Making My Picket Fence

1. I cut white logs...2" x 8"
     Cut strips of WOF 8" first, then
     Cut 2" logs from strips 
I cut blue squares 1.5" x 1.5"
       Cut WOF 1.5" strips, then 
       Cut 1.5" from strips 
2. Press squares on diagonal.



3. Put 1 square on a log


4. Sew along diagonal.

5.Trim Seam to 1/4"



6. Press new corner open



7. Place 2nd sq on the log,
         covering opposite corner

8. Sew 2nd sq on the diagonal,



9. Trim seam



10. Press open



11. Finish assembling 5 posts




12. Assemble 5 posts for finished BLOCK!

                                                
                    And there you have it.

"Butterflies in the Garden" Fence Post Block

SAMPLE border for garden

While waiting for the butterflies to fly north to my garden, I gathered supplies for my border. I decided to keep the same theme of tone-on-tone, yet keep the floral fabrics within the garden.

Off I went to shop for fence posts fabric.
I found white-on-white in a splintered wood look.

Then, I found a soft blue that looks like a summer sky with soft wisps of clouds floating lazily.

I already had the grassy green, but after some thought, I wanted to trim my quilted garden as I do my flower gardens. I love the intense outline of dark brown chips along the border, so I browsed the store for a dark tone on tone. I found a piece that actually looks like the shades of browns cast by the chips!

With all the fabrics in hand, I began to design the border and fence posts for my butterfly garden. I'm so excited to work on these blocks.
The actual blocks will be five fence posts with blue sky, measuring a 7.5" block. I will first border my garden blocks with 1" strips of brown, then of 2" strips of green and finally, add my "white picket fence outlined by a sky blue" block rows.
My binding will be also made in the soft blue.
My quilting plan is to stitch crossbars along the posts and then use grassy green thread to make strands of grass along the fence in FMM designs.

So, thank you "Block Swappers"! Your blocks are vivid and beautiful! I've squared and arranged my rows of floral fabric blocks.
My Butterfly Garden awaits my diligent work on the fence.

Small projects

As I wait for the Butterflies to wing their way north to my floral garden, (previous post) I decided to put quilting aside for a week or two and focus on some cute little sewing projects. After all, why would I be given the precious gifts of grand daughters and ignore the possibilities of sewing adorable little outfits?

I wanted to make a jumpsuit for the birthday of our sweet 1 year old grand daughter. The blue of this fabric reminds me of her beautiful eyes and I know her mommy loves blue! I began my sewing projects with this little outfit. I'm quite proud of the changes I made in the pattern. I put cuffs on the legs to keep it fitted over her shoes. I also left the collar off and made a ruffle of the short sleeves. The fabric makes it dressy, but it's no frills for play.

Her mommy made some bibs from terry cloth and scrap fabric which just needed my sewing machine to add a little touch of Velcro as fasteners. The little one finds sleepy comfort rubbing terry cloth with two fingers in her mouth. Using terry cloth backing makes great washcloth cleanups when the meals are done.
Here are 2 of the little bibs!

I found adorable fabric to replace a favorite outfit that had long since become too small for our third little overseas princess. It was her favorite Grandma-made outfit, but sadly had to be passed on. To dry the cascading tears, I promised to replace her Dora dress as soon as I could. I searched in several stores before I found any Dora fabric, and was thrilled with this vivid dark shade of burgundy with blue butterflies. It is a reversible outfit, so I found some matching blue for its backing.

The calendar page turned over to May while we visited the little one in a southern state. It was wonderful to see the azaleas and dogwood in full bloom and enjoy the southern sun and hospitality. We returned home on the first of May only to be met with spring rains and the predictions of SNOW (?) brought by very cold winds.
My Butterfly Garden blocks hadn't arrived yet, and it's too cold to plant the transplanted day lilies, so the rest of this week, I hope to finish the Dora dress and get it in the mail.

I love being a grandmother with a sewing machine! The joy of sewing somehow brings the little ones with their conversational questions and contagious giggles right into my sewing room while I dream of them receiving and wearing these adorable creations!