Throwback Thursday; 47 Year Old Potholder

The other day when I was digging around in my sewing desk, I came across this potholder that I made when I was around nine or ten years old. It's crocheted from Phentex yarn, which is totally useless for a potholder because it would melt if heated. I designed and embroidered the flower, which has dozens of french knots on it. A gift for Mom, 47 years ago.

Yahoo! A Ten Year Old UFO Finally Finished!

I finally got around to finishing this 10-year-old UFO. It was a mystery quilt that was hosted by our guild. I don't remember the designer or the name of the pattern. The quilting was just about finished on it, then I became discouraged

because I didn't like the star design I used. I dug it back out last week and finished the quilting. I put the binding on it today. It's going to be a donation quilt.

Throwback Thursday; Waves of Coffee Through Time

I made "Waves of Coffee Through Time" in 2000 as an entry in a quilt challenge that a local fabric store hosted. The theme was "A Journey Through Time" if I remember right. We had to buy several fat quarters of a certain fabric line and have the quilt mostly made up of those fabrics, we were allowed to add a tiny amount of a different fabric. This was a difficult challenge because all of the fabrics were a medium tone, there wasn't much contrast. I used black embroidery floss to outline the shapes, hoping they would stand out better.

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

I was machine quilting tonight and the polyester embroidery thread was jumping off the spool and getting tangled. I needed one of those nets that you put over the spool so the thread doesn't spring off. I took an old pantyhose knee high stocking and cut a section from it and put the spool inside. No more tangles! Some kinds of thread are springier than others, this would also work well with metallic thread.

New Life For Old Quilt Blocks

Quite often I start making a bunch of quilt blocks, intending to make a queen size quilt. After awhile, I lose interest and shove them in a box, thinking I'll get back to them another time. I was digging around in the block box the other day and discovered these blocks that were in there since the mid-90s. I realized that there would be enough of them if I made a small quilt. I got the centre part assembled, then looked for border fabric. I tried several different colours, nothing looked right until I put the two colours of grey next to it. I'm going to attempt to do some simple quilting on it, then give it away as a comfort quilt. The reason I say "simple" quilting is because I tend to quilt too densely and it takes forever to finish. The quilt top has been "Casper approved" (cat) After it's all finished, I'll give it a good going over with a lint roller to get kitty hair off it. The only time she is on it is for the photo, after that I don't let her sit on it.

Throwback Thursday; Crown of Thorns

There isn't a label on this Crown of Thorns quilt, I think I made it in the early 90s. I used templates and hand pieced the blocks, then machine quilted it. Now that I look at it, I'm horrified that I used invisible thread, I don't use that kind anymore. There are much nicer thread choices these days!

Throwback Thursday; Fractured Stars

I made "Fractured Stars" in 2003. It's made with the "stack and slash" method, then hand quilted. I think it's the last time I ever hand quilted anything, I just don't have time anymore.