July Fourth Picnic, Patriotic Quilting Bee and a Prickly Hill Country Visitor!

 

Do you remember the Patriotic quilt? Here it is last Friday during the Independence Day celebration at my sister's house. She lives on a farm and has a beautiful yard shaded by large trees and carpeted with lush St. Augustine grass. There were over 100 people there that day! Here are some of the quilters busy on the quilt.

There were a couple of men who hovered nearby. I think they would have joined us if given more time! While we quilted, others played "washers" (similar to horseshoes), 

..went on pony rides...

...ate barbecue brisket along with great "fixins"...(baked potatoes, pinto beans, salad, watermelon, desserts)

Here's Doug with his bottle of water, and NO, the hula hoops were not part of his picnic activity!

Some just sat and relaxed! 

The quilters worked until it was too dark to see well. A couple pulled out their phones and used them for portable lamps so they could put in a few more stitches! (Oh, modern technology! What did our grandmothers do in this situation?)

The night ended with fireworks, of course! I failed to get a photo of the fireworks, but there were plenty! 

We left early the next morning for the hill country house where more electrical work was completed. We delivered a water softener to be installed by the plumber. The water there is extremely hard and a softener will save our new appliances from wearing out so soon. (Not to mention the lime that deposits around any faucet!) I pulled the carpet and pad out of the new laundry room in preparation for putting down a suitable floor. I also pulled up the tacking strips around the perimeter of the room. The plumber ended up putting the connections in a place that was different than we planned  (out of necessity, not a mistake), so I need to make a new laundry room plan. 

Oh, I saw my first porcupine! We were walking around outside just before nightfall and saw it "lumbering" down the hillside about 20 feet in front of us. He made his way to our peach tree and climbed up like an acrobat! (It seemed he was much more adept at climbing than walking!) It was too dark to get a good photo and all we had was an iPhone, but here is proof.

Well, I'll leave you with the knowledge that porcupines can climb trees! I will never feel safe under a tree again!

Oh Beautiful for Heroes Proved...

I've started a quilt top to put on a quilting frame at my sister's upcoming Independence Day picnic. This will be a huge event and she will have lots of activities for all ages. I suggested a quilt on a quilting frame that people can hand quilt.   I haven't appliqued the stars on yet and I am still embroidering a verse from "America, the Beautiful" around the border. (You might notice that I always line the area to be embroidered with batting. I like the definition it gives the embroidery and it keeps the threads from showing through. I baste the batting to the seams at the top and bottom to keep it in place!)This quilt will be donated to Quilts of Honor when finished and will go to a wounded veteran. If you are from the United States, you probably know the first verse to the song, but have you ever heard the third? 

"Oh beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife.

Who more than self their country loved and

mercy more than life!

America! America! May God thy gold refine!

Till all success be nobleness 

And every gain divine!"

by Katherine Bates, 1913

I'll show you the entire quilt later when more finished, but I have a couple of tips that you may find helpful. 

First of all, I had to deal with stripes in my border. I decided to miter them for a more pleasant look and I wanted the stripes to meet up as much as I could arrange. These are not uniform stripes, so it was not possible to match them perfectly!

I turned the corner of the border back as shown and matched up the stripes as best I could.  Adjust the end of your border strip until you find the best match. Pin it in place and sew the border on from the previous seamline down.

If you have to piece your border strip to make miter both corners,  it is easier to piece the border somewhere else in the strip and make it look right than it will be at the corner, as you can see below. I "fudged" it a little and found a spot where the seam would be inconspicuous.

When you open and press your border, pin it in place at the corner. You can either turn it back and machine sew it here or sew it by hand (my choice!).  

Trim off the excess.

The other tip is concerning applique. I am appliqueing white stars over a dark blue! As you can see, the background would show through...

so I line the pieces with polyester fleece (the type that is not super stretchy)! It will not "ball up" in the wash. Use a glue stick to keep it in place while you applique. I like to catch the edges in my stitches in a few places to insure it will stay in place.

It will also give a little definition to the stars. I have been doing this for years now and haven't had any problems with it.

Have a wonderful weekend!