Bloggers Quilt Festival - Mini Entry

I love when its Festival time.  Amy, of Amy's Creative Side, has been hosting this festival twice a year and does such an amazing job.  So many great quilts to see and new blogs to discover. 

 I finished a few quilts this year but only have pics for one.....so that's gonna be my entry in the mini category.  :)

I made this mini for the Mini QT Swap on Flickr.   It was an "anything goes" round.  My partner, Mona, was open to any colors which made it so easy.....just went with  my faves!   I chose the Right Round pattern by Better Off Thread.  I had bought the pattern months before the swap and it was waiting for just the right project.  I had to scale down the pattern so the dimensions would work for the swap.  That made for some itty bitty pieces.

Lots of little paper pieced wedges.  

I did minimal quilting around the wedges.  I was really happy with how it turned out.

You can see the amazing mini I got in return from Mona on my original post about the quilt. 

Time to go check out more entries in the festival!  

New job and Urban Nine Patch class

Another long absence from blogging.  Usually that means I am busy sewing bits and pieces and not finishing a project to show.  :)

I have a new job!  I am now working part time at Quilted Strait, my local quilt shop. 

 And I get to work with my best friend, Rhonda.  So excited.  These past couple of weeks have been training so that's about all my brain has been able to handle.  LOL!  If you're ever in Port Gamble, WA. on a Tuesday stop in and say hi!

I taught a class on Tuesday at the shop.  The Urban Nine Patch by Sew Kind of Wonderful. 

Its not a hard block  but it does take time. Usually only a few students finish one in the time allotted.

Here are a couple of blocks from my students.

Vicki opted to use a beautiful big print in the middle instead of making the nine patch.  

 I really like this idea.  My brain is spinning with some I Spy designs.

Bobbie is making hers for Quilts of Valor:

I like the dark background! 

I took my daughter away for a weekend of no kids!  She is due with her 4th baby in less than a month so I thought she could really use some alone time.  We took our sewing machines and worked on a couple of projects. 

We both are making a Big EZ quilt by Bloom Creek:

All that and some secret sewing is what I've been up to since I last blogged.  :)

Linking up with Lets Bee Social.

Design Wall Monday - Prism blocks

After I finished the Indian Blanket quilt top I put my Prism blocks up. This kind of scrappy project needs the design wall so I can balance out color.   The paper pieced blocks don't stick at all to the design wall until I've pulled off the paper....ugh, I really dislike that part.    They are coming together nicely.  I'm not really in a hurry with this so I expect it'll be up for a month or so.  :)

Just for fun:

My helper when I was putting binding on a quilt (a very old ufo!)

Linking with Design Wall Monday over at Patchwork Times. 

Indian Blanket top done!

My goal was to have this top done by this weekend and I made it!  It turned out so lovely.  Soft and feminine.  Just for me.  

My hubby was outside playing with tree limbs and decided to make a tepee structure for our grand kids to play in the next time they come over.  He called me outside to take a look. After I graciously told  him how great it was, I then was like - this is perfect for taking pics of my Indian Blanket!!!   :)

Love that he humors me.  

Off the quilt topic - I have no idea why the light is so different in each pic. Photography is not my thing and it sure shows.  If I cared I'd take a class, huh?   :)

#30 Lists

No surprise here but I didn't last long trying to make creative pages for my lists!  They were fun. They were pretty.  But.   Every time I was working on one I'd be thinking the whole time that I could be cutting fabric and making a quilt block!   I love the list part so I simplified and am just making a list in a small journal.  Now it takes minutes to jot stuff down and I'm happy.

Here's a peek at day 9 & 10 lists:

See, nice and easy.  Just right for me.

Indian Blanket almost there

Here's a peek at my progress as of today:

I have 4 more rows to add then I'm done!  It's going fast.....and I'm not being distracted.....at least not yet.  :)

4 Rows done

Here's a peek at the first 4 rows - ignore the icky lighting.  :)

Wish I had a better way of photographing quilts. Its not my forte that's for sure!  

Start of Indian Blanket

Angled class started this week and I got the first row of Indian Blanket sewn.  The triangles are coming together nicely....yay!   The row is 66 inches long and I couldn't get a decent pic of it.  Here's a peek at two triangles in the row that are so cute. Mr. Bear wants some of that fine honey!   LOL!

I'll be working on the rest of the rows in the coming weeks.  I'm hoping to finish the top by the end of class. 

While I was waiting for class to start I worked on ufo's that have been sitting around.  I got the zig zag hexie blocks together.  

It's trimmed now and waiting for borders.  Will do that the next time I have an inkling to finish up ufo's!   :)

Linking up with Let's Bee Social.

Design Wall Monday - Fabric layout

I love playing with fabric and making decisions about which ones to use - and where - for a new project. After many changes...and more changes....and more....I think this is my fabric arrangement that I've settled on for the Indian Blanket quilt in Angled class (that starts today!).  The fabrics on the right will be the background for that row.  I'm not happy with the backgrounds on the bottom two but will see as I start sewing.

Linking up with Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.

30 Lists Blog Hop

September is almost here and that means the start of the 30 Lists challenge I joined.  

There is a blog hop going on today to introduce the challenge via showing lists.  We were asked to pick a prompt from the March 2011 challenge. (Those prompts are available here).

I chose "recipes to try" and here is my list:

 

Dora Wat (Spicy Ethiopian Stew)

Italian Drunken Noodles

Buffalo Chicken Chowder

Chopped Orzo Corn Salad

You can see other posts with sample lists at their Facebook page.

Fabric Pull

I signed up for Rachel Hauser's latest class over at Stitched In Color.  Its called "Angled" and features 5 - yes, I said 5!!! - quilts.  You can see all the class quilts and read about it here.  

The top one I'm super excited to make is called "Indian Blanket".  All equilateral triangles in different sizes. 

Here is my initial fabric pull for that quilt:

Several Bonnie Christine collections and solids from Art Gallery.   Love.

There are more than I need so I have to edit.  Next step is to put them in pairs (rows have two) and put on my design wall to see what I think.  

I can't wait for class to start so I can begin cutting!

Creative Challenges

I have decided to expand my creativity with two new challenges.  Neither have anything to do with fabric!!!

I signed up for 30 Days of Lists hosted by Campfire Chic and Lemon & Raspberry.

I have always dreamed of being an awesome scrapbooker.  That's as far as it gets....dreaming.  I see albums gals make and I'm impressed.  But never could make myself do it.  Heck, if I have time I want to sew!   I also admire those who keep journals.  Another dream that stays dreamy.  :)

Combine the two and you have this list challenge.   I joined because it looks doable.  Its only 30 days.    There is a prompt and all I have to do is list a few things...not write long involved entries!  I'm using a small pad of index cards.  I only need to experiment with creativity on a small scale.  Kinda like my mini quilts.  

This is the other thing I signed up for.  A creative pen pal swap. (which is still open)

I already got my partner. She's in Australia.  I'm looking forward to pushing creativity with this too.

Do you see the trend?   Paper.   What's up with that?   :)     Has me giggling since sewing on paper is something I dislike.  

But then I keep on doing it.  Working on my Prism blocks.

Linking up with Let's Bee Social.

Binding by Machine

I have always put on binding by sewing it to the front by machine then hand sewing it down on the back.  It turns out beautiful.  But it is time consuming (not that I mind!).  I tried to attach binding on both sides by machine with my 99 Modern Block quilt.  I used a straight stitch but didn't like how it looked on the back at all.  Partly because I'm not good at it but also because it just didn't catch everything. That resulted in re-doing sections.  Can you say pain in the backside?  

With my Penny Sampler quilt I decided to try Pat Sloan's method of machine sewing binding on a quilt. Only thing I did different was that I use a double fold binding.  I like how it looks so much better!  

This is the front:

And this is the back:

You can see it isn't perfectly aligned but because it was sewn down first on this back side it isn't wavy or wonky.....just has stitching slightly off.  I can live with this.

Especially since it was so FAST compared to hand sewing.

I have another quilt ready to have the binding sewn on. I'm gonna try this method again but with a wide zig zag stitch and see which stitch I like best.   Doing them by machine will mean I can actually finish more and reduce my ufo pile!   :)

Mini Swap Quilts

I am home from vacation.  In the mail was the mini I received from my partner so now I can finally show you the mini I made for her in the Mini QT Swap.  The theme this round was "Anything Goes" which is why I joined in.  I liked the openness of it!

Remember all those paper pieced segments?  Well.....tada:

I love how it turned out and thankfully so does my partner, Mona.  The pattern is called "Right Round" by Janice of Better Off Thread.   I wanted to make it smaller to fit the rules of the swap so I reduced it to 60% which made it a 13 inch square.  It was a lot of work but the results are great.  I would make it again...but next time I'm keeping it!!!

I was not disappointed at all in the mini I received.

Gorgeous!  Mona used solids for the itty bitty wonky stars and linen for the background.  And then she hand stitched around each star.....in matching thread colors.   I love everything about it!

Mini's make my heart sing. 

Linking up with Let's Bee Social.

Sea Breeze Mini QAL

I had so much fun making a mini quilt (to be shown soon...once I know my partner has opened it) in my colors that when I saw the Sea Breeze Mini QAL post I decided I'd make myself a mini in my colors.  I quickly kicked out the blocks before I went on vacation. I made mine a tad smaller than the pattern.

But see that light colored block up at top?   Not liking it.   These are all fabrics from my Circular Reasoning quilt.  They look great together in that quilt.  I think its a case of "more is better" - the reason I love super scrappy!  But with only 9 different fabrics that light one sticks out....and not in a good way for me.

I tried various layouts to see if I'd like it.  But no.  And I want to love it!

I do like when 4 blocks are together.  Considered putting it together like this and making it into a table runner.  But no. I wanted a mini not a runner.  I want to love it.

This was the day before I left for vacation. I just got back late last night and will be leaving again in 4 days.  No time to make new blocks or make decisions.   So I won't finish in time for the quilt-a-long.  The finish will just have to wait till another time when I'm feeling the love.  :)

Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts Lets Bee Social.

Its my birthday!

Today is my birthday!  I searched through my pictures for something new to post on my day....but I haven't been working on anything new.  Still working on getting these two projects done.

I have all the segments paper pieced now for my secret swap mini quilt.  Time to sew them together, sandwich the mini and get to the quilting.

I finished the hand quilting on my Circular Reasoning quilt.  Yippy!!!

Next I will machine quilt a spiral around to fill in the background.  I've never done that before so I'm really really hoping it looks good.  My goal is to finish this baby quilt by the end of summer.  Sounds easy but with vacations and sunny days, it may not happen!   :)

Off to see what movies are playing at the theater. Dinner and a movie sounds like a relaxing night.

Linking up with Let's Bee Social.

A little this...a little that

I've been working on a couple of swap items this last month. I'm making little envelope blocks for the Bitty Block Committee group. Aren't they cute? I've gotta make 12 and they will each be a different color. I'm making them entirely out of my scrap bins. Woo hoo!

 Those flying geese wedges are for a mini quilt I'm making for my partner in the Mini QT Swap group.   Its still in the secret stage so no more info for now!  

This is my fabric pull for the mini I'm making.  My partner likes the same colors as I do which meant I had tons to choose from in my stash....no shopping needed.  

I took a break from my hand quilting to put the binding on my Suburbs quilt.  I have about 18 inches left to do.  TV time tonight will take care of that!   My local quilt shop is going to hang it as a sample, which is why I am hurrying to get it done.

And that as they say, is that!   :)

PS. I just noticed this is my 400th post.  I had no idea!  

Curlicue Crush

I finished my Curlicue Crush top about a month ago but never got any pictures of it.  Pink Chalk did a blog post of it the other day so I was able to grab a couple photo's that Diana took so I could share here.  :)

This was one of those quilts that took years not because I'm that slow but because I kept changing the fabrics.  I started with a complete collection that included hot pinks and browns.  Had it all cut out and on the design wall (you can see it in this post) but it never "sang" to me.  I pulled out the browns first.  Still didn't "sing".  Hot pinks came out next.  Nope.  Eventually I pulled it all down, ordered more fabric, cut and re-designed till I got a lay out and combination that I loved.  Then the sewing of all those curves began.  

I think I did pretty well!  

It is at the machine quilter now.  I chose a super thin batt and voile for the back cuz I want a summery weight quilt.  Can't wait to get it back.

Happy sewing everyone!

Perfect Picnic Blog Hop

I'm participating in another blog hop hosted by Madam Samm of Sew We Quilt.   She comes up with the best themes for hops.  This one was "Perfect Picnic".  

Well, my "perfect" picnic isn't so perfect!   In fact, its the picnic that wasn't.    I wanted to recreate the first picnic I had with hubby when we were dating.  It would have been a simple meal - salami and muenster cheese and bread.   It would have been in a park.  We would have just talked like we did over 34 years ago. Would have.  

Instead I grabbed the picnic quilt I made and enjoyed some fleeting sunshine  in my own backyard!

Yup...that's my meal!   Had some iced coffee too.   :)

I had been collecting food fabrics for years.  Its so fun to look at all the different fabrics....no two are alike!   I had seen the pattern "Yellow Brick Road" (by Atkinson Designs) years ago too and decided that would be just right for my collection of yummies.  I also found a great gingham fabric with ants on it that I used for my border.  So cute.

I'm sorry I don't have fab pics to show you of a fab location or fab food.    My "perfect" picnic will have to be some time later this summer.

But I do LOVE  my quilt!  

Be sure to visit the other gals who are sharing their picnics today:

Monday June 9

Cherry Blossoms

The Quilting Queen Online

Mad Quilter's Disease

Daisy Days

Buzzing and Bumbling

From My Carolina Home

Sew We Quilt

Thanks again, Madam Samm.  And thanks Mary for being a great cheerleader.

Hand Quilting

I decided to hand quilt the middle portion of my Circular Reasoning quilt. Once done I'll machine quilt a spiral around all the letters.  Its going fast for me!!!  :)   Helps that I let go of how my stitches look.  I'm simply enjoying the rhythm of stitching.

I brought the quilt on my vacation with my Yaya's. I wasn't the only with a quilt in a hoop!  Melis took a picture of the three of us at work.  First time we've all been doing hand quilting at the same time.  Just had to share.

Linking up with Let's Bee Social over at Sew Fresh Quilts.