A Quilting Jewel

And the Envelope Please...

2012-01-23T09:00:00.000-05:00

The winner of the Quilter's Way giveaway of the Echo fat quarter bundle is...

Karyli who said...

I really don't think I could live without my sewing machine. Is that too obvious? It's true!
Thanks for the give away!

Congratulations Karyli. You have an email waiting for you. Please send me your address and your fat quarter bundle will be shipped out to you.

Thanks again to everyone who entered the contest.

Christmas Quilt Border

2012-01-19T08:00:00.005-05:00

Well, the bug that's been going around finally hit me last week. I'm finally starting to feel better and have begun to get back into some sewing. I spent several days in bed doing nothing, feeling so blah. I'm glad to be back on my feet, although not 100% just yet.

To get back into the swing of things, I've begun working on the 10 stars for the Christmas Quilt border.

This required making 40 of each of the above rectangles for the 10 squares. I made all of them and am in the process of sewing all of these together to form the star tips.

Here you can see the stars starting to take shape. I have about 2/3 of the star points finished. Once I finish those I can make the stars and assemble the border to FINISH the quilt top. Whoo Hoo.

Don't forget to enter the giveaway for four fat quarters in my previous post. The winner will be announced next Monday.

Quilters Way Blog Tour Day 2

2012-01-17T00:01:00.090-05:00

Today is my day in the Quilter's Way Blog Tour. If you haven't already checked out Alice's review, hop on over to her blog and don't forget to check out the rest of the blog posts this week. Here's the schedule.

Yesterday

Today

Tomorrow

Thursday

Friday

Dodging the Butterfly

I've mentioned it before, but Quilter's Way is one of my favorite quilt stores. It's where I took my first quilting class and how I became addicted to quilting. It was close to my college and always had some more fun, modern fabrics. I've been a regular there for about 7 years now.. Now, Quilter's Way has launched a quilt kit designer tool.

Review
Here's how the tool works:

To start, select a kit design. Right now you have a choice of 10 quilts. For this review, I'm going to make the Twisting Again quilt kit.

When you select your kit, it appears initially in the pre-selected fabrics that the kit template comes in. This is where you have fun in designing your kit. Begin selecting fabrics for each design element.

Here you can see that I'm auditioning fabrics for the quilt that I'm designing. Some of the initial colors are still there as I add and remove fabrics.

On the right hand side is a drop menu that allows you to select different fabric lines. When you select a fabric line the fabrics available in that line appear to the left. You just drag the fabric that you like down to the fabric position you choose. As you change fabrics, you'll see the price of your kit change based on the price of the fabrics you choose. For example, if you use all solids, your kit will probably cost less than if you select all designer cottons.

Here I'm pretty happy with how my quilt kit looks. As you can see with this screenshot, you can see where the fabrics are placed in the quilt below the fabric swatch. As you change each swatch you'll see the fabric change in the kit in the upper left and below the swatch.

At any time you can enlarge the quilt to see a close up. The quality is a bit grainy, but you have a good idea of what the quilt looks like. I like it! I think this will be my final quilt kit.

I decided to make another quilt to keep playing around. Here's a second quilt kit that I designed using all solids this time.

What I like about the tool:

You can see what the quilt looks like with the fabrics you select.
I love that you can see how much the quilt kit will cost you as you go.
The kit designer is very intuitive to use. I really think that most everyone can use the kit designer. If you've used EQ, this tool is MUCH easier to use.
You can design a quilt kit very fast.
You can save your design and come back to it later on to see if you still like it or if you want to make changes
Instead of just laying fabrics out next to each other, like you would in a store, you can get a good representation of what the quilt will look like with the actual fabrics.

A couple of areas for improvement:

I'd love to see additional quilt designs added to the tool. I'm sure additional patterns will be added over time. An added bonus would be if we could upload our own pattern and create a kit for our own quilt, but I imagine that's a ways out.
You can't press the back button on your toolbar, you mist use the navigation in the tool. I pressed the back bar on my browser and had to start over. It's just a matter of habit to press the back button on my browser. User error on my end, but just be aware.
You need to know your fabric lines and what they're called to search through the fabric. Luckily, I know my lines, but I know many folks who don't know the names of fabric lines and might struggle to find the right fabric. Maybe a search feature by color would be helpful.
I also needed to do this on my laptop and couldn't do this on my iPad because it requires flash. Not a huge deal, but it could annoy some people.

Giveaway
Onto the giveaway. The winner of this giveaway will win a fat quarter bundle of four fat quarters of Echo by Lotta Jansdotter provided by Quilter's Way.

To enter the giveaway, all you have to do is comment on this blog and answer the following question, "What is the one quilting tool you couldn't live without?" If you are a no-reply blogger, please leave your email address so that I have a way of contacting you if you win.

The winner will be announced on Monday, January 23rd. Good luck!

Quilters Way Blog Tour

2012-01-15T19:51:00.000-05:00

This week I'll be participating in the Quilters Way Blog Tour to launch their new quilt kit designer.

Quilters Way describes their tool as follows:

The Kit Designervat QuiltersWay.com is a breakthrough tool that, for the first time ever, allows anyone to easily design their own quilt kits online. Once a kit is designed, it can be shared with the recipient, blog readers, Facebook friends, and of course, ordered through our website. Now you can enjoy all of the benefits of a quilt kit with the added bonus of choosing your own fabrics.

Sounds cool, doesn't it?

On Tuesday I'll be reviewing the tool and hosting a giveaway of four fat quarters.

Come back on Tuesday to see my review and for a chance to win. In the mean time, check out the rest of the bloggers this week.

Monday

alidiza

Tuesday

Wednesday

Salt Marsh Designs

Thursday

Pippa Patchwork

Friday

Dodging the Butterfly

Christmas Quilt - After Christmas

2012-01-12T08:30:00.001-05:00

Now that I have the Storm at Sea quilt finished I can begin working on other projects again. Yay!

First up on my to-do list is to work on the Fat Quarter Shop's Designer Mystery BOM. I had all 12 blocks made for a few months now, I just haven't gotten around to finishing the sashing and border. Well, this week I managed to finish the sashing, a step in the right direction.

Now to make 10 10.5" square blocks for the border...

Storm at Sea Top is FINISHED!!!!

2012-01-09T08:19:00.000-05:00

I finally managed to get some halfway decent photos of my completed Storm at Sea quilt top. I love looking at all of the different patterns that emerge as you look at this quilt. When I show people this quilt, I'm always interested in what stands out to them first. What pops for you?

I LOVE this quilt top. The colors are more earthy that I would have picked for myself, but because it's going to be hanging at my parent's beach house, on a yellow wall, this quilt will fit perfectly there. It finishes at 57" x 66".

Here's a view from the side.

And here's a picture of the back. I love how neat the back of a quilt looks when you remove the paper. All of the seams are pressed so nice and it looks so neat. I just have to go back with some tweezers and remove some of the tiny bits of paper before sending this along to Judi at Green Fairy Quilts to work her magic on.

Christmas Goodies

2012-01-06T09:00:00.000-05:00

As usual we had an awesome Christmas and I managed to get a few quilting goodies.

My biggest gift this year was a new sewing table - a new Horn cabinet!

The insert to fit my machine is on order and should arrive in the next 4-6 weeks. For now I'm just using the extension that came with my machine.

Here's a different view with Misy cozying up on my other extension table. The best part is the back part lifts up giving me more room when I machine quilt a quilt.

I received a box of mini bolts to help organize my ever growing stash. I had been just cutting up random boxes to wrap fabric around, but this is so much better.

So my husband teases me all the time about my fabric stash and the fact that I'd never need to by fabric for the rest of my life. He gave me this sign that he had made on Etsy.

I also got this clock so that I can finally tell what time it is when I'm sewing.

KK got me this great light box since 2011 was the year of learning applique for me. I've already put this to good use.

In addition, I got a bunch of paint sticks, which I've never played with but been curious about. I got two really nice seam rippers.

Overall, we had a really nice Christmas, spent some great time with family, and ate lots of food. Now to put everything to good use!

FQS Bundle Challenge

2012-01-05T12:37:00.000-05:00

This is my mosaic for the FQS Bundle Challenge being hosted by Quokka Quilts. I'm actually working on a quilt using some of these fabrics right now and I'm absolutely in LOVE with the Navy, Teal, Lime, White and an accent of the Dark Pink color combination. Actually, I'm totally in love with lime green in a lot of color combos too.

A look back at 2011

2012-01-03T15:05:00.000-05:00

So, 2011 is done and gone. Part of me is sad to see it go because I had some great times in 2011, but another part of me is glad to see it go and hopes for better times in other areas of my life.

Work was much busier for me this year, so I couldn't spend as much time on quilting as I would have liked, but I still got a lot done.

The highlight for me this year would have to be my Moonlit Sky quilt.

Just finishing this beauty was awesome for me, but to win first place for it at the Lowell Quilt Festival was awesome.

I made this cute mug rug/mini-quilt that's hanging in my quilting room this year using some hand dyed fabric that I won back in 2010 from Dye Candy.

I made this cute wall hanging for the Jay McCarroll Modern Quilt Guild Challenge, which placed 2nd in our guild challenge. I later entered it into a silent auction to raise money for Cancer.

I made this mini quilt for the Doll Quilt Swap 11. I loved this quilt, but experienced some unnecessary drama around the swap, so I have decided to abstain from online swaps for a while.

I made these pot holders and dish cloths for the BMQG Kitchen Swap for Rebecca. I LOVED how these turned out.

After taking a class on feathers, I made this 10" mini quilt that now hangs in my guest bathroom.

I also started or continued working on a bunch of WIPs in 2011. Here are a few that I worked on and either will continue working on in 2012 or hopefully finish.

I'm working on a Storm at Sea for my parents. I actually just finished piecing the top, but the one picture I have isn't very good. I'll get more pictures soon and share it before it's sent off to be quilted.

I finished this quilt top and am planning on sending it out to be quilted. It's close to King size and I just can't manage that on my domestic machine.

I took a class on hand applique and am working on 9 tile quilt blocks. I've completed two. This one probably won't be a 2012 finish.

I worked on some blocks for "Fiesta!" quilt. This is another one that might not be done in 2012. I'm okay with that.

I've been working on the Carol Doak Radiant Star BOM. 6 done, 6 to go - plus sashing squares. Yeah, we'll see if I finish this one or not in 2012.

I finished all 12 blocks in the Fat Quarter Shop Designer Mystery BOM and added the sashing this week. I just need to finish the border.

I know there are more projects in the works, I just can't think of them all. I always have a bunch of quilts in all different stages. It's just who I am.

Here's looking ahead to 2012!

The Storm at Sea Continues

2011-12-19T09:00:00.004-05:00

Well, I haven't finished all of the 72 diamond blocks, but I've begun assembling the quilt top with what I have done.

I was losing interest in this quilt with the monotony of the blocks, so I went ahead and began piecing the top together despite not having all of the diamonds done. I'm so glad I did! Seeing this begin to take shape has really motivated me to keep moving and try and finish up.

The stars you see below the Storm at Sea are some UFO blocks that I was thinking of turning into a baby quilt. I know of at least 11 people that are having babies in the next 6 months, so I'm sure I'll be making some baby quilts in the near future. These stars were supposed to be part of a larger mystery quilt, but I hated the final quilt, so I've decided to turn the random blocks into smaller quilts instead of one large one.

Mini Feather Quilt Finished!

2011-12-18T08:00:00.010-05:00

I finally finished putting the binding on my mini feather whole cloth quilt last night.

Here it is hanging up in our guest bathroom above our medicine cabinet.

Here it is before I sewed the binding down.

I used a silver metallic thread by Superior Threads to do all of the quilting. My machine quilting is FAR from perfect, but I think I've come a long way from when I started.

All in all, this was a fun, QUICK, mini quilt to make. I could see myself making another one in the future.

Drawing Fabulous Fun Feathers

2011-12-16T08:30:00.001-05:00

Last month I took a class with Sue Nickels at A Quilters Gathering up in Nashua, NH. The class, drawing fabulous fun feathers, was a three hour class on Saturday evening. No sewing machine, no fabric required, just some paper, a pencil and ruler.

Sue was a fantastic teacher and really helped us understand how to draw feathers. The technique we learned was to draw feathers on paper to then trace onto fabric and quilt.

This was my first attempt. Eh, not that great. They look very stiff. You could see them becoming less stiff towards the top as I got the hang of it more and more.

Sue's were much less stiff looking than mine started out as.

I slowly got the hang of it though. See, these flow much better.

The circle was a bit challenging.

The heart was interesting. You draw one half and trace it onto the second half by folding the tracing paper in half.

I then created this design which I later turned into the quilt from my last post.

To start, I traced the design with a permanent marker and then traced it onto the fabric before quilting it. I'm pleased with how it came out.

Now I need to figure out how to "funkify" my feathers.

Progress on Storm at Sea

2011-12-15T09:00:00.006-05:00

I've been trucking along, working on my storm at sea quilt whenever I have a few minutes here and there.

I have stacks of blocks in multiple stages of completion...

I would say I'm probably 2/3 done with these diamond blocks. Once I finish them, I can begin assembling the quilt top. So far, these diamonds have been the most tedious part of this quilt. I think it's because I'm anxious to begin piecing the top and see how it's going to look.

Kitchen Swap Received

2011-12-13T09:00:00.011-05:00

I was lucky to have Alice pick my fabric for the BMQG kitchen swap. Alice is an awesome quilter and I couldn't wait to see what she came up with. As expected, she created an unbelievable wall hanging that I absolutely love.

Thank you SOOOO much Alice. I can't express how much I love this quilt. I plan on hanging it up in my dining room this week.

Kitchen Swap Reveal

2011-12-12T09:10:00.000-05:00

On Saturday at the BMQG meeting we swapped our kitchen swap items. As a result, I can finally reveal what I made for Rebecca out of the fabric she provided.

I made two pot holders and two dish towels. Rebecca provided the background fabric in the star/the stripe on the towel. I added all of the solids.

The star is made using a Moda Bake Shop tutorial for a folded star potholder.

You can really see the 3-D effect that the folded star has on the star in this photo.

I love how this came out. I ended up loving it so much that I kept the first one that I made that had a few errors in it for myself and plan on adding a binding and using it as a wall hanging.

Trying Something New

2011-11-17T15:05:00.000-05:00

When I was at A Quilters Gathering at the beginning of the month I took a class with Sue Nickels on drawing fabulous feathers. I decided to put to use what we learned and make a mini whole cloth quilt using feathers.

I'm still in the middle of quilting around the feathers, as you can see. I'm hoping it will help make them pop even more. I used a Kona grey, but I'm not sure which one and Superior Threads silver metalic thread.

Here's a picture of the sketched design next to the quilted one. I sketched it out using tracing paper first before copying it onto the fabric and quilting it.

Here's a close up of one of the quarter sections.

I needed to break up the work I was doing on the Storm at Sea and this was the perfect, quick project to do so.

Continuing Storm at Sea

2011-11-14T17:06:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I busted out the 32 6.5" square blocks for the storm at sea quilt that I'm working on for my parents.

Now, these may not seem that complex, but they sure seem to take a long time. Maybe that's just because there are 32 of these. Multiply that times the number of seams in this block - 8 and you have 256 seams. Okay, now that makes sense. Add in another 32 pieces because there are 9 pieces in this block and you have 288 pieces that were cut for just this block.

Add in the 42 blocks that I already made and that's a lot of pieces. This quilt will have 1026 pieces to it.

It's coming together though. Only 72 more blocks to go! At least those blocks just have 5 pieces to them.

For some strange reason, Dorie from Finding Nimo just popped into my head singing, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming..." Hmm, I might be swimming in blocks by the time I'm done with this...

Storm at Sea Progress

2011-11-08T09:00:00.002-05:00

I began planning and making a storm at sea quilt for my parents a while back but put it aside to work on a few other things recently.

Here's the rough sketch that I did a while back based on the fabrics that I am using. The colors are totally off shade wise, but It's good enough to get the gist of things.

I finished the 42 3" small squares yesterday and I'm going to move to the large squares next. I think there's 30-something large square blocks. I'm paper piecing this quilt because I like the accuracy it gives me without having to worry about my 1/4" seam being off a bit. That's the beauty of paper piecing, you don't have to worry about that. Just sew on the line.

This is what a stack of 42 3" paper pieced blocks looks like all trimmed up.

Second Cathedral Window Block

2011-11-07T08:30:00.000-05:00

After completing my first cathedral window block while at KK's camping out while we awaited power, I began prepping another cathedral window block.

I'm really loving this. I'm not sure how far I'm going to take it, but I'm finding this a lot of fun and different than stuff that I usually do.

Sneak Peak

2011-11-04T09:00:00.004-04:00

We're having a kitchen holiday swap in the BMQG, revealing our final product at our December meeting. We were to bring in some fabric, put it in a bag and draw someone else's fabric for this swap. We know who we're creating items for and they know who's making something for them. We could provide whatever guidance we wanted. We could say that we didn't want additional fabrics added, or feel free to add just solids for example. We could say, no aprons, but anything else is game.

I drew Rebecca, who provided a yard of fabric. I knew right away what I was going to make once I saw it, I just needed to make sure she didn't have any color or fabric preferences. I was basically given full reign but she said she wasn't a big fan of red.

Here's a sneak peak at the beginning of Rebecca's kitchen item.

Rebecca provided the print and I added in the solids. I love how it's come out. I've already finished the quilting of this item and just need to bind it, so I'm actually a lot further along than this picture implies.

I really love how it came out so far, and I hope Rebecca does too.

84 Hours Later...

2011-11-03T09:30:00.000-04:00

And I have power! Man, the simple luxuries that you take for granted when you don't have them. Electricity, heat. Now it's time to try and get back to normalcy.

First, thank you to everyone who commented on my Blogger Quilt Festival quilt. I hope to respond to you individually at some point today.

So while I was out of power for the good part of four days, DH and I spent time at my aunt KK's when we weren't at work because she was fortunate to have power. We are so fortunate to have the family that we do to help us out in times like this.

So, what did we do, we made the best of it and spent some time quilting of course. I showed KK the cathedral window technique that we learned at our last BMQG meeting that she was unable to attend.

It's not perfect, but I sure do love it.

I can't wait to make more.

Bloggers Quilt Festival

2011-10-31T00:00:00.007-04:00

I'm entering my Moonlit Sky quilt into the Blogger Quilt Festival this time around.

This quilt took me more than two years to finish making, not exactly unheard of in my quilting time warp.

It all started when I was taking a class at the Lowell Quilt Festival back in 2009. I had the Jacobian Arbor prints from Timeless Treasure that I had been hording for a while. (I didn't end up using the print at the bottom of the above photo.) I added some tone on tome fabrics to the mix and I had my fabrics set for the class with the queen of paper piecing, Carol Doak.

I made this block in the class and loved the block and fabrics that I made.

I continued to add to the top and loved it more and more. Those of you who spend a lot of time on a quilt know how sometimes you lose interest in it the more time you spend on it. Not this one. I loved it more and more.

Then I did what I do best, change the pattern. The quilt in the pattern called for solid square corners to the border. I couldn't have just a small square, so I made a mini mariners compass square that finished at 6.5" square.

I debated on if I wanted to extend the inner border or not. You guys confirmed my thought, extend it!

Then, this quilt sat for a while. I loved it too much to quilt it myself. I know my machine quilting limits, so I sent it to Judi from Green Fairy Quilts to make a masterpiece of it.

This is what I got back. A true masterpiece. I said I wanted swirls and stars and I got something amazing.

Then, because I couldn't just leave it alone, I added, oh, about 4,800 Swarovski crystals. No big deal.

After that it was binding and shipping it off to the Lowell Quilt Festival where it won first place in the Wall Quilt category. I never expected it to win anything, but it did!

PS. I love your comments and try to respond to each individually, but due to the recent snowstorm, I am without power and thus email (I can access blogger at work but not email). Please know that I appreciate all of your comments and will reply when I am able to.

FQS Designer Mystery BOM - Block 12

2011-10-29T08:30:00.000-04:00

WHOO HOOO!!!! Did you here that from wherever you are? You must have because of how excited I am to finish these blocks.

The 12th and final block in the FQS Designer Mystery BOM (2010) is finished! Now this one actually looks like an ornament, not a Chinese lantern.

Now to work on the sashing and pieced border...

FQS Designer Mystery BOM - Block 11

2011-10-27T08:00:00.000-04:00

And block 11 is finished. Just one more to go after this.

I love the uneven bow in this block. I think it adds character. I wouldn't really associate a basket with Christmas, more Easter, but it's still cute.

One more to go (oh, wait, i already said that...)

FQS Designer Mystery BOM - Block 10

2011-10-26T09:30:00.000-04:00

I finally got back to working on the FQS Designer Mystery BOM after a few weeks off and finished block 10.

I love this block. I think the elves ice skating are so cute here, and the bow is adorable.

Now to finish block 11 and 12...

Leaders and Enders

2011-10-25T08:30:00.010-04:00

A few weeks ago I cut 4 charm packs using my Accuquilt Go using a tumbler die. Ever since, the pile of tumblers has been sitting next to my sewing machine and I've been using them as a leader and ender project.

Right now these have just been assembled into pairs and I have them sitting up on my design wall for now. There will be 12 or 13 rows total with 12 blocks across. My guess is that I'll go with a 12x12 design since I like symmetry.

How to Paper Piece - Part 3

2011-10-24T09:16:00.000-04:00

I know, it's been a while between my How to Paper Piece posts. Here I talk about the tools you'll need to paper piece and here I talk about some good books and patterns.

First you want to set your stitch length to 1.5. You want to reduce the stitch length and increase the number of stitches per inch. Why? This perforates the paper a lot to make it easier to tear away after you're done. It also creates more stitches so that a shorter length comes undone when moving and tearing the paper that you'll see we'll have to do. I would also recommend using a 90/14 needle as it will punch a bigger hole in the paper, also making removal easier.

Step 1 - Place your piece for the #1, RIGHT SIDE UP on the BACK OF THE PAPER PATTERN. Your piece should overlap all sides by at least 1/4". I will double check this by holding the fabric in place and lifting up the paper and looking through the paper to the fabric to ensure all sides are covered. Once in place, pin your #1 to the paper with the pin PARALLEL to the line connecting #1 and #1.

Step 2 - Place a piece of cardboard or thin plastic on the line connecting #1 and #2.

Step 3 - Fold the paper back on to the cardboard/plastic. Folding the paper down has two benefits, it extends the line to show you where to sew beyond the actual line and it weakens the paper to also make it easier to tear off after the block is finished.

Step 4 - Place your Add-a-Quarter ruler against the cardboard and folded paper and cut. You just created your 1/4" seam!

Step 5 - Place piece #2 on top of piece #1 RIGHT SIDE DOWN. (All pieces will be placed right side down from now on.) Place it on the 1/4" steam that you created in the previous step. Place a pin parallel to the line that you will sew.

Step 6 - Sew on the line between #1 and #2. Begin sewing a little more than 1/4" from the start of the line and finish a little more than 1/4" after the line. (see below)

Step 7 - Iron your piece open. The paper piecing will determine where you iron towards. If you know that you will be ironing towards a lighter fabric, place that lighter fabric just slightly beyond the darker one before sewing so that it doesn't show through when you iron it open.

Step 8 - Continue repeating steps 2-7 for each piece until you finish your block!

Note: This block is from the Carol Doak Yahoo Group's Simply Radiant Star BOM.

Bid on My Quilt & Support the Fight Against Cancer

2011-10-10T08:00:00.004-04:00

I am auctioning off this quilt as part of my company's charitable campaign this quarter to fight cancer. The bidding starts at just $25, although I'm hoping that it sells for much more than that. To bid on this quilt visit the website here.

Quilt Details:
Size: 18" square
Fabric: Kona White and Grey (I'm not sure which one since I don't have a color chart) and Free Spirit's Jay McCarroll's Habitat line.
Machine appliqued and quilted by me. The binding has been attached my machine in the front and hand sewn in the back.

I made this quilt with the intention of auctioning it off for this purpose. The template I used from Sue Pelland Designs supports Leukemia awareness, something near and dear to my heart as my DH lost his step-father to the disease 8 years ago.

Quilt Top Complete

2011-10-05T09:00:00.012-04:00

This weekend I finished a very large quilt top, a large queen.

The bottom (left) is made using a layer cake. I used Frolic by Sandy Gervais. I'm sending this one off to my quilter since I don't feel like dealing with a quilt this large.

Photographing this quilt involved moving furniture at my aunt's house to have enough space. It's that big!

Bathroom Re-do

2011-10-04T09:14:00.000-04:00

I didn't touch my sewing machine once last week because DH and I (okay, mostly DH) were re-doing our master bathroom.

We painted the bathroom and installed the new vanity and sink, mirror and medicine cabinet. The lights shown in the above photo are going to be replaced since they don't really fit the style of the bathroom anymore.

Now back to quilting...

Designer Mystery BOM - Block 9

2011-09-24T09:25:00.000-04:00

Whew, I'm on a roll. I not only finished block 8 of the Fat Quarter Shop's designer mystery BOM, I finished block 9 too. This one is supposed to be two matching ornaments, but i think it looks more like two Chinese lanterns.

Can I keep this momentum up? I certainly hope so.

Designer Mystery BOM - Block 8

2011-09-23T09:00:00.011-04:00

Yet another BOM that I'm way behind on. Okay, so I'm not AS far behind on this one as I am on the Radian Star BOM. I made block 8 last weekend. This one is a gingerbread house. I think it turned out cute.

I'm still totally in love with this fabric line and this quilt. Well, I'm in love with every one of Kate Spain's fabric lines. They're all so awesome.

Simply Radiant BOM - January

2011-09-22T09:00:00.007-04:00

As I was preparing to teach the BMQG paper piecing, I was looking for just the right pattern that didn't have too many pieces, needed to be pieced together to show how to join two paper pieced blocks, and had different angles to show how to take care in lining up the fabrics. I decided on the January BOM from Carol Doak's Simply Radiant Star BOM. I hadn't made this block, but it appeared to be the easiest block out of the bunch. It would be perfect.

Here's my finished block. I really like how it came out. As I was preparing and picking out fabrics I decided that I needed a block with red as the dominant color. I think this works well.

Here are all seven blocks so far. See why I thought I needed another block with red as the focus color?

I put this aside for a while, but I'm going to TRY to pick it back up again and get a few more blocks done. All of the patterns have been posted for the quilt, I just need to finish them all.

Paper Piecing Lesson

2011-09-20T09:00:00.001-04:00

On Saturday I taught a paper piecing lesson at the BMQG meeting. Those of you who've followed my blog for a while know that I love paper piecing. When the guild asked me to teach a lesson on it, I was honored to share my love of paper piecing with the guild.

This was the block that I taught. I picked this one because it was fairly simple yet it allowed me to show several techniques, including piecing the four sections together.

I only had about an hour to show folks because we had lots of other exciting things going on, but I ~~think~~ hope it was enough time to give everyone a good sense of what to do.

Here's the progress that some folks made.

This one will be a crazy pieced heart.

It was very rewarding to hear people express an "ah-ha" as I was explaining the method that I use to paper piece. I really hope that I've inspired folks to at least attempt paper piecing. I know it's not for everyone, but it's certainly worth a try.

My Free Spirit Challenge Quilt

2011-09-19T10:22:00.000-04:00

As you may have seen lately, Free Spirit issued a challenge to Modern Quilt Guilds across the country with using a stack of Jay McCarroll Habitat fabrics. I wasn't crazy about some of the fabrics when I saw them in the photo, but I decided to go for it and try something out of my comfort zone.

Here's what I was able to come up with.

I used a template by Sue Pelland Designs to make the petals. Each petal is 2.75" long. I created a grid of squares using a disappearing marker on the Kona white and placed the petals on top of the grid. I tried several different patterns before settling on this one. After I pieced this, I saw several other layout possibilities. I'm definitely going to make more quilts using this template.

Once I heat set the petals onto the quilt I stitched down along the edge of each one to quilt it. I really loved the way the machine quilting looks on the back.

For not really loving the fabrics, I actually love how this turned out, of course I only ended up using about half of the fabrics provided, but still, it was a challenge.

Labor Day Quilting

2011-09-08T12:30:00.001-04:00

I hope everyone had a fantastic labor day weekend. I spent some time with my family up at the beach and relaxing a bit back at home. While I was relaxing, in both places, I managed to finish the second block of the tile quilt.

I'm really linking how these are coming out. Here are both together.

I like having these to do when I'm not around my sewing machine. Now to get the next one prepped.

DQS11 Quilt Received

2011-08-30T09:30:00.005-04:00

On Saturday I returned home from my father-in-law's wedding to the package I was anxious to receive, my DQS 11 quilt.

I opened up my package to find a cute quilt by Quiltinkimmie, a swap mama in the group. I love rainbow quilts right now but have never made one. I just might have to add one to my ever growing list of quilts to make.

Thanks Kimmie.

My Winning Quilt!

2011-08-29T11:22:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago I posted about how my quilt was juried into the Lowell Quilt Festival. Well, I'm pleased to share that my quilt won first place in the wall quilt - pieced category.

I can't seem to rotate it, since I'm uploading from my phone. Hurricane Irene has left us without power or internet for the past 24 hours and I've been told by the electric company that it could be up to another five days before we get it back. Here's hoping that it isn't that long. Keep your fingers crossed for us and everyone else still without power.

Anyway, once I can get the photos off my camera and uploaded once we get power and internet back, I'll share more photos.

DQS 11 - DONE!

2011-08-23T11:06:00.000-04:00

I finished my DQS 11 Quilt this weekend and sent it off to its soon-to-be new owner. I love the way it turned out.

The orange totally isn't me, but it works. My partner loved oranges, greens and blues. She also liked a lot of simple, straight line quilts.

I really hope my partner likes it. She didn't comment on a single photo that I posted, so I'm nervous now. Quite honestly, I was a bit frustrated that my partner didn't comment at all. To add to it, I was then questioned by the organizers of the swap about the quality of my work. I was quite taken back and felt insulted. Why would I participate in a swap and send sub-par work? Its left a sour taste in my mouth for this swap and I'm not sure I want to participate in the next round.

Lowell Quilt Festival 2011

2011-08-11T11:49:00.000-04:00

Today marks the opening of the Lowell Quilt Festival 2011. As you know, I submitted my quilt, Moonlit Sky to the show and it was accepted. I decided to submit it for fun and to share a quilt that I absolutely love. I wasn't entering it into the show with the expectation that I would win anything, especially since I've never entered a juried quilt show before.

I
I'm planning on heading over to the show tomorrow afternoon. I'm going to take a half day and go with my mom and my aunt to see my quilt hanging there next to so many fantastic quilts. If you're visiting, check out my quilt, and if you think it's awesome, vote for it for people's choice! Honestly, vote for the one that you like the best, I just hope it's mine.

I have a list of winners already, even though the show hasn't opened, and there are some very talented quilters being showcased at the show.

Next Tile Block Prepped

2011-08-09T12:22:00.000-04:00

I finished prepping my next tile quilt block last night. I tried to incorporate a few of the same fabrics from the previous block to tie it together while introducing some new fabrics as well. If I complete the entire quilt there will be nine blocks total. We'll see how many I do. It might take me a little while to do all nine blocks if I do decide to go that route.

It's all basted, which you can see on some of the pieces, and ready to go in my carry on for my trip. I don't know if I'll have time to prep another one since I need to focus on finishing up my DQS quilt.

Tile Quilt - Block 1 Finished

2011-08-08T13:41:00.000-04:00

This weekend I finished the first tile quilt block that I started at my class the weekend before.

I really like how it turned out. I think this is going to be a cute quilt. I think I'm going to try and prep a few blocks to take with me on my upcoming trip to Paris. I think this would be a good activity to do on a plane.

DQS Top Completed

2011-08-03T09:11:00.000-04:00

Last night I finished the top for the Doll Quilt Swap.

Now to quilt and bind it. I had the leftover binding from my Moonlit Sky quilt still out, so I put it up to this quilt and I really liked how it looks. What do you think?

My other option would be to go with the orange or one of the light fabrics.

Tile Quilt Class

2011-08-01T09:30:00.000-04:00

On Saturday KK and I took a class at Emma's Quilt Cupboard in Franklin, MA to make a tile quilt using needle turn applique. I've been learning more needle turn applique this year and I thought this would be a fun class to take.

This is the class sample. I thought the quilt was cute, although not quite my style. After looking at it, I decided to make mine in Asian fabrics.

Here is the beginning of my block, pre any applique. It looks busy and not that wonderful, but once I started to needle turn, things really started to come to life and I really liked the block more and more.

Here's the block as of this morning, almost finished. I just have to turn the three end pieces on the right and the one on the bottom left. I really like it now that the grout has been formed.

Here are blocks from other students. (sorry for the blurryness, all of the photos were taken with my phone.) I love the idea of using different background fabrics. I think it would be cool to have multiple blocks with a rainbow of fabrics for the background, red for one, orange for another, etc.

I might prep a few blocks to take with me on my upcoming trip to Paris. I think this would make a good project to do on a plane.

Reverse Applique

2011-07-29T10:01:00.004-04:00

Last Saturday we had our monthly BMQG meeting where Pippa taught us her reverse applique technique. Below is what I was able to make during the lesson.

I liked this hand sewing technique and could see myself taking this along with me on trips to have some handwork to do.

I used some of my hand dyed fabrics for this and I think I'll probably make a small wall hanging out of this. I'll do a bunch of different types of circles in many sizes and colors.

Doll Quilt Swap 11

2011-07-28T09:54:00.017-04:00

I signed up for the Doll Quilt Swap 11 lottery on Flickr about a month ago. I was hoping I would get selected, but wasn't sure if I would since it was my first time signing up. I've been following the group for a little while, admiring the work of so many of the women and their talent.

I was selected to participate and was given a partner that seemed to like a lot of oranges, blues and greens. The problem for me? Orange is my least favorite color and I only had one orange fabric in my stash.

After digging through my stash, I decided on the above fabrics. My partner also seemed to like a lot of straight, clean lines, so I decided to do a mini bento box quilt.

Here's what I've come up with so far. The bottom left three blocks are out of place, but I'll fix that before I sew it together. I still need to make a few more before I piece the top. Right now it will measure at 10" x 10". I'll probably make it 10" x 15" or 15" x 15". The requirement is that the quilt must be at least 9" x 9" to 18" x 18" or anywhere in between.

I really hope my partner likes it. She didn't comment on my first post showing the fabric choices. I'm just going to move forward hoping that she just missed it and really does like it.

And it's Off...

2011-07-27T14:51:00.000-04:00

No, I'm not talking about a race, I'm talking about my Moonlit Sky quilt.

Yup, there it is all finished, packaged up and ready to mail out. I just got back from the post office to send it off to the Lowell Quilt Festival. In just a few short weeks, this beauty will be hanging on the show floor. Whoo Hooo.

I decided to wait to unveil the quilt and its 3000+ crystals until the actual show. Not buying it? Okay, you caught me. I was so excited to finish and get it mailed out by the deadline that I forgot to get a final photo of it. I promise to get a photo of it at the show. Promise.

Onto my next deadline, finishing my Doll Quilt Swap quilt. But that's another post.

While I Was Away

2011-07-26T14:54:00.000-04:00

I've been quite on the blogging front because I've been head down trying to finish my Moonlit Sky quilt for the Lowell Quilt Festival. I have to send it out by the end of this week, so I've been working on it any time I have some free time. Yesterday I finished adding the last of the 3000 Swarovski crystals and added and finished the binding. All that is left is the hanging sleeve and the label. I'll post pictures once I'm done.

In the mean time, I thought I'd share the project that i took with me to Georgia and the Bahamas.

I started making some hexi's using a free mini charm pack that I won a while back. This totally isn't my style, but I thought I'd make this into a wall hanging as a gift for someone else. I laid out all of the hexagons on the piece of paper behind it and taped them to it as I was sewing it together. This helped me keep the layout that I wanted without hexi's moving all over the place.

I'll probably put this aside for a bit now and pick it up when it comes time to travel another time. We shall see. Maybe I'll bring it with my on our upcoming trip to Paris.

Honey, I'm Home!

2011-07-11T19:59:00.000-04:00

Well, DH and I just returned home from a week long vacation. We spent several days down in Georgia visiting my in-laws and then went down to The Bahamas to celebrate our third anniversary.

While in Georgia I saw my first quilt block on a building! I made my mother-in-law stop in the middle of the road so that I could take this picture.

We had a blast on vacation. Here are a few pictures of what we did.

We swam with the dolphins.

We went on a snorkeling trip and saw this lighthouse on our boat trip.

We saw all sorts of sea life at our hotel and over the island.

Now to get back to quilting... I have a bunch of stuff that I need to finish up over the next few weeks, so I've got to get going.

How to Paper Piece Series - Books & Patterns

2011-06-20T11:28:00.000-04:00

I'm continuing with my series on paper piecing. Today I'll talk about books and patterns I recommend. You'll see a trend, mostly Carol Doak books and patterns. Carol is the queen of paper piecing and does a fantastic job of explaining how to paper piece and comes up with some great patterns. I'm not really a big fan of her fabric and color choices, but I look beyond that to the great patterns. There are so many other books and patterns out there that I can't cover them all. I'm only going to highlight a few that I find interesting.

To view the first post on tools needed, click here.

To start, I would highly recommend that if you're interested in paper piecing to join the Carol Doak Yahoo group. There's a link on the right rail of my blog to take you there. On Carol's site she posts tons of free patterns, including blocks of the month series, holiday patters, milestone blocks, etc. You can also learn tips and tricks from members and ask questions. It's free to join and you can get a lot of great patterns and advice on here.

My favorite book right now is Carol Doak's Mariners Compass Stars book.

This is the book where I got the pattern for my Moonlit Sky quilt.

I like this book because it includes block patterns and shows you how to use the blocks in different quilt designs.

The next book I recommend is also Carol's. It's 50 Fabulous Paper-Pieced Stars.

I love this book because it has a lot of patterns that range in skill level. Some blocks might have as few as 6 pieces per section (there might be 8 per block) and others have as many as 15-20+. It's great for beginners and experts. This book was the first book I got on Paper piecing and used to make my first paper pieced quilt.

This is the quilt that stated it all. I made one block in an intro to paper piecing class and made eight more because I was hooked.

Paper Piece the Quick-Strip Way is another good book. While I haven't made anything from this book yet, I've used this book as a reference to strip piece and save time. I don't follow the same technique, but I learned some tips and modified it to my preference. There are some great patterns in here as well.

There are also many patterns out there for paper piecing. I am currently working on the Fiesta! pattern by Possibilities.

The paper piecing directions are not very good in this pattern, but the actual pattern's provided are a great way to try a New York Beauty quilt. There are a bunch of New York Beauty patterns out there using paper piecing, so look around to find a pattern that you like the best.

Google - Google is your friend when it comes to paper piecing patterns. There are a TON of great paper piecing patterns out on the world wide web for free. If you're looking for a free leaf pattern, just search for it. I have found so many awesome patterns just by doing a search.

Progress on Storm at Sea

2011-06-16T09:03:00.005-04:00

I've been working on the Storm at Sea quilt for my parents lately.

I'm paper piecing the whole thing. It takes a bit longer, but I get much better accuracy doing it this way. I'm sure I'll be posting a lot more updates to this quilt as I progress, so stay tuned.

Meagan's Bee Block

2011-06-14T09:03:00.000-04:00

I finally managed to get a picture of Meagan's bee block before I sent it out to her.

She sent a bunch of solids and a few prints. I decided to use just one print and the rest solids.

I hope she likes it!

This is the end of the bee that I'm participating in right now. I've got so much going on that I'm going to hold off in participating in another bee for a little while.

How to Paper Piece Series - Tools

2011-06-06T11:28:00.000-04:00

Recently I've had a lot of questions emailed to me about paper piecing since I tend to do a lot of it. I absolutely love paper piecing and hope to share some of the tips and tricks with you over the next few months. If you have additional questions, feel free to ask them in the comments and I'll try to address them as I talk more about paper piecing.

To start, let's talk about what tools you need for paper piecing. This goes beyond the basic sewing supplies you need (cutting mat, rotary cutter, sewing machine, thread, etc.)

The most important tool is the fantastic Add a Quarter or Add and Eighth. This is the one tool that you must invest in to paper piece. I only use the Add a Quarter. It's not that expensive. It comes in three sizes, the 6" the 12" and the 18". I have both the 6"and 12" and use both all the time. I tend to use the 12" more often, so if you're going to invest in just one to start, I would recommend the 12" ruler. After a quick search, I saw rulers online ranging in price from $5 - $9, so it's not very expensive. Besides my rotary cutter, mats, and basic rulers, this is probably the most used notion that I have.

To help use the Add a Quarter/Eighth I recommend either a piece of cardstock or thin plastic such as template plastic with a straight edge. You'll use this to help crease your paper and line up the add a quarter/eighth to.

Carol Doak's Foundation Paper is something that I could not live without when it comes to paper piecing. It's thin paper that feed through any printer (that I've ever tried) so that you can print out your foundation designs onto it to piece with. The paper is thinner than your traditional printer paper, which makes it less bulky to piece with. I have used regular printer paper to paper piece with and have had success, but given the option, I would pick this paper every time. It comes in a package of 100 sheets for about $10. Whenever I see this on sale I will always stock up. Now, for those of you who have read my blog for a while know that I'm not one to talk negative about a product, but there is one product I would not recommend for paper piecing - June Taylor Perfect Piecing Block Foundation Sheets. I have found these extremely difficult to work with. The paper is very difficult to tear away, and if you attempt to leave it it (since it's not actually paper) it leaves the project VERY stiff. Sure this would work for a bag, but I would not recommend it for a quilt.

A good Iron - This is essential to getting crisp seams and accuracy. Some people just finger press, but I find that in order to be as accurate as possible, you MUST iron. I recommend using a dry iron for paper piecing. One tip - if you start to see ink from your pattern on your ironing board, turn the temperature down on your iron. Yes, it's part of the basic sewing tool list, but I wanted to include this on here to emphasize how important I believe this is.

Flat Head Pins - I will generally use these when starting a block and when using larger pieces. Everyone has a different view on pinning in general and when paper piecing. I use pins to hold the first block in place and when sewing on a piece generally larger than 4". Other than that, I don't really pin. This is one that I recommend trying both ways and seeing what you prefer.

A flat blade knife/cutter such as OLFA Precision Art Knife is essential for removing a mis-sewn piece. You really can't use a seam ripper with paper piecing, otherwise you will tear the paper and distort the pattern. A knife like this helps to remove the piece that you need to remove without tearing the paper. This one sells for about $15-20 regular price, but I'm sure you could find it on sale for less. Gingher has a seam ripper that I know others have used that is blade like instead of the standard two pronged seam ripper for about $30 as well. I haven't use that, so I can't testify to how it works, but I just wanted to put it out there.

OPTIONAL - Spray Starch is something that many people like to use when paper piecing. I only use it occasionally and wouldn't consider it a must have, but some do. It's really up to you. Try it both ways and see what you think.

OPTIONAL - Curved Snips is a tool that some recommend to help cut the extra threads. I've never used these and have been just fine. To use these, tug the top thread up a bit and snip real close to the thread to cut the top and bottom threads at the same time. Honestly, I just use my small Gingher snips for this the same way and it works just fine. I've even used larger scissors too. Others, swear by this tool. You can get some for $5-15, so if you want to give it a try it won't cost you that much.

Really, you should be able to get started with paper piecing for relatively little money. Find some good sales and you're golden.

Up next: Books and Patterns

What I look at Every Day

2011-05-25T12:47:00.000-04:00

About four years ago I made a quilt for my desk and it sits above my computer where I look at it every day.

The lighting is bad (well, isn't it always in an office building) and the photo was taken with my new iPhone, so it's not the best. It gives me something bright and cheery to look at every day instead of the drab taupe walls and the cream colored walls. I love color too much to go without some bright colors in my desk.

This was actually the second quilt I made with this pattern. The first one I made in a class to learn about stained glass quilting.

I did not do a very good job with alternating the value of colors in the first quilt and it looks very flat. I used the same fabrics, except for the boarder, in the second quilt and it works much better in terms of value, but it still could use some variety, especially in the flower and leaves section of the quilt. If I could re-make this quilt after more years of experience I would change things up even more.

Accepted

2011-05-17T21:18:00.000-04:00

I woke up this morning to the email that I had been waiting for, I learned that my Moonlit Sky quilt had been accepted into the Lowell Quilt Festival. This was the first time I have every submitted a quilt into a juried show. I'm not expecting to win anything, but will enjoy having my quilt displayed with some other amazing quilts.

I have the binding cut, I just need to sew it together and add it to the quilt. I also need to attach a hanging sleeve and finish adding the crystals.

So, if you're going to be in the New England area in August, swing by the Lowell Quilt Festival to see my quilt!

Yes, I'm Still Here

2011-05-16T13:33:00.000-04:00

Phew, it seems like it's been forever since I last sat down in front of my sewing machine. Maybe that's because it's been since the end of March! YIKES!!! I just returned from Las Vegas last week from my company's major trade show which was consuming a bit of my time. Now that it's behind me, I can really get back into the swing of things.

First things first, I must clean up my quilting room. It's an absolute mess!!! I can't get motivated to do ANYTHING until I get this room cleaned up.

After that, finish quilting the last row of blocks on my Eva quilt.I've got the first four rows done, I just need to finish the fifth.

Once done with that I can get back to working on some of my other projects including the Storm at Sea quilt for my parents, the multiple BOMs that I need to finish, and more.

I hope to have more fun posts to come with some action in my quilting. It seems like forever. I miss it.

Starting a New Project

2011-04-27T08:39:00.001-04:00

I've begun working on a new project, a quilt for my parents. They wanted a quilt for the stairway leading to the second floor of their beach house. We picked out some colors together and I decided on a Storm at Sea pattern since it fits nicely with a beach house.

I found a blank template online and colored it in with the colors we were thinking of. We had already decided on the Origins line by Basic Grey for the quilt, I just needed to figure out the pattern.

I also found some free paper piecing templates online, so I printed those out to use for this as well. If you've read this blog at all you probably know that I really love paper piecing. I love the perfect points that you get with paper piecing.

I've started to do some cutting but haven't finished. I needed to order more fabric online since I couldn't find it near me anymore, so that delayed be a bit.

I haven't started a new larger quilt in a while, so it's been fun to get into another project, although I'm still working on trying to finish a bunch of other projects. Oh well, the life of a quilter I guess - start three projects, finish one. Right?

I likely won't have a ton of time to do much quilting over the next three weeks. I've got a bunch of stuff going on for work including my company's customer user conference in Las Vegas in a few weeks, so I'll be leaving the DH behind to head out there. I'll have to see if I can bring a hand sewing project with me. We've got family in town from GA as well starting this weekend. I hope to really pick up on my quilting again come mid-May.

Adding Crystals

2011-04-24T10:37:00.020-04:00

While at MQX last weekend I got some supplies to add crystals to quilts. I decided to add some to my Moonlit Sky quilt. (Yes, that's the name I have decided on.)

Sure, my crystals aren't in a perfectly straight line, but I really like how this is coming together. Because there's just some straight line quilting on the stars, I feel like the lines of crystals really enhance the simple quilting and the stars themselves.

In this light green section I decided that less is more here. I want to showcase the amazing quilting first and foremost. The crystals are really here to enhance the quilt.

I still have a lot of crystals to add, and I have to order more since I completely underestimated the number of crystals I would need. You would think a package of 144 crystals would go a long way but it really doesn't.

I like that from far away you really can't tell that there are crystals. You can tell they're there from the sparkle and the faint appearance of a line. In this picture there are crystals in the purple, the blue stars and the green.

Um, I think I have a problem...

2011-04-22T10:23:00.005-04:00

Yeah, so I think I have a problem...

This has become my stash of Kate Spain's Central Park. This doesn't include my fat quarter bundle of the entire line. The minimum cut of fabric is 2 yards above which would mean that this photo has over 20 yards of fabric. EEK!!!

Here's my real confession - I don't even know what I'm going to do with this fabric. I just love it so much that I must hoard it.

I think this comes from my love of Full Moon Forest and the fact that I discovered it after it was out of print. Now, I'm constantly searching for some FMF at a reasonable price, kicking myself that I didn't stock up when it first came out. On another note - I saw a half yard of FMF for $25 on Etsy last week. That's $50 a yard!!! I don't think I'll ever reach a point where I'd pay $50 a yard for some simple cotton quilting fabric. That's just crazy people.

Mug Rug is Finished

2011-04-21T08:02:00.000-04:00

and it's hanging up in my quilting room on the side of my storage unit. I just couldn't bring myself to actually use it as a mug rug.

I love it. The only thing I would change would be the quilting in the purple. I was going for a different look but when I got going I just didn't have the space to do it in such a tiny area and the looping sippling just kinda came out. I thought about redoing it, but I decided against that since there were two layers of fusible web in that layer and I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to hide the holes.

MQX East 2011 Cont.

2011-04-20T09:49:00.022-04:00

Here are some more photos of some of the amazing quilts at MQX East 2011. Warning, this is a photo heavy post...

There were so many other quilts that were also just amazing. If you ever get a chance to go I would highly recommend it.

MQX East 2011

2011-04-19T09:16:00.035-04:00

On Saturday KK and I went to the MQX East Show in Providence RI. As always the quilts on display were absolutely AMAZING. I noticed several trends this year including, a lot of images turned into quilts, cat quilts (some of these were images turned into quilts), more orange in the quilts, crystals were still popular (which I love), embroidery was big on a lot of quilts, and some people have machine quilting skills that I can only dream of having a fraction of their talent.

I'll post some photos from the show in a couple of different posts since they will be photo heavy. This post will focus on some of my favorite quilts from the show.

This quilt won best of show. The quilting was amazing. I wouldn't call it my favorite quilt of the show but it was nonetheless stunning to look at.

I think this quilt was my favorite. Can you believe that this is actually a whole cloth quilt?

Here's a closeup.

I thought this quilt was really cute. It's so fun.

I love both the quilting and the colors of this quilt. The color is a bit off in the photo. The purple was actually more of a pure purple than pink-ish.

Generally this is something that I normally wouldn't like, but the purple feathers really popped and caught my eye.

I love the colors used here. They really pop.

This quilt was absolutely stunning. While the colors are totally not me, the attention to detail, the quilting, just everything was absolutely stunning.

See those little squares? They're 1" square and pieced. Crazy!

See... unbelievable!

More photos to come tomorrow...

Snow Dyeing

2011-04-18T08:54:00.000-04:00

About a month ago I did some snow dyeing with what snow we had left. I had always wanted to try it so I figured it was now or next winter. I decided now was the better option.

The main thing that I wanted to dye was a bunch of yardage of a light blue fabric that would look like the sky. I have this Idea to use a bunch of my hand dyed fabrics to create some bright paper pieced stars with the sky background. But in order to do this, I needed some light blue fabric.

I think this ended up being about 5 yards total.

Then, using some mesh screens that my wonderful DH built me I mixed up some dyes and did some random snow dyeing. I really had no rhyme or reason behind these fabrics other than I just wanted to try snow dyeing.

Overall I loved doing the snow dyeing. I did think the colors would appear brighter than they were. Perhaps if I left them to sit longer than the 1-2 hours I would have gotten some brighter colors. Regardless, I still really liked the way they call came out. It's something that I will certainly do again.

I really enjoy dyeing fabrics. I'll certainly continue to do more during the summer.

My First Mug Rug

2011-04-06T08:18:00.000-04:00

Last month at our NEMQG meeting we learned a new binding technique. To help us practice we were all asked to bring a mug rug to bind. I've been admiring all of the mug rugs I've been seeing out in the blogosphere and Flickr but never really decided to make one, until now.

For this, I finally cut into my stash of hand dyed fabrics. I've been saving them for a special project, but I had won some fat 16th hand dyed fabrics a while ago and I decided that this was the perfect use for them.

I cut the purple and orange fabrics in some wavy lines and cut them in half. I had ironed on some Wonder Under on before cutting and had removed the paper backing. I was trying this method after seeing Frieda Anderson show this method since she claims she never gets the stray pieces of fabric when cutting this way. I then ironed the orange and purple fabrics together on the paper backing I had removed before trimming and ironing it onto the green fabric.

This whole mug rug was an improv project that I experimented with as I went along. After attaching the purple and orange piece to the green I then cut that down into a wavy piece.

I used my 18mm rotary cutter for this because I had more control and could make the wavy edges better than I could with your standard 45mm rotary cutter. I would highly recommend that you invest in a small rotary cutter for projects like this.

Once I added the Green I felt like there was still something missing, so I found a nice, bright yellow fabric and placed the piece on top of that. It really popped and I decided to go with it.

Voila! At this point I did some quick quilting to get the mug rug ready for the meeting. I don't have any pictures of that right now, but I'll show some soon. I just need to get my camera out. I'm in the middle of hand sewing the binding down to the back, which shouldn't take too long.

I'm probably going to hang this in my sewing room on the side of my new bookshelf instead of using it as an actual mug rug. It took a lot for me to cut into my hand dyed stash, and I just can't bring myself to put food or drinks on it. Maybe some day, but not now.

Monet's Bee Block

2011-03-29T11:31:00.001-04:00

I also finished Monet's bee block to give to her at our March meeting of the NEMQG. She posted a tutorial for a spiderweb block on her blog and asked us to make one for her with the fabrics she provided.

Here's what I was able to come up with. I had to add the dark grunge fabric because I didn't have quite enough. I think it works well in it though.

Aimee's Bee Block

2011-03-28T08:30:00.000-04:00

I finally finished Aimee's bee block the other night. Aimee asked for a butterfly block for a quilt that she's making for her daughter. She sent along some great Art Gallery fabric, which I love.

Here's the block that I came up with. I really struggled with this block. Aimee gave us a lot of freedom, but that almost worked against me. I kinda wish there was a bit more guidance besides no applique. I think I used my seam ripper more with this block than I have in a very long time.

In the end, I like the outcome and I hope Aimee likes it.

Radiant Star BOM - Block 6

2011-03-27T11:26:00.000-04:00

Well, after a break from quilting for a few weeks with traveling for work and pleasure, I finally got back into the swing of sewing the other night. To start, I worked on catching up on the Radiant Star BOM. I think we're up to block 9, but I just got to finishing block 6. Progress is progress though.

I love these blocks. I think it's fair to say that I really love Carol Doak's patterns and I love to paper piece.

Here are the first six blocks. Half way done! I love how using one line of fabric for the entire quilt pulls everything together even though the blocks are all different.

Yes, I'm Still Here

2011-03-10T09:59:00.000-05:00

Life has been a bit busy lately and I haven't had much time to quilt. Two weeks ago I was traveling for business and last week DH and I went down to Disney World for a long weekend. It was DH's first trip to Disney and my 4th trip. We had a great time but were tired when we got back.

Something happened with my camera and I was only able to download about 15 pictures of the 200+ that I took. I only have a couple of pictures from our final day at Hollywood Studios. No pictures of the two of us, none of the flower & garden festival at EPCOT, none. :( It turns out that every time I had turned off my camera the photos I took right before that would get deleted. The camera is only a few months old, so I'm really bummed about this. I just wish I didn't lose all of my photos from our trip.

On a quilting front, I have one row left to quilt of my Eva quilt.

After a lot of debate, I have decided to go with my first choice of binding for my "Fire & Ice" Quilt. The maroon.

I'd like to enter this quilt into a couple of local quilt shows, so I'm trying to come up with a name for it. "Fire & Ice" is the name of the Carol Doak pattern. I think I want something that's fun, a nice yet bold name. Any ideas?

NEMQG February Meeting

2011-02-28T13:11:00.000-05:00

Saturday was our monthly meeting of the NEMQG. We met a Laurie's church which has a nice big gym to baste our quilts in.

Laurie basting her quilt above.

We also got to see Jill's quilt top minus the outside border made with her blocks from our bee. She was the first to go in the bee and it's great to finally see one close to completion.

She was also laying out some blocks to determine positioning on the floor.

And KK showed off her two adorable quilts that she's making for some soon-to-be born twins.

I basted one of my quilts but of course forgot to take a picture. I also did a bunch of cutting for a storm at sea quilt that I'm preparing to make for my parents.

Binding Choices

2011-02-25T09:00:00.000-05:00

I've been auditioning some fabric choices for my newly quilted quilt and I thought I'd ask for opinions. I have my opinion and my DH has his, but I wanted some other opinions.

Here are three choices pinned up next to the quilt. All three of these fabrics appear in the quilt.

The purple is the background fabric in the star blocks:

The green in the darker green used in the stars, darker than the large patch of green.

The maroon is the one used with the pink in the stars.

I don't have enough of the light blue in the sashing to use for the binding. I wish I did because I think that would look nice.

Thoughts??? What one do you prefer? Or would you go with something different?

Designer Mystery BOM - Block 7

2011-02-24T16:31:00.000-05:00

A finished up block 7 of the Fat Quarter Shop's Designer Mystery BOM recently. I have blocks 8 and 9 that I need to make up. Yes, I'm behind. I'm actually behind on both of my BOMs. Oh well, it is what it is. Life has been crazy lately. I'm not on a deadline or anything. I find that when I put myself on a deadline that it just stresses me out and takes the fun away from quilting. I want quilting to remain fun, so I will continue to do things on my terms and not stress out about being behind.

I love this block. Isn't it cute? I think so. Believe it or not, in my 8+ years of quilting, this is the first time I have ever made flying geese. I don't know why. I don't have an aversion to them, I just have never made them. Now I can say that I have.

Here are the first 7 blocks all together. Once finished the quilt will have some sashing in between all of the blocks.

It's Quilted - Gaaa!!!!

2011-02-08T08:14:00.000-05:00

Okay, go ahead and laugh at the title. Can you tell that I'm excited? Judi over at Green Fairy Quilts finished quilting my "Fire and Ice" quilt this week and she shared some photos of the finished quilt. It shipped out to me yesterday and I can't wait to receive it and study it up close. These photos are from Judi. I'll take more of my own when I get the quilt.

I love how from this view the quilting doesn't take away from the actual pattern of the quilt. Then, once you get up close you see the beauty of the quilting.

The colors are a bit off here, but you can really see the detailed quilting. I love how the large blue triangles were quilted to match the fabric used. I also LOVE the light blue sashing. I think the quilting there is fantastic and perfect for that spot.

Check out the quilting in the green area. It's so different and fun.

And here are a few photos of the back of the quilt. It's the same green on the front and I love the way you can see all of the quilting so clearly on the back. The back is one of Judi's favorite things about a quilt.

I'm so happy with how this came out. I absolutely love her work. If you're not familiar with her work, hop on over to her blog and see some of the other absolutely fantastic work that she has done. She also has a store where she sells tons of precuts at great prices. I've ordered from her in the past and always receive everything quickly. (no, she's not paying me to say this.)

Run, Don't Walk

2011-02-04T08:28:00.000-05:00

I don't know how many of you follow the fabulous work for Judi over at Green Fairy Quilts. If you don't you should. She posted a blog post today about her sense of fashion and low and behold, in the background is MY quilt on her machine. Holly Cow!!! I'm so psyched to see what she does with it. Run over and see what she's done so far. http://greenfairyquilts.blogspot.com/2011/02/attempt-at-fashion-ha-ha.html Her work is absolutely amazing. If you haven't seen her work before, scroll through her blog posts to see for yourself.

This is the quilt that she's quilting for me.

I can't wait to see the finished product. You have no idea.

Excuse me now while I go blow up those photos and stare at them for the rest of the day. :)

NEMQG January Meeting

2011-02-03T08:15:00.011-05:00

Last Saturday was our January meeting of the NEMQG. We met up at the Arlington public library where we were greeted by a trunk show from Sew Fresh Fabrics.

They talked all about what it is like to own a fabric store on etsy and what it's like to work in the fabric industry.

After, we all had a chance to purchase some of their great fabric.

Here we are digging through everything, making a mess, and buying lots of fabric!

These are the goodies that I came away with.

I don't know if I've ever mentioned how much I love Art Gallery fabrics. Well, I love Art Gallery fabrics. I'm not a big orange person, so some of these fabrics are a bit out of my comfort zone.

I also managed to snag some Castle Peeps fabrics. 6 fat quarters and a half yard. I'm not sure what I'll do with this, but this was one of those lines that I was hoping to get before you couldn't find the line anymore.

Bee Block

2011-02-02T07:55:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday was our January meeting of the NEMQG. At the meeting we gave Laurie her bee blocks. She provided some awesome purples, grays, and white to make a very cool block. I absolutely loved the colors Laurie picked and would love to make a quilt using this colorway sometime.

Here are all of the blocks together.

This is going to be one great quilt. I can't wait to see what Laurie does with it.

Learning to Knit

2011-01-20T08:34:00.009-05:00

So, I've always wanted to learn how to knit. I know how to crochet but have never learned to knit. Well, things changed and my aunt KK showed me how to knit a couple of weeks ago. I picked it up fairly quickly, I think, and dove into making my first project, what else, a scarf.

This is my progress so far. Not too bad for my first knitted project. The beginning was a bit rough, but I worked through it and I think I have the hang of things down now.

See, not so pretty in some areas.

But, I like to think that I've improved as I've continued to knit. Don't 'cha thing?

I've only been doing a knit stitch for this scarf. The next one I try I'll use knit and pearl together.

Quilting Eva

2011-01-18T08:16:00.014-05:00

As you probably noticed in my post yesterday, I have a quilt on my machine being quilted. It's my Eva "package" quilt as I've been calling it since I think the pattern looks like packages all wrapped up in ribbon. Here are a few closeups of the quilting so far.

The pattern I'm doing is swirls and flowers. If you look closely you can see some of the flowers.

I'm about a 1/4 of the way through quilting this and I've already gone through 3 bobbins. This isn't a large quilt either, it's just a lap quilt. And for those wondering, I decided to use a King Tut thread by Superior Thread for this quilt and I'm liking the way things are coming out.

I was battling a cold all last week, so I didn't get much work done, but I hope to spend some time working on completing this top this week and next. Hopefully it works up fast.

My Quilting Room

2011-01-17T08:28:00.000-05:00

As promised, here are some pictures of the finished bookshelf with my fabric in it.

Here it is in the middle of being filled with fabric.

And here it is with most of my fabric in it.

And here it is with pretty much all of the fabric that I want to put in the new bookshelf inside it.

Doesn't it look great? The top right two shelves were designed to hold all of my fat quarters, bundles and loose ones. This pictures is before I added all of the loose fat quarters and had to move things around to fit them.

I have organized my fabric by color in each section and I have a separate one for my batiks and my hand dyed fabric. I also have cut up some cardboard and wrapped fabric that is all fabric from a particular line.

And for kicks, here are a few pictures of the rest of my quilting room...

As you can see by this layout I have a "triangle" set up where I can go from my ironing board, my cutting table, and my machine very easily. I had set up my room differently before but I really like the usability of being able to easily go from one area to the next. If I want to quickly iron or cut something in the middle of sewing it literally takes me just a couple of seconds. I would highly recommend this layout.

My DH made me this cutting table using a cheap desk we got at Target and he added a board large enough to fit my 1 yard cutting mat with some additional space on either side. He also installed the pegboard and cork board above the cutting table so that I can store my rulers, patterns, notions, etc.

And here's the rest of the room. I have one whole wall dedicated to my design wall and a TV that my DH got me for Christmas a couple of years ago. I also have my thread rack up on the wall near my sewing machine.

My UFO Collection

2011-01-13T09:00:00.040-05:00

Have you ever stopped to check out your UFO collection? Yeah, I did that recently and realized I have quite a few. Here are some of them and what I plan to do with them (schedule, if I have one, etc.)

This quilt was one of the first ones that I featured on this blog. I still need to have this quilt quilted. I might send this one out. Basically, I'm not sure yet when I plan to have this finished.

Yet another quilt top that needs to be quilted. I started to piece the back to get this quilted, but again, I'm not sure when I'm going to finish this one.

This quilt also needs quilting. I don't even know how I want to quilt it, so it will likely stay unfinished for a while.

This quilt is partially quilted. I had issues with the tension with my old sewing machine, but I've yet to take it back out now that I have had my Bernina for the past year.

These two are blocks from the McCall's Mystery quilt. I hated how the quilt ended up, so I stopped making the blocks and put this one aside. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it now. I'll have to find something else to do.

I still need to quilt this quilt as well. I really love this quilt. I've been waiting for my machine quilting stills to improve before I dig into this one.

I made all of these hexagons from a 2.5" charm pack that I won but I haven't finished piecing them together. Who knows when I'll get back to this.

I just have to get the binding on this quilt. I plan to give this as a wedding present this year, so this will be finished by the end of the year.

I still need to quilt this quilt as well. I'm thinking of doing something simple because there are so many small pieces, so hopefully this is one that will be completed this year.

I'm actually in the middle of quilting this top, so I should have this quilt finished once I get my sewing room back in shape.

I still haven't received all of the BOMs for this quilt, so it is still in progress. I would love to have it completed by next Christmas, but I don't know if that will actually happen.

These are the blocks I got back from the NEMQG bee. I now need to figure out what to do with them all. Hmm...

I made this block when I was learning to hand applique. I now need to figure out how I want to finish it. Hmm...

I need to figure out what I want to do next with this block. Do I want to add a border, just quilt it. I don't know. I'm leaning towards a small border, but we'll see.

My goal is to have the Fiesta! quilt top completed by mid-June so that I can send it off to the quilter then. I just added myself to her schedule for August/September, so I should have some time.

I have three more blocks that have been released for this BOM to catch up on and make all of the setting blocks. I don't think I'll have this top finished by the end of the year, but we'll see.

This is a block I made that Carol Doak released to celebrate 4500 members in her Yahoon group. It's now over 7000 members and I've yet to do anything with it. I am so stumped with this one. I don't know if I will ever finish it.

Phew, that's a lot. ::Sigh::

Fiesta! - More Blocks

2011-01-10T09:00:00.003-05:00

Last week I made a two more Fiesta! blocks. My goal is to finish up this quilt by the beginning of the summer so that I can send it off to be quilted. This is one that I'm really liking so far and would like someone else to quilt it for me.

Every time I make one of these I love it more and more. They take a bit of time to make, about 2 hours or so for each block, but it's totally going to be worth it in the end.

Here's the stack of blocks so far. I think I have finished between 12-15 blocks total.

Bee Block

2011-01-08T09:30:00.005-05:00

Last week I finished a bee block for Rebecca for the bee we're doing in the NEMQG. This was due at our December meeting, but there was a bit of confusion and I thought it was due at the January one. Oops. Needless to say I felt bad. I'm never late and I hate the fact that I messed up.

I had a lot of fun making this block. It's not something that I would have made for myself, so I really liked the challenge of doing something outside the box. I think it turned out great and I hope Rebecca likes it.

Quilting Room Takeover

2011-01-07T08:30:00.012-05:00

Last week my DH and I went to Ikea to try and get some shelving for my quilting room. I wanted to get the Expedit shelving but the boxes wouldn't fit in my car. I was bummed, but to cheer me up, my DH decided that he was going to build me a custom bookshelf for all of my fabric. He drew everything up and began building it on Sunday.

Here's the start of things...

Progress...

And here's where he was last night. As you can see, the room is an absolute mess right now because everything had to be taken off the three small shelves I had on the previous location and he had to move things around to do his work. This means that I haven't been able to sew much this week. I'm not complaining because it means that I will have an awesome unit to store all of my goodies!!! I can't wait to unveil the finished product once it's completed.

Christmas Goodies

2011-01-06T09:26:00.000-05:00

I'm catching up on my holiday posting and I thought I'd share the great quilting related goodies that I got for Christmas.

Here's almost everything that I got...

A bunch of Aurful thread

Some more paper piecing paper, some scissors, and a ruler

Some 1/2 yard pieces of fabric

A couple of charm packs that I would have bought if I didn't receive them. I was super happy that I got these.

A Central Park fat quarter bundle from my wonderful DH!!!!!!! I was super happy about this one.

Some books and patterns (the kitten was interested in what she saw, hence the paw on the bottom right corner of the picture).

A new chair for my quilting room.

Not pictured is a new rolling sewing machine case for my wonderful "Bernie."

All in all, I'd say it was a wonderful Christmas. I hope you had a great one as well.

Happy New Year

2011-01-04T10:06:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year. I took some time off of work and stepped away from the blog for a little while as well. We were supposed to go to Mexico but the blizzard here in New England put an end to that plan and we weren't able to get out. So, we made the best of it and did stuff around our area.

I wanted to recap all of my accomplishments in 2010 as we move into 2011. I think I was able to get a lot of projects accomplished last year. It was certainly my most productive year of quilting to date.

I finished my Bento Box quilt!

I made this Blooming Nine Patch for my cousin's wedding.

I made a bathroom curtain for our guest bathroom (no picture).

Made a baby blanket, bumper, and set of curtains for my friend's nursery.

Made my first bag using Pat Bravo's Milano kit.

Finished my Wonderland quilt.

Finished my Figgy Pudding quilt.

Made a mini quilt for the NEMQG holiday mini quilt challenge.

Made my first pincushion for the NEMQG pincushion swap.

I also made two camera straps for my sister and father for Christmas and made a few picnic roll-ups for my Mom for Christmas which I haven't uploaded a photo of to my computer yet.

All in all, I think I had a great year quilting wise and look forward to accomplishing even more in 2011.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T07:33:00.000-05:00

Here's wishing everyone and their family a Merry Christmas!

NEMQG - Holiday Mini Quilt Challenge

2010-12-14T09:03:00.000-05:00

Last weekend the NEMQG held a holiday mini quilt challenge with our pincushion swap. I decided to make a small quilt using needle turn applique that we learned in our last meeting. I knew that I was going to be busy traveling for work, so I saw that as the perfect time to work on a needle turn applique quilt.

I designed the quilt myself after sketching up a few different designs and settled on a gingerbread house and a Christmas tree.

I made it using the scraps that I had from the Fat Quarter Shop's Designer Mystery BOM except for the brown house.

Here are a few close-ups.

I added some crystals to the Christmas tree to look like ornaments.

Here's the house. The windows and door knob are made of buttons.

Here's the back of the quilt where you can see some of the quilting that I did.

I was running short on time for the binding, so I ended up machine stitching it down using some metalic thread.

Now for the competition. There ended up being four quilts total entered into the challenge.

After seeing all of the quilts up there, I knew I had no shot of winning. I mean, come on, look at some of those. They're fantastic. Everyone at the meeting was given a piece of paper to vote on their favorite quilt. After the tally, quilts 3 and 4 (from left to right) were tied for third place and quilts 1 and 2 were tied for first. I have to admit, I was a bit shocked when I learned I was tied for first.

Because there was only one winning prize, we had to have another vote off between quilts 1 and 2.

After the second tally, again quilts 1 and 2 were tied. (I was shocked that I was still in it, much less tied for that awesome quilt on the left.) Then, we realized that we were missing one vote, the deciding vote. After all of the votes were recounted and the tally was final, MY quilt was dubbed the winner!!! Holy cow!!! I seriously never expected to be the winner after seeing all of the cool quilts.

So now this cute quilt is hanging in the hallway off our kitchen to our master bedroom.

NEMQG Pincushion Swap

2010-12-13T09:03:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, at the NEMQG, we had a pincushion swap. It was a "bring a pincushion, get a pincushion" swap.

Here's the pincushion that I made for the swap.

I made it using the leftover scraps from the Carol Doak Radiant Star BOM. All of the pieces that I had leftover from trimming the paper pieced blocks became this pincushion. I filled it with crushed walnuts. I loved it and didn't really want to give it away, but I did.

Here we are swapping pincushions.

And this is the pincushion that I received. Isn't it cute?

And here are all of the pincushions. I wish I could have taken them all back with me, but if I did that I'm guessing I wouldn't be welcome back to the group. So, I resisted.

Revisiting 2010 Goals

2010-12-08T14:03:00.000-05:00

At the beginning of the year I developed some goals for myself for the 2010 quilting year. I thought that this would be a good time to revisit them and see how I did throughout the year.

Goal 1 - Reduce the number of unfinished quilt tops needing to be quilted (9 at the beginning of 2010)
I reduced that number by two. I now have 7 quilt tops that need quilting. Goal = Acomplished!!! (I have to say, before I went and counted, I was sure I was going to have more than 9.)

Goal 2 - Buy less fabric and use from my stash.
Hahahaha. This is a funny one. Yeah, about that. I never actually took inventory of how much fabric I had at the beginning of the year, but I would be willing to bet my Bernina that I have more fabric now than I did on January 1, 2010. That's saying a lot. I don't think I ever thought I was going to have less fabric, but I wanted to consciously use some of the fabric that I already have.

Goal 3 - Reduce my UFOs (I had 9 quilts in progress at the beginning of 2010)
I now have 7 quilts in progress (from the cutting stage all the way to the binding stage). Once again, I'm shocked that this went down. If I had to guess, I would have also thought that I had more in progress. Goal = Acomplished

Goal 4 - Continue Blogging.
Check!

All in all, I think I did a pretty good job of maintaining my goals. I managed to finish 12 projects this year, 5 of those were quilts. I'll showcase my finishes for 2010 after the holidays and when I can share more about some of them.

Turning 26

2010-12-06T11:38:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I celebrated my 26th birthday. Saturday my family and I went to dinner at our local Melting Pot to celebrate.

See that package in front of me? Can you guess what that is? I'll give you a hint... it's quilting related.

Any ideas???

How about now?

It's an Accuquilt Go!!! Did you guess right? (excuse the weird face in the picture)

So guess what I did yesterday? I had to play around a little bit.

I also worked on finishing up my mini holiday quilt for our NEMQG challenge for our December meeting this coming weekend. I'll share that next week since we're having an unnamed competition.

I haven't had that much to share lately as I had some family in town for Thanksgiving and then I was traveling for work. The few things that I have been working on are Christmas presents for folks who follow this blog, so I can't share those either. Hopefully after the holidays I'll have more to share.

Designer Mystery BOM - Block Six

2010-11-19T06:59:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I finished block six of the FQS Designer Mystery BOM. I love this block. It's one of my favorites.

Here are the first six blocks. I can't believe we're half way through already.

This is going to be such a great quilt. I love it more and more as each block is made and added. I can't wait for the next one (as always).

Figgy Pudding - Finally Finished

2010-11-17T20:43:00.000-05:00

So I finally got the binding finished on my figgy pudding disappearing nine patch quilt. It's now hanging up in my kitchen just in time for the holidays. YAYAYAYAYAY!!!! (I'm a bit excited about finishing this one given my previous frustrations with the quilting.)

I used the green grunge fabric from the same line for the binding.

It's a great feeling to have a quilt finished.

NEMQG November Meeting

2010-11-14T19:55:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was the November meeting of the NEMQG and the first one I was able to attend in person. It was great to be able to meet everyone that I've been talking to online and those that have been participating in the bee.

In this meeting we learned needle turn applique. I was excited to learn this because I've always wanted to make an Aunt Millie's Garden quilt. Joanna, the applique queen, taught this lesson using her tree tutorial. Here's my tree in progress.

I also received my blocks back from my month in the bee. Here are the blocks (one is missing).

I had asked for a star block and these are everyone's interpretation. Now to think of how I'm going to put it together. Hmm...

A Quilters Gathering II - The Quilts and a Rant

2010-11-11T10:40:00.000-05:00

On Sunday we went back to A Quilters Gathering to take another "class" (more on that later) and see the quilts on display. I'm always inspired by the quilts I see in these shows. After viewing some of the quilts though, I felt more motivated to enter some of my quilts in upcoming shows. I'm thinking of entering my fire and ice quilt in a few shows once I get it back from the quilter.

Without further adieu, the quilts:

No my rant. KK, Lynn, and myself signed up for a half day class on Sunday to make a poppy wall hanging. Prior to the class we were sent the supply list by the organizers of the show and we all went out and bought everything necessary. In total, I probably spent over $100 in supplies for this class. When we showed up, the teacher, Lenore Crawford, was wondering why everyone in the class had all of these supplies when this was just a lecture. WHAT?!? Um, we had all of our supplies because we were told that this was a class and we were sent a supply list to have for the class. She then went on to blame the show for not communicating with us properly. Then, she questioned everyone in the class as to whether or not we really expected to work on a project in a half day class and that it wasn't possible. I then said that in our half day class yesterday we were able to finish our project from start to finish. With a snarky remark, she then responded that people in her full day class hadn't even finished their quilt and she questioned whether or not we would be able to create a decent quilt in just 3 hours. Needless to say, everyone was very put off with her attitude towards everyone and the clear lack of communication between everyone, between Lenore and the festival organizers, and the organizers to the participants. On top of that, Lenore seemed very off her game throughout the lecture since this was her 4th or 5th day teaching in a row. I can understand if you're tired, but don't commit to teach a class if you aren't able to handle it. Basically, I was very disappointed with this "class." I spent all of that money to register for the class and buy all of the "required" supplies only to listen to the teacher's history and how she does her technique without even getting to try our hand at it and ask questions in person.

A Quilters Gathering - A Weekend of Fun

2010-11-08T09:00:00.000-05:00

Last weekend was the A Quilters Gathering quilt festival up in Nashua, NH. This was my first time attending this festival and I was impressed. I took two classes with KK and Lynn, each half day classes on Saturday and Sunday morning. We shopped a bit and saw all of the beautiful quilts.

Our first class on Saturday was with Kathy Kansier, Christmas in Hawaii. KK ended up having to miss this class, but Lynn and I were still able to make it and had a great time.

The class started with learning a bit about Hawaiian style quilts. Kathy showed one of her quilts that she just finished and needs to have sent to the quilter.

Then, probably the most interesting and useful skill that we learned was how to design our own Hawaiian style block. I really enjoyed learning how to design my own because it allows us the ability to do more of these blocks moving forward without being constrained to a particular pattern. As you can see in the quilt above, Kathy made the blocks above for a particular person and each one tells a story such as the waving hands and the houses.

We folded our freezer paper and designed our block using a pencil. I decided to go with a flower and some leaves. The pattern that I designed is above. I then ironed the paper to the back of the wonder under on a piece of batik and then traced it.

Here's Lynn ironing on her adorable house and sailboat pattern onto her wonder under. After ironing and tracing, we cut out our pattern and ironed it onto our white or black Kona backing and begin to sew around the pattern.

Here I am beginning to sew around my flower. As you can see, I decided not to cut out the center of the flower. I wanted to limit the complexity for this first piece and avoid any inner pieces.

Here's my finished piece all sewn down. Isn't it cute? I love that i was able to finish this in a three hour class.

And here's what Lynn's block looks like. She hasn't finished sewing around all of the pattern yet, but isn't it fun and cute? She's making a sampler quilt with all types of house blocks.

More on the rest of the weekend in another post...

Designer Mystery BOM - Block Five

2010-11-03T19:27:00.000-04:00

After a slight mishap with the mail I finally received the fifth block in the mail and was able to make it last weekend.

While I like this block, I think it doesn't quite fit in with the others. I forgot to take a picture of all of them but will next time. At this point, I think it's my least favorite. I'm trying to think of a way to spice it up. Hmm...

Fiesta! Revisited

2010-10-31T16:12:00.000-04:00

I began to re-visit the Fiesta! quilt that I started a while back. There are six different types of blocks in this quilt. I finished making all eight of the "block 3's."

And here are all 8 of the "block 3's."

They won't be laid out in the circular design shown above but I thought it was a cute way to show all of them. I began cutting the fabric for some of the other blocks and hope to continue progressing on this quilt.

Pattern: Fiesta! by Possibilities

Blogger's Quilt Festival

2010-10-30T16:54:00.000-04:00

It's time for another blogger quilt festival courtesy of Amy. This time around I thought I'd showcase my newly finished Wonderland quilt. I just finished putting the binding on last week so this is the first time I've show this quilt finished.

This quilt started as a get together with my aunt and friend Lynn.

As I continued making this quilt and just wasn't in love with it. I continued to put it aside because I just couldn't get motivated. Finally, I finished all of the rectangles and arranged them on my design wall.

It spent about 3 weeks on my design wall where I moved things around to get an arrangement that I was happy with and I pieced it together.

At this point I still didn't love the quilt until it is that I quilted it using some straight line quilting. It's the quilting that really turned things around for me on how i felt about this quilt. After quilting it I loved it.

I then found some of the red dot fabric online to bind the quilt.

And now I have a finished quilt. After making this quilt I really learned to not judge a quilt until after it's quilted. It really changed things for me.

Quilt Flashback

2010-10-24T12:31:00.000-04:00

As I was embarking on what would become an avid hobby for myself about 5 years ago I made this bargello quilt for my dad for his 50th birthday.

It was made before I discovered quilt shops, so it's made with some mediocre fabric from one of those big chain craft stores.

I had it professionally quilted since I had been using my mother's sewing machine to piece it and had no idea how to do machine quilting.

It now sits in my parents great room on the back of the rocking chair that my parents used to rock my sister and I to sleep when we were babies.

Radiant Star BOM - Block 5

2010-10-19T20:50:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I also finished block 5 of Carol Doak's Radiant Star BOM from her Yahoo Group. I really love how this star turned out.

My goal for this block was to incorporate more brown into this one. I think it turned out cute.

Here are the first 5 blocks.

Seeing all of the blocks together makes me glad that I decided to use one fat quarter bundle for the color cohesion. I still haven't made any of the connector blocks that will go in between each of these blocks. I'm not sure when I'll get to those. Right now it's not a big priority for me.

Designer Mystery BOM - Block Four

2010-10-17T19:02:00.000-04:00

So a month after receiving the fourth block in the Fat Quarter Shop's Designer Mystery BOM, I finished it. Yet another block that I love.

And here are all four so far.

Hopefully I'll receive my fifth block any day now so that I can work on it next weekend.