A New Tablerunner

In the last week, my husband and I have been doing some redecorating in various rooms of our home.  Every once in awhile it's nice to put some fresh new paint on the walls, change out the window treatments, etc. 

So once the walls started coming alive, I decided that I needed something new and pretty for my kitchen table and started searching my stash for fabrics that would coordinate with my kitchen window treatments.  My search took me to Bittersweet by Nancy Halvorsen.  This fabric was originally purchased for my Cornucopia of Thanks quilt.  Even so, I couldn't resist using it because it matched my kitchen colors perfectly.  I found a pattern in my pattern drawer from Atkinson Designs and put together this easy and fun to sew tablerunner:

I think I am going to make some other cute kitchen accessories with this fabric too like potholders and maybe use as a border for some tea towels.  My tablerunner needs to be quilted and bound, and I will do that today.  It really cheers up my table!
I will have to buy some more of the Bittersweet fabric so I will have enough to finish my Cornucopia of Thanks blocks but that's okay because fabric shopping is definitely high on the list of my favorite things to do : )
Wishing all of you a great day and hope that you get a little free time to sew.

Until next time . . .
Debbie

Cornucopia of Thanks ~ July Block

I'm getting back in to my normal sewing groove and yesterday finished the assigned block for the Cornucopia of Thanks BOM, Providence.

Providence from the Cornucopia of Thanks
pattern by Jennifer Chiaverini

This block had lots of templates, which I'm not a huge fan of unless I can use Marti Michell's templates.  I'm happy that I've finished this one and hope that our block next month is one without templates!

Until next time . . .

Debbie

Making Quilts from Swap Blocks

As you know, I have been cleaning, organizing and going through all of the fabric, patterns, scraps, etc., in my sewing studio.  As I was going through some of my pattern drawers, I ran across swap blocks from a 2008 Red & White Sylvia's Bridal Sampler block swap.  I guess in the back of my mind I knew that I had these blocks ~ somewhere ~ and always thought that ~ some day ~ I would put them together into a quilt.  Well, that day finally came and here's the design that I came up with:

These blocks are just stuck to my design wall now (other than the the 6 to the right which I've sashed).  I decided to use a medallion type block setting and chose this Mariner's Compass block that I found in Jennifer Chiaverini's pattern book, More Elm Creek Quilts.  This block came from Jennifer's pattern, Round Robin.  Since I participated in my quilting group's Round Robin activity using this pattern, I was familiar with the block and it went together quickly.  I like the size of this quilt as it is but thinking that I could add another row to the top and bottom and to each side so it could cover a twin size bed.  As you can see, I got some beautiful red & white blocks from our swap.  I plan to work on this throughout the week and hopefully by week's end, I will have it all together and ready for the long-arm quilter. 

This is just one of many quilts I plan to get together from swap blocks.  It's amazes me how many I have participated in and how many pretty blocks I received that are just sitting in Ziplock bags.  Just off the top of my head, I would say that I have five (5) different quilts that I need to make from swap blocks.  There will be no more swaps for this girl until she makes quilts with the ones she already has . . . and that's a promise I've made to myself!

I'm in a Farmer's Wife Sampler block challenge and finished up the June blocks over the weekend.  We needed to make 6 blocks for June and I finished 2 blocks earlier (pictured below in previous blog post).  Yesterday, I made 6 more blocks for my FWS quilt:



Although this past week was a busy one for me, it was also a very enjoyable one as I am getting back to my sewing projects that sat dormant for weeks while I was recovering from surgery.  I hope I can make as more or even more progress this week!

Until next time . . .
Debbie

Getting back to sewing!

Yesterday I spent the greater part of the afternoon/early evening in my sewing room and finally made some progress on planned projects prior to my surgery. 

One project that my Yahoo group, SBS and Other Elm Creek Quilts, is doing this year is a BOM using Jennifer Chiaverini's Cornucopia of Thanks pattern.  This was started in June and yesterday I completed June's block, Augusta.

Augusta from the Cornucopia of Thanks
pattern by Jennifer Chiaverini

After finishing my Augusta block, I was on a roll and decided to start tackling some Farmer's Wife Sampler (FWS) blocks.  For those of you who have been following my blog, you know that I had several FWS blocks finished.  I initially began this quilt with a fabric collection from Moda called Ruby by Bonnie & Camille.  It's a great fabric line; however, the more FWS blocks I sewed, the more I realized that it wasn't the best choice for this quilt.  So while I was recuperating from surgery, I surfed the Internet looking for other options and mainly focused on fabric collections with a variety of small prints in florals, dots and geometrics.  What I finally settled on was a controlled, scrappy quilt using 1930s fabrics on a common background. 

Here are the re-do's of Railroad and Prairie Queen:


Railroad from the Farmer's Wife Sampler
pattern book by Laurie Aaron Hird

Prairie Queen from the Farmer's Wife Sampler
pattern book by Laurie Aaron Hird



I think the smaller prints show each block's design better.  I have to say that I am enjoying sewing these little blocks more using the smaller prints, and this is the first time I've used 1930s fabrics for an entire quilt.

If you are into sewing and quilting as much as I am then you can imagine how good it feels to get back to it after being away for 6+ weeks.  I'm hoping to make a lot more progress in the days and weeks ahead!

Until next time . . .

Debbie