Framed, Centred and Sidetracked

It didn't take long to finish the alternate frames on these 1950s stitcheries.

The centre is complete. Yay! I was looking at the huge pile of "short bits" left over after the scrappy strippy log-cabin style borders were added... thinking What will I do with these?

I think I know what to do. Now the centre is complete, I will use up the strippy bits by joining them into long borders. I will go around the quilt centre as many times as possible.

Then it will need quilting - probably in some large flower design that is reminiscent of the 1950s dresses themselves. Followed by... hmmm... probably a plain brown binding. Or red. *grin*

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Then, I got so excited by this "almost-up-to-quilting-finish"... that I wanted to make pillowcases.

My friend Shelly found a fantastic online tutorial for making pillowcases. Click here to watch the video. You make a tube and turn it inside out. It's that simple.

These cat pillowcases are for a girl who is celebrating her 9th birthday in a month (yes, I've made them a bit early, but how cuuute is the fabric??)

Uh oh, I can feel a new and urgent addiction coming along. Stay tuned!!

Not what I expected...

This is not what I expected to show next...

I thought I would be working on the Yuwa Live quilt - but, the Vintage Flea Market quilt grabbed me with its bright colours and mix-matched fabrics.

Alright, let me explain the progress. The photo above shows that all blocks now have two rounds of scrappy strippy borders, as well as the beginnings of the frames around each block.

The blocks will alternately be framed in green and brown, then joined without sashing.

Ooh, why was I so tired last night? I just couldn't stay awake to sew any more.

Maniac on the loose!!

Yes, I am just going for it on the machine!!

No time for reverse stitching - I'm going full on!!

The 1950s dresses I started stitching in about 2006 (gulp) would like to be turned into a quilt. They were supposed to be stitched in redwork, but I couldn't resist adding lots of colour.

The fabrics I've chosen give a "flea market"-vintage-sort-of-look. They come from different repro eras - 1930s, 50s, and 70s retro with one or two modern designs that still look nostalgic really...

Okay, so that is one full round on each block (I made 9 of the 12 blocks) plus another strip at the top a-la Log Cabin style.

Stay tuned. I'm going to complete the second Log Cabin round, then border the blocks alternately with green and brown prints. That should finish the front... I've got some other retro prints for the back that I will play around with to make something Flea Market-ish.

Actually, that would be a good name for this quilt - Flea Market Vintage. I can just see some of these dresses at market stalls.