Happy Independence Day!

And happy Monday to all of my friends outside the U.S. of A.!

After donating the first little "Patriotic Star" I made from Diane Hansen's pattern, to our family reunion auction, I decided I wanted one--this time I made it from plaid shirts. I knew that would invite a lot of wonkiness, because it would be impossible to keep all of those plaids lined up perfectly on such a little quilt. I decided I could live with that.

I am pretty pleased with the end results. Maybe I will call it "Patriotism in Plaids". This had not been one of the little quilts in the running for #36 for 2016, but it is the winner.

 

Here we have little finish #37.
As I mentioned in my last post, this is my adaptation of a recent Temecula free pattern offering called Freedom Flag.

This is how they are currently displayed in my sewing room.

Back in 2014 I was gifted a little hand stitching project by my good friend Annie M. It was to keep my hands busy during  some air travel I was going to be doing. This is from the "Building Houses From Scraps" movement. I got the first six blocks finished and made the little quilt on the right I call "Annie's Neighborhood". I have used the other six blocks as my go-to handwork for car trips, but finally decided it was time to "getter done". There were only 1 1/2 houses left to go. (Don't look too closely--I am not the most precise hand stitcher.) I thought I knew just what I would do with these, but now I am debating breaking them up into 2 or 3 projects. I will play with them and see what happens. 

On a recent thrift store trip I scored on vintage men's pants hangers. I love these for hanging little quilts and I only had one. I had actually found myself tempted to abscond with one or two when I saw my Dad's pants were all hung from this type hanger--but I stepped back and took deep breaths and then walked away.
At half a dollar each. I was happy to walk away from the thrift store with the whole bundle.

Two of them now grace the stairwell that leads to our bedroom. To the left is the top view and to the right is what you see as you descend the stairs.

Last of all, are you doing any of the Row By Row shop hop? I just visit my local quilt shops, and these are their license plates this year. The "Fabric Cache" plate plays off of the fact that we live in  "Cache Valley", so named because it used to be a hunting and trapping ground for Native Americans and mountain men. They would bury their furs in caches to come back and collect later.

I have an extra "Mama Said Sew" plate, so if you are interested, say so in your comment. I will draw a name and ship it out. "No-reply" commenters need to include their email in their comment to be included. : )

Until next time,
Janet O.