Monday, June 13, 2016

Design Wall and Sister Time

As many of you know, I am the ninth of twelve children - seven girls and five boys. For the past nine years, the girls have gotten together for an annual "Sisters' Weekend" and we've enjoyed every minute of it. We used to travel to southeast Ohio for our time together, but four years ago, the girls started coming to my house. I think it works well, and I know I love having them all here.
 
We miss that Mom is no longer alive to join the, but her spirit is alive and well with us, especially during our time together. Check out the bracelet Paula gave us.
 


 
 This is where Paula got them and they are perfect!
 
Speaking of Paula, here is a quilt that she worked on while here.  She bought this fabric a long time ago (at least five years ago), and it has been at my house since then. I can't tell you how tempting it has been to scoop it up and make something for myself, but I resisted. Paula finished this top, but I did not get a picture of that. She added a small dark border and it is gorgeous!
 

She pieced her backing in strips and it is fun. Of course I have the back side of the backing because we were starting to layer it for her but she changed her mind and began working on something else. She is in the process of making a disappearing nine patch variation but for some reason I don't have pictures of that either. :-(

 
Barb was very productive during our time together. Here is her finished version of Stretched. Love the colors!
 
 
 She made two Bubbly Bags and opted to not add the applique. These are adorable, even though the picture does not do them justice.

 
Barb also made a Mondo Bag using 5" Charm squares and a cell phone carrier. 

 
Pat and Barb made some Sweetpea Pods. These are adorable!
 
 
Here are the six they completed. 

 
And here's the pattern they used.

 
Kathie made a couple of microwave bowls and again, the picture certainly does not do them justice. She picked some fabulous fabric. 
 
 
Ann made some adorable fabric boxes using crib sheets so they matched the recipient's nursery. Great idea!

 
Pat just wanted to try this pattern, so she made one sample. 
 
And then she made a few more!  :-)


 
Pat also worked on a couple of quilts. Aren't these adorable?


 
She used the Quick Strippie pattern that Mary so graciously provides on her website. She has a fun blog that I follow and think you should check it out.
 
Aren't the fabrics Pat used so darn cute?!? Here's the baby version of the quilt.

 
 I love how the outside border fabric and binding look together.


Here is the larger version, which only includes one small dark brown border. This ended up being a really good size.


But what I think is perfect for this quilt and what I think makes it POP, is the flange binding with bias cut plaid. It is AWESOME!!
 
It even looks great from the back, where she used a light orange star fish fabric.  

 
I can't show you on what I spent a bunch of time working, but I can show you the fabrics. These are for the Christmas in July Blog Hop. 
 
 
The quilt top is made and I am working on the tutorial. Yippee!!
 
I did have a bunch of little triangles left over from the quilt, so I decided to make them into half square triangles. The are 1.75" unfinished and will finish 1.25." I think I'm crazy!

 
I have 154 of these cuties and have started to sew them together. I love bonus projects!

 
 
We don't all work just on sewing during our time together. This year Terri opted for what I think is the most challenging and daunting project of all - sorting old photos from Mom and Dad.  
 
 
What's on your design wall today?
 
Check out what other quilters have up today.
 
Go to Judy L's Patchwork Times
 
and
 

3 comments:

Ramona said...

How wonderful that you have made it a priority to get together with your sisters every year. And it sure looks like you have a productive, fun time. All of your projects are great!

Vroomans' Quilts said...

Love that you all get together and the bracelets are a nice gift.

3Dogbones said...

You ARE the best hostess ever! Thanks for letting us invade you wonderful home and for being such a gracious and patient teacher. I am having serious sister withdrawals an am already looking forward to next year!Love you!