A Block by Block

Our local quilt shop, Patches and Stitches, is celebrating their 40th Anniversary. One of their celebration activities is a Block by Block sew-along.  (Oh, yeah, and a 40% discount on a different item or category every week.  But we won't talk about that.)  The owner of the shop designed a quilt using forty different block designs.  Customers received block patterns two at a time as well as directions for the quilt layout.   The first forty customers to return to the shop with a completed quilt, having used all forty blocks in it, received a $40 gift certificate from Patches and Stitches.   (Spoiler Alert --- I got one!) 

This is the quilt made and displayed by Patches and Stitches, done mostly in pastels and finishing at 87" by 96". So. Not. Me.

I used scrappy batiks from my stash for all the blocks ..... 

..... and a really pretty taupe for the sashing.

My friend, Denise, and I had a weekly date to get our patterns and have lunch out.  We kept each other on track, we admired each other's blocks, and we had a lot of fun.  Twenty weeks went by fast, then it was time to take all those blocks I'd made and start to play.  My design wall came in handy!

Since all forty blocks had to be used I chose to make my quilt reversible.  And since I need a quilt to keep in my car "just in case" I decided to make it a car quilt.  

(Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I also added some appliquéd circles.) This is the front .....
  

..... and this is the back.

Denise did her own thing, too by using gray prints and putting her blocks together without any sashing.   It's gorgeous!   This is the photo taken at Patches and Stitches for their Facebook page. 

Because mine is reversible they had to take more than one of me!

To commemorate our experience I had a special label custom made by, who else, Denise!

This was the first time I've participated in a Local Quilt Shop Block of the Month, or Row by Row, or Block by Block, and I'm so glad I did.  I really like my quilt. 

 Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict

An Old Wedding Quilt Finish -- Finally!

I'm sure my friend Pattie thought this day would never come.  I was beginning to wonder, myself.   The restoration of the Old Wedding Quilt is complete and it has been delivered.  Pattie is "over the moon" about it.  

Looking back at our electronic conversations it was January of 2015 when she showed me the quilt and asked for advice.   I took it home with me to see what I could figure out.  It was seven months before I even had a chance to look at it.  In case you don't remember this is what it looked like .....

 .....and my first blog post about this project describes the condition.  I think the most fun part of this entire thing was taking it apart.  I had never done that with an old quilt, and it was so cool.  (Yes, my favorite part of home remodeling projects is the demolition!)  Between finishing the top and starting to quilt it, I had to set it aside again for a while, but I got back to it, anxious to see it finished.  

There wasn't enough original fabric in good shape to use for the binding, so I ordered several shades from the Fat Quarter Shop hoping one of them would be at least close enough to the right color so I could use it.   Wonder of wonders!  One of them was a perfect match.

It could not have been a better match!

I used clip art and hand-embroidery to make the label.  Isn't it fun?  That's supposed to be the happy couple in 1963 and Pattie in 1967.  

Actually these pictures are a little better.

And now, for the rest of the story.

Pattie's mother, Irene Mayfair, was set up on a blind date with a young sailor named Harlon Doyle by her best friend and his best friend.  After their first date Irene told her best friend that she was going to marry that man!  And she did.  On July 3, 1963 in a courthouse in Florida.  They traveled to Harlon's hometown for their first Thanksgiving as a married couple and were presented with the quilt by Irene's new mother-in-law, Effie Doyle.

Pattie came along in 1967 and as she was growing up she took over the quilt as her own.   In her words,  " I sort of took it over growing up.  It was my favorite and one of the blankets I wanted to wrap up in if I was sick.  It went to the beach as a beach blanket, and was used for picnics over the years ... until it started coming apart, and I just put it up so it wouldn't deteriorate completely."

I am so privileged to have been a part of this quilt's restoration.  I hope as it hangs in Pattie's home it brings as much comfort to her as it did when she was growing up.  I know it will bring back many precious memories every time she looks at it.

NOTE - if you haven't seen previous posts on the progress of this quilt check them out here -

Aug 29, 2016 -- http://sewthisismyblog.blogspot.com/2016/08/up-next-real-challenge.html

Sept 1, 2016 -- http://sewthisismyblog.blogspot.com/2016/09/old-wedding-quilt-progress.html

Sept 29, 2016 -- http://sewthisismyblog.blogspot.com/2016/09/old-wedding-quilt-its-coming-along.html

Jan 8, 2017 -- http://sewthisismyblog.blogspot.com/2017/01/where-to-start.html

Feb 5, 2017 -- http://sewthisismyblog.blogspot.com/2017/02/all-kinds-of-progress.html

Mar 7, 2017 -- http://sewthisismyblog.blogspot.com/2017/03/old-wedding-quilt-update.html

Triforce Quilt

I have been wanting to write about this quilt since I started it, but I didn't want a certain someone to see it.  That's been happening a lot this past year.  Not only secret quilts, but now that I think of it, purple quilts, too.   Thank goodness for friends throwing purple scraps my way once in a while, otherwise I would never be able to make quilts for all the people whose favorite color is purple.  I've been wanting to make this quilt for a long time.  I actually bought the pattern in December, 2013 from Eric the Quilter's etsy shop.  So getting around to it took over three and a half years, but once I started I finished in less than 3 months.  

 The original plan was to make a wall-hanging, and I had the piecing for that pretty much finished in a couple of weeks.

Then, though, I decided to make it at least a throw size, and maybe even a twin.  That meant ripping out all those setting triangles on the bottom edge.  What fun!

I sewed and sewed, and before I knew it the top was quite a bit longer.  I still wasn't happy though because it looked too long and skinny to me.  To add to the width I would have to rip out all those setting triangles along the sides.  NO. WAY!   

How about adding some borders?  I still had plenty of purple left.

I've never worked with a quilt that had all bias edges so I stay-stitched it first to keep it from stretching   My favorite marking tool for darks really came in handy!  Love my Fons & Porter Mechanical Pencil with White Lead!

Marking and trimming made it a lot easier to add the borders.

From this point on it should have been super easy.  Hmmm, not so much.  I wanted so much for all the squares in the borders to look balanced that I made it fit and ended up with ripply borders.

I figured if I quilted a little heavier in the borders, the fullness might "quilt out" though.  Right?  No.  Wrong again.  I wanted this done!  I even took it with me on vacation and set up my own personal sewing area so I could work on it when I got tired of the pool and the beach.

I quilted two sides and wasn't happy, so I ripped it all that quilting out.  Then, I actually took the borders off.  I've never done that before on a quilt that was mostly quilted.  

I put my "Jack the Seam Ripper" to good use!  If you need a new ripper or a really special one for a gift, check his out.  They are great!

So, I removed at least two inches from each side, reattached it, got it quilted, and finally got to my favorite part - binding!

By the way, isn't that another great backing fabric?  It's from the "Mostly Manor" collection by Victoria Findlay Wolfe.  I bought it from my fave Fat Quarter Shop.

My friend, Penny, made another really beautiful label for me using a downloaded pattern of the Triforce I had purchased online.   I love that I can find just about anything I want online!  (Not sure Hubby feels the same way about my online shopping.....)

So, it's quilted, and bound .....

..... and delivered.  I feel pretty confident that this will be a much-loved quilt.  I sure put love into it!


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"Remembered Promises"

So long ago that I'm embarrassed to admit it, I told a young friend of ours that I would make her a quilt.  After all, I had made a couple of quilts for her older sister Anna so it was her turn.  I had just taken a class for Bethany Reynolds' Stack and Whack quilts.  Esther wanted a pinwheel star quilt so we went shopping together and she picked out some fabric.

I put it away for a while and got busy with other things.  Actually that's an understatement.  You know how it is.

When we moved from St. Louis to Huntsville, Alabama almost 5 years ago and I unpacked my stash, I came across the fabric and realized I hadn't made Esther's quilt yet, so it went on the "To Do" list.  Each year after that it got carried over to the next year's list and last year it made it to the top.  I was so excited to be making this quilt, and I knew that, at this point, it would be a real surprise.  I got it all cut out.

I even got some blocks made.

Then the funniest thing happened.  I broke my arm.  But "by little and by little" last year I worked on it. 

When I got to the point where it needed to be basted, I decided that a special quilt needed a special batt.  When bamboo battings first came out I bought one just to be supportive of my local quilt shop, but because it was so pricey and kind of different, I kept putting it back to use for something special.  I decided the time had come.  What could be more special than this!?!

Basting was next.

For some reason when it came time to quilt it, I got all the purple background quilted first, using a royal blue thread so it would be easier to work with, and left the stars for last.  Big mistake.

I started quilting the stars four or five different times and didn't like what I was doing, so I kept ending up ripping it out.  I finally decided to try something I had never done before but had seen in magazines and really liked -- big stitch quilting with Pearl cotton.

The closer I came to being finished the more excited I got.  I was really regretting having waited so long to make this quilt.

The label for this quilt needed to be personal, so I hand-embroidered it using a snowman because that's one of Esther's favorite things, and I thought long and hard about what to name it.

I mailed the quilt to my dear friend Gloria (you met Gloria in this post) and asked her to deliver it for me.  She enjoyed being in on the surprise and sent me this picture.

Even though I regret waiting as long as I did to finish this project, Esther assures me the timing was perfect, and she is very happy with it.  I just hope she knows how much love went into it.