Time to assemble the quilt top. Sections numbered?...check. A French Braid is assembled on the diagonal and each section is stair stepped up half the width of the adjacent accent. The finished squares are 2" so I measured in 1", put a mark and then lined the mark up with the seam of the adjacent section. When I made the sets, sewing end to end, I was careful to attach the sets on the salvage so that when I started the assembling, which is attaching the sides together, I would be dealing with the bias and would be able to stretch it to match it up. I was pleasantly surprised that not much stretching was required! Since I was careful about the labeling of the sections and also about keeping the labeling numbers in the proper perspective (right side up), it went together easily.
Yesterday I spent the day enjoying May Day activities since my husband, Tim, is a Morris Dancer. But today, it was time to get back to work on the French Braid wall hanging....only sections D and B were left to make. Section D is exactly the same as section C but with yellow squares where the orange ones are. Section B are these long strips that go between the sections, sort of like sashing. I was quite excited to get both of these sections done because it meant that I could then start the layout on my design wall and finally see how this was going to end up looking.
Today I finally got back to working on the french braid wall hanging. The next step was to made the C & D sections. These sections are exactly the same except that section C is orange and D is yellow. Today was going to be section C day. Looking at the diagrams of the C & D sections, I noticed there are Y sets on the end of both of them so I cut out some blue and green 2 1/2" strips from my pile of scraps and made 8 Y sets. Since I had used up all my G sets in making the A & E sections last week, I needed 4 more of those plus 2 more S sets. I tried to use a variety of different blue and green scraps since this is indeed a scrap quilt.. Once I had them made, the fun could then begin.
Took a pause from the french braid wall hanging to make a new apron and a matching hot pad today This fabric is so much fun with the peacock feathers, beaks and eyes peeking out from it. The scraps from the apron will be used in a tri-colored apron that will have the lime green background in the hot pad as one side of the apron and the orange, the peacocks and green on the tri-colored side. I know i would love getting something like this for Mother's Day and hopefully someone sees it and thinks the same thing! Such a beautiful Spring day so I am going to go outside and enjoy what is left of it.
Today is Earth day so I think it is appropriate that I am sewing with all these lovely Spring colors. The more I look at these colors, the happier I get! I posted the picture of the labeled sets out on FB yesterday and my friend Margaret commented that it was the new SLT (Sandra Lee Tobin) alphabet. So here we are, day three. Day One was looking over the directions and making the 9 patch blocks, day two, working on the sets and as you can see from the photo, day three is assembling the A and E units. A and E required 3 more sets that I did not make yesterday: G, X & Z.
Once I got the sets done, it was time to get some exercise. I am a member of the YMCA. I try to get there every day but since the weather has gotten nicer, I have been walking more. I love this since I get to enjoy all the wonderful colors of Spring! Today as I was walking I realized that the flowers that are out this time of year along with the wonderful blue sky and the green leaves that come out along with the wonderful spring flowers are exactly the colors I am working with on this project. No wonder I am enjoying working on it!
At the beginning of the year, I bought the book French Braid Tranformation by Jane Hardy Miller. I have always been fascinated by french braid design quilts and the quilt featured on the cover was wicked colorful and looked like a great scrap project. Since the background is blue and green scraps and the braid is yellow and orange, I began collecting those color scraps. Earlier this week, I photocopied the instructions so I could make my own notes on them, having already decided I would not be tackling a king size bed quilt, which is what the cutting instructions are for, but a table runner. This way I can get the feel for how it is made without the time commitment.
I am doing my best today to stay busy and to stay strong. You can see the post 2 days ago that my brother-in-law, Ted, marathons. The point of the matter is that he would have been crossing the finish line when the first bomb went off and my husband Tim would have been standing down Boylston as a spectator watching him pass at pretty much the point where bomb # 2 went off but he chose to run in Rhode Island this weekend. To stay sane I am staying busy.
No, I haven't taken up weaving. I joined Pinterest a few months ago and I wrote about taking a workshop on how to use it as a tool for my business a few weeks ago. I was cruising around on Pinterest the other day when low and behold, I see a picture of a very familiar scarf. Further investigation....yup, that was indeed the scarf that I had commissioned Elisabeth Hill to weave for my daugher's birthday a few years ago.
Decided to made a bigger bowl and experiment with colors! Then I decided to send both bowls (the one in the previous blog and this one) back to Ohio with my brother-in-law Ted as gifts for his wife and his daughter. He flew in this weekend to run a marathon in Rhode Island. Yeah, I know, isn't there this big huge marathon in Boston like on Monday?? Yeah. He has run that one several times.
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Time to assemble the quilt top. Sections numbered?...check. A French Braid is assembled on the.JPG)
diagonal and each section is stair stepped up half the width of the adjacent accent. The finished squares are 2" so I measured in 1", put a mark and then lined the mark up with the seam of the adjacent section. When I made the sets, sewing end to end, I was careful to attach the sets on the salvage so that when I started the assembling, which is attaching the sides together, I would be dealing with the bias and would be able to stretch it to match it up. I was pleasantly surprised that not much stretching was required! Since I was careful about the labeling of the sections and also about keeping the labeling numbers in the proper perspective (right side up), it went together easily.
Yesterday I spent the day enjoying May Day activities since my husband, Tim, is a Morris Dancer. But today, it was time to get back to work on the French Braid wall hanging....only sections D and B were left to make. Section D is exactly the same as section C but with yellow squares where the orange ones are. Section B are these long strips that go between the sections, sort of like sashing. I was quite excited to get both of these sections done because it meant that I could then start the layout on my design wall and finally see how this was going to end up looking.
Today I finally got back to working on the french braid wall hanging. The next step was to made the C & D sections. These sections are exactly the same except that section C is orange and D is yellow. Today was going to be section C day. Looking at the diagrams of the C & D sections, I noticed there are Y sets on the end of both of them so I cut out some blue and green 2 1/2" strips from my pile of scraps and made 8 Y sets. Since I had used up all my G sets in making the A & E sections last week, I needed 4 more of those plus 2 more S sets. I tried to use a variety of different blue and green scraps since this is indeed a scrap quilt.. Once I had them made, the fun could then begin.
.jpg)
Took a pause from the french braid wall hanging to make a new apron and a matching hot pad today This fabric is so much fun with the peacock feathers, beaks and eyes peeking out from it. The scraps from the apron will be used in a tri-colored apron that will have the lime green background in the hot pad as one side of the apron and the orange, the peacocks and green on the tri-colored side. I know i would love getting something like this for Mother's Day and hopefully someone sees it and thinks the same thing! Such a beautiful Spring day so I am going to go outside and enjoy what is left of it.
Today is Earth day so I think it is appropriate that I am sewing with all these lovely Spring colors. The more I look at these colors, the happier I get! I posted the picture of the labeled sets out on FB yesterday and my friend Margaret commented that it was the new SLT (Sandra Lee Tobin) alphabet. 
So here we are, day three. Day One was looking over the directions and making the 9 patch blocks, day two, working on the sets and as you can see from the photo, day three is assembling the A and E units. A and E required 3 more sets that I did not make yesterday: G, X & Z. 
Once I got the sets done, it was time to get some exercise. I am a member of the YMCA. I try to get there every day but since the weather has gotten nicer, I have been walking more. I love this since I get to enjoy all the wonderful colors of Spring! Today as I was walking I realized that the flowers that are out this time of year along with the wonderful blue sky and the green leaves that come out along with the wonderful spring flowers are exactly the colors I am working with on this project. No wonder I am enjoying working on it!
At the beginning of the year, I bought the book French Braid Tranformation by Jane Hardy Miller. I have always been fascinated by french braid design quilts and the quilt featured on the cover was wicked colorful and looked like a great scrap project. Since the background is blue and green scraps and the braid is yellow and orange, I began collecting those color scraps. Earlier this week, I photocopied the instructions so I could make my own notes on them, having already decided I would not be tackling a king size bed quilt, which is what the cutting instructions are for, but a table runner. This way I can get the feel for how it is made without the time commitment. 
I am doing my best today to stay busy and to stay strong. You can see the post 2 days ago that my brother-in-law, Ted, marathons. The point of the matter is that he would have been crossing the finish line when the first bomb went off and my husband Tim would have been standing down Boylston as a spectator watching him pass at pretty much the point where bomb # 2 went off but he chose to run in Rhode Island this weekend. To stay sane I am staying busy.
No, I haven't taken up weaving. I joined Pinterest a few months ago and I wrote about taking a workshop on how to use it as a tool for my business a few weeks ago. I was cruising around on Pinterest the other day when low and behold, I see a picture of a very familiar scarf. Further investigation....yup, that was indeed the scarf that I had commissioned Elisabeth Hill to weave for my daugher's birthday a few years ago. .JPG)
Decided to made a bigger bowl and experiment with colors! Then I decided to send both bowls (the one in the previous blog and this one) back to Ohio with my brother-in-law Ted as gifts for his wife and his daughter. He flew in this weekend to run a marathon in Rhode Island. Yeah, I know, isn't there this big huge marathon in Boston like on Monday?? Yeah. He has run that one several times.