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Saturday, May 30, 2020

Quilt Shot 116 ~ Log Castle

Log Castle
Made with my Dad's shirts and 1 of Mother's tops.

 July, 2018 I cut apart 5 of Dad's shirts into 2 ½ inch strips.
I decided I would put all the strips together in one long strip
and do a "Jelly Roll Race" quilt.
However, due to over extending myself with projects for others,
combined with my physical health,
 I had to put this project aside for a while.


 About 2 weeks ago,
I was cleaning up after making about 600 face masks.
Behind the curtain where I sew,
I found this!

The "Jelly Roll Race!"

At first glance it looks like I was ready to start.

A closer look showed I had actually finished the first round.
 Gave the whole strip a good pressing and rolled it up.
 
Since the Ms. E machine had gotten a BIG workout on the face masks,
I decided to give her a break
and set up the Baby to finish the race.
 They just swapped places.
Then I took a break for the night.

Isn't it amazing the ideas that pop in your head over night.
"Light bulb."
If you look at my recent posts, 
you will see my interest in Log Cabin blocks has stirred up again.
I decided I would make one grand Log Cabin block.
(Castle?)
Mother blouse of many colors had a red flower that would be the traditional red center.
The 2 strips would be treated as one strip.
 (Castle?)
I turned on a Gilbert Morris' Civil War audio book,
and put together the top in one day!

 My memory quilts are what I call couch size quilts. 
Enough to cover shoulders down to tuck under your feet
and just wide enough for sitting on the couch.
Not quiet big enough to call twin size.
When I spread my cutting mat and laminated sheet apart to widen the table,
it works beautifully.
Two scrap pieces of batting were stitched together.
The backing is one of Dad's well loved sheets.
Soft but not thread bare yet.
I decided to just enjoy some free handed straight stitch, walking foot work.
It all went well until I got to the last section.
One problem with memory quilts is dealing with how the fabrics have been
stretched after a lot of wear and in the case of the backing sheet a lot of use.
So the last section started to pucker, A LOT!
I know lot's of people say
DO NOT rip out.
When the puckers were this bad,
I HAD to take them out and repair.
So I spent the most of a day with my "surgical tools."
 This was Mother's top used for the center and binding.
The sleeves had already been used for blocks for another quilt.
She looked great in this outfit.
It was worn with a black skirt.
Enough fabric for a 2½ inch binding?

 My method to find out if there is plenty is not to actually measure,
but to lay along one length of the quilt 4 times.
Do you think there is enough?



Left over.
Almost forgot the tag.
Supposed to be put on back BEFORE the quilting.
Still managed to quilt some hearts.
I always hand stitch super tiny stitches around the edge anyway.
Plus the back is iron on interfacing.







As we say in the quilt guild.
every quilt has a story.
******
So with Mother's piece in the center,
Dad's shirts surrounding that piece,
then Mother's top bordering all of the quilt,
I'll let you decide why I called it
"Log Castle."









Friday, May 29, 2020

Fun Friday ~ Flower Cards

 An applique book presented some great ideas for a fabric decorated card.



Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Wordless Wednesday 295 ~ Red Tiger Lily

From Mr. G for Mother's Day.
A perennial which keeps on giving.
He loves to make up pots like this.
Yep, he's a keeper.

Monday, May 25, 2020

Memory Monday 114 ~ Thread Boxes

This belonged to my Mother.
As a child I played with it.
A LOT!
Can you tell?
One whole row is missing.
Other rows are broken.
I'm still fascinated with how the beautiful spools of thread
bow out to greet you.
*******************************
Then the other day,
one of my dear friends came by to
give me some sheets and other pieces of cloth
to possibly use to make masks.
She also gave me this!
An identical thread box with beautiful, wooden spools of colorful threads!
Notice how they were organized by color.



This is such a sweet gift.
Thank you Carole for the memories too.




Thursday, May 21, 2020

Thoughtful Thursday 167 ~ Wedding Dress Reminder

 This week I adjusted a wedding dress for a friend.
It made me think of a great rule for a successful relationship.
 The dress needed to be taken up a full inch on the shoulder.
 At first glance, I thought that just can't work without 
redesigning the neckline & armhole.
The lining was a stretch knit.
The lace was not stretch but was lacy enough it have some natural stretch.
So I pinned to see what it would do.
 Stretching was going to distort too much,
but it caused the other side to gather a bit.
 I tried a hand running stitch to see how it would gather.
It worked!
So by hand stitching slowly I guided the shoulders to work together.
The back softly gathered to fit the front.
It had me thinking how in a relationship
sometimes
someone
has to give a little.
*
Think about it.