A Fun Four-Patch...

 I worked on a sweet lap quilt yesterday. I began with a sewing-theme focus fabric, pulled

 the fabrics to use as coordinates and I was ready to go. I chose a Sashed Four-Patch

design, so I cut 5 1/2" squares of each fabric and set about my assembly line for the sets.

 By the end of my work play day, I had assembled all the four-patches and all of the

 sashing. Tomorrow I'll add the next border (or two) and then decide what I'm going
to do for the backing. It won't be finished until it's quilted and embellished.
(I've got a really cute idea in mind!)

Next time you see it, it will be finished and ready to ship out.

I'll even tell you who it's going to live with!

Well, it's Saturday morning so you know what that means...coffee with the girls.
Afterwards, I'm joining my friend, Tammy for lunch. There's nothing
quite like starting the day with good friends to stir up the creative juices.

When I get back home, I'm going to finish this project.

Sunday afternoon will be another treat. I get to listen to Handsome perform again.
I'll be recording the North Port Concert Band's Christmas concert.
(I've been their official videographer for the last two seasons.)
I went to the last rehearsal so I can tell you it will be a real holiday treat.
As soon as I finish editing the recording, I'll be sure to post a little holiday cheer for you.
 

What are your plans for today (and the weekend?)
I hope there's a little holiday spirit in your future!

Memory Lane Monday - Warm Hugs...

This is a picture of the first "real" quilt I ever made. It's a chenille four-patch quilt made from shirting fabric, chenille and flannel. I made it in September of 2004. It's still one of my most favorite quilts to cuddle under.

You can see that it's not large enough to cover the top of our quilt guest bed, and I had enough blocks left over to quilt a couple of pillow shams, too. Great for napping, I tell ya!

When shopping with my daughter-in-law last week, I came across a fat quarter assortment of...flannels! I knew right away why I wanted them. Right! A new four-patch quilt. I'm going to use chenille for the large blocks again, and I'll have enough fabric to make a larger quilt. I might even make two new shams to match.

The last piece of fabric in the pack is the same fabric I'll be using for the back of the quilt.

I know this is a little different for my Memory Lane Monday posts, but I chose to write about my first quilt for a couple of reasons. One is that I want you to know that I've only seriously quilted since 2004. Even then, I didn't make another quilt for a year or so. After that I was hooked.

Reason Two is because I wanted to give you a break from my old family photos and share a project from my past. I've always sewn, but this was the beginning of my obsession with quilts...those warm hugs on chilly nights.

Thanks for sharing a more contemporary Memory Lane Monday with me. If you have a story you'd like to share on your blog, you can link your post below.

Wreath by gigigibson on Etsy

Don't forget to take time to remember why you're off work today, and say thanks for the commitment and sacrifices of the men and women of our Armed Forces...past and present...this Memorial Day.

Sunday, I Was "In The Pink"...

Sunday was a really nice day. Handsome spent some time doing yard work and I was in the studio. I was sewing sashing to the pink flannel quilt blocks.

Of course, after he had finished his yard work, a swim was in order, so we both went on break and spent about an hour in the pool. I'm so sorry if you're in the North and subjected to the premature cold weather already. It's still in the 90s around here and we so were anxious to cool off.

After our swim, I headed back to the studio where I put together all ten strips - each made up of six four-patch blocks and separating sashes. I was pretty proud of myself for matching up all the seams when I joined the first two long strips together, then gave myself a beaver slap to the forehead when I realized that I hadn't attached the long sashes yet. (There has to be a long sash between each long strip of blocks to match the ones I stitched on the sides. The finished effect is a contrasting block around each four-patch. It's a necessary step, since we all voted for sashing!) You can see the side sashes in the second photo. My bone crochet hook - which I use to guide fabric through Miss Ellie's presser foot - is pointing to the sash fabric.

I should say one more thing about my technique here. I do not stress over lining up plaids or stripes in my quilts as I do in garments. I like the random, haphazardness that comes from just sewing them together as they want. You'd think with my Type A personality, I'd be working toward perfection. I'm only that way when matching seams, not when lining up those straight fabric patterns. I tell you this so that you don't think I'm just a sloppy quilter. I do this on-purpose.

Anyway, you guessed it. When I realized that I had missed the long sash, out came the seam ripper to unsew that one long seam. By the time that was done, it was time to prepare dinner, so I turned off Miss Ellie, the fan and the studio tv and walked away.

Today, I've got a fresh outlook. I'll first cut all the long sashes, and then I'll set about correctly joining all the long strips of blocks together. When I'm finished, the quilt top will be all assembled. Then, all I'll need to do is assemble the backing and it will be off to the machine quilter's this week.

I want us to be able to keep all these completed quilts straight, so I'm calling the nine-patch quilt from this post "Garden Magic", after the name of the fabric line. This pink flannel quilt I'm calling "Cotton Candy" because that's what I think of whenever I see the pretty pink fabric. Of course, there's no better name for the red and grey quilt shown here than "The French General" named for the designer of the line. Besides, I don't know how to pronounce the fabric line (Rouenneries)!

I don't know how long it will take for the quilts to come back from the machine quilters, but you can rest assured that as soon as they do, I'll be crowing about her work and showing you the finished pieces.