Finishing...

 Thank each of you for helping me with this border!!  I decided you were right, it should be simple, but scrappy...so I used the same pieces as my sashing and added to the sides...and that was enough!  It seemed finished to me.

 Here it is, all done and ready for quilting!  scrappy binding is all ready too.  Yahoo!

 I finished this little quilt, for a friend.

 Also this little one too come into being, from the scrap bin, for Valentine's day.

And I am plugging away at my plaid rail fence too.  These blocks finish at 4 inches, so I need a whole bunch of them still.



Hope each of you has a great day!  Not feeling too great today, but I hope to be all better soon...I think dear husband shared his cold with me!


Julie

Crumby progress!

 Well, how did that happen?  This picture is super sized!  Anyway, I am making some progress on the crumby quilt.  I am at a total loss for borders...this will a hospital bed/patient quilt sized quilt.  I did not make much of a dent in the crumb pile!!  Oh well, I will soldier on!  Do you have an idea for a border?  Help!!

 Another shot...

 And since I could not figure out the borders for the first quilt, I worked on this border, for the basket quilt.  It is prettier in person...looks rather dark in the pictures.

 Rosie the quilting model is displayed at no extra charge to you!!  She is such a wonderful sweetheart, I am just in love with this little stray darling doggie!!

And...cheesecake!  A little brownish...and cracked!  I will have to have another go at this one...but it will taste good, at least I hope so!  I used low fat cheese and splenda instead of sugar, so maybe that is why it cracked.  It seems wonderful on the inside...will try again!!


Have a great day, all!!

Julie

A day off!!

 Good morning to everyone!!  I have worked the last six days in a row...there at the hospital at least 13-14 hours each day.  Our charge nurse abruptly quit...so I have been in charge.  I can do it just fine, but it takes me away from the patients...the nurses become my patients, and I love taking care of patients more!  Oh well, maybe this is temporary.  Above is a crumby flying geese block!  This is just the most fun, mindless sewing in the world...someone wanted a tutorial, so I will try to explain how I do this...I know that lots of you know how, so bear with me!!

 This all started because of the quilt crumbs...tiny pieces of fabric that I saved, not big enough for strings, etc.  Like quilter's candy!!  Little sweet pieces!

 I take any light fabric for a foundation...I used an old, thin piece of fabric, and cut it a little bigger than 6.5 x 3.5 inches.  You can make any size geese you want!!  I usually use muslin, and lots of people use phone book paper, but I just can't stand taking out the paper, so I use fabric foundations.

 I then start filling the foundation with fabric little pieces...some small strings, triangles, parts of old blocks, just anything I have in the basket.  This is fun!  Freewheeling and anything goes!!  Just fill the space, flipping and sewing.  Have your music on, toes tapping, or a fun movie to watch!!

 TA DA!  A block filled...then I go and trim, after shooting it with starch and pressing it...SQUOOSH!!

 All trimmed up, 6.5 x 3.5 inches.   The trimmings?  I use the biggest pieces again for more crumb blocks!  The tiniest ones end up as fillings for other projects, or hot pads...very little fabric hits the trash can at my house!

 Then a corner connector triangle, 3.5 square...sewing diagonally...

 Of course I make two seams, so I can have those extra triangles for blocks and borders!!

I have a lot of them so far....


OK, so sew on the other triangle to finish your goose, sew three of them together, then I added the sides of the blocks, 9.5 x 2 inch strips to make a 9.5 inch unfinished block.  TA DA!!  I used up some tiny pieces...and had fun doing it!!  Let yourself go...no matchy-matchy fabrics, no fuss or worry...just fun sewing!!


Have  a great day, all!!!

Julie

progress for today

 Good afternoon...weird to be posting twice in one day!  I have made this much progress on Easy Street...all the corner and side pieces are done, and five of the blocks.  Only twenty more blocks to go, and I will be putting this one together!!

 But....I get side tracked!!  I have tiny pieces, crumbs of cloth really...and I am making scrappy geese with these pieces.  Bonnie is making string geese, but these pieces are really too small to be strings, so I am making geese of a different color, so to speak!!  With the string borders, each block is nine inches finished.

And the plaids always, always call to me...I have been hoarding every plaid string I can find...and it is time to use them!!  So this quilt is coming into being too.  Doesn't look like much now, but just wait!!  Those plaids will sing when they are done!!!


So...what fabrics are you hoarding?!  I challenge to use your favorites!!  What are we waiting for??


Have a super great day, all!!

Julie

Working On Easy Street!

I have working on the Quiltville mystery, Easy Street.  I have three of the large blocks completed, and all of the corners and side triangles finished.  I am on a roll!!  So hopefully I can make some real progress, really soon. 

I love that a few flowers flourish in this cold weather...always a spot of pretty color, somewhere!!  Reminds of the purple in the Easy Street quilt...



Have a great day, everyone!!

Julie

Barrister's blocks!

Well!! I got the barrister's blocks all together now!!!  That sashing took a bit more piecing than I remembered, whew!!  What a wonderfully fun project Randy made for all of us, and I am so glad this is one piece. The border looks gray in the picture, but it is really darker, and I like that it fades into the background a little bit.   Rosie the poodle will not pose for me today, I think the flash is quite bright for her eyes. 


What now?  On with the Quiltville Mystery Quilt finale!!!


Hope you all have a super great day!!

Julie

Progress!

 Well, I am about half way finished putting the Barrister's blocks together. I like black with colors...somehow the black makes the colors seem brighter.  I got a border fabric!!  Actually purchased it!!

 A simple applique block to blanket stitch...

And scraps!!!  Mary of Quilt Hollow chose to gift some of her scraps to me...I love them!!  Thank you so much, Mary!!


**********************Nurse's notes************************

I was in charge yesterday at the hospital, and something I do is round and speak to each patient, just to make sure all is going well for each patient.  We had 33 patients on the floor yesterday.  So very many of them stick out in my mind...

• 88 years old, this feisty lady had a small MI, but has pneumonia on top of that.  She greeted me with "I am not senile!".  Of course she wasn't...she lives on her own and was right on top of everything!!  She told me she had never married, because she did not want to give up her personality to "some man"...or wait on him!  So she has been a career lady all her life...she was so fun to talk to!!  No sweet little old lady here...she was a force to be reckoned with!!
• 97 years old!!  A darling man, who grew up and met his wife in the depression and married in the ninth grade.  He walked at that time from Austin to Fort Worth to find a job at "Monky Ward"...do you remember that name?  He too lives on his own, drives, and just does fine...he was a very nice fella...he said the only thing wrong with him is that he was old!!  He had never once been to a doctor before his current admission to the hospital...
• 71 years old...cancer.  Angry!  But somehow, a little accepting that the years of smoking finally got to him...poor guy!!
• A truck driver, just headin' through...until he had a PE!!  Worried about his load in his truck...

Each patient has a story, and I love to hear them.   So, that was just a tiny part of rounds yesterday...I love the patient interaction more than anything.  The administrative headaches?  You can have them!!



Have a great day, all!!

Julie