SOMETHING FUNNY TO SHARE

Hummm....I would never get to sew if I did this!!!

PS...I sold my sewing machine I mentioned in the last blog.  It went to a wonderful lady who lives in Alaska

Should I sell it?

Isn't this one of the cutest featherweight machines you've ever seen?  I have had it for a number of years and haven't used it.  Can you believe that?  I don't know why...every once in a while I'll pull it out and run it but that's it.  Maybe I'm afraid...it's so sweet, I love the size, and I just don't want to ruin it.  So today it goes into the Estate Barn Show I'm having at our house.  Hopefully someone else will love it like I do.

Minick & Simpson again

Here are five more blocks I have finished as I work on the Spirit of Sacajawea quilt.

I did the horses to look like my pinto.

I haven't decided if I like the middle on this block.  What do you think?

SIMPSON & MINICK

In the fall my friend Laurel noticed I pinned The Spirit of Sacagawea quilt to my quilt board on Pinterest.  She then emailed and asked me if this was a quilt we could each make and have sewing time together.  I answered "OK" because I love being with her, she is such fun and a great encourager!!!  We decided we would pick two blocks a month, one applique and one pieced.  If you look at the book by Simpson & Minick they did the entire quilt in red, white & blue.  I just couldn't sew a blue leaf on my quilt or a red horse, so we both decided we would choose our own colors.  Did I get myself into trouble?  Here's what I've sewn so far, with a couple more I haven't taken pictures of yet.  Please check out Laurel's blog to see her blocks.

NEW YEAR....NEW QUILTS

I love the show Sarah's house on HGTV.  She's a home decorator from Canada and boy does she make a home gorgeous!  On season 3 she did a farm house and when she got to the guest room I fell in love with this simple two colored quilt.  I thought, I'll graft it out and sew one for the foot of my bed.  It took me two tries to get it right, just two blocks with a sash.

And here's mine.  I cut the strips 2  1/2" wide.

NEW QUILT

Now that the basket quilt is finished, it is time to move on to another quilt.  And boy has my sewing machine been smokin' as I have been sewing this quilt together. I found a picture on Pinterest and suggested to my friend  Laurel that we have a sewing date to make this....

You start by cutting strips 2 1/2" x 17".  Then sew six strips together and connect them to form a tube.  

This is the tube, three fabrics are on top and three fabrics are on the bottom, of which you can't see.

Now you place a 15" square quilt ruler on top, cut at both ends of the ruler to make a 15" long tube.

Starting at left side, move your ruler to 12 1/2" and cut, then 10" cut, 7 1/2" cut, 5" cut, and the final cut will be at 2 1/2".  Each segment will be 2 1/2".

Stack the segments into one pile and pick the first one up.  Using your seam ripper take out one seam and lay the segment out flat.  Pick up the next segment and rip the seam out between the first and second fabric.  In the picture I am pointing to the seam you will rip out each time to make your flat segment. Where the ripper is pointing that's the seam between the fabrics to rip.  It will always be two different fabrics, but let the strip before always be your guide as to which two fabrics you have to rip apart.

Here is the block laid out before sewing together.

But I can change the block to find the fabric that's most dominate by picking up the strip and moving it from right to left or left to right.  See this picture and the ones following.

I will move the strip I am pointing to, to the very right side of the block making the green fabric more dominate instead of the red fabric.

Now sew all the flat strips together to form your block.  If you look back at the first picture you will see the quilt forms triangles.  You will do this by placing your first block with the dominate color running up. Next block the dominate color will run down.  Follow that formula and "TA-DA" you will make this easy and stunning quilt.  One last hint....to easily remove a seam, rip every fourth stitch, pull and the seam will open easily. 

FINALLY DONE!!!!

It's only taken me three years to complete this quilt.  I guess it's because I designed it myself and every time I'd look at it something needed to be changed.

It started out as my favorite things quilt, with baskets, houses and chickens, but it just had to many subjects and felt unorganized.  Then I thought the baskets on top were to heavy and the ones on the bottom to light.  So I switched them around.  I knew I was getting some where when I added the baskets on the left side.  Then I finished up with bigger baskets on the bottom, knowing all along that I wanted the quilt to be longer then wider.  I'm so glad I'm done....another big project out of the way.  Note to self...sketch quilt design first then sew!!!