Another detour -

My first Lion quilt was made about 40 years ago -

And documented in my Quilt Journal - HERE - ;))

So now there are three more Lions that need quilting -

Khaki -

Gold -

And brown/pink - ;))

The khaki and gold ones have a mane with a "swirly" pattern on the fabric -

Which may or may not be easy to follow with some Free-Motion Quilting - ;))

The brown/pink has flowers that probably won't show much quilting -

Just the texture -

And the bottom of the brown/pink one is a pink gingham -

So I will probably use a white thread to have it blend in as much as possible -

BUT -

Before I play with the Lions -

I want to get better at following lines on something that won't show all of my little boo-boos "design elements" -

So I pulled out the Christmas panel -

Do You See What I See -

That has been in the "pile to be quilted" for some time now - ;))

I found some thread colors that will really blend in -

The more "invisible" - the better - ;))

Besides - this is the last day of July -

And everyone knows we need a little Christmas in July - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

A bit of zig-zag stitching-

Around the face - and for the whiskers and mouth -

On a couple of "Lion" quilts that were in the pile to be quilted - ;))

Some more zig-zag stitching around the bottom of the mane -

Until I got the thread caught on something -

Turned it over -

And found this -

Stuck to the back -

Well, that's not good -

That part belongs on the sewing machine -

Not sewn to the back of the quilt - ;))

And wouldn't you know -

I was THIS far from the end - ;))

So I fixed that -

Got the manes sewn down -

And the tails and the "feet" stitched in - ;))

I have a little clean-up still to do -

Remove the basting stitches and neaten it all up -

Then I'll take some "glamour" shots - ;))

Stay tuned - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Another finish -

My Easter Sudoku Quilt sat for a while waiting to be quilted -

While I tried to get my sewing/quilting mojo back -

Playing with some potholders - ;))

In the end - I finally just "went for it" -

And quilted some Free-Motion "Swirly thingys" in the border -

"Swirly thingys" - that's a technical quilting term, right? -

Then added the binding - ;))

Here's a close-up of the bottom left corner -

And to finish it off - I added the label to the back - ;))

So - another one is DONE!! - ;))

I think that's the last of the Sudoku Quilts that I have made so far -

One for each month of the year except for August and September - ;))

I still need to check my stash for suitable fabrics for those -

I'm thinking August will have a "Summer Vacation/Beach" theme -

And September will have a "Back-To-School" theme -
Maybe with primary colors and black/white sashing/cornerstones - :))

And while I ponder that -

I have a huge pile of stuff that needs to be QUILTED -

So - if my mojo is back -

I better get to it - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Some potholders -

For a friend who likes to cook - ;))

These were inspired by a free pattern by Vivika Hansen DeNegre -
That I found on Quilting Daily - HERE -

Vivika is the editorial director of Quilting Arts, Modern Patchwork, and related titles. In addition to writing and reading about quilts, she enjoys the creative process of the craft, including hand and machine stitching.

I switched up parts of her tutorial - and made mine a little differently - ;))

I started with a package of Insul-Brite® - Needle Punched Insulated Lining -
And cut ten squares 8" x 8" -

Then cut some Warm & Natural™ into five - 8" squares -

And gathered five 1/4 yard lengths of fabric - 9" x 40" -

Pressed the fabrics -
Opened them up -
Layered them RIGHT SIDE UP -

Started at the RIGHT end of the stack -
Cut a section 8" wide (8" x 9")-
And six strips @ 2" wide (2" x 9") -

Set the 8" section and two of the strip sets aside for the time being -
Shuffled the first four stacks -

And sewed the strips together in sets of four -
Pressing them like so -

Then sewed each set into a "tube" -

Cut the "tube" into four 2" segments -

Un-sewed each set in a stair-step design - like Trip Around The World -

You can see how the segment seams will "nest" when they are sewn together -

Sewed them together -

Got five "tops" -
With four fabrics in each -

Took one of the two strip set piles that had been set aside earlier -
Cut the strips down to 6-1/2" -

Then for each "top" -
Found the "fifth" fabric that was not used in the "center" -
And sewed the 6-1/2" strip to one side -

Pressed all of the seams to the RIGHT -

Cut the remaining strip set stack to 8" -
And the 8" section to an 8" square -

Added the matching 8" strip to the long side of the block -

Pressed it all nice and neat -

And started making my stacks -
Insul-Brite® - shiny side down -
Warm & Natural™ -
Insul-Brite® - shiny side up -
Backing 8" square - right side up -
"Top" - right side down -

When I stitched around it - leaving a 3" opening - and turned it inside out -

It was WAAAY too stiff -

So I "unsewed" it - and tore one of the squares on the side -

Rats!  -

Guess that "test" one will be added to my scrap bin - ;))

Do over -

And because I didn't really like the part that said to "turn it inside out - and hand stitch the opening closed" -

I found some pre-packaged Wide Single Fold bias tape in an olive green to use for binding -

Thinking that I could just change the layering sequence -

Leave out one of my Insul-Brite® layers -

And bind them like little mini-quilts - ;))

Which I did -

Backing 8" square - right side down -
Insul-Brite® - shiny side down -
Warm & Natural™ -
"Top" - right side up -

I sewed the bias tape to the back and folded it to the front - stitching it down with a decorative stitch -

Then I quilted them "in the ditch" in the middle square and the 9-patch around that -

You can see the quilting better from the back - ;))

Quick little project - except for the "unsewing" - and maybe just what I needed to get my sewing/quilting mojo back - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -

Not much -

Sewing going on around here lately -

Because I think I lost my mojo a couple of weeks ago -

Right after I finished up the St. Patrick's Day Sudoku Quilt -

And the Valentine's Day Sudoku Quilt - ;))

I still haven't decided what to do with the borders on the Easter Sudoku Quilt -

If only my mojo would come back -

And give me a clue - ;))



Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -