A productive day.....

I got these blocks sewn together into a top too while I was in the basement.  I washed a load of flannel for our church preemie project so I was down there babysitting my 38 year old washing machine and kept busy with fabric fun.  I also cut fabric for 2 friends and will be able to mail it out on Monday.

 

A little fun, 1970s finds..........

I got all 20 blocks sewn yesterday.  They don't excite me as much as red, orange, pink and yellow does.  It will be an 'OK' quilt though.

I was cleaning off a shelf in the basement and I found this 1975 booklet.  It has you cut 6" squares, sew them right sides together with a half inch seam, turn and insert a double layer of batting cut 7" with the extra fullness in the center.  Then hand sew the opening closed.  Then they are all whip stitched together by hand to make the quilt.  We have come a long way since then!!

Here is another quilt from the booklet with corduroy used where it is red.  There is another one in the booklet that is made of all velveteen, and still hand whip stitching all of those squares together.

This is a piece of fabric from the 1970s and I have a yard and five eighths of it.  It is by Thompson of California which I think was a swimsuit company back then. 

I laid my 45 mm rotary cutter on it so you can see the scale of the print.

This is the weave of the fabric.  There was a name for this fabric but I don't remember what it was.  The threads lay across the surface kind of like a sateen but a little more space between them.  Maybe someone who reads will remember the name of the type of fabric.   Added later: this is not bark cloth which has a slub and is bumpy.  This weave is smooth and a little silky.

More boring cleaning...........

I need to start getting the basement cleaned up for the next art quilters day (Jan. 21).   That means moving piles and cleaning off many tables.

Progress report.......

I have decided I will leave the edges curved which was my original intention when I started this series of 5 quilts.  I am going to cut bias strips and use them as facings, so they will be sewn on the front like binding and then fully turned to the back of the quilt.  I think I need to cut it 1.5" and it will be a half inch wide on the back.  I may cut a piece and test it before I cut the whole length that I need.  If I decide it isn't going to work then I will do regular facings.

Then I brought the Strips 'n Curves back into the room to do the binding.  

More quilting........

I did the ditch quilting on Wonky 3 (must come up with a better name) yesterday.  That is all it needs so a decision on trimming the edges is next.  If I trim the edges straight I can use straight of grain binding.  If I leave it crooked I'll have to use bias binding.  I'm going out socializing this morning so I won't make the decision until afternoon.  This is number 3 of the 6 that I need done by the 22nd.  I need to start getting the bindings sewn on so I don't have all 6 to do at once.

Border done, next up.........

I finished the quilting in the red areas and then did the border.  I loosely outlined each leaf and center vein.  I got it trimmed and now need to make a decision on binding. It might be the border fabric because I'm not sure it needs a contrasting edge.

I spray basted the next 2 quilts.  I have posted about that in the past and you can see those 2 posts by clicking on Spray Basting on my Label list on the right side bar.  I also did a few lines of hand basting for extra security on it.  I got about 2/3 of the ditch quilting done on this one last night.  I'm not sure what I'll do next on it.  I may just start the ditch quilting on the next one while I decide.

Machine quilting again....

I worked on quilting this quilt off and on yesterday.  I'm doing it on my Pfaff.  I have only a few red patches left to quilt and then the border.  I ditch quilted the whole thing first before I did any free motion quilting.  I'm using Invisifil thread on top so the thread is barely visible.  Invisifil is like a monofilament polyester but it comes in colors instead of being clear or smoky.  It is not quite as shiny either.

Friday I met my friend at the new quilt shop in Yorkville.