A layout change

Three things to be happy about:
(1) fresh peaches and raspberries
(2) homemade presents
(3) a child sharing a mother's passion


Well, it's almost strawberry picking season at Butler's Orchard in Maryland... I wonder if the strawberries will be good this year, with the weather being so funny?  My mother used to always make berry jam every year, including preserves from the purple grape hulls, that she'd mostly keep until the winter months.  She'd make jelly from the pulp and preserves from the hulls - nothing went to waste! 

I remember she'd get so annoyed with us when we'd say "Mama, can I have some more grape hulls?"  "It's preSERVES, not grape hulls!"  Years ago I used to pick lots and lots of strawberries and make lots and lots AND LOTS of strawberry jam - it was so good!  Everybody loved my jam, if I say so.


Thanks everybody for your needle comments, it seems there are a lot of methods that work equally well, depending on your needs at the time.  Now a word about rotary blades... no wait, I better not go there!

 

When I blogged about the stars I made with my strings in the center, in this post, I was pondering what kind of sashing to use with them. 

I used a very pretty black with small white dots and it looked sort of okay, but I let them sit on my design wall a few days just to make sure.  Just doing the vertical sashing was enough to see I didn't want to go that route for this quilt; it was starting to look a little ordinary, don't you think?  My stars need to shine!

So then I removed the sashing and sewed them together side by side...

looking good!  This is actually the layout I started out with, after I pieced the blocks but before I sewed them together.

Next I added a red border,

looking better!  Today my goal will be to add another white border, and place some scrappy applique along the edges.  Sound like a winner?  I think so too!

Enjoy your Wednesday, sew forth and sew on...