Starch Fabric - Carolina Christmas

I starch most of the fabric I use in the quilts I make. I find it just makes it a little stiffer and stitches together so nicely. The fabric behaves better after stitching too if I starch the fabrics before I cut them and it removes the wrinkles from fabric that has been folded. (The gold fabric laying out has not been starched yet.)

I buy the heavy starch in a spray bottle and the cheapest I can find as I think it works just as well as the more expensive kind.

I do lay a piece of fabric on my ironing surface to catch the overspray and any starch that might soak through the pieces I am starching. This wild fabric that I have on the ironing board really should be washed as it is so stiff since I have used it for some time.

Got all my gold and cream fabrics pressed and the pieces cut for step 1.

Lynn

Mystery Quilt Carolina Christmas

After stitching up all those Scrapaholic quilt blocks I really have the urge to use up more of my fabric. You know that fabric that has been fermenting in the closet, some of it for years. It would be nice to see those boxes and boxes be reduced a little.

Bonnie Hunter from Quiltville is doing another mystery that just started after Thanksgiving. She has the best scrap quilt patterns and instructions on her web page so take a look if you have not been to the Quiltville web page. This mystery is called Carolina Christmas and so far she has posted the first two steps. Her plan is to use reds, greens, gold and neutral fabrics in her quilt but I have chosen to use blues, greens, golds and off white fabrics for mine. I really had a hard time finding enough gold fabrics in my stash so have some that are more tan but think they will work. Bonnie is using multiple greens and reds but only one gold. I just don't have many fabrics larger than fat quarters and I refuse to buy any more fabric unless I can't find something that will work in my stash.

Here is the stack of fabrics I pulled today for this project laid out on my sewing room floor.

Anyone else doing this mystery? If you feel the urge just visit the web page and download the instructions. She says this mystery is one that will be in a book at some point so will only will be on the web page for a limited amount of time.

Lynn

....... No, to answer your question, I do not have the borders even cut let alone stitched for the Scrapaholic quilt but wanted to start this project. I know I will not be keeping up with the mystery steps but started now anyway. Will fit the cutting and stitching of those borders in somewhere but probably after Christmas.

Harvest

Well we are finally, finally done with harvest for the year. John finished combining the last 20 acres for the white corn today. We had to wait almost two weeks for corn to dry in one of the storage bins so several truck loads could be hauled out to make room for the last of it. The corn could not be hauled to the elevator until the moisture was down to 15 - 16%. It went into the bin at 21% and was extremely slow at drying even with added heat and fans.

I did start decorating my house for Christmas today while the last of the corn was being combined. I cranked up the Christmas music so the cleaning before the decorating didn't seem like such drudgery. I have way too many decorations having purchased some over the years, getting lots as gifts, and inheriting some. All I know is it takes a while to get it all out of the boxes.

Lynn

Scrapaholic Borders

Ok, this is my plan for borders for the Scrapaholic quilt. Over the years I have not purchased large pieces of fabric and since I am on a mission to use up my stash I decided to make the outside border on my Scrapaholic quilt using lots of red fabrics. Don't plan to have any fancy piecing just strips sewn together. I have all the pieces pressed and starched and most are either a fat quarter or less in size. Think I will cut the pieces in various lengths, mix up the bright and dull reds and hopefully it will look OK. Right now the plan is for this border to be cut about 8" wide.

The fabric I choose for the first border is in the photo below. I do have plenty of this fabric because it was originally purchased to make valance curtains for my grandson's bedroom. S. changed her mind so it just stayed in my stash and I think it will be perfect in this quilt. Am thinking of making this border a 2.5" to 3" wide. Want to lay both the border fabrics along side the quilt top to see how it looks before I make a commitment and start cutting.

I probably will not have time to get it cut and stitched until next week - life getting in the way of sewing again!

With Christmas coming I really need to get my house cleaned so I can put up a few decorations. Every year I say I am not getting it all out but it always looks so nice when it is done and it is such fun to unwrap everything. Some things bring back such nice memories of past Christmases and of family here and those who have passed on so I will probably put most of it out. Will let you know if I go all the way and use lots of the decorations or if I will pare down and just put out a few.

Lynn