Sewing Project - Quilt 6 - Green Squares in Tan

I have completed another quilt for donation.  This project morphed from the original materials I had selected.  I chose black for the sashing but decided the fabrics were too dark to have dark sashing. 

Finished Size: 42.50" x 55.25"

Front: Green patterned fabric cut into 10" squares

Backing: Hunter Green Flannelette

Batting: Cotton Sheet



Sashing: Caramel dual texture fabric cut 4 inches wide

Binding: Caramel dual texture fabric cut to 2 5/8 inches wide  You can check out the Fool Proof Quilt Binding video for details.

Thread: Dark Green cotton thread  

Binding stitching: Stitch in the ditch.  I pinned very closely and had perfect capture of the folded edge on the back. Excellent.

Quilting: One quarter inch around each square on the square with green thread keeps the caramel intact and matched well with the green back. I remembered to add the next row of sashing before quilting so I have a good edge to follow.  A quarter inch foot helps a lot! Great investment.


The thread spool was taller than my regular spools and was dancing around on my spindle.  I added a straw on the spindle that fit into the hole of the spool. Perfect solution.

Lessons Learned: 
Measure twice cut once - on the rows of sashing I cut them 42 inches after doing some math (not my strongest skill) thinking that would give me extra but the row of squares was 43" wide when it came to quilting.  I did have enough fabric to re-cut the 5 rows of sashing to 45" to leave me some extra.

It worked out in the end because the too short sashing was turned into the binding.  I did have to add about a foot to have enough.  I was going to use black for binding but since I had what I needed I went ahead with the caramel.

It is getting easier as I improve with each one.

Made several green scraps disappear as well!

Sewing Project - Quilt 5 - IKEA Fabric Panel

I finished the companion quilt from the IKEA cotton panel of kid design.

Finished Size: 38.5" W x 44" T

Front: IKEA fabric panel

Backing: Caramel textured cotton fabric

Batting: Fleece

Binding: Striped cotton fabric

Quilting: Followed the stripes across the quilt.

Applique: Star from warm yellow fabric with ivory thread.





The backing fabric is opaque enough to hide the red color of the fleece inside.

The binding was leftover fabric in bright cheery colors similar to the front fabric.  It was cut to 2.5 inches.  You can check out this video for binding how to. Fool Proof Quilt Binding.

I pinned the layers together with small safety pins before I ran the lines of quilting across the front.  I chose ivory thread to hide it as much as possible.

I then squared it and applied the binding.  It will make a child a nice quilt to help them through a difficult time.

For the batting in between the front and back I used leftover pieces of fleece from this Pot Protector Project.

Lessons Learned: I decided to make my last seam along the binding. I ironed the binding at pinned it before making my last seam thinking I would have a better chance to catch the back layer but I did miss a few spots - more than I expected.  I will work on that.

Sewing Project - Quilt 4 - IKEA Fabric Panel

I finished another small quilt today.

Finished Size: 39" W x 44" T

Front: IKEA fabric panel

Backing: Red Cotton Twill fabric

Batting: Fleece

Binding: Striped cotton fabric
Fool Proof Quilt Binding video

Quilting: Followed the stripes across the quilt.

The backing fabric is heavier than quilting cotton which was really nice.

For the batting in between the front and back I used leftover pieces of fleece from this Pot Protector project.

The binding was leftover fabric in bright cheery colors similar to the front fabric.  It was cut to 2.5 inches.

I pinned the layers together with small safety pins before I ran the lines of quilting across the front.  I chose red thread to hide it as much as possible.

I then squared it and applied the binding.  It will make a child a nice quilt to help them through a difficult time.

Sewing Project - Quilt 3 - Debbie Mum Fabric

I put together this quilt today.  This is another piece I inherited from the lady that passed away.

The fabric is a Debbie Mum pattern with guardian angels saying on it.  I could not find the name of the pattern online.

Finished Size: 43" W x 47" T

Front: Debbie Mum fabric






Backing: Ivory mottled pattern

Batting: Blue Knit Fleece

Binding: Red Mottled Fabric
You can check out the video for details on doing the binding.  Fool Proof Quilt Binding

Quilting: Followed the lines across the quilt but went around the angels and saying.

This was another quilt that I pinned before quilting which was quite large for my space.  I got it done.

I took it to quilting and a friend from quilting added the binding.  This was a collaboration.

It will make a kid in crisis a wonderful warm reminder that someone cares.

We will soon be gathering these quilts to give to a women's shelter.

Sewing Project - Quilt 2 - Blue Green Squares

I finished another quilt today in time to share with the ladies at Quilting tonight.

This is another inheritance from the lady that passed away.  There was a stash of fabric and our leader took all the pieces home and cut 5" squares.  She packaged these together and we were each given a set of 40 squares at our Christmas social get together on Dec 9th.

I worked a lot on trying combine the patterns and eventually just reassembled them into larger squares.  I needed 48 5" squares so I dug into my stash to find what I needed.  Worked out pretty well.

Final Size: 41.50W x 54.00T inches

Colors: Blue, Green and Navy

Squares: 9.5 inches

Backing: A small print green patterned fabric in 100% cotton. 

Sashing: 4" strips of Navy in between the printed squares and rows between the patterned squares.

 Technique: QAYG Mom Style


I pinned my flannelette batting and my green backing together then using QAYG sewed the rows across.  I laid the navy top strip first then added the first wide patterned row and sewed that down and ironed it.  I then added the next narrow navy strip before quilting the first patterned row which gave me a line for my quilting of the patterned squares.


Binding: Navy at 2.5 inches.  Sewn to the back, folded to the front and finished from the back to make sure I did  not get navy thread on the green backing fabric.  I used a wide zig zag stitch to make sure I caught the fold over on the front.

Quilting: I just outlined the printed squares at a .25 inch.

Lessons learned:
Sewing down the navy strip below the patterned row helped me align my quilting on the patterned squares easily.
I used white thread to assemble the quilt and then switched to navy when I got to the binding.

It will make a great quilt for a boy!

Sewing Project - Quilt 1 - Red, White & Ivory

I have started quilting again following the holidays.  

I inherited this quilt top, backer and binding fabric following the death of a member of our quilting group.  I received the material in October about a year after her death.  She volunteered with Grandmothers in Alberta for a New Generation who organizes "Fabric Frenzy" every year in the spring.  This is a fundraiser for grandmothers raising grandchildren in Africa due to the HIV epidemic. 

The finished quilt measures 48.5 inches wide and 56.5 inches tall.

The topper is designed with 4 inch squares.  There are two different 4 patch squares with red ones and ivory ones with patterned deep red squares.  The fabric is 100% cotton.

The backer fabric is created by Marcus Fabrics - American Pastimes by the New England Quilt Museum.


The same fabric was used for the binding.

The batting on the inside is a heavy flannel fabric.

I cut the backer fabric and the flannel with extra to allow space to trim it once the quilting was done.

I then pinned the 3 layers together and quilting it by sewing on the diagonal on the single deep red squares.  I only had very small pins but it seemed to do the trick.


















I normally do Quilt as you Go which works better with my space and sewing machine.   It was a bit of challenge to do the quilting with my machine and small table but perseverance provides success in the end.

This quilt will be donated to the children who find themselves in crisis.

I was honored to be asked to complete this project for our friend.   She enjoyed quilting and working with the group of women who work all year long to organize this popular fundraiser.

Of course, working with fabric was right up alley and many members of our group support the fundraiser which add to our fabric stash.

The fundraiser separates the quilting fabric from the other types of fabrics like fleece, upholstery, knits, etc.  That is very convenient for us quilters.

I will bring it to quilting before it is donated so the girls can see the finished quilt.

Happy New Year 2020

Wishing all my blog friends a very Happy New Year in 2020.  I look forward to a year of new adventures, meeting new folks, and generally having a good time. 

2020 Photo Calendars

My 2020 Photo Calendars are ready!  

These calendars contain twelve 4x6 pages with an index of the thumbnail images which come with a clip to display it on a wall, bulletin, or file cabinet.  It can also be placed in a frame for an custom presentation.  The image below presents 2 full images and the central image gives you the index of all the images in the calendar.

The Dewy Petals calendar features wonderful flower photos from my photo collection taken in 2019. Poppy, sunflower and a few different blooms grace the pages of this calendar.  The amount of rain we received this summer has been captured in several shots.

January - Dandelion                      February - Tulip                       March - Iris

April - Echinacea                          May - Rose                               June - Pansy

July - Astrantia Major Alba          August - Pasque Flower            September - Sunflower

October - Jacob's Ladder              November - Poppy                    December - 

The Nature calendar contains birds, critters, and leaves from my 2019 photo collection. The interesting squirrel, wonderful leaves and some winter shots are some of the images in this calendar.

January - Leaf                                   February - Squirrel                         March - Frosty Leaf

April - Mallard Duckling                  May - Sparrow                               June - Bumble Bee

July - Chickadee                               August - Lady Bug                        September - Aspen Leaf

October - Mushrooms                       November - Red Berries                December - Snow on Evergreen

The Little Bird calendar has seasonal images for each month of the year.  He is participating in every day activities like hitting the beach, picking apples, and decorating a tree for Christmas.

An art calendar with featuring compositions created with my Cobalt Glass collection.  Several have a pop of yellow to provide a bit of variety for the eye throughout the year.  The bowl of lemons is one of  my favorites which sits on my microwave oven.