Patriotic pot holder quilt

 

I just finished my patriotic pot holder quilt! My sister Janet is visiting, so she helped me hold it up so that Mom could take pictures for me.

I love the way the machine quilting looks on the back, and I like that binding each block gives a stained glass appearance.

The quilt is larger than I originally planned. It just covers the top of my queen sized bed. It would be easy enough to add to this quilt if I wanted it to fit my bed as more than a topper.

For now, I think I'll keep it on the back of my love seat. It certainly brightens up the room!

Five!

 

Thanks to some late night stitching on Wednesday, I was able to finish attaching the fifth row of my quilt last night. That's a nice accomplishment, considering I was gone from home from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

With only three strips left to attach, I'm pretty confident that I can finish by Wednesday. After that, I will focus on Renulek's Spring Doily 2026. It's good to set goals!

Four!

 

I really didn't think I'd be able to finish sewing the fourth strip on yesterday, but I did it! I talked with the four senior girls who have been the most interested in my crafting. Next week is their last week of school, and with all of the awards luncheons taking place at this time of year, finding time to get together has been difficult. We agreed on next Wednesday for the big quilt reveal at school. I'm sure that gives me plenty of time to finish. I'm really missing my tatting, but every minute counts with finishing this quilt. 

Prom is tomorrow night, which means early dismissal for students and no lunch duty for me tomorrow. My sister is coming to visit for the weekend. It's supposed to be cool this weekend, so I'm pretty sure we will spend most of our time crafting indoors. What a wonderful way to relax!

Quilting fun

When I'm working on a project, I find the reading novels, watching videos, or reading about patterns helps to keep me focused on what I'm doing. While I've been working on my patriotic quilt, I've been reading The Quilter's Apprentice by Jennifer Chiaverini. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, so much so that I ordered the second book in the Elm Creek Quilts series.

Yesterday proved to be very busy, so I didn't complete adding the third strip to my quilt until just before bedtime. Today will be busy as well, so I might not be able to finish adding the fourth strip today. Still, I will give it my best try!

Two!

 

My first two strips are sewn together. I had hoped to accomplish more, but I was called in to sub at the last minute today.

I have to admit that my fingers are a bit sore from all this hand sewing, but that's probably because I've spent so many hours hand sewing each day. I'm also sewing through multiple thicknesses. It looks like it is possible for me to finish my quilt within the next week, and that's exciting!

Strips!

 

My strips are all made! Now it's time to sew the strips together. I'm really loving this pot holder quilt technique!

It didn't happen

Tatting didn't happen today. Dave and I did get the plants we planned on purchasing today, plus a few extra. I planned on joining our Tollway Tatters meeting when we returned home, but I couldn't get an Internet connection.

Instead, Mom and I went grocery shopping, and Dave planted potatoes. After lunch, Dave roto-tilled the garden beds in preparation for planting our new trees and bushes. We then spent quite a bit of time determining where the plants would go. We've decided that we do need a few more plants to fill the spaces, but that will probably wait until at least next week.

With a few minutes to spare here and there, I managed to finish the fifth strip of my patriotic quilt. I only have three strips left to finish, and then I can begin joining the strips. I realized today that our seniors only have two weeks of school left, and they're the ones most interested in seeing my finished quilt. Can I finish it before they leave school? I'm going to give it a try!