Fall in Fabric

I had the bright idea to make some placemats using Fall colors. To be exact, I was going to duplicate the colors of candy corn. I was thrilled to have a few minutes to steal away in the sewing room, sew the strips together, and then cut the triangles. Everything was going so well that I figured there'd be a good chance that I could get a couple made before Monday and I would take them with me to Chestnut Ridge when I take my wallet class.

I was a happy girl until I went to the grocery store and bought some real candy corn. Do you see the error of my ways?

The yellow is at the bottom of the candy, not the orange!

I guess it was a good thing that I didn't sew this placemat together before I went to the store. 

I've made another strip set and cut some triangles. Oh it's so much better!

This placemat looks so much better.

 

I played around with the triangles and will decide later what combinations I want to sew. I also need to make anther strip set so I have enough triangles. 

I'm glad I bought the bag of candy before doing any more sewing. :-)

These are quick and easy placemats and I know the grand kids will enjoy them.

Design Wall Monday

It's been a couple of weeks since I've posted, but I've been busy.  :-)

The secret sewing pictures I showed in the last post is now a quilt top. I can't show it yet; but I will soon. I promise!  I'm very happy with my top and am even planning a second version of the same quilt. Time permitting, of course.

I had a number of comments and questions about the picture below.

I am working with some half circle applique for the secret sewing project and this technique makes it easy to end up with beautifully round and smooth edges. In a nutshell, you sew some interfacing right sides together with the fabric pieces, sew around them, and then turn them right sides out, press and they are ready for sewing. I've used this technique in the past, but since I don't do a lot of applique I haven't done it in a long time. I'll add more detailed pictures and process when I can post more info about the quilt.

Here's what's on the wall today.

This is the Aztec Diamond Table Runner - pattern by Krista Moser. It uses the 60 degree angle ruler and is easy to make. I'm happy with the fabric choices and just have to sew the two rows together.

Of course I can't just be working on one thing at a time, so I also have this set of fabrics out and ready to use for some Hexie Placemats.

I've got a busy next few days (weeks, actually), but I hope to be able to sneak in some sewing.

What are you working on today?

Check out the quilting eye candy at

Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

and

Beth's Monday Making 

Design Wall Monday

Last week was quite busy, but I did finish the top I showed last Monday. I added eight blocks to make this finish approximately 64" x 82" - a good Quilts of Valor size.  

I decided to add the extra blocks rather than border this to make it fit the QOV size requirements mostly because I had enough background fabric to do it, and because I didn't really know what I would use for a border. 

I'm going to try to get this quilted and ready for binding today or tomorrow so because I always like to be working on a QOV on July 4th. (I try to do the same thing on Memorial Day, Flag Day, and Veterans Day too.) I'm thinking about binding this in gold, but we'll see after it's quilted.

I also took some time to put together these Six Hexie Placemats. I still need to quilt and bind these, but that will be easy.

I used the Cut Loose Press Set of 6 Hexie Placemats pattern by Gudrun Erla (GE Designs). It's an easy project to make and since I'll be teaching this project in the Fall, I decided to make mine out of Christmas fabric - Red Dot...Green Dash by Me & My Sister Designs. 

I'm hoping to spend a little more time sewing this week, but we'll see. I feel like I need to  mix things up a bit and step away from the computer work and spend some time fondling fabric. I think I'll go start now!

What are you working on today?

Check out the Quilters' Eye Candy at 

Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

and 

Beth's Monday Making