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 :-).

Spring has Sprung?

Spring is taking its time outside, but inside the house, it does look like spring! I found a funky striped table cloth last week and put my posy runner on the table...colours matched quite nicely. I bought a fresh pineapple on Saturday evening and on a whim put it on the table runner...looked cool! Problem is, if I want to keep this look, I'll have to either eat a lot of pineapple or find a realistic artificial one :-). My husband set the table for breakfast this morning with these colourful dishes to complete the spring look. Unfortunately, by the time I thought of taking a picture, the orange juice was finished!

This is how I had the runner placed at first, but I like it on an angle better. This is an unusual tablecloth as the stripes run the width of the table.

I also found a couple artificial plants that look very realistic on Thursday, which adds a nice splash of colour to my living room. It's too dark there to have real plants survive. Now to find a pineapple that looks this real!

OK spring....we're ready :-)!!!

Productive Snow Day!

We are having the umpteenth snow storm of the year! I've lost count of how many we've had, but this one was a real major blizzard and is still going strong. We could hardly open the front door for the snow drift on the front porch.

This was the view out of the back patio door:

So, my husband and I headed down the basement for a day of cleaning and testing some antique and vintage sewing machines. My job after we finished cleaning them was test sewing on them so I got out some Dear Jane blocks and set up a little work station on the freezer. That worked great.

K 4 Thea's turn...this one is for my sister out West whose name is Thea! This was done on a Brother machine.

K 12 Doris's Dilemna was made on a 201 Singer handcrank. Those 201's are such smooth machines.

I 1 Ralph & Nelda's Wedding, done on a Singer Featherweight which sewed like a dream!

I 2 Kaye's Courtyard also sewn on the little Featherweight.

That brings my total blocks to 40.

H 11 Piercing Rays

This turned out to be a two DJ block week :-). This block is H 11 Piercing Rays my 35th one. I hand pieced this one using this wavy striped fabric...almost made me dizzy working with it, but it turned out cool! We had a get together at fellow guild member Nancy Rose's house last night. We had a great time stitching, drinking tea and eating cookies and inspiring a couple new girls to start the DJ quilt. I think we convinced them :-).

Finished DJ BOW this week!

Every week on the Dear Jane list, a block of the week (or BOW) is published to help us keep on track for sewing at least one block a week. I actually finished it this week :-). It was quite an easy one and I was just cleaning up this button fabric which I used for borders for my "Ode to the Button" wallhanging (pictures to follow when it's finished!) when it struck me that this fabric was blue! I could use some for my DJ quilt and this week's block would showcase this fabric nicely.


It is F 4 Old Windmill

Psalm 139 block

Finished Psalm 139's block called God's Eye. I had it completely finished, pressed it, trimmed it to 6 1/2", put it on the design wall to take a picture when I thought...."Hmmmm, there's something not right here..." Amazing how you can get that far without seeing a mistake!

Someone posted a note on the list that they liked it that way as well...that it looks like someone extending their arms up to heaven! That's the great thing about quilting....you make a mistake, give it some great interpretation and you have a new design :-). I did take it apart and fixed it so it is now finished! This week was a catch up week so next week we go on to the next one.