Time to link up your UFOs

 With Thanksgiving and being stressed out about this quilt I almost forgot to put up the link for your UFOs. I will keep the link up into December which will give you plenty of time to do your post about your UFOs you finished this month.

So after soaking the quilt for 5 hours and then washing it 5 more times with 5 color catcher sheets each time. The last wash the sheets came out white but the quilt still looks the same. When I showed it to Mr. P. he made the comment that maybe I used two different brands of off white fabric for the sashing. I really don't think I did. But it is still a mystery why some of the sashing changed and other didn't.

I really appreciate all your comments. They were a great help. I couldn't reply back to some of you because you are connected to Google+. I am not connected to Google+so your comments don't come to my email. I guess it is because I am not connected to your circle. I do appreciate your comments though.

There were lots of great suggestions. A few said that I should go ahead and give the quilt to the couple. Mr. P. and my daughter think I should do that too. So I believe I am going to ahead and give it to them.

With Passion,
Carrie P.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Psalm 100:4  Enter His gates with thanksgiving, And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him; bless His name.


With Passion,
Carrie P.

The Good and The Bad

Remember I mentioned in a post I was working on another Christmas quilt that is a gift? I finished it. Here is the top all finished.

 I took it to Laura who did her magic on the quilt. This is a pattern from a book by Carrie Nelson called Schnibbles Times Two. I asked Laura to try to quilt the same designs on the original quilt. She did! You can't tell so much in this photo but...

Look at the back of the quilt. Isn't it great?!  She quilted feathers on the border in black thread so you can really see that but she made beautiful feathers. So this is the "good" part. If you need a quilt done in time for Christmas you can check out Laura's quilting services on her blog--Tanderwen Quilts.

Now for the "bad" which just makes me sick. Remember this quilt I made as a gift too?

I washed it and look what happened!!! The black and some of the red border bleed into the sashing. But look close how it bled. The white sashing around and through the horizontal parts is now gray except for the outer left side. I don't understand why the vertical white sashing didn't change colors too.

Here you can see some of the red that bled onto it too.

The red and black fabric was old and had been washed when I first bought it. I always wash my fabrics. But being as old as it was I didn't know about color catchers. I was more worried about the charms in the center to the quilt bleeding because I usually don't prewash charm packs. I decide to be safe. I put 4 color catcher sheets in the washer. I pulled the quilt out and was horrified. So I washed it again with 4 more sheets. Look at all the dye.

Now what to do? Should I wash it again? Should I tea dye it? Or just forget about giving it as a gift. Any suggestions. There is no way I can make another quilt in time for Christmas. I am just sick about this "bad" quilt. Ugh!!!!!

With Passion,
Carrie P.

Scalloped Border Tutorial

Did you get to visit Jane's blog to see my entry for the Love of Embroidery tour? If not you can go here to see my projects. I thought I would share a tutorial with you on how I made the inside scalloped border. This old page out of a magazine was my inspiration.

For this project you definitely need some kind of graph paper. As you can see from the drawing  the sides and the bottom have to be in even increments. I measurement  the size of the project I wanted to frame so that the scallops would fit around it. I counted the spaces on the graph paper and placed dots where the curved edges would meet. I think you can see where the dots are on the high and low places.

Then I cut out the center

and the outside edges.

This is the size I wanted the frame to be around my embroidery project.

Next I marked the fabric in the corner with a little dot using a water eraserable blue pen. It is hard to see but maybe if you enlarge the photo you can see it. This helped me later when I got ready to place the top border fabric in place.

Next I cut out the center.

I have several of these very helpful books when I need some help trying to figure out a technique.

I wanted to make a mitered border for my frame.

First I cut out strips of fabric.

Next using that blue dot on my background fabric I pressed the mitered border.

The book shows using painters tap to make you miters stay in place.

With the tape holding my fabric I can then sew the strips together.

Trimmed and ironed.

Sorry I could get the picture for this next step in focus but I used the paper pattern to trace the scallop design on my border fabric. I used the water erasable pen again.

I pinned it to the background fabric

I hand appliqued the inside edge to the background using matching thread. I used needle turn applique. Once I had it appliqued I trimmed the background 1/4" from the edge even with the blue fabric.  Here is my project all finished. I hand quilted 1/4" from the inside scallop. I decided to sew the layers together without binding. You can see how to do this technique here.  It is a great way to finish small quilts. The embroidery pattern is from my friend Michelle at The Raspberry Rabbits.

If you have any questions just leave them in the comment box and I will try to answer them. Maybe you  can try this technique on a little quilt.

With Passion,
Carrie P.

Celtic Applique

Yesterday I taught another quilt class. This time it was Celtic applique. Three ladies signed up to take the class and here are their blocks.

 This batik one is finished because the student that made this block used fusible strips on her bias. She will now sew her knot with the sewing machine.

This is the pattern I teach from. I finished one of the blocks. This is one of the easier blocks. The one above is the one I show the students how to make because it has mitered sections which can be a little tricky but as you can see they all are making beautiful blocks.

With Passion,
Carrie P.