Sunday, May 17, 2020

Signed, Sealed, and Delivered

I've enjoyed digging into my stack of future projects and getting them done during this time of staying at home so, next up, was a bundle of fabric with cut squares and strips. First Quilters had a fabric sale a few summers ago and this zippered plastic bag looked cheerful to me so I bought it for only $3. Looking at the potential, patterns for half square triangles, sending photos to my quilting sister, Jane, I came up with this plan/idea:
  
Bag of fabric sorted and labeled to make sure there was enough???
Block design
It didn't take long to piece these blocks and I decided to use my treadle this time. Why? Why not? It gave me some much needed practice time and made it more fun, too. There wasn't quite enough fabric for all of the edges as well as one final block but all I could do was punt:
Bottom right corner: oh oh, not enough!
 So I had to mix things up just a bit and came up with this (see if you can find the pattern variation):
Final product: even the binding is done
I love the bright floral print but it was very bold so when it came time to free motion quilt it I needed to find patterns that would actually show off the fabric. Here's some of my experimentation:
Different designs on each fabric
Script? I can now sew words!
Using the Singer Futura XL400, I sewed each section with a different design with large flower type design in each gold square, lines of loops in the half square triangles, and even a feather type of stitch on the border. Some of the places were not-so-great so I removed stitches and tried again so the final product was something I was proud of. I decided to give this quilt to my younger sister, Mindy, who loved my last quilt and even asked if it was for sale. This one was just for her so I wrote messages in the border and in various places on the quilt. I don't think she has found them all yet but I'm patient, she will find them one by one and I'll hear all about it.

Along with quilt projects, I also was inspired to make something with all of the hankies I've collected. Not only were mine stashed in a box, I now have my mom's and aunt's collections so it seemed like a huge pile. I also had a stack of linen placemats and napkins that were just too cute to pass up at the Goodwill Outlet so putting them all together:
Hankie and linen arrangement
I sewed them on a large piece of white muslin, added buttonholes at the top, hemmed, and she's now on display on my shower:
Hankie shower curtain from doorway
Hankie shower curtain
I'm so glad I put these lovely items to use; they weren't going anywhere in a hankie box so I might as well enjoy them every day! Speaking of showers, I better wrap this up and get a shower before the online church service starts. No one can see me but old habits die hard and I like to clean up before church and that hankie shower curtain waits for me. Until next time, what are you sewing on?

1 comment:

Judie Sherwood said...

LOVE the hankie shower curtain! Now that I have cleaned every nook and cranny in my closets, I'm about to start some long-delayed Christmas projects.