Stitching the pieces together

lvtwoqlt

I also use the finger sticky things to protect my fingers when quilting. My mom never uses a thimble but I try to. I use a metal thimble on the top finger and a leather thimble on the bottom hand but like others have said, sometimes I use a different finger than the one with the leather thimble on.

I haven't been quilting much lately, but been busy crocheting 'magic hot pads' with cotton yarns. My church fellowship hall was destroyed last May due to a lightning strike and we are in the process of reconstructing the building. In the kitchen we had many knit hot pads that one of the members donated. That memeber is now gone and I know they need to be replaced so I am busy making replacements. I found one pound bags of cotton yarn at AC Moore and my 40% off coupon made it really cheap to buy. I can get 6 to 7 hot pads out of one pound of yarn. 

Sheila 

beccad

Sheila,

I have a lot of cotton yarn, I can crochet you some pot holders next month while recovering from surgery.  PM me with size needed and an address if interested.

Becky 

chrissyb

Well, I've finally taken a pic of the Afghan I crocheted.

And this is my Tumbling Block top that I have been working on for quite some time as it's paper pieced and all done by hand.  It will be interesting when I've finished it.

jo1955

Chrissy - The afghan is beautiful - love the colors.

I have seen the tumbling blocks quilt before and did not realize it was paper pieced.  That is one thing I have not learned how to do yet.  It is really gorgeous - must have taken a long time to do.  Please post it again when you are all finished. 

barbe1958

I LOVE paper piecing!!!! No pre-cutting or 1/4" seams or rule like that. Just sew on the line, iron and cut. My kind of pattern.

lvtwoqlt

Not all tumbling block quilts are English paper pieced, but it does make it easier with the bias edges. I saw a quilt last year at the Asheville Quilt show made by a man who was a retired engineer that was a tumbling block quilt. He used many shades of colors to make it really 3-D effects, part of it looked like it was coming out and part of it looked like it was recessed. He even pieced the back of the quilt in black, white and greys with the same pattern as the front. He called it "Cubic Deconstruction" Check out this page and go to the bottom of the page to see a couple of pictures of his first quilt! it is awesome! It won viewers choice award. 

www.ashevillequiltguild.org/show.html 

Sheila 

lvtwoqlt

The white quilt above the Cubic Deconstruction is called 'flip flop paper piecing'. That quilt was a minature and was only about 18 - 20 inches square! 

Sheila 

Meece

I made a tumbling block that was not paper pieced.  I made it as a gift and unfortunately gave it to someone who did not appreciate it.  That hurts. (This is a picture of a picture of it)

lvtwoqlt

It is pretty, I love the graduated shading from dark to light on the overall quilt. Not many people do appreciate the hard work that goes into hand made items, quilts, crocheted items, painted items, wood working. . . That is why we stopped doing a craft bazaar every year at the church. We are planning one for this fall, to help pay for the new fellowship hall. We haven't had one in at least 10 years.

Sheila 

jo1955

Meece - That is gorgeous - if it is not paper pieced, then how did you make it?

barbe1958

Oh Jo, there is SO much cutting and marking and seam allowances that have to be perfect! Meece did a great job!!! That is one of the hardest patterns to do as the angled corners are inset...if you know what I mean....

jo1955

barbe- I don't do very well with angled corners and stuff that has to be inset.  Don't have the patience or attention span needed.   With my work schedule, I need to do projects that are easy or intermediate - triangles and such.

Meece

The trick on this pattern is that the top of each block is not a diamond, but two triangles.  I sewed them together in strips, then sewed the strips together.  I would love to make another one, to keep or at least to give to someone who likes it.

jo1955

Meece - Can you email me the pattern?  I can do patterns with triangles.

Meece

I will have to dig it out, but I sure will send it to you.

jo1955

Meece - Thanks 

    

barbe1958

Wow! Great pattern, then, Meece! You done good!

Meece

Thank you! (I am doing a curtsey)

chrissyb

Wow Meece, that one puts my little effort to shame!  It's beautiful!

lvtwoqlt

I have heard of sewing it that way, but never seen it done. It is beautiful.

Sheila 

Meece

No, Crissy, your tumbling blocks is so unique, and to be done all by hand... Nuf Said!!!

jo1955

I have so little time to sew in the winter months - my job keeps me pretty busy - so I need something that is not real time consuming.  I do a lot of strip piecing and sample type patterns.

lvtwoqlt

I went today to my quilt guild's 'sew bee' day and finished a rail fence quilt and started another rail fence quilt for the new children's advocacy program in the county. All was done with fabric donated to the guild by a family who's mother had passed away and they didn't know what to do with her fabric stash.

Here is the link to the directions I used. I didn't make it quite as big (6x8 blocks with a contrasting border of 4 inches - finished 42x47 inches) www.prayerquilt.org/infopages/RailFence.pdf

Sheila 

jo1955

Sheila - Can you please post a picture of the finished quilt here for us to see?  I love looking at the work of others.

lvtwoqlt

I was trying to insert a photo using snap fish, it didn't work quite right. I will try again tomorrow.

lvtwoqlt

let me try it again.  oops didn't work - just got funny little box without the picture. I will try again tomorrow.

Meece

Once you get the hang of it, you'll have so much fun posting pictures!

faithandfifty

OK crafty seamstresses, quilters et. al.,

Today I went to our quilting club and spent another 6 hours, bringing to a grand total of 12 hours of work on a project that had billed itself as a 2 hour project.

Anyhow, I'll start with my fabric selection:

It took an intitial six hour class to get all of the pieces above to this stage.

Cut out, fused with fleece, lined, cut and sew piping and attatch etc etc etc.

This is where we started today's session:

Here's the not quite finished project, as I still must top stitch the finished purse, but will wait till tomorrow when I'm refurbished with a new day's energy.

The pattern called for two internal small pockets and gave an optional interior 'larger' pocket. I created a total of 4 interior pockets, the two small surrounded by two larger pouchish pockets. There are also two pockets on the exterior of the purse (front and back.)

I am crazy thrilled to have this nearly accomplished.

Earlier this week I found a doodah black & white polka dot 'earring' at a thrift store (for a full 50 cents) and intend to add it ot the front flap as an additional happy smile. It will serve no functional purpose other than to make me smile.

If anyone wants to know the specifics of the pattern, I'll go dig it out of my supplies..... I'm just too tired to move.

Happy creativity every one!!!

Happy weekend, too!!!

lvtwoqlt

Love the pocketbook, it is like you very creative.

Sheila 

Eph3_12

Well FAithie, As I said on FB it is too cool!  But wow-very time consuming!