Catching Up

This is going to be a pretty long post since it has been a while (almost half a year) since my last one. It doesn’t seem to me that I’ve gotten much done quilt-wise, but it may look like it once everything is bundled together in one place.

Frist of all, I have been making a Quilt of Valor every month and sending them up to my dear friends, the Georgia Belles, to be quilted and gifted to an appreciated veteran.  There is a double benefit for me from making Quilts for veterans. The best thing of course, is having the opportunity to show my appreciation for those who served in the armed forces and helped to keep America safe.  Secondly, it is a practical way to experiment with different quilt patterns and techniques.  I enjoy trying new things and am learning so much with each one I make.

Falling Stars

This is the QOV for July. The pattern is called ‘Falling Stars’ and is in the Spring issue of Easy Quilts.

Summertime Stars

I made this one for August from a pattern called ‘Summertime Stars” in Quaint Quilts to Love by Joanna Figueroa & Lisa Quan.

This is the one I made for September. At the moment, I can’t remember what magazine I saw this one in, but I remember it was an old one — from the 90s.

And this is for October. I made it up using my favorite block, Mary’s Triangles from Sally Schnider’s book, Triangle Tricks. I’ve made several quilts with this block and it is so versatile.

A couple of months ago, the Community Service group of my local guild, Seaside Piecemakers, asked for patriotic lap quilts for a local hospice organization. Since I had a few patriotic panels on hand, I decided to make them up into lap quilts. Here they are.

I turned these three in and was gifted with four more little panels to make into even more lap quilts.  Here they are (before the quilting and binding. Apparently, I didn’t take a picture of them finished):

These were fun to make and fast – corner blocks and side borders around the panel and the quilt is all done. These were small enough that I could quilt them myself on my little Vikiing. Notice the Mary’s Triangles in the corners. I sure like adding them to quilts.

Folded Fabric Stars

These are my folded fabric stars. I learned this technique from Diana Whitson at a Sunstitchers meeting in June. I liked it so much that when we went back to Chattanooga to get the last of our stored stuff, I showed Karen D. and Sharon G. how to make them and they shared the technique with the Chattanooga Quilt Guild. I thought I would make one or two, but I keep getting ideas for different color combinations and decide to do ‘just one more.’ Thus this fifth one:

One more star

(and I am considering a few more color ways, so I don’t think I am done yet.)

Over the last few months, I also managed to get some knitting done. I finally finished the teal pair and two more pairs after that.  I have been knitting in the evenings while watching TV.

Teal Sox

Red & Purple Sox

Blue Sox

This makes 24 pairs of socks that I have knitted. I think I am ready for winter now — LOL!

Twin baby quilts

I made these baby quit tops for my sister. She has a co-worker who recently had twin granddaughters, and I happened to have a couple ABC panels on hand that seemed girly, so I pieced the tops for her. She will take care of the quilting and finishing.

 

Well, I believe that has us all caught up. I left out any pictures of the studio although it has changed a lot since the last update on that. I am hoping to get the room all neatened up for fresh pictures, but I am having so much fun sewing in here that there seems to always be a mess of one sort or another.

Happy Day!

 

 

 

A Little Retreat

Sharon and Karen, a couple of my Chattanooga friends, came to visit over the second weekend in April. They stayed in a really nice hotel on the beach and we had a wonderful time.

This little quilt was such a big surprise to me — it was made for me by my dear friends in the Chattanooga Quilt Guild. And everyone signed the label. I absolutely love this quilt and especially the sentiment behind it.  It is such a lovely reminder of all the good times we had in Tennessee.

Here we are on the beach. The weather was perfect that day.

These are some shots of the room and how it was set up for quiltmaking.  In the first picture you can see the cutting table.

 Here you can see Sharon and Karen at their sewing tables and the portable design wall cleverly created with a flannel backed table cloth and a few push pins.

Another view of the design wall. Sharon was working on the wonky star quilt and Karen is making a double wedding ring quilt for her sister.

They made pretty good progress on their projects and still had time to go out to eat and to visit several quilt shops including: The Florida Key Lime Pie Company, Brano’s Italian Grill, Sew Central, The Quilt Place, and Fabric, Fabric, Fabric.

I didn’t actually work on anything. Well, I took some knitting and got a couple more rounds on the pair of socks I have been working on for about a year, but I concentrated on just hanging out and visiting with the gals. It was such great fun.

Here is the ironing station.

They came by to see the house on their way back up north and became the very first visitors to my little sewing studio.

It was so nice to see my northern friends again. I look forward to seeing them again soon. Hopefully next time I will have my guest room ready for company.

In The Merry Month Of May

Seems like each month finds me busier than the last with little to show as far as finishes. Well, here is what I have been up to:

Sewing Vest

I made this sewing vest for my Chattanooga Quilter’s guild exchange gift. It is based on a pattern called the “Mae West Bomber Vest” and has a bunch of pockets on the inside and outside to hold all your tools and even a pocket for scraps. I altered the pin cushion from a plain square pillow of fabric to the little hexie flower, but the rest is just like the pattern.

I was so happy that I had this button in my stash — it looks like a rolled up measuring tape and goes with the sewing fabric perfectly.

My friend Vicky got the vest and I think she liked it.

Paper Pieced Place Mats

I have been enjoying taking a paper piecing class taught by my friend Denise. We met once a week for eight weeks ending last Thursday.

Here are my second set of place mats — winter of course.  I had trouble with the nine patches in the one and decided to skip them in the other.  The trees were a little tricky, but I got them done. The snowflakes are fused applique on a paper pieced snowball block. These place mats are not quilted yet.

are not quite assembled, but the paper piecing is done. I decided that rather than make two of each of these that I could make one of each and they would serve as our spring and summer set. That little flower block seemed to take forever, so one is enough.

Birds and bees — a fine combination.  I will probably take one of the bees and one of the cardinals and make them into coasters.

 

Spiced Pumpkin

I started a new hand applique project – a kit by Jan Patek called “Spiced Pumpkin.” The picture shows the center block. When completed it will be about 40″ square.  Civil War reproduction fabric is a different style than I usually use, but I think  this wall hanging will be a great addition to the autumn decor. I have the leaves and one of the vines stitched down already.

Sweet Hearts

I made these heart pot holders for my friend, Vicky’s, birthday gift and managed to get them to her only about a week late.

More Hexies

Here is a new hexie experiment in progress. I had a bundle of fat quarters of the same print in different colors and thought they might work for this with a solid grey thrown in for balance. Not sure what I think about it yet.

Quilt of Valor

I sewed a bunch of strips together in this red white and blue lasagna quilt. It needs nice solid borders, probably navy blue which I hope will calm down all the action of the fabrics and make a quilt that will comfort a veteran.

 

Well, that pretty much catches me up for now. I hope your spring is full of love and creativity.

 

Still Marching Along

Ginormous Tote

At the March meeting of the Chattanooga Modern Quilt guild we had a sew- in and learned to make this ginormous bag. I love mine. It is so big I can carry a couple of big quilts in it or a lot of different projects.  I used a ‘cheater’ fabric that was printed to look like hexagons sewn together for the body and the straps are some really old fabric that I found in my stash that almost perfectly matches one of the hexies in the print. I thought that was very cool. I tried something new with this bag — I used a satin fabric for the lining. I think that will make it a lot easier to put things in and take them out because it will cut down on the friction.

Janet found this idea at

Tutorial: Ginormous Quilter’s Tote

so if you want to see how to make one just click (or cut and paste if the clicky thing doesn’t work).

Pizza Box Blocks

After the Chattanooga Quilters guild missed two meetings because of winter weather, we finally got together in March and got to finish up the Pizza Box Challenge that we had been working on throughout 2013.  Everyone got their pizza boxes back and we got to see the blocks all together.  Here are the ones that were in my box:

Aren’t they wonderful!

And here they are with the extra ones I made during the year. I wanted to be sure the pattern worked before using someone elses fabrics. That gives me twice as many blocks to play with and this way, I can remember everyone who made blocks for me as well as what blocks I made for others.  This picture shows them lined up the usual way.

This one shows them arranged on-point. Either way will look very good with a little sashing and a border or two. Right now though I think I like the on point version better. It will take a while to decide on placement of the blocks, but that will be fun when I get to it.

This was such a fun project. I love my new blocks and am pretty amazed at how much care was put into each one.  They will become a treasured quilt that I will enjoy sleeping under.

I probably mentioned when this round robin began that Lauren wrote a cute murder mystery story to go with the block exchange. Each month she told us about a different potential killer and his or her motive for committing the crime.  It added an extra dimension that kept us interested.  This month the mystery was solved and the culprit was taken into custody. Great job Lauren!

Studio Changes

I had an idea to move things around in the studio and after a couple of days of trying to ignore it I gave in.  Maybe it is that spring cleaning urge.  I switched the cutting table, the design wall, some plastic drawer and ironing board around.   I think it is nice to change things up every now and again, and I am always trying to find that perfect arrangement.  Here are some pictures of the new look.

The ironing board and design wall where here where then cutting table is now.

The design wall is where some plastic drawers were.

The ironing board and plastic drawers are where the cutting table and its pegboard of tools were.

One more look, this time from the door looking in.

 I think this will work out pretty well for a while — at least until my next idea comes along.

Happy March!

Here are the things left over from last month that I couldn’t mention till after the guild meeting so I wouldn’t spoil the surprise.

More mug rugs! I know, one would think I had enough of mug rugs, but here I am making more.  These were inspired by that heart ruler that my sister gave me, a panel of quilting sayings and of course the proximity of Valentine’s day.

I thought it would be fun to make Valentines to hand out at the Chattanooga quilt guild in February  like we use to in grade school. The sayings in the center of the hearts say:

The hand that guides the needle rules the world

Quilting is my passion – chocolate comes in second

Common threads make uncommon quilts

Excess upon occasion is exhilarating

Quilters have loose ends to tie up

Lead me not into temptation except quilt shops

Rx for a healthy stash: daily feedings

Great quilts from little fabrics grow, Quilts – hugs that last a lifetime

With each new project – back to square one

Quilting . . . it’s not a hobby – it’s a lifestyle, Quilter’s budget

Live simply – quilt, Enjoy a trip around the world without leaving home

The whole nine yards

If quilting were a crime I’d be doing time

Quilting measures up

Fabric sale stampede today

Sew and your friends sew with you; rip and you rip alone

Fabric fondlers anonymous acquisition committee

I’ve never met a fabric I didn’t like

A quilter and her money are soon parted

How to invite your friends to a quilters’ day out: textile messaging

 

Next is   finish.  Keep in mind that we missed both the January and the February guild meetings because of bad weather. This means I had to have three UFO’s done for the March meeting.  This is my third one, so I am caught up.

I started this quilt in a workshop at Crazy Quilter’s guild a few years ago that Dawn taught. It is from the book  One-derful 1 Fabric Quilts by Kay Nikols. It was the third quilt I made from this workshop and technically this one doesn’t qualify because of that narrow red border I added. That makes it a two fabric quit, but I just had to add it. It goes perfectly with the red in the flowers and I think it frames up the blocks in a pleasing manner.  The first one fabric quilt that I made is still awaiting quilting and the second one, being smaller,  went to Project Linus. I don’t know if I even got a picture of it. I will have to dig around and see. This one is queen sized, probably the largest quilt I have quilted to date, and I could not have done it at all without my generous friend, Karen who let me use her Sweet 16 quilting machine.

Here is the back. I think I could have used a different green, but technically it matches. Once it is on the bed, though no one will notice.

Next up is a block of the month that I started making kind of by accident. We were still in Florida then, and one of my neighbors, a sweet lady named Therese, invited me to go with her to Hancock Fabrics to see a demo of their block of the month (BOM)  for that year (I think it started in September of 2003). Mostly, I think she wanted company on the ride all the way to Merritt Island, but I went and got the free instructions.

Usually when you start a block of the month at Hancock Fabrics (at least this is how I understand it), you buy the fabric kit for the first block for $5.  They demo how to make the block and you go home and make it. When you bring back your finished block the next month, you get the kit for the next block free. And so it goes on till the end, when you find you need to buy fabric for sashing, borders and what not.

This time though, the official fabric for the BOM was delayed for two or three months so they couldn’t make up the kits.  As an incentive to keep the group of gals who usually participated coming in to the store, the woman who did the demos offered to demo an additional BOM in the meantime, and designed another 12 block quilt just for that. I thought that was very generous of her.  For this one you just got the free instructions and used your own fabric.  Well, Therese and I liked the idea of the free instructions and we showed up every month to get the new block information.  After a couple of months, the regular BOM got started and the instructor would demo a block from each of the two quilts. Therese joined the regular BOM too, but I just went for the free one.

This is the first quilt that I actually went out and bought fabric for. It required four fabrics: a light, a dark and two mediums. Oh how I agonized over those choices.  I settled on greens because I knew Raymond liked that color and splurged on $2/yard flat folds from a store in Viera called The Rag Shop. It seemed like such an extravagant purchase as I was pretty sure I would get bored with quiltmaking and never finish the quilt.

As it turned out I did pretty well at keeping up with the monthly blocks, but after they were done they went into storage.  After we moved here and I put up a design wall, I dug the blocks out, arranged them and sewed them into a quilt top. Back in the box they went till this year when I decided to try quilting it.  Here it is.

The original layout had the blocks on point and setting triangles and corners making it queen sized. As my fabric was limited, I decided to go with a smaller version resulting in a smaller, but still useful quilt.

Here is a picture of how I use a folding table to add length to my ironing board for large pieces.  I used the bed risers to lift the table up and just throw a small quilt over it to protect the plastic top from the heat and steam. So far it has been enough.

I like to use fusible batting in my quilts so I layer the back, batting and top on the ironing board. Then starting across the middle, I steam the layers so the fusible stuff sticks. I do the middle section first, then carefully slide the layers so I can get to the sides and keep moving back and forth till it’s all secure. Then I flip it over to make sure no wrinkles got fused in the backing.  Finally, I roll up the raw edges and pin them with quilting pins to keep them from getting in the way and the sandwich is all ready to quilt.

 Finally, here is another quilt I am working on. It is even bigger than the One-derful one fabric quilt pictured above.  This is a quick but interesting pattern.

February Accomplishments

Here are a few of the things I have been working on this month.  There are more, but you will have to wait till March to see them. I had some things ready to take for show and tell at the Chattanooga Quilters guild this month, but the bad weather cancelled the meeting.  So after next meeting,  I can share the pics.  For now, this will have to do.

Every month, the Modern Quilt guild has a lottery block challenge.  If you make and turn in one of the designated blocks for that month, you get a chance at winning them all! I really liked this modern twist on the Dresden plate block so I made this version for the lottery.

Here are the blocks I won!  They are all very different in style and color.  Somehow I have to put them together into a quilt top. I am still thinking about it and it may take a while, but I love them and the challenge.

This is a picture of my little design wall. The big one is packed away and I am just using the smaller one. My sister gave me this gray checked fitted sheet and I was going to sew it and cut it to fit the PVC pipes that form the frame of my design wall so I could use the lines on the fabric to help make sure the pieces I put on the wall were straight. Turns out I was able to slip it right over the frame without any cutting or sewing.  Cool! I will probably take it down and do the cut and sew thing to straighten the lines a little, but for now, this is working fine.

 

February for me is all about Valentine’s day and this year I made new covers for our TV tables. I used leftover pieces from another Valentine quilt and added borders till they was big enough. Then I quilted the dickens out of them, which turns out to be wasted since the fabric is so busy that it doesn’t show well. I left a heart-shaped bit in the center unquilted so it would puff up a little and you can almost see it in this picture.  To finish, I added casings and ran elastic around the edges so they would stay snug on the tables.

Oh, and I made some changes on my blog pages. I was curious to see just how productive I am during the year, so I went back through my photos and sorted out all the actually finished projects for each year. Instead of making them blog entries, I decided to make a page for each year.   It is interesting to look through the years and see just what got done.

It is also interesting to note that there are fewer and fewer things the further back I look.  Partly that is because I didn’t have access to a digital camera way back then and took few pictures of projects that would need to be developed. Once I got a scanner though and figured out how to use it, I was able to scan smaller things, although the quality of those pictures are not that great. Then again, I started making traditional quilts around 2001 or 2002. Before that (in the early 90s)  it was just crazy quilt projects.  And before that was an assortment of needlework and crafts that I dabbled in for a while.  Nothing has been as captivating and intriguing as quilt making.

I don’t think the pages are complete.  Maybe they never will be. Every time I look through the pictures I have saved on my computer, I notice something out-of-place that I missed, and I add it to the appropriate year’s page.  And I have a few boxes of ‘real’ photos that are packed away.  When I get them out there may be a few more additions to the history pages.

Where did January go?

(note: when I look at this post, instead of photos I see little squares with an X in them. I hope this is some temporary blip on my computer and not in the actual post. Let me know if you can’t see any of the photos). My sister gave me this lovely lace heart and I decided it would be perfect as a pillow for the guest bedroom. The red paisley fabric matches the duvet and it looks very nice sitting on the bed.

This is a UFO I was given. Some of the rail fence blocks were together, others needed assembled. If you look close, you can see the spot where I got the rails going backwards, but  I think it turned out pretty nice anyway and will make a cheerful cuddle quilt for some lucky  boy or girl.

I have seen on a few other quilter’s blogs that they save up all the spools they empty during the year and then count them up to get an idea of how busy they have been.  I thought I would give it a try. Here are the 25 spools I used up in 2013.  I wonder how many I will use this year?

I joined an artist trading card swap group and here are the cards I got for January. The theme was ‘bears’ and mine is there in the middle. It says “Love bears all things.” All the cards were very cute and each one is totally different. I love seeing how other gals interpret the themes so uniquly.

Here is another pair of short socks. They are very warm, especially when worn over another pair of socks.

This little cuddle quilt was a panel. I just stitched along the lines and gave it to Project Linus at the January meeting.

This is one section of a quilt I am making. It is queen sized and I decided to try the quilt-as-you-go method to finish it. What you do is quilt the middle of each section, leaving the edges un-stitched. then you join the sections and quilt the bits between them. This is the first quilted section. Two more to go.  Zeena is checking it out.

Here are some string blocks I made from patriotic fabric strips. They will end up in two or three different quilts.

Catching up, again!

Well, my excuse this time is that I tried a couple times to upload pictures to make an ‘end of December’ post and had technical difficulties. Turns out WordPress changed things around a little and made it ‘easier’ to upload pictures. Ha!

Here is a cuddle quilt I made for Roald McDonald house from a kit prepared by Chattanooga Quilt guild. I love that striped backing fabric – I got that when I visited my sister last year.

Here is a heart shaped mug rug that I made from some crumb pieced fabric just to see how it would turn out. Maybe a little embroidery would look good.  I love the shape and you can bet you will see more hearts here soon.

That finishes up my December 2013 pictures.

A Few Finishes for September

Cuddle quilts

I may have showed these little quilts before, but not in this close to completion. You start out with three pieces of fabric and by cutting them just right and putting them together in a certain order you end up with three super sized nine patch blocks just the right size for a little cuddler.  instead of binding, I opted to do the ‘birthing’ method which is a lot quicker and allows me to round the corners. I think that looks cute. One of these is nearly quilted and I hope to have them both ready to turn in at the next guild meeting.

Little Zippered Pouches

I visited my friend Pam M.  recently and she showed me how to make this little zippered bag. I love the technique for putting the zipper on and am now unafraid of zippers.  I think the goldish fabric on the inside matches nicely.

This is a perfect size for carrying sewing tools and can be made larger or smaller if needed.

The next day, I made another one for a birthday surprise for my friend Sandi S. She has a fondness for frogs, and I just happened to have the perfect fabric for her zipper bag.  I think it turned out really cute.

Pizza Box  Block

Here is the block I made this month for Josie’s pizza box. This month’s clue was to have some kind of star on the block.  This one is called ‘Rising Star’ which I think is a perfect description for Josie. She is definitely a rising star in our quilting community.

I didn’t finish the practice block out of my fabrics yet. Since this is applique, I knew I could get the size right.

August – Table Quilt

In the living room, we have a little table between our  TV chairs which is very handy. Unfortunately, it only has one drawer, and we are always digging through it to find a pencil or pair of scissors or the TV controller. For a few months I have been rolling around this idea to make a table topper that is kind of like a saddle bag to fit this table. It will have pockets on the sides that hang down. In the pockets will be all the little things we are always looking for.  I finally decided to try a paper pieced design from a pattern my friend Jean B. gave me.  Here is the basic unit:

I decided to go with the primary and secondary colors.  When you put four of these together you can get different looks by changing them around.  I asked Raymond to choose which one he liked best. He picked the first arrangement, so that is what I am going with. Or at least I thought I was. Once I got the first four units together and took pictures, I realized that I had used the third picture rather than the one he wanted.  Once that much was together and the paper pulled out, I didn’t really feel like un-stitching. So that is what we are working with. We both think it looks fine.

So the quilt will have a center block of four smaller units and two units on each side. The side units will hang down and I am going to figure out how to make pockets between the color arcs. That is where I am at now.

I made four units out of each of two different groups of fabrics that are similar, but not exact. I like the added variety and besides, I was using fat quarters and didn’t have enough to make all eight units from the same six fabrics.  Now I am deciding on the lining fabric for the inside of the pockets.  Here is a picture with the center units sewn together.

I pulled the paper off the back of the center part — that took just as much time as ever even though I was using some Carol Doak  paper for the foundation. I had not anticipated the big lump of fabric that developed in the very center even after the paper was taken out. Hopefully it will soften up with time.

Check back for updates on this project.