Home from quilt class

At our quilt class we worked on the main block.  It's similar to the block we did before, but a little different.   After ripping out a bunch of seams and working hard to get all the seams to match, my block was finally done!  It turned out very pretty!!!



I'm anxious to get the rest of it done.  We're meeting again in a couple weeks to go over the quilting, so I need to have it done by then.  I think I'll work on it and get the piecing done before I finish the second memory quilt.

Keep checking back!!!

Table runner top is almost done

We had our quilt class on Monday night again. We put all the squares together and I got the boarders on mine. I'm not too happy with the stars - I made them too small so I don't have nice crisp points showing. I only have two corners to finish - I mitered them this time and it worked pretty well.



Next I have to make the sandwich, then machine quilt it. I bought some thin batting to use at Hobby Lobby this morning, along with some blue machine quilting thread that I'll use on it.

For the back I'm just going to use some off-white muslin since I have a bunch of it in my fabric stash, and will use the blue for the binding, too.

Not sure if I'll get to it this weekend, but next week I should be able to get it done.

Another new project - FINALLY!

Our quilt class at church didn't end with the quilts, we met again on Monday night and Jean has a new project for us. We're doing a table runner this time, so it won't take near as long.

This is what she made (she didn't have hand outs for us, so I took pictures w/ my cell phone so I had something to refer back to):


We need 10 blocks of the "stars"


and 11 9 patch blocks


I still had a lot of fabric left from when I made my quilt, so I'm using that for the table runner, too. Yes, it would be nice to have it out of something different, but since I have sooo much fabric there's really no use buying more. I did use ALL of the dark blue fabric on the quilt, so I just have a light blue so I'm using that for the stars, biege for the off-white parts on both blocks, and the 9 patches will have red. I'm not sure what I'll use for the boarder yet. And I may decide to do something different with the colors once I get a few put together. I worked on the half-squares for the stars last night, so I have enough of them to do the table runner. I'll try to take pictures tonight.

And no, I still don't have the quilt entirely done. Maybe after my parents visit I'll work on it more. Now that the weather is getting warmer, the last thing I want to do is sit with a huge quilt on my lap.

In other news, Todd's 97 year old grandmother is in the hospital again having problems with her heart. The report yesterday was better and they said she may be able to go home in a couple days. She had been in the hospital a couple weeks ago, too, so this time really scared us. Logic says she won't live forever, but it's still sad.

Another new sewing machine foot

This is is a "Darning" or "Quilting" foot. Jean (the lady teaching our Quilt class) had a few of them last night that we could purchase for $10, and it just happens that I had that much cash on me. :D I used it last night at class and it works very well! I may try to video sewing with them and see if I can post.



Jean also had some very pretty stencils, so I used one to make this:



I'm home at lunch (late again today), so better get back to work. I'll try to work on some more and post more pictures soon!

Quilting Class tonight

We have another quilting class tonight. The instructor is going to show us how to quilt our quilts - both by machine and by hand. All the other quilts I've made have been hand quilted, so I'm excited to learn how to machine quilt.

Of course, you need more equipment to do that, so I went down to JoAnn's Fabrics in Austin on Sunday to purchase a walking foot for my sewing machine. This is what it looks like:




Of course, once I get a new "toy", I have to play with it a little bit. I had some left over fabric that was already sewn together that I used for my latest quilt, so made a square and tried machine quilting a little bit on it. (First I basted all three layers together, that's what the yellow thread is you see.) Mom had given me some templates for Christmas two years ago (when I started quilting), so I used one of them to mark a design, then quilted it. This is the result:

That's hard to see, so I also took a picture of the back:

It was pretty easy! It worked better without the embroadery hoop. It will be interesting to see what she says tonight.

This is what I'm taking for the class tonight. I had some squares left over from the quilt, so just sewed them together and made borders. It's also basted. I've marked it a little bit with the templates, but it's hard to see. I just used some white muslin I had around, for the real quilt, I'll use some off-white muslin so it matches better.

Oh yeah, notice how it's not completely square? The right side is one inch longer than the left side - this is what happens when you don't square up your blocks before sewing them into rows and sewing the rows together!!!!!

Anyway, it will be a fun class. We have to take our sewing machines, so I've got everything packed up already.

New week

I've been very busy getting ready for Thanksgiving. I'm doing a huge meal: Turkey (of course) and stuffing, green bean casserole (Sam will be happy), hash brown casserole, sweet potatoe casserole, a couple new salad recipes, pecan and pumpkin pies (making from scratch) and maybe pumpkin bars (if I have enough time). We should have 9 people there so there will be TONS of left overs. I've already got the table linens washed and folded, this morning I got up and mixed up the green bean and hash brown casseroles. (It's a good thing we have an extra refrigerator in the garage.) Tonight I need to get some more Crisco for the pie crusts, and I'll make the pumpkin one tonight. I also need to get the good plates out and wash them, in addition to cleaning the house. I have a feeling I won't be getting much sleep before Thursday.

However, last night I had another quilt class. This is a beginner class, so a little below my level, but it's a good way to get to know other ladies from our church. Before the quilt class, I met with the lady who is coordinating the school bag project and gave her the 42 bags that I had done.
Here they all are:

These are the new ones since I last updated:




When Mom and Dad were here, I told Mom I wanted to make her a purse for Christmas. She picked out two fabrics and told me a few things she wanted on it. She liked the really big bag I made before (see October 9 entry), but didn't want it that big. OK, a few days after they left I started on her bag and finished it a few days ago. The problem is, it's almost as big as the other bag. So, :D I used it to haul all my quilting stuff to class last night and it was GREAT! I'll make Mom another one and make sure it's not as big. ;)
So this is the bag that was going to be her Christmas present:


I wanted to make something to carry my supplies for the class, but didn't want to use any of the fabric I still have left over, so decided the first bag was too HUGE and used it to make this (yes, I cut it apart and used the material to make this):



The back has a pocket that my smallest ruler fits in:

Here are the two together:

The large bag fit all this stuff:


Anyway, the quilt class is going well. I am way ahead of most of the people, but this will be the fourth quilt I've made. (Haven't taken any pictures of the quilt squares yet, but will when it gets down to deciding the layout of them.)
We are not meeting again until December 15.

In the mean time, I'll start working on Mom's other purse, and hopefully it will be the right size this time. :D