Worth reading

For anyone who likes quilts, loves quilts and/or appreciates quilts and their history, please read Esther Aliu's latest blog post. It's here.

Esther has re-created a quilt - a true vintage quilt and if you wish, you can make one too. All you have to do is join her yahoo group - it's free and therefore, the pattern will be free too, for a limited time. There is some mystery surrounding the quilt, where it is today, if indeed it still exists. It was shown in a 1956 copy of Patchwork by Averil Colby.

And since a blog post is not truly complete unless it has a photo, I shall show you this.

This is just one of the beautiful bouquets I received on my birthday last year. The flowers are all gone but the gorgeous photos remain...

Christmas Quilt Along

I don't usually join quilt alongs or sew alongs since I have way too many things to finish on my own but, Sheila's blog led me to it and it sounded like fun. You see, it's not just a quilt along, it's a challenge. What you have to do is make a quilt, any size (not exceeding 96" in perimeter), but it must not contain red or green. Go here to find out more and to sign up, if you wish.

I have fabric and I have some Christmas fabric too that is in a box, separated so that I can find it easily. This is just one of the Christmas fabrics that might or might not make it into my little project.

Getting ready

Later this month we will have a few visitors. Little Luc, Patric, their mom and dad will be visiting family in Ontario. Since Luc is now a big boy and sleeping in a big bed, I thought it might be nice to make him a special pillowcase. He loves cars, trucks and anything with wheels.

I came upon this very easy pattern and instructions on the web for a pillowcase and decided to give it a try. They are, after all, instructions for teaching children how to sew.

After reading the instructions, I wasn't quite sure how it was going to turn out and wasn't sure on the placement of the fabric. As you can see, the pattern goes (in my mind) the wrong way. Never fear, since this was the prototype. If Luc doesn't want it, I can always donate it. I must say, I was impressed with the instructions (step by step photos were included) and the ease with which it all went together. The only hard thing was measuring and cutting anything that was 41 inches wide.

These are the real ones. So now Luc has a choice of a blue trim or an orange trim. If you click on the photo, you will see that there are different cars on the fabric. I used up all the fabric that I bought on my last purchase for the body of these two pillowcases. The blue broadcloth trim was a leftover from the prototype and it is all gone now too. I still have a whole metre of the blue that I purchased and all but10 inches of the orange left. I guess I could make a summer short-sleeved shirt or two for Luc...

Tuesday Treat

I broke down.

I bought some fabric. I wasn't going to but I did. These were all on sale and all have been assigned a project. When I'm finished sewing with them, I'll show you what I made. They have all been washed - except for the second one from the left. I'm still debating if I should wash it or not.

Just some sewing

I made this round trivet/hot pad in March for my daughter who needed something for her table. It had to be a fair size so I used a dinner plate as a pattern. It has one layer of thin batting and one layer of Thermolan to deflect the heat. As you can see, I just quilted it in various circle sizes. She liked it so much that she requested another one but I haven't done it yet. I need a reminder...

 

The hazards of quilting. It pays to have a lot of quilting needles on hand in case this happens. I bend needles every once in a while and it does hamper the flow of progress. This little quilt is now done but it has not yet been delivered. Once it has reached it's destination, I will show you the whole thing.