Beginning a Friday Night Sew In

Go to Heidi's blog to sign up or get involved by reading what other quilters are working on tonight.

Tonight I hope to make progress on a cute table runner.  I need to have it ready to take to the quilt shop tomorrow afternoon for the monthly meeting. 

I'll be needing about 18 - 24 charm squares and a few 1 1/2 inch strips and some large ric-rac trim.  I am going to just about clear out one pack of Thimbleberries charms that are leftover from the quilt club 2 years ago! 
 

The pattern I'm following was provided by the quilt shop.

If I finish my "homework", I'll be rewarded with a wooden nickel that is good for 1 free fat quarter.

It didn't take long at all to do up the free motion meander quilting.  Then I sewed on the brown ric rac with a warm brown thread using a small zig zag stitch. 

Just a little more to do yet as far as some handquilting.  I just did a little to follow  along the sashing strips.  There was one minor blunder as far as the ric-rac goes.  I was waiting to attach the trim on the ends until the binding was sewn on, but I forgot to insert it and I had a bit of unstitching to do to get the ric rac under the binding in 4 small places.  Oh, well it didn't take too long to fix. 

I am happy that this runner is a good fit for the endtables pushed together.

It covers the top nicely and I enjoy having them function like a coffee table.  I have other tables that work better as endtables.

In this photo the quilting shows up a little better. 

I'll be off soon to a garden show and then I have a quilt meeting to attend to collect on my wooden nickel and see the other show and tell pieces.  Later tonight, I'll have fun browsing around the blogs of the other quilters that participated in the Friday Night Sew In.

Blogger's Quilt Festival ~ Autumn 2011





Fall is here and its time to take a wonderful blog tour and see the many quilts of Blogger's Quilt Festival.  Thanks to Amy of Amy's Creative Side, twice a year we are able to be inspired by great photos and stories of a wide array of quilterly goodness.   This festival is one of my favorite blogging activities each time it comes around.  I usually spend those weekends tied to the computer, with a mug of coffee or tea in my hand as I jump to so many quilter's blogs.



This fall, I am sharing my Village Green Quilt.  It was designed by Thimbleberries and I love the combination of warm fabrics in the kit. 

Pine Tree Block

Piecing some floral and fence blocks



This was a block of the month club for 2010.   I was pretty happy with my progress each of the months. By December, I was even sewing the sawtooth border. So this quilt went together faster than last year's Three's Company quilt.  I had it quilted by my neighbor on a long arm and I got the binding stitched down very recently. 



The quilt that I chose to make was described as a "generous queen sized throw".  It works perfectly on a double bed as a coverlet and hangs down the side by a few inches.  I love it on the living room sofa as it's quite a lot bigger than the quilt I usually curl up with for TV.  I love how the colors coordinate with other quilts I already made and use in our home.  

Applying the Binding



Quilting by Carol's Corner (my neighbor)

Thimbleberries quilts often have multiple borders and this is no acception.  Some are a bit too much framing, but with the cute sawtooth border on this one, I think it's the perfect finish for the edge!  This has now won a special place in my heart as a favorite quilted finish. 

Pumpkin and Herbs

Happy Fall Everyone.  Be sure to check out the other quilts in the listing over at Amy's Creative Side.  You'll be glad you did.  And if you are on the fence about writing a post about a quilt, you should just jump off and do it!  The more, the merrier!  Just read her suggestions in her post and you'll be well on your way to participation.

Mug Rug Set

About a month ago these rolls of fabric were passed out at a Thimbleberries meeting.  The shop was calling them Cinnamon Sticks.  Rolled up inside were 2 layers of fabric, a light and a dark, as well as some half square triangle paper.  We were to sew them up and trim them for an exchange. 

Ironing the seams and ripping the paper

Playing around with the pieces

4 mug rugs are in the works today

Four mug rugs are now quilted.  Now all that's  left to do is the bindings on the las two.  But first, I have to have a little break with the coffee and cookies!

After Thanksgiving Sale at the Quilt Corner

My mom, a friend and I went on a special outing to the Quilt Corner, a cute shop in Sparta, Wisconsin. 

Here we are in our special pajama outfits that were required for the sale shopping.  My mom snapped the picture.  We didn't purchase too much, but had a good time wandering around the shop in our jammies and robes. 


Our crazy outfits for the discount


Here is a list of what was required to reach the full discount:

1. arrive between 6-6:30
2. food item for donation
3. children's mittens
4. P.J.s
5. slippers
6. robe
7. at least 3 curlers
8. join Thimbleberries Club for next year



Thinking through her purchases




Waiting at the cutting table

I was lucky to be able to get 2 pieces of extra wide backing fabric for my 2 most recent Thimbleberries quilts.  The soft beige one with the floral print will be for my 3's Company back and the tan plaid print will be for the back of the Village Green quilt that is nearing completion. 

Recently Completed Thimbleberries Tops




My Haul for This Year

 Love the Bliss charms by Moda.  I want to make them into one of the Schnibbles quilts.  I've got this pattern and 2 others waiting to be used.   
Isn't the vintage machine fabric cute?  Deb and I were thinking it might make some cute pincushions. 

After our shopping was complete, we went out for pizza, minus the robes and the curlers; but still in our jammies.  We were all pretty hungry and our pizza was delicious.  But of course no one would eat the last piece, so I took it home for Steve.

Next weekend, on Saturday we will be going to the Christmas Party.  We're hoping for clear roads, as these last 2 weekends have been nothing but snow storms.  It's getting to be a bit too much snow for us teachers.  If these same snows had come on a week day, it would have cancelled the schools around here.

Thimbleberries 3's Company Club Quilt 2009

My blocks have been sewn for a while now, but I recently got down to business and sewed the blocks together for the center panel of this quilt.

It will have multiple borders. One fun detail is that one of the borders will have additional pieced blocks set into it. I have the widest border pieces cut. My next move will be to cut some narrow cream strips for the first border. I plan to use a wool batting for the quilting.

Blocks for Thimbleberries 2009 Quilt

I am glad to say that I have sewn all the blocks I need for my 3's Company quilt from the 2009 Thimbleberries quilt club. The main block was 12 1/2 inches and the other blocks are 6 1/2 inches. There are 36 pieces mini ones and 30 appliques style. The applique ones come from a panel, so there wasn't any sewing involved with those, only trimming! In the past, I didn't really care for the colors of Thimbleberries fabrics, but having made a quilt in 2008 with entirely those colors made me change my mind.