What's coming together on my wall

I sewed this star in a black mood the other day and it was just hanging on my design wall. Then I started making letters for another project, and a few muted 9 patches and stars for the background. But it needed something else.

I like the red as a border, not so sure about the black and red star. Maybe a star with a neutral background and red points? I'll be filling in the rest of the background with patches and stars. I like the black and white border. I think this is the fourth quilt I've used this fabric for and I'm wishing I had bought more.

Sewing a machine

I've been thinking about Tonya and Bonnie's fungy challenge for this summer, but I couldn't quite make myself spend hours with uglies, so I tried something else instead.

I saw a paper-pieced sewing machine in a book Joyce posted about. I'm not good at paper-piecing (sewing on lines from the wrong side just seems --well wrong to me) so I decided to free piece one instead. Instead of a plain background, I pieced together some of those leftover two inch squares from Mom's stash, and had a little fun. Unfortunately, no one at my house could recognize this as a sewing machine without a little prompting. Maybe they haven't ever seen those old black Singers. And the spool of thread is hard to see.


So I cut into a yellow fat quarter I got for my birthday and this one looks like a sewing machine. I make it much the same size as the other one, so they could go together if I choose. Somehow, it's just too tame -- almost as symetrical and precise as (gasp!) paper piecing. I like the patchwork quilt though, and I made it a bit wider than the one above.

These blocks finish at 10 inches. I've put a border on the first one. I think I'll keep the chaotic one to represent my sewing room, and finish the yellow one as a gift for someone else's, with some words around as borders.

Life is a teary field trip

Sid was in tears when she opened up the quilt. She couldn't believe it and she cried when she read the words. I got lots of hugs and thanks for this one. This was certainly rewarding giving it to her. I know most quilters give away their quilts, and sometimes they aren't appreciated. I know this one will be. Read the previous post for more information.

Life is a field trip

Today is the last day of school, and I finished the quilt for the teacher with about 12 hours to spare. Here it is with my two sons, who each spent three years with this teacher (her name is Sid) in a multi-aged classroom, called Room 303. Since they overlapped by one year, our family had Sid as a teacher for five years. The son in the yellow is just crawling out of bed for his last day of elementary school. (In Canada, elementary school usually goes until the end of June. We start up again after Labour Day or the first weekend in September.)
I backed it with flannel, put a bamboo batting in it, and handquilted it on the diagonal through the darker squares and around the stars. I used cotton quilting thread for the borders and some of the stars, but most of it is quilted in big stitches with perle cotton and a big needle I broke several needles with it, after I learned from embroiderers one can't quilt with a chenille needle -- I was supposed to stab stitch, not load up multiple stitches. This is made up entirely of scraps, with those four patches in the nine patch blocks from the 2 inch square box, and the bigger patches from my mother's scrap pile. There's some very old prints here, but I was going for a muted effect with the nine patches, and it works. The stars are wonky a la Gwen Marston, and I used Tonya's letters for the top and bottom. In case you can't read it, it says "Life is a field trip" on the top and the bottom says "Sid, star of 303."


I think you can see some of the quilting in this picture. You can certainly see the busy little prints from the early 80s. Not my favourites, but they just blend together for the most part. I am wishing that I tea-dyed those white squares on the 9 patch on the right. Too late. This is a true scrap quilt, which is exactly what Sid has to do as a teacher every year. She takes a bunch of students who don't necessarily fit together, and by the end of the year, they're working together as a group. They're still individuals, but they've learned to respect and appreciate each other. Huge life lessons, and we're grateful we had a great elementary school teacher like her.
For those of you with eagle eyes, can you spot the Hoffman Painted Desert fabrics in here? They're all visible in the top picture of the whole quilt. There are three colourways of it (the light patches, in the words, and the border/binding fabric.) I really used a lot of old fabrics in this quilt.