Finished and delivered!

Finally "It Takes a Village" has been completed.

That last little thing, the crocheted flowers for some of the hats, caused me to set it aside and move on to other things.

I finally sat still for three hours and stitched those flowers down flat petal by petal.  I thought the crocheted flowers would be so much cuter and more durable than the felt ones on the pattern.

Every other hand holding girl received a flower.

I've told you before about how much fun I had sewing together those little girls, everyone with a different outfit.

I'm trying to stick to my goal of a label for every quilt.  Notice that I made it in January.  I tell you, it was the flowers.  My lovely, talented sister even put the binding on for me months ago while here for a visit.  I let her watch "Gone with the Wind" while she stitched.

 

When it came time for a backing I wanted to have a corresponding fabric.  It was almost too late.  I wandered the quilt shop down the street and found these three, none with enough leftover yardage to do it by themselves.  It's okay.  I like the pieced back and I think there is enough leftover strips to make Julianna a skirt.

My adorable little recipient was so pleased.

I love her dearly and for always.

Where did you go?

There you are.  Looks like it will be big enough to cover all of you!

A blog entry about a blog and fabric friends

My little blog is now 5 years old.  My lovely DIL, Sally, created it for me as a birthday present in 2007.  It has been one of the joys of my life.  It was Sally who first called it "A Place to Share" and that is what it has been for me, a place to share my thoughts, life, hobbies, and beautiful family.  I thought I would just be sharing with my family and friends. Earlier this month when looking at the stats I thought, "This blog will probably reach 40,000 page views by my birthday and blog anniversary."  Well yesterday, that is just what happened. 

I know that is peanuts to full-time bloggers, but it kind of blows this blogger's mind.  When I look at my audience and how it has become worldwide it really humbles me but also makes me feel a part of a worldwide community.  My original intended audience and blog circle of family has moved on to Instagram and my daughter put that on my phone a couple of weeks ago so I could keep up, but I still enjoy the blogging format and my pictorial journal.  To those I follow, thank you for sharing yours.

This morning I've been putting together a quilt top of all these fabric girls holding hands.  It has been a very fun project.

I'm taking a break due to an issue with a inner border.  I'm hoping for inspiration while my mind does something else.

Loving Buggy Barn

I have been having so much fun using the Buggy Barn method this week.  I am making "It Takes a Village" from Those Crazy Kids.  For weeks I've been collecting fat quarters in preparation for starting the fun.  I realized yesterday that my color palette was not only based on my grand daughter's newly decorated bedroom, but could also come from the honey crisp apple I was about to eat.

The pattern calls for 12 coordinating 1/2 yards of fabric.  I changed it up and selected 36 coordinating fat quarters, each different, to make my 36 girl blocks.  This means that every one is different but it also means I have leftover fabric for another project.  Fat quarters were ironed and stacked with alternating reading, small floral, and plaid or bolder designed fabric.

 The cut out design is traced on freezer paper and then ironed onto the top layer of stacked fabric.  I'm working with just 6 layers of fabric stacked and cut at the same time. It seemed more manageable to me. The pattern called for tracing 3 cut out designs and placing them across the 1/2 yards stacked 12 high.  They then cut them all at once.

I placed the cut out design pattern in  a cookie sheet to help keep the pieces organized.

Then it's time for the magic and fun to start.  I removed the freezer paper and put the dress and hat pieces at the bottom of the pile.  Then I did the same with the apron and hat rim but put 2 layers of fabric at the bottom of the pile.  I also removed the head and legs and replaced with solid fabric pieces. As you sew together the pieces the next little girl and her special outfit are revealed.  It's so exciting, almost a party!

Soon, everything is together and it works because you straighten up edges before sewing together pieces such as the arms to the body.

After a good press, the blocks are ready to be trimmed up to a perfect 8 1/2 X 10 inch block with the arms 5 inches from the bottom.

I've made 24 of the 36 blocks so far.  I can't wait to make all those little girls happy as they hold hands!  I think it will make my little Julianna happy as well.