Guild Challenge

The Crazy Quilters guild that I joined recently has something called the president’s challenge. Every year the club president challenges the members to make a quilt from a pattern she selects or designs. This year the quilt is lap sized and once finished, will be donated to the Linus Project. Over the last couple of days, I have been making my quilt for this challenge.

I didn’t have enough of any fabric I liked for a kid friendly quilt, but my friend Sharon dug in her stash and came up with this wonderful animal print. I scrounged the peachish and green fabrics from my own stash and got to cutting. Here is a picture of the blocks before final assembly:

I think it is a nice combination of blocks. Not to complex, still it is interesting to look at. It doesn’t really show in this picture, but the peach sortof picks up on the various oranges and the green has some variegation that kindof matches the greens in the focus fabric.

Today, I got the top all put together. Here is is:

Since I had some cut pieces left over, I used them in the backing. Here that is:

You can see that I pinned the backing right over the top on the design wall. The triangles on the border are showing through the peach border. I made binding from the focus fabric, which I think will frame the quilt nicely. I have to get this quilted and bound by the first Wednesday in December. Good thing it is not very big. It’s a good couple of days work. I may even make another one just for myself.

Dear Hannah – All Together Now!

I got the two borders on. The quilt is too big to get it all in one photo, so here are a few to give you an idea how it turned out:

See how it is too wide for the design wall?  It was also too long, but this gives an idea of it.  The colors are a little brighter than in the pictures. I am happy with the way the borders frame the blocks.

Then I laid it over the bed and took a couple pictures that way. This is a queen sized bed.

So that is all for now of the Dear Hanna quilt. Tomorrow, I have to start on a cuddle quilt for my Crazy Quilt guild. It has to be done by the first Monday in December.

Dear Hannah update

Well, this top is almost done. I got all the blocks and sashing sewed together. Here is how it is looking so far:

I am planning a narrow dark green border maybe 1 1/2″ or 2″ and then a lavender border maybe 4″ or 6″.  I am liking it more and more.

Dear Hannah Progress

This is a quilt I started maybe five years ago. My plan was to use some blocks from the book Dear Jane by Brenda Manges Papadakis to make a quilt for my son Chris, and to use some blocks from the book Dear Hannah, also by Brenda, to make a quilt for my daughter, Jenny. The original blocks are all only 4 1/2″ square. At the time, I didn’t think I could work with such tiny blocks, so I just selected a few that looked kind of easy and enlarged them to a regular 12″ square.

You can see the completed quilt for Chris here at my webshots:

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/150048420fKNYwG

This picture says it was taken in January 2005, but I think I gave Chris that quilt for Christmas in 2004. Weird. Unfortunately, I never finished the one for Jenny. Sorry Jen. Here is an album with the blocks.

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/168103799RGzZhg

Looks like I got the blocks done by early 2005. Once I was done with them, I decided that they would look good with flying geese sashings. That ended up being a slow, boring part of the project. Over this last summer, I finally finished the sashing, but then put it all away.

This week, after finishing piecing that little table quilt, I decided to break out Hannah and see what it would take to finish it. For the last couple days I have been piecing the blocks and sashing. Here is a picture of my progress:

So far, I am not loving it like I think I should. These are some of my first attempts at applique and piecing. And the color combinations leave a lot to be desired. Oh, I love the purples and the variety, but I could have been more careful with contrast to make the blocks really pop. On top of all that, I used several different muslin fabrics for the backgrounds and you can see the slight variation in shades of white. But the more it comes together, The more I like it.

Here is how far I got on it today:

I think the sashing makes it a lot more interesting, and I am glad I didn’t give up on that idea. The next step will be to cut some setting triangles to go around the edges. That will mean adding another kind of muslin in the mix. I guess it is a good lesson learned though – to buy enough of a fabric in the beginning to make sure it all matches. Hopefully, the variations will just seem like a scrappy happy accident.  I Haven’t measured it yet, but it looks about queen sized. I am thinking of seeing if my machine quilter will stitch along the sashing for me and I can fill in the blocks myself. Some of the blocks, I know exactly how I want the quilting to be, others are still a mystery, but that part should be fun.  Maybe I can get it done in time for Santa to put it under Jenny’s tree this year.

Scrappy Interlude

I took a break from working on the red string quilts to see if I had enough leftovers from the sudoku fruit and vegetable fabric to make a little table cloth for the kitchen. I thought it would look great made up of squares just like the green pick-and-choose quilt I made for the bed.  First, I cut up the fabric into it’s small pieces:

I decided to use the peach fabric for the light. Next step is to make the four patches:

The next thing was to make the blocks. I had enough for 9 blocks and sashing.

I didn’t have enough for sashing around the outside or the half-square triangle border like in the green quilt, but that is just as well. The quilt would be too big for our little kitchen table. I like the result. Now I just have to find time to quilt it and get it on the table.  For now, it is folded and in a pile with the red quilts and the flower pot quilt, waiting to be finished.

Happy Birthday Jen

Here is my little girl fresh from the hospital how many years ago. And what a helpful big brother she has.I still find it hard to believe my little girl is all grown up and has kids of her own. It seems like just yesterday this picture was taken. I am so proud of her and all she has accomplished so far.

CQ Santa Update

Here is the latest pic of the santa crazy block:

The red flosses really kick it up a notch, don’t you think?

Happy Birthday to Me

OK, so my birthday isn’t until next month. But when Mr. Smith asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I had my list ready.  At the top of the list was a serger. I have never had one, but I have done some research and decided that I could get a lot of use out of one. I like making my own clothes, but don’t like the ‘home-made’ look I always end up with. a serger creates beautiful finished seams and saves a lot of time too.  So I decided on the one I wanted, and Raymond sent away for it. Here it is:

We got a third table and did a little rearranging to make a place for it. Here is a closer view:

I watched the video that came with it, and got a book, Serging With Confidence by Nancy Zeeman and have started reading through it. On the Sewing With Nancy tv shows, she uses sergers quite often for practical and decorative sewing. I am very excited about having this new little gadget to play with.

Ironing Board Changes

Can life get much more exciting than this? Raymond cut a rectangle out of some particle board and attached it to the metal frame of my ironing board. I padded it with a couple layers of cotton batting and then covered it with muslin. Now I can iron fabric yardage a lot easier.  Here is a picture of the board and the pointy end of the old ironing board:

Here is the ‘new’ ironing board:

I am one happy ironer!

Crazy Quilt Block Done & Company

When Kate Hollifield invited crazy quilters to make a block for her latest fundraiser, Tsunami of Good Will, I volunteered.  Here is my contribution. I waited till the last minute to get it finished, but now it is winging it’s way to Chillocothe IL. I bet she has as much fun saying she lives in Chillocothe as I do saying I live in Chattanooga. They are both almost musical names. This block will finish at 6.5.”

For the last couple of days, my good friend Willa Fuller was visiting. We had a nice time hanging out in the sewing room and chatting and stitching. We also made time to visit a quilt shop and find a great Chinese restaurant. She had to leave today and is probably still in her car driving home to Orlando. Here is a picture of us:

Willa and I have been friends for years now. We met on a crazy quilt mail list on the internet back in 1998 or 1999 if I recall correctly. We always have a great time together. She is a beautiful, creative spirit.

I also made a lot of progress on my Santa CQ block, but I haven’t got a picture of that for you yet.