modern quilting Archives - Gray Barn Designs

Here’s what it looks like at the farm on this blustery, gray, cold morning. The bit of blue makes it beautiful.

So…with a month and two days of time between now and Christmas Day, it seems that every little moment counts if I’m going to reach my quilt project goals.

Cindy helped me finish my string quilt top, while Ms. G. quilted it. The binding has been attached, the giant gift bag has been purchased and now only two tasks remain: afix the label (created by Cindy) and wait for the giftee to be sprung from her kindly by none-the-less prison-like nursing home. We’re relieved to know that a suitable apartment has been found for my mothers’ friend and she will be moving in to the new place on or about December 1. I can’t wait to see what she thinks of her new bed quilt.

I’ve attached almost all of the borders for 1 of 2 Canada quilts. I have two more wide borders to complete and it will be ready for Ms. G. and her magic long-arm. This is the teal/navy version for the older of the two girls.

Queen-sized version of Cindy’s Garden Gate Pattern

I am super happy about how it is coming together! My only concern: I’m about to run out of thread! Seriously, I’m going to buy a truckload of this stuff, because I can’t make it through the last months of quarantine without it! It has been a lifeline.

I’m hanging out at the farm for a few days so I can help mom isolate before we get our small family together for Thanksgiving dinner. It is certainly not the holiday we hoped for, but everyone is safe for now and that is all we can wish for during this trying episode.

I am offering thanks for all the scientists and health care workers who are giving their lives to save ours. Let’s all stay inside and sew so we can help save the world! Happy Thanksgiving week!

While Cindy has been holding down the blog fort, I’ve been staycationing and wallowing in my “world is out of control” funk. No more. I’ve got to shake these blues and maybe the best way to do this is to bring out the reds — you know which ones — the postage stamp reds!

As you may recall, in November 2019, I started creating a red postage stamp quilt. The pattern intrigued me from the beginning of my quilt journey when I was inspired by a quilt created by Red Pepper Quilts. Rita Hodge’s quilt was full of bright, happy colors. She created it by cutting strips that she sewed together and then cut apart in the 1.5″ square size.

But I am obsessed with saving every scrap of fabric I can and I’ve made a habit out of cutting 1.5″ squares whenever I have bits of fabric left over. So in November, I looked at a big baggie of red postage stamps and thought ‘maybe it’s time’ to start my postage stamp opus. I made this decision without doing the math — but I quickly learned that my baggie of squares was pitifully inadequate. I finished about 2 rows and then I ran out of reds. I cut some more and ran out of those. Then I bought some more red fabric and I needed still more stamps. That’s when I set up the quilting “bat signal”.

And my crew came through! Wendy at PiecefulThoughts sent squares, Tierney from TierneyCreates raided her stash. Sister Cindy sent some squares from Ohio. Roseanne and Sue from Homesewnbyus set fabric too. Then Mary from QuiltingisinmyBlood sent a most generous donation of squares. Oh my.

My Valentine’s Day finish goal fell by the wayside. Then I sewed some more and cut some more stamps, and I got sick, sick, sick of the color red and I sewed and cut some more. Covid descended on us, but we stayed safe and I received one final donation from Cindy and now, tada, it’s done.

Cindy did another big favor for me by taking over the task of selecting a 2-border finish motif. She even attached them and mitered the corners. Ms. G, my long-arming friend finished the job and I finally added the binding that Cindy so generously supplied.

My ‘takes a village’ quilt is finally completed. Thank you to all of my quilting friends, Mary, Wendy, Roseanne and Sue, and of course, Cindy for helping me finish my quilt. I am so happy with this quilt and I can’t wait until the fall so I can actually use it on my bed.

Here is the final math count for the queen size quilt: