What did you do before you started quilting?

I just had a blast from the past.  My grandson has to donate a few items  for the Children's Christmas Fair at school where each of the kids get to go shopping for their own family members.  It is preferable to have homemade items for the kids to buy.  So.....I went digging in the recesses of my basement for the boxes that contained the "hobby" I had before quilting.  It was tole painting.  I pulled a few ornaments that I had painted (just a few items amongst the enormous amount of stuff) for an open house that I had back in .....oh gosh...hate to admit this...'93 or '94.  These are the items I picked out for grandson #1. 

I have probably about 8 or 9 of the blue "quilted" santa, three of the checkerboard Santa and 5 or 6 of the angels. 

Over the years, I have dabbled in several "hobbies".....knitting, crocheting, macrame, counted cross stitch, embroidery,  ceramics, but tole painting was a big one.  I had all the bells and whistles for it and to this day I am having a hard time getting rid of some of those things.  Obviously, I can't seem to get rid of the pieces that I painted either AND and have a whole load of raw wood that still needs painting, but probaby won't ever get painted. 

Same goes with my quilting.  Another BIG hobby, but I can see quilting lasting a whole lot longer. 

Looking at my Santas made me think just how much quilting was in my blood for a very long time....even before I thought of quilting.....especially when you look at the quilted Santa.

It was fun looking through those boxes.  If I don't touch them for another year or two, I can see going through them again when Grandson #2 comes along and has to bring items to school.  I will most likely gladly do it for the kids.  

Anyways, I was just wondering.....what did you do before you started quilting? 

#14 is done

Cherry Tree block, that is. 

Just thought about this.  #13 was the "hump" block (like Wednesday is hump day of the week).  #14 means we are on the downslope.  Only 11 more to go.  OMG!  That's another year.  I sure hope I can hold out. 

This one is for my friends....

....who say that I will be putting the binding on my daughters wedding quilt at the reception.  The wedding is in June and until tonight, I hadn't started the quilt.  So, here is the first block.

I had taken my time deciding on what pattern to use (wanted that perfect one) and finally chose Jack's chain from Quilter's Cache.  http://www.quilterscache.com/J/JacksChainBlock.html

My daughter hasn't been a great deal of help.  I thought she was contemporary, but she has chosen pink and brown civil war type fabrics ( I am also throwing in a few greens for interest).  Now that's NOT contemporary.  She likes the double wedding ring, but all those curves scared me ....or at least enough not to attempt a queen-sized quilt at this time.  Everything I showed her, I didn't get the most positive response, but when I saw Jack's Chain, I thought it was similar to a double wedding ring, but hopefully easier.  Well.....I had a heck of a time getting this block done.  There are a lot of y-seams AND the block was super wavy when I had it completed, so I ended up taking in a smidgeon on several of the triangles' seams.  It lies pretty flat now, but I sure hope that I am not going to have to do that for ALL the blocks.

Anyways, to make things a little easier, I am using Fons and Porters hexagon ruler and am using the largest measurement (outside edge) for the center of the block. 

Then once I have my fabric pieces cut out in the hexagon shape, I made a plastic template of this ruler with little holes (made by using my 1/8" hole punch) at the 1/4" intersections so that I can lay this onto the hexagon and just use a pencil to mark the points were I have to start and stop my stitching (the lovely y-seam). 

So, this block consists of a hexagon, six 9-patches and six triangles.  Now...would you think that I have a perfect triangle ruler?  No!!!  So, I have cut out a template for that, too. 

I wish I could figure out how to draw up this block on my EQ, so that I would know how many blocks I am going to need.  For now, I am just going to have to wing it. 

Wish me luck to have this quilt done WAY BEFORE the wedding.  I do want to have it done before the reception.  ;D



While I have had a few days free....

I mentioned that I finished Block #13 of the Cherry Trees a couple days prior to the next one being posted, so what have I been doing?  I have been trying to get a jump start on all those cherries that are in the border for this quilt.  So, I traced out a few 1" circles, cut them out with a seam allowance and have started doing the running stitch around them so that they can be drawn up into a perfect circle.

I just gathered up all  my reds and started tracing a few circles from each fabric.  I think there are close to 130 here and maybe just about half of them have the running stitch.  I was going to use my Perfect Circle templates to gather them on and press them, but there are only 4 - 1" templates and I am thinking that is going to take to much time, so I am thinking of ordering some paper templates from here....http://paperpieces.com/

My guess is that there are around 169 cherries needed for the border. I came up with that number by trying to count them from a very small picture of the full quilt, but it will be close enough.  I didn't want to be overwhelmed when it came down to making the borders and having to do 100s of cherries and 100s of leaves.   Ok...I am back to waiting for Block #14.

Lucky 13..... and a toy, too.

Finally, I am caught up with block #13 of the Cherry Trees BOM with three days to spare, too.  Of course, that is my own schedule.  I am trying to get each block done each month.  I did fall behind there for just a minute, but now I have time to breathe....even if it is only for three days. 

I am reconsidering using that really light green stripe leaf, but hey...it will get lost in the whole scheme of things eventually.  Right?

As much as I complained about all the little fingerlings in the last block, I really like this flower. 

...and here is block # 13 complete.

Now, to complete my week, my husband won this for me on Ebay.

Isn't it adorable?  It is a toy from the 20s or 30s.  I haven't really done any checking on it yet, but after seeing a fellow quilter/sewing machine collector's blog and seeing some of the beautiful machines out there, whether they be full-sized or toys, I just had to have this one. 

My husband has it all cleaned up already.  I just need to figure out how to thread it and give it a try. 

If you would like to see some other beautiful machines and some beautiful quilts that Lynne is working on, please go to her blog and check it out
http://treadlestreasures.blogspot.com/

Now I figure I can breathe a little easier  until block #14 is posted.

Happy quilting everyone!