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Sunday, July 08, 2018

A “Small Quilt” Quick Fix!

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Let’s face it – after spending 10 hours at the dining room table, it is time to say “Enough is enough for today!” and do something else.

If for nothing more than to get my eyes off of the computer screen and give them a break.  And standing while doing it is even better after sitting all day.

My rule is “Done By Dinner.”  As far as order fulfillment goes, though I will admit to working past 10pm on Friday just to play catch up.  We are getting there!

Last evening however – this begged to be loaded into the machine.

And that was all I was intending to do – just load it.

Yeah right.

Just run one row of quilting stitches across the top to see how I like it.

And then…

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Before I knew it I was reaching the bottom!

This cute little quilt measures 26’’ square.  And yet it packs a big-quilt-worth of happiness!  The loading and quilting took approximately 1 hour.

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See this white with red flowers?

When I get married in August of 1981, we were informed by October that my in-laws would be coming to our little apartment for Christmas dinner.  Oh, boy!

I had never cooked a turkey – but I guess I could practice on Thanksgiving and see how it came out!

And I set to work to decorate our little place for our first holiday dinner. 

We lived in Prosser, Washington at the time – and the closest “House of Fabrics” was in the tri-cities, quite a drive away.

My plan was to make a table cloth, cloth napkins, and make a stuffed coordinating Christmas tree complete with ball fringe as centerpiece.

I didn’t know much about buying different prints and including different scales of things – so I bought the SAME PRINT in 3 different color-ways.  Red on white, white on red, and white on green.

I think I lost my desire for matchy matchy at that point and from that holiday on I could no longer stand to have the same print in different color-ways in the same project.  EVER.  (Hence my avoidance of Jelly Roll quilts, etc.  Oh, I like all the fabrics just fine – just not all together due to the sameness.)

Those fabric scraps disappeared over the years, used up in various projects.  Eventually even the tablecloth was cut up and used in the neutral-background department and there is very little of it left.  What remains is ONLY in the string bin, and what you see here may be close to the very last piece.

Don’t you love how fabric scraps tell the story?

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The backing fabric too!

Top of the line “MARCUS” in its day.

And now it is GONE!  (Doing the hallelujah dance!)

The batting was just a scrap I had that was already big enough.  Hobbs heirloom 100% cotton.  I didn’t want anything with too much loft.

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Quilted with Signature 60 wt 3 ply in Antique White!

Quilted with an edge to edge design called Je t’aime by Patricia Ritter of Urban Elementz

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Some other 1980-ness crept in as well!

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Ready for binding – after dinner tonight!

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Because no hand stitching can happen with this.

Emmy Lou Lou was begging for attention.

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Uh yeah, that’s my hexies you are laying on!!

July 08, 2018 at 07_25AM

Quiltville Quote of the Day!

1960s Wild Goose Chase quilt shared by Kevin the Quilter!

Words spoken can not only hurt others, but also hurt YOU. Guard your tongue!

Have a lovely Sunday, folks!





14 comments:

  1. Oh sounds so familiar I’ll just do this corner painting the other night and 3 hrs later cleaning the brushes at 11:30. Love the small diamond tile wall hanging.

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  2. Our fur critters are so demanding sometimes. My golden retriever is out of sorts because hubby is gone for the weekend so she is bored!!

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  3. I am doing a leaders and enders project so each little 2-1/2" square reminds me of a quilts done previously.
    I'm not too keen on the same print with different colorways either. I too have learned a lot over the years and how to use (and how not to use) large scale prints.
    I follow one blogger that is making a quilt from current and retro Kaffe Fassett fabric. At first, I was not sold on buying up lines of fabric but now I am. I can see how it could be worth the investment. (Exuberant Color is the blog).
    While I doubt I would make a jelly roll quilt from start to finish, I did finish one I found in thrift. The quilter had sewn the strips into one long continuous (had to have been from a jelly roll race) and I just cut the strips and assembled them into a top. Bam, done.

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  4. Love your story of In-laws first Christmas dinner. Your memories are so cute. Mercy--1980 fabric. I have some of that same fabric. Have a super Sunday, Bonnie.

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  5. A scrap quilter's fabric stash is good to the last bit. LOVE your sweet little quilt!!! My friend just finished her larger version of your pattern a couple of weeks ago. Beautiful, Bonnie!!

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  6. I just love your diamond tile small quilt! It is amazing how a piece of fabric can take us down memory lane. I am working on my Hawk’s Nest and Talking Turkey from your Napa workshop. I won a large cake carrier of RED fat quarters at the raffle this year!!!! 67 fat quarters total. See you in San Luis Obispo next year!

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  7. Bonnie. You're amazing since I can't remember where some of my scraps are from. Isn't that first dinner with the in-laws challenging? Love the animals when they want to get your attention. That quote is a good one. Thanks Bonnie for everything.

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  8. Your blog just.... well, makes me laugh, ponder, question and basically just gives me joy!! And speaking of quilts, the other day you showed a sampler quilt made out of Halloween fabrics... sample patters from Tula Pink... well, guess who has that book in her 'book stash'!! I don't just have a fabric
    stash here! lol And, I also now have my first blk made out of this sample
    book all because I had to see the quilt you showed on your blog and I want one of my own now!! I have had this book since it first came out but it did not call to me until the other day - proof that you are my source of insperation
    for getting my creativy going. And that is also shown in how many of your patterns I have on the go, and others I am making up kits for. Right now, my
    L/E project is 'Spoolin' Around' on pg. 54 from your book "More Adventures
    with Leaders and Enders'. These little blks are so cute, easy to make and just plain fun. My goal, eash spool I want made is out of it's own fabric. Backgrounds can be the same, but the spool itself, I would like them all to be one of a kind in the quilt. And yes, I have made twins and even triplets of some fabrics!!! But we all have over 600 different fabrics in our stashes, why not make a blk out of each one them and show off your stash in a fun quilt??? Am so glad you are making Quiltville. LOVE this idea; that brings me joy as
    well. You take care of yourself Bonnie. We all love you.

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  9. That floral print on beige looks like a Cos Cob shirtwaist dress I had in the 60's.

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  10. I totally agree with you about the matchy-matchy prints in jelly-rolls and all the other pre-cuts. I’m not a fan of them either. I made one small quilt top using a charm square pack and decided to never do it again!

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  11. I love your tiny quilt. It's so cute! I remember making Thanksgiving dinner the first time for my inlaws, my FIL was so happy when he found out i could cook. He was worried! Lol

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  13. I still have some of that black and yellow/gold fabric in the top right block that I got who knows where for who knows what!


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  14. Glad Emmy Lou got her due. My eight rescued kitties always get the first hour of my day for feeding and necessary tending to litter boxes. After that it's combing and petting as needed. Spent the weekend drying catnip so they can have a treat when the winter winds blow. Blessings and I love the quilt!

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