Granddaughters are wonderful and we will do anything for them. One of my friends made a quilt for her granddaughter in 2000. Her granddaughter brought it back recently and asked her to mend it. The quilt top was shredded. It was beyond repair. The grandmother offered to make a new quilt, but the granddaughter wanted her old quilt. It meant a lot to her. A new quilt would just not do.
I was asked to help repair it. My first thought was that it was so far beyond help and there was nothing that could be done with it.
All of it was worn and tattered, including the binding. The back and the borders weren’t too bad. They were just worn and faded.
The quilt had fifteen log cabin blocks. I decided to make a new center and sew it on top of the old quilt. This is the old block
This is the new block.
It was fun finding fabrics that looked like the old ones. They are similar and look as bright as the old ones would have been when the quilt was new.
The batting had to be patched in places. I cut off the old binding and added new to match the center of the quilt. Many hours later, the quilt is finished.
This quilt was worth saving. The granddaughter will cherish the quilt that her grandmother made.
It is so good to finish a project. Even part of a project. Eight of the community quits are finished. The labels are on. They are ready to go out into the community.
There are two remaining in this batch of ufos to finish. They need quilting and binding. All these quits were made from leftover blocks and other partially made projects. The bin of leftovers is still just as full as when I began. More quilts from that are for another day.
There was a stack of craft boxes under the sewing table. They have been under there for a longtime.
This is my next project. I will take each box and finish what is inside. As I finish the project, I’ll put another ufo into the box and put it on the bottom of the pile. That way, all the ufos will eventually be finished in an organized manner.
Box #1 was empty. This year’s SAHRR is in the box now. I had finished three rounds when I had to stop sewing for a while. All the remaining rows are planned, and it will be finished when that box comes to the top again.
Box #2 is full of rolled stabilizers. I do have a drawer of stabilizers that is full. Some day when I have a little time, I’ll organize the drawer, add what is in the box and then put another ufo into the box to finish.
Box #3 was full of scraps of leftover Kaffee Facett fabric. I cut all the pieces into 4 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ pieces and made a potato chip quilt. Lea Louise has the pattern for the potato chip quilt. It is the easiest and fastest quilt to make. All the pieces are the same size and there is no seam matching.
Every last scrap was used. I’m going to quilt it with variegated thread. Most of the colors in the quilt are in this thread. The thread is in the bobbin.
The quilt is so busy, the quilting won’t show. I’m going to free motion quilt it upside down with a piece of fabric that I purchased from Connecting Threads
I’ll just follow the lines. I don’t have to wonder where I’ll go next. I’ll have to find another ufo to go into box #3.
Box #4 is a Cynthia English paper pieced project. Some of the pieces are very small. It takes a lot of concentration when working on this one. I’ll work on fifteen-minute increments to finish it. This ufo is over twenty years old.
Box #5 was a surprise. I had forgotten that I won a drawing of bird house blocks at the Maine Guild. The box is full of bird house blocks and thread painted birds. That will be fun when that box comes to the top.
It was good to step back for a while and not be able to sew. I found so many unfinished projects. I was able to organize drawers, bins and boxes. Of course, looking at the fabric, I have many new quilts planned in my head. I found rulers that I had to have and have never used.
The Illusion quilt has come back from the longarm quilter. This is a Missouri Star Quilt Company pattern. Jennie has a great YouTube video to show how to make it. It may look difficult to make but is actually very easy.
It’s been a long time since I posted. Actually, it’s been a long time since I went into the sewing room to sew, so there was nothing to post. In January and early February, I had cataract surgery for both eyes. It should have been simple, in and out and back to sewing, but I will still need glasses due to a problem. I’ve had to wait until the swelling went down and the eyes were completely healed to be fitted for the glasses. In the meantime, my vision is blurry. I have not been able to drive so have had to rely on my good friends and my family to take me where I wanted to go. The computer is difficult to see. Lots of other little annoyances. My magnifying glass was the best thing for reading and checking email on the phone. I am going this week to order the glasses and things will be back to normal by next week. I am so fortunate that this is just temporary
Dear Jane, the Hexagon Star and the SAHRR are all in a time out.
In the meantime, I found things to do that didn’t require good vision. My scraps are organized. Most all the boxes in the sewing room have been checked. I’ve found fabric that I forgot I had, patterns that I had to have and never made, even a Studio 180 ruler still in the plastic cover. I have more ideas in my head,
I fuse basted several quilt tops, Then I decided to quilt one, I chose to quilt in a wavy line. The stitch length was lengthened, and the width was narrowed. I could see the little red mark in the middle of the presser Foor and the corners of the blocks. I sewed and aimed the red mark towards the corners. Sometimes the stitching line hit the corner and sometimes it went to one side or the other. It was close enough to look like I planned it that way. I’ll sew the binding on when I can see to make it properly.
Last week I got a little bolder. I found a pattern that was an Irish Chain and Stars. Mr. Seam ripper and I became good friends, but I finished the top. I could line up the first and last stitches, but sometimes the sides didn’t line up.
Finished is better than perfect.
I was able to sew three rounds of the SAHRR before I had to put it away, The clues are all published so I know what want to do when I can go back to sewing it. Several of the quilt tops that I basted were SAHRRs from previous years.
The Illusion quilt top is finished. The sewing was very easy. It took longer than expected as there were 36 blocks.
Half square triangles were sewn into pinwheels.
After pressing, the blocks were cut two inches from the center seam on all four sides.
The pieces were rearranged as in the bottom block and sewn to make the top right block.
The finished block looks nothing like the pinwheel.
The blocks are twisted and turned to complete the quilt top. The outside border was supposed to be a solid piece of fabric, but I used scraps for this quilt, and didn’t have the yardage. I had enough scraps to make a rail fence border.
The pattern is from a YouTube video from Missouri Star Quilt Company. On the YouTube video, Jennie used a layer cake with many colors. Her quilt was beautiful. If I was to make it again, I would not use the pastel colors and would only use the darker shades.
The 2025 SAHRR (Stay At Home Round Robin) has started. I have chosen the center block. There are a lot or orphan block in the bin. It came down to two basket blocks and I chose the pastel block. For some reason, it is already hand quilted. I’ll have to work around that. The first row is a block that starts with the first letter of your first name. Fortunately, there are a lot of blocks that start with B. I have a plan in mind and will start it today.
While looking in the orphan bin I found several unfinished projects that I didn’t sew and really don’t like. I don’t know where they came from. I’ve given myself permission to put then into the mile a minute basket or disposed of them in another way. The original sewed probably didn’t like them either,
The year is coming to a close. I didn’t complete what I had planned to do, but I’m happy with what I did. I’m fortunate to be back to quilting even though it’s slow going. My goal (not a resolution) for this year is to complete as many ufos as I can and start a few new ones.
I’ve finished a quilt that I started in a class with Kimberly Einmo in Vermont several years ago. It kept coming to the top of the pile so I thought that I should finish it. After it was quilted, I liked it much better. It is going to one of my daughters.
The Marble Mystery Quilt is up to date. New instructions should come soon. This month was easy. Just some cutting and a few combining of pieces already made.
The large nine blocks were cut on quarters. This is a great technique for four corners.
Flying geese were added to squares.
One of my granddaughters favorite color is blue so she will get this quilt. It’s much more enjoyable to make a quilt when you know that it already has a home.
The Illusion quilt is coming along also. The 36 ten-inch squares have been cut and matched with the background fabric.
After sewing around all four sides, the squares were cut on the diagonal.
After all of the half square triangles were sewn, they were made into a pinwheel
There is a lot more cutting, sewing and pressing. It looked so easy and fast on YouTube. Of course, Jennie Doane only made one block. All the other bolcis were made off Camera. Making these two quilts will be my day job. My night job is appliqueing the Hexagon star onto the background. Dear Jane is in a time out for a while until I can finish the Hexagon Star.
Does it matter if deadlines are met? Especially self-made deadlines. I have finished only one of my self-made deadlines since September and the world is still turning. The last three deadlines for the Dear Jane quilt have not been made, but some progress has been made and there is hope for her. Eventually Jane will be finished. The Hexagon Star has been sitting in a basket for a month. No sewing at all so it has no deadlines.
My only deadline that was made was to finish all the small pieces that I wanted for the community craft fair. Everything is organized and ready to go. The fair will be tomorrow, Then I will be able to get back to quilting Jane and the Hexagon Star.
I missed the deadline for the Marble Mystery block of the month. I did finish it early in November just before the November instructions came out. I like my colors. This month we’re making square in a square. It will be first on my to-do list so I will meet the deadline.
Last month, I went to the Clueless Quilters quilt show in Stetson, Maine. It was an awesome show. I belong to the guild although I don’t live in Maine anymore. Some of my quilts were in the show. The show is held in the Stetson Meeting house.
View from the balcony.
My daughter’s breast cancer quilt
View from the front
Small and miniature quilts
This row held three of my quilts. Miss Molly’s Bad Day was a memorial to her. Sadly, I lost my quality control inspector early this summer. She loved to inspect all my quilts.
Viewers Choice It is a one block wonder quilt.
The binding is sewn on two quilts. One was quilted by my longarm quilter, and the other was quilted by me. There are a lot more finished quilts to quilt. The question is do I quilt them or make a new top that is rolling around in my head. Deadlines do not apply.
I wasn’t going to start another quilt until I had finished a few ufos. But the name of this one intrigued me. It is the Marble mystery quilt. The instructions come once a month on the first Thursday, so I had most of the month to finish the parts that I needed to do.
The first month was choosing the fabrics. I had three piles out and auditioned them. This pile won.
The second month was cutting instructions. In the downloads are labels that tell which fabric, the size and number of pieces. I keep each set of cut fabric in a baggie.
The third month is sewing some of the pieces together. It’s easy when the fabric is already precut, marked and ready to sew.
This month called for sewing two different nine patches.
Four of the above colors and five of the below colors.
The instructions are excellent. The seam pressing is shown by arrows.
Also, this month we made 36 flying geese.
They were made four at a time so didn’t take long. I’m looking forward to the fourth month.
In the meantime, I’m working on the border triangles of Dear Jane. It is slow work as all the sewing is hand sewing at this point. The top row is almost finished.
There are three community quilts that are basted and ready to be quilted. This is taking longer than expected as I have a new, great sewing machine to quilt with. It does much more than my last machine and will be wonderful when I learn where the buttons are and how to use all the new features. Fortunately, there is a lady om Utube who explains the manual one step at a time. She is my new best friend.
I’ve decided to quilt a little at a time. That way, things will get done. My binding bin is now empty. All the quilted quilts are bound and ready for new homes. I have several community quilt tops sewn and ready to quilt. They are paired with batting. The backing is waiting to be added and after quilting, the binding box will fill up again.
finally, the Hexagon Star is ready to applique on the background. This has been a long, long project. The background is white, not pink. There are a few gray hexagons that still need to be sewn in. I’ll do that when I get to that spot.
Dear Jane has come out to be hand quilted. Most of the border triangles are pieced or cut. The four corners a and a few appliqued triangles are left to finish. I had to decide how I was going to finish the triangles. Should I just piece them together or sew them as a potholder quilt. It’s logical to use the potholder method as I did in the center of the quilt. This is another long, long project. But, with a little at a time, it will get done.
The four patches became sixteen patches.
Four sixteen patches sewn together.
Finished top waiting for a border.
There are a few squares left in the box. Eventually they will be placemats.
I didn’t intend to make another new top, but the Marble Mystery quilt instructions came out. The first month was choosing the fabrics. The second month was cutting and labeling the pieces. All the fabric is cut and labeled, except the background. I have until the end of the month to do that. That makes a nice beak from sewing. The quilt will be finished a little bit at a time.
I’m on vacation for a few days. The state of Maine is beautiful.
Before I left New Hampshire, I pulled all the 2 1/2″ squares out of the box that I found on the shelf. The box was full of different size squares that I had cut after watching a video on organizing scraps. It was a good thought if I had the box at hand and really used them.
After making two patches out of the 2 1/2″ squares, and pressing them, I made four patches.
When I pressed the four patches, I swirled the seams so that they would nest when I made eight patches. The plan is to continue in this manner until the piece is large enough for a community quilt. Two eight patches will make a sixteen patch and so on. I’m not sure how many quilts this pile of four patches will make. I’ll just keep sewing until they are all gone.
I’m at the home of one of my daughters. She started making hexagon quilts one year ago and has a unique way of storing her fabric.
Each piece is wrapped around a hanging file folder and hung in a filing cabinet. You can see all the fabric at a glance.
I brought the Hexagon star with me to work on in the evenings. I may have the star finished before I go home. I can only hope.
If you want a quick and easy quilt, make the potato chip block from Lea Louise. There are a few cuts. No matching seams and it’s a stash breaker.
My top was finished in a few part time sit downs at the sewing machine.
You can make any size. Choose the size of your center square. I wanted mine to finish at 4″ so I cut the center squares 4 1/2″. The rectangles are cut 1/2 the size of the finished square plus the seam allowances. My rectangles were cut 2 1/2″ x 4 1/2″
You need one center block and 16 rectangles for each block. Sew a rectangle to the top and bottom of the square.
Now, sew six pairs of rectangles, end to end. Sew the remaining two rectangles to two pairs to make three attached rectangles.
Add two rectangles to the sides of the block.
Add two rectangles to the top of the block.
Add the remaining three rectangles to the sides of the block.
If you choose to not use a sashing, every other block is twisted so that a three-rectangle side meets a two-rectangle side. I decided to put a small sashing between the blocks. There were enough rectangles left to make an outer border. I’ll bind it in black for a finish.
It’s a very busy quilt. I was thinking of making another one with different color rounds. It would tame it down. Thanks to Lea Lousie for her pattern. A Potato Chip – You can’t eat just one.
Miss Molly quilts 