Sausage Pillow Cases

Quilt Guild asked for pillowcases for foster kids - something they can take with them when moved from one place to another ... that part is just toooo sad.

The one on the left, has the plaid as the header and frogs as body.  The one on right is the opposite.

These are made via the Sausage Pillow Case method, when all the seams are inside.  The measurements are 23 in. (WOF) for body, 13 (WOF) for top hem, and 2 in. (WOF) for the accent.  If you have two fabrics of one yard each, that coordinate, you get two decent pillow cases, each one opposite one another.  Easy!  The video is on Youtube, and it's called what else, Sausage Pillow Case!  I made two more for girls, but no photo.

Today I went to JoAnns, who was advertising their Queen $35.00 package of Warm and Natural for $12.99 with my coupon, and no limits.  I only wanted ONE package, but when I saw other ladies loading their carts up with that bargain, I picked up THREE!  GREAT bargain!  I also hit Walmart for tulip bulbs, fertilizer, with hopes for spring loveliness.   Now, to get them IN THE GROUND!!!   

Diamond Strings

 This is just finished this morning, after taking out 4 blocks of quilting in the black.  I had several events of poor tension, then poor thread choice, and twice I didn't like what I'd quilted, so for now, there is NO quilting in the black pointy parts.  The backing is light, while those black zingers caused a LOT of show-through, or maybe you call them "pokies". 

This quilt is a little bit more vibrant than the photos - it IS vibrant!

For months, I had been slobbering at Amazon.com over  a book called String Revival, and this was the cover quilt.   Wow, I pressed my clicker so fast whtn I saw it!  It was backordered for MONTHS!!!  In the meantime I prepared my fabrics, foundation paper (phone book pages), already had my strips cut, so when the book FINALLY arrived, putting it together was a snap.  The black starts as a template that come to a point about 1/2 inch inside the intersection, so it's on target every time. When the book arrived, it included 30 minute DVD as well, with some video of making 3 of the projects.  THAT was a nice surprise.

   

I quilted the borders differently.  The first inside border was a geometric squares/rectangles, the next was loopy with occasional flowers, and the last wider black border was a kind of innie/outie replicating (IMHO) what I had done in the interior.  This approach adds to the scrappiness and also helps to keep up my quilting skills.

I quilt is on a DSM, a Janome 6500 MC.


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"Stats", and latest BOM

Blogger "Stats" is very interesting -- have you checked that feature out yet? I suppose all that info has been available for a long time -- I only recently found it when I updated my Blog Design.

Yesterday we resumed our Guild Meetings - I always MISS them over the summer break! After the meeting I came home and in just a few minutes, while still full of energy and enthusiasm, whipped up this 9 inch BOM for next month. Cute! When I put it on the table, look how pretty it looks next to my bouquet!

While in town, I met a friend (the infamous Jody Godess) who helped me choose the final fabrics for our 2012 Serendipity (Raffle) Quilt. I tend to get so excited with all that fabric, thread, pretty colors, doo-dads, it's difficult for me to stay on track!! Thanks Jody, for keeping me focused. Wow, I spent money that wasn't even mine! Even with generous discounts, making a large quilt, then having it quilted is VERY expensive.

... and I REALLY want to show what I'm making, but cannot - this project is why I'm not posting a lot. 

I had ICE on the deck early this morning.  8-( 

Still here

This is a lovely magazine, at the checkout at my LQS, that I just grabbed - they were on sale, although I didn't bother to look at the price. I DID notice my bill was a little higher than expected.  

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My word - look closely -- $12.99!!!

That will teach me to NOT be so impulsive!!! I bought it for $6.50, half price.

I'm still working on and off with this String Quilt.  Here is what it looked like before I removed the paper.  BTW, phone book paper is THE best foundation for this type of project.  Much of it falls off by itself, it's free, it's entertaining reading the names I recognize, the straight lines of type are handy for keeping blocks straight, you don't have to measure when using strings on a given size of  foundation.  I use close/small (1.5 on my machine) stitches and a size 12 needle or 14 if you have an old one.  The small stitches is the key.  Yes, it took me about 4 hours to remove the paper, and makes a mess. 

Between working on a secret Guild Raffle Quilt and this project, THIS project is taking me longer to finish than I prefer.