A Day to Play
It was a day to play in my quilt room yesterday. I was celebrating because the applique part of the Minnesota Seal inspired quilt is finished. Here is a photo of the center of the quilt, finished and ready for borders.
At this point, the quilt measures 36-1/2 inches square. There will be two borders added. The finished quilt will be no larger than 48 inches square. The needle turn applique of the loon went really well. The wild rice (yellow) was a different story. Those little curves and points were tricky, and the fraying fabric didn’t help! I kept at it, and finished it in one afternoon into the evening.
So I wanted to take a little break and play a bit with some little projects. It felt so good to be at my machine once again. My first task was to make a little fabric bin for a friend. I recently realized I hadn’t made her one, so I had fun stitching this up for her. If she’s reading this post and recognizes the fabric, she’ll know it’s for her.
The pattern I used to make this basket is the Lagoms Storage Bins pattern by Sotak Handmade. I have made so many of these bins I have lost count (okay, I never really counted to begin with, but I’ve made a lot of them!). This little bin is smaller than the smallest bin in the pattern. For those of you who have made these bins and are interested in the cutting size for these bins, my little bin fabrics are cut 5″ x 7″. These little bitty bins are perfect for holding sewing clips, or other small tidbits used in a sewing room.
The finished size of my little bin is approximately 2-1/2″ high by 3-1/2″ wide. I hope she likes it and finds a good use for it in her sewing room!
Well, that didn’t take me all day, so I thought I might do some cleaning. You know what happens when we clean, right? Another little project just seems to surface! I had a little stack of autumn fabric scraps that I have been moving back and forth while I wondered what to make with them. Today I just grabbed them and started sewing them together, log cabin style (at least to begin with). Once I got it to a little mini runner size, I used the rest of the fabrics to piece a back.
A little franken-batting between the top and backing, some wavy quilting using a 40 wt. rust thread, and some scrap binding and my mini runner was done. All finished, it measures 10″ x 24″.
I enjoy a day to play after a long day of working on a challenging technique, don’t you? I’ll get back to work on the Minnesota Seal quilt borders soon. They will be much easier than the applique step!
LeeAnna’s question for the I LIke Thursday crew today is how we spent an average childhood day when school was out. Growing up in a small town, it was all about time with friends. I usually slept in, but once up and any chores were done, I was out the door and headed to a friend’s house. I was usually barefoot. We had full run of the town, so there was bike riding, playing in nearby creeks, getting bottled pop at the gas station (for a dime), or an ice cream cone at the restaurant (for a nickel). We played well into the evening, a favorite game being Ghost in the Graveyard. So even then, I enjoyed a day of play. That was my usual day, unless I spent a shopping day with my mom and grandmother, which included a stop at Herberger’s basement, which had yards upon yards of fabric – a favorite place for all three of us.
There will be more play showing up in tomorrow’s post, Eva and I will show you our Luminous Layers quilts, and our progress (or not). I hope you stop back and see what we’ve been up to!
Wendy
The Blue Quilt
19 Comments
Michele McLaughlin
I love your seal of Minnesota! It’s a cool logo anyway and your work looks fantastic! Nice basket too! Have a great day Wendy!
Helen
I think I have one of those famous little Wendy-bins!! 🙂
marissthequilter
There’s not much to beat the joy of playing. Glad you had fun making the basket and table runner — well deserved ‘time out’ after appliquéing the rice plant. It turned out beautifully but must have been fiddly work.
I took grew up barefoot, riding bikes with friends, and walking to the shop for ice cream! Did you also climb trees?!
texasquiltgal
The seal quilt is looking fabulous, and yes you earned a day of play! That tiny little bag is so cute! Love the autumn runner, but I can hardly bear to look at it – I long for autumn already.
Hubs and I were talking the other day about how we used to go outside barefoot when we were kids. Wouldn’t do it now. I can remember vividly the pain of “stickers”! We were also outside from dawn until dusk. Mom used to have to call me several times, both for lunch and to come in at night, and I’d get “switched” if she had to call me too many times. 😉
Barbara J Stanbro
It’s beautiful, Wendy. Really nice work.
Diann@ Little Penguin Quilts
I love when the “have tos” are done and you can just play! Your little fabric bin is great, and I bet it makes a great gift. I love the little runners, too. Looking forward to seeing your Luminous Layers – I just finished mine last night!
Nancy @ Grace and Peace Quilting
Wow, you did real needle turn appliqué, Wendy?!! Great job persisting through the tiny points and fraying fabric. Here’s a fun fact–a young man who was a member of our home school group is the designer of the new Minnesota state flag! They did change it around a bit after they chose his design as the winner. But I think that’s pretty neat that his design was picked out of many, many! And another fun fact, you mentioned Herbergers–I was a buyer for Herbergers before I went to Japan. The man who was the fabric buyer had a number of other departments, also.
Sara F
I love the state seal quilt you are working on. I think it’s interesting how the states are redesigning their flags and seals to make them more modern and simple. Minnesota’s new design is nice. South Dakota narrowed it down to 5 designs – none of which were very attractive. So in January it was all postponed.
karenfae
I love the seal – it turned out so great. I loved the games that we all played as kids in the 60’s. We had a huge yard in the country and played red rover, statue, I don’t remember all the names of the games I wonder sometimes if we made them up as we went along. Having a very large amount of siblings helped as we had enough to play softball, basketball, tag, we climbed trees and got into all kinds of trouble.
sassysstitches
She loves it! 🥰 You flag center looks amazing!
Yvonne @Quilting Jetgirl
The wild rice looks great and I’m glad you were able to stick with it and get it done – the rest will be easy after that! I think a day of play after hard work like that is a great idea and it certainly looks like it was a productive day. 🙂
aquilterstable
LOVE ‘playing’ like you got to do. It’s invigorating – and productive – isn’t it?
Vicki in MN
We all need those play days don’t we! Great projects for your week:)
Vicki Welsh
I love the Minnesota seal project and the scrappy table runner turned out really nice. But that tiny basket with the little red scissors!! Slayed!
Kathleen McCormick
I like that you played after your hard work on the wild rice. While you may have struggled, it looks perfect. Those fabric buckets or mini buckets are adorable! So nice to have a day to play to regroup from all your hard work.
Kate
The Seal quilt is coming along beautifully. No signs of a struggle, which makes the struggle so worth while. The little basket is cute and you really cleaned up with the autum fabrics.
The Joyful Quilter
Gotta love a play day in the sewing room! Awesome projects, Wendy!!
Quilting is in my Blood
Oh my has the puppy grown! I hear you regarding appliqué challenges, and I’ve never done any appliqué with something as fiddly as the wild rice in your seal quilt. Great job!
tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles
That little Minnesota Seal quilt came out awesome as did the little fabric bin. I like the mini runner and the pup and kitty are adorable! I see you like to color coordinate your animals – ha!