Bali Meets Sochi Quilt Start

If you ever want a fun quilt and like bright colors, this one is for you. It's a great escape into your batiks and playing with color. For that very reason, I've been cutting as I go rather than precut all the fabric suggested in the pattern. I did not buy the fabric suggested since it'll be mostly stash. There's a picture and link to the free pattern from Hoffman Fabrics in my post (HERE ). It looks like the fabric from the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Here are some of the rows.

These are simple templates to work with since you can cut a strip and then sub cut into pieces. Working row by row gives me an opportunity to select the very spot on the batik fabric where the template should be placed. Since it is batik and not much fraying, it doesn't seem to make a difference of the direction I cut either.

 

 

The rainbow of colors has given me a psychedelic feeling of back to the 60s. So why not go? Heck, making green jello with shredded carrots was a big thing back then. As kids we didn't like it because veggies in jello was...well, it wasn't done. Jello was always made with fruit and more sugary goodies like marshmallows.

Using sugar free jello I made a batch the other day and added some canned crushed pineapple to the shredded carrots. I can't remember if that was an option in the 60s. If you didn't live in the Midwest in the 60s, you probably think I am nuts. This jello became a regular on the dinner table, along with Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and tuna casserole. Another pantry item was Spam.

So what yummy, no-nutrition dish do you remember from back then?

Marcy

Coffee Small Quilt

A few weeks ago, I posted a pattern from a magazine (HERE) along with some fabric scraps a friend gave me.  It's a real cute coffee cup pattern and my scraps mixed well with her scraps. She gave me the border fabric and I got they applique fabric from my stash. The only quilting is in-the-ditch and then I outlined around the cups and steam. I used a tinsel-like color around the steam and brown everywhere else. Sometimes when the fabric is too busy, quilting on it can overwhelm the pattern. Who knows, I may add some innocent hand quilting to get rid of the looseness of the border fabric.

The pattern didn't call for ric-rac but I had some brown on hand and worked it in. I just finished the binding and thought it was best to be a solid brown.

The applique is fused and machine sewn. My hands are getting too old for needle turn applique, so I save them to hand stitch the binding to the back. Sometimes machine stitched binding is worthy.

Maybe I'll invite my generous friend for some coffee and we can sit outside and enjoy the wonderful June weather...while it lasts. Hot July is right around the corner.

Marcy

Recycling HSTs

Last month I assembled a firecracker siggy quilt for Quilts of Valor (HERE). In my haste, I cut the half square triangles to small but still attempted to use them. It didn't work and caused lots of unsewing. Thrifty me could not toss them out, so I just stitched those poor lost souls together.

I've got this rectangle that'll make into a nice table topper with a border.



Also, I turned the HSTs into pinwheel blocks and made potholders. My daughter uses these as trivets for hot dishes and casseroles. Now she is set for the Fourth of July.

I made recipe cards using my flag quilt as a watermark.

To top it off looky what I found at Kohl's--a patriotic spatula. Isn't it just too cool? They had blue spatulas as well.

The package was mailed on Tuesday and she had it by Friday.  I never tell here when I send little packages like these. It adds to the surprise.

Are you making any special sewing projects for the 4th of July?

Marcy



More Batiks?

My stash overfloweth. Time to use up what's on hand. I found this perfect pattern in a magazine downloadable at Hoffman Fabrics free. It's called: When Bali Met Sochi.

 

We were also fascinated by--what looked to quilters as--quilts at the Winter Olympics held in Russia. The diamond shaped bold colors blended together in many gradations were everywhere. I searched the worldwide web continually for the fabric. They had to be selling the fabric somewhere. Never found any.

Cutting began this past weekend and I thought I should make a few trial blocks. Fine. Even though they are diamonds and template patterns, I found it was within my realm of stitching. I quickly found there's not enough variety of bold colors in my stash. Oh my! I guess it is time to shop.

End of that project until I can add more bolds. How could this happen on a perfect sewing weekend? What to do, what to do.

Here's what I have so far.

Last week a quilting buddy stopped by to show me the remnants of fabric for a project she was working on. They were about 6 inches wide WOF strips in a delightful coffee theme. Then I remembered a small quilt pattern with coffee cups from a Quiltmaker magazine saved from a few years ago. Perfect.





I dug through my tans and browns finding plenty of options. No sewing yet but at least I've got a project. Rather than trace the patterns on fusible web, I copied them on my printer. Let the cutting and sewing begin!

It's all cut and ready for me to stitch. I'll post pictures later. Be sure to come back to see the finished product.

Marcy

Table Topper with Placemats

Here's a real "two fer" in many meanings of the phrase. It makes for a great table runner or a table topper with two side placemats.

This isn't a magic trick. Pushed together adds drama. It'll be great for hot summer nights with a cool dinner. Note to self: no barbeque on those nights.

Outside pictures are always better.

Here's a picture of the back of one of the mats. I machine appliqued the pieces onto the mat after it was sandwiched. Heck, no quilting needed. I guess one could free motion on the light color, but it's plenty for me the way it is.

Here's the back of the table topper. Same quilting.

Me thinks the pattern would make a nice matching tea cozy don't you? I wonder if I can scrape up enough fabric.

By the way, this is a Connecting Threads kit. Their directions are great and the fabric is wonderfully soft. I'm not a blue person, but this hit me right.

Come back again.

Marcy