A Challenge

Last year my quilting friends and I went to Granbury, TX  for a little retreat. We go there every year. This is the house we stay in. It's really cute inside too. There is a kitchen, great room, two bathrooms and three bedrooms filled with trundle beds.

We were told to bring a yard of our favorite fabric. During one of the door prize drawings each of us won a quilting book. Then, we got out our fabric and passed it to the right a couple of times...then to the left a couple of times. So, each of us had a different fabric than the one we brought. This is the fabric I ended up with. A challenge was issued...make a quilt from the book using the fabric.

The book I won was the same one that I made the Scrappy Garden Paths in the post below. This is the quilt I made. Here's a little close up of the two Sunbonnet Sues I appliqued in the middle. The book's quilt has one larger Sunbonnet Sue done in embroidery. I changed it up a little.

This is my challenge quilt. I used the challenge fabric in the background of the applique, pinwheels, backing and binding. The binding is the backing fabric brought around to the front and stitched by machine.

One thing I should mention is that my fabric was not cotton. I guess one of the new quilters brought it. Now I know why we don't use polyester in our quilts. It can't be ironed without melting, the lowest setting on my iron didn't generate enough heat to press it. Plus, the feel of it generally grossed me out! I wasn't even going to try to do the challenge but, I persevered and this is the outcome.

 Not too bad...

This is a very old chair...with a lot of unquilted tops on it! I don't even know how many are on there but most of them have been there for years. Some of them want to be hand quilted and the rest are waiting for my friend Ty to catch up. She quilts my quilts on her longarm. I could keep her busy forever!

There are a few I haven't shown yet. I'll dig them out sometime and tell you about them.  

Sneak Peek

Alrighty, here is a peek at Scrappy Garden Path...

I really like it!

Scrappy Garden Path

This quilt is sewn into rows. No blocks. Twenty-three rows. One thousand eight hundred and twelve pieces. Yes, that's 1,812 pieces! Now you know why I called this project ambitious.

This is the book the pattern is in. The pattern calls for 1and 1/2 inch squares but I had a lot of 2 and 1/2 inch squares already cut so I used that measurement instead of the smaller one. This quilt is a STASH BUSTER.

Tomorrow I'll give you a sneak peek as I have been sewing a few rows together this afternoon. As a matter of fact, I am about to unsew one of the rows sewn onto the wrong end!

Road To St. Louis

Road To St. Louis, a great stashbuster. This is a quilt from an older book by Trudi Hughes. It uses 2 and 1/2" squares.

It's quilted in a Baptist Fan design.

I'm still piecing every night on the 1930's quilt. As soon as it takes shape I'll post a picture.

Rick Rack In The Binding

I put the binding on this quilt last week. Big squares of brushed cottons, nice and warm!

I added some rick rack in the binding.

It wasn't hard to do and it turned out so cute!

1930's Reproduction Reduction

Last week I wanted a new project that was a quickie. I always turn to my stash of Lori Smith patterns when this happens.

Isn't this just the cutest?

So, while I was digging around in my 1930's drawer I decided to start a really ambitious project. I'll show that to you later in the week. This is my drawer after cutting for the new quilt. Sorry, I don't have a before picture but it was overflowing with fabric and this is what's left! Love it because some of those fabrics were twenty years old.

And, don't you know pancakes and bananas taste better with a rooster hanging from your neck!