Dreamworthy Quilts

8/12/08 7:28 PM

I've had a fun day down in Spanish Fork doing county fair judging. I judged sewing this year and they had a ton of stuff. It's fun for me, but it's hard work deciding what ribbon to give. I want to be fair, but I don't want to discourage the kids from ever trying again. I love visiting with the other judges, and always meet someone new.

Anyway, I'm excited to have our retreat here in June. I've put the first week of June on my calendar, but if that doesn't work for everyone, at this point I don't have any conflicts any week in June. I think it's good to schedule early.

My quilt is going to be 41" square. My blocks are 13-1/2" square (odd size, but it works) and my border is about 6"; so I'm roughly half of yours. I too am just doing the sashing on the inside of the blocks. I think it will look much better that way.

I bought the bias tape makers a long time ago and have never used it; so now I finally get to pull it out and use it. Mine are just plastic bars in different sizes--is that what you have? I couldn't sleep last night thinking about how I want to do everything. I should never work on it before I go to bed because my brain won't shut down.

One of the things I kept thinking about was whether or not to have some of my leaves floating, and decided that it would probably be easier to do it that way. It just seems easier to put the vine on first, but I'll learn a lot once I start appliquéing.
I've got the drawings of the sunbursts to the size that I need--I'm just trying to decide on the best way to piece them. As far as putting the block together, I'm in favor of "y" seams, and I'm not intimidated by the curved seams. When I did the "Sunrise in the Pines" quilt for my mom's 80th birthday I appliquéd the round pieces because I couldn't get them to work out right by machine, and that worked fine so I figure if I run into problems I can always do that. These curves are not as tight; so I think it stitch together just fine. I am going to have to put a block together soon because I can't wait to see if it will all go together the way I want it to. I can't wait to see how my fabric colors are going to look. Hold off sending me patterns and I'll see if what I have is going to work. I just want to see if I can figure it out by myself, and if I have problems I'll be asking for help. Maybe I'm like Marian, Mamie and probably Dorinda--a little independent.

Thanks for all you do for me Deana. You are just the best and because of you my life is so much more fun.

Love,
Marie