Thursday, June 21, 2012

{Post #993} I Spy Winners and Losers

The last little bit of sewing I've done has been on several different I Spy quilts...some new designs.  A doozy loser, a so so, and one I think might turn out nicely.


I tried a Twister quilt square with only a few blocks to see if my already-cut-out 4-1/2" I Spy squares could work.  I ended up having to cut them down to 3" squares instead of the 3-1/2" squares the Little Twister ruler would have made.  But that is OK...I just drew lines on my 6-1/2" ruler and flipped it around after cutting 2 sides.  A tiny bit more time consuming, but not a hardship.  


Here is the Twister one first.  The finished sewn piece with a 4 x 4 block setting ended up being 13" square.  I could see making 8 more of these and setting it 3 x 3 blocks for a 39" square quilt.  The small overall prints look much better than the large not-very-much repeat prints.  I don't know if I have enough to make 8 more blocks, but I can certainly look.


Getting started on the cutting:



Cutting complete:


Close-up of border print, ants, and apples:


All sewn up.  Thirteen inches square:


Now for the others, in no particular order.  

This first one is an actual pattern up to the black border.  I thought it was too long and skinny, so I added the extra rows of 4-1/2" squares on each side.  I plan to put a black with something bright on it to border each side.  I like the variety of square sizes...finish at 2", 3", and 4"...no repeats.  I might make another one of these but 50% wider and not use the 2" finished squares (because I sent all I had to Natasha).  


This next one is soooo busy that it hurts my brain to look at it.  You might want to take a second to prepare yourself.  Natasha and I had a fabric trade.  She sent me two pounds of I Spy prints, and I sent her 2 pounds of Thimbleberries back.  I hope we are both happy.  I have not heard from her about her package yet.  In her package to me were these 6-1/2" square pieces.  I had a (what I thought at the time) brilliant idea of using them as alternate squares with 4 patches of 3-1/2" squares of mine.  Should have just cut them down to 4-1/2" squares and used them in 11 different quilts!

Ready, set...confusion!!


After I sewed the alternate blocks and my 4-patches together, I added an entire row of 4-1/2" square to the top and bottom to make it nearly square.  I hate like the dickens to WASTE all those I Spy prints, but what's a girl to do?  I am thinking about putting on a thin solid black then a something with a bright green wider border on it, but honestly, I don't think I could do this to a kid!

~Joan

{Post #992} Worthy of Double Honor

I know this is mainly a quilty blog, but bear with me.  This post is about a big part of my life...my church.


Last night started a 5-day extravaganza for our pastor and his wife.  They have been leading and serving our church for 20 years.  The theme for our anniversary celebration is "Worthy of Double Honor" from I Timothy 5:17, "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor..."


We planned lots of BIG surprises for them starting with a "chauffeur" to pick them up at their house for the first service in a fancy car (at this point they had no idea what was going on).  He brought them through a parade of our church members holding signs, balloons, and waving ribbon wands (which I made and were soooo easy--I made many so I could share with the little children and a few big ones).  So.  much.  fun.  We were all so excited that we pulled off the surprise that we were smiling ear-to-ear.  Here is me and my better half:




Our pastor was the vice president of a Bible college in our town for years as well as being our pastor, so he's been a great influence on many.  He is a humble, sweet, gracious, kind, wise, godly man.  His wife is the perfect feminine mirror of him.  We are blessed to have them leading us.  We are having two of the men who have been under his ministry speak each night with a testimony by someone greatly influenced by him as well.  There are all kinds of secret surprises every day, so I can't divulge much here.  


I mainly wanted you to see my handsome hubby.  I feel sorry for all the women who can't experience his wonderful hubbiness firsthand.  Oh, well.


~Joan

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

{Post #991} Busy Listing for eBay

This AM I spent a couple hours getting items together, taking and editing photos, and listing items on eBay.  I used to do that years ago all.  day.  long.  It's been a while.  Why is change so hard?  


I listed some 8" hot pad/trivets made from selvages, a set of 4 coasters made from selvages, 4 sets of 25 unique I Spy prints in 4-1/2" squares, and 5 Thimbleberries kits.  Click my auction button to see what I'm selling.  Maybe something will have to go live with YOU!


I started the fabric kits at $5 a yard, which is a GREAT price--especially for Thimbleberries.


Here are a few of my pictures: