Scrappy New York Beauty

I subscribe to many blogs, and as I was zipping through my Google Reader last week, trying to get caught up, I passed a quilt made of New York Beauty blocks and black sashing. Aha!  I grabbed my batik scraps, pulled my New York Beauty paper-piecing patterns out of my notebook, and got rid of a bunch of my batik scraps. My patterns are from Ula Lenz and Donna Duquette (whose patterns are no longer available. So glad I saved them!) 

These are 8" blocks, so this is a wall hanging-sized quilt.  I'll get it quilted sometime in the spring.

Memories of Sisters - finally finished!

As more and more tops piled up in my closet, I decided I'd better take some out and finish them up.  I use a Featherweight for all my sewing, so quilting is not easy.  But I gave it a try for this one:

This is called "Memories of Sisters."  It's a paper-pieced pattern designed by Vivienne Moore. I bought the pattern when I volunteered at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Festival in 2008, made the top that fall, but just now quilted and bound it.  I learned from the Stitchin' Post website that the pattern has been retired. Lucky me!

Some weekend sewing

In addition to all the boomerang blocks, which were done over the last 4-5 days, I did some other sewing:

New York Beauty Block 0

I've been thinking about participating in the New York Beauty Quilt-Along, but have only accomplished block Zero. We'll see if I do the rest. I'd like to, but who knows?

Traditonal Tuesday Week 25 - Pendants

I had some problems with this one. When I sewed together the original pieces, my block ended up the correct width (6.5") but was only 5.5" high. I had to add two pieces. Unfortunately, I was using directional fabric for the light green, and the misalignment shows. Oh well.  It's a learning experience.

Modern Monday Week 25 - Pendants

My daughter is going to a soccer tournament in Las Vegas next month, and she and her best friend will be doing some promenading on the Strip. She saw a little purse I'd made from a class I took at Road to California, and asked me to make one for her. This will go over her neck, so it's a little more secure than a handbag, and is just right for things like ID and cash. It's a little BB Bag by Tracey Brookshier. I'd received the Las Vegas fabric as a gift a couple years ago - finally a nice use for it.

Front has zipper pocket

Inside - pocket for cell phone, zipper pocket for cash/ID, 3rd pocket.

Outside - laid flat - yet another pocket on the back side under the roulette wheel.

Bloggers' BOM - Month 7

Sneak Peak

This last picture is a sneak peak of a mini I did for my STUD (Swap Till You Drop) Flickr group. I'll show the whole thing with a story after my partner has received it.

Turning stitched pieces into wall hangings

The main reason I decided to learn how to sew was not to quilt. That was an accidental obsession. The main reason was because I wanted to do more with my cross stitch than small pieces and framed pieces. While I like bell pulls, not every piece is shaped right for bell pull, and sometimes you get one that just needs some framing (cloth, that is). This first piece was something I'd stitched about 20 years ago - and never got around to framing. Once I learned how to sew, I turned it into a wall hanging. The four ribbons at the top are loops, through which I'll stick a dowel for hanging. I will call this piece Fruit Basket - it's from a very old Just Cross Stitch magazine issue.

Here's a closeup of the stitching.



The back has no quilting - just the stitching around the edges. I used the "birthing a quilt" method to finish this.





This second piece was stitched in January and February of this year, and I did the "framing" two weeks ago. This is more like a quilt - I used batting, did some quilting in the ditches around the edges, and also used the "birthing a quilt" method to finish it off. The piece is called Desert Sunrise, and it's by Black Swan Designs. It has almost a hundred little beads that don't show up too well in the photos.







This is the back - I used muslin and did some straight stitching in the ditches around the edges.