Dear Jane workbook

I received this lovely workbook from my friend Lynn for Christmas; I just realized I never posted pictures of it yet. This workbook is awesome for storing all the equipment and supplies needed for handpiecing blocks. I use it all the time for my Dear Jane blocks and Psalms quilt blocks. Here is the book closed and tied...one tie goes around the back which keeps it together very well:

Ziplock bags were edged with fabric strips and grommets put into them to fit onto three rings which are attached to the 'spine' of the book with twill tape:

Here is the back of the book with a Dear Jane block on it:

Back inside cover with pocket for storing needed items:

Front of the book with tape tied at the side. The Dear Jane block on the front of the book is a replica of the very first Dear Jane block I made for my quilt:

The inside front cover with pockets and loops to hold scissors. Isn't the lining fabric just soooo cute? Fits right in with my Delft's blue themed Dear Jane quilt! The pink rubber tip on the end of the scissors is actually for knitting needles...works great:

There are four thermolam pages in the book with pinked edges which are wonderful for organizing all the pieces for a block. The fabric sticks to the pages like a design wall and keeps everything together. I am working on a blue and white block for my quilt. The other two blocks are also Dear Jane blocks which are heading to Texas for a Dear Jane Christmas quilt:

I treasure this workbook and use it a lot! Thanks Lynn for making it for me. It is a very special gift.

LADIES DINNER

I've been sidetracked from working on my UFO's by a Ladies Dinner held at our Church. We had a fabulous time! Nine ladies volunteered to host a table. We had to decorate our table with a theme and invite guests (or guests could sign up and be placed at one of our tables). When we planned this dinner, it was still snowing outside, so I chose 'bright' as my theme. I needed some major colour in my life :-). There was a pattern for two miniature quilts on the cover of the "Fast & Fabulous Quilting Ideas 2008" from Better Homes & Gardens which caught my eye. I knew these would be wonderful on my table! This was my first attempt at embroidering by machine with a different colour thread. I used my vintage Bernina 807 minimatic which worked very well.

I also did machine embroidery on the red flowers, but learned that I should have used a different shade of red for it to show up a little better. I used steam a seam lite for the applique pieces and machine appliqued the quilts. They are about 9" square.

The little lunch bag that I made earlier to match my quilt bag (see April 2nd blog post) was also suggested for 'name tags' . I experimented with making the bag a lot smaller and came up with these cool little bags filled with candy to use for my place cards at the table. I found the tags in my local Walmart in the clearance section; bonus!

I talked my friend Joan into helping me mass produce baggies for whoever wished to have some in their chosen colours. These are the bags we made:

Here are the bags that were on my table. I had a bright green table cloth with a vivid yellow mum in the center and I even found lime green and bright blue candy covered almonds at the bulk food store!

I could not resist taking a picture of my garbage can after this project! Too much fun. How can you throw this away????? :-)

Two more Psalms blocks

I finished a couple Psalms blocks recently and have two more to finish to get caught up! This is Psalm 32's block, Hiding Place. When I finished it, it looked really pale and I realized that on the original block, the triangles around the design were done with a darker colour. But, to fix that would mean taking the whole block apart! A friend suggested just putting darker triangles around it. That was a much quicker solution. Here is the first version:

Here is the fixed up version:

This block is Psalm 51, Snowflake:

Ode to the Button!

Finished a UFO this morning! This wall hanging will be placed on my kitchen wall which has been waiting for a quilt since I started quilting in 1989! Finally found the perfect one :-). This pattern is from an Australian quilt magazine. I don't have it handy right now, but will add the information when I find it. About 3 1/2 years ago, I was working in a quilt shop and had to take care of our shop booth at a local quilt show. I needed something to work on while sitting at the show and came across these adorable blue work embroidery squares. I knew instantly that I wanted to do these blocks. I finished them about a year and a half ago and they've been sitting in my closet waiting for the perfect border fabric. I was thinking of using yellow and blue for this quilt. I found this button fabric a few weeks ago and that was all the incentive it needed and it ended up brown and blue! Here is the finished quilt:

Close up of the left two squares:

Closeup of the center blocks....wasn't sure if I should put these large buttons on the quilt, but I found them at Walmart last week and they were just the perfect colours. I'll let it veg for awhile to see how I like it.

Right hand blocks:

Found this label this morning in my label stash. I need to add that to the quilt and it can be hung!


Once you read these cute little poems about the lowly button, you do tend to look at them with new respect :-).

Bag fun!

I have wanted a large bag to take quilts along to workshops and guild meetings. This Kwik Sew pattern looked really nice. I didn't have time to make one so I commissioned my friend Joan to make it for me.

There are pockets inside and roomy pockets on the outside:

There was extra fabric so I grabbed a piece, paired it with some lime green floral for lining and whipped up this little lunch bag to match. The pattern is in a magazine called Fast & Fabulous Quilting Ideas 2008 from Better Homes & Gardens. I got it at Walmart. I fell in love with the lunch bag right away. It sews up very quickly. I hope to try it out with my matching bag for a workshop at my guild next week. It isn't really big so if you'd want to make a man sized one, you could just cut the pieces larger.

I thought the pattern for the lunch bag would be cute for little gift bags or candy bags, so I tried out a couple different styles. I cut the front and back of the bag 4" x 5 1/2". The lunch bag style needs a bit of tweaking as I made the loop too big and it's not quite centered. I do like the left one best. I sewed the ribbon into the side seam. Now to find some chocolates to put in it :-).