the background fabric on the two applique squares. I think the Pooh fabric was just too busy to be an effective background.

So, I removed all of the quilting from both the Dresden plate and Grandmother's fan blocks (I know, I know, it was depressing!) and then removed the two "offending" blocks.




Then I removed the appliques from the Pooh background fabric. I selected a pale pink background fabric to replace the Pooh fabric with and basted the applique pieces down again.

I hope to finish this project in the next 2-3 weeks because I will be starting another quilting class at that time and will want to work on the class project.

Christmas Gifts

I was very happy that my mom really loved the quilt that I made her for Christmas. She loved it so much that she cried when she opened it, and of course that made me cry too. My Aunt also loved her pillow :)

Last Minute Christmas Gift

I could not think of what to get my aunt for Christmas but I finally had an idea to make her a quilted pillow on Sunday evening. I have wanted to so something based on the four seasons for a while. That theme worked well for this pillow based on a double four patch square.

Here is the basted "quilt sandwich" prior to quilting

Here is the pillow top quilted with the basting stitches removed

Here is the winter square with a snowflake quilted on a blue field

Here is the spring square with quilting around the birds

This is the fall square with quilting around two leaves



This is the summer square with leaves quilted on the green field (chalk marks visible)


Here is the finished pillow sham from the front...


...and the back. I just doubled the fabric and positioned it to overlap about 3 inches to allow the pillow form to be inserted and removed for washing. I then sewed the wrong sides of the pillow top and back together and turned it right side out.


The finished pillow.
I am very happy with how this turned out :) This is what I love so much about quilting and other hand crafts, the finished product. I hope my aunt likes it.

Almost Finished!

I am almost finished with the lap quilt I am making for my Mom. I basted the edge of the quilt to bind it.

I then used a hem stitch to bind the edge and mitre the corners.

Then I quilted along the bound edge.

I removed the basting stitches and here it is, almost ready to give my Mom for Christmas!

I still need to remove the quilting line marks from the red chalk pencil.

Preparing to Quilt

I took apart my niece's wall hanging and sewed it together straight (or at least straighter!). Then I placed it on some thin cotton quilt batting with at least 3"-4" of batting extending beyond the edge of the quilt top.



Then I cut the batting so that there is a even 3"-4" border of the batting around the quilt top.



Next I placed it on the fabric I want to use for my backing with the backing fabric extending at least an inch beyond the edge of the batting. The backing fabric is face up. I like to select the same fabric for the backing and the stripping.



Then I baste the three layers of the quilt top, batting, and backing fabric, together using contrasting thread. I baste it to stabilize it for quilting.


Here is a closer view of the basting stitches...



...and the back of the "quilt sandwich".

Crooked!

I finished all four blocks for my niece's quilted wall hanging. So, I sewed the stripping on using my machine. Unfortunately it turned out a bit crooked, so I'll need to take it apart to get it straight. Even though it is crooked now, I still think it turned out cute.

Prepping for Applique

In order to stiffen the fabric to applique it, I ironed freezer paper with the waxed side down on to the outer edges of the fabric pieces.

Here are the applique pieces for Grandmother's Fan.

It will look something like this when finished with the addition of some lace at the edge of the fan.

Here are the applique pieces for Dresden Plate.

It will look something like this when finished.