My Sewful Retirement

Finishes — New and Old

Happy Wednesday!

The past week has been hectic with work and other crazy life stuff.  I did manage to get in some quality sewing time to finish a UFO and work on a couple of new projects.

The rail fence quilt block is an old traditional block that is super simple to construct. Looks great with all fabric themes – modern, solids, 30’s reproduction prints, civil war, etc. I love the rail fence quilt block because it is jelly roll friendly!

rail fence diamond quilt

I used the RJR Redwork meets Bluework roll of 2.5 inch strips to make my rail fence picnic quilt. The prints in the roll were red, white, and blue making it perfect for us to use at our local patriotic festivals. I used the thick but soft Blizzard fleece from JoAnn Fabrics for the backing and did not use any batting. I finished the quilt as a blanket; no binding. I did quilt it with a large meandering stitch.  The quilt measure 54 x 65.

Using left over charm squares from a project last year I made a couple of pillows to match. I quickly took the hst scraps and made the star block. Pillow on the left I made using my embroidery machine.

patriotic heart pillow

patchwork wheel pillows

I still needed a table runner for May and found the tutorial Stars and Stripes from A Bright Corner  online. I was able to make it start to finish in two hours. If you like applique or just learning how to applique this is a super project. Directions are great.  My runner measure 13 x 36 inches.

stars and stripes tr

stars and stripes tr back

My new project for the week was using sashiko, which is a decorative form of stitching/embroidery from Japan. When Martingale  had a sale on ebooks over the holidays I purchased  Sensational Sashiko by Sharon Pederson.

This book has beautiful quilt projects featuring Sashiko designs — so many of them I hope to make. There are templates in the book if you want to do hand embroidery , and also a list of sites of where to purchase sashiko machine embroidery designs.

Using the machine embroidery option I made place mats and mug rugs. I used a heavier 35 weight rayon thread to give it a more authentic look. The stitch out is absolutely beautiful, you can see stars and diamonds. Each is a single design with a continuous stitch. The placemat sashiko design is 8 x 12 inches and the mug rug sashiko design is 8 x 8 inches. The beauty is the front and back are identical! I can’t wait to start one of the projects from the book.

sashiko placemat

sashiko mug rug

Until next time happy sewing!