sew what's new?

I have just finished the third part to Primitive gatherings Anniversay Sew-a-long. I am content in waiting for part four.... I have the satin stitch on the boob block. I also have Jeni from the Woolen Willow's stitch along finished. She gave out two blocks with first installment. Now I can start cutting the pieces for my granddaughter's quilt. She recently had her room painted and she picked out the fabrics. Now to finish it before she is 18! No worries right! LOL,  I do have a retreat next week to attend. We will see what I can get done, Martha.

I made four blocks for the block exchange with our guild. Two of each size..... I have my breast cancer block laid out and ironed down. I still need to put decorative stitching down. Kinda cute! As you can see from this pile of fluff I have been squaring off some half square triangles... About 214 half square triangles left over from the last two projects. A lot of foldy triangles there, too many for me to just pitch. So once trimmed I started sewing them into rows.... Then started to sew rows together  and putting a little more fabric with it..... iron seams open Ready to add a little wool, quilt with a back and bind. Will give you a peek when done. I am so glad I did not throw those away! Take care and chatter with you later,Martha.

I am almost 60 and I still love August and school shopping! I have already purchased two packs of crayons and a pencil sharpener. I am still on the look out for a good compass, have yet to even find a bad one.... I guess I still have a little time. With all this rain , things are kind of getting out of hand  as far as the pond situation in our back and side yards.  We now have a duck swimming pond in our back yard. I went out this morning to take a pic of them swimming and unfortunately scared them away.  My husband  Mr. Sew what says there is a goose out there also because he saw the poop out there. When I asked how he could tell a duck's poop from a goose's poop ,all he said was I have seen it before! Is he pulling my leg? The last time I visited my kids , my darling daughter gave me a quilt to mend, that has been hers since she was 7-9yrs old. So the quilt is at least thirty years old and was used as tug of war with both animal and brother! I gav...

I have some pics of small quilts that finish off at 28 1/2" square. Both are primarily the same except for the inner 12 1/2 ". One has an applique center and the other is totally half square triangles. Both are made from "Vintage Farmhouse " line of fabric designed by Kim Diehl. Have a look.... These quilts are made with a lot of foldy corners,  so now thrifty person I am, I have a bag of around 200 half square triangles that need to be squared off...... I am thinking a table runner, after all it is a freebie! We'll see, chatter with you later, Martha.

Starting a new Kim Diehl project with a little applique center medallion! I started by tracing and cutting out my shapes from wash away paper.  I then ironed them to the wrong side of the fabric and cut them out leaving  about an 1/8th " around to bring to the back so that I could glue it down with Fons and Porter glue stick, as you see below. I also have my stems which I cut 3/4" on the bias and ironed in thirds to achieve the smaller version of the stem I prefer. Then came time for placement,which she does not give a layout for. Direction was given to iron fabric in half one way then unfold and iron the other way in half. From that point you were to eyeball it ,remembering to keep at least 1/4 " away from sides for seams. I used Roxanne's glue to baste my pieces in place. I am going to hand  sew them down, which is my preference. So the next couple of evenings I will be busy with this as handwork. I found this and drank it! Are you looking for your nam...

I finished Kim Diehl's Idaho Lily small quilt and thought I would show you that first.... That is Edyta Sitar's new book in the left hand side of the pic. It is called   "Handful of Scraps". I am decorating a kitchen towel , which is black and white with a red gathered band that is reminiscent of the ruffled shirt from a 1970 Tuxedo!  (Remember Seinfeld's episode of the ruffled pirate shirt? I don't want a pirate shirt!) Back to my kitchen towel.... First I needed two wof strips, then A seam needs to be sewn down (right sides together )length of each strip.... the seams are ironed open.  Then each strip is turned right sides out. Ironed flat with seam in the middle of the back. I mark the path of my ruffled strip with my frixon pen (disappears when Ironed) in preparation for laying down two rows. The strip can be gathered by two running stitches lengthened, running side by side and pulling threads to gather. Most of the time I usually have...

As you can see below I have been playing with Kim Diehl's new "Vintage Farmhouse" collection again. I have the stems appliqued down and am now proceeding to the leaves. I am thinking of doing the leaves in wool for more of a dimensional look.   I work tomorrow and we have two buses! So I know I will be tired by the time I get home . I think I will thaw out some steak, as it is not so hard sitting down by the grill. Sounds like a plan, Martha.

We had our last meeting of the Prairie Women's Sewing Circle  on tuesday the 5th. It was a very nice meeting with a lot of show and tell. I tried to keep up with pics so that I might share with you. These are very old blocks from the 20's or thirties and were recently put together by Bunny Witt. That is Colleen Both holding one side of the Sunbonnet Sue quilt. Bunny is telling us about the quilt and the blocks. This is a pic of a Kim Diehl project belonging to Colleen Both. Just a top at the moment, in progres but beautiful! This is a first meeting project of Prairie Women by Dawn Leitch. This is also a first session project from Dawn. This project is from the present session (#5 gathering) from Dawn. That is Mary Theuer behind the Cherrywood fourth of July project! This is also Mary Theuer. Mary has been a  very busy woman as this is also hers! This is the very first pattern in this session. She did a wonderful job. This is Beth Fabian...

The Fair is over and the state shop hop has begun. I have one more shop to visit to finish the section I live in. I will do that one tomorrow, when I do I receive eight patterns for their quilts.  I took some pictures of my quilts at the fair. Hand appliqued Pitcher quilt , quilted by Mary Hammer. My "Not Quite Amish" quilt  quilted  by Mary Hammer. My baby arrow quilt has been hand quilted by me. My hand peiced,machine quilted by Laura Shogren, hexie quilt with yo yo's and buttons. My "Sand in My Toes"  quilt. My grey and orange hexagon quilt , also quilted by Laura Shogren. My scrappy trip with bunnies running around, quilted by Rebecca Annakkala. My oak leaf and acorn wool applique quilt quilted by Rebecca Annakkala. There was a smaller quilt ,but not a good pic of paper pieced with wool applique... Martha.