Life keeps getting in the way of my keeping up with my blog. I had great plans, but those were dashed by school assignments, another move, and many projects. I'm grateful for all that has been going on and hope to continue sharing here those changes.

First off, I've gained yet another grandchild! My oldest daughter and her husband have adopted a baby girl who missed sharing my daughter's birthday by just a few hours. Little Joslyn is just adorable and a true redhead! She's such a blessing to our family. With my son-in-law's older two girls, this makes six grands for me now. Big brother and sister, Joe (14) and Jordyn (11) are enjoying having Joslyn in the family, and little cousin Jacob (2-1/2) thinks she's pretty cute too!

Back to my quilting... Well, there have been too many projects to list as I attempt to play catch-up. One that I'm quite proud of is a set of wall hangings made for a friend to present as gifts earlier this year. I have been a member of Eastern Star for closing in on 40 years. I was asked to turn our Worthy Grand Matron's ideas into a quilted wall hanging for each of her officers. What began as a simple drawing came into reality and was duplicated 20 times! Everyone was so happy with them!

The design, made entirely of dupioni silk and shantung included a paper-pieced star with the points made in the five colors of the Eastern Star emblem, surrounded with ivory shantung which was machine embroidered and bordered in fuchsia and teal, the Worthy Grand Matron's colors for the year.

I was able to set up an assembly line for myself, making parts for each and assembling in what I think of as progressive chain piecing. Once they were all made, then I used 1/4" Steam-a-Seam 2 tape to seal the binding to the back before machine stitching from the front in the ditch of the binding seam.

Working with the silk was a challenge at times. I ended up adding a light weight fusible stabilizer to the shantung to make it more manageable. I also worked with a pinking blade in one of my rotary cutters to reduce fraying. It worked, but it sure did leave a lot of short little teal threads everywhere! My ironing board cover is still in need of some serious cleaning!

I have plans to write up instructions for these beautiful wall hangings, a task I probably should get to before I forget the details of how I went about it!

 

I made 20 total, 6 having already been presented when I took this picture. They measure 14" x 18" and were thank-you gifts for the Kansas Easter Star Grand Officers for 2014-2015. What a fun project to take a rough concept from my friend Donna and turn it into reality for her to present to each of her officers at their respective receptions!

My current project is another for this group--a special Christmas gift to the Worthy Grand Matron and Worthy Grand Patron (only two this time!) from their grand officers. They are nearly done, but can't be shown until after they receive their gifts next weekend. What fun being asked to create unique quilted items for my Star sisters and brothers. 

More snippets from the sewing room soon,
Liz