Category Archives: Lattice quilt

Scrappy and Semi- Scrappy Quilts

Scrappy quilts are the perfect way to use up all the leftover fabric from all my other projects.  Let’s face it, fabric is not a cheap investment and I don’t like just throwing my money into the trash.  Not to mention adding to landfills.  I am trying to be more mindful of being good to the planet and  would prefer to have the leftovers re-purposed into something useful and be more eco-conscience.  I have made a more controlled version of a scrappy quilt in this lattice quilt

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I used a layer cake by Benartex called Ambrosia.  I wanted to make a lightweight, summer quilt and this line said “summer” to me.  There were so many cheery colors in the line and the quilt came out great and had a very scrappy look.   Now I want to try and be brave and make a true scrappy quilt.  I am going to make a scrap quilt using Bonnie Hunter’s pattern, Happily Scrappily Irish from her book “Adventures with Leaders & Enders” .  Using Bonnie’s leader/ender method, I can be working on getting my units ready for this quilt while working on other projects.   Multi-tasking!  I was thinking about using scraps in autumn colors but I actually  have so much more Christmas fabric scraps (just ask my BFF) that I am going to head in that direction instead.   I do like the Irish Chain pattern.  I made one about 10 years ago in blues. I actually hand-quilted that one.  Please don’t look too closely at the stitching.  But it has held up for 10 years so I guess it wasn’t too bad.   I enjoyed quilting it by hand but won’t be doing that for the Christmas one.  Not if I want to have any chance of using it this year.

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In fact, now that I think about it, I have made two other versions of the Irish chain quilt; one in burgundy,  forest green and white and the other one in green and white – a true “Irish” chain quilt I suppose.   I guess I really do like that pattern.

I will be pulling out the bin with my Christmas scraps sometime over Memorial Day weekend and work on getting the fabric ready for this project.  Ok, maybe it might be two bins of Christmas scraps.    What do you think the chances are of me getting this quilt ready to be used for this holiday season?   I’m going to give it a good try.   Of course, before I left for our 2-week trip to California I did pull out the fabric for my guest bedroom quilt too which is going to be a log cabin quilt in shades of black to grey with the center square being red.  It sat on my cutting table patiently waiting for me to return so I do need to give that some attention too. Looks like I am going to be pretty busy.   Do I really need to sleep?

I should go get some sleep now since I am going to be so busy in the sewing room.   Maybe I’ll just be a midnight quilter like Angela Walters.  I can always watch her videos while working on my projects at midnight.  Quilters love company.

Be well.  I’ll be back soon.

Ginny

 

 

A hint of Fall

fall leav    Just a few weekends ago we were in the midst of a major heat wave.  The a/c was going night and day along with numerous fans and my energy level was practically non-existent by the end of the day.   And now, this week we have had some nice cool mornings and evenings.  The windows are open and we can enjoy the sounds of the crickets.   I sleep much better and wake up ready to accomplish things.  I am not quite ready to bid adieu to summer but it’s nice to get a taste of what will be here in the not too distant future.   I have been thinking about what I look forward to in the coming season: Soups,  beautiful fall colors,  mums blooming along with my Montauk Daisies.  Football and the new fall season of shows on tv to keep us entertained when the fall gives way to frigid winter nights.   I was thinking back to how much I used to look forward to getting the Fall Preview issue of the TV Guide.  TV Guide Fall Preview    I would look at each days schedule and pick out what new shows I wanted to check out and, hopefully, they wouldn’t be opposite a returning favorite show.  No dvr’s back then.   And there were really only a handful of channel’s to choose from and yet there always seemed to be something to watch.   Other than the fall premiers, two shows that said “Fall is here” to me were the Jerry Lewis MD Telethon on Labor Day weekend when I would try and stay awake as long as I could to “watch the stars come out” and the Miss America Pageant which was usually the weekend after Labor Day I think.

Of course, fall brings to mind some nice, cozy quilts to snuggle under when there is a chill. I have a stack of fabric waiting to become quilts but I did finally finish my lattice quilt top:

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This will not have any batting, just a backing and that will be seersucker because I wanted to experiment.  So what’s in my craft basket tonight? The seersucker backing and the jellyroll that I will be using for the binding.    backing and jelly roll for binding   I can’t wait to get to the binding.   I know a lot of quilters don’t like that step but I enjoy it.  I will be cutting the jellyroll into about 7″ pieces and joining them to make my binding strip.   I will get to cutting those pieces and maybe even do a bit of stitching together tomorrow morning before work.

But for tonight, I’m going to get my cup of tea and read for a bit while listening to the cricket serenade.  Have a good night all.  See you soon.

Ginny

 

 

 

Hot August Days

 

We are in the middle of a heat wave for sure so what does one do to keep themselves busy while being inside all day.   This is what was in my craft basket today:

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I have put the last row on my lattice quilt and now on to adding the borders.  My first border will be  1 1/2″ white strips, then I will put a 3″ border of the tangerine and finally, a 4″ border of the green.  I was trying to decide what to do as far as batting.  I want this to be a “summer” quilt so I don’t really want warmth.  Just a light cover on a cool summer night— which would NOT be tonight for sure.  🙂   After  a bit of research,  I finally came to the  decision that  I would not be using any batting.   I’m just going to put the top and the backing together,  “quilt” it with some straight line diagonal stitching following the lines of the lattice strips.   I will use the Ambrosia Jelly Role for the binding.    And what will I be using for the backing?  I am going to experiment and use Seersucker.  Seersucker just screams summer to me.  Not sure how it will work but since it’s not a gift  I’m going to try it.

There are a number of  quilts on my list that need to be done before Christmas so I will be quite busy over the next few months.  I also have lots of other projects to work on so the workroom will be buzzing starting in a few weeks.  The first thing on my To Do list was to decide what patterns I wanted to use for each of the quilts.  The decisions have been made, most of the material has been gotten and now on to the cutting.  But, not until I finish my lattice quilt!  That has been in my “craft basket” for quite some time and was in the category of UFO (Unfinished Object).  But no longer.  It will be finished!

Keep cool everyone.   See you soon.

Ginny