Shakespeare in the Park

My newest project is a quilt called "Shakespeare in the Park". The pattern comes from a book written by Judy Martin called the "Creative Pattern Book".

I have admired this quilt for a really long time and purchased the book several years ago. A short time ago, a group of quilters decided to do this quilt together. The time was right for me to jump right in.

Our first assignment was to select the fabrics to use. I have decided to make a queen-size Shakespeare and the colors I selected were purple and deep teal for my dark colors with white, pale teal, pale lilac and light gray as my light colors. Many of the fabrics that I will be using came from my "stash" of fabrics.

The next assignment were to do the flying geese that would make up the small dark stars on light background.
Today was a very productive day! I finished the 20 small dark star blocks as well as the center stars for the 8 larger dark stars blocks.

American Girl Dolls

Now that my eldest granddaughter is the proud owner of a "real" American Girl doll, it's time for this grandma to get back to sewing doll clothes! I found two really great books that include patterns so that I can get started. I also decided that I needed an American Girl doll of my own so that I can make sure that the clothes that I make will fit.
I found a "gently played with" Samantha doll on ebay for a reasonable price. She has arrived and is really a nice doll. She doesn't stand alone so could use a re-stringing, but I have too many irons in the fire to attempt that now. I still have a few doll stands from my earlier days doing doll repair, so they will work for now.

I also found a doll on ebay that was advertised as a "Real American 18" Girl". Please note - this is NOT an American Girl doll. It isn't even a good quality knock off. I realize that I was wrong to think that this was an American Girl doll, but the posting was written specifically to mislead people. She is a pretty little blonde and I should be able to use her for sizing some clothes. I suspect she will be used in the toybox at Grandma and Grandpa's house. :-(

2009 Fair Quilts are home

The 2009 Ionia Free Fair Quilt entries are home. I always worry about my quilts when they are away from home. :-)

There is even a note attached to one of the quilts that a person wishes to purchase the quilt. I'll be in touch with them tomorrow!

County Fair Wins

I've just come home from visiting my quilts at the county fair. I entered "Blue Scrappy Stars" in the pieced/patchwork catagory. I did not win any ribbons on that quilt :-( I guess the judges don't like scrappy quilts as much as I do!

I also entered a civil war reproduction quilt in the piecing /color catagory for which I earned an "Honorable Mention".


I entered a very large cheater quilt in the "Best Quilting on a Cheater Quilt". I won a blue ribbon for this quilt! I wasn't even going to enter this quilt. I didn't even get the binding on the quilt until the day I too them to the fair.

I also entered my quilt "Sophia" in the "Best Machine Quilting" catagory. The quilt is just a simple Take 5 pattern but I quilted it with a variety of different quilting techniques. This quilt won a blue ribbon as well as a Vendor's Choice rosette.

All in all - I'm pretty happy with my ribbons. This is the first year that I entered any of my quilts in the county fair.

Another serger lesson & another apron

Today I finished another apron. It too is retro in style but with a new bohemian fabric. I think my sister will love this one too.

My serger lesson was to learn how to use the ruffling foot. I got out my serger book and all of the feet that came with the serger and some scraps of fabric for practice. The instructions tell you to "use your left hand to hold this piece and your right hand to hold this piece". Then you need to use your other left hand to guide this piece thru the slop and your other right hand to make sure that the flat piece stays next to the cutting blades. And, if you have a spare hand, you can guide the finished ruffle out the back of the machine.

Well, I don't know - I only have one right hand and one left hand. Then whole thing felt BEYOND awkward! However, the resulting ruffle was gorgeous and done without sewing those basting lines and pulling up threads to gather. This will certainly take more practice, but it will be worth it!

Learning to use my serger AND "Going Green"

I think I have mastered the rolled hem stitch on my serger. I have finished 4 dozen cloth dinner napkins. They are so pretty! I used fabric from my stash and now have a whole basket full of the cutest napkins. This SHOULD cut down on the amount of money we spend on paper towels and paper napkins.

I have had a request to clarify the way I made my napkins. They are single thickness. I cut a variety of novelty fabrics and some orphan fat quarters to 14" square. Some of the fabrics were not big enough to do 14" so are a bit smaller.

I hemmed all 4 sides with the rolled hem stitch on my serger. This was really good practice for me becoming comfortable with what I needed to do to set up the stitch as well as changing threads.

Then, I put a dab of fray check on each corner and threw them in the washer. I wanted to see how they would wash and dry as I do NOT intend to iron these things!

They probably are not show stoppers, but they are fun and should work!

Retro Aprons

Retro aprons - I made my first today and I might just be hooked! Fun to make and cute, cute, cute.