Sunday, November 29, 2015

No Black-Friday Shopping for Me!

The last few days have been very cold!  I have been hiding out in my sewing room... where else would I be???

There was no "Black Friday" shopping for me!  Only some cold weather sewing! Before the frigid temps set in on Thursday I was able to happily deliver two quilts.


While helping our youngest daughter shop for a new car a few weeks ago, my biggest fan and husband, Dave noticed that the finance manager was a Bronco fan.  Dave commented on the collection of memorabilia in his office.  We showed him a few pictures of other Bronco quilts that I had sold.  He instantly stated that he was absolutely interested in purchasing a quilt!  SOLD!  

  This "Magic of Oz" quilt was a fun and quick quilt for a friend.  She had given me the pre-printed fabric panels and a pattern. She wanted it just a bit bigger so I modified the pattern, changed up the pieced blocks and used a "disappearing nine-patch" block rather than the spiraling pieced blocks that the pattern called for.  For the quilting I did an all over "brick" grid layout.  I am sure my friend's grand-child will love it when they receive it.  


Mid-week the weather was beautiful!  And then the temps then plummeted.  I hid out in my sewing room on Friday... no Black Friday shopping for me!

I quickly worked up this Chicago quilt... It will be a perfect gift for the fan of all professional Chicago sports teams!


So... I guess in a way I did do a little black-Friday shopping... Just without fighting the crowds in the stores. :)

I hope that your Thanksgiving holiday was blessed with time well spent with loved ones and that your coming Advent season is filled with the love of the One Who First Loved You.

God Bless!

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

The Broken Star... DONE!!!

Last week I celebrated... The Broken Star Quilt that has been hanging around for 30 years is complete!

This project all got started here... Kits are supposed to be helpful.

It progressed here... How to fix a broken star  ... and here... A good challenge  (I mentioned how I hoped that there were no missing pieces... Much the opposite.  Instead there were two extra diamonds!)

... and here... Ups and downs

In all of its imperfection, this quilt is as perfect as I could have ever hoped it would be...


There were 1,152 pieces... every seam was stitched over for the quilting.  In my research most of the broken star quilts had 1/4 inch quilting or stitch-in-the ditch.  Since the majority of the points and seams were a tad off I chose to do wavy stitching over every seam.  

I am fairly confident that my customer is happy with the finished quilt... and that she no longer has to have it tucked away in a closet.  As much of a challenge as this project was to me, I feel I have learned a great deal. 

Sometimes you want perfection, but the best you can hope for is some sort of perfect imperfection. It is still a beautiful quilt despite the problems that I faced... come to think of it this quilt is much like life.  

Cherish life!