While headed to Mackinaw Island I stopped by my family lake house near Gaylord, Michigan. About a month before we had a very destructive ice storm and I hadn’t seen the damage yet.
So many trees had toppled over or the tops were broken off. But the one highlight for me was the quilt line still intact along our driveway. I had to stop and hang up a quilt to photograph. From this view you wouldn’t even know what Mother Nature had done to Northern Michigan.
My first attempt at making 1 1/2 inch curved blocks with Curvelet templet I bought at QuiltCon.
After three days of driving, we met up with family at the Grand Canyon. What a spectacular view.
Next stop is Phoenix.
These are the Christmas pouches I made. Each have a small pieced block on the front, back is plain. I’ve been asked for the pattern. Other than the pieced blocks; this is how I made them.
I ordered this springy clip closers from Amazon. Now I needed to figure out how to make a little pouch using them. The first one ended up being a bit too small. But now I think I’ve got it figured out.
Front and back of the pouch measure 6 inch x 6 inch. The sleeve for the clip measure 5 1/2 x 4 inch. I didn’t take a picture of the lining material but it measures 6 x 6 inch.
I started with the casing. Fold the fabric good side together and stitch at each end. Turn and press
Fold in half again. Then pin at each end then find the middle and put another pin there.
Next thing I do is place the clip on the casing to be sure it fits. I want the clip to be covered by the sleeve. I tried to sew with a 1/4 inch seam. But I was sewing on my newer machine, not my straight stitch only machine, and frankly I don’t do a very good job.
Next step is doing a little quilting on the front and back. I decided to use flannel instead of batting because I didn’t want too much bulk. So I’m stitching straight lines on a layer of flannel and cotton. I think it’s enough to give it strength, but not too bulky. After quilting I trimmed up the flannel. I also cut a little curve on the bottom.
Now to sew the sides and bottom of both the pouch and the lining. I leave about a 2 inch opening in the bottom of the lining for turning.
I find the center on each side and put a pin there. Then I pin the casing on the right side fabric.
Now the lining goes inside the pouch pinning the seams and the center.
Since my machine is sitting inside an old teacher’s desk I don’t have my free arm easy to use. So I actually have my presser foot on the lining inside the pouch. When stitched together, I used that 2 inch gap in the bottom of the lining to turn it.
Finally slide the clip into the sleeves. Then put that tiny pin in the end and secure.
I’m waiting to board the plane for a week with college roommates. I’m the only quilter of the group, hope this handstitching project keeps me on track.
This is what that hand stitching project turned into, a quilted sleeve for my I-pad
As an avid Yellowstone watcher, I was very interested in the quilt Beth Dutton is wrapped up in while sitting on the porch. So here is my version. It is a simple nine-patch block set on point with a plain block. I call it my Beth Dutton Quilt.
I had a bunch of Kim Diehl fabric leftover from a project eight to ten years ago. Part of it was 2 1/2 inch strips. So I looked for a pattern that had lots of small pieces. I also like the challenge of making different blocks, although I have to admit I didn’t like the extra time it took to cut each block separately.
I dragged this tote of fabric around the country. Here’s a picture of blocks hanging on my design wall at Bonnie Hunter’s Quiltville Inn.
Blocks made at our lake house in Northern Michigan.
Since I get my most accurate 1/4 inch seam on my old straight stitch machines I used either one of my Singer Featherweights or one of my Singer 301’s
Apparently I did not get any photos of the blocks I made in Texas.
Three rows done.
Laid it out on the living room floor. Which can be tricky with my dog in the house. She thinks every quilt is a new place for her to sleep. But actually in this picture she is laying on her bed in the top right corner.
Here it is all quilted and putting the binding on. Yup, about six inches short of binding. Notice the backing, I was lucky enough to get a Kim Diehl wide-back at Seven Sister’s Quilt Shop.
It took me over a year to finish this quilt. I still had fabric left over, as well as a good size piece of the backing. So I cut 2 1/2 inch squares and started piecing them together.
Which turned into these 12 x12 blocks. There they are sitting in that same tote I’ve hauled all over.
All those 2 1/2 inch blocks created this beauty. In my mind it’s actually a free quilt since all the fabric for the top was leftover fabric.
I tried to show the back of the first quilt, which is the fabric for every other block in the smaller quilt.
What a simple quilt. It started as a leader and ender project for me while I pieced my Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt, Indigo Way, this winter.
I have a tote of 2 1/2 inch square pieces of fabric. Lots of memories in that tote of past quilts.
Lots of different fabrics. Other than not wanting two of the same fabrics next to each other, no thoughts of which fabrics to sew together.
Lots of pinning when I sewed the 4 piece strips into 16 piece blocks. I did have some real arthritis pain in my right hand, so I limited my time sewing. If I overdid one day, I wouldn’t sew on this project the next.
No binding yet, but quilting is done and squared up.
Since the whole quilt is made of leftovers, I made a scrappy binding. But as you can see I was a few inches short.
Lots of seams makes a heavy quilt, I’m sure someone will want this one to snuggle up in.
My father’s old cattle trailer seemed like the perfect background. I’m sure he is watching from heaven and laughing at me.
Snow is finally falling here in Michigan. We’ve had bitter cold weather and the roads are treacherous. What is a person to do? It would seem like sewing would be the perfect activity, but this grandmother has been blessed to have grandkids who don’t have school.
Nothing fills my heart like my grandkids. These are the two youngest. Sewing can wait. We have Racko games to play, puzzles to put together, and stories to read.
This is my only completed project in months. Unfortunately I never took a photo of it after I got the binding on and before I gave it away.
But I have been doing a lot of piecing and I have three tops ready for quilting:
Bonnie Hunter’s Mystery Quilt, Indigo Way.
Kinship is 100 different blocks. This one took me about two years to make. I’ve been hauling a tote all over this country sewing blocks together.
Storm at Sea.
I’ll update each of these quilts when I get them quilted and bound.
Braman Girls Quilt 