**Reminder: Tonight I’m doing a live video Question and Answer on Facebook. I’m kind of nervous wondering if I’ll get any questions…or any viewers for that matter…or it I’ll flub up and say something goofy…or say um the entire time. Come on over and watch me stumble through!! Kalissa said she will either record it or have it live on Youtube as well. So if you don’t have Facebook watch for something possibly on Youtube. It’s a 7 pm central time zone.**
I didn’t get a lot of time in the sewing room but enough that I was happy. Rusty, my foster dog has to stay down on the main floor of the house unkenneled if I sew as my sewing room is upstairs and I don’t trust him up there yet so I would sneak up from time to time and do some things. On Friday he was at the vet all day and I knew he would be so I sewed like a mad woman.
A wonderful blog reader sent me some Iowa Hawkeyes goodies. There are two fabrics that will work perfectly in it and she sent a flannel sheet for the backing PERFECT. I am doing a happy dance about that!!
I ended up getting all of the half-square triangle blocks sewn and ironed.
I got a lot put together too. I am really loving how this is looking. I just love the …gray color added with the gold and black. It really softens the whole project. I also love how it “says Iowa Hawkeyes” but doesn’t obnoxiously scream it.
Gannon, my grandson thought this was the perfect place to play peek-a-boo.
What a cutie!
I also worked on my Tribute to Judy UFO. 
I had some pieces that I had started working on earlier. It was my main floor ironing project that I did in between other household chores.
I ended up getting some finished…only 12 but I’m happy with that. I am only working on this casually so once the UFO number is picked, I’m not quite so overwhelmed with needing to finish so many blocks.
I got my hourglass quilt top ironed. Getting three dogs to pose on the quilt was easy…
Getting three dogs OFF the quilt so I could snap a picture of the whole thing, NOT EASY AT ALL.
I’m really liking this and can’t decide what I should do with it from here. Do I put borders on it? Pieced borders? Plain borders? Do I leave it as is? Do I make it bigger?
I’m not the best at decision-making. I keep reminding myself that whatever I do, there really isn’t a “wrong” answer.
I did take time to film a video to show you how I made these blocks using a companion angle ruler and my scraps. This is the first quilt in my “How to use your scraps series”. Some of the quilts in the series will be basic kind of like this quilt…some will be harder. The good news is that whatever the quilt is, it’s going to help you use up your scraps.
I’m betting a lot of you already have a companion angle ruler and haven’t used it much before. For me, it’s a staple in using my scraps. You can find it HERE on Amazon if you don’t have one. I love mine so much I have two…one for upstairs and one for downstairs.
You can watch the video by pushing the play button or you can go to Youtube HERE to watch the video. While you’re there you can save the video and watch it later on your television or device.
While filming the video I ended up with another stack of blocks. I think there is enough for another row so I’ll make that happen. But besides that, I just don’t know how I should finish the top. If you have suggestions or an opinion, feel free to leave a comment in the comment section.
I don’t know what it is with my grandsons this week and their playing peek-a-boo, with my quilts but here’s Emmett. It was his turn to play.
That’s the news from the sewing room….I am hosting Thanksgiving here and some of the kids have already hinted at staying additional days so, I likely won’t get much sewing time this week. What are your plans for the week? Lots of sewing time or only a little?
Love the easy angle ruler and companion.
I would leave it without borders. I make a lot of quilts without borders.
Gannon and Eli enhance tour quilt.
You’re right. There is no wrong answer! Personally I often don’t feel a quilt needs borders and your Hourglass one would be great as it is. OR, as I know you prefer big quilts, add a few more rows/ columns of hourglass units. I know you will have the extra scraps! Loved your Hourglass YouTube video.
I’m another one who would leave it without borders. Your sweet foster dog’s eyes look better.
I didn’t put a border on my hour glass quilt. I like it just the way it is. My problem now is what color to bind it in. Right now I am thinking red. I will look forward to see what color you bind yours in.
Yet another opinion that it looks great with no borders. :) I
I think a small 1.5-2 inch dark border then add something else or quilt and bind. If you have that narrow border a scrappy binding would really pop.
This quilt top is beautiful and it is busy. As long as you don’t use a scrappy, multicolored binding, you wouldn’t need a border, unless you want one to make it bigger. Enjoyed your video about making the hourglass blocks!
I love the hour glass quilt just like it is–without borders!
Cute kids, cute dogs (Rusty’s eyes look so good!!) and a beautiful quilt. You are braver than me and I gotta say 57 is WAAYY better than 180!! You are SO CLOSE!
Whatever you choose for your quilt finish will be perfect….you always seem to pick the right finish. Looking forward to the completed quilt, after the holidays!
Love, love the hourglass quilt. I vote no borders, too.
Jo, have you done any more alphabet videos? I was away for a while and may have missed some. The last one I saw had an R done.
That alphabet letters are finished and I did one video on the inside blocks. You can find them by going to Youtube and searching for Jo’s Country Junction.
I would leave it without borders. I get tired of border border border to make quilts bigger all the time now. That quilt top looks like a Civil War-era one and they didn’t put borders around everything back in the day you know. Let it shine as it is!
I finally got a day off of work and watched your video of making the hour glass blocks while I cleaned my sewing area. It took longer than your video to clean that area. You motivated me! I also watched the video where you were sewing strips together to finish the Becky Mystery quilt from Quilted Twins while cleaning the sewing area. Have you finished that mystery quilt yet? I would love to see your progress on it or finish. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your beautiful family!
Grandsons playing peek a boo in your quilts are so cute! I really like the hourglass quilt and I would suggest to just bind it. I looks like a very good size without borders.
Your grandsons are adorable. The Hawkeye quilt is gorgeous. (I’m slightly prejudiced I like yellows). For your other quilt don’t use a border if you don’t want to buy pick a color that will set off the quilt and make it shine.
I suggest a small, maybe 1”, red or brown sashing and then add one more row of hourglass blocks. It’ll add a little something to quilt!
I like it without borders. Maybe some sewing on Sunday, guess we’ll see. Rusty’s eyes looks so good. He is a cutie. Happy Thanksgiving everyone
I agree with several of the other commenters, your Hourglass quilt really doesn’t need a border. Bind in a fabric that stands out, maybe one of your brighter blues, red, or go a little crazy and use poison green.
I won’t be sewing much this week if at all. It was decided that our family would combine Thanksgiving with Christmas (ThanksMas ??). So today was spent Christmas shopping since I only had about three gifts already. Deer season ended Sunday so I still have some deer meat to wrap and some to can as well as getting some squash baked for making pies on Wed. Gifts need to be wrapped or bagged before end of day on Wed. too. Turkey day on Thurs., rest up on Friday and then fill in at the Library on Saturday. Busy week.
We’re just having our kids and grandkids for the holiday. But we’re smoking the turkey this year which is a new thing. It’s been frozen for a while, so smoking should help lol. I just watched the hourglass video. I followed the link for the ruler and put it in my wishlist Does anyone know of Jo will still get the credit if it goes into a wish list first before the purchase?
I think I still get credit. Thanks for thinking of me.
I really like how this quilt turned out, maybe make it a little bigger and leave out borders? Only caught the ending of your question and answer video so will go find it and watch from the beginning, really enjoyed it! Also I would love a demo on using the Companion Angle Ruler, I have it but have never used it so would be fun to see it demonstrated! Rusty’s eyes are looking so much better! He is the perfectly cute size for someone! Want to wish you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving!
I did a little demo on how I use my companion angle ruler in this video. https://youtu.be/qN6yxx46kC0
Initially I thought that a border would take away from the piecing but then I had a “light bulb moment”. If you made that same size QST block, but instead of making an hourglass (using 2 of each color) you used only one dark (facing in toward the quilt) and 3 lights (in the other positions)…or the opposite, with the light facing in and dark for the other 3 pieces, you would accomplish a finishing border yet maintain the flow of your wonderful piecing. I hope you understood what I was attempting to describe.
I’m going to investigate this idea…maybe make a couple of test blocks and see if I like it.
Love the hourglass quilt. I will have to add that to my list.
Borders – for some reason – are my least favorite part of making a quilt. Well, maybe it is more about making the decision about borders – color, size, etc. Plus there is a contingent of quilters who think that every quilt needs to have a border. There is one in my quilting group (she’s in the all quilts need borders camp) that always commented something about my quilts without borders – to the effect – ‘well borders would have really made the quilt look finished’ or ‘borders would have contained the pattern’ and so on. I usually just let the comments go, but finally I said – ‘well, I didn’t make the quilt for you and I like some quilts without borders, my quilt my rules’. It probably made her mad, but hopefully it made her think a little about her comments on other people’s quilts! And I love many quilt patterns without borders and I do like yours without borders – it looks great! And now it is another pattern that I want to do……
It seems like there is one in every group. Sorry she got to you. UGH.
I would add borders to the hourglass quilt because I would need something calm to settle all those little blocks down. Without having it layed out to audition, my best guess would be a smaller dark brown solid or print that reads as a solid for an inner border and a deep gold for a wide outer border, again, solid or a print that reads as a solid.
Hello Jo!
I have become a YouTube addict and have recently found your channel. I enjoy watching you work on your projects. I love the scrappiness and your styles. I also like the fact we are fellow Iowans– I’m in south central Iowa. Keep up the great work on your quilting and the YouTube work. I have been sewing since a girl but only took up quilting nine years ago when I made a baby quilt for my first grandchild. I was hooked! Happy Thanksgiving.
I’m a bit of a Youtube addict myself.
The link in this blog is to the ruler tool, is not the same as the angle ruler tool that Jo used in the hourglass quilt video.
I fixed this.
Jo, this is in response to the question from the live YouTube video you did the other night… Someone was asking about where to find fabrics with 1800’s prints. Marshalldrygoods.com has quite a few of them at just $4.99/yd. Plus, as a Black Friday Sale, they are offering 10% off of orders by using discount code: MDGBF22 for today only. I have purchased from this company many times before and have always been satisfied with my purchases.
Love your quilts! Love the pics of your dogs and grandsons. I think a wide binding of one fabric would look nice.