2011 #2 - Sampler quilt - part 1

I'm still working on the sampler quilt. First, I applied sashing around the individual blocks to get this:


And two borders and some quilting later, it looks like this:


It's a lot of stitching in the ditch in and around the blocks, along the sashing and borders, and then a simple design in the wide border that did not require free-motion stitching. I was not quite ready to drop the feed dogs.

Now all that remains is the binding. I wanted to get it started today but it turned out to be a great day for cleaning and continued unpacking. Maybe by the end of next week. Maybe.

Work in progress

I have been piecing my second quilt top. It is a sampler from The New Quilting by Machine. Pretty cool book for a beginner quilter, it has lots of pictures to illustrate very clear instructions and takes one from super easy to progressively more difficult blocks. So far, I have made the blocks with squares, rectangles, and triangles:



There are two empty spaces: one is reserved for an Eight-pointed Star block, the other for a Drunkard's Path block. Then sashing and borders, and it will be ready for quilting. I want to do this on my machine - it should be fun.

2011 #1 - My first quilt

Sometime late last spring I got the urge to make a quilt. I hadn't made a quilt before but that couldn't stop me. I found a lovely pattern in a Thimbleberries book, a pattern that called for only three fabrics (I could handle that) and that came with simple sewing instructions. I made it a little bit larger and longer to account for the bed size (queen) and the pillow tuck. I finished the piecing last summer and left it with an experienced long-arm quilter to do the fancy quilting I envisioned. I got the quilt back early last week and promptly set to finish the binding so I could start using it. And here it is:



In reality, the green is much more green than the yellowish color on my monitor. I chose it because I love clear light greens on the yellow side of the range but can't wear them. They make me look ill (it's the yellow in them). So I use the color as an accent around the house.

Here's a closer look at the quilting:



One day, I would like to be able to quilt these fancy patterns but that day is still far in the future. It's a very cheerful quilt, and I think not bad for a first-timer. It makes me happy to look at it.

I am afraid the quilting bug is real. I stayed up past midnight cutting fabric for the next one - this one will be a sampler and the blocks require an awful lot of small pieces. I think I already have a preference for quilts that only require cutting strips and large squares, like my first one above. Yes, I'm a lazy fabric cutter.

************************
Thank you, ladies, for your warm comments on my previous posts.
BetsyV: the chair is very comfortable - it's just like sitting on a regular exercise ball but it won't roll away from you and it has a back rest so you don't fall off when you lean back. I got it at the Office Depot or Office Max some 7 or 8 years ago. You can get one like mine or one of the new interesting-looking models.

New sewing space

All our stuff is finally here. And it's mostly unpacked and the place is mostly livable. We still have a few boxes left but those will have to wait until we get some nice new bookcases. I had to give up my awesome fabric closet (long story), which means fabric storage will have to be sorted out soon. But happily, the rest of my sewing room came together nicely.

This is my sewing spot - the old faithful wonderful Horn cabinet, holding the sewing machine and the serger. The dressform, unpadded in the picture, has now been padded properly so the shirt no longer hangs off it like a hand-me-down.



To the left of the Horn cabinet is a small alcove with a modular cabinet from IKEA - it holds books, equipment, and fabric. The idea is to move the books to the bookcases when we get them and use this cabinet to hold fabrics and notions for upcoming projects. There is also just enough space next to the cabinet to fit the roll of pattern paper.


On the other side of the room is a small (and I mean, tiny!) closet and another IKEA cabinet with more books and sewing stuff. The picture on the wall is a needlepoint embroidery that my great-grandmother made in the late 1890's or early 1900's on her voyage to Europe.


In other news, the first shirt muslin turned out pretty good, with only small adjustments needed. I made those and am almost finished sewing the second one. Hopefully, no more adjustments will be needed after this and I can just make some shirts.