String Quilt

I'm really itching to start a new quilt, but with so many in progress, that seems like a really bad idea.  Plus I'm starting that quilt along, too.  OK so staying focused today....on the strip quilt.

Here's how it looked a couple of weeks ago on my design wall ( flannel sheet pinned to the wall).  Our  kitchen has two doorways and my guys were forced to walk "around" to the back side to come into the kitchen while this was up.  "How long is that going to stay up, Mom?" I heard this a few times.  Then hubby chimes in, "Won't the quilt smell like pasta sauce if we don't take that down?"  But here's where my fellow quilters will surely agree - out of sight, out of mind.  Am I right?!  So since it has come down, I have made a "little" progress, meaning I think I worked on it twice.  The good news is all of those squares are now sewn into rows!  Next step, press rows and sew them together and ladies and gentlemen, we have a quilt top! 

Here is what I was shooting for when I sewed the strips together.  I wanted diamonds to come together at each corner, though I didn't care if they were all the same size.  Well it worked out, but first I had to label each piece of paper with which square it was by row and by order and then write what color the corners were to be.  A little confusing, but doable.

Probably my least favorite part was ripping off the paper.  The stitch count needs to be set between 1-2 so that the stitches don't come out when you rip of the paper.  Here's what the back of the papers looked like as I took off the paper from the fabric.

Duke can't wait to have another quilt to sleep on!  These pictures will show Duke's love of quilts and pillows...

What a face! 

This "was" Jack's reading pillow.

Finally, I can't blog on November 18th without wishing my son, Mitch,

 a Happy 18th Birthday!!!  Here are some highlights of when you turned 18.

* You are extremely focused on selecting your college

* You enjoy music, both singing and playing your bass guitar

* You are Senior Class President and love being involved at school

* You are quite smitten with Darian, your girlfriend of 6 months

* You love Duke almost as much as I do

* You are co-hosting your own radio show with Cody and loving it!

* You are very close with your Dad

* You love your brother and want to attend all of his sporting events

*You have a weekly lunch or dinner out with just me

and we call it "Mom and Mitch time"

*We love you and we are so proud of you!!!!!

*

Mitch and Darian, Homecoming 2011

Sleeping with Duke

LOVE YOU MITCH, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Linking up to Sew Modern Monday and Megan at her blog.

and the girls over at Quilt Story