Saturday, July 2, 2011

Construction Complete

I finished the Construction Quilt and gave it to Alex yesterday for his 3rd birthday.

Construction Quilt 008

He was thrilled with it and I don’t think I’ve ever given a quilt that was admired or appreciated as much.  Everyone at the party was enthralled with it so that just made my day.  Here is the birthday boy showing us on his fingers just how old he will be.

Alexander's 3rd Birthday Party 2011 024

Lee and I had a sew day last week.  We decided we’d work on something we both had purchased so we could do it together.  This is what we decided on:

Bali Bag

It calls for a Bali Pop and a package of clothesline.  You fold the 2 1/2” strip in half, then press each side into the middle, then you take the clothesline and stitch THROUGH the clothesline while trying to overlap the ends of fabric to completely enclose the clothesline.

After about half an hour, when we had about 6” of one strip done, we decided this really wasn’t a fun project and we’d cut our losses at the pattern and the clothesline.  It was frustrating as neither of our machines were going through all that thickness with ease and the stitching looked terrible. 

Then we spent the next hour or so going through all my patterns and books looking for something else we could use the Bali Pop on. 

Then it was lunch time :-)

We finally decided on this pattern since almost all the others required a background or other neutral to go with the Bali Pop. 

Jelly Braids

This is what I have done so far:

Jelly Braid 005

You can’t chain piece it, so it’s pretty slow going.  I also have my Mystery Quilt to finish as they have a big ‘Reveal Night’ in September. 

Sandra and I are going to see 9 to 5 tomorrow.  Let’s hope it doesn’t turn out to be another children's dance recital!!

6 comments:

Deborah Levy said...

Irene, that quilt is so cute and Alex is priceless!

As to the bali pops bag deal...we all pick a loser now and then.!

Three Birds Inspired said...

I have made a couple of the jelly roll braid quilts. Once you get rolling they really are kind of "mindless" so that is a perfect quilt for me!

Jackie's Stitches said...

LOVE the construction quilt! Alex is so cute and I'm sure he'll treasure that quilt for a long time.

I've often thought of making the clothesline purses but always was hesitant because I thought they'd be heavy.

Rian said...

Alex--what a sweetie! Too bad the bag didn't work out.

Rian said...

Irene--check this out: http://xicanartista.blogspot.com/2011/07/fabric-basket.html

She used fabric cording instead of clothesline.

Vicki W said...

The construction quilt is great!