Pay it Forward, and Another Swap ~

I'm back in the classroom getting ready for another "big first day" for second graders!
Oh, all right, the rest of the school classes are starting, too. Our start date is the traditional time,  September 5th,  after Labor Day. (Looking all around us, I think our school is the only one, lol!)

 Tonight, I'm doing the "computer work" for school, you know, newsletter, class lists, attendance charts, class roster, name tags, labels, ...this time of year finds me tired, wonder why? :-}

BUT, let me tell you about 2 things before I get back to the regularly scheduled programming ~

 

http://www.makingrebeccalynne.com/p/low-volume-swap.html

 Rebecca Lynne is hosting a charm square swap with those low toned prints that are pretty cool for backgrounds, or maybe your own version of "Sunday Morning Quilts" by sweet Amanda Jean. Look it over, and think about it. I'm in! Rebecca put out a call for a few more participants ~

I also signed on for a "pay it forward". Jan, the blogfriend I'm participating with, picked the first 3 responders. I will do the same. You must be willing to give me a year to complete the item(s), and you would have a year to do that for your friends you want to create for. That means if you are interested, I will be making gifts for three of my followers. If you want to be one of these three, you in turn must be willing to do the same on your blog.  

It is a kind deed, I love that!

edited to add:

PIF # 1 ~ Terry of Terry's Treasures

PIF # 2 ~ Linda of Linda's Lines and Loves

~next post, I hope to share the last of the comfort quilts for my friend Jeannette, the wife of the police officer killed in a traffic accident last year, September 2. The top is finished, it is made from Jesse's dress shirts~

 

"Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." I Corinthians 2:9

A Bright, Happy Friday to You!

 

This project was just completed, read about it on down~

Hi, from sunny, HOT California! I know, I am not the only one who has trouble with the HEAT! Enough on that, it's Friday! That means we'll be on our way to Beth and Jerry's for a dip in the pool tonight, oh, I'm looking forward to that. When we bought our home 4 years ago, we tried so hard to find one with a pool, but it wasn't meant to be. I love our house, and God knew what was best. When Beth and Jerry bought a place with a community pool, it was a blessing to us all. That has been a weekly activity for us this summer, and it is wOnDeRfuL ~

Okay, I wanted to show the little projects that have filled in the cracks between larger quilts (and swimming!). "Bright and Happy" is the theme behind them all~

~ chook friends chatting ~

 Raw edge applique, yep, I used Elmer's washable school glue again!


the washed and crinkly version

  




vintage sheet on the back, and straight line quilting

 

On other projects, this was a piece of striped fabric used for a guide. 

 While squaring up some hst's, there was a collection of 1/2" strips, too pretty to toss! 

     Here, they are sewn down with a zigzag stitch,

 

then a ripple stitch to secure the thin strips down.  

Afterwards, it is cut up to use in a few projects like Chook pincushions,

 "Has anyone seen my eye buttons?"

  and zipper bags (there are only the bag parts showing right now, lol!)

 a brood of hens-can you hear them clucking away?

Shake your tail feathers!

This little chook is for the girl who made the basket postcard for me ~

Some crocheted coasters I might have shown you before....

Long ago, really-last year! these flower blocks were made for the Block Lotto.

 

I redeemed the centers that were so tiny, but had enough to do this little pincushion, made to fit in this s-w-e-e-t ruler box from Temecula Quilt Company...I misplaced the box...I didn't have the walnut shells to fill the pincushion pillow...

 

but they finally all found each other this past week!
(Are there really pincushion fairies?) :-}

Have a great weekend, everyone!

 

"Delight thyself also in the LORD; 
and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart." Psalm 37:4

Nathanael's Jungle Quilt ~

 

 the backing piece: We couldn't find more than a half yard, 

but it was so sweet with the ladybugs scattered in among the jungle critters~

Yippee, another quilty finish! This is for little Nathanael, who was born in December 2011. Lydia and I collaborated a wall hanging for his room before he was born, and this was put on the back burner for me to find time to quilt. 
 
 I'm glad I waited, it seems I am rising to attempt other quilt stitches. Elaine recently posted a quilt that she did several styles of quilt lines, and the straight line block stitches really seemed to fit this one for a little boy.

I found this print at Fabric.com last year. It was so cute! I chopped up a panel, and blocked the large prints with lime green and water blue, with strips of the coordinating quilt block print.

 


 I knew I wanted a striped binding, but couldn't decide, so, these are the 4 prints used! It worked out to use the one brighter stripe on each of the four sides ~FUN ~  

 This was my first time to use Flourishing Palm's tutorial on binding with machine sewn corners. Larry printed it out....
 




...and it worked perfectly, Linda! I decided since I had a multiple-pieced border, I wanted to avoid getting a seam in the mitered corners. For a first attempt at this way of doing a binding, I'd give it 2 thumbs up.

 A pieced backing on a quilt is a neat way to add interest to the back, as well as use up other pieces from the front. I like when it has the quilt label worked into the backing.



Leftover blocks from the front panel I chopped up. Jerry called this a "pokey-pieced" backing, I told him that really lots of us like to do this!

                    p.s. Happy Birthday, Lydia!

 "And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye,
always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:" II Corinthians 9:8

Nancy's Batik, and My Grannies' Measurements ~

 Here is Nancy's Batik quilt!

 
 The binding is finished and it's returning to her tonight.

 Nancy has been very patient with me, I've had her quilt on a back burner because of machine troubles.

She saw the free motion daisy quilting this past week and was happy,  so I was happy too ~

~the flowers actually run from top to bottom, not side to side~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  

 We chose this light blue damask print for the backing of the Great Granny quilt.

 It is a one way print, so I pinned to match the print, a pin every 3" or so...took a while , but we were watching the Olympics, so time passed...

 can you see the seam? Another happy moment, *vbg*

I'm sharing my "thumbnail" measurements for the Great Granny finish, for those of you who wanted them:

• Follow Lori Holt's directions to complete the 12 1/2" Great Granny blocks, make 20 blocks. 

• sashing between the 20 center granny blocks: 2 by 12 1/2" cut, 2" square cornerstones.

• sashing around center, framing the 20 blocks : 2 7/8" cut (almost 3")

• Pieced border construction: the leftover 2 1/2" color squares, sandwiched between 3 1/2" by 2 1/2" background rectangles. 24 color squares on sides, 19 color sq. on top/bottom. The border was trimmed to 4 1/4" afterward.
• 

• floating cornerstones: 3 1/4" center cut, 4 1/2" cut background squares, cut into hst's, trimmed down to 4 1/4 inch to fit the pieced border. 

• final border: cut 4" 
• finished top: 86 1/2" by 72 1/2"

 
Hope this helps, glad to share ~  

 

"For, lo, He that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is His thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is His name." Amos 4 : 13