Four quilts

Note to self, so I'll remember when I get back to these at some future date: I finished four quilt tops for the Martha Circle today. They will join others and find their way to the U.S. military hospital in Germany. Here's snapshots of them taken from EQ5 (gee, the more I use that program, the more I like it):




These aren't terribly interesting, but I had a couple objectives when I plotted these out:

- Use more blue fabric than the other fabrics. I have a lot of the blue and not as much of the others, so I'm trying to stretch the prints to be able to make more quilts. I succeeded at this. I cut more blue patches than any other single patch. I suspect, though, that if I used blue and only one other fabric, it would probably have been half and half.

- Learn to make triangles from a full square and practice what I learn. Here's the deal:

1. Cut two squares (contrasting fabrics) 7/8" bigger than your finished size (as contrasted with 1/2" larger if the square is one piece).
2. Mark the center diagonal, then sew a seam 1/4" from the center, on both side of the center mark.
3. Cut the fabric on the center diagonal line, and you have two squares, each made of a triangle of each of the fabrics you used.

This works just as the book said, and I was so pleased. I'm sure quilters can do this in their sleep. As a quilter-in-progress, I'm getting the hang of it

- See what kind of interesting variations I can make with this 20-square lap quilt. I don't know that I succeeded in making anything interesting, but they are different. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I may go back to the old alternating squares with the next set of quilt. Somehow, they turn out nicely!

I used my Sears machine to make these quilts, instead of my Bernina. Lauren made me a nice sewing table to fit around the free-arm, and I wanted to give it a good workout. Nice!! He'll make one for Donna's machine next. I think she will like it. When I was growing up, the machines all came with cabinets, and the sewing machine sat down inside the cabinet, making a nice level surface for sewing. These portable machines are really great for today's mobile society, but we lost something (as is usual) with the improvement.

Chopin was my background all day. I got out some of my old CDs and chose piano works (no orchestras), and it was such a pleasant thing to listen to the music. Maybe some day I'll get out some of my books and see if I can finger through some of this lovely music again.

Tomorrow's the monthly Saturday for Lydia Circle. This will be the last time I can go until next April because I'll be somewhere else on this Saturday until then. It's the same with the Martha Circle. I really enjoy the fellowship with the women from church as we sit and work with our hands and chat about this or that. Such a pleasant way to spend a morning.

Tomorrow afternoon, it's back to my In the Beginning ... quilt. I'm excited to get moving on it after a day away from it.