Grandmother Square Quilt Finished!

I started a Grandmother Square Quilt about two years ago.  A few months back I looked at it and realized I only had a few blocks left to make so I got them done.  I loved how the quilt looked.  I decided that I needed the quilt professionally quilted.  This is the FIRST quilt that I have had professionally done.  Here is the quilt top done.  I used 30's reproduction fabrics.

 Quilted and bound.  I apologize for the blurry picture.

 My quilter had a pattern called 30's mini flowers which I thought was so right for the quilt.  I pieced the background with leftover blocks from the grandmother squares.  I had to cut a few more thought. The background fabric is a Moda Solid called Butter.  I love butter with 30's reproduction fabrics.

 Done!  A tick off the long list of UFO's and I love it.

Cushions for my Sofa!

At the beginning of this month we redid our family room.  Everything was looking worn and sad.  We had our sectional for 11 years.  It saw my young family grow up onto young adults.  Many a nap was taken on the sofa after a hectic school day or a hard football practice.  The support had all but gone out of the springs.  The walls had been painted around the same time as we got our sectional.  So a makeover was in order.  I bought a beautiful paint color called "Ivory" and painted the room.  The ceiling got painted white and the trim work too.  We replaced the dusty, rusty air vents and a horrible little light in the small hallway leading to our bedroom.  After all this work, I needed some cushions for the sofa.  I pulled my colors from our rug.  I think they turned out well.  I cut out a 2" hexagon and backed it with fusible batting.  I lay it out on the wrong side of co-ordinating fabric and cut 1" away from the hexagon. Next step was to iron the sides in half and then fold over to the yellow hexagon.  Work your way around the perimeter doing one side at a time.

 Next, you will want to stitch the background fabric down with your sewing machine.

 Lay out your hexagons in a pleasing fashion.

Stitch them together as you would a normal paper pieced flower.

I placed the completed flower off center onto my background fabric and stitched it down with the sewing machine.  Next I quilted straight lines using my walking foot to follow the contour of the hexagons.   When you are done, make the backing and bind the two together.

 Pillow 2!

 A view of the sofa's sporting their new pillows.

Patchwork of the Crosses

Hello Sweet People.  Well, I have been missing from Blogland for a few weeks now.  Of course I have been looking at and reading your lovely posts.
We flew to Charleston on the 7th of May because my son was graduating from The Citadel.  I am so proud of the boy.  He graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science degree (biology).  He is my second son to graduate from The Citadel.  We had a wonderful few days there.  My eldest son and his wife joined us for the celebration.  We flew home with the boys and then had to rush up to OSU to fetch my daughter from college.  I have all three of the chickens home.  It is wonderful!  Hence the absence on my part from  blogging.  I have been sewing though.  I have also been gardening.  We have had the most wonderful spring here in Texas.  The weather has been beautiful.  Not too hot yet.
Look at these Hibiscus!  They are such a vivid red color.

 My black petunias are looking so lovely.  Also in the picture is a Texas Sage (the lavender plant) and a gorgeous pink geranium.

A beautiful yellow hibiscus with a red center.  If you ever wonder about color choices for quilting, just look to nature for inspiration.

 My catnip  bush is huge at the moment.  The kitties really do enjoy it.

I have been working on some more POTC blocks.  I love making these blocks.  The fussy cutting is so much fun to do.

 Do you notice my wonderful new ironing board cover?  Yes, the grungy old one got removed and I replaced it with an adhesive cover made by Bonash.  It comes with sponge to put between your board and cover.  The surface is 300% more reflective than a regular cotton cover and shortens ironing time.  I'll take that.  I have started cutting out and basting the pathway honeycombs for the blocks.  I am going to start sewing some on so that I don't have months of boring cream fabric at the end of all this excitement.  I think that is a good plan.  Thank you so much for stopping by and I promise it won't be weeks before I post again.

A Key Chain for Swap Club!

I host a swap club at our quilt store every second month.  This month the theme was a key chain.  I made one with hardware that I had bought a few years back and never got around to making.  I decided to make a little pouch for some chapstick too.  One can never have enough chapstick at the ready.  A dry lip emergency is just the worst.  I attached a little bee charm to the flap of the pouch.  While cutting out the first one I figured making two would be little extra trouble.  The recipient was very pleased with her key chains.  We are doing needle books in July!!!  Fun stuff! 

The Bibliophile Files!

Well I can't believe a whole month has passed since my last post about books read in March.  Today we cover books read in April.  Sarah at sarahdidit.blogspot.com hosts the bibliophile files once a month.  It is a linky party and so much fun to see what folks have been reading.  The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny was given to me by my sweet sister in law for my birthday.  It is a murder mystery set in a remote monastery in Canada.  The Monks sing Gregorian Chants in the earliest most pure form of the art.  Then someone is murdered.  The police have to conduct an investigation inside a monastery which has never had outsiders inside it's walls before.  It was a good book and I enjoyed learning about Gregorian Chants.

 The Careful Use of Compliments by Alexander McCall Smith is an audiobook.  It is a book from his Isabelle Dalhousie series.  She is a philosopher and thinks deeply about things.  This series is so sweet and entertaining.  I absolutely enjoy them from page 1 until the end.

 The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday is another in the the Isabelle Dalhousie series.  Just as charming as the one above.
I also read The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott.  It is a story about a seamstress who gets a last minute position as a ladies maid to a famous dress designer about to set sail on the Titanic.  The book is largely about the court cases which ensue after the sinking of the vessel.  Very interesting.
I have had a busy month and not much book reading has been done.  Thank goodness for audiobooks.  I painted my living room while listening to Alexander McCall Smith's books.  Made the job less boring.

Value Proposition and Godstone Grannies!

I have been taking a long time to decide what color scheme to go with for the Value Proposition Quilt Along which Karen from Faeries and Fibres is offering.  When forced to think about value, I found it to be quite challenging.  This is a good thing because value is really important.  After going back and forth with color options which would not end up looking too mad at the end of the day, I settled on greens for my mid-tones.  Black on white, and white on black will be my light and darks.  My triple pathway will be a light grey on the outside with a dark grey on the inside.  I made my first block and am very happy with the results.  I took a picture in the grey scale to check the value and it worked so I am thrilled.   I also stitched another Godstone Grannies block.

Here are my fabric choices for the first block of Value Proposition.

 Here is my block all finished.  I love green and don't have a green quilt.  I have quilts with green in them but not predominately green.  I can't wait for Friday's next value proposition clue.