{Post #88} Quilt Center Finished for Latest Surprise

I made my outer border 5" unfinished instead of 2-1/2" like the pattern suggested, so my quilt top is a teensy bit bigger than the original, finishing at 77" square.  Here is it.  Hope to start quilting soon:

{Post #87} Webbing the Top

I had a bunch of questions about webbing a quilt top.  It is one of the many things I learned from Bonnie Hunter at quiltville.com.  It is a means of picking up one's quilt pieces from the design wall or floor and having them in one stack. It keeps them from getting turned around or mixed up while sewing them together.  After the horizontal rows are sewn, they are attached to the next row down with a couple threads, making it even more difficult to mix them up.  Bonnie's page here explains it perfectly:

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/search?q=webbing

I have just two more rows to sew on the center of the quilt, then the cream and the outermost border.

I am also showing the design I intend to quilt in the sawtooth stars.  I have a sashing design picked out and will likely just meander in the star backgrounds.

{Post #86} Charming Stars Webbed

Got this top webbed this morning.  My dear husband has been ill all week (sinus/allergy stuff).  We've been off our usual game.  After the supreme busy-ness of last week, it's been kind of nice to slow down.  Trouble is, we have all but stopped.  I just now realized (at 2:10 PM) that I have not eaten one bite of food all day.  I had a cup of water!  <sigh>

Anyway, here's the Charming Stars quilt webbed.  What that means is that the seams in each row are sewn and the rows are webbed together.  

There will be a cream outer border, then a brown one to match the cornerstones.  I just hit upon a quilting idea for the sawtooth stars.  Look at my Pinterest board for machine quilting.  It's the design in the exquisite Caribbean blue stars.

{Post #85}

This AM, after a long break, I sewed a little (OK--a lot).  I was downstairs doing laundry all morning, so I sewed some, too.

I am making this quilt for my sister... http://www.modabakeshop.com/2010/10/charming-stars-quilt.html.

Here's my rendition.  All Thimbleberries for the colors, of course.  The cream is a Moda print I purchased from her years ago.  Hope she likes it.  When I pinned the pattern on Pinterest, she commented "I'll take one of these."  So I am making her one.

The picture shows a sawtooth star of a slightly smaller size that I'm working on from all shirts.  It's on my regular blog, www.shelbystitcher.blogspot.com.  

I have all the units pieced, just sewing the stars together now.  The charming stars blocks are 15" square.

{Post #84} Secret Sister Plans

I go to all lengths of creativity for my secret sister.  I don't know why I put out all kinds of effort for nice presentation, etc., but I do.

Here are two gifts I'm giving her tomorrow night at church (secretly, of course).

This subway Easter art was a freebie on the internet.  I had an 8" x 10" picture of it printed and framed it in a $2 white frame.

The mugs were a little over $1 each.  I marked them with Sharpie and will bake them tomorrow to make them permanent.  I plan to fill these with jelly beans and a small chocolate bunny each with a sign that says "Some bunny has been praying for you."  Corny, I know!

{Post #83} Materials for New Project

While in FL for the recent birth of my grandson (last week), I made two trips to A & E Pharmacy.  My friend, Ruth, told me about it.  <insert whispering voice> "It's not just a pharmacy!"  When you go in the store and turn left, you are in a well-stocked quilt shop.

I got this pattern and fabrics to make my dad a quilt for his birthday/Christmas (they're only 4 days apart).  The fish fly fabric caught my eye, then I saw the green one with hooks to use for borders and binding.  Ironically, the store had hundreds of bolts of fabrics.  The green is one of only 3 bolts of Thimbleberries there.  Figures!

The quilt pattern is so simple that I hesitated to buy a pattern.  But it does save from recalculating the sizes of the HSTs, borders, etc.  It looks like it will be quick!  I don't have the pattern in front of me, but it's a generous twin-sized pattern, 68" x 90-some.

Skip on over to my regular blog (www.shelbystitcher.blogspot.com) to see the rest of my purchases.

{Post #82} Scrappy String Selvage Spiderweb Quilt Finished

Just got this out of the dryer.  It has a label and everything!!  This is for my eldest daughter, Elisabeth, up in the frozen tundra of Wisconsin.  It measures about 80" square.