St. Patrick's Day Dress

My husband told my granddaughter that she needed a green dress for St. Patrick's Day.  He told her I would make her one.  Then he started picking out fabrics.  So funny!  I went upstairs and found a shamrock print (with ladybugs?  why?) and quickly made a guess at the size.  I sewed it together pretty quickly but it was a little large.  So today, I took it in and made it shorter.  I added the sash, put binding around the neck and armholes, and hemmed it.  Today's sewing was way longer!  

 Here it is on Saydee.  She is never still, so it is blurry.  Her mom was trying to bribe her.  She was so excited about the dress, she danced all over the living room.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Carylynne and Cody's Wedding Quilt

My friend's daughter is getting married in May.  She is a beautiful young woman.  I met her when she was four.  She came to Kindergarten orientation with her parents and so much enthusiasm, she gave me a big hug.  I remembered her because she has the same name (spelled differently) as one of my daughters.  I did not end up teaching her that year but I had her for social studies in first grade.  Her mom began teaching at our school a year or two later.  We meet every Thursday morning for bagels before school.

The shower was today and I gave Carylynne the little quilt I made her.

Here is a little of the process.

I checked her registry and saw she had asked for yellow plates.  I thought I could make a wall quilt to go in her kitchen.  I love yellow and gray so that is what I pulled.

I decided to make another tube quilt.  They are fun and look more involved than they are.  I picked four gray and four yellow fabrics and cut 2 1/2 inch strips the width of the fabric. 

I sewed each gray to a yellow.  Then I sewed the pairs together to make four fabrics.  Then I closed up the tube by sewing the last seam.  

I ironed the sets flat and used spray starch to help stabilize them then used my 9 inch square ruler to cut triangles from the sets.  Starting on one end, I lined up the point of the square with the top seam and used the 6 inch mark on the sides of the square ruler.  I cut out the triangle, flipped over the ruler and cut again.  I made all 16 squares this way. 

I ironed them again (lots of bias edges) and laid them flat on my lovely design floor.

They made a nice chevron but I tried the square in a square design.  

First with the gray in the middle square.

Then with the yellow in the middle.
I took pictures of both and I liked the second one best, so I sewed the squares together.  I added a white border.  The top ended up about 27 inches square.

 I backed it with more gray.  I quilted it with a curvy stipple and put feathers all the way around the white border.  I used one of the original gray fabrics for the binding (Michael Miller Dumb Dot in Gray).  I love polka dots!

 Done!

I find that I feel like I am practicing all the time when I quilt.  Each time it feels a little easier.  Even if I feel less than perfect, the people I give my quilts to have no idea.  

And when I got to the shower, I found out that yellow and gray are Carylynne's wedding colors!  Tada!

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