Sunday, April 15, 2018

A Stitching Week

After quilt camp last weekend, I had several 'sewing' get together's this week.

On Wednesday, Marilyn and I went to Sewing, Etc, to stitch with the owner, Kelly.  First, I stitched the 'missing' sides onto the blocks from Clue #3, in Kevin's mystery.  This is 2 sets of scrappy blocks, finished.
2 finished sets of blocks

When those were done, I pulled out a jelly roll, that I'd won from Henry Glass fabrics, last March.  Wow, I'd forgotten that it was a full year ago when I won these. 

I'd seen a picture of a quilt, ages ago, and had drawn up the pattern to use with these strips.  No clue where I saw the quilt, or what the pattern name was, sorry.  Usually, I try to save the link to where I see something.  Sometimes I'm given a photo of a quilt, with no info included.  I think that was the case with this one. Here is the baby size pattern. 
graph paper pattern I drew up from a photo

A couple in our church had a baby last week, so, it was time to get this quilt made. I cut the strips out, and stitched them up.
all the strip sets, stitched

By the time these strip sets were stitched, it was time to drive to Ottawa, for the Camp Tuckabatchee quilter's group.  Mary was teaching us how to make a tote bag.  My tote bag didn't get finished Wednesday night, due to a stupid mistake on my part.  I was trying to rush (first mistake) and talking too much (second mistake), so, I stitched the lining to the wrong side of the outside of the bag.  Oh well.  I just put the messed up bag away, and 'frog stitched' (rip it, rip it) later in the week.

Saturday, my large quilt guild, Pride of the Prairie had a sew-in.  The first thing I worked on was finishing the tote bag. 
finished tote bag

lots of room in the tote bag

When the tote bag was done, I pulled out the pieces I'd cut for the baby quilt (the box blocks) and stitched them.
all the box blocks stitched

Well, silly me forgot to bring the sewn strip pieces, so, that project got put up.  I'll have to finish sewing all the parts together this week.

Since I couldn't finish the baby quilt top, I pulled out a bag of blocks that I'd bought at a thrift store last year.  The bag had 79 finished 9 inch flannel blocks, a couple of blocks that just need to be stitched, and some extra scraps of the fabrics.  The whole bag cost me a whopping $4. 

I laid out 77 of the blocks, and started stitching the rows together.
77 blocks laid out

My little quilt guild is trying to make 14 quilts for the boys and girls at the Naperville 360 group homes.  We'd made quilts for all the boys back in 2016, but, when the boys leave the home, they take all of their bedding with them, including the quilts.  We started making quilts for the girls this year, then found out that all the boys who we'd made quilts for have moved out, so, none of the new boys have quilts now.  We need twin size quilts for each bed (with lots of  hang over, since they will be the bedspreads for the boys and the girls). 

These blocks will be for one of these boys.  I got all 11 rows stitched, but, I still need to sew the rows together.  I will still need some flannel for the borders, since this isn't large enough yet.  I have enough extra circle blocks to use in the corners.  I hope I can find matching flannel to go with these blocks.

Not a bad stitching week.  I'm still trying to get back in the groove of things, after being out of town for so many weeks.  I'm trying to catch up on housework, and do some deep cleaning, too.  It all takes time.  At least I'm finally feeling better, after being sick for so long. 

I have another craft day next Saturday.  Hopefully I'll be sewing the binding onto that baby quilt by then. 


12 comments:

  1. Love your sweet baby quilt. Interesting pattern.
    So good to hear from you. Glad you are feeling better.
    Hugs

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sounds like a great stitching week!!! I'm in love with the baby quilt already! ~Jeanne

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great quilts, and bag. LOL I don't do well on sew days. I visit too much. But I do get lots of inspiration.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Good to know you are feeling better! You had indeed a busy stitching week. I too find it difficult sometimes to get back into sewing after being away for a while. But I'm sure you've "overcome" this difficulty now. And housework can always way.... ;)!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Glad to hear you are out and about. Love the new tote bag, and a cute version of those boxed blocks!
    Our guild makes quilts for Homes for Habitat new owners. Such a great project your guild has taken on. And this circle quilt is perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think it is nice that they let the kids take the quilts when they leave the home. Makes more work for your guild, but I'm sure the kids appreciate and cherish their quilts!


    ReplyDelete
  7. Great projects. I never know what to do with a jelly roll. All the different colors keeps me bound up :-(

    ReplyDelete
  8. Well, though you may have forgotten the strips, you didn't have to look far for plan B, C, or D!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I really like that baby quilt pattern. It's simple but also very interesting. And your tote bag is fabulous. It has so much room to put sewing stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Your baby quilt is such a easy pattern but turns out looking great. I like that it uses jelly roll type strips. Those flannel blocks were a perfect idea for a boys quilt. What a bargain price too! Love, love love the tote bag -- AND it's purple, why wouldn't I. :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm trying this again. Google, I want my comments back in my inbox!!!!

    ReplyDelete

Comments are IMPORTANT to me. Thank you for commenting. If you are a no-reply commentor, please leave me your email address, so that I can reply to you. If you don't want everyone to see your email address, then you can send me a private reply (my email address is listed under my profile).