The "Stripes" One Yard Wonder x2 Project is a GO again!

You may remember when I started this quilt project in January? February 1st was the last time I showed it hanging on the fence by the driveway with all blocks except one sewn together and I was putting it on hold until later...

Well a couple of weeks ago my HGTV friend IowaLisa mailed me some red fabric from her stash - about 3 or 4 yards because from looking at my blog she thought she had something that would work well for a border since I had second thoughts about that floral fabric... and Take a look - I think she was ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!

for about a week I had it laid out on the dining room floor looking at it and evaluating it each time I passed by...

I do like the brown inner border but some how it just didn't seem to be enough... then I got to thinking about that gold color in the striped fabric... here's a close up of a block so you can see the gold I'm talking about...

so I took a trip upstairs and shopped my fabric stash... and found a goldish tan...

and I didn't have to leave it there for a week and pass by to decide...

I immediately thought YES! - I think I have found a winner! Thank you IowaLisa!

and maybe - JUST MAYBE - I can for the first time ever teach myself how to miter the borders! after all -the whole quilt is made up of mitered looking stripe blocks. Also I think sewing all three borders together before adding to the quilt top will save a lot of time of me down on the floor pinning for each round. ;)

Wish me luck on mitered borders! Any "MUST KNOW TIPS" you'd like to share with me? I'm planning to use Jaybird Quilts tutorial. Wish me luck!

So there you have it - this is what's on my design wall or rather design floor today - hop on over to the Mr Linky at JudyL's and see what everyone else is working on ;)

and while you're over at JudyL's - be sure and refresh her page by clicking on the Patchwork Times banner at the top to take you to her whole blog and scroll down and enjoy all the posts she's been sharing of FINISHING up Binding on all of her quilts! I think she's on #10 already!!!


Love from Texas!

Stripes is almost a top

This is as far as I'm gonna get on this quilt for a while... after my post about not thinking that the red floral would look so hot as a border several agreed with that decision and one friend of mine actually asked if I'd mail her one of the blocks so that she could use it to match up with something in her stash!

Sorta like a pay it forward - or stash busting depending on how you want to look at it ;)

I emailed her with a photo and wrote:

Hi Lisa, Take a look at what I finished putting together today while the twins napped... it's all together!!! Well all except that last block, and it is packaged up and ready to mailto you as soon as I buy a stamp...

Actually, I'm hoping to walk up to a car and borrow one from a mom friend in the carpool line today so I don't have to go to the PO - am I lazy or what?

Thanks again IowaLisa for offering to send me some fabric to use as a border if you have something in your stash that will work. I promise to repay the favor to someone else one day. ;)

Love from Texas!

Design wall Monday

Sunday after we got home from church and had lunch, I put the twins down for nap time and worked on this PhD. It was my in between project to work on while I waited for the quilting to be done on the Crayola Quilt recently and so after the Crayola quilt arrived home these blocks got pushed to the back burner.

Now that I have all of the blocks made and joined into large patches (4 blocks) it will go pretty quick to getting the top complete today while the twins nap again. :)

However, now that I see it laying by the border fabrics I purchased... they are not speaking to me. :(

Actually they are speaking to me - rather shouting - "we do not look good together! Don't use the floral as a border but save it for the back instead!"

So after looking at the quilt that inspired me over at patchwork possy again... I think I will put this on hold until I can find something that reads as a solid for the outside border... and shopping for fabric is not in the budget at this time... so doesn't' look like I'll get to finish it up before summer. Bummer.

But looking on the bright side, this means you should see something completely different on next week's Design Wall Monday hosted by JudyL's Mr. Linky! Swing on by and share your link to your report :) and also browse to see what others have been working on. ;)


Love from Texas!

Photos of my stripes for Karen in KY

This post is for my friend Karen in Kentucky.. :0) We talked on the phone this afternoon but sometimes you just need to show someone ;) ya know? At first I was going to just email her then I thought why not share it here with you all encase anyone else had the same question.

She asked me how big did I cut my squares. Mine are all cut 4.5" before making HSTs but you can use any size you like. I measured the part of the strips that was left over from cutting my 4.5" squares and ended up with a piece left over that was 3.25" on each strip... so if that sounds like a lot of waste to you - you might choose to make your squares 5" cut instead... This never occured to me until Karen asked me... :)

She also asked if I had any tips - and the only tip I have is to press everything the same direction as you go... meaning... after I joined all the HSTs into pairs... as I pressed I opened them up so that they looked like the bottom half of the finished block and pressed to the left (I'm right handed so this is the most natural way for me)

oh and pressing the HSTs came first but I forgot to take a photo before joining.. but same applies.

I had them all open up the same direction and pressed them all in the direction that I'm pointing in the photo below.

Now, back to joining the blocks... I found it very helpful that they are all pressed the same b/c when I go to join rows it is gonna be a breeze when they all nessel up and join together...

see I'll show you.... instead of pressing the WHOLE block the same direction - only press the bottom half to the left... then flip it around (pick up the two blocks and rotate them around so the side you just pressed is on top and then repeat for the bottom half - pressing to the left)

This is what the back side looks like.

see all those half blocks... yep all pressed the same direction ;)

so again... see my finger - pointing that all the seams on the bottom go one direction...

while all the seams on top go the opposite...

I didn't press open although you could.... but...

instead I did this little trick that I learned from this video I saw a while back from About.com

CLICK HERE to watch How to sew and Press Patchwork Quilt Seams

since learning this trick = everything nests perfectly for me now! ;)

Hope this helps! ;)

Love from Texas!

Design Wall Monday

Better late than never right? right. so I'll post date this blog entry so I can play along with JudyL's Design Wall Monday.

Actually the blocks on the design floor - were made last week - they are the result of the 1st yard of striped fabric. Over the weekend I began cutting and making more HST's from the 2nd of the 2 yards required for this project.

It was so sunny and nice here Saturday...high was 78*. I really should have been outside with David and Nora while the twins were napping ;) But instead I enjoyed some time alone.

Do you reuse your Priority Mailer bags?? I find they are quite handy for taping to the edge of the table to wipe off your cuttings into instead of the floor! ;)

Pairing up squares and marking centers for HST sewing... all marked and ready to go - see the ruler under them? Perfect for carrying to the machine... ;)

My needle was smokin! ;)

All cut and ready for pressing.

NOTE TO SELF that I'll share - I've found it BEST to make sure they are all going the same way and press them all the same! Trust me! All of your seams will but up against each other best, if you have pressed them all the same...

Ready for trimming and squaring up... a dozen at a time....

why does it seem that this part takes forever. This quilt is so easy peasy - really this is the hardest part - and it's not even hard... just time consuming... but not really - just seems like it to me. :P

And over at Crazy'boutquilt's blog I saw her Cotton Picker on her post this weekend... and it got me to thinking.... I have one of these that I bought at Walmart a while back.... made by Woolite.

Works perfectly!!! It's a lint brush like - rather the size of an oven mitt! and each side really grips the surface in one direction and the opposite side grips the other way... perfect! ;) Thanks Crazy for giving me the idea! ;)

So after I finish getting these trimmed up I'll be ready to sew them together and double my size of blocks on the design wall.... I can't wait! ;)

Love from Texas!

What I'm Workin on Wednesday...

Block 1 together... another 39 more to go!

Love from Texas!

Only needed thread and brought home a PIG!

Well, I had my Quilts for Kids all layered and pinned and ready to quilt, but no thread that would match it - not even white! What?? no white thread in the house. True story.

So Saturday Nora and I headed off to the big town next to us to just go buy some "white thread". I already know what you are thinking - "Yeah right...."

and you are right - I bought more than just white thread. All of the Gutermann was on sale 50% off - so I splurged about bought both a matching blue and yellow for the Quilt for Kids quilt - I have a little something in mind to do on it...

And naturally since we were at THE only store that has "wooden dolls" Nora had to buy some new ones! It is getting harder for her to find something new, now that she's already bought most of them. Thankfully they have seasonal ones in the dollar isle up by the checkout. However she was most excited about the ceramic flowers that are refrigerator magnets that are ready to paint, with "REAL PAINT MOMMA!" ;) I'll let her do her painting Monday while the twins have their nap time since there is no school for MLK day.

I guess you are wondering about the fabric - what's it for... why in the world would I bring home a P.I.G.?

Well that's because last week I read this post and saw the quilt that "Posse Boss", over at the new-to-me-blog called "Patchwork Posse" Click HERE to take a look at this beautiful quilt that she made using a striped fabric... she wrote:

I really like stripes, but get hung up with them when it comes to putting them into quilts. does this happen to you? So to see the whole quilt made with striped fabric had me intrigued enough to give it a try.

Did you click over and see it??? Isn't' it so cool?? So now you understand, that when I saw this stripe in the clearance section for only $1/yard I had to go searching for fabrics that coordinated and to use with it so that I too can make a "One Yard* Wonder" Quilt!!!

(*actually she stated that used 2 yards in hers to make for a good size quilt and so I bought 2 yards also.)

Oh, and there's something else I forgot to mention to all of my readers... while in KY I cut off my hair! ;) I've not set off the pony tail to Locks of Love yet but will share a photo when I do... care to guess how long the pony tail that I have to donate is???

• Gray hair will be accepted and sold to offset the manufacturing costs. Although the gray hair cannot be used in the hairpieces, it still greatly helps to reduce costs.

I hope they make a fortune from my donation full of gray and white hairs! :P

Love from Texas!