Let's Book It January 2016

Let's Book It is back for 2016! I was so happy when Sharon at Vrooman's Quilts said she was continuing, I'm more than half way through my stack of magazines so 2016 is going to be my year to reclaim that shelf space.

I've been sewing for other people since the beginning of December, being responsible and whining ever so slightly about wanting to play. So the responsible thing to do is not miss the first link up, right? The first magazine in the stack had the perfect quilt, lots of color and really fast piecing.

McCall's Quilting June 2009

Jelly Beans by Michele Scott

Of course I just happened to have all of these wonderful colors in my stash :)

Isn't it just too much fun, bright and graphic. I left off the borders because....well I'll blame Sharon. 

The quilting was just stitch in the ditch and an outline, not a straight line anywhere because wonky is just fun. 

I had it done in just a few days and settled back down to the repair quilt. If your interested, I did take the back off, ditched the very thin old batting, replaced the torn blocks and used a really light fusible stabilizer on the remaining original blocks (they all had holes in the centers from the ties). New batting and a stitch in the ditch and it was done. I did not tie it again, my niece is starting to quilt and I think if it's important to her she can add the ties. It came out feeling nice and solid again and I'm hoping she uses it, I don't want that much loved quilt sitting on a shelf in the closet, that's just sad.

Please join us for Let's Book It, it's something you know you want to do, meaning it's a quilt you already have the directions or pattern for, plus there's an adorable little car as incentive. Change that to Bob Barker's voice and say "and a new car!!!" LOL.

Later Gators,

Dana

Help Please

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and you've all recovered. 

I spent most of December working on a custom quilt that I happily put in the mail right after New Year's, huge and not my usual colors but interesting to make. 

Sorry about the pictures, the sunshine state is not living up to it's name and Brady is right behind that quilt waiting to burst through. The woman I made it for has a bunch of my smaller quilts that she uses for table covers when she has garden parties. She asked me about making a large one for her dining room, 60" X 80" with the design in the center and the colors matching her carpet. I sent her three ideas and she picked this one. 

This is the center which is 40" X 60". It was pretty interesting and challenging, and the best part is done, in the mail and on it's way overseas. :)

I have one more project to do before I can play my way, although I did whip up a colorful quick quilt for this months Let's Book It, I really needed to play with some brights. 

This is my niece's quilt, her mother sent it to me asking me to repair it.

Again, no sun so I took the pictures inside. It's twin size and pretty basic, large blocks and tied.

Some of the minimal damage

The worst damage

The backing is a sheet with the sides turned up to make the binding, most of the ties are gone and some of the seams are separating. 

At first I was going to hand sew new blocks to replace the old and no idea about the seams. It would have to be done carefully since it couldn't show on the back. 

Now I wonder if I can take the backing off, it's hand sewn at the binding, but nothing except a few ties is really holding it and with the backing off I can replace and repair, probably replace the batting, put it back together and retie it.

Does anyone see anything wrong with this idea? I don't want to dismantle and find out it was a huge mistake. It seems logical to me, but well... logic and I are not the best of friends. 

Ideas, tips, prayers are all accepted, throwing it in the trash or just sending it back are NOT an option. 

Later Gators,

Dana