Happy Labor Day

I hope everyone is having a great Labor Day weekend with family and friends.
I am in the Red and Aqua swap at Jane's Fabrics and Quilts. She e-mailed me last night. Hooray.
While I was celebrating my Labor Day weekend I thought I would make some gifts for some of my friends and family. So I decided to make my daughter a purse I had seen on Oh, Fransson. So after I cut the pieces out I noticed that I had cut one of the purse fronts wrong. I was suppose to be on the fold and mine was not. So, what do you so with your mistake? You make a pincushion. I like large pincushions so I decided to use a large plate and make a pie pincushion.
I made an inner lining for the pincushion to hold the polyfil and the rice but the lining made it look like it was missing some of its stuffing.
So, I made another without a lining. This one feels just right. I will go and get a button later on this week. Maybe a nice sassy yellow button.
Oh, about the purse, I am still working on that.

This quilt has been on a resident's bed since she came into our facility. She is unable at this time in her life to tell me any history of the quilt. I just love it. It looks like it was handsewn with new binding sewn on. I appears old and well loved.
As you know I have been working faithfully on my Sunshine and Shadow. One of the things I do is think about how I am going to quilt it when I finish. So true to form I went to the library for quilting ideas. (Please excuse my photography).

This one is from an Amish quilt book. It had a lot of quilt patterns in the back. If you cannot make out the quilting it is crosshatched with feathers in the border.

This one is from "The Quilter's Guide to Amish Quilts". I like the crosshatching and the single cable along the sashing. There is some type of design in the corner blocks. I cannot make it out.

This one is from "A Treasury of Amish Quilts" by Rachel and Kenneth Pellman. This one has feather also in the borders and the corner blocks. The middle appears to be crosshatched but not every square. Maybe every other square.
I am not skilled enough to do feathers so unless I am willing to pay someone else to do the feathers, feathers are out.
So, without any drumrolls or fanfare here is my Sunshine and Shadow. I finished it Saturday but had to wait until today so I could take it to work and photograph it.

I love the center. The pink in the center is also the pink in the border.

It is a lot larger than I thought it was going to be. Oh, I knew what the measurements were but to actually lay it out and see it I was dumbfounded.

Another view.
I am going to send it to my mother. Through her I was given a grandmother that taught me to sew and quilt. Thank you Grandma.
I will try to write more later this week. Back to the old nine patch and my DS's quilt.
Lots of love.

Jeri

More Sunshine and Shadow

Sorry I haven't blogged anything lately but I have been busy with my quilting projects. I will try to blog every other Sunday. That way I will have something to show and tell.
I have started cutting the strips for my Sunshine and Shadow quilt. I have 18 colors but will not use them all but want to have them available if needed. I sent Nadine some fabric and numbered each piece so that we could coordinate our colors. When you look at a picture vs looking at the actual quilt the colors may be a little different. So I need her help with the different colors. I made a new color reference board. I wanted to show Nadine what I was talking about so I decided to put a picture on my blog. I have made one before when I was making a Bargello quilt and found it quite helpful.
I have a curtain rod running along the top of my bookcase with curtain hooks that I can hang notes to myself there, as well as quilt patterns and finished quilts. It is a very helpful rod.

Recently I took one of my quilt tops to work to photograph and one of my co-workers whose mother quilts ask me why I iron my seams open. I iron them open because that was the way I learned to sew plus I get a flatter, neater seam and my seams seem to match when I sew them together.

My DS is having a birthday this month and wants a quilt. King size no less. So I am going to start two new quilts this month. I know this is against my New Years Resolution but he's my son and I not only love him, I like him. So I am searching through my stash for blues, reds and lights. The pattern is Hudson River Chain by Maria Umhey. The pattern is in The Quilter January 2007 issue.
The closer it gets to September the more excited I am about going to the Jacksonville Quilt Show. The lady I am going with has made our hotel reservations. We will be staying at the same hotel we stayed in last year. They give a special rate for the show.

Happy Quilting.

Jeri