No Borders Now

After making a border strip, I realized that my problem was that the quilt was not wide enough for its length. It is 72 x 48 with a 6 inch extra row at the top in this pic. I'm going to add another 12 inches to the width and I think 60 x 78 will be better. I don't have the two 24 inch strips sewed together yet.

I bought some great batting. It is Hobbs and was expensive at $19 for queen size which was the only size they had. I usually use cotton but wanted poly for this utility quilt.

I also found some great backing fabric at Hancock. It was $2/yd on the sale pile. It is a 2000 design by Sunday in the Park, if that means anything. I've already washed it and it is really good fabric. It is strange that sometimes Quilt Store fabric, which costs more, is not this quality. I guess other things like how long they have had it in stock and such also affects the pirce. Anyway this should work great.

I wasn't able to post this morning and now have the quilt top finished into two pieces, each 30 x 78. I'm now going to have to make a decision about quilting it and then sandwich it. How to make a tight sandwich still alludes me. I really am just a topper.

News From Florida

Just in case you missed these.

Today is the last day of this year's hurricane season and no hurricanes came to Florida. Last year, and the year before, there were several and each time the state allowed the insurance companies to raise the rates because of the hurricane claims. Do you think they will lower the rate this year. Nope. Up another 12 %.

At 4:00 a.m. the police were called to a swampy area of a large local lake that is well known, and posted, to have alligators. Four officers somehow managed to rescue a man from the jaws of a large alligator. The man is severely injured. His truck was parked nearby. They are not sure why he was wading. He was also naked. Guess he didn't want to get his clothes wet.

If this were fiction, no one would believe it.

Another Idea

Read these posts backwards.

What do you think of this one? 

Borders or Not?
The question is whether to add borders or more blocks and no border. It is a busy quilt so I'm not sure. I do like a narrow green stopper, if I use borders. The last pic is what the filler blocks look like. I'd add more of these, if I don't border. Usually when I audition, I know what to do but am very undecided this time. I know it is hard to tell from pics but what do you think?

New Name
No more brown and green. After viewing Tim Rice's lastest pics, I'm naming my quilt Autumn Walk. Tim takes such wonderful pics. His blog is Ramblings10.blogspot.com/ Sorry I don't know how to make this a click to get there.

I have an idea for a border I might like for the quilt. What do you think of piano keys? I'll audition some and let you see.

More Brown and Green

Here are two more blocks. For the bottom one I used another stitch from my machine to embellish it. I also made enough regular ones to finish six 24 inch blocks. I don't think 48 inches is wide enough and it probably should be longer too. I auditioned some borders but didn't like them. I think I'll add another 12 inch row to the width. I started to cut and sew some more regular blocks. Then my big problem - how to sandwich and quilt it. I really am just a topper. 

More Blocks and Comments

First some comments on yesterday's post. Sorry Paula and anyone else I grossed out with the pic of my finger with the fire ant stings. I'm a retired health occupation teacher and look at such things differently. I thought people who had never seen how the stings look would be interested. Thanks Cheri from southern Texas for the info on how to get rid of the ants. I was unable to e-mail you to say this. Guess what Finn, the Division of Agriculture, University of Arkansas says there are some benefits to having fire ants. "Fire ants have been shown to decrease some pest insect numbers. Cotton growers in Texas and sugarcane growers in Louisiana appreciate the predatory nature of the ant. Also, tick presence may be decreased in pastures infested with fire ants."


I worked a little more on my brown and green quilt. I sewed some blocks together to make 24 inch blocks and made some more. First two pics are 12 inches. Last one is 15 inches from brown point to point. Is it a star or blocks? Don't know if I will use it in my quilt as it is so big and I don't know how to make it square. This is my first try at Y seams and they weren't as bad as I thought they would be. As of now, I'm aiming for 48 x 72". 

Fire Ants
I wrote about these pics and blogger lost it. grrrrrr I'm really one growling dog about this.
Guess I'll just have to try again.
Well, the first pic is my left hand the day afer fire ant stings. Yes they don't bite but the tiny little things sting. And not just once. Their stinger is one their abdomen and they move around in a circle stinging repeatedly until you get them off. I knew better but.... I have a few more stings on this hand and one on my other hand.

My DD2 came for a nice Thanksgiving meal and visit which included a pool and hot tub visit. I used to have a yard service take care of what I call a date palm tree. Each year the top grows more and the bottom layer of branches/fronds dies and have to be cut off. Some other plant uses these areas as a host and grows there. I think the service sprays them. Some people let them grow. Anyway my DD and I pulled and cut them off. On one dead frond near the ground, there was another guest - the ants. My daughter wasn't stung as she had on gloves. They don't hurt that much when you are stung but later the reaction and itching is horrible. They are suppose to improve in three days but I've had problems for three weeks. The eruptions look like they are infected but it is just a reaction to the poison and you aren't suppose to break them. The oral antihistamine I'm taking makes me sleepy (they all do for me) so I guess I'll just nap away the rest of the weekend. Yes, I did go buy more gloves.

The second pic is a UFO I found here in my FL cupboard. I put a thick batting under it and stuffed the leaf parts as I quilted them. I know there is a name for that but I can't think of it. I don't have anything to use for the back of the pillow and am not sure I want to venture to even the fabric store this weekend. I have no idea why I had started this layout of the Drunkard's Path but I did. Interesting anyway.
I printed this post before trying to post it again so it will probably work this time. 

This is the missing pic for the following blog. 

Another Brown and Green

I decided to use one of the patterns from my new Sampler by Lori Smith. I wasn't sure about working with small pieces but they went together fine. And it was a nice size to make into a 12 inch block.

I found a cross stitch pic that someone else had made. I don't remember when or where I got it. Anyway, the border and words were not done. I used blue floss to match the color of the printed pattern and I'm happy with how it looks. I wonder if I can use it in a quilt or should just frame it. I'll donate it. I wonder if young mothers want such pics for their baby's rooms now.

Oh, for goodness sakes. One of my pic apparently did not come over from Picasa. I am having all kinds of problems with Blogger too. :( 

Cleaning Up
The first pic is my idea for putting the brown and green quilt togeter. Like it?
The second pic is all the brown and green fabric. Looks like there is enough there for a couple quilts.
And the third is all the Prairie Stars blocks and fabric. Just had to do some pick up, clean up and regroup. The last pic is my porch as I found it two days ago. I was cleaning furniture and Kipper decided to help. Oh, me. He also ate it and yesterday he pooped six times. Hope he is all cleaned out.

A couple years ago I had the old carpet taken out of all the rooms except the bedrooms and put in vinal which looks like wood. I have it in my sewing room in MI and really like it. This that I have in FL was on sale and is a little dark which looks fine but shows everything that falls on it. I can't complain about Kipper as he is not shedding now but his feet do bring in dirt and sand. My shoes do too. But mostly it is fabric scraps and threads. I use a swiffer and just bought one that also vaccums. It is great as the regular one doesn't pick up the sand. This one operates on a battery and I plug it in to rechange when not used. I have turned my dining room into a sewing room. It is on one end of my living room where my TV and computer and printer is. I guess the whole thing is more like a family room. There are windows all across the front looking out on a pond. Great place to be.





 

 

Two More Blocks
I got two more blocks done for my Brown and Green quilt. I used my new ruler to make the flying geese and am not sure about it. Anyway, I've had enough flying geese for a while.

I decided to square up and start putting some of the blocks together today. My sewing machine didn't want to work. Look how it skipped stitches. I tried rethreading, checked bobbin and a few other things but no luck. So I took it all apart and cleaned, changed needle and filled a new bobbin. Yup, it is working! No idea which thing was the problem but don't care as long as it is happy. A happy machine makes a happy quilter. :)
 

Double Z

I don't know why outside edges of it look so crooked. Actually it isn't. But it isn't very accurate point matching either. I tried a method where you made and laid out all the HST and then sewed them into pairs and the columns of pairs into rows and then the rows together and only then pressed. Fast but not so good at hitting points. I should have put a pin through each point spot. Oh, well. For me it is good enough to use anyway. The really good thing is the blocks spoke to me about how they want to be arranged into a quilt. I think I'll like it. More on that later. Do you know I don't have a single quilt down here in FL for me to use. "Brown and Green" says she is it. And she says she wants a better name too.

I just had to send for a pattern I fell in love with. It wasn't a book VBS so doesn't count, right? It came yesterday and I love it even more now it is in my hands. It is a A Quilt Block Sampler and has 83 different 7 inch finished blocks. When will I finish it? Maybe I should ask when I will start it first. And there is deciding on colors and buying fabric or waiting until I get back to MI and my big stash. This pattern is designed by Lori Smith of From my heart to your hands. She was at the Houston Quilt Show when I ordered it so it took a little longer to send to me. She told that when I ordered it and I wasn't in any rush. Still she sent me a free pattern called Golden Memories: A Sample Quilt. because of the delay. It has patterns for 32 more 7 inch blocks. Oh, me. Lovely, lovley.

 

Today's Block
Here is my version of fifty-four forty or fight. I have no idea why I thought I wanted it as a rectangle. Oh, well, it is 12 by 18 so will fill some space anyway. I made templates for the star and if I ever made it again, I'd probably paper piece it. Of course I have the templates made now. And making it the standard square way would be much easier too. I think quilt names are so interesting. The name of this one came from the political battle about the border between Canada and the U.S. during President Polk's administration. I've thought about making a quilt with these historical blocks but then I think about making lots of quilts. Now I can say I made one such block anyway. Looking at my block, it almost looks like how some of our current voting districts are drawn up. :) Oh, dear, I hope I didn't give some current politician an idea. VBS

Pie Pieces
This probably has another name but this is what I call it. It was suppose to be pieced with the background put in like the way a Drunkard's Path is sewed but I just couldn't bring myself to try it with a circle this large - about 10 inches. Finally I sewed it the way I knew how to do. I cut another circle of fabric the same size and sewed the together with right sides together. Then I cut the center of the back and turned it and trimmed it. I also understitched it on the back so it lay very flat. Then I auditioned some lace and thought about cording but didn't have any cord to make it. Finally I just sewed it on with the machine. This machine I keep here here in FL doesn't do much fancy work so I didn't have much choice but I liked this one fine. With four layers of fabric on one side and one on the other, I was afraid of distortion. Then I remembered one of you telling about using either sandwich wrap sheets or old phone book pages for stablizer. I used the phone book pages and they worked fine. Thanks, whoever you are. Do you take all your stabilzer out after sewing? I have seen very old quilts made on newspaper which wasn't removed and hasn't hurt the quilt all these years later. So I just tore off what came off and didn't worry about the rest. 

Veterans' Day
On this the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, we remember all who served and especially those who died as a result of military service to our country. I attended a service here in my senior park in Florida today. These are the flowers in front of the flag pole where part of it took place. I hope you took a few minutes today to reflect. 

Rest of Pics
See post below.