All finished...finally

You're probably tired of watching me make and re-make this quilt.  I am.  But, it's finished now.  All the background, all the border.  Everything done. 

 

Dot mentioned the pearls next to the green border.  They were needed so you can't see how not straight that line is.  Quilter's secret.  I can spend hours and hours trying to make the perfect straight line.  Or, I can be me and disguise my imperfections. 

 

 

 

The beck turned out to be the perfect choice.  I didn't plan for it to be so well centered on the print, but managed to get lucky.  I'm only about a half inch off and the circles in the print match great with the quilting.  



 

So, another one is finished and it's time to figure out what to work on next, bearing in mind that I have two baby quilts to make, too.  (wow, all three spellings of the word to in one sentence)

But, I also needed to do some cleaning and make a bag. 

When Sydney came to live with us, she needed a beach bag for summer camp.  We were pretty cheap, not because we didn't value her, but she needed EVERYTHING when she came to live with us and we cheaped out where we could.  Anyway, I  bought a brown one and she bought a light blue one and if I'm not mistaken, they cost $3 each.  Her blue one is LONG gone, but I still have my brown one 11 years later and have been using it to haul quilts back and forth.  It's the perfect size.  It will hold a queen sized quilt easily and leave room for whatever little bit I pick up from the free table at a guild meeting, too.  I'm still using it as an at home bag to hold a UFO project.  It has a tear in the side and the handle has come off and been sewn back on, but I'm not ready to throw it away yet. 

I picked up this piece of heavy fabric at a quilt show, thinking it was a large piece of backing.  But, I didn't feel it enough.  It is more like a canvas.  So, what does one do with an accidentally acquired piece of canvas?  Replace one's worn out bag.

I had 2/3 of a yard by 54".  I used the brown bag as the pattern.  I cut the front and back and the sides and bottom, leaving one long narrow strip for the handles.  But, they weren't going to be very wide, so I added a red fabric and made tubes that I turned right side out and sewed to the front and back.  Once it had the top hem and the handles, it was just putting the bag together using French seams that would be on the outside to help give it stability.  If I had it to do again, I would do differently (it could have gone together easier and quicker).  But, it still turned out very nice.  And, I even added a pocket to the inside at the last minute.  Hey, why not improve on a good thing, right? 

Somehow, I thought it was going to be more manly.  Oh, well.  I'm hauling quilts that I've made in it, so it's prolly the wrong time to think about looking manly.

I also cut out the baby quilt.  I didn't get much sewn on it, but the pieced borders are cut out and ready to assemble.  I tried to sew some of those pieces together, but the pattern is older and uses the "cut a square and cut it in half and cut it in half again" method, so the points are still on the triangles.  After it was done, I regretted not using my easy angle and companion angle rulers.  I tried to match the pieces and found that I had to draw the match points on the fabric and pin through them to get them to match for me, and that takes extra time.  But, it give perfect points.  So, I'm pinned and ready to sew. 

Yesterday, I was cleaning and found some hexagons that a friend shared with me.  She had covered some with green and a bold yellow batik.  I was playing around and found a picture of a quilt that looked interesting, but it was on pinterest and I didn't save the image immediately, and I cannot get it to give it to me again.  But, I found something similar that I can use to recreate it.  And, that's fine.  I don't want to re-create someone else's quilt, so this will be just enough of the original inspiration to let me take this in my own direction.  (and it's not all brown and green, which is what turned me off of my last hexie project)

The one I have in mind uses this floral theme, but it isn't just a straight line.  It was more of an S shaped spray of flowers.  I'm using batiks and a lot of different greens to give me mottled foliage.  Well, I say I am doing this, but we will see.  I've had hexie projects go off the rails before.  And, I just got started.  I had forgotten how relaxing it can be to sit and baste hexies.  I picked this up because it's such a small contained project and I can travel with it in an Altoid's tin.  Can't beat that for a travel project, right?

I was on the deck the other evening, after a rainy day, and I looked up and saw the clouds breaking up beyond the leafless trees and had to take a picture.  It looks so bleak without leaves, but it's actually warm out.  Yesterday when we were inside, cleaning house, we were in shorts and I didn't hear the heat come on at all. 

This morning is a different story.

Everybody have a great Monday!  It's a new work week.  New things can happen.  Old things can be completed.  Life happens.  The choice is whether we see that as good or as bad.

I'm going with good.  But, it's still early.

Lane