Happy 4th of July

Have you ever noticed that when you hand a baby a chunk of watermelon....they appear to have an innate ability to become one with the fruit? Nothing says the 4th of July to me, like a baby eating watermelon.

Do you ever have leftover charm packs, or bits of them, and don't know what to do with them? A disappearing 4 patch, started with 5" squares, finished at 48"x64". A nice lap quilt, quilted on straight lines and bound with 2 1/2" wide double fold binding....leftover from other projects, pieced together. A nice quick quilt.

Happy holidays...Elaine

Check out this giveaway

Carla has a giveaway going for several sets of blocks. She does such nice  work and has found these, hee,hee, our luck! While you're at her blog, scroll a bit until you find her stained glass quilt. Very inspiring indeed.

I belong to an online quilting bee and chose the disappearing 4 patch as my block o the month. These are the blocks I have received so far.

                                            
From left to right in vertical rows:
BeeBee~Lousiana
Kate~Australia
Lizzie~Australia
Sue~Australia   
Teresa~Michigan



Most of the fabrics are from the Origins line. Each member of this group is adding a special little touch of their own...aren't these blocks awesome? It's going to make a sweet quilt...JUST FOR ME ONLY. NOT TO SHARE OR TO GIFT OUT. Oops, sorry, no shouting, I know.

I'm getting a huge bunch of fabrics and pre-cuts in my etsy shop tomorrow, and yes, Origins has been re-ordered!

Off to bed for me, have a great rest of the week...Elaine                          

What a wonderful surprise!

I opened my email this morning, and nearly fell over reading the following letter:

Dear Elaine,


I came across your blog some weeks ago and I liked your tutorial of the disappearing 4 patch very much.



I started patchworking and quilting in October last year and I am still a real beginner but very eager to progress and to learn. Internet is a great place to find all kinds of ideas, tutorials and tecniques. Once per week I attend patchwork classes and I really enjoy it a lot: my teacher (Concha - http://concha-chic.blogspot.com/) is more a friend than a teacher and our group (we call us "las chicas de oro" - the golden girls) is a bunch of 8 women of different ages, different origins and cultural backgrounds but we form a wonderful group of women who found in patchworking a way of having a great time together.

Sorry if I make mistakes in my English, but it's a lot of time ago that I haven't used it and I am afraid it is somewhat "rusted".



I love reading your blog, your entries about your family, friendship, your animals (I am so sorry for your dog Christian's death... I have a lady-dog.. her name is Linda and she is 13 years old... I do not want to imagine my desperation the day she will not be with me...), your new-found sister, your life in Texas... I adore your home's porch! Such a porch is one of my unfulfilled dreams... the rocking chair... the flowers... nature....

Your posts transmit warmth, sensitivity and I think you must be a caring, cheerful and sensitive woman.



And now the reason of my mail... I wanted to show you my version of the disappearing 4 patch. I am planning a quilt for my grandaughter's bed. Her name is Brisa (Breeze in English) and she is a wonderful charming little lady of 1 year 1/2. After finishing her quilt, I will make the same (but with other colour combinations) for Niko, my grandson (he is 3).



I send you a foto of my two little sunshines and the disappearing 4 patches.



Lots of hugs from Spain,

Rose

http://rosepatchworkeando.blogspot.com/
 

I immediately wrote back to Rose and asked her permission to post her letter and pics and she graciously gave permission for me to post them. I love her blocks! Are they just the cutest? I went to her blog and also her teachers blog...these ladies are so delightful! I was humbled by Roses' letter. I want to thank whomever came up with blogs, for bringing me ladies, just like Rose, into my life!

A quick sidenote, when you go to these blogs, you better fix a snack and a hot cup of tea! Until next time, take care and just know that you do make a difference~~~Elaine

                                                                                      

Disappearing 4 patch for my sister!

Dear Georgie-Girl:
Here you go sister...a new pattern, just for you! I know you love the disappearing 9 patch...but, how about a 4 patch? Good, I'm glad you're intrigued, lol!

                                                                                           
Look thru your 5" blocks until you find a bunch of lights and darks.
See the upper pic on the right? 2 dark patches and 2 light patches, sew them together, like the pic, press.

Now grab that shape cutter and center it on the seam line. I want to make 1 1/2" cuts, so I centered the ruler on the 1 1/2" slot. Now if you cut thru the 0 and the 3 slots, you will get the 1 1/2", from the center, on both sides...see it?

Now make 2 cuts, one of them in the #3 slot and the #0 slot. Lift your ruler, turn your mat half way around and do the same thing again...until you have 4 cuts.

This is what it looks like after the 4 cuts. Easy peasy so far.

If you're anything like me, you're going to go make a sandwich or go to bed before you finish this block. So, Just remember, turn the double logs...and keep your eye on that tricky little center 4 patch. If you can't remember how the strips match up...

...the center 4 patch matches up with the outside patches...see it sister? Yeah, the flower is correct, the block is brown, lol!

Now, start sewing the rows into sections with the 1/4" seam allowance. Once you get the 3 sections done, sew them together and you have finished...taa daa!

Now get busy sister, you have to make a bunch of them! When I am more awake, I'll figure out how many I want to make. So far, they are very addicting and go fairly quick.

Do you like this block? I found it on a new to me quilting site. I might have to get carried away and make a bundle or two...how about you?

Love, sister

                 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

I'm joining up since I really need this!

I went to Carla's blog and saw this cute little button, yeah I know, I'm always the last one on board, lol. She is finishing an item a week for Christmas and showing pics...if you haven't been to her house, ya gotta run over and check out her mother in law's Christmas present! Very cool stuff. This is so what I need so I am not typically running full blast on the 23rd of December trying to finish 6 gifts in time...you KNOW what I am talking about! So I am jumping in. With all the grandchildren, and great grands (this is so weird...how can I be a great grandmother?) I need all the challenge I can get!          

This crib size quilt is for one of my new grand daughters. It's a d9p, using 5" charm squares, gleaned from various scrap packs of mostly Christmas fabrics, that I bought from my fellow etsy sellers. I added a 1.5" border and 3" outer border of fadey (is this a word?) red and white stripe. I used green #8 perle cotton and a big stitch, to outline stitch a string of Christmas bulbs on the stripe fabric. It reallyt didn't turn out as I had hoped, the big stitch, so no close ups on this baby! The baby will love it, so I do to! I have another cut out and ready to sew, almost the same, except I am using a fadey (non-word again!) green stripe on the outside border. This little quilt was done @ 2 weeks ago, but I procrastinate! Oops, almost forgot, I did straight line stitch of 3 rows, by machine, on the white inner border and a nearly stitch in the ditch for the rest of the inner quilt. The next one, I promise to show a close up!

The Red, White and Blue quilt top that I made in my oh my God, this was horrid tutorial little quilt along, is going to be pinned and quilted and sent off to wrap a wee one in, either in the Gulf  or to a Mountain baby. I will show a pic next week, after I quilt it. (There are so many people devestated in our Gulf, that will never recover....I'll save THAT for another post.)

The Christmas present I finished this week is my version of the Lucy Tote!  It actually started it's life as a possible diaper bag, but the recipient said it was way to big for a diaper bag...so now, it's just a tote. The new recipient will love it, but I can't say who it's for since she might read my blog! I machine quilted this one too. It is huge, lol. 15" high x 19" wide x 5" depth....and that's not including the handles. I used 100% cotton batt and a piece of Timtex in the bottom to retain it's shape. No pattern, I winged it! Aren't ya proud of me Ms.Lottie?  I guess this just goes to show ya I quilt like my grandma cooked...just a bit much!

 It has 2 pockets on each side, lined with the red and white polka dots in the inside and quilted in a grid pattern.

I found a "new" pattern on The Quilt Forum, like I NEED a new pattern? Maybe for next week? Check it out...have you seen this before? I love it...the disappearing 4 patch!

 Back to my sewing, Elaine