KatyQuilts

I decided to hand quilt my little vintage 4 patch.

As you can see, I have help!

I just used plain muslin on the back. I hope I can get most of this done today. I have my binding ready to go.

Have a good one!

Looking ahead to February projects, I decided to pull this UFO out next.

I’ve been debating for months on how to proceed with this. I finally decided to add more background to get it up to the finished size I wanted. Perhaps now I can better visualize how to fill the borders.

Yes, I’m aware that the borders do not match the center background. If you look closely, you can see that the center is composed of muslin scraps. It all feels in keeping with the message.

I’m thinking about doing a simple vine in the border. Maybe something like this.

We shall see.

Have a great day!

I decided to choose a sashing/border fabric before moving ahead on this. The blue is vintage, but it feels lackluster to me. The repro claret on the right is better….

But the red, oh, the red makes it sparkle!

I had pinned a vintage four patch quilt on Pinterest with this layout and decided to go with it.

I’m loving it so far!

These are the Accuquilt dies I used to cut my pieces.

Have a great day!

This post contains affiliate links.

I decided this could be a quick project to cross off the UFO list.

I played around a bit with layouts.

I should have some progress to share on this soon. Have a great day!

I thought I’d share a bit about marking tools today. On this recent little piece, I used a washout blue pen as it was the only thing that would show up.

I buy a twelve pack of these on Amazon. They were recommended by Kelly Cline. The green marker here is used as an “eraser.” It is made by Dritz. You can fill it with water to make the marks disappear. That doesn’t mean it is gone from the fabric though. I only use the blue pens when I plan to thoroughly rinse and then wash the piece.

Instead of water, I use this in my pen. I bought this from Hab and Dash (bobbincentral.com). They no longer sell to individuals, but it may be available elsewhere.

All gone!

I love using this Hera marker! It was gifted to me by blog reader, Ila.

You can use it to mark creased lines. It’s genius!

Here are three others I use, primarily on dark fabrics. I like the silver pencil, it wears away and washes out. It’s good on both light and dark fabrics. But it’s a paint to sharpen as the tip breaks frequently. This Fons and Porter ceramic chalk pencil is another favorite. It makes a nice thin line and it’s always sharp. Again, it washes or wears away. That fat chalk marker is easy to see and remove, but it doesn’t make fine lines.

I hope this is helpful. Your mileage may vary, but these work for me. No affiliations with any of these. Have a great day!

Linking up with Kathleen McMusing

Lillie! I’ve sent you an email, Lillie. Thanks to everyone for playing along!

I have the three Es and Lola the pup here all week so life will be crazy. But I have blog posts scheduled ahead so stop on by anyway.

Have a great day!

I changed my mind. I had planned to hand quilt this, but as I was loading it on the long arm for basting, I decided to machine quilt instead. I realized hand quilting through those layers of applique was not going to be fun and would likely take forever.

So today, I will be slow stitching, but it will be binding rather than quilting.

Have. Great day!

No dollhouse work this week. Cleaning and sorting continues here and there in the sewing room. I put up these IKEA racks to help corral some of the little things.

The drawer of the desk above holds my leader/ender bits.

This little box had gotten to be a real mess. It is sorted again with just needles, pins, and thimbles.

I’ve now gone through my books. I can’t believe how many duplicates I had.

This is the discard pile.

These drawers under the long arm were a mess too.

I finally have all my quilt tops in one place.

This drawer holds backing fabrics. Yes, sometimes I use sheets.

When I posted my UFO list for the year, someone commented that it was perfectly legal to give a project away. So true! I’ve done this in the past and I’ve decided that I will do it again. Thanks for the reminder! Remember this stack of tumblers?

I would like to send them to anyone that wants them (US only due to postage costs). They are 4 inches finished height. You could use one to make a template to cut more. I cut these using my die cutter. There are over 250 here. Just leave me a comment saying you want them. If more than one person is interested, I’ll draw a name out of a hat.

ETA: Giveaway is now closed!

I have more cleaning and sorting to do, but this feels like a good start. I may have to hold an online garage sale to get rid of some of the stuff I’ve found! Have a great day!