New to me

The new sewing machine foot to help with seam binding hasn't arrived yet, but I really wanted to try this new to me technique for attaching the binding. I decided to play around with my machine and see if I could come up with something that works for me, and I did!

The front looks as nice as I hoped it would.

I think the back looks pretty good, too.

Since I had success with the first block, I tried another. It still looks pretty good. The only part I'm having trouble with is joining the ends. I've been joining the ends with straight seams, which makes for a bulkier intersection. I'm sure it will click with me, but for now I am really struggling with joining with a diagonal seam. Thank goodness for both written instructions and YouTube videos!

As an experiment, I joined the first two blocks with a zig zag stitch. I'm surprised at how sturdy it is. Since I am still working with inexpensive fabrics, I don't mind taking a chance trying something new. Mom said she would never look that closely to see how the blocks are joined. Daughter Joanne said she really like the look, so I'm going to continue. 

If I like the final look, it sure will save me a lot of time and a lot of wear and tear on my hands!

I haven't gone back to my Criss Cross bookmark. All of my brain power has gone into my quilting project. However, I still need to tat, so I loaded up my shuttle with size 20 Lizbeth #180 Honey Drizzle. My friend Denise got me hooked on this color when it first came out. I love the shading!

In order to give my brain a break, I'm tatting Curds & Whey from Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior. This still remains one of my favorite tatting books!

Rag quilt

 It's done! Including the washing and drying, it took a little over 24 hours to complete this rag quilt

This is a nice light weight lap throw. Since it's only two layers, it flows and wraps nicely.

The backing is flannel, so it's nice and soft.

I used all 10" square pre-cut fabric, which helped speed up the project.

The hardest part was the snipping. After assembling the blocks, I had to snip the seam allowances every 1/8". That part took me a little over four hours. Luckily, I have spring loaded snips. My hands were very sore at the end.

While it was interesting to learn a new way of joining quilt blocks, I'm not sure this will be a method I use very often. I have threads everywhere, which isn't unusual with sewing. However, with all those little snips I have a feeling I will be finding threads for days.

From everything I've read and watched on YouTube, a mesh laundry bag is recommended for washing. I did use one. I also put in a color catcher and a micro fiber cloth. It turned out that the color catcher wasn't necessary with this particular quilt. The micro fiber cloth did catch some of the threads, but not as many as I had expected.

After washing, I went outside to shake out the quilt. It's a good thing I did! I could not believe how much lint there was. I also turned the mesh bag inside out, nearly doubling the amount of lint. I put the quilt back in the mesh bag for drying. After one drying cycle, the quilt was still damp in spots, so I removed it from the bag and put it through another drying cycle.

There wasn't much in the lint screen, but there were still lots of threads on the flannel side. I decided to put it through the washer and dryer one more time. There were a couple of small clumps of lint in the washer. The surprise was that the lint screen had a thick mat of threads. There were still lots of threads on the flannel side, which came off easily with a lint roller.

This is not a true quilt, in my opinion, because there are only two layers. There are directions for making rag quilts with a layer of cotton fabric, flannel, or batting in the middle. I can only imagine how much lint one of these would generate!

Something new

Yesterday just wasn't my day for crafting. I set aside the bookmark. I haven't given up on it yet, but I also haven't figured out where I went wrong.

I tried piecing a pinwheel block from memory, and it did not turn out. I was able to salvage it and find the correct way to put it together. 

I tried a second time. It went together easily, but I wasn't happy with either block. The seams pucker and the centers don't lie flat. I'm pretty sure that the problem is with the printed fabrics. They were very inexpensive, from Temu, and they are coarser and stiffer than the solid fabric.

Feeling like a crafting failure, I decided to sit and read for a while. Then, daughter Joanne called and we started talking about rag quilts. I know that rag quilts have been around for a long time. They just never appealed to me. However, Joanne's daughters decided they wanted to try making rag quilts. 

I ordered pre-cut kits for both girls and for myself. Since they live so far away, I need to work on the same project so that I can answer questions over the phone. The kits won't arrive until next week. In the meantime, I've been watching lots of YouTube videos on rag quilting. Everyone has "the best way" to make a rag quilt, and each person seems to have their own spin on the process.

Since nothing else seemed to be going my way, I decided to shift to trying rag quilting.

Using pre-cut fabrics, I put the fabric from Temu on the top and flannel blocks on the back. I don't think it matters that the colorful fabric isn't quite 10" square. Putting the fabric back to back, I simply sewed a big X. I have a total of 30 blocks, so this will be 5 blocks by 6 blocks, lap throw size. I was able to sew all of the blocks in about an hour and a half, and that included pressing each piece of fabric to get the wrinkles out. Before dinner, I spent about ten minutes figuring out the layout for the quilt. They were all stacked in order for sewing in no time.

After dinner, Dave went outside to take care of the chickens and cats. I decided to see how much I could accomplish while he did chores and cleaned up. Using 1" seams, I had all of the blocks sewn into rows in less than half an hour. 

I also managed to clip the rows together in pairs. I'm ready to sew today!

Giving up?

 

I have been working on this bookmark for over a week. I have made so many mistakes, I have lost count of them. This is at least my third time of doing something wrong at the end, and I'm seriously thinking of giving up and starting over.

There is nothing wrong with the pattern. It's "Criss Cross" from Four Dozen Tatted Bookmarks by Robin Perfetti. With each mistake I've been able to see what I've done wrong, but I keep making mistakes! I'll look at what I've done one more time before giving up, but I think this one may be snipped and thrown away!

To relieve my stress, I've been making beaded pens. These are a no brainer, perfect for when I'm frazzled.

I have enough made to pass out to staff members and high school students at the beginning of school, which starts Monday, August 24. We're getting a late start this year because of HVAC work being done at the elementary school. Some of our breaks will be shorter this year, but I think we will survive.

Daughter Carol inherited this boudoir chair from the 1940s. It needs some TLC, so she has been actively researching so that she can bring it back to its former beauty.

She found this beautiful fabric from the 1930s on Etsy. Even though the shipping from Italy was extremely expensive, the total cost was less than new fabric available in the U.S. Plus, the newer fabrics did not have either the pattern or the color scheme Carol was looking for.

She used AI to see what the chair might look like when it's finished. We took it to the upholsterer yesterday, and it could be ready as soon as three weeks. It will look perfect in her bedroom!

Trimmed and stacked

 

Mom and I went shopping and out to lunch with daughter Carol. It was a great day, and I even managed to trim all of my quilt blocks and put them in order for binding and joining.

I have a specialty machine foot coming in a few days that is supposed to make the binding process a breeze. I think I'll wait for that foot to arrive before doing any more work on this project. I'm sure there will be a learning curve, but I'm excited to learn a different way of attaching the binding!

Quilted!

 

The blocks for my next quilt have all been quilted. Next up, trim them to size. 

I'm going to approach this quilt a little differently. I have been binding all the blocks, and then choosing the layout. This time, I'm going to choose the layout first, and then bind them. That way I can join blocks in the evening while watching t.v. Leaving all the joining until the end is a little tiring on my hands!

Joanne's quilt

 

It took me all day, but I finished Joanne's patriotic pot holder quilt today!  I'm so pleased with the way it turned out.

I foolishly thought that I had a chance of finishing this when Joanne was still here. It took my seven weeks, with a start date of June 15. Joanne and family headed home July 7. It took a little bit longer than anticipated!

Dave asked what I'll work on next. I guess he hasn't noticed that I've already started another quilt!