Table of Grace - February 2012

I always look forward to Table of Grace at WUMC.  I meet Margie at the Fellowship Hall at 10 AM where  we have a short chat with our Monday Morning Bible Study group before we head off for grocery shopping.

Our first stop is Sam's where we pick up the bigger items we need. We generally have lunch there as Margie thinks it isn't TOG day if we don't eat pizza at Sam's!

Then back to Wendell, with a stop at my house for oatmeal, Worcestershire Sauce, milk (no need to buy these as we don't need very much).  I also grabbed the leftover Oreo Cheesecake Bars (for an afternoon snack).  A stop at Food Lion, then back to church to meet Ella and Janice there.

Margie, Ella and Janice ready to cook

First we fixed two pans of peach cobbler that we will serve with ice cream. We had some extra peaches so we simmered them with a little butter and sugar. We can use them as an extra sauce with the ice cream if desired.

Margie checking out the cobbler

Then we got the green beans started.  Southern gals cook green beans for quite awhile even though they are canned. We drain them and cook them in fresh water with olive oil and a little sugar. They really are good. 

Lisa, one of our servers/clean-up helpers 

We took time for a short rest break and snack.  We also used this time to plan menus for April through June.

Meatloaf and Sauce

We started the Meatloaf it could bake and made the sauce we serve on the meatloaf.

 

In the meantime we set tables, make lemonade, get out plates, cups etc.

Girl Scout Troop  - Aren't they cute?

Between 5 and 5:30 our server helpers and clean up crew comes in.  Last night we also had a local Girl Scout troop come to help.  They helped carry plates, removed empty plates, cleared tables and helped serve desserts to those who have trouble getting around.   George, La Rue and Alta Ruth served the tea and lemonade.

Eddie

Thanks to Eddie for taking on the task of making sure we have clean up help each meal.  He, his son Josh, and wife Lisa all helped along with Wayne N.  We are so grateful to them.

 Everyone enjoyed music provided by Scott and Debbie and Pastor Trip shared his Lenten message.  We who help at Table of Grace all agree that we get back so much more than we give!

 

Sewing, sewing, sewing

Well all this sewing has finally started paying off.  I have all the nine patch blocks, sewn, pressed, recut, trimmed to 5.25" and resewn abd repressed back into four patch units that measure 10".

The pattern has them set 7 by 8 which will be 66.5 by 76.0". Then a narrow accent border followed by a 6 inch outer border. It should be about about 80 by 88".  Oh and I forgot more little circles to applique if needed!

I'm getting a little ahead of myself - hope it doesn't take me as long to sew the blocks together as it did to make them.

Scrappy Trips Progress - Stacks...............

Of strips sewn together ready for pressing and sewing into tubes.

Of cross cut strips waiting to be sewn into blocks.

 

Of blocks ready to be made into larger blocks!

Of large blocks - will this ever end?

Veteran's Friendship Star

In January I made a kit for a Veteran's quilt so that I could work on when I needed something to pick up and go.  Yesterday I had a little time so I made a few blocks. This afternoon I had some time to sew so I was able to finish the top. 

It went together real fast.  It measures 51 x 63".  Now I'll need to make another kit!

I like the hollow stars.  Maybe I'll make another with red cornerstones and just use hollow stars.  I'd like to have about four quilts ready for the Veteran's Hospital this year.  We'll see!

Another use for your stash

This is my month to do Worship preparation each week.

This Sunday is Transfiguration Sunday and our Pastor asked for the Alter and rails to be draped in white.  We had a couple of large piece of white fabric at church but no where near enough.  So I found a set of sheets, five tablecloths then the stash yielded enough to finish up. 
Wednesday will be burlap and back to purple paraments.  

The Worship Committee has two rooms up on the third floor where we keep all our supplies and decorations for all the various seasons of the Christian year.  But sometimes the Pastor will ask for something different and then we improvise.

Double Nine Patch Top Finished

I'm not sure when I sewed the center of this quilt top together but sometime last fall.  At that time, I couldn't decide what kind of border I wanted to put on it, pieced, applique or printed fabric. So I folded it up and put it aside for awhile.

I uncovered it again while I was tidying up in the sewing room.  I have been in the mood to finish things so I used a print that I had on hand for the outer border. I dug around and found an avocado green Kona solid for an inner border.   I only had 2 yards of the floral fabric so I used different portions for the sides and top and bottom borders. The top measures 75 x 90".

I hope I can find more of the same green for the binding.  I had just a half yard and a fat quarter to start with.  I thought I might like a one inch inner border so cut 1.5" strips.  They looked too wide so I cut more strips at one inch rather than try to cut the bigger ones down. I figured they wouldn't be straight if I did that.  They probably won't look super straight anyways with all the nine patches along the edges.

This is  about one fourth of the quilt.

Here is a closer view of the border fabric.  It is a Tulleries from Benartex.  I made a backing from six different cream and red prints that were on the shelf so it can go in the ready to layer stack.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Thursday

John and I went to Chapel Hill for lunch after his appointment Tuesday.  I stopped by Thimble Pleasures and the were out of the avocado Kona but have reordered it. Yea!

Dresden Plate - Full View

I took the quilt outside for a picture this afternoon.  It was a very bright day so it was hard to see the images.  I am so glad it is done, I may even decide to use it on my bed.

A close up of one of the applique motifs.

The backing fabric. 

Chilly in North Carolina

Fountain at Wendell United Methodist

Last month a new fountain was installed in our courtyard to honor the service of our Director of Children's Programs.   The fountain this morning!  However by lunchtime it was almost completely thawed.  The Relay for Life team held a Baked Potato Bar Lunch fundraiser so this afternoon was free. 

I finished sewing the binding on my Dresden Plate quilt so it is now officially done.  Perhaps I'll be able to get a full picture of it tomorrow.

Dresden Plate Version 2

This is as far as I got on this top Wednesday evening.  It is approximately 60 by 78 at this point.  I took it to Sally's yesterday and we tried out some of her extensive collection of Kaffe Fassett prints as potential borders. 

As we were in Raleigh this morning, I stopped at Wish Upon A Quilt to check out their Kaffe inventory.  Nothing that said "buy me!" but then an Amy Butler with the right colors caught my eye.  I also found a good choice for the backing.  So after lunch we came back home and I was able to get the borders on and the backing and binding made.

Although the picture doesn't show it the background is a great match with the center of the inner border. The top ended up being 74 x 88" and I"m satisfied with that size.  Now I need to trim the background fabric from behind the applique and it will be ready to layer and quilt.

I love those little white dots that mimic the dots in the background of the quilt center.

The background/binding  fabric and the backing fabric.

Looking back, I see that I started this quilt in February last year.  I found a tutorial for making this block at Luriline's Place blog found at  http://lurlineg.blogspot.com/

Thanks to Carole for treating me to an evening of culture.  We went to the Symphony.  Guest conductor, Christian Knapp and the cello soloist were outstanding!

Double Four Patch Finished

Yesterday I got up early and finished quilting this double four patch quilt that I put together at Connie's house in December.  I tried out a new for me quilting pattern that I had seen somewhere.  The backing is flannel and I will probably wash it before I donate it.  It will go to the Veteran's Hospital in Durham for their Hospice Program. 

The quilting doesn't show up much on the front but that's okay.  It was good practice and I can see that it needs to be more open to cover a large quilt.  I started out making the motifs too small.  They look better to me when they are more open.

They can be seem better here.  I will probably use this pattern again as it covers well, goes fairly quickly and adds interest to the quilt.

Last  night I fell asleep during the evening  news and woke up too late to go to Disciple Class ( no way am I going  20 minutes late).   My little nap gave me a burst of energy so after tidying up the kitchen I went to the sewing room. 

I finished appliqueing the last two Dresden plate blocks that have been hanging around since last year and set them together.  They are large blocks (18.5") so that didn't take long.

I  had in mind what I was going to use for an inner border so I added that also.  Now I'm stuck! No pictures of the top as it was too late when I finished.

Today is an outing with Cathy, Connie and Sally so I will see what they think.
We're going to a Quilt Display at a museum in Goldsboro, lunch and a couple of fabric stores.  Fun ahead!

More Quilting

I can't believe that I used a full spool of the white Aurifil 50/2 thread before I even started the borders. Thanks to Sally and Connie for picking up more in Goldsboro for me.  All the stops and starts in addition to the size of the quilt I guess.

I have finished the quilting and put on a pink binding.  One side is hand sewn  - I had planned to have it finished by today but I hate to sew bindings!

 

Friday I made backings and bindings for the 6 finished quilt tops I had on hand.  Saturday I layered the four smaller ones here at home.  I'll take the two larger ones to church one day and use the big tables for them.

Today I quilted these two small quilts that will be donated at Raleigh Quilters Guild for Wheelchair quilts.  They were made from blocks I received in block exchange in 1996. I was a member of the Three Rivers Quilt Guild in Albemarle NC.  I finished the binding by machine on these.  I loved looking at the blocks and remembering the gals who made them. 

This is the window in Pauline's house block.  Notice the little lace curtains at the side.

Donna's window has a pleated lace curtain.  I hope someone will notice these little details when they receive these quilts and be amused.  My window has a sewing machine showing.

**********************************************

I stopped by the Food Lion after Bible Study to pick up some bananas for John.  I came home with a large package of ground beef so I decided to cook for my freezer.  I made 4 quarts of enchilada sauce, a small meatloaf, 40 large meatballs to use with spaghetti and 40 small meatballs for Swedish meatballs. I love having some starters for dinner in the freezer.  Sounds like I'll need to call the family to help us eat all this.

 No, we didn't have ground beef for dinner.  I also bought a pot roast  - it was good and leftovers for another day. Yeah!

Dresden Plate

In early 2010 I wanted to use my Aunt Graces type fabrics to make a quilt.  I waffled back and forth about patterns.  I thought about making a grandmother's fan. A friend had make a Dresden plate and  she had loaned me a pattern.  One day I typed Dresden plate in the search box and this nine patch/Dresden plate, done in Aunt Grace fabrics, picture appeared. THAT'S IT!  I knew the moment I saw it, I would make it.  There was no name to acknowledge - I believe it was posted by the person who quilted it.  And believe me the quilting was perfectly done.
This was also the first time I had used a white background in a quilt. After the top was made I spent about 6 months looking for the perfect white print backing fabric.  I layered it last July and Have just know gotten up my courage to start quilting it.  I was so glad to have that wonderful quilting to give me an idea as to how to quilt it.  It's at the limit as to size I feel I can manage on my Bernina 1130.

The plate blocks went really fast.  The straight lines were a total bore.  I have been enjoying the feathery quilting.  Using lots and lots of thread as there are lots of starts and stops.  There is a pink inner border where I will use pink thread but all the rest will be done with white Aurifil 50/2 weight.

Monday was Table of Grace at WUMC so it was cooking and fellowship.  We cooked Ham, sweet potatoes, broccoli and carrots, biscuits and apple crisp.  We had new volunteers to help serve and a local Brownie troop came to help with the clearing of tables.  They were so cute and such good helpers.

By the way the Girl Scout Organization is celebrating their 100th year this year.

Yesterday was errands and catching up day.