A Prairie Home Quilts

Oh, wait.  These are supposed to be Halloween noises. I guess it should be shrieking in fear. Here is my “shriek” block for Tonya’s Slither Eek Boo quilt.

Tee hee.

Okay.  It’s really Ludo sleeping on my “shriek” block.  All fabric is fair game for him as a prime sleeping spot.  My plan for “shriek” was to make it with long, pointy-type letters.  I sketched out my original idea on a piece of scrap paper shown at the bottom of the picture below.  Then I drew the letters out a little larger and gave some thought as to what part of the letter to form first, second & third because most of the letters had three parts.

You’ll notice in my drawing that I forgot the “r” so youngest DS drew an “r” for me at the bottom of the paper.  I made a note for myself about remembering to allow for the seam allowance at the end of all my points because I didn’t want them getting chopped off.

Here are my letters in the order that I stitched them together.  The “e” was the most difficult.  Actually, not difficult but fiddly.  It didn’t quite turn out as I had planned in my drawing but I didn’t want to keep messing with it.  It’s an “e” and it’s got pointy parts.  You can see from the “r” that I started with straight pieces of fabric.  I sewed the background fabric bits on at an angle to make the points.

Here is “shriek.”  It’s pretty large — about 9″ x 24″.  Another important thing to point out is how much more background fabric it takes when you are being fiddly with the letters. It took more of the purple background fabric than I thought it would to make the block.  More seams equals more fabric used.  I really like how the block turned out though, and I only chopped off a very tiny tip at the bottom of the “r.”

Tonya, this was a lot of fun to do and to see what everyone else came up with!  [You can see more blocks here and here.] I have more word quilts planned in the future.  Thanks for letting me play.

This is the block I’m using in a quick project I started to have a gift for my mom for her birthday.  It’s going to be a small wall hanging — about 26″ x 26″.  Although, if it were really a “quick project,” I’d have it done already, right?  Maybe it’s just that I’m not quick. . .  I’m using the Free Inklingo Collection to make LeMoyne Star blocks and half LeMoyne Stars to make the bud blocks.  I’ve pieced the inset seams by hand and pieced the rest by machine.  Next time, though, I’m doing the whole thing by hand because I was disappointed that some of my points will be clipped off.  I’m able to be more accurate when I hand piece.

I added a strip of fabric to two sides of the half-star bud block to make it the same size as the full LeMoyne Star block.  I was too lazy to do the “pot” part the correct way  (I found this block in an antique quilt, btw) so I just did a half square triangle block and trimmed it to the correct size.  The finished size of the LeMoyne Star block in the Free Inklingo Collection is 4 1/2″.

I used photo editing software to play around with a cropped image of the block to decide on my setting.  This one just wouldn’t do.

Next up. . .  This one’s better but it’s still not “there” yet.

And finally, yes!  That’s it!  I like this setting the best.  Although we’ll see what happens when I add the border fabrics.

Ludo thinks if he hides this block, he can claim the wall hanging for himself.

He doesn’t know that Grandma has already seen the block and she’s not parting with the wall hanging.

Here is a picture of the Christmas gifts I’m making for youngest DD Rachelle, DDIL Koren and future DDIL Heather.

Can’t see them?  Look real close. . . They are right here.  Yup, Ludo’s really good at hiding things!

Here’s a closer look. . .  That’s as much as I can show you because a couple of the aforementioned people read my blog.  *smile*

He sure is cute. . . when he’s sleeping!

I’ve had this done for a while but haven’t updated the blog.  The hand piecing went quickly and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I think that means I’m up for hand piecing a whole quilt top of hexagons.

I have this all basted and ready for hand quilting, and I have about 300 sets of fabric hexagons together for the quilt top.  I need to start basting them to the hexagon paper pieces.  I’m also experimenting with another (new-to-me) technique that would eliminate the basting-to-paper-pieces step and lets you hand piece the hexagons together without using a whip stitch.  If I’d known about it before I started cutting up my fabrics into squares for hexagons, I probably would have used it instead although I don’t mind using a whip stitch to sew the hexagons together.  It goes quickly for me.  I’ll post about my experiment with Inklingo in a few days — after I have a sample finished up so I can post a picture of it.  Oh, and it’s not that I don’t have other hexagon quilt ideas in my head that I could use this new technique on, you know?  LOL

Guess who thinks this project is his?  Yes, Mischievous Ludo.  He claimed it long before I had it finished.  I’m sure when it’s completely quilted and on the table, it will be a daily game to keep him off of it.

On Monday our beloved pet, Muffin, passed away. She’s been a part of the family for almost 15 years. DD-Jessica was seven when she got Muffin. Muffin was the haughty queen of the household and the best cat we’ve ever had. She was never any trouble and always very neat–except for the two litters of kittens she delivered under DD-Jessica’s bed instead of in the nice boxes we’d prepared for her. We will miss her. Even Ludo seemed a little sad that day.

there’s Ludo [sigh]. I’m trying to lay out the strips and squares I cut up for Nathan & Koren’s quilt on the dining room table to put the fabrics together for the blocks. Each 16″ block uses 5 different fabrics. . . But wait! What’s that orange fluffy thing in the back of my picture?? It’s the mischievous Ludo. . . the cat who thinks if I’m laying out fabric, it must be for him to lie on. “I’m here to help. Where do you want these red strips? BTW, I didn’t knock those other strips on the floor.” “I’m sorry, is there a problem here?” “Never mind. I’m ready for a nap.”

Hmmm… When I see how long it’s been since my last post, it seems I should have a lot more done than I do. Here’s one reason why I am behind.

Ludo, the mischievous is always sleeping where I need to work. He’s either on the cutting mat when there’s material on it, or hopping up on my chair at the sewing machine when I get up to iron or cut something.

Thank you all for the comments on the double wedding ring quilts and the musical scrappy blocks. I have solved my issues with the blocks I didn’t like in the musical scrappy. I’ve spent one whole day just squaring up more half square triangles so I can get more blocks done for that quilt.

About double wedding ring quilts. . . there are several people who have technique books out with plastic template sets for doing them with rotary cutters and strip piecing methods. The class I took was helpful but not essential to making a DWR. The only thing I would recommend is not the let your enthusiasm and momentum lag while putting the top together. I wish I had completed the top all at once because it is a hard project to come back to.

I did make an unplanned detour to a sewing project that I had my list, took off the list and then decided to go ahead and do. I’ve had upholstery material to cover the pillows on the back of my couch for probably 2 years now. The couch was given to us and I never liked the southwest motif (and colors!) on the pillows.

(Edit: 27 December 2008: Hmmm, it seems this picture has disappeared. . .)

Looking at the picture, I forgot that I was going to cover the pillows with fabric that had an English cottage look to it (inexpensive Wal*Mart fabric). The small pillow is already covered but I didn’t buy enough of that fabric before our Wal*Mart stopped carrying it. Anyway, I was thinking of giving away the upholstery fabric (more inexpensive Wal*Mart fabric) I had purchased, but on a whim, I threw it over the couch one last time. . . I decided it looks so much better than the southwest pillows. I spent a couple days working on making covers for the old pillows. Here’s the result:

I actually like my couch now. It doesn’t look so sad and shabby any more. (Maybe just because all the pillows are coordinated now! LOL)

Finally, I’ve started cutting the FQs for Nathan and Koren’s quilt. I’m not kidding myself here by thinking I’m actually going to have this one done before their wedding on 1 March. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll have the top done. I’ve also concluded that a trip to the LQS is in order as I need fabric for binding for my pink and burgundy quilt, fabric for backing and binding my DWR and I’ll need backing and binding for Nathan and Koren’s quilt. That will all have to wait until my income tax check comes.