Kaleidoscopes and Mitered Corners

Quilts Revisited ~ So, I've realized that in my quilty blog, there are a ton of projects I've forgotten to blog about. Hence, I'll be posting occasionally in my "Quilts Revisited" series -- projects I'm revisiting because I didn't give them their moment on the blog when I finished them.

Many moons ago, I made a bunch of beautiful kaleidoscope blocks, some of which went into a finished quilt in 2013. The "extra" kaleidoscope blocks just sat waiting for something to do. 

Almost three years ago, the opportunity came to make those extra kaleidoscopes into something new.

I also tried some mitered-corner blocks around the same time, and I brainstormed whether I could use the kaleidoscopes and mitered-corners together ...

After giving it some thought, I decided to put the two together into a reversible quilt. 

Because, after all, I've got so many projects in my head, and it seems like there's not time to make them all!

 And, why have a boring quilt-back if you don't have to? Am I right? I tried a little custom quilting in the borders, which is always fun.

The rest is just my favorite random-meandering free-motion quilting, done on my domestic sewing machine. 

The quilt became a gift to bring a little warmth and cheer to a friend who's had a tough couple of years with health problems and hospitalizations. I guess if I could send a hug through the mail, it would look a lot like a quilt!

Quilts Revisited: The Vintage Dresden Plate Quilt

So, I've realized that in my quilty blog, there are a ton of projects I've forgotten to blog about. Hence, I'll be posting occasionally in my "Quilts Revisited" series -- projects I'm revisiting because I didn't give them their moment on the blog when I finished them.

My great-great-grandmother's Dresden Plate quilt. I blogged about this quilt only a couple of times ... I was working on it in 2016 and blogged about it here, then briefly here in 2017. Then, here in 2018, I started to write about how I had finished it up in 2017. 

Anyway, I never posted the finished pictures, so here they are. Behold, my great-great-grandmother's hand-pieced Dresden Plate quilt!

My great-great-grandmother, Minnie Belle Causbie Foreman, died before I was born. But she was known to be a wonderful quilter, and my mom inherited some of her finished quilts and some of her quilt tops.

A few years ago (ahem, 2013, but who's counting?), my mom sent me the four quilt tops she had inherited that needed to be quilted. We decided that machine-quilting would be the best thing, and my mom trusted me to do the quilting. Even though these vintage quilt tops were hand-pieced, none of us was ever going to hand-quilt them. 

To begin with, I added an outer border since the quilt had none. For the border, I didn't find an exact match to the sashing color, but I decided to go a shade darker, and the effect is nice. I quilted each Dresden and all the sashings and borders with a swirly design that sort of echoes the swirly fabric I chose for the backing. 

 

I do all of my quilting on a regular domestic sewing machine. As I've gotten more practice over the years, I enjoy the free-motion quilting process more and more. 

After all my procrastinating on this one, the quilting went remarkably smoothly. I'm sure it helps that I'd practiced this quilting design on a couple of smaller projects first.

I really LOVE the vibrant colors in this quilt. Such variety!

In a way, it feels a little like I got to collaborate on a project with my great-great-grandmother, which is pretty awesome. She and I didn't get to meet each other, but I got to finish her quilt. How awesome is that?!

I quilted some wording into the border of the quilt, along with the dates my great-great grandmother lived ... it says, "Hand-pieced by Minnie Belle Causbie Foreman, 1871-1972."

My mom has been enjoying the quilt. I'm so glad that, after all these years, she gets to enjoy using this beautiful quilt top she inherited, since it's finished now.

Cross Stitch Update

Welcome to my blog! I like to talk about my projects ... partly as a record of what I've been working on, and partly to inspire and help others who have similar interests. 

I'm still cross-stitching. Last year, I picked up my cross-stitching, after it had sat in a box for many years. 

I have two big projects in progress ... I started both of them about two decades ago. Right now, I'm focusing on this one: It's called Village Alphabet. I've finished six of the alphabet letters, and I'm working on the seventh one.

My preference for stitching the actual Xs is a more blunt needle, although when I'm backstitching as the final step, I find a sharper needle to be helpful. 

I'll be posting cross-stitch pictures periodically as time goes on. I'm hoping that maybe this is my year to finish this one. Let's see ... if I could finish a letter every two weeks, that would do it; I just need to see how realistic that time frame would be. 

Happy sewing!

Still Quilting ...

It's been a while since I've blogged much, but I've always got projects in the works! 

Every now and then, I realize that I should start a blog series on the topic of "Quilts I Forgot to Blog About!" Or, better yet, "Projects I Forgot to Blog About," since there are plenty of not-quilty projects that are always happening. 

Anyway, just to get started, I thought I'd share some quick photos of my recent and current projects. (After all, where does one start to blog again after an 18-month break?!) Pictures are important to a blog post, so here are a bunch. Any of these may turn up in a longer post soon, but this will be a good way to get back to it. 

In no particular order, here are some quick looks at things I've been doing in the past few months.

Quilts remain a perennial favorite. Each of these projects was special and fun, and I finished all of them in the past year. (Two of them were started long ago, and two were started and finished in just a few months.) I'm hoping they'll each become a blog post soon, but for now, here are some sneak peeks:

 

 

Crochet projects have kept me busy. There's a crochet group at my church, and we always have several charity projects going. Here are a few of the things I've worked on during the past few months ... a few baby items and lap-sized afghans. It's a great way to put my yarn to good use!

 

 

As always, there are plants ... some early spring flowers, a few vegetables, tiny succulents in pots, and some summer blooms.

 

 

 

 

In other news, I usually have some knitting going, and now and then, I remember that I started a massive cross-stitch project two decades ago ...

 

So, that gives you a quick glance at the crafty, quilty stuff I've been up to. As I said, I'm hoping to update the blog more often than I have lately.

A little quilt-y keychain

Every now and then, I realize I could use a little more quilt-i-ness in my life. (Haha! But, seriously!)

I like to keep a little latchable something on my keys (so I can attach them to my purse and not lose my mind), and the plain loop thing I had on my key ring got worn out. The keys go on the ring end, of course, and it's long enough that I can clip it to the ring on my purse, but still tuck the mess of keys into the pocket of my purse.

So, quilty scraps got made into this! I made a quilt-y "tube" out of scraps, and added the the nylon webbing-strap through the "tube" (the full length of it, folding it around the key ring on one end, and around the clasp-thing on the other end). The ends of the nylon strap got tucked back into the "tube", and the ends got stitched securely.

 

This is the first time I've made something like this, and I had my doubts about how durable it would be. But it's lasted over a year now, and it's still going strong. It's a fun use for the funny little purse-clasp and nylon strap that I saved from some other random thing.

(Honestly, though, I wasn't too concerned: if I had to make another one, it's not like I've got a shortage of materials!)

Pink Crochet Afghan

Crochet has definitely been a thing this year. Earlier this year, I made this little pink-and-neutrals afghan.
Here are a couple of pics...

I enjoyed making this little afghan ... super-easy pattern, consisting of all double crochet stitches.

In fact, I liked making it so much, I decided to make another one later in the year in different colors!

This pattern (and other color pics) can be seen on Pinterest here: (this pin, this pin, and also this one), as well as at this link. 

Of course, I made the stripes lengthwise so I could just leave all the yarn ends as fringe (not pictured), starting each row with a new length of yarn, and trimming all the fringe to about 6 inches.