Whew! A long week...and a wee surprise!

It's been a long week...and I'll tell you more about that in a minute. First, a little wee surprise today from Rosalyn B. of New Jersey...these lovely pieces from some formal gowns and a cute little set of buttons. Thanks so much Rosalyn...I so needed a smile today, and your sweet gift was just the thing!

I've been working on my brother's king size quilt this week. It just came back from the machine quilter...and honesty, I gave her a real problem. Not intentional...but the backing was way too narrow so she had to add fabric to it. I'm so glad that she understood and did that for me...so, I'm working to get the binding on. First the binding was made...next came attaching it to the quilt. Let me say...when you have a tiny little space to work in...a king size quilt is just a big ole bear!  

Then, I trimmed the backing up to the edge and decided to use the serger to overlock the edge. I read somewhere that this helped to flatten the quilt and made rolling the binding over easier. Well, it does do that...but the corners are a bit tricky...and of course I messed that up, and had to do a little needle magic to make mine even look adequate. Good thing my brother is not a critic...and doesn't sew.  

So, today...I'm finishing up the last side of the quilt...sewing the binding down to the back...by hand. Then, I discover that about 1/2" of the backing has been trimmed too close. Not by me...but by the quilter, probably by mistake I'm sure. Most likely, she was taking if off the frame...late at night...and didn't realize her scissors were catching on some of the backing near the trim line. So, now...I've got to go and add a piece of backing to the area...by hand...before finishing the binding. This is quickly turning into one of my "quilts from hell" in my memory!   So, Rosalyn...I needed a nice thing to happen today...and you did that for me! THANKS!

How High Can You Count?

Apparently, for me...it is some number LESS than 100! Why? Because I needed exactly 100 blocks for the center of my brother's king size Double Layer Cake quilt...and I counted these blocks more than once. Then, I took them to retreat so that I could finish the quilt top...ONLY to find that I only had 98!

  Geez! I'm telling you...I Need A Keeper!  

Double Layer Cake Quilt

No, not an eating cake...a fabric cake!I've been cutting fabric, and sewing blocks for a Double Layer Cake quilt for my brother. It will be king size (100 blocks plus borders) and will be for their bedroom...the room I made the black drapes with herringbone white/black trim.They are scrappy...and I'm using load of the black on white and the white on black fabric from my stash. So, this is also a good stash-busting kind of project.
The blocks are nine inches finished. They begin with a large stack of 10-inch squares of fabric. Each of these squares is cut into two pieces...a 3.5" x 10 inch...and a 6.5" x 10 inch. (sorry no photo before sewing back together)  

The stacks of fabric pieces are shuffled to mix them up...and then these two pieces are sewn back together...making a new stack of blocks that are 9.5" x 10". They are mixed up so that you don't sew two "matching" fabric back together...how dumb would that be?...but, it has to be said. Hugs!  

 Next, rotate the blocks...and cut into two pieces that are 5" x 9.5". Each of these new pieces now has two fabric in them...because they share a piece from both of the previous fabrics.  

Shuffle the stack again, divide the stack in half...rotate one half so that the smaller square from the half's is towards the outside on each stack.  

 Sew these together, and you'll have a stack of blocks that not measure 9.5" square. The Double Layer Cake block is complete. 

  Assemble in rows, then sew the rows together to form the center of the quilt. Add borders if you like. Layer the quilt top with batting and a backing fabric...and quilt this sandwich of layers. Lastly, finish off the raw edge with a binding...and you have a quilt! Here is a computer rendition of the idea...using only four types of fabric...and I'm using about fifteen (I just didn't want to work that hard on the laptop). I'll be sewing my rows all weekend! It takes some time and effort...but is an easy-quick block to create. I stitches cut, stacked, stitched, ironed, re-stacked, shuffled, stitched, ironed...and now have 100 blocks done. It took me two days...and that's not all I have done.

   I also got a little CQ Stitching done yesterday too! The letter "S" was stem-stitched on one of my unfinished-object (UFO) blocks.