Project Quilting 15.4: Hour Glass

 

This week's Project Quilting challenge was Hourglass.  Hosted by Kim Lapacek and her friend Trish, this is an annual challenge that I look forward to! 

 I used the Hourglass block in the top and bottom of my mini wall hanging. 

I was so hoping I'd be able to incorporate the theme into a project to decorate my home for St. Patrick's Day. 

I used last post's technique from Inside Out to make the Shamrock.

It's really a look that I love with the ruffly seams!

 

I used a wavy stitch in gold thread to quilt the strips before adding to the background. 

This was my first attempt at making an Hourglass block. 

Whoops! My memory ain't what it used to be, so I needed to consult a tutorial. 

Leslie, at the Seasoned Homemaker came to the rescue giving me the perfect instructions. 

After sewing my Hourglass blocks together for the top and bottom, I got started with quilting the middle section. 

I quilted this in an hourglass block design with just straight line stitching inside of each square. 

The paper template was pinned down (with the green ruffly stripped piece laying underneath) and I sewed around it twice, keeping close to the edge of the paper. 

The magic happens when I cut inside the lines and remove the top shamrock!

Green glass beads were sewn around the shamrock's edge.

Round gold beads were added near the top and bottom Hourglass borders. 

Before hand-stitching the binding down to the back, I added corner triangles and hanging strips so I'd have options when hanging it.

Now I'm set for St. Patrick's Day! 

My finished mini wall-hanging measures approximately 17" x 14".

Quilted with 3 layers and made in my Asbury, Iowa sewing room!

Linking up with:

Persimon Dreams PQ 15.4

Inquiring Quilter's Wednesday Wait Loss

Project Quilting 15.3: Inside Out

 

This week's Project Quilting prompt "Inside Out" had me stumped! (You can find out more about this fabulous annual challenge here  It is hosted by Kim and Trish and their ideas are crazy good!

I found no inspiration on Pinterest and no ideas were trickling into my head ...until bedtime Monday night. Just as I was drifting off to sleep, an idea came in! I didn't get much sleep Monday night because I was constructing this in my head.

I started with some leftover jelly roll strips and a small piece of white-on-white fabric. I cut the strips down to 1" wide each. 

2 by 2 the strips were sewn together with wrong sides together. Wow! This was harder than I realized. I really had to focus to NOT put them right sides together. Once they were sewn, I used my pinking shears to give each seam a ruffled look. 

The seams were pressed open and I continued to sew the strips together to make one larger piece. Each seam was "pinked".

This larger piece was then quilted with batting simply with one line down between the seams. 

I added 2 strips of borders to the top and bottom of the white fabric and quilted this in diagonal lines. Using my chalk pen really helps get those lines straight!

With the ruffly stripped piece pinned to the back and a heart shape template pinned on the front, I sewed the heart outline twice without sewing directly on the heart. I didn't want to trace the shape and leave any marks, so this worked well. 

And this is where the magic happens! With my fancy scissors, I cut just inside the 2 lines of stitching on the top to reveal the ruffly heart below! It is when the Inside comes Out!

I do think I caught myself giggling at this point!

French Knots were added. 

At this point in the photo, I had spent 15 minutes making French Knots.

3 trips around the heart making French Knots = 2.5 hours. 

I also added pearl beads along the top and bottom. 

Here she is and all finished! 

The finished size is 16" x 12". 

Thanks to the Project Quilting ladies for this challenge and helping me to create something I love and will enjoy for many years! 

Linking up with:

Project Quilting

Beauty Pageant

Wednesday Wait Loss @ Inquiring Quilter

Table Scraps Challenge