UFO!!

I have been sick for a week now... 

I was feeling well enough earlier this week to do some handwork.  I walked into my sewing room and looked around for something to work on.  This UFO has been on the floor of my room for a year now.

I started this quilt somewhere between 1998 and 2000, back when I still lived with mom and dad.

I found the pattern in a magazine (don't ask me which one!) and used my mom's scraps.  My mom quilted it at some time when she lived in Markham, so between 2002 and 2005.

Here is a close-up of one of the blocks.

The binding was half done.  I didn't know what I was going to do with this quilt so there was no need to finish it!

This is a shot of the quilt back and binding.

I still don't know where this quilt will live but at least now it's done! (And I even washed it... it was a little dusty!)

I love a good scrap quilt!!

Hearts!

I was in the mood to make something small for Valentine's Day.

So here is my Valentine's mug rug!

I used my mom's Accuquilt Go! Baby to cut out the hearts, used Lite Steam a Seam to fuse it onto the background fabric, and then machine appliqued using the buttonhole stitch on my machine with a variegated thread.

Here's the back!

I am a little disappointed with my binding.  I cut it a little too short when I was finishing it off and the bottom of the mug rug is puckering a bit.  Oh well, it is done and it's so darn cute, I couldn't wait to use it!

Garbage Quilts

At our retreat 2 weeks ago (has it already been that long!), we all started working on our Garbage Quilts.

My grandmother has been making these quilts for years and she is the one who came up with that name. They are also known as God's Eye quilts, and I have seen other bloggers call them strippies or string quilts.

You start with a foundation piece, ours are 8.5"x8.5".  Draw a line 3/4" on either side of the center diagonal line of your foundation piece.  Start sewing strips on either side of the diagonal center strip using your drawn lines as your guide.  Your strips should vary in width from 1.5" to 3".  The wider strips are really good for the corners.

These are Betty's blocks.  She used a turquoise for her foundation piece.

We exchanged strips for this quilt.  We each filled 6 large ziploc bags with different sized strips from our scrap bins.  We then each gave a bag to the other members of the group and ended up with strips from everyone's scrap bin!  It is much more fun to sew with everyone's fabric!

These are Pat's blocks.  She used an old sheet for her foundation and added a strip of black as the center strip of every block.

Some of the others were very organized with their strips.  Mine are all mixed up in a bag.  Whatever works!!

My mom and I decided to do ours using the quilt-as-you-go method.

This is my first row!

close-up of some of my blocks

This is the back of my first row.  I still had to hand-stitch the sashing down.

close-up of the back of my first row.

This is my grandmother's latest Garbage Quilt.  This is a picture of just the top but my mom has since quilted it and it is now on her bed.  She used muslin as her foundation and used the traditional setting for a  God's Eye quilt.

We are all having fun working on our quilts.  They will all look different because we are using different foundations and center strips, we are also making them different sizes.  My mom and I are also doing different settings because we have sashing in ours.  

I will definitely be posting pictures as we continue to work on them and get them finished!

My little girl

Two weekends ago I went to a retreat at my mom's.  If you remember, I told you that my daughters were coming with me on the Friday and my 6 year old told me she wanted to sew too.

She worked on a birthday gift for one of her classmates.

I had cut out all the fabric for her and embroidered her friends' name on one of the squares.

She made a little cushion.

She's only sewn on the machine once before but has always loved to watch my mom and I.

She did so good!  I simply guided her hands a little.  I even let her use the iron... she was really happy about that!

She made a 10" cushion using this pattern from Bunny Hill.

We didn't applique since I had embroidered her friends' name, and we used pink minky fabric for the back.  She stuffed it by herself as well.  All I did was hand stitch the opening closed.

She was so proud to give it to her friend on Saturday at the birthday party!

My little girl has come a long way!  Here she is sewing with Grand-maman when she was 16 months old.  I hope this is just the beginning for her!

Jelly Roll 1600

We had a great weekend of sewing fun at my mom's!  I always love spending time with my friends to get inspired and sew on some new and old projects.  

So do you know about the Jelly Roll 1600 race?

You can see it here.

Five of us decided we wanted to give it a try and this was the retreat to do it.

This is my jelly roll.

This is Betty's jelly roll strip.  

We had to sew every strip, end to end to make one long 1600" strip (hence the name Jelly Roll 1600!)

At first we thought we would do it "race style" like the video.  The closer we got to the retreat, the more we were thinking, we might not want to do it that way.  So, Pat started sewing hers together before the retreat and the rest of us had our 1600" strip sewn together.  

Here are Betty and Pat getting started.

This is my mom and I getting started.

Some pressed as they sewed, while others just kept on going till they were done.  We all had the same strange feeling as we went, though... I'm not sure I'm gonna like this when I 'm done!  

It was very hard to give up control and see the same fabrics being sewn next to one another.  

Luckily we all had encouragement from one another and kept on keepin' on!

So when Pat finished first, we were all AMAZED at how gorgeous it looks!!  The rest of us were all anxious to finish ours!!

Within an hour, we were all done.

Pat's Jelly Roll Quilt

Dale's Jelly Roll Quilt

Betty's Jelly Roll Quilt

Alice's Jelly Roll Quilt (my mom!)

My Jelly Roll Quilt!!

 Don't you just love them all!!