Working the string blocks, baby quilt and more!

Every morning as soon as I get up, I work on my string quilt blocks.  I go straight to the coffee pot, make hot water for my tea and while that is brewing, I sew my 4 1/2 inch string blocks. I have a large supply of strips of various size widths, colors and patterns in a drawer next to my sewing machine. I pull out the strips, sew it onto a foundation paper made from my old phone book and keep repeating until I have 10 blocks sewn. I end the chain piecing with a foundation paper sized 2 1/2 by 8 1/2 inches.  It is from these little "feeder" blocks that I made my granddaughter's "baby doll" quilt.

I know that sounds very organized, but trust me its not!  Sometimes I run out of fabric strips and have to run to my scrap box and clean cut the scraps into various sized strips to put in my drawer next to the sewing machine. I have several plastic boxes full of these scraps. I am trying to justify keeping them or "hoarding" them, as my husband calls it. 

These are scraps left from years of cutting butterflies, cats, hexagons, triangles for my customers' orders.  There are all sizes and weird shaped pieces left.  But, if I cut just so, I can get several strips of different widths and many, many triangles of different sizes! I can't even begin to think of throwing all that fabric away! If that makes me a hoarder, so be it!

I have already made enough blocks to put together a quilt top from these scraps that you can see here Click Here   But, it was not big enough to drape over the side of my double bed.  So that's why I am sewing more blocks.  Plus, after I finish this one, I am making 2 more for my other kids. I think then maybe, I will have used all the scraps in the plastic boxes, LOL!!!

In the meantime, remember the "baby doll" quilt?  Well I finally decided, I am going to quilt it on the machine.  Even though I am not very experienced in machine quilting, I think I will manage with this one because it is so small. I will post a picture when I am done, maybe on Monday???

My hexagon quilt progress will be posted tomorrow!

Have a great time quilting!

Aveli

They're Coming! They're Coming!

I feel like Paul Revere with that title. LOL! But, I am excited about my daughter's family visit. She called last night to say they would be here in 2 weeks!

Just barely have enough time to finish my granddaughter's baby doll quilt. I will have to stop working on my string quilt and my cross stitch project and finish that little quilt.

Maybe I should just machine stitch it together with the backing??  What do you think?

If I go ahead with the tying, I can tie it every 2 or 3 inches. The quilt top measures approximately 24"x 26".  If I tie every 2 inches, that means I will have 12 across by 13 down which equals 156 ties. Am I capable of finishing that many ties in 2 weeks? and then do the binding?

The binding is another question. I always do bindings by hand! Should I hand bind or machine bind? Help me out folks what would you do? It's really not a big quilt, but I also have to organize, stash, clean, dust, vacuum and child proof the cabin for their visit.  My granddaughter is only 2 years old, so I have to go over the cabin with a fine tooth comb to child proof.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.  I will start finishing it tomorrow.  Today my "dance card" is already full of preparations for the visit.

I will post the final decision as to the finishing of the baby quilt.  Let me know what you think!

Keep on quilting!
Aveli

Baby! Baby! Baby Doll That Is!

I have finished putting together the Baby Doll Quilt for my granddaughter. And, as promised I have several pictures.

Let me start at the beginning:

I wanted to use scraps for this little quilt because I have been sewing "feeder" paper strips after every step of sewing blocks for other projects.  I have several of these "feeder" paper foundation blocks.  They measure approximately 8 1/2" x 2 1/2". I say approximately because I don't cut them precisely with a ruler. I just take a sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper and cut across the sheet.  I can get 4 strips out of each sheet of paper. I use printer paper that I have already printed on both sides; which I do frequently when testing out sizes of patterns or designing a pattern.  Instead of just chucking them in the trash, I recycle them into these strips to be used for foundation piecing.

So, I took three of these strips and sewed them end to end and came up with an approximate size of the width of the Baby Doll Quilt.  Here is what three strips look like sewn together. I do not remove the paper foundation until the whole blanket is sewn together. This gives the little pieces more stability while I am working with them. Once the blanket is sewn together, I do not need the paper because they have been sewn cross and lengthwise so they have stability on their own.

Once I had sewn enough of these "strip blocks" together, I laid out the little quilt.

I separated the strips because laid out together, with no spaces between strips was too small. So I decided to put some sashing in between each "strip block". Now it was larger. Here it is laid out with the sashing.

Now it was starting to look very nice.  But, I thought it was too small to actually wrap the baby doll in it. So I added another strip and another sashing. Here it is all sewn together with 1 1/2" sashing and 1 1/2" borders.  I put the baby doll on top to make sure that it was big enough to wrap around the doll.  It is!
It measures approximately 24" x 26". The next step is to remove the paper foundations.

I will not put any batting in it because I do not want it to be too bulky for my granddaughter to hold.  The backing is the only thing left for me to add besides the binding and tying. I am planning on tying it with a very thin ribbon. All the fabrics used on this blanket were scraps, even the sashing, backing, and ribbon for tying.  I will post a picture of the completed project.

Hope you enjoyed my journey.  If you have any questions, please feel free to use the contact form on this blog.

Happy quilting!
Aveli

Flea Market ! Again?

Today, we left early for the flea market. I was determined to find the "pie lady" and "biscochitos" from last week and buy some more.  They were sooooo scrumptious!

Well, once again, my husband couldn't wait till we got to Las Vegas to eat.  This time though, I was also hungry. So, we decided to go to "Kristie's Korner Kafe" down the road from Mora. Mora is 14 miles from our cabin and is our "local" shopping area.  It has a grocery store, several restaurants, churches, schools, library, etc. Kristie's Korner Kafe is one of the better restaurants.  It is very small, only has 6 tables, but is very popular with the locals. Why? because it has great food!  We had breakfast there.  Of course my husband had red chili, let me correct that, red New Mexico chili with his breakfast. Restaurants in New Mexico always have New Mexico chili and the waitress will always ask "Red, Green or Christmas?" "Christmas?" That is a concoction made of both red and green chili . . ."Christmas"! I have never tried "Christmas" chili because I don't care for green chili, but my husband says it's great! He loves either color!!!

So we finish breakfast and off we go to LV.  When we get to the "Flea Market" I noticed that there weren't very many people shopping. My husband says it's probably too early for shoppers. Everyone is probably still in church!  Then I noticed that there were only 5 or 6 vendors!  I know this flea market is small, but this is ridiculous! I was so disappointed :( !  I was really looking forward to an apple pie and biscochitos for the week.

So I kept walking down the aisle and I spied an ironing board attached to some weird contraption. I stopped to look and found an ironing board that converts to a step ladder that converts to a chair.  Here is a picture of it as an ironing board

 This is the way to use it as a stepstool.

And last but not least . . .as a chair!

Isn't it amazing? Have you ever seen anything like it? Please comment if you have. I would love to hear if someone knows what it is called and from what time period it comes.

I loved it! My husband loved it! (which is very unusual) Needless to say, we bought it!!!

After our excursion into the "miniature" sized flea market, we went to Walmart to buy a few groceries and then came home.  Just in time I might say because as we drove into our driveway, a downpour started that has lasted for twenty minutes.  It tapering down some but it is still thunder and lightening and intermittent showers.

My quilting project for today is to finish sewing the "Baby Doll" quilt for my granddaughter. I will post a picture of it when I finish sewing it together tomorrow!

"Talk" to you tomorrow! Keep quilting!
Aveli

A visit from our Youngest

This past week our youngest son has been visiting us while he was on vacation from work.  What a treat!
It is always great to have him come to visit us.  Even though he only lives 3 hours away, it is difficult to get our schedules on the same track.

So the first thing he says when he gets here is that he is going to barbecue.  Even though it wasn't until yesterday that he got an opportunity to do so, it was nice to hear.  He always makes a great meal!

This time he barbecued 2 whole chickens.  They were scrumptious! And today we get to enjoy more of the leftover chicken.  Makes for great sandwiches. . .especially when combined with the indian pueblo bread made by the Santo Domingo indians.  Yum Yum!

Sadly, he had to leave today. He goes back to work tonight. :(

While he was here, I was working on my string quilt. Making the blocks that is.  I started thinking about making a little doll sized quilt for my granddaughter. They are scheduled to visit some time in August, so I bought my granddaughter a small baby doll.  That way she could have a "baby" to play with while she was here.  Now I am thinking she would have more fun if she could wrap the doll in a blanket.  And of course, a simple receiving blanket type would not do. . .it has to be a quilt!!!

So I started sewing the feeder blocks that I make while working on a project.  You know, a little piece of paper with leftover pieces of fabric on it.  I am using strips of 8 1/2" x 2 or 2 1/2".  I mainly want to conserve the amount of trash I throw out so I recycle my printer paper and print on both sides of the paper.  Especially when I am trying out new layouts for my quilts. After printing on both sides, I cut some into fourths for note paper, i.e., grocery lists, notes to self or husband and so forth. Some of the printer paper goes into providing foundation paper for the feeder blocks.  I cut the printer paper in half to make two 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 pieces and then take those pieces and cut them in half again and end up with the 8 1/2 x 2 1/2 strips.

I layed out the feeder strips into a size that would enable my granddaughter to wrap the doll. I didn't like the layout.  So now, I have added white strips between each feeder strip.  It made the blanket larger and looks nicer I think.

I will finish sewing it up and take pictures tomorrow and post them here.

Hexagons

I have always wanted to do a quilt project by "hand".  I know, I know, CRAZY!  Why would I want to do a project by hand when I have 2 perfectly good sewing machines!

Well, to start off, there are a lot of hand sewers out there. I've always wanted to see what kind of woman or "gumption" I would have to have to do this type of thing.  Trust me, you really have to LOVE hand work to do this.

I have always felt drawn to hand work. Since I was little, my mother taught me to embroider and crochet.  Later I would pick up counted cross stitch,  knitting and quilting.  By the way, the cousin who taught me to knit was left handed, so I knit left handed.  It throws a lot of knitters off when they see me.  As one lady commented a long time ago when I was younger -- "What ARE you doing??"

I love to hand quilt my quilts.  But, in my quilting history I had not made an entire quilt by hand instead of the sewing machine. I do a lot of applique, but I usually do piecing. I also wanted a project to do on the road while we travel back and forth from this great state to another.  Applique was out of the question for me because of the finesse needed and my failing "old" eyes.  So, I decided on hexagons!

At first, I decided to start with just a long skinny scarf for my dresser.  But, when I saw how nice it was starting to look, I upped the size to a crib size and then to a double bed size.

Once I decided to do this project, I was overwhelmed by the many choices of methods to do this labor intensive project!

One of the first things I had to decide which template do I use for cutting the hexagons.

I know that I sell pre-cut or die cut hexagon fabrics either alone http://avelisquilts-ivil.tripod.com/id9.html or in kits http://avelisquilts-ivil.tripod.com/pieced_quilt_kits.html (scroll down for hexagons).  I also sell precut Hexagons in freezer paper either precut  or printed on freezer sheets http://avelisquilts-ivil.tripod.com/id165.html.

The problem was that I was like Goldilocks. . . the 2" was too small and the 4" was too big.  I needed something "just right". What I wanted was about 1/4 inch bigger all around the 2" size so that when I sewed them, they would end up being 2".   So, either of the sizes I sell were not "just right"!

Also, remember I couldn't use the freezer paper method, as a template for cutting, because I was going to be in the car and an iron was unavailable. So I went ahead and manually drew the 2" size by tracing around one of my freezer paper die cut pieces on a regular piece of paper.  I then used the freezer paper piece to draw a copy on a piece of milk jug plastic with a permanent marker.  I heartily recommend using this plastic for templates.  It saves throwing the plastic into the landfill, its economical and it endures. Yes, you still have some plastic left over that can't be used.  But, it's a lot less than what you started with.  Just make sure you have a heavy pair of scissors when cutting it because of the thickness.

Another thing I like about milk jug plastic is that the inside of the milk jug is rough textured, not smooth like the outside.  The rough side when placed against the fabric helps to grip the fabric.

I now had a 2" drawing on regular paper and a 2" drawing on a large pieces of milk jug plastic.
Next, I used my ruler and drew an additional 1/4" line all the way around the paper 2" drawing. I now had the size that I desired. I cut this out on the last line that I drew, not the inside line. I used this piece of paper as a template to draw another hexagon on the milk jug plastic.  I now had two hexagons drawn on the milk jug plastic.  one was 2" and one was 2 1/2 inches.  I cut both of them out, punched a hole in the middle of both.  I was ready to start drawing on fabric!!!

WAIT! No I wasn't!  What was I going to use to mark on the fabric??  With all the choices of marking tools now days. . . . Well that's another day's blog entry!

Stay tuned for further adventures in sewing Hexagons and follow my progress!  Meanwhile, back to quilting!!!

Hexagon Box - Repost

I posted this on my old blog in January for New Year's Greeting, but I thought it was worth reposting on this new blog.

Happy New Year to all! Hope all of you will have a great year and quilt all year long!

I had previously made a box for my one inch hexies because I was unable to find or wish to spend money on several boxes to hold them while I was making individual hexies.

Now I have adjusted the pattern and have made a mock up of a box for half inch hexies. Here is a picture of the mock up next to the one inch box.

Notice that the one inch box measures approximately 5 inches while the half inch box measures only two inches.

Here is the inside of the box. You can see how snugly the hexies fit inside. There is no chance for them to shift sideways to get wrinkled.

You can request either the half inch or the one inch pattern by contacting me through the "contact" link on the right.

Of course you can always use the plastic craft boxes available at the local craft store. But this is so much cheaper! All you need is the pattern and a cereal box to glue it to and cut and glue and you have a box!

Hope you enjoy this little pattern and the bigger one too!

Apple Pie -- Flea Market and Rain!

Today we left our cabin early in the morning so we could go to the Flea Market in Las Vegas, NM. We hadn't gone this year for one reason or another so I was really looking forward to the trip.

It takes 45 to 60 minutes to drive from Guadalupita to Las Vegas, NM; that is why we left before even having breakfast, just one cup of coffee. . . and I am a 2 cup in the a.m. kind of girl!!! LOL!!!

Well, when we got to Mora, 14 miles from the cabin, my husband says he can't wait any longer to eat.  So, we stopped at the local grocery store which is named Russell's. They have a small deli inside the small store. They sell, various items of prepared food.  The variety depends on the time of day.  Since it was 7:00 a.m., they were selling breakfast burritos -- which my husband loves!  He had one breakfast burrito. I was hoping for some chicken taquitos, but it was too early for those.

When we arrived in Vegas, we went straight for the flea market. Not too many people were in attendance but there were several vendors.  Most of the shoppers were at the Las Vegas Fiesta in the Old Town Plaza. One of the very big and popular fiestas that happen this time of year.

One of my favorite vendors at the flea market is the lady with all the baked goods. . . pies, cakes, biscochitos. Biscochitos are the state cookie for New Mexico. There is no baked cookie like them. They are simple but flaky, sweetened with sugar cinamon and a little anise. I have loved them since I was little and so has the whole state of New Mexico. I bought a dozen and a half. I also bought two apple pies. These are flat pies; not the traditional all american apple pie which is piled high with apples.  They are flat, about 3/4 inch thick with a very flaky crust, top and bottom, also sprinkled with sugar and cinammon.  DELICIOUS!  The reason I bought 2 is one for us and one for my husband's cousin. We were going to visit them after we finished in Vegas and it is his birthday. I thought an apple pie was perfect to celebrate his birthday with him and his wife.

Later as I perused all the vendors wares, "Lo and Behold!" there was a quilting frame for sale!  YAY! I had recently got one for myself, but my daughter in law was looking for one. I immediately bought it, only $30. I thought it was a bargain. It is in great shape. It isn't one of the fancy ones, just pieces of wood to put together.  But, very functional and my daughter in law really needed one.

Needless to say, the apple pie was a hit, the quilting frame was a hit and it didn't start raining until we got home!  What a great and perfect day!

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!!

Hope everyone has a safe and sober Fourth of July! Enjoy the fireworks, have a great barbecue, play with your kids, your family and take lots of pictures! Have lots of fun! It's the greatest day to play or relax and do nothing! Love it!!

We will be driving up to Eagle Nest to enjoy the fireworks display provided by the town every year. Since it has been so dry here in New Mexico, they banned private fireworks this year. But the show in Eagle Nest is spectacular!

Hailstones!

Yesterday we went to visit my husband's cousin. He lives just 7 miles down the road and up the mountain. We wanted him to meet our youngest son, who was visiting for a few days.

Just as we drove into his yard, it started hailing, hailing and increasing in amount and size. By the time we dashed up the stairs to the porch, they were a mixture of  sizes of nickels and quarters. Ouch! I was lucky enough to not get hit by the "quarters" but my husband, his cousin were not as lucky. Our car was pelted for over 20 minutes by this surprise storm.  We were expecting rain, but not hail!

It was over as quickly as it had started. . . no rain, the clouds parted, and the sun shone so brightly on the melting hail in the trees. So much so that it looked like they were decked out in diamonds all over.  So beautiful!

My son met a cousin he did not know about or had met before. We chatted and were served home made flour tortillas wrapped around some home made refried beans with cheese.  Great burritos! Sun tea,  iced and sweetened made lunch perfect!

After lunch we took a walk further up the mountain to check out the progress on his guest cabin that he is building.  Beautiful work! It has a loft! I would love to be a kid and sleep up there!! LOL!!

After the cabin tour, we left for the town of Mora, another 7 miles down the mountain. That is our local town to get basic supplies like gas and Ice Cream! Yummy!

All in all it was a very nice day. This morning, I got an early start and was missing my son because his visit was so short. He left yesterday after the ice cream.  So this a.m. I immersed myself in my sewing and cutting some scraps into triangles, squares, and strings for the basket weave quilts. Yes, I said quilts! I have decided that I will make only basket weave quilts for my children. That way there is no complaining about colors or styles! LOL!  So, I will be cutting my scraps and sewing basket weave string blocks for a while!!

Taking a Break

My youngest son came to visit for three days! YAY!

He got here yesterday. Even though we live in the same state, we don't get to see each other very often. So, a visit from him is so very special; as is all visits from my children and grandchildren.

Since he is here and won't leave until Tuesday afternoon, I will be taking a break from quilting. I will add another post on Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning when I will get back to quilting.  At that time, I hope to take a break from my string basket weave quilt and finish the baby quilt that I am making for the neighbor's granddaughter.

More Blocks! More Blocks!

 

As you can see above, I am still making blocks for my "Basket Weave" quilt. I have been working diligently for the past 4 days on finishing it.  I found out that it wasn't quite big enough to drape over my double bed. So back to making blocks again!

In the picture above you can see that I have been busy sewing and now comes the trimming down to the size of my foundation paper.  My foundation papers (local telephone book) measure 4 1/2" square. Of course you can make your foundation paper any size you want. But, my leftover scraps seem to best work at 4 1/2".

So once I finish trimming these blocks, I will start adding on to the quilt to make it larger, then I will add the border and finish it.  I am undecided whether to add a wine colored border and keep the quilt for my bedroom.  Or add a lavender border and give it to my daughter since she has been asking for a quilt for a long long time!  I will probably give it to her, LOL!

 

Back to Quilting!

Yesterday we drove to Albuquerque to take our grandson so he could go back to California. After several hours of waiting, he was off into the wild blue yonder!
His flight was delayed in taking off because of some mechanical difficulties.
After his plane took off, we drove back to Guadalupita.  On the way, just north of Las Vegas (New Mexico) we saw a lot of smoke.
The fire that is raging in Northern NM is pretty far from where we were but the smoke was everywhere because the winds were blowing out way.
Now that we have no guests, its time to get back to quilting.  So today, have been working on adding 7 more rows to the basket weave quilt that I have been sewing.
As you can see in the pic below, it barely goes over the side of my double bed.

Almost Home!

We had a stopover in Albuquerque to visit my youngest daughter and today we are leaving for Guadalupita on the train!

Another Ride on the Train

This time I am on the way home from California!

Enjoyimg the beautiful scenery in New Mexico!

When Using Hexagon Freezer Paper

This picture shows how I place the hexagon freezer paper shapes and iron them onto the back of the fabric before cutting them apart.

There is about half an inch between each freezer paper piece.  If you place them in this honeycomb configuration, when you cut them apart, you will get a one fourth inch seam allowance all around the hexagon and not waste any fabric.

Party Time!

It's party time!

My daughter invited her new friends over for "Taco Tuesday" dinner and card party last night.

My husband's niece also was invited. My husband has several nieces since he has several siblings.  But he hadn't seen this one for a long time so he was specially delighted.

After we had dinner, we set out to play canasta.  Does anyone remember canasta?

We had so much fun! Lots of laugbter, giggling and guffawing!!

Unfortunately no quilting in sight!

To Quilt or Not To Quilt?

That is the Question!

To be inside working on my project and my favorite pastime . . . or be outside with the most beautiful grandchild!!

I am in Santa Clarita with my daughter and baby sitting while she starts and prepares dinner for a dinner party.

Quilting Away!

Last night my son and my daughter in law took us to dinner at 'Super Mex". A local mexican restaurant chain in Long Beach. We had a great time.

Today and any other day that I am in waiting mode, I have my "Hexie Kit" to work with. I have made four rosettes since we started on this trip.  you can see them at the top of the picture.

I am hoping to have at least 10 rosettes done by the time I get home . . . which will be in 2 weeks!

Everyone keep on quilting!!

Arriving in California

Aveli's Quilts & General Store http://avelisquilts.blogspot.com/
We arrived in Fullerton California at 6:30 a.m. this morning and was greeted by my husbands cousin and his wife. They took us to breakfast and we caught up on all the latest family news.

Then we went to our sons house and waited for him and family to get home.

Meanwhile, I worked on my hexie project. I made two rosettes made on the train and I am sure I will get more finished while we are here.

keep on quilting!