Now for November and December

I realize this is a lot to put in one post, but I want to get caught up before next year begins, which is only a few hours away now.

In November, I finished the scrappy Xmas quilt. I am not sure why, but I love looking at all those odd blocks. They just make me smile.  Now that Christmas is over, I don’t even want to put it away! I may just keep it out all year.

My sister came over for a few days at Thanksgiving and brought this quilt she was making for a friend’s baby. It’s partly made with minkee and she has more minkee for the backing. I have never worked with that fabric and it seems a bit fiddly.  I helped her with the butterfly applique. I am looking forward to seeing it finished.

Here is the cutest pin cushion that my friend Vicky made for me for my birthday. I love it!

and here is a darling little change purse I got from my friend Sharon.

Here are some stockings I got finished to turn in at the December Crazy Quilters Guild. We always make stockings for charity.

I decided to join in on Bonnie Hunter’s mystery quilt called Easy Street. I don’t think I can keep up with everyone else but I will get it finished eventually. Here are the fabrics I pulled for it.  Gray, black-on-white prints, purples, teals and limey greens. I am very curious to see how it will turn out. For more information, go to

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/p/easy-street-mystery.html

The first step is to make four patches out of the gray and black-on-white prints.  The gray I had the most of may not be dark enough to contrast with the other fabrics, but I didn’t realize that till this step was done.  I can live with it.

Here is our little Christmas tree and the paper pieced mariners compass quilt I made earlier this year.

These look like ornamets, but they are big enough to serve as placemats. I gave a few sets away as gifts and kept a couple that we used during the holiday. They were fun to make and turned out pretty cute.

Next is the UFO for December.  I started this one several years ago and all it needed was quilting which I finally  managed to  get around to. I think this will go in the dining room on the wall. Seems like an appropriate place.  I was so anxious to get the binding on when the quilting was done that I forgot to add a hanging sleeve, so still have that to finish.

This is the last pair of socks finished this year. I think they were the third or fourth pair that I started, but when I was burying the yarn ends after finishing the first one, I accidentally snipped a hole in it. You can see the irregular spot on the cuff of the top one in the pictue. It was also my first attempt at darning and I must admit, I am ‘darned’ proud of it. Once I fixed that little hole, I was ready to make the second one.

These socks are from the same pattern that I have made all my socks from so far – the same one I learned from, but they are the first I ever tried with worsted weight yarn. I like the bulky look and feel of them and have worn them a couple times already. They are nice to wear around the house and fit in my crocs to go outside.  I think I will make some more socks with the thicker yarn. They sure stitch up  a lot faster!

Next, are the flying geese for step two of Easy Street.   I used my favorite method to make them – the purple geese are sewn in one seam and are somewhat dimensional.

Here are some of the four patches fro step one. That one print has a cream background instead of white, and I hope that doesn’t cause too much trouble with the overall look of the quilt.  I tried to use a lot of different prints and have had to trade fabrics with my friend Sharon to increase the variety.

Here are all the four patches. Wow that is a lot of them. It fills up half my design wall.

That’s all the pictures, all the finishes and starts for 2012. In 2013, I plan on getting more organized and to finish a lot more projects.  I also hope to post more regularly.

Thanks for visiting my blog. I wish you the best of luck, fun, peace, love and happiness in the coming year. Oh and lots of creative productivity! Happy New Year!  God bless you.

 

And now for September

First up is my sunflower quilt. It was part of a row robin we had earlier this year in Crazy Quilters guild.  I made the center block then passed it along to Sharon.  She did the middle borders up to the yellow strip. Then Delores got it and did that fancy outside border.

I quilted it and added the binding as part of my UFO challenge for Chattanooga quilters. I am really happy with the quilt. I had no idea what to expect and think it is better than I could have imagined. Thanks Sharon and Delores for all your hard work.

Next is the quilt I made from the Pat Wys workshop that was arranged by Crazy Quilters Guild. My quilt is called How Does Your Garden Grow!

It was a lot of fun to make. I decided to use my reds ad pinks and valentine fabrics and I love the result — it is a very happy quilt.

Finally, hear are three cuddle quilts that I started at the Choo Choo guild cuddle quilt workshop. They werw fast and fun.

And because it is always good to receive critique on one’s work, here is Max’s opinion of one of the cuddle quilts:

August Roundup

 

I finished these socks. I think I started them last January or February! No, it’s worse than that — I finished the pair before this one last October! So it has taken ten months to finish these. I love the feel of the yarn, it is fuzzy and warm, but I don’t like the way the colors are arranged in big clumps. It makes the socks look so unbalanced. They feel great on my feet though.

 

The only quilt finish this month was this little cutie.  In Crazy Quilter’s guild this year we were challenged to make a quilt using the technique in  Fast Quilts From Fast Quarters by Barbara Chainey.  What you do is cut a bunch of fat quarters into several different sizes of squares, rectangles and triangles and then put them together to make blocks. The book had a ton of different blocks that can be made from the different cuts. It was a lot of fun, although I don’t think I gave it enough attention due to working on other projects.

I will have to give this method another try when I have more time.

Last thing to show you is not knit or quilt related . Raymond got his school pictures and I think he looks great.

 

 

Mariner’s Compass

I finished this little quilt and I really love it. I started it in a workshop at Crazy Quilters Guild last winter and it sat in my UFO pile because I was a little intimidated about quilting it. When it turned up as my March UFO challenge at Chattanooga Quilters, I got really nervous. I guess it was the perfect time though. I had been told a few times about a free motion quilter, Leah Day, who has online tutorials, so I searched her up and found so many beautiful examples of free motion quilting. Here is the quilt:

I did some practice samples and watch her videos until I saw a few designs that I though I might be able to manage.  Because all of the fabrics in this quilt are Christmasy and have a little gold in them so I decided to quilt with gold thread. I have never had much success with metallic threads before but this was the time to try it anyway. I put in a new needle and stitched on my slowest speed and it worked fine.

I did the star first with straight stitching and a walking foot, then I started on the sections of the background fabric. I used four different designs and marked the main lined with my washable marker.  The dark green triangles are quilted around, but not through so they are a little puffy. I went back to straight lines on the red border. I love my walking foot.

Here is a close-up. I hope you can see the quilting:

President’s Challenge

Every year it in the Crazy Quilter’s Guild, the president issues some kind of quilting challenge to the members. This year our president, Cheryl, handed out four small squares of ‘ugly’ fabric and challenged us to add our own fabric and make a charity quilt out of them. One rule was that you can’t cut the ugly squares – you have to use them as is.  I gave it a lot of thought and came up with this:

It still needs to be quilted, but at least the top is done. I think the deadline is October or November so I am a bit ahead of schedule — that’s a unique sensation for me!

I added one ‘ugly’ square to the pack I received and then turned them into wonky stars. I think it came out pretty well.  One error I made was in the size. I forgot that it was suppose to be smaller than it is. I am sure Project Linus will find a use for it even if it is disqualified for the challenge.

Where did November go?

I can’t believe it has been more than a months since my last post.

I have been working on things, but mostly things I can’t show here yet (you know, because of the upcoming holiday).  One thing I can show you is the result of a wonderful workshop we had at Crazy Quilter’s guild on the mariners compass.  I have dabbled with paper piecing before, and this time I really ‘got it.’ Our instructor was Cheryl Smith, and she explained and demonstrated the technique so well that I managed to make a sample section in the workshop. Then I went home and over the next couple days I pieced my first compass.  I used Christmassy fabrics for this one, and am very happy with the result. Here is the picture:

It is about 26″ square and will be a nice little wall hanging or table topper. I doubt if I will have it quilted in time for this Christmas, but maybe by 12/2012.

I also worked on one of the brown bag round robin quilts, but can’t show you that, either. Oh, and I made a big tote bag for my friend Lynn and gave it to her when we were up north for Thanksgiving, but somehow I never got a picture of it.

Our artificial tree came out of the box yesterday and perhaps today we will get the lights and ornaments on it.  I have a new ornament this year — a “see rock city” birdhouse — that I can’t wait to hang on it.  If I don’t post again this year, have a wonderful Christmas.

Happy Halloween

Well, I finished the latest pair of socks. This picture seems to be a bit fuzzy — sorry. I like the colors, but I think the bands of colors are too wide for a sock yarn. This would look better as a scarf or shawl. I tried to line up the stripes, but they were just too unpredictable.  Nonetheless, I am very happy with the basket-weave pattern I used and will be wearing them proudly as often as I can. Cooler weather coming makes that a likely prospect.

My Crazy Quilters guild started a brown bag row robin at the October meeting. Each participant makes a center block for a quilt and puts it in a brown bag along with any fabrics or embellishments they thing might coordinate. Then the bags get swapped out and whoever receives the block designs and adds a border for the center block. Then that gets put back in the bag and is passed on to the next participant until everyone in the group has added a border.

All the center blocks were shows at the meeting, but after that the work will be done in secret until the end. Here is the block I made for my center:

I used one of my dyed fabrics for the background. The flower and leaves are fused and machine stitched down.

And here is the one I swapped it for:

Pretty isn’t it? And so appropriate for the season. I finished my border for this block yesterday, but sadly I can’t show you for a few months. I hope you can bear the suspense. I am full of anticipation to see how my little sunflower comes out.

That about winds up October.

I have to go shopping for more sock yarn before I can start another pair. In the meantime, I have some cotton yarn which I am knitting dishcloths out of.

I am in the process of recovering the little ironing board that I take to classes with some new silver fabric. Maybe it won’t get as scorched as the last one.  I also plan on recovering the big ironing board that stays in the studio, too.  Happy Trick or Treat day.

Dye Workshop Results

Last Saturday I attended a dye workshop with many of my fellow Choo Choo quilters. It was great fun — even more fun than last year. Last year, I concentrated on making solid colors with a little gradation in the pieces. I was very happy with the results. This year I got a little more experimental and tried a few simple patterns. Here are my new beautiful fabrics:

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I am very pleased with these pieces, although I don’t know if I will want to cut into some of them because they are just too pretty.

A couple of my experiments didn’t turn out as expected, but I still learned a lot for next time. The picture with the rusty looking fabric is one example. I used a couple pieces of muslin that I had rust-dyed a couple years ago hoping that over-dying them would improve their look. I twisted both pieces in the nautilus pattern and dipped one side of each into a dye. One was a brown and I think you can see the brown spiral, but faintly. The other piece, I dipped in yellow, and it seems to have blended in with the rust colors too well.

The bright yellow one next to the rusty ones was suppose to be much lighter and kind of marbled looking, but the dye was stronger than we thought.

There are also four pieces with almost no color on them and that is exactly what I wanted. They will be good backgrounds for applique. In fact, I used one of them already. I can’t show it to you right now because it is part of a round robin with my Crazy Quilters guild and is suppose to stay secret till all the rounds are done.

So far in August

Block Caddy

I made myself a little roll up caddy to take applique blocks to groups when I want to work on them. This way, they won’t get wrinkled or big fold lines. Since I use a freezer paper method of applique, folding up a block can cause wrinkles that make it harder to manipulate the block while stitching on it.  The first picture shows it all rolled up.

This picture shows it unrolled with the outside showing, and the next one shows the inside. I put a piece of flannel on the inside. I used an orphan block from a Celtic applique class I took a while back and added a couple borders.

This one shows how it looks partly rolled up. I made a fabric tube kind of like a hanging sleeve on the one end and put an cardboard tube from a roll of shelf paper in it to stabilize the caddy. This is a smaller block, but I made the caddy big enough to hold my ‘pushing up spring’ blocks too.

 

Remember Me

I got the inner red border and a wider white border on the remember me blocks. Now I am working out the final border which I think I can make with flying geese units. Since I don’t have enough of any of the fabrics in the blocks to make a solid border, I am going to use little bits of all the fabrics used in the blocks and make it a little scrappy, but I think it will turn out looking pretty good. I have been experimenting with those one seam flying geese that I saw in the premier issue of Quilt Life magazine, and hope I can get them to come out right mathematically.

 

One Fabric / Green stripey quilt

I finally got the borders on this quilt top. It took a while to get up the courage to try mitered corners. They ended up going on quite easily once I got to it though. I think because I could just sew on the lines in the fabric.  I love how that red fabric frames all the rest of the blocks. Now I have to find a nice backing fabric for this and then I think I will have it quilted by a professional.

 

New Window Treatment

In the latest issue (October 2011) of American Patchwork and Quilting, there was an article about Monica Solorio-Snow’s studio and how she decorated it. You can go to thehappyzombie.com to find her blog and see her studio. She used lots of 30’s fabrics and it is very bright and cheerful.

I loved many of the little decorative things she has done, but what caught my eye the most was a little shelf she had put above the window.  I showed it to Raymond and we went right out looking for a shelf and brackets that would fit my window. We also got a wooden curtain rod which fits nicely through one of the curlicues in the bracket and I hung the valance that use to be in the kitchen on it. I plan on getting maybe a white lace valance one of these days, but in the mean time this is quite nice.

Monica had a little string of small quilted pennant triangles pinned to the edge of her shelf. That gave me an idea too. I am going to put some little eye-screws along the edge, run a cord through them and hang all my atc cards from it. I have a pack of tiny clothes pins to use to clip the cards to the cord. I think it will look great.  Here is a closer view. I will have to hunt around for more things to put on the shelf, too.

 

Ten Minute Runner

Last meeting at Crazy Quilter’s guild we had a demo on a ten minute table runner. I liked that idea a lot and the next day, I made one just to see how quick it was. I confess that I spent a bit more than ten minutes, but not much. It really was fast and easy. And it looks pretty cute.

That’s all for now.  Happy quilting, or whatever brings you joy.

Goodbye July

I got a few more pictures to finish up the month.

I bet this one look familiar. This is the second one from this fabric. I have enough fabric for one mare after this.  I quilted this one last week at the Crazy Quilters sew-in for Project Linus. The third one will be for Choo Choo guild’s cuddle quilt program. It is just like the other one: same backing fabric, same puzzle quilting.

Not quilt related, but I just had to share. Raymond installed a beehive in the spring, and here he is with one of the honey-filled sections. His bees were so productive that was able to harvest some honey this year! Is that cool or what!

Here are some more cuddle quilt blocks.  These are a fun wonky nine patch. I made a mistake in the construction process, but I think they look good anyway. I cut some sashing strips from a wild animal print. I had enough of the animal print to make outer borders too. I think this will turn out to be a very nice quilt for some boy or girl.  I bagged up all the pieces to take to the Choo Choo cuddle quilt sew-in later this month.

I finished the last block for this little quilt. Once the blocks are sewn together there are a couple more little pieces to applique on the inside corners, then come the borders and quilting. This has been a fun little project so far.

I also managed a bit of knitting on my current pair of socks, but still have a long way to go on them so no pictures so far. So that wraps up another month. I wonder what next month will bring.