The Watermelon quilt....

.... is finished!

I named it 

"Summer Sweetness."
Can't you just taste it??

Watermelon is one of my

FAVORITE summer foods.

This quilt is one of my favorites, too.

I love it!

Happy Summer!!

Hi, my name is.....

..... Ramona

and I am a quilter and

I do not add

LABELS 

to my quilts as I should!

I know...

They help tell the story,

They document the quilt, 

They give care instructions, etc.,

but I do not enjoy making them.

I will get better about this...

I bought a CD that has a lot of labels on it...

All I need to do is print, trace and color.

Maybe this will inspire me to 

LABEL more!!

:)

Happy quilting (and labeling)!

Design Wall Monday....

.... I have had LOTS of time to sew this week!!

YEA!!

Here is what is on my Design Wall....

Now to add the borders and the wool leaves.

This snowball quilt is on my 

"Ten Things This Summer" 

list here.

Yesterday I posted pictures of my

Completed Flower Mini...

Half Square Triangles and all!

This is also on my "Ten things..." list.

I'm getting there!!

Happy quilting!!

It's finished!....

....my little flower mini is

Completed!!

The HST's weren't as difficult

as I had imagined they would be,

thankfully!!

I ordered a quilt stand to display this one.

:)

 The quilt is not uneven... the angle of the

picture makes it look crooked!

This is one completion on my

"Ten Things This Summer" 

list here.

Tiny Half Sqaure Triangles...

.... are challenging!

I finished sewing the top of 

this flower mini

and am VERY glad to have these

HST's done!

I had to pull out the seam ripper a 

few times.....

:)

and the points don't match perfectly, but

I am pleased with the results.

Now onto the quilting....

I can't help myself......

....I had extra flags from my

Flag minis.  

How could I not make them

into their own little quilt?

OK... this is it for the flags!

(for now....)

:)

I'm late!

.... for Design Wall Monday!

Was out of town,

but...

have done a little work on these

pesky half square triangles.

This mini is coming together.

Haven't had to use the

seam ripper

too often!

:)

Binding....

I am pretty much a 

self-taught quilter....

.... began sewing at eight years old

but have been quilting for only 11 years.

I am always excited to learn something

that makes an aspect of quilting 

easier or nicer looking.

This was true for this technique to finish binding.

I had always overlapped the binding

where the ends came together;

which resulted in a large lump

and an unattractive finish.

Then I learned this technique:

 Begin stitching the binding down, leaving the

first few inches of binding loose.

(Begin stitching at the pins.)

  Sew binding down all around the quilt.

When you come to the fourth side, end the 

stitching about 10" from where you began stitching.

 Place a pin at the starting end of the binding.

 (You began stitching a few inches from this point.)

 Here is the beginning of the binding piece (you began stitching
a few inches from the pin) and
where you stopped stitching the binding down
on the first side of the quilt.

 Pull the end of the binding from the left over the edge
where the binding begins and place

another pin where the two pieces meet.

 From these pins,

measure the width of the binding minus 1/4".

I made this binding 2 1/4" wide, so I measured 2" 

from the pin. Cut the end of the binding here.

 Open both ends of the binding and pin to each other

at a right angle, as if sewing binding strips together.

 Stitch a line from corner to corner.

 Trim excess fabric.

 Press seam allowance on one direction.

 Fold binding in half and press again.

Finish stitching the binding to the
quilt. Turn the binding to the back and
stitch down.

This technique gives the quilt a smooth, uninterrupted binding

with no bumps or gaps.

I hope this isn't too confusing!  AND I hope I am not the
Last person to learn this technique!
:)

Looking back....

... at my first bear.
I knitted this little guy a few years ago and

made his quilt around the same time.

                                                                 My knitting ability
                                                                        is not great,

so this was a 

CHALLENGE!

I have since knitted some larger

brothers and sisters for this

little guy.

Happy Day!

Coming together...

I have made progress on this

little mini flower piece.

I have begun working with the

Thangles.

So far... so good.

I have not sewn any of these together yet.

This could be the 

Challenge!

Happy Day!!

Finished!

This is the last time you will see these minis...

They are finished and ready to wrap...

to be given to Family.  

Little mini's of quilty love.

:)

My Watermelon...

...is no longer seedless!

I was able to complete the top 

and am 

SO happy with the results!

Now to get it quilted...

Doesn't it look good to enough to eat??

Excuse me while I get a napkin to

wipe the juice from my chin.

:)

Design Wall Monday...

My design wall has 

little blocks on it this week.

I started this project a while ago

and need to complete it!

The flowers and leaves are wool.

LOVE working with wool!
Each block will be 3x4" when
completed.

I didn't realize I have one more flower to applique!

Notice the musical notes on the background fabric?

These flowers just dance.

I am a bit intimidated by the tiny half square triangles since

I have not made any this small before.

 The pattern suggests using Thangles. 

I will give it a shot.

:)

Isn't this sweet?

Enjoy!

As a Quilter....

.... I LOVE to decorate

with QUILTS!

I have them everywhere.

...On just about every table top

...Hanging on the walls

...On all of the beds

...I use them as tablecloths

Everywhere!

I have been looking for a piece to store my quilts

and found this the other day at 

a local consignment/refurbish shop.

Isn't it great! 

AND I love the chicken wire in place of the glass in the front.

 Some of my minis in a basket.

 

Happy Quilting!