Design Wall Monday-August 22

This is the quilt I made for Joe

I actually have a design table at the moment. Our Pastor is retiring in December, and I want to make him a quilt for the 10 1/2 years he's served with us. He enjoyed the Trinity Knot quilt I made for Joe so I decided to make him a quilt based on something Celtic knotish (is that a word?).

Here is what I have so far. I made up a drawing, enlarged it with a free poster making program, traced ti onto parchment paper, bought some fabrics and now I have to buy some misty fuse. I'm going to make the knots in the tree and the border from bias tape, I think I'm going to use misty fuse (though I've never used it before) to do the rest of the quilt.

I'm going to make the backing white or very light so that parishioners can sign it. That way, he's got the memories on the back and can look at them when he wants. Also, I can quilt it before it's signed and have it ready for him when he retires.

If you want to see what others are doing, check out Judy's blog.

"Greek" yogurt

 I like yogurt well enough. I go through phases where I like it more than others, and recently I have tasted Greek yogurt and really liked how thick and creamy it is. Because I am cheap frugal I didn't want to spend the money for it, so I looked online to see if there was a way I could make it myself...easily.

I've made yogurt from milk and a starter before. It's not difficult, but I was hoping for something really easy...and I found it.

After draining-the container it came in

Before draining

Take the yogurt you like. It can be plain, non-fat, low-fat, flavored, whatever. This process does nothing but remove some of the liquid. Get a strainer of appropriate size. Line it with about 4 layers of cheesecloth. Put the yogurt in it. Wait some amount of time.. from this site:

* Yogurt strained 4 to 6 hours results in sour cream type texture.

* Yogurt strained 8-12 hours results in GREEK YOGURT!

* Yogurt strained 24 hours results in Yogurt Cheese aka Cream Cheese.

You can see the volume is reduced quite a bit, so I guess it's possible that it's no less expensive, but still I like it.

Design Wall

It's been a while since I had anything for the wall. I have a professional tote by creative thimble that I started and finished in the last couple of days. I really like the contrast of the lining color to the outside. A fun surprise inside.

This is a fiddly pattern, with lots of steps, but the finished bag is quite nice. I think I've made 4 of them now. I don't have a picture of the first one, but I made that in 2005 for my sister-in-law for Christmas. The next one was last year in February. I made that one for myself but used the wrong kind of interfacing so it's very squishy.

I made another one right away, and that one was for my sister. I used the correct interfacing that time and it was much crisper.

The inside of the one I just completed is a red Hawaiian print. It's a nice touch of color when you open the bag without being over the top.

To see what other folks are doing, check out Judy's blog.

Rainbow Containers

 I had fun making these. I've had the dyed cord for about a year and decided today to do something with them. The taller one is about 5 inches tall and the wider one is 8 inches at the longest dimension.

I had a bit of an idea of what I wanted when I started. For this one I was thinking of pencils. I can't get it to have straight sides but this is pretty close.

I have a container similar to this near my sewing machine. In it I put all of my little notions that I need regularly...scissors, seam ripper, seam roller, magnifying glass, rotary cutter...well you get the idea, so I thought I'd make another one. Don't know who they're for yet, but I like them.

Stack n Whack 4-patch....done.

 I like it much better finished than I did when I first made the 4-patch blocks. Then it was a bit dull for me, but now...I like it. THe dark green finishes it off without fuss so the blocks really stand out. I have no idea how I'll quilt it...I really have to find someone who doesn't like to piece, but loves to quilt. We'd be a perfect match!

No post for more than a month, then 4 in one day, what is this world coming to?

Jeans "buckets"

I saw this idea on a blog a while ago. Use old jeans legs and make little buckets out of them. These don't have any interfacing, so they're kind of slouchy. I like that. I may try some others and use interfacing to see how they look. I'm going to donate these to the quilt guild's auction in October. Think someone will want to buy them?

Oh, and why oh why do I wait so long to replace the cutting blade on the rotary cutter...it's like magic when it's new!

Another Quilt of Valor

 I just got the Cozy Modern Quilt of Valor back from the quilter. I still have to finish the label, binding and presentation case. The quilting is a meander with stars.

The quilter used polyester batting so it's a bit fluffier that I'm used to. I think it will be well appreciated once it's done. I have one more out at a quilter...can 't wait to see that one.