Basting the quilt

The One-Block Wonder is officially basted and ready to go. Now if I could just blink my eyes and it would magically quilt itself..... It's been a long time since I've tackled machine-quilting a big quilt myself, and a long time since I had to baste one. I used the kitchen table and spent alot of time smoothing out the backing and the batting. Then I carefully started at one end and started pinning the top to the batting and backing. Like I said, it's been a long time since I've done this and wouldn't you know, haste makes waste. I pinned about 2/3 of the quilt together before I realized I had started with the top too far down and would be running out of the back....sigh. So I started at the other end with very little fudge room and unpinned, smoothed the layers, and repinned. So many safety pins, ugh. I pricked my fingers a zillion times before I thought to use my ever trusty orange stick to help close each pin. I have one of those gadgets somewhere that's just for closing the safety pins (can't think of the name right now), but didn't feel like looking for it. Tomorrow I'll remember exactly where it is, but I won't be needing it tomorrow, will I?


I found this fabric recently and it just cried out to me to be taken home. It WAS on sale, and I got 5 yards - all that was on the bolt. This is more like what I wanted for the One-Block Wonder. This is an Alexander Henry print, and the design is so soft. The colors are kinda girly, what with all the pinks and greens, but that's okay. Nobody in my house has ever complained that the quilt they're snuggled under is too girly - they just grab whatever is on top of the pile.

One-Block Wonder - completed top and tips

At long last, after much procrastination, here is the completed One-Block Wonder quilt top. I was really getting tired of having it hanging on the make-shift design wall of my china cabinet. Only Steven complained about it though, and it was more of a "so when ARE you going to finish that one?" Mae's off at camp and Bill was in San Fran on business so I just sewed at odd hours. The gold/green border fabric was an old Jinny Beyer fabric that I've had for forever - I'm using it for the backing as well (I had some serious yardage!). I did ask Steven for an opinion on adding the green to it. I wanted to do something to "frame" it, and he picked the green that I used. Check it out a little closer.


What I did was cut a long strip 1 1/2" wide, and folded it into 3rds - kind of like a binding. I cut 1/2" strips of WonderUnder fusible and ironed it to the back of the 2nd fold to keep the strip together. I cut more of the 1/2" strips of fusible and ironed it to the back of the strip itself. Then I fused it to the edge of the pieced top. Lots of little strips of paper, lots of ironing - I'll sew it down as part of the quilting. Turning the points was tricky at first until I got the hang of it. I used an orange cuticle stick to hold the points in place as I ironed. It looks like it's all mitered perfectly, but it did take some time to get it just so. See the points up close:


Hints, tips, and tricks.....
Don't bother pressing the seams open unless you love pinning things! Pressing them open sounds like a good idea, but when it comes to putting the rows together, you will have to pin, pin, pin to get the sections lined up just so. I much prefer it when seams nestle together as I sew along. It's like an extra helping hand when joining blocks and rows together. The next time I make one of these, I will be sure to just press the seams to one side.

Aim for perfection, but don't sweat it. It's nearly impossible to tell when the center of the hexagon isn't exactly perfect.

Another thing I found is that although it is difficult to picture how the fabric will be changed, just count on getting more drama with a larger sized print. This fabric was more of a medium in terms of the size of the flowers, and the flowers themselves were very clearly framed against the black background. It resulted in smaller scale designs. If the design has almost a watercolor feel to it with softer shapes and no sharpness to the lines, you will get more of a flowing effect. In hindsight, I wish I had looked for some of those large Alexander Henry prints.

A design wall of some kind is a necessity for the One-Block Wonder quilt. Rig up a blanket to seldom used closet doors, or a wall if possible, or even your china cabinet, like I did. You need to be able to arrange and re-arrange the hexagons vertically. Forget the floor - I don't know anyone who can lay something like this out on the floor and have it be undisturbed for several days/weeks.

Save the little pieces from the ends of the strips after you've cut the regular triangles out. You can make miniature hexagons from them to use in another project.

Kitty Gone Wild!

We couldn't get a "normal" dog! No, we had to get a goofy eyed, bat-eared, upside down clown.

She's off to camp!

After counting down the days for several months, Mae is finally off to Camp Marcella. This is a camp in NJ just for blind and visually impaired kids. It's Mae's 3rd year there, and she really loves it. Of course, she says the best part is the all-you-can-eat food - not only is the way to a man's heart through his stomach but apparently it works for Mae as well! They do laundry there at camp, but somehow she still takes enough to fill 2 bags to the point of explosion.


I always forget the dinky little beds and cabins, guess all camps are pretty much the same in those respects. Mae is unpacked and prepared to be bored for the next 3 hours while everyone else arrives, checks in, and unpacks. The fun begins late in the afternoon. I always hate leaving, but she tells us we need to go. Love you, baby!

One tree down...

After all that hemming and hawing over the plum tree and where it should/could go, Bill did come to realize how much the beech tree had grown and was hanging over the side of the house. Yesterday he came home from work just raring to go. He got the chainsaw out and started cutting the branches off. Will and I dragged branches into the woods. Then Will stabilized the ladder for Bill while he cut the taller branches. I pulled at the ends of those branches to help them fall away from the trunk. Once the bottom section was gone, it was really obvious that the trunk was leaning toward the house. Bill and Will put a rope around the trunk and tied it to the truck bumper. Then Will pulled the rope tight as Bill chopped a "v" into the trunk. The timing and placement was great - the tree went down on the driveway just barely grazing the house on one side and the basketball goal on the other. Easy clean-up, and the woodpile was right there for stacking the larger pieces. Wow, what a difference in the amount of light - beech trees have a really dense canopy. Our only regret? NO PICTURES!!! Arrrgh!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, Daddy! I love you.

Happy Father's Day, Bill! You are a wonderful dad to our kids.

Steven and I went to the nursery yesterday and picked out a pretty plum tree with purple leaves. Steven wanted to get the bigger tree (never mind that it costs more) because it looked fuller. Well, about the time they were loading it onto the pickup was about the time my second thoughts started kicking in. When we got home, it took the three of us to get it off the truck and into a wheelbarrow - the third thoughts kicked in big-time. Then Bill comes out to take a look and decide where he wants it to go. Well, to make a long story short, the tree is going to be quite large, it needs lots of sun, and there is no room in the yard to put it without cutting down another tree. Looks like I may have to take it back :(( It's my fault, I should have listened to that little voice and/or done my research. How come my spur-of-the-moment big purchases backfire and his don't?! That's so annoying.

*Update: we took the stupid tree back. I heard so much complaining about all the work it would take to cut the other tree down and dig the hole and all he wanted to do was relax on Father's Day, blah, blah, blah. Hmph, how come I still have to do dishes, laundry, and kid-care routines on Mother's Day? That's okay, like I said, it won't happen again.

Clean house

Before he left for work this morning, Bill suggested that I clean and vacuum the library in case of bat droppings. Now I'm wondering what else went on behind that closed door. Just what did he see in there?! A swooping bat dive-bombing the room and flinging bat poo as it went??? Hahaha Ever obliging, that's me (today at least), I get in there with Windex, Pledge, 409, and whatever else is under the kitchen sink. And then I top it all off by vacuuming every little corner of the room. I don't usually clean up this good unless my parents are coming for a visit.

Well? Mom and Dad, what time are you getting here?!

Vampire bats

Okay, not really vampire bats, but we did have a bat in the house last night. Bill and I had already gone to bed when Steven knocked on the door. He comes in with a funny smile on his face, "Umm, there's a bat flying around in the library" (no, we don't have a house like "that", it's just a den that got named the "library" because we keep tons of books in there - little kids' names for things have a way of sticking around for a looong time). So, we go downstairs and crack the door open. Sure enough, there's a bat swooping and diving in circles in the library. Smart Steve, he had closed the doors so it would at least be confined to one room. Bill gets work gloves and our ever trusty butterfly net and bravely ventures forth. I close the door behind him. There's odd noises sounding like thudding on the floor, shifting of furniture, exclamations of pain.... just kidding. He sits in the chair and waits patiently. I turn on the outside spotlight and he turns off the lights in the room (fortunately the switch was beside the chair!). After about 10 minutes he held the net up and the bat flew right in. The boys check out the bat close up then let it out the window. No idea how it got in the house, we are all closed up with the ac on in this heatwave of 97 degree weather.

Speaking of butterfly nets - every family should have one. Our school's 7th grade has a month long unit on bugs where the kids collect bugs of all kinds to identify them. They go outside for several days to the playing fields and it's a pretty funny thing to see 25 kids running around swinging their butterfly nets - occasionally someone will nab something and they cluster around to look at it. Then the kids come home with their own jars of "killing" solution (smells like ammonia to me, but whatever - put a bug in and it dies in a minute or less). For the next several weeks the kids are expected to collect bugs on their own to bring in to the class. I bought this butterfly net at the dollar store when Will was in 7th grade, and it's still going strong 6 years later. Who says you can't get good stuff for a dollar?!

Phillies game

Bill and I went to a Phillies game in Philadelphia last night. I've always thought of Philadelphia as being a good two hours away. I don't know why, must be all those times I got lost and ended up on that one road with no exits for 20 miles - I think it's Rt 76 (I could tell you stories about that road, sigh). Anyway, it only took an hour and 20 minutes tops to get to the stadium. That's almost the same amount of time it takes us to get to Yankee Stadium. What an impressive stadium it is - I think it's called Commerce Bank Stadium or something like that. They really should all be named after the team that plays there, not after some corporate contributor. Holy Moly, it's so much better than Yankee Stadium! I know, can't believe I just said that! But it really is very nice. The seats are angled toward the pitcher's mound. There are various dining choices and even drinking establishments (no, not just beer). At Yankee Stadium, your choices are dirty dogs, hot sausage rolls, peanuts, beer, and soda. That's pretty much it. At the Phillies, you can get a cheesesteak sandwich, hoagies, hot dogs, steak roll-ups, chicken, pizza... I'm forgetting a couple of places.... barbeque? Obviously food is important to my enjoyment of a baseball game, haha. They played the Florida Marlins, and I'm pretty sure the Phillies lost. The score was 2-6 when we left. It was a fun outing for Bill and me.