Grammy Post

Okay. Here are more pictures of Granddaughter #1. Who knows, there may be more granddaughters to come. We hope so! Dad is holding her and he was trying to burp her, but she was not cooperating. As you can see, she is fast asleep already. Here is Mom just after Lisette was fed. Mom is trying to decide if Lisette's diaper needs to be changed or not.

Auntie has a turn to hold the baby. She was trying to get Lisette to open her eyes before we took the picture, but again, no cooperation from the baby. Yes, Auntie has some green hair!

While Grandpa holds her, she is so relaxed she is making little snoring sounds. She is quite happy in his arms.

Lisette is still not waking up even when Grandma holds her.

Now that you have seen the latest pictures, I will tell you what I am working on in the sewing room. I am sure you are totally interested!

On Thursday, I was sewing all day on the blocks for my Mandarin Squares quilt. I thought I sewed all the rows of blocks together. I also thought the next (and last step) was to cut the border triangles and corner triangles, and sew them onto the rows. Then I could sew all the rows together, and Ta Da! Finito! Well, not so. Before I could cut the border triangles, I needed to add some sashing to all the blocks, and add sashing rows between the block rows. I would then be able to get an accurate measurement in order to cut the border triangles (hopefully).

I am so close to having this quilt top completed. I am anxious to finish this top. It will be approximately 96 inches square. Once I finish the top, I will need to make a backing. Another quilter was showing me a couple of her quilts the other day. She pieces her quilt backs with fabric left over from the piecing of the quilt top. I am not a fan of making quilt backs so I try to find the easiest, least path of resistance. I like the look of a pieced quilt back, but I am very seldom willing to put the necessary effort into making one.

A dotty quilt my friend Monica made for me has a pieced back. It is squares of all the dotty fabrics she used on the top. I love it. That is what I should try to accomplish. Although, some machine quilters do not like pieced backs and will not quilt any quilts that have pieced backs. They do not like sewing through the many layers formed by the seams. Some machine quilters are okay with pieced backs. After I asked one machine quilter about her philosophy of using pieced backs, she told me that she works with what she gets. She said she makes it all work together. I like that attitude.

I feel multi fabric quilt backs are fun and add another dimension to a quilt. I don't feel that every quilt should have a pieced back, but many quilts can benefit from the added color and festiveness. What do you think? Do you piece your quilt backs or do you go for the solid fabric for backs? While you are thinking about that, I will sign off. Enjoy the weekend.

Happy Quilting

Inset Strips

This last week I was working on the samples for my Quilting 101 workshop for Saturday (yesterday). I have had a book, Thinking Outside The Block, for a few years. I have always liked the technique that Sandi Cummings used with the inset strip block. There are several different quilts pictured in this book that use the inset strip block. Since I did not have a particular topic set for this month, I thought that it was time to present the inset strip block.

This block is so easy to make, and becomes addictive after a while. You start with one, then two, then three, then...... I have included a picture of the blocks that are pinned up on my design wall that I had sewn as samples for the workshop. I am pairing the inset block with the variable star block. That is one of the combinations Sandi has presented in her book. These blocks measure 6 inches finished. I want to make 25 or 30 more star blocks with more inset strip blocks to complete a wallhanging. It is another project that will be "in progress" for a while since I still have other projects to finish before I can play with this one again.

The last picture is the little purple ditty bag that I found for purchase. When I looked at the price, I thought I could get a yard of fabric for that price! I will take it with me to classes and workshops to collect scraps. At all the classes I attend I always tell folks that if they have fabric scraps they do not want, they can donate them to my basket. Now I have this cute purple pop-up ditty bag that I can take instead of my basket. When it is empty, I can squeeze it down and it collapses into a flat purple circle for storage.

Before I forget, Happy Father's Day to all you great dads, and also to all you great moms who are/were both mother and father to your children, like my mother. My mom played both roles, mother and father. My dad left us when I was young and my mother raised me and provided for me until I married and moved out. I often would send her a Father's Day card on the day. She would be laughing when she would call me to tell me she had received the card. I hope you all had a great day.

We had a visit from our granddaughter and her parents today. They came over for breakfast. She was asleep the entire time she was here and she never really woke up. She squirmed and fussed a little but did not open her eyes. Maybe on their next visit we can see her awake. Until then.....

Happy Quilting

Here she is!

These are the proud grandparents. Don't you love my Christmas wreath that I still have on the door?

Here is the proud papa. He can hardly keep his hands off her. She was being very active while he held her.

Baby and parents stopped by today for a visit. They were out to see the baby doctor and stopped on their way home. So, I was able to get some pictures of the baby. Isn't she darling? Her name is Lisette, and her daddy is calling her Lizzi, I think. She is so soft and sweet, that is until she cries. She was hungry while she was here so Mommy fed her.

Center Medallion

Hello quilters. This is a picture of nine of my basket blocks that I have been receiving the first Saturday of each month for the last year. There are three more basket blocks, but they are not on point and are a different style than these nine.

I went to my BOM meeting today. This is the last month for the basket quilt. We received a finishing kit today (not free). We should have received a book on ribbon borders (not free either), but it did not come in yet.

This center medallion is to be set on point, but I don't know how to make it on point for posting. Just tilt your head to the right side and squint a little and maybe you can envision it on point! *VBS* With the additional background fabric we received today, I hope I will have enough fabric to make my setting triangles from that fabric. The setting of the original design has four (not on point) basket blocks that have a more contemporary style that I have decided not to use. These blocks are positioned in each of the four corners.

I have a formula to make the size for the setting triangles that are really corner triangles (big corner triangles). With the fabric I have, I really, really, sincerely hope that I will have enough fabric to make these big triangles out of one piece of fabric. I don't want to piece them together if I can help it. When we started this BOM I asked if I could purchase some extra background fabric. I was told it was all gone and the store could not purchase any more. I imagine they were holding what fabric they had for the finishing kits. I should have asked today if there was any extra fabric. I am sure someone else bought it today if there was any left. I have been looking for it at every quilt store that I go to, but so far no luck at finding anymore of it.

There is also a ribbon border which uses the background fabric as well. If I use all the background fabric that I have for the big corner triangles, then I might not have enough for the ribbon border. I know I can use some other fabric, but I want all the background to be the same on this quilt. I could change the border and not sew the ribbon border. I thought about a piano key border, or just use a different fabric for the border.

I also am not happy about the one block that has a dark background in these nine blocks. The quilt that we saw when we started this BOM did not have any dark backgrounds in the blocks. All the blocks had the same light background. I placed this dark block in the center since there is only one dark one. The layout given to us today did not have any dark backgrounds, so I wonder why we have one? I should have sewn that block with a light background, but I did not know if there was enough of the background fabric that we were given that month to make that change. Once I get the dark border strip all around the center medallion, then maybe it will tie it all together. There is another dark strip around the ribbon border, and the ribbon border itself is dark also.

A few months ago I decided that I would not do another one of these BOMs with the $5.00 block. But......next year's theme is a Bear Paw design. I have wanted to do a bear paw quilt for ages, so, I signed up for next year's Saturday Sampler BOM! Can you believe it? I am such a glutton for punishment!

OMG! I just received a call from our son. He said his wife's water broke and they are at the hospital now. I guess that means that the grandbaby is on the way! Whooppee!