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

Project Quilting 15.2 Sky Colors

 

Gosh, I love Project Quilting! Not only is it great to wrap my head around a theme/prompt for a week, but it's so satisfying to completely finish a project in 7 days or less! 

Once again, I scoured my favorite inspiration site, Pinterest, for what I would make using the prompt "Sky Colors". I didn't want to go the route of sunrise or sunset with a boat on the horizon. Although those pieces can be beautiful, I wanted something more modern.

I pulled several scrap pieces from my stash in yellows, oranges, and reds. 

These were fused onto Heat 'n Bond Lite.

Project Quilting 15.1: Bird House

 

I'm back! Gosh, it's been almost a year since my last blog post. 

I've made soooo many things in these last months. I'd just rather sew than write about them, I guess. 

Most everything I've made can be found on my Instagram page: _duchick_

My latest project was made for Project Quilting which is made possible by Kim Lapacek and her friend Trisha Frankland. This is the first week of the 15th season! I've been a regular with the PQ challenge since Season 7 and it's something I look forward to all year! 

The first week's prompt was Bird House. Take it any way you want, as long as you can explain it and make it work with a bird house theme. 

My first stop is Pinterest when I'm looking for inspiration. It was there that I found a greeting card image with a bird house hanging from a snowman's arm. 

I cut various sizes of blue strips and sewed them together for a background, then quilted them with curvy, organic stitches.

With a pencil, I drew out my snowman and bird house and transferred them to Heat 'n Bond Lite.

It was a blustery day for sewing a snowman as I watched the snow fall outside my window. 

I found the perfect snowball button for his hat and I was so very lucky to find a red cardinal button!

Isn't it sweet how Mr. Frosty is looking at the bird as if he's trying to encourage him to take up residence in the bird house? 💜

For now, my sweet mini wall hanging is on my kitchen wall where I can keep an eye on him! 

Thank you, Kim and Trisha, for challenging me to create something that brings me so much happiness!

Made in my Asbury, Iowa home during the week of January 8-12, 2024.

My project includes minimum of 3 layers, applique, and binding. 

Project Quilting 14.4: A Novel Project

 

This week's Project Quilting challenge was to create a quilted piece that was inspired by a novel.

 Hmmm...that seems easy enough, especially when one is a retired teacher! 

My mind went all over the place.

Oh, the places we will go, says Dr. Suess!

As a young mother, one of my favorite books to read to my kids was

Can't You Sleep, Little Bear? by Martin Waddell

Then, in my final years of teaching middle school, my reading classes read

Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen

Both such memorable books!

So, I looked through my patterns and found one I had purchased from a very talented Ukranian maker named Sasha. When I purchased her designs, she was donating a portion of each sale to the Ukranian refugees and others in need. 

She is on Instagram as Sashas Quilts

and also has an Etsy shop under the same name. 

Paper piecing projects are not my favorite.

I ripped out so many stitches on this one and had to sew again correctly.

Not at all meant to be a fault of the designer...it's all me, the maker!

Sasha writes very specific instructions!

Mr. Bear's muzzle was one example of my mistakes.

I had to un-pick his muzzle (sounds better than picking his nose, doesn't it?)

His ears and eyes are not aligned perfectly either, 

but I think that just adds to his charm.

Lots of FMQ went into this furry guy. 

Circle-y loops all over his fur.

Woody knots on the brown background.

Organic wavy lines on the black border.

His muzzle and ears were untouched to make them pop!

Choosing the binding fabric is so hard!

The stripes won out...again.

He is a handsome guy, isn't he?

His portrait measures 12x12".

I added two pocket corners on the back so I can hang him on the wall. 

He will go in my husband's "den" which is decorated with bears. 

Linking up with:

Persimon Dreams PQ14.4

Inquiring Quilter's Wednesday Wait Loss

Project Quilting 14.2: Pink Tint

 

It's always fun to see what the next prompt will be for Project Quilting hosted by Kim Lapacek at Persimon Dreams. Sometimes it takes a day or two for my mind to come up with something to create, but this week it was so simple! Any sewing project that includes patchwork, applique or 3 layers stitched together qualifies....with pink being the star of the show for this week. 

Bring on the hearts! I snatched the pinks from my various stacks and found a pattern I've had in my pinterest account for a long time. 

Unfortunately, I did not hear back from the blogger who created this tutorial when I asked for permission to provide a link to her page. If she responds at a later time, I'll update here. My version is just a bit smaller than hers, but still uses her great tutorial.

Lots of long strips were sewn together. I made my own 3.5" square template from a clear plastic sheet. 

The blocks were arranged in rows and sewn together, the I added a border. 

Followed by straight line quilting. For some crazy reason, I was getting a lot of skipped stitches using my walking foot. My regular foot did OK. 

I sewed the binding onto the front of the mini wall-hanging using visible big stitches. 

Someday, somewhere down the road---in 100 years---someone will question these stitches, I'm sure. But right now, I love the look!

This sweet mini now hangs on the side wall of my bedroom. It measures approximately 14x15".

Thanks to Kim and Trisha for another fun challenge!

Linking up with:

Project Quilting 14.2

From Bolt to Beauty Beauties Pageant

Inquiring Quilter's Wednesday Wait Loss