Working on gifts...

I finished the embroidery on the woolie gift and thread basted it for hand quilting. It won't be heavily quilted because I don't think it needs it and it is a Christmas gift so I need to finish it quickly. I can work on it in the evenings while hubby is watching TV.

The picture below is the third quilt I made out of twenty St. Jude fat quarters. This fabric has been in my stash a long time and I'm glad to be using it. This quilt will also be donated to a charity for children in need. This one was done using every last bit of the fabric I had left from the other two quilts (all except the small inner red border. I added that extra. I made the center first then did the red border. I had cut all the leftovers into 2x3-1/2" bricks and I was able to make a piano key type of border around it. It all went together really quick and easy. It again was so fun to work with basic shapes. Now I need to piece together a back and get it quilted along with the second one. This quilt measures 42x46. I debated whether I should add another border but decided it was good enough. What do you think? Should I make it bigger?

Have a great day!
Terry

This is what I'm working on now. The blocks are sewed together into rows. Now I just need to sew the rows together. I am not putting a border on this just binding. I like the look of that sometimes. It reminds me of the older quilts. They often didn't use borders. My theory is that it was a lot of trouble to hand sew on the long borders. Maybe this was the reason, maybe not. Anyway, I like the look and that is what I'm doing on this one.

It was so much fun just sewing squares together! I had forgotten how mindless this kind of sewing is. This is the 2nd quilt I get out of two packages of fatquarters. WOW! it is amazing how far a small amount of fabric can go. This will be donated to a charity our guild donates to called "Children in Need". The last batch of quilts were donated to the burn center at one of our hospitals.

Have a great day!
Terry

Barnyard BBQ quilt finished!

I finished a small crib size quilt during the week. I used a pre-printed panel and added a 1" and a 3" border to add a little interest. I quilted it using a meander stitch with a variegated blue thread. I don't use pre-printed panels very often, but I should keep a few on hand so that I can put together a baby quilt if I need one in a jiffy. This quilt went together so quickly that I don't know why I even piece a quilt when I can buy fabric that looks like a quilt. Go figure! I will use this quilt in a Sew & Sell in November hosted by a bee that I belong to.

In one of the pictures you may be able to see that I added a small (1/2") flange before I put the binding on. I felt like the solid yellow binding was boring and needed a little flare. The little splash of green was just what it needed. You will also notice that this picture is upside down. How did I do that? I don't know. All I know is that my brain is flipped inside out trying to figure out how to post.

Much love!
Vanessa

Post comment: This morning when I woke up I started looking on ebay for some cute panels. I thought I would put my idea of keeping panels on hand into action. The only problem is that the Barnyard BBQ panel was supposed to be for a quilt I needed to make in a jiffy. My purpose for using the panel in the first place was because it was just "sitting on a shelf". Never fear. I am back on track and my new mission today is to continue to use up the things I already have in my stash instead of obtaining more.