Little Sampler

In the midst of some store re-arranging a week or so ago, I took a little quilt top off the wall and decided that it was high time that it was finished.  Last Friday, I layered and basted.

Yes, I still baste with needle and thread.  I don't like safety pins, REALLY don't like the chemical smell of sprays and don't mind the basting process. Years ago I was the lucky recipient of boxes (and boxes) of cone thread from a local garment factory.  I gave it to the students in my classes, two quilt guilds, and I still have lot of it left.  Call me old fashioned. 

I've used this little pattern twice to teach beginner classes.  My first sample had 6 blocks and hand quilting.  This one has brighter colors and 9 blocks.  I wanted this sample quilted NOW, so headed to the machine (see, I'm not so old fashioned after all).

Quilting on Tuesday morning, binding on Wednesday morning.  Today I'll add a hanging sleeve.  To get around the problem of binding thread catching on the quilting foot, I make small stitches on the top and large stitches on the bottom - an uneven basting stitch.  I hardly ever get stuck anymore.

I found a cute print for the backing. 

We had a tiny bit of snow here in Eastern North Carolina early Wednesday morning.  Guess I'd better post a token snow picture, too. View from the front window of the store. It's not as pretty today, after half of it has melted.

The Zippered Bag

From this:

To this:

Many Thanks to Sue N. who showed the Friday afternoon bunch how to make these little zippered bags with front pockets.  Pretty quick and easy.  I may just have stumbled upon a new Christmas present/craft show idea!

A lot of my energy this week has gone toward getting two new beginner quilting classes off the ground.  We are making sampler blocks, so that they can experience a little bit of many different methods.  Maybe I'll be able to show you some of their efforts at a later date.

Pagoda Fun

This project was last seen way back on November 14.  It's the "Pagodas" pattern from Maple Island Quilts.

Many things have gotten in my way:  Thanksgiving, Christmas, challenge quilt deadline and shop hop quilt deadline.  I was so happy to hand over the shop hop quilt top to the machine quilter yesterday!  It has to stay a secret until February 5, the day the hop starts.

With all of those things out of the way, I was free to go back to the Pagodas project.  I worked on it Wednesday and Thursday, taking time out for a night of BRIDGE, and put the borders on last night.  It is 48" square, large wall hanging or small throw?  Either way, I like it!

What's next?  I'm taking it easy this afternoon with some sewing friends. One has promised to show us how to make little zippered pouch.  I am assembling my supplies now.