I Found a Monkey Wrench

A couple of weeks ago, at a yard sale, I found the quilt top pictured above. It's a "Monkey Wrench" pattern. The price? Three dollars. The lady who had it for sale makes welder's caps out of cotton material. She made these blocks from leftover material from that project. I love the various colors and patterns.

Plain Colors

Awhile back, I was working on an Amish-style wall hanging in a "Trip Around the World" pattern. It was a little tedious sewing together squares that end up 1 inch by one inch, but it was coming together well. I got it mostly sewn together, except for the last three rows. Then ... the knitting and crocheting bug hit, and off I went on that tangent. So a little stack of 3-rows'-worth of plain-colored squares has been sitting on my table for .... uh .... a LONG time. Today I finally put some of the knitting and crocheting away for awhile, and got back on some quilting projects. High on the list was to get these LAST THREE ROWS DONE. So here, I've sewn the rows, and am now pinning them on and sewing them one by one.



Ta-daaa! Now all it needs is a border, then to be quilted and bound. I have a lot of projects on my list that need "borders, quilted and bound." It's cutting border material that puts me off. So I'll just have to sit down and tackle that particular step sometime.



Closeup views.






Then, something new I started today was to begin cutting out pieces for a "Tumblers" pattern quilt. Probably not a big quilt, but colorful for sure.

Thrift Store Finds

Found some treasures at the thrift store today.


A printed panel with a horse theme - I think I'll make this into a pillow for a young girl at church who LOVES horses. :)




Found three BIG blocks in crisp red and white material, in a kind of "Irish Chain" variation (?). May make a big table runner out of this, or something to put on the back of the couch perhaps.




A closeup of the red and white blocks.




Then, there was this little treasure. I've always admired the "Cathedral Window" pattern." It's not technically quilting, but the way you sew it, it ends up fairly thick and heavy. Evidently, this was "in progress."




But I love seeing the colors and patterns in the center fabrics ...




... very interesting, reminding one of stained glass. Hence, "Cathedral Window." These "blocks" are bigger than most I've seen.




A square of colorful fabric pinned on, perhaps was next in line to be added?




A needle and thread is stuck into one corner, having been worked in some quilting or stitching lines.




Colorful fun, with a mystery story of where it came from.

Finally!

FINALLY got done with the bindings on the mug rugs. I knew it would just take some sit-down time, and it would get done. Yesterday was that day. And, the corners weren't so bad. Sometimes it's just the *thought* of something that holds you back. But when you finally take action, it's not as difficult as you thought.


Yesteday was cloudy, cold and blustery, so it was good to sit inside and work on these. Here's looking at the binding-sewing in progress.



Done! The green-bordered one already went to its new home, so these four are left to send out soon to THEIR new homes.



Retro prints.



Calico.



Red, white and blue.



Red and pink.



This was a fun project, I may have to make more! Sometime in the future, after I work on 493 (give or take) other quilting, crocheting and knitting projects.

Gaining

Today, I was finally able to send off the completed mug rug (that you see in the photo below) to its new owner. So ... I am gaining! However, I'm off on a knitting tangent, so the sewing and quilting have been a little neglected lately. But I haven't altogether forgotten it, just going through a "phase," and I MUST KNIT. But I'll get back to the sewing and quilting here after awhile. :) Meanwhile, those other four STILL need the bindings sewn!

Here are a couple of pictures of some early projects. First, is a baby comforter I made the first time I was expecting. Simple, big squares, and tied. I needed a "simple" project back then!




Two college friends gave me their mom's material scraps, so I made them each a quilt. This is the 9-Patch made for the younger sister. When Mom and I quilted there at home, we put it in Grandma C's quilt frame, and had it set over the dining table. Mom helped me quilt this one. I had fun putting the various materials together in the blocks.

I Am Procrastinating

And I think I figured out why.


The mug rug on the right is done. The four on the left are NOT. All they need is the binding stitched down on the back. But I keep putting it off. Because ...



... I think I would rather stitch binding on a big quilt with only FOUR corners, than these little mug rugs with TWENTY corners. It's the corners that are my undoing!