Working on borders and binding of 1989 quilt

September 1, 2020

In 1989, I began a Sampler Quilt with 12 blocks.  Probably in the early 1990's, I began hand quilting each block.  My hand quilting back then was very nicely done with even stitches.  Over the last 10 days or so, I was able to hand quilt the sashing and cornerstones.  I plan to continue hand quilting the outside borders and then with joy, I will hand stitch the binding and the label to the back.  Who knew it would take over 30 years to complete!

When I get this Sampler Quilt bound and labeled, I will post a picture.  Hopefully, I can accomplish this goal before the end of September 2020.  

May 2020

The Year 2020 arrived and now it is the month of May !! 

How time can fly by so fast is beyond me...
Thunder storms woke us up early this morning with threatening bad weather but within an hour or so, just blew out of town.  It is still cloudy but the sun is trying to break through.

Yesterday, I cut out stacks and stacks of Patriotic fabric into rectangles for a Quilt of Valor.  Each rectangle measures 6" x 10 1/2".  Today, I hope to lay out the rectangles to see what design I can come up with that looks nice.  I do have a Patriotic panel but the colors on the panel do not match with the fabrics I have.  It appears that I haven't made a Quilt of Valor since December 2016.

I did create a spreadsheet that shows the pattern name, who quilted it and the quilter's name and city & state, and the Veteran who received the Quilt of Valor and the date that the quilt was presented.  The spreadsheet was created back in Nov. 2013 and the last QOV that I made was in Dec. 2016 (or at least that was the last entry on my spreadsheet).    

Just 10 more days until 2020

It is still hard to believe that in just 10 more days, it will be 2020.
The 1st item I need to address is:
                   Cleaning & Organizing my Sewing Room
I am not showing a before picture but if I can accomplish the above, I will show you an after picture.

A Blog Challenge for 2020

Judy Laquidara from Patchwork Times has challenged her Blog readers to choose one project of their choice to accomplish each month in 2020.  If all goes well, by the end of 2020, we could each have 12 projects completed.

I have chosen to challenge myself to a "mix of two" projects:
Jan, Mar, May, July, Sept, and Nov. will be Color Challenges and
Feb, Apr, June, Aug, Oct. and Dec. will be Gift Giving.

Hopefully, Judy and her Blog readers can encourage each other in completing the projects they will be working on throughout the new year.  During this month, Dec. 2019, I desperately need to organize my Sewing Room.  My days are ticking by.......
I have about half of my wire baskets for my fabrics, organized by color and the other half of the wire baskets are in disarray and missing their name plates as to what "should be" in the baskets. 

Any suggestions would be appreciated.  Thank you,  Nancie  

RJ's Colorful Fabric Scraps

My friend and leader of our weekly Sewing Group gave me several panels of sewn together blocks of hundreds of colorful fabric scraps.  All the fabrics were solids.  Each square measured 2 1/2" and had been sewn together in strips.  They had a cascading stair- step look.  However, I was searching for a different look and wanted to make it my own.  So, I spent "many evenings" taking the strips apart in groups of 3 colors each, until I had stacks and stacks of these units.  Then I sewed 3 strips together to make a 9-patch block.  All these blocks were trimmed down to an even six inch block and then pieced together with several different black & gray blocks.  The most unique fabric looks like gravel.  

UFO List of Items needing to be finished

Here it is the 25th of September, 2019 and I am no further along at finishing these projects than I was at the beginning of 2019.  I do hope to complete a few forgotten projects that have been waiting... for quite some time.

Today, I have been working on a "Project Linus" blanket that our weekly Sewing Group cut.  The flannel squares are cut 8 1/2" with a Die Cutter and all the edges are fringed. We place 2 squares together (rights sides out) with a 6" piece of batting in between and then sew an X from corner to corner.  I enjoy sewing the squares together into a quilt, but I have to watch the fringed edges or they get caught in the 3/4" seam allowances.

Thankfully, a couple of ladies in our group have volunteered to take the completed flannel blankets to the Laundromat to be washed.  After reading
on-line, I discovered that washing these finished blankets at home is not a wise idea.  The fringed edges generate "massive" amounts of lint and can easily clog your home washing machine and/or dryer.  

TVQA Assembly Day 2019 in Smyrna, TN

On Saturday, July 20th, 2019, our Guild hosted the Tennessee Valley Quilters Association (TVQA) annual meeting of Guilds from all over Tennessee and northern Alabama. We met at a local high school in middle Tennessee.

Andrew Lee, was one of our speakers for the day.  

Andrew is a retired soldier who proposes quilting as a way to reduce PTSD ... Andrew Lee served in the US Army for ten years.  He hopes to one day create a sewing therapy group for veterans.

I was able to take (1) completed Quilt Of Valor to Andrew for him to award to a Veteran of his choosing.  I also took (3) other QOV tops that need additional work to finish (borders, more blocks, sashings, etc.).  It was a "Win, Win" donation.

Teresa Duryea Wong, was our second speaker for the day.  Teresa wrote the book, American Cotton:  Farm to Quilt.  Teresa had a slide show with approx. 100 slides which was very interesting.