Monday, April 11, 2011

Design Wall Monday 4-11-11

On the design wall today . . . 
I finally got back to the double bow tie yesterday afternoon.  I may have some issues with the border.  I prewashed my charm pack and the darn fabric shrank.  So, what should be 1 3/4" by 5" isn't. And, it didn't all shrink to the same degree. I think that has to do with whether it was cross width fabric or length of fabric.  So, I'm trying to decide if I have enough pieces left to make the borders bigger than 2 1/2" wide and make it all around the sides.  The directions say to sew the pieces together 






and then cut in half so you have two strips the width of the quilt top by 2 1/2" wide.  Clever and fast way to make pieced border but it isn't going to work this time.  Sigh.  I'm going to continue to make borders and hopefully I will have enough to go all around the quilt.  I may throw some of the back ground fabric into the borders also. 

I want to make the bee quilt not square.  So what do you think of this set up?  One set of borders will be cut at 2 1/2" while the other two will be cut at 4 1/2".  It would give a bit more length than width but wouldn't look totally weird.  I'll also have a fairly large hunk of fabric left to start a pieced backing.  While I was hunting around for some blues Friday I found several nice pieces that I didn't remember I had.  (Who remembers every piece until you see it and say, I remember getting this one!)




Go visit Judy's Patchwork Times to see what is on everyone else's design walls. 


 I also learned how to drive the ride on mower yesterday.  I thought I could help Pat with the lawn mowing efforts.  Of course, I need to get comfortable at a speed other than super slow.  As he said, I was going to use all the gas and get only 1/4 of the lawn done.  2 acres?  Whose bright idea was it to buy a house on 2 acres? 


Last Week's Goals 4/4/11
• Make 3 blocks for Guild Opportunity Quilt
• Print labels for guild members.. (I volunteered to do this…)
• Finish quilting baby quilt on Ruthie
• Sew double bow tie blocks together and start borders
• Put the last border on bumble bee quilt and decide if more borders are needed. Started but need to actually cut and sew! 
• Easter blocks – start design and make any extra blocks needed.
• Do something with chunky churn dashes.
• Organize recipe 3 ring binder and make divider pages. Let’s try this one again folks. 
Hum, I'm seeing a trend on these bottom three goals.  Maybe they should be off for next week. No need to keep saying I'll do it if I don't. 

Goals for 4/11/11
• Finish 2nd  border of double bow tie blocks.
• Make one of the Quilts for Kids kits.
• Easter blocks – start design and make any extra blocks needed.  (Ok, it’s a repeat.)
• Chunky Churn Dashes are still calling me…. Answer the call!
• Pick up more charity baby quilts and quilt one.
•Decide on backing for last mystery quilt…. Buy or put it together.
• Sew next border on bees quilt and figure out backing. 

Ok, off to get my day going. And, to wish my brother Larry a happy birthday. He's an elder, he remembers floppy disks and taught computers at UC Berkeley from the 70's until he retired a few years ago. Congratulations on another year.  

Happy Quilting. 

7 comments:

  1. One idea for lenghening your quilt: I have seen several quilts that have a secondary border just on the top and bottom and then the outside border around the whole quilt. It seems to work really well.
    I love the look of both of the quilts, and both so different.
    I am just learning to drive our new riding mower. It seemed much easier when I was younger but DH says that some of the problem is the safety features they have put on now makes it so much harder. (?)

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  2. You'll be a pro on the riding lawnmower in no time, and your speed will increase as you become more comfortable.

    Nothing wrong with adding some of the background fabric to the border. Go for it.

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  3. I hate running short of fabric at the end of a project, but it does force us to be creative. I know you will come up with a solution, probably while you are mowing the green acres!

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  4. I love both quilts, but the bow tie is great!! Is it a schnnible pattern?

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  5. I love the bowtie. Very cheery!

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  6. I like your idea on how to turn a square quilt into a rectangle by using different border widths...smart!

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  7. Your double bow tie is looking great! Good luck on the mower.

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