Sewing Room Days

Hi, guys! Last Sunday the flea was rained out (as was yesterday's farmers market). Just as well as I had only $5.oo in my pocket, having spent all my flea market money getting my car all fixed up and serviced for the summer. New windshield wipers were urgent with the rain.
Instead I made my Westering Women block for [I guess] April.

The blocks are posted at the end of the month so I am chronically behind, but it's block 4, Kansas Lone Elm.

I used the wool challis from the flea, because it looks so much like the fabric in the dress on Brackman's blog post. Perhaps my imaginary pioneer woman had some fabric left over from her Sunday-best dress, tucked into her scrap bag? [link to the sewalong on Barbara Brackman's blog is on my sidebar. or HERE ]

Using antique fabrics in a new quilt can be treacherous. I don't want to use something that will disintegrate right away.  I carefully washed and tested the challis before using it, including making a tiny layered swatch which I ran through the wash on a regular cycle. I also backed it with tissue thin Pellon fusible interfacing.

I included the interesting hand seaming and and old repair.

I love my Lone Elm and with a lot of careful measuring it actually came out the requisite 12.5".

We did have one sunny afternoon, maybe last Saturday? Mo and I bundled up and sat on the deck to start Summetime's long borders. I had to stop working on Summertime during its allotted April project time because I didn't have enough of the background plaid. I had to do a LOT of piecing, even on the borders where I used the original blue. I think the busy-ness of the Basket and its berries/ leaves with hide the extra navy-black I needed to make the 60" borders work out.

Though I wish I'd had more success matching the two plaids. [The stem and berries will hide this flaw, however.]

The blue plaid piecing actually looks worse because I didn't have enough fabric to match the plaid properly. Bad, bad....
 I'm putting birds in my borders instead of stars. Maybe a zinnia-ish flower or two in needed, but No More Stars!

Yesterday I made the stem's bias fold strips with my new folder gadget and I made a paper pattern for the undulating design of the stem. I really criticize the magazine for just saying, "Oh do the borders by looking at the photo." But then the photo is so tiny and crappy I can barely see the details. Very disappointing. I wish there was either a border pattern or closeup photos of what it was supposed to look like..

Then today, rain again!---I made one border so far, testing  my layout.

The leaves can go on next, but the yo yo flower buds won't go on until the quilt is entirely finished, quilted, bound, washed. So it looks a little naked. The whopping 60 odd yoyos were beautifully made for me by my etsy/ blog friend Sue. Thank you, dear friend!

Then I cut Pokeberry's binding and I think I'll call it a day! It's Project Runway night.

This is a new project, a sewalong with Lori/ Humble Quilts. Another Porch quilt, we need a new name! Again, by Jan Patek. I fell for the whales and the watermelons. But that bike has got to go.

"Mo! Walkies!"

love

lizzy

gone to the beach...

obviously NOT taken this week, but last year same week.....