Quilting by Judith

Granny's Quilts

2012-02-08T09:47:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned earlier, today it has been ten years since my dear mother-in-law passed away. She was a precious lady and fortunately, we had a wonderful relationship. We also both had a love of sewing and eventually quilting together. She made clothes for many many years, from baby clothes to adult men's suits, and was an expert seamstress.

This butterfly quilt is one she made when she was 12 years old using the blanket stitch by hand. Her grandmother taught her how to do this. It is a bed size quilt and these are just a few blocks. In the 1990s, I scanned the butterfly and taught this as a class.

The dahlia star (I'm not sure this is the correct name) is another quilt she made in her younger days.

However, as the years went on, she did not make quilts again until the 1980s and she took a class and made one all by hand. Every single stitch, even sewing the binding down. I'll have to show that another day. These are pictures I scanned as they were taken so long ago. We forget how nice digital prints are!
My husband's favorite pattern is the double wedding ring! After I had two failed attempts at getting mine to lay flat, she took the pattern and pieced this quilt all by hand. Now that's a lot of hand work. She gave it to him for his birthday and then I began hand quilting the top. It was taking quite a long time so she and my father-in-law came up and stayed a week and we quilted all day long until we got it finished. What a treasure! It is king size.

Next is a quilt called Weaver Fever - the pattern by Jackie Robinson. I taught this class in 1995, according to the photo date. She was up visiting so joined in the class and made this delightful quilt. She liked it so well that she made a second one also.

Now here below is one of her quilts, made not long after my father-in-law passed away in 1997. She came to stay for a while and we decided quilting would be good therapy (it always is for me) so we got to quilting. She loved pink and pastels and began this beautiful basket quilt. She did not like to have her picture made so you can see below she is shying away from the camera a little.

Anyway, we had many wonderful times together not only quilting but just enjoying each other's company. I admired the fact that no matter her age, she would say she wanted to keep her mind sharp and learn something new. As a quilter and working in a quilt shop, I was always finding new projects or techniques and so we would have private lessons and she was such a good student.
Best of all, was her gift of sharing and giving. She made many more quilts but shared them (as most quilters do) with others.
Some of the pieces in the string quilt I am making came from these quilts so again, that makes it special! I know she would be happy knowing it was being finished. This is just a tiny tiny bit of her story but I wanted to share it by remembering her and her quilts!!

Granny's Strings

2012-02-06T08:52:00.004-05:00

This is a quilt top that my mother-in-law made about 12 years ago. Her health was failing but she loved to sew and quilt and always learn new techniques. I showed her how to string piece these blocks and she was using her favorite colorway - pastels. She loved pinks and blues, but also red, so you can see lots of little red strings thrown in for a splash of color.
I am going to finish this quilt top and make a quilt with probably 48 blocks.

This was her only UFO when she died as far as quilts were concerned. She loved to piece the tops and then I would quilt them for her on my trusty Bernina sewing machine. No longarm back then! Above are the strings and pieces of fabric she had in the little plastic shoe box with the quilt top.

Last night I began pressing all the strings and sorting them by size and separating the whites which always go down the center.

I began piecing some more blocks, working on four at a time. The paper I am using comes on a roll and is 8.25" wide. I've had it a long time and it was sold to be used behind machine embroidery. It tears away very nicely.

I just keep adding various colors, being sure I cover the paper plus a generous seam allowance on the outside of the paper.

Here you can see I've left plenty of fabric because my seam allowance is outside of the paper.

Here is a block that has been trimmed on the left, with 1/4" seam allowance.

And here is the finished block. I like to leave the paper intact until after I sew the blocks together, mostly because the seam are on the bias and the paper keeps it from stretching out of shape. I think I am going to have to take her blocks apart, press them well and put them back together. Because of her failing health, they will not lay flat and I want to put the quilt together as she would have wanted it. She was an expert seamstress in her younger days and loved to quilt and have things very neatly done.
This Feb 8 will be ten years since she passed away. I am going to show some of her other projects in a couple of days to honor her love of sewing, quilting and embroidery and sharing her gift with many others.

Diagonal Madness & More

2012-02-04T08:03:00.000-05:00

Diagonal Madness was begun over two years ago in a class with Kaffe Fassett. I eventually got the diagonals completed but it was set aside waiting for those 50+ nine patches in the border. So, this past week I finished the borders, sewed them on and quilted it!! Wahoo!

Here are two close-ups of the quilting. I used a variegated thread since there were so many colors in the top and a pattern called banana swirls.

Above is the back of the quilt. And now the binding is sewn and ready to be attached. It's nice to get another quilt of my own finished!

Here is a quilt top that my mother-in-law began over ten years ago. I had taught her how to string piece on lightweight paper and even though her sewing skills had diminished with illness, she still loved to try new techniques. After she died I took the little plastic shoe box with the blocks she had finished and sewn together. I am going to finish this quilt for her with just a few more blocks being added.

There is a new blog I am a part of called String Thing Along. I will be posting more pictures of the progress of this quilt there. It's such a fun way to quilt with all those strings and scraps we have! Come join the fun and be a part of this blog!

Here is my UFO project container. By UFO, it is really mostly leftover fabrics from other projects and it is now running over. The lid will hardly close which shows how long since I've played with my leftovers.

This is inside the box!! I used to enjoy taking the leftover fabrics, add a few more and make charity quilts or smaller quilts with no rules. I hope to attack this box soon. There are so many fun projects that could be made if I will allow myself to play.

And here is a recent tablecloth, yet unquilted. I went to a retreat in January and sewed this. I already had the strips cut so it was easy to sew and get the blocks made with a group of 50 quilters in the room. Now it is waiting to be quilted. I chose the fabric combination from a quilt I had on display in the fall. So, it'll be a few months before I'll need this one.

And now for my house blocks!! Two are 3", one is 4", and two are 6". The six inch were much easier to make I must confess. It is fun picking the fabrics from the scrap pile. Hopefully there will be more or enough to make a small quilt before the year is out.

And now, another small project I had been putting off. I needed a little pillow behind my back at the computer. After months of just the pillow form with no cover, I got around to making a colorful pillow case. Now how hard was that?? A 30 minute project that I had delayed for months. Happy Quilting!!

One Week - Three Blocks!

2012-01-10T16:03:00.003-05:00

These little house blocks are fun to make! As you can see, I have made a couple of sizes and expect to make more. The six inch blocks are quite simple after making the three inch. I plan to mix and match them in my quilt. Hey, at three a week - I could still make 156!

The most fun part is not thinking too hard on the fabrics. Now you can see I did put up some brick fabric for a house and found a quilter for the window, but mostly I'm just grabbing scraps, quickly making decisions and sewing. Improvisational color selection. For more houses, go to Building Houses from Scraps.

What Was I Thinking?

2012-01-05T08:29:00.000-05:00

So yesterday I drew up my House Block in EQ7, printed out four to a page for paper piecing and began sewing. Hmmm, this is a tiny block!! I may have to rethink this size. Possibly four inch or even five inch would work better for me. Cute, though!

New Projects for 2012

2012-01-04T14:41:00.000-05:00

The above Chelsea wall quilt is my first project for the new year. I pieced the background last year and that was as far as I got so this week I've been choosing my applique fabrics and getting them ready to sew. I finished my flower pots and did not have another project ready so my hands are itching to stitch!! This is from Kaffe Fassett's book, Quilts in the Sun.

Simple Graces is a book I've looked at for a long time so I treated myself in December and purchased it. The cover quilt is my favorite but it has many beautiful patterns.

This nine patch book by Lisa Bongean & Carole Charles could not be resisted as they had a 'new' way to sew those tiny nine patches. A neat trick I must say! These are miniature quilts, tiny tiny pieces - what was I thinking???

The above book I received for Christmas. My children know I keep a running list of quilt books I want so I was excited when I received it. It is a great way to use scraps and strips of fabric you have already sewn and did not know what to do with. I've done that many times, plus I always save leftover pieces from quilt projects together so I might make a small quilt with the leftover fabrics. Now I have a huge plastic container waiting for this book. I used to make many charity quilts like that but it has not happened lately.

And, last is another quilt book I received for Christmas - again on my wish list! Totally different than the other but I enjoy trying different types of quilting. It is filled with interesting stories from the farmer's wives and it was cool when I began reading and the contest from which this quilt was born, took place in 1922 - the year that both my parents were born. It made it rather special to connect with that date!

So, looking forward to lots of fun and varied projects in 2012. I've also signed up to work on the little 3" house blocks from Building Houses from Scraps.

Happy Stitching in 2012 and I hope to be able to show some progress with my quilting soon!

Through a Child's Eyes

2011-12-20T19:21:00.000-05:00

I just could not resist showing these precious photos of our grandson looking at the Christmas tree right before his first Christmas.

The innocence and wonder in his eyes tells it all, doesn't it?

He likes to use his pointer finger and make the Christmas songs play from the book.

May you all have a very blest and joyous Christmas, as we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and share the time with family and friends!!

Country Inn

2011-11-20T21:42:00.000-05:00

Isn't this a beautiful applique project to start this time of year? That is what I thought last year when I took these pictures. However, I had my Flower Pots going and so I continued to work on it this past year instead. So, now I need a new applique project. My hands don't do well being idle when I'm in my comfy chair.

This book is Country Inn by Barb Adams and Alma Allen of Blackbird Designs. There are two versions of this quilt, Evening Bloom and Country Rose - this is Evening Bloom.

Now the interesting thing is that I bought these fabrics several years ago just because I liked them, having no particular project in mind. I have a tendency to do that and then later the perfect project comes along to use them.

I think this will be more fun than just copying their fabrics. I really do enjoy choosing fabrics for a quilt - one of my favorite parts of making a quilt.

So, now back to my freezer paper for the patterns. I started tracing my templates Friday while meeting with my small group. That's one of the nice things with applique, you can do it in small bits and eventually you have a lovely quilt! Happy Thanksgiving all! We are so blest!

Autumn's Bounty

2011-11-17T10:54:00.003-05:00

As I was visiting the Tattered Garden, I spotted another free BOM that looked interesting. Since Fall/Autumn, is probably my favorite time of year, I thought I'd check it out. So, here's the link and it's still autumn so not too late to begin this year!! Meanwhile, back to more longarm quilting. It's the season for people getting their quilts ready to give for Christmas gifts which keeps me very busy quilting!

Autumn's Bounty

Quilt Album Software Giveaway

2011-11-09T08:35:00.000-05:00

Would you like to win some software to help keep up with your quilts? Just jump on over to The Tattered Garden where Nancy is having a drawing for this software. You may be the lucky winner!!

More Quilts from PHQ Quilt Show

2011-10-25T10:45:00.000-04:00

Above is the wedding quilt I made for my daughter, Sondra and her husband Rich.

This quilt is called Sky Blue Pink, a pattern from Kaffe Fassett's book, Caravan of Quilts.

Here we have Garden Blooms, a kit from Intown Quilt Shop.

This is the All Seasons Quilt. The pattern is by Mary Mashuta and it is in a book by Kaffe.

Another Kaffe, I call it Stripes, in his book, Quilt Romance.

Lollypop Trees Best of Show!

2011-10-18T18:08:00.000-04:00

Yes, it is true, I finished my Lollypop Trees, put the quilt in the Pieceful Hearts Quilt Guild Show this past weekend in North Augusta, SC, and won Best of Show! Wahoo! I am excited as I had worked on this quilt over a period of 3 or 4 years. In fact, I finished the top a year ago and it took another year to get up the courage to quilt it.

But, here it is!! It was such a pleasure to make this quilt, from choosing all the different fabrics with my friend, Ille Waters, shopping for the fabrics, trying to discern exactly what had been used on the pattern, to slowly hand stitching each circle, leaf or flower.

Here is a portion of the border and sashing. I did just a continual swirl through all those squares and then treated the other little baby lollypops with lots of quilting like the large blocks.

This green block below was the Judge's Choice on her comment sheet. I think the quilting showed up in it better than many others.

Below is another closer view of this block.

Just another block. I did all the quilting just as each block 'spoke to me' you might say. I stitched in the ditch around all the blocks and the applique, then filled in with swirls, feathers, whatever seemed to fit that block. I will not deny that it was very tedious work, even on a longarm.

Another close up.

One more block!

This was a fun center. Oh, and I ended up stitching a lot on the applique as the shapes were so large they needed to be quilted to balance out the heavy background quilting.

The above block in full view.

And yet another!

And another. . .

And one of the corner blocks! What can I say? I really enjoyed this quilt and so appreciate the ribbons awarded me for my effort in time. Hope you enjoy looking at these pictures!! I know from seeing this quilt in the show that there will be more Lollypop Trees started. You can find this lovely pattern by Kim McLean at Glorious Color.com.

Lollypop Trees Quilted!

2011-10-12T13:15:00.005-04:00

It may not be very easy to see these pictures, but I have completed my Lollypop Trees quilt! That is very exciting for me as this project has been ongoing for several years, but such an enjoyable journey. I enjoyed every applique stitch. Wish I could say the same about the quilting as it was quite a difficult quilt but worth the effort.

Lollypop Trees is in a quilt show this weekend in North Augusta, SC at the North Augusta Activities Center. I hope to get some better pictures with it hung properly.
Here are just a couple of close-ups of the blocks. Now, let's see what project I'll work on next! Oh, I know, I'll finish my Flower Pots that are just lacking a few tiny circles.

Lollypop Trees

2011-09-23T20:34:00.004-04:00

I have finally loaded my Lollypop Trees Quilt on my longarm and have begun the quilting process. Just took me a year to finally get to it but I want to put it in the Pieceful Hearts Quilt Show in North Augusta, SC in October so . . . . . .it must be quilted.Deciding on how to quilt it has been a dilemma but I went for swirls in the border and sashing squares, SID with the blocks and applique - which is a lot of SID, and my version of mctavishing.
It is slow going but so was the applique. Love this quilt!!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-09-14T10:11:00.003-04:00

On the Design Wall

2011-09-12T09:09:00.004-04:00

This is what's on the Design Wall today! All Squared Up - 35 blocks!

We Still Remember and Will Never Forget!

2011-09-11T15:56:00.006-04:00

I received an email from Little Quilts this week, reminding us of the days after 9-11-01 when they asked quilters to make little flag quilts for the families of the policemen and fire fighters who had lost their lives trying to save others on 9-11. We all felt so hopeless and fearful during those days that it only seemed right to get to stitching and do something to try to bring just a tiny bit of comfort to those whose lives were forever changed that day.

These are the little flag quilts I made and hand delivered to the Little Quilts Shop in Marietta. They spread all the flag quilts onto their parking lot and took an aerial photo and actually made a postcard with it and sent it to the participants. It was so incredible to see them all laying there.

So, just wanted to share the little quilt tidbit, remembering back and thanking again all those who served and gave their lives and those that lost their lives that day.

All Squared Up Again!

2011-09-08T08:19:00.007-04:00

I found these blocks that I made probably 3 years ago. They were neatly stashed away in a plastic bag with the 'kit' that I had made. It began with some 10 1/2" squares I had purchased and then I cut more of my own to go with those and cut them using the pattern from the Quilt Sampler magazine below. This is the second quilt I've made with this pattern, it's so easy and fun to do. Here is the first quilt I made with this pattern.
Above are the blocks that I've gotten going but after I made these, I decided I needed to get more organized with my fabric choosing.
You take the 10 1/2" square and cut it up in a way that there is very little waste and each square represents one block. So, below, I sorted the fabrics all by color and began putting the blocks together.
Just looking for contrast and compatibility mostly. I had so many similar fabrics that I finally had to add some more to get more contrast, plus it gave me a few more blocks.
The blocks will end up 8" square and as you can see, be a very bright quilt! Happy Quilting today!

Stripes

2011-08-18T20:22:00.004-04:00

I posted the center of this quilt months ago and this weekend got the borders attached and yesterday quilted it. Now I still must bind it but I thought it was time I posted something quilt related so here it is. For my own quilting I've been doing my hand applique on my Flower Pots - just a few more circles and I'll have the panels and borders ready to go.Here is a close up. It's one of those that really looks better from a distance but it was fun making all the circles and loosely following the stripes. Soon it will be a QUILT and not just random pieces floating around in my sewing room!!

Sweet Home BOM

2011-07-19T21:24:00.007-04:00

I thought if I put my blocks together that I had appliqued and pieced then maybe I'd feel farther along on this project than I really am - LOL! Unfortunately, it was a slight challenge just to get them to come out the right sizes. Guess I've been hand appliqueing too long for precise piecing. But, I specialize in 'making things work,' so again, not so bad from a galloping horse. I think another block will be ready to pick up tomorrow at the shop.

Fourth of July

2011-07-05T21:48:00.004-04:00

Here are some family pictures taken yesterday on the 4th of July. Some of the family had their matching Old Navy shirts so I decided I needed to bring out a quilt from the closet from about 20 years ago. I won many of these blocks with the Pieceful Hearts Quilt Guild and also received my own back with the drawing. Mine was the Star within a Star on the left.
We had fun taking the pictures and a delightful day being together! I thought the quilt turned out nice for the photos, but of course we know the star was the baby!

This will take you away from quilting!

2011-06-11T16:39:00.005-04:00

Mom is celebrating her birthday here in GA!
Now this sweet face will take you away from quilting, won't it?? We are ready for the sunshine now!

Flower Pots Border

2011-06-07T09:14:00.005-04:00

Here is just a partial row of one of the borders of Flower Pots by Kim McLean. I first sewed the large circles and now am going back and appliqueing the flowers on top. It is so fun to pull the freezer paper off when I have finished stitching and see how beautiful the flowers are on the backgrounds. Below see several close up views!
As usual, just a few stitches a day but eventually it all gets done!

Baby Girl Quilt

2011-05-23T08:39:00.007-04:00

I finally got another quilt made! Wahoo! This is a baby quilt for my niece whose baby is due in just a few days. I must get it in the mail today, even though it will probably be a while before she can use it with these very bright fabrics. Don't want to hurt the baby's eyes so early. However, my niece loves bright and colorful rooms - like turquoise walls or wavy fuschia lines in the nursery, so I think it will be okay. It did turn out a little busier than I expected. Oh well!
Here is an up close view showing more dwirling quilting. I really enjoying doing this and it can just be filled with swirls or just whatever you want.
Maybe the design is visible on the back also. It's a little calmer than the front! This pattern is Triple Treat Petite from the book "Happy Hour" by Atkinson Designs. I love the way she writes patterns that are SO EASY to follow and has so many different size quilts to choose from also. It was simple but great for highlighting fun fabrics that don't need to be cut up.

Quilts from the Past

2011-05-19T12:21:00.004-04:00

I have been scrapbooking lately and while going through pictures on my computer, ran across these quilt photos. It is a blended quilt I made in 2004 for my nephew using Japanese fabrics as a focal point. If you are not familiar with blended quilts, they were made very popular by some books by Sharon Yenter and Marsha McCloskey several years ago and also many fabrics were designed specifically to use for them. Toiles are especially good but with this quilt I decided to try many types of fabrics so there are old, new, plaids, batiks, Japanese, etc. I was pleased with the way the quilt turned out.

It was quite fun auditioning fabrics on my design wall to see what would work best for the 'look' I was after. Rather improvisational in a way as I had no idea what the quilt would look like when finished yet I just kept playing until it looked right in my eyes. I had a plan as far as the layout and blocks and size, because I took that from one of the Blended books, but I had to fill in all the blanks with my fabrics.

I once put some blended quilts in a judged show and one comment I had from one judge was that some of the stars were 'lost' in my quilt. Well, that is part of the blended look. You do not have the distinct separate blocks as in a traditional quilt yet these are drawn from antique quilts. We wonder, did they just run out of fabric? Did they purposely like the look, what were they thinking?

I personally like quilts that draw my eyes in and make me try to figure out what is going on - sort of like a mystery I suppose. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the view. Makes me want to get back to my blended stash. I like to read Ann Champion's blog where she posts "quilts from the cupboard", so this is a similar thing, quilts from my past. Seems I have many more past than present right now. Happy Quilting!

Finished Comfort & Joy Block

2011-05-11T13:48:00.004-04:00

Ta Da! I just finished my BOM of Comfort and Joy. Not so painful after all - LOL! I did decide to use the zigzag stitch instead of the blanket stitch. I had enjoyed using it recently with the Giraffes quilt.

Comfort & Joy BOM 3

2011-05-11T10:04:00.005-04:00

I am finally getting back to my BOM. This is my March block and don't tell me, it's already May. Where does the time go? Oh well, I am doing my applique by machine so that will make it go a little bit faster. Last night I had to press the background fabric, cut the border strips first and then cut each block. Might as well do it all at once, right? I identified each block with a little office dot because they are all different sizes. That will help me stay organized.
Now, I had already traced my patterns a few weeks ago onto Wonder Under so they were ready to be ironed to the back of my fabrics and now are ready to cut out, bond and sew. For the smaller pieces I use the solid piece of Wonder Under but for the larger pieces (the house), I used the 'window' method so they will not be too stiff. Just leave about half an inch of WO around the inside edges and it gives you something sturdy to sew on and keeps the fabrics from unraveling also. I'm still debating on the blanket stitch or the zigzag like I did the baby quilt recently. Hope to get it sewn today!

Sunbonnet Sue Block

2011-04-23T07:40:00.008-04:00

Here is a birthday block for a guild member. She loves Sunbonnet Sues and even makes tiny miniature ones by hand and sells them.
I again used the window fusing applique method but with the blanket stitch on my machine. You can get such a neat look with this. It's going to be a great quilt with so many variations of "Sue"!! Interesting how the colors vary with the photos. The actual color is like the top block with a yellow background. Happy Birthday, Linda!

Giraffes, Elephants and Hippos - Oh My

2011-04-16T09:36:00.006-04:00

This is the latest quilt for Jake - to stay at Nana's house. I saw this quilt made up at Intown Quilters a few months ago and thought it was so cute! So, at Shop Hop, I purchased the kit and got it finished last week.
I did machine applique with a small zigzag stitch, using a lightweight cotton thread. I do a technique that is sometimes called window fusing. I first trace the whole pattern on Wonder Under (in reverse), then trim out the inside, leaving about a half inch of Wonder Under all around the inside edges to bond. I do this to keep from having the quilt be too stiff from all the fusible.
This quilt pattern is free if you go to Michael Miller Fabrics and look under free patterns. Or, here is the actual down link. You will see it in totally different fabrics but you can download the file and choose whatever you like.
Here is the back of the quilt. I had the center portion left from the kit and the stripe had been bought for a project and not used so it worked out perfectly. Here is a tip I suggest: If you have just a short amount of fabric to be used at the top or bottom of a quilt, I prefer to have a larger bit as opposed to it just coming to the edge and only having an inch or two show on the end. This way it looks more like it was planned and not like you ran out of fabric at the end and had to add a little piece.

Easy Peasy Strip Quilt

2011-04-08T12:05:00.008-04:00

This quilt could be called "The Fabric Makes the Quilt" because that is exactly what I was wanting to highlight. Not a fancy design, lots of piecing, etc, but just the beautiful colors all put together for a baby quilt - the raspberry color being the key that the mom had chosen for the nursery.I found these fabrics at Sweet Home Quilt Company. They were perfect for what I wanted to do. I looked at several patterns but none were quite what I wanted or had in mind so I opened up Electric Quilt 7 and designed my own simple quilt.

I bought 1/2 yard of six fabrics for the strips, cutting them 17" x 7.5", getting 4 strips from each fabric. I then cut one of each of them in half so they measured 8.5" x 7.5". I laid them out on my design wall and played till I got the arrangement I needed, trying not to let the same fabric touch each other in the rows.

By buying half yard cuts, I still had enough left for a 2.5" wide strip to be cut so I auditioned those narrow strips between the larger ones but decided that was not the look or complication I wanted.

This was so easy, just sew those strips together to make 6 long rows, sew those rows, straighten the top and bottom edges then add my sunflower border and I had a quilt top!! The borders were cut 5 1/4" wide and I bought 1.5 yds to cut my borders lengthwise of the grain. I bought 5/8 yd of the stripe binding so I could cut it on the bias and the backing took 3-1/8 yards. The quilt measures 52" x 57" and has hearts and flowers quilted on it. As I said, Easy Peasy, so simple, yet to me, striking, and a quilt to be loved and used by my cousin's granddaughter.

Design Wall

2011-03-24T08:09:00.004-04:00

This is what is on my design wall today. Lots of Kaffe Stripes - some collected in the nineties from when he first made them. I bought a bundle at a quilt show we had in North Augusta and never seemed to get around to using them. Others have been added in more recent times. Plus, there are some borders to go around this once I get it sewn. The quilt is called Arrow Feathers from Kaffe's book, Quilt Romance.
This photo is the center medallion of a quilt on my UFO list. I've had it folded neatly away for years, waiting to be quilted. It is called "Sky Blue Pink Quilt" and is from Kaffe Fassett's Caravan of Quilts book. Just waiting for the binding now. One of my favorite quilts - I love the busyness of it and all the unusual fabrics put together. Actually, I made it exactly as it was shown in the book so that was fun!

Freehand Swirls

2011-03-22T05:36:00.008-04:00

Here's some freehand swirls done on Mary Parry's baby quilt for a charity. The fabrics are flannel so are particularly soft!
This is a fun design inspired by Jamie Wallen where he has a couple of videos showing these swirls on his website. Hope you are able to enjoy some spring weather wherever you are. It is supposed to be up to 80 today in the south! Wahoo!

Flower Pots Updated

2011-03-18T08:48:00.005-04:00

I have one more panel of the Flower Pots applique completed. I really am enjoying this quilt - such pretty fabrics and easy stitching for the most part.
Here are some really close-up views. Again, this pattern is by Kim McLean and can be purchased at Glorious Color along with all the wonderful Kaffe + fabrics.
I am now working on the border which are large circles and really easy stitching.

Quilt Group

2011-03-16T07:23:00.006-04:00

Here is our small quilt group (except for Jane) when we went to the Watkinsville Quilt Show a couple of weeks ago. It was a fun outing! We just found a pretty quilt and stood in front of it - I do not know whose it was. From left to right in the picture are Judith, Wonda, Nancy and Gerry. Small groups are GREAT!

Sweet Home BOM

2011-03-14T19:29:00.006-04:00

What was I thinking? As if I did not have any projects to work on, I signed up for a Block of the Month with Sweet Home Quilt Company in Conyers, GA. I'm always thinking about December that I want to make a Christmas quilt and of course it is too late for it by then so this year, I'm starting early!The pattern is Comfort and Joy, pictured above, by a local designer/s. They show two different colorways but the fabrics in the Sweet Home kit are the lighter and brighter.
Here are the fabrics for the first month, already cut in strips for starters (I liked that).
I uploaded my pictures wrong so above is the February kit - some log cabins, churn dashes and lots of half square triangles and one little square in a square block.
Here is the January kit - nine patches and flying geese - all sewn and squared up, but of course they won't be in this order! Now I am ready for the March packet. The rest is applique - will I do it by hand or machine? Hmmm, since I have Flower Pots going already by hand, this just may be machine...we'll see!

More Snow in Georgia!

2011-02-10T23:22:00.005-05:00

A little more snow in GA this morning! It's always so beautiful and peaceful looking to me.

Jake and Nana

2011-02-09T23:42:00.006-05:00

What can I say? Jake has won Nana's heart! Our precious grandson, almost six weeks old.

And of course, his mother being from Georgia, got him dressed in the proper attire for his one month photo. As you've probably guessed, Jake is the recipient of the Dr. Seuss quilt I made in the fall.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

2010-12-21T05:53:00.003-05:00

I am going to be taking a vacation from blog land for an extended period of time. Thanks to all who have come by and posted kind comments.

I am trying to reduce pressures and clutter from my life. If you need to do the same, try reading the book, Clutter Busting by Brooks Palmer.

May your Christmas be blessed and filled with joy and may 2011 be a wonderful year for you!

Liberated Quilting!

2010-12-17T21:02:00.005-05:00

Wahoo! Tonya Ricucci's new book, Word Play Quilts, arrived via UPS today. So colorful and looks like it'll be fun to read and to use! Afraid all there is time for now though is to read it.

My First Mug Rug!

2010-12-02T07:33:00.009-05:00

Just in case you don't know - a mug rug is just that - a 'rug' to set your 'mug' on. That isn't good English but you understand what I'm saying, right? I've seen so many cute ones that I decided I needed to try and make one/some. Here are a couple of links to view and see more: Sew I Quilt and Stash Manicure.

So the first question was, what fabrics do I use? Since we are in the Christmas season, I looked for some scraps I had from a quilt I made in January. I had some nice sized pieces left (enough for many 'rugs', actually) so just began there but cutting some pieces and sewing them together. I figured if I could get the first one done then the next would come easier.
I put a little pocket on this so you can put a tea bag and your spoon in it. I just made it simple and then did some ditch stitching then more straight line sewing.
I sewed the binding just as I usually do for a large quilt with hand sewing the back but if I practice a little more I think I could sew it all on the machine. I've seen some nicely done like that, but it only took about 20 minutes to hand whip the binding. Ta da! One mug rug finished. This little mat is 7.5" x 9". They can be much smaller, too, just to hold the mug and maybe a couple of cookies!! It was a fun little project, especially easy to use scraps and let them help with your inspiration.

Inch by Inch, It's a Cinch!

2010-11-29T15:50:00.004-05:00

Here is the right panel of my Flower Pots. It is so relaxing to sit and stitch a little each morning and sometimes in the evening also. I find it amazing how quickly it goes, just by doing a little every day. I never tire of looking at these beautiful fabrics either. So, I feel like the tortoise, just plodding along a little every day, but eventually I have a quilt completed. Thanks for viewing!

Dr. Seuss Quilt

2010-11-12T15:29:00.004-05:00

Okay, here is the finished Dr. Seuss quilt! It is a 'loud' quilt I must say, but maybe it will help the baby be more alert as he searches for all these colors and patterns. I actually took one row off the top because it seemed to large when I got it finished but it is still about 56" square.
Here is a close-up of the quilting and fabric. I used a variegated thread in primary colors and the hurricane pantograph.
The circles are the backing and the binding is the rainbow on the bias - a fun quilt to make!!

Seasons & Charity Quilts

2010-10-23T09:12:00.007-04:00

I was reading a blog this week and found out that I am in the 'winter years' of my life. I'll admit, that sounded a little discouraging to me, even though the writer said it was just another new beginning. Well, I'm well into that season so guess I better hurry and get things done before I pass from this life. I was thinking I was more into the Fall season, which happens to be my favorite time with the cool, crisp mornings and colorful trees, which are beginning to turn in our area of Georgia. Just this morning as I was walking and dreaming along, a deer quickly bounded across the road right in front of my path, whew, what a neat sight to see, though!

Anyway, as I was viewing my 'to do quilt list' I realize what I thought were quilting priorities turned out not to be so this year after all, since my list hasn't dwindled down near enough and it is October. However, I have quilted several charity quilts this year so I think I'll at least check that off my list. Here are some from this week, working on some freehand designs with a circle in a circle.
And here is the back of another baby charity quilt.
Guess I better go work on my 'list' (I love lists) while I still have some time left!!

Dr. Seuss Quilt

2010-10-22T12:33:00.004-04:00

Are these not the most fun fabrics?? I don't think you could make a quilt that would not be cute using these. So, for a grandchild on the way, it'll be a Dr. Seuss quilt.
I'm using the above pattern by Atkinson Designs to feature all the fabrics plus a few pictures from the Dr. Seuss panel, featuring the Cat in the Hat.
Here is a much overdue block for a quilt friend's 50th birthday! Wow, that's beginning to seem so young..........Back to cutting out fabrics for the baby quilt!

Flower Pots, Finally!

2010-10-16T13:15:00.006-04:00

Hmm, I know it's been a while since I posted but I have finally completed the left side pot of flowers on my current applique project, Flower Pots by Kim McLean. I am happy with all these flowers except for one and I keep debating on whether to change it. Do you see one that stands out and could use some improvement? I usually don't like to 'unsew' but I may have to do it to please my eyes. Maybe I've just looked at it too long. Thanks for any comments!

Lollypop Trees

2010-09-25T06:39:00.004-04:00

I'm finally posting the full picture of my Lollypop Trees quilt, (well, it will be a quilt once I get it quilted) the pattern designed by Kim McLean. I recently joined the blog, Glorious Applique, and posted it over there. If you've not been to that blog, you should visit - all applique projects by Kim McLean using some fabulous fabrics, not only by Kaffe but many other inspiring choices.The quilt is so large I could barely get it all in the picture and had to stand out in the foyer. I enjoyed every stitch taken. Btw, I think they have greatly improved the pattern from when I bought it 3 years ago. It was half a pattern and the circles were hand-drawn. My friend, Ille Waters, and I remedied that by making our tracing overlays and using Staedtler plastic circles for our templates.
Here are some close-ups for a better view. One of my favorites was the pastel block above.
If you want a long-term project with very easy applique, this is the one for you! So fun!

Flower Pots - Block 2

2010-09-21T06:56:00.005-04:00

I finished my second block of Flower Pots by Kim McLean and have now moved on to a side border with a vase of flowers. I enjoy working with 'happy fabrics' that make me smile!

I thought today might be the first day of Fall but according to my calendar, we have to wait until the 23rd this year - not sure about that. When I was growing up it was always the 21st and now it varies. I enjoy the cool mornings that are great for walking in the neighborhood - here in the south that means 60 degrees, yet it is still in the nineties in the afternoon. I don't recall a summer staying so warm for so long. I'm ready for some cooler days! Happy Stitching!

Cool New Ruler

2010-09-14T17:35:00.004-04:00

I just discovered this 'cool new ruler' last week. I'm a huge fan of Omnigrid/Omnigrip rulers anyway and I know sometimes though, you just have so many lines and markings that you have to check really close every cut you make to be sure you are on the correct line. It looks like this ruler just makes it simpler for some very popular cuts.The ruler is 5" x 25", for starters. There are lines for cutting 1 1/2" strips (Honey Buns), 2 1/2" strips (think jelly rolls of your own!!). As you can see in the above photos, one end has markings for a perfect 5" square, and also 4 1/2" square, with the diagonal lines drawn, too.
The opposite end has a 4" square plus the 5", for all the charm squares you want, 'dessert rolls' (the ruler says) layer cakes with the 10" markings, etc. I'm probably way behind the times on this but maybe it's new to you, too, and I wanted to share my cool find!!

Flourishes

2010-09-08T16:45:00.008-04:00

This quilt is called Flourishes and the pattern is by Piece O' Cake Designs. Sue Carrick made this quilt and I quilted it for her. I don't have a picture of the whole quilt but you can get an idea of what it looks like from these photos, or check out Scraps and Threadtales blog when she showed it at the guild meeting.
Sue chose some beautiful fabrics for this quilt, totally different than the pattern but definitely 'her colors'.
She made six blocks of applique instead of 12, so I filled the large batik blocks with feathers.
The continuous curve seemed to work well over all the squares and triangles on the edge.
Here's another close-up view of the feather designs.

Flower Pots

2010-09-03T17:50:00.005-04:00

This is my first completed block of Flower Pots, another beautiful quilt designed by Kim McLean, using many Kaffe Fassett fabrics. I love the way all the colors interact even when you might not put them together on your own!! Fun and simple to do. This pattern is from Glorious Color, along with many others by Kim.

Hydrangeas and Mt. Rainier

2010-08-26T12:27:00.005-04:00

When recently in Washington, we went to a park where the absolutely most beautiful hydrangeas were blooming. They don't grow near so large in Georgia is all I can say. Just rows of them and so many beautiful colors.

Wayne was holding his hand out to show how large they are. You have to see them to believe it!

At this same park, Sondra and I stood in front of this rather large tree also.

And here is Mt. Rainier, revisited - two days of hiking with absolutely beautiful weather and the mountain in clear view. Quite a few snow patches still to walk through but with a walking stick, I managed. Wonderful memories being made!

More Freehand Fun!

2010-08-14T07:52:00.005-04:00

Here are just a few more pictures of the freehand fun I've been doing. Above, large, puffy dwirling.

More dwirling and a close-up below!

This next pattern is spiked swirls, thanks to Jamie Wallen for this design, from his Mystical Cottontracks DVD.

A close-up below of the spiked swirls.

And, one more dwirling on the back!

Freehand Fun!

2010-08-13T08:04:00.006-04:00

I recently had some charity quilts to do and decided to have some 'freehand fun' with them. Most of them are inspired by Dawn Ramirez, also known as the "Pajama Quilter". Fun flowers above.

And now we have some dwirling. Lots of curvy lines that cover the quilt - it is addicting to do and covers beautifully!

More dwirling. Just throw in some curves and swirls!

Above are some flowing flowers. . .

Next we have some wonky feathers. . .fun with freehanding!

Next Door Neighbor

2010-07-22T14:38:00.005-04:00

My "Next Door Neighbor" quilt is complete, binding and all. It was on my UFO list - one of my older projects.

Here is a close-up where you can see the quilting a little also. Paisley Flower is the quilting design, but it blends in mostly with this quilt.

And, always, the back. This backing reminds me of the first time I did "backart". I made a quilt for my sister (when I hand-quilted even) and we had taken a class from Roberta Horton at Houston International Festival. She had showed us pieced-backs and so I tried it. Think I put three fabrics, similar to this. I was really stepping out of the box then in the late 80s. I really like interesting backs of quilts, even if it's just pieced as opposed to using something you don't like. Just adds something special to the quilt!

Charm Squares

2010-07-16T16:29:00.008-04:00

Do you sometimes just want to 'kit up' a quilt to have your fabrics ready to sew? Even when you already have other UFO projects to do or quilts ready for quilting, you just want to gather some fabrics together and 'design' another new quilt. Well, I do, because that is one of my favorite parts, putting the fabrics together! This color scheme was brought together by two charm packs that I have on hand. The packs are similar in color so I think they'll work well together.

I recently received this book, Color Shuffle, by Karla Alexander as a birthday gift (it was on my wish list). As I thumbed through it, I found a quilt in the very back of the book which used the charm packs or 5" squares. Since I have two packs which total 80 squares, I thought I'd found the pefect project for them. I was not really thinking how many more I'd need to make 280 blocks but that's okay, I had plenty of stash to pull from.

Here are just a few of the 5" squares in the packs. I chose approximately 15 to 20 fabrics that blended with the charm squares and began cutting strips 5" wide and then cutting again into my squares. When I got finished, I was still lacking 85 squares so I was back into the stash to pull more.

Here you can see some 5" stacks cut. Next to it are some 'leftover' pieces which I just automatically cut into strips. Generally I now cut 2.5" strips since they are the jellyroll size and then I just make up my own jellyrolls. As you probably know, there are many books out there to 'help us' use those. I have a bin for 2.5" strips, 2" strips and Mixed Strips which take any that are not the above designated. They are great for string, log cabin or many other scrap quilts.

So, three hours later, here are all my 5" squares neatly stacked, ready to be recut into square in a square blocks, four patch and then some will just be left whole. Now my "kit" is all ready for me to sew when I get ready!!

Next Door Neighbor - UFO

2010-07-11T17:53:00.004-04:00

I began working on another UFO this week called Next Door Neighbor. I have learned some interesting things by doing this. First of all, I don't think I ever want to use this half-square triangle technique again. Now don't get me wrong, it is VERY accurate, makes perfect HSTs, but it just seems to take too long and there is more prep work than I care to do to keep from having to sew them on the bias.
Another problem may be that I pulled this UFO out of my project box and realized it was begun in 1998. I didn't even live in this city then and I've been here almost 11 years. A friend and I taught the technique to our guild but I never finished my quilt. So here it sat, half the blocks made and lots of HSTs still to be cut with a bias square ruler and sewn together. I was determined not to let these pretty fabrics go to waste so continued on. It's a small throw size or baby quilt and will go to a charity project.
I pieced the back with 3 different fabrics and will hopefully get it quilted later this week but I just wanted to share for the hours I spent working on it. I learned that you really DON'T have to finish every project you ever began. 12 years later it was not fun and I just wanted to finish it. I'm glad I did but I will be thinking more carefully about which projects I spend my time on now, especially UFOs.
Years ago a friend, Ille, cleaned out her fabric/quilting/magazine stash and was able to clean out a lot of unused fabrics and items. I could not imagine doing that at the time but I realized later that I could. It was actually freeing when I donated yards and yards of fabric and even partially made quilt tops that I knew I would never make. I did end up making a quilt with 23 UFO blocks and class samples that became a really fun quilt - I'll have to take a photo and share it soon, too. That was before I had a digital camera. I have enough other blocks to do that again and was more exciting than adding to each existing project.
Last Monday I really did FINISH my Lollypop Trees quilt top. I will be purchasing my backing fabric soon and make it become a quilt! 2 1/2 years in the making as I do not hurry my applique.

There are 16 blocks - these are just the bottom rows. It is a cheerful and happy quilt to me! The pattern is available at Glorious Color and is by Kim McLean.

Garden Blooms

2010-07-06T15:48:00.006-04:00

And how does your garden grow? Mine grows more in fabrics in my quilts than in the garden. I saw this quilt at Intown Quilters in Decatur, Ga, last spring, bought the fabrics and cut all the pieces out. However, I just got it made and checked off my UFO list.

Here is a close-up.

I did not have a large piece of fabric for the backing and I did have a fair amount of fabric left over from the kit so I added some to it and made a nice colorful back, certainly a good way to help in my stashbusting!

Lollypop Trees Coming Together

2010-07-01T12:57:00.005-04:00

I have been working on the borders and sashing of my Lollypop Trees for over a week now. June is usually a slow month for longarm quilting so it gives me a chance to put in extra hours for my own quilts which is nice. I had to cut 600+ squares for the borders and sashing on this quilt.

It was fun going back through all the colorful fabrics I used and then separating them out so I could get my squares in order. Think there is about 75 rectangles in the border going between all those baby blocks I saved til last.

Here are the border rows being put together on my design wall. Then sewing, then being sure these hundreds of squares will line up properly and the seam allowances will butt up against each other for a flat quilt. Oh, yes, and then I had to decide, will I SID (stitch in ditch) in the lollypop blocks? That adds another dimension to the pressing because pressing against all those seam allowances is not near as easy as pressing towards the background fabric, but, I decided I wanted a defined line so I pressed towards the sashing and squares.

Here I have pieces hanging all around my room - even on the longarm bars. It is a fascinating quilt to me, though, and the colors and fabrics and very simple shapes are what drew me to it. Such easy needle-turn applique!!

Here are some blocks displayed as they are being sewn together. Maybe in a week I'll have the top completed, but I'm going to need a simple quilt project to work on for a while after this.

Sunflower Basket

2010-06-21T19:11:00.006-04:00

This cute little quilt was started about six or seven years ago in a guild workshop. The technique was using a lightweight interfacing with the squares marked on it so you just bonded the squares to the interfacing, sew on the lines, clip the seams and you were finished. Worked pretty well, actually, but for some reason it took me about 3 years to add borders and another couple of years to finally quilt it. But now it is FINISHED!!! Another to check off my list.

After 30 years of quilting you'd think I could make a quilt without a 'learning experience' but that has not happened yet. What I learned on this quilt is that by using the interfacing technique, your seam intersections are a little thick and when quilting, I had to be sure not to cross over the intersections or I was making lots of tiny stitches in the same spot. I think it might just be easier to sew the squares without the interfacing next time.

All Seasons Garden Quilt

2010-06-19T10:57:00.005-04:00

This quilt was designed by Mary Mashuta and is in the book Kaffe Fassett's Quilt Road. There's just something about the lotus leaf fabrics (the strip panels) that drew me in from the beginning and I think I may have some of all the different colorways. I'm pretty fond of the zinnias in the border also. Some of these fabrics are used in the quilt on our bed so I thought this would be a great wallhanging to complement the bed quilt.

Here is a close-up view, showing the baptist fan pattern with a taupe thread, so as not to take away from the gorgeous fabrics. It blended in well with all the colors.

Colorplay 3 - Finished!!

2010-06-17T07:48:00.006-04:00

Colorplay 3 is now finished......binding, sleeve and all!! Yeah! I enjoyed the process but am now ready to move on to some more projects, like UFOs and new ideas!

Here are a couple of close-up photos. I used a swirly design with a variegated thread to calm the sharp straight lines in the quilt.

The backing is a Picasso print I bought in the early nineties. Now how's that for stashbusting?? The colors went perfect though and I had just the right amount which is unusual since I don't buy large pieces of fabric often.

More UFOs being finished daily!!

Animals Alphabet Baby Quilt

2010-06-11T20:11:00.007-04:00

Here is another baby quilt I made recently. It seems that baby quilts are my most popular this year! This is the Yellow Brick Road pattern with the cutest little animals and the alphabet in the border and on some of the blocks. The colors were chosen to match the decor of the nursery - another great nephew coming very soon!!

Here is a close-up view of the blocks, quilted with the pantograph 'hurricane'- fun and easy spirals.

I am Dear Jane Challenged!!

2010-06-02T08:26:00.005-04:00

To make a long story short, I began the Dear Jane quilt several years ago. I guess just the challenge of making a quilt with 225 blocks and triangle blocks on the borders and the fact that Jane did it during the Civil War all by hand and hers had 5602 pieces in it, challenged me. When the EQ software came out for the quilt I really got on board. Truthfully I had more fun playing with the quilt program and designing my quilt and choosing "my" fabrics but eventually got 50 blocks made through the years.
This weekend I decided to pull my blocks out again, line them up on my board and add to my collection. Working on row C. Working on Block C2. As you can see above, I am piecing challenged when it comes to Y seams or anything not straight. I don't do curves very well either. I'd rather applique them. However I decided to try and persevere through these. Btw, anyone not familiar with DJ blocks, they finish at 4.5" square and some have 50 pieces.

So as not to be beaten by these tiny pieces of fabric I laid my DJ ruler on it. Of course the pieces should all line up and they are not even close. What's a girl to do?? I tell people not to worry about their quilts being perfect, we can just make things work and I specialize in 'fixing' mistakes (I'm not too fond of the seam ripper but do have to use it sometimes).

My solution was to trim those bad edges down. Add strips all the way around the block and .....ta da........solution to the problem!! Sure beats trying to 'redo' this block as I have many more to do. Sometime soon I'll post some more of my DJ challenge!

Colorplay I and Colorplay 2

2010-05-29T20:51:00.008-04:00

Here is the beginning of the series of my Colorplay quilts, even though they are spaced out over 12 years or so. The first quilt was inspired by Nancy Crow and I just began cutting and piecing with no rulers and very improvisationally, using some Cherrywood hand-dyed fabrics from a scrapbag I bought at the Houston Quilt Festival.

I hand quilted it with variegated thread, using the 'big stitch' and circles. Here is the back.

Here is a close-up view of the front of Colorplay 1.

And now, Colorplay 2, mostly hand-dyed fabrics in brighter colors, some of which I dyed myself. I used the baptist fan quilt pattern on my domestic machine and it was so terribly quilted I thought I'd never show it but with a little shrinkage when washed, I've actually displayed it and never heard a comment about the awful quilting. I think the bright colors overcome the quilting. I'm thinking I may do the baptist fan pattern on my Colorplay 3 but now I have templates and a longarm to make it so much simpler!!!

Colorplay 3 and Bed Quilt

2010-05-25T17:35:00.004-04:00

I have finally gotten the bedskirt made so we could put our new quilt on the bed. It was funny how many quilts I found in my closet with colors that went with this bright colored quilt, one made as far back as 1994 on the cedar chest. The bed quilt is Floral Checkerboard Quilt by Kaffe Fassett in his Quilt Road book - on the cover, in fact.

Here are a couple of pillow shams I made using scraps from the quilt!

And, drum roll please.........!!! here is my Colorplay 3 top completed! Wohoo! It's taken long enough but I finally needed to get it off my design wall so I could make another baby quilt. I ended up putting black and white fabrics and then sashing with more hand-dyed. And, yet, I still have enough fabric left for another quilt. It just seems to multiply in those plastic shoe boxes!! Now how will I quilt it??

Colorplay 3 - And Yet Another Round

2010-05-07T08:24:00.006-04:00

I've added one more round with the Colorplay 3. As you can probably see, it really is playing with color and fabrics. I just grab a strip, try for it to be different than those on other sides of the block, try to keep a seam from hitting another and just lay it down and stitch it. Somehow I'm going to have to add some more strips - wider - to get my blocks squared up eventually so they will sew together in rows.

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers! I was so truly blest to have the absolute best Mother in the whole world! She taught me so much and always cared, loved, encouraged, was interested in anything I did and thought it was fabulous! I owe so much of my love of sewing to her. Even though she did not care to sew, when I became interested at about age 12, she made sure I had the best sewing machine available and would buy whatever fabrics I wanted to further my love of sewing and creativity. Thank you, Mother!! I think of you every day and miss you tremendously!

Colorplay 3 - Another Round

2010-04-29T07:11:00.004-04:00

I took a few minutes yesterday to even up the edges of my Colorplay 3 after I had added some darker strips. I did not have enough hand-dyed dark blues so added some solid black. With my improvisational quilting, I just add what I have, decide as I go, never knowing for sure how it will turn out. Next I'm thinking to add some pieced strips. When I get to the last round, I will square up the blocks before I sew them together.

Fun Trip to DC

2010-04-29T07:00:00.005-04:00

This was last weekend standing in front of the Capitol in DC. We had a great trip visiting Doug and Dora and seeing the sights in the area.

Baby Lollies and Cousin Quilt

2010-04-21T19:48:00.006-04:00

I'm still plugging along on my baby lollypops for the border of my Lollypop Trees quilt. Meanwhile, I have begun another fabulous applique quilt called Flower Pots by Kim McLean. Just rush over to GloriousColor.com to view the pattern! I've gone ahead and traced all my pattern pieces, made the freezer paper patterns and begun ironing the freezer paper to the gorgeous mostly Kaffe Fassett fabrics.

Here is a another sweet baby quilt for Cylus' cousin. He's not yet born but we know he'll love having a similar quilt to Cylus.

And here is the back of the Monkeys quilt. It's always fun to add something interesting on the back of a quilt and it often saves fabric, too.

Colorplay III

2010-04-07T15:12:00.007-04:00

Here are some really cool hand-dyed leftover fabrics that I've been storing in a plastic shoebox for quite some time.......like years! I finally decided to get them out and play a while, sewing very improvisationally and planning as I go. So, here we begin with very odd-shaped four-patches that will be the center of my wonky log cabins, or courthouse steps.

Okay, here's one row of color sewn around the centers...........just letting the fabric strips dictate what size the blocks will be.

And now another round of color, all in shades of green. How did I choose green? I had more greens than any other color in my leftover hand-dyed fabrics!!

And then I spotted a really cool stripe in the shoebox. Not hand-dyed, but such vibrant colors that I felt it would be the perfect choice. I literally came within inches of having enough. In fact, I pieced some of the strips to make it work. I'm thinking the next color needs to be navy or dark to bring these brights together and give the eyes a place to land. This is fun! No points to match or preciseness needed. We'll add more and square up later!

And the name, Colorplay III, comes from the fact that there are two other similar quilts I made years ago, all inspired by Nancy Crow. I'll show them another day!

Baby Lollypops and Family Photos

2010-03-10T16:10:00.004-05:00

Here are a few more of the border baby lollypops for my Lollypop Trees applique quilt. I am out of applique now. I need to prepare some more blocks.
Sondra and Rich came to visit last week and we got a 'family photo' while they were here. So nice to get to see them again since they live so far away now.
Patsi, my sister, came for a visit also! Great photo of her and Sondra.

Cylus' Baby Quilt

2010-03-08T17:45:00.006-05:00

It's been a while since I've posted but have mostly been busy doing customer quilts, which sometimes does not leave much time for my own, but what can I say? I have some great customers and beautiful quilts to do!
This is a recent baby quilt I made. Their baby theme was the little animals but done in pastels. I did not want to duplicate their baby quilt so found these colorful fabrics at Sweet Home Quilt Co. in Conyers and put together my own. The neat thing is the panel already has four narrow borders so I added one more and then put the wonky squares as the sashing then the striped border. It was fun to make.

Here is a close up of the quilting. I used a pantograph called Hurricane with a variegated King Tut thread. Click on the picture for a good close up view!

We did get Snow!!

2010-02-13T12:11:00.004-05:00

I still get excited about snow in the south! This was late yesterday afternoon after it had been falling a few hours. Isn't it beautiful!

This morning the snow is glistening on the pear tree in the front yard!

Wayne got out in the road for a picture of our house. I just usually take shots from the window or front porch.

And here is my Diagonal Madness quilt from the Kaffe Class in October. Well, I'm not quite finished. Still have 50+ nine patch blocks to put on the border but I worked two days this week just getting the rest of these patches all sewn together. It is easy sewing, but a lot of it.

Christmas Munchies & Michigan Memories

2010-02-06T19:02:00.004-05:00

Wahoo! I'm getting a little checked off of my 'quilts to do in 2010 list'. This first one is Christmas Munchies, which was a kit I bought a year ago after Christmas. It is now completed and will be ready for Christmas. I worked on this at the Hickory Knob Quilt Retreat in January.

My favorite fabric is the ribbon candy. Funny, my Dad got some for Christmas and gave it to me. It's been a while since I had actually seen ribbon candy.

Here is my Turning Twenty Again, aka, Michigan Memories Tablecloth. When we visited Michigan a year and a half ago, it was time for the cherry festival. You could buy fresh cherries all along the roads and we did. They were so good. Therefore, I decided to buy cherries fabrics at the quilt shops in the area. Got a nice variety and just had to add a few other fabrics from my stash to make this tablecloth to brighten our already 'rose colored' kitchen.

Along with working from my stash this year, I decided to piece the back of this 68" x 68" quilt. That's a lot of scraps and took almost as much time as it did to make the top, but isn't it fun? I think I used up all my cherries fabrics except for a Moda Jelly Roll of Berry Delicious, but that's another whole quilt.

And here is the tablecloth on the table! Fits perfectly and it really does brighten the area! I'm still working on Diagonal Madness..........almost have the four patches all sewn so hope to show it next week.......at least how it is on my design wall.

Baby Lollypop Blocks & Bindings

2010-01-25T08:11:00.006-05:00

I was able to get four of the little lollypop blocks made this week which will be in the border of my Lollypop Trees quilt. They go so quickly compared to the large 18" center blocks. These are going to finish about 5" x 8". The quilt can be viewed at Glorious Color.

Now here is a shoebox container filled with leftover bindings from previous quilts. I always like to be sure I have enough binding and save the pieces for scrap or charity quilts. Wonder if I could make enough charity quilts this year to use it all up? We'll see. I'm NEVER at a loss for ideas or projects to work on!! Have a beautiful week. I think the sun is finally shining here in beautiful Oxford, Georgia after a rainy weekend.

Hickory Knob Retreat Projects

2010-01-22T17:32:00.006-05:00

Remember the Diagonal Madness class with Kaffe Fassett? Here is Margaret's quilt which she worked on all weekend. Now all she has left are the nine patches for the borders! What gorgeous colors and fabrics!

This is a block I made for Sue's "whoops" 60th birthday which she celebrated this week. I'm a member of a group in the Pieceful Heart's Quilt Guild that when you turn either 50 or 60, many contribute blocks to make you a quilt. These are Sue's favorite colors. A gorgeous center is being made showing her garden. I'll have to post that also.

This was a little Christmas project I worked on at Hickory Knob, also on my list of quilts to make this year, Christmas Munchies. I only took easy projects as I can't focus that well with 50 other people sewing in the room with me. This way I could socialize and still sew.

Here are some of the finished blocks for my tablecloth that I posted earlier. I did not have a good place to lay them out at the retreat so brought them home as blocks. This is a Turning Twenty Again quilt which should really brighten the kitchen!

Family & Pittsburg Steelers Quilt

2010-01-08T07:03:00.006-05:00

This is Doug and Dora at Christmas time before they head back to VA. We so enjoyed their visit!

Here is a quilt I made for a Christmas gift for our son-in-law, a huge Pittsburg Steelers fan.

Here is a close-up. All folded and ready for mailing to the great northwest!

Diagonal Madness & Cherries Tablecloth

2010-01-04T10:53:00.005-05:00

For the New Year, I began working on my Diagonal Madness quilt again - a Kaffe Fassett class I took in late October. It's been on my design wall all this time so I've had plenty of time to see what I think is working and what is not. I have sewn the first third of the rows together which also helps them stay on the board better. I am still auditioning many fabrics. It is hard to get the vertical rows to stand out enough so many squares have been put up and then taken down again. This is a great quilt to do to play with color, which I truly enjoy!

I need to make a new tablecloth for our kitchen and not wanting to go out and buy more fabrics, decided to use some cherry fabrics which I collected from quilt shops in Michigan when we went there for vacation in 2008. I am doing the Turning Twenty Again pattern and need sixteen blocks so needed sixteen fabrics. I did have to add a few more that did not have cherries but I think they will blend in well and help with my goal of 'quilting from my stash' this year! I'll definitely be having more pieced backs, too, as I don't normally buy large pieces of fabric.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T08:58:00.003-05:00

Alas, I can hardly believe that 2010 is here but it is and I am excited about it! Just something about clean slates, new beginnings, that I enjoy. It's a chance to reflect on the past year, make plans for the new and think about priorities and goals. The above block, Lollypop Trees, is the last of 16 blocks which I completed yesterday. That was just one of my little goals as the year came to a close. It doesn't mean my quilt is close to be completed, as the outer border is all applique so that will probably take me all of 2010 to complete, so again, a quilting goal for me.

I enjoy my hand applique as it gives me time to think, relax and also accomplish some stitching while sitting and comfortable.

I will admit that I am one of those people that always feel they will have more time in the future than they have at present, so I have large goals and often many of them are never attained, but I still enjoy the planning and expecting and anticipation, and eventually get to many of them. I am a list maker and enjoy making my list and then checking things off as they are completed. I guess I need that sense of accomplishment.

So, as far as quilting goals go this year, I have several UFOs that I would like to complete. I'm thinking maybe one per month might be reasonable and I will post a list and see how I come along on it. The list will probably be more than 12 but that will give me more choices, right?

A verse I would like to share and consider more is this: I Thessalonians 4:11. Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands.

Carolina Christmas Quilt

2009-12-07T07:44:00.004-05:00

I always seem to get in the mood in December to begin a Christmas quilt, but, of course, don't have the time to sew it. I decided to at least begin the mystery quilt by Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville, called Carolina Christmas. Above are my fabrics I have pulled for starters. To challenge myself, I often put limitations on my quilts. I am only going to use fabrics from my stash, even for the backing. That should take abouto 20 yards out of my closet when completed since it is a bed-size quilt.

Above are my neutrals all pressed and ready to go!

The first step is sewing some 2 1/2" strips of gold and neutrals together and then subcutting. I have now completed step 1. At least that was an easy step to do. I used the June Tailor shape cutter which seemed to speed up the subcutting. Now onto step 2. Thanks, Siobhan, of Scraps and Threadtales for your inspiration!

Gone From My Sight

2009-12-05T08:45:00.006-05:00

I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails

to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean.

She is an object of beauty and strength. I stand and watch her until at length

she hangs like a cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.

Then someone at my side says, "There, she is gone!"

Gone where?

Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast and spar

as she was when she left my side and she is just as able to bear her load

of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me, not in her.

And just at the moment when someone at my side says,

"There, she is gone!" there are eyes watching her coming,

and other voices ready to take up the glad shout,

"Here she comes!" -

and that is dying.

- anonymous

This poem was given to our family when we were at the hospice center and then a friend sent it to me also. It was so true. We watched my mother as she disappeared from our sight and was taken into the heavenly portals as others were watching her coming.

One More Lollypop Tree

2009-11-30T07:48:00.003-05:00

I continued to work on my Lollypop Trees while staying with my mother these past two months. It is amazing how fast these go just by doing a couple of leaves or circles per day. Working on block 16 now (which is the last large block)!! Then come the appliqued borders. . . . .You can see this completed quilt at http://gloriouscolor.com.

My Mother, Corrinne Britt Bonner

2009-11-25T16:47:00.008-05:00

My dear, precious mother passed from this life to her heavenly home on Monday afternoon, November 9, 2009. She was 87 years young. She had her third large stroke on August 25. She suffered for 11 weeks with pain, anxiety and many other stroke related problems. We were advised by her neurologist to take her to a hospice facility. My sister, Sylvia, found Peachtree Christian Hospice and we took her to this most beautiful, peaceful facility. She was surrounded by her family and beautiful harp music playing at her bedside that sounded as though it was coming directly from heaven. She was only there for three days, but was no longer suffering and her husband of 63 years and children were all by her bedside as she passed from this life to be with Jesus. We miss her tremendously but are thankful she is no longer in pain anymore.

My mother was one of the most optimistic people I have ever known. She always had such a beautiful attitude and a smile on her face, as you can see above. This picture taken at Christmas 2008, was typical of her. She was cheerful, always smiling, and the greatest encourager ever to her family and anyone else that came in contact with her. She could always see the bright side in any situation and would help you to see it also.

My mother had the gift of cooking and had helped for years with church cookbooks but in her later years she wanted us to do a family cookbook. We spent months going through recipes with her and compiling hundreds of them for "Supper at 6". We also added many family stories to personalize the cookbook. We surprised her by putting her picture on the cover. My sister, Patsi, found this photo as she was going through some slides. It was taken in the 1960s at a family Christmas gathering at our house. My mother would never have done that herself as she was a 'behind the scenes' person but she loved it and was so thrilled. It was always exciting to her when we would receive calls or notes from people who had enjoyed reading or receiving the cookbook.

I could literally write a book telling more about my mother but I will close for now. I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and will be making her famous dressing in the morning for one more family gathering.

I have been truly overwhelmed in the last two weeks by all the kind expressions of sympathy we have received. I thank you for every card, prayer, call, email, flowers sent, attending the funeral service, care and concern. It has been such a blessing knowing so many people cared to take the time to reach out to us during this difficult situation. A special thank you to all and may God bless you richly! And, we love you, Mother!!!

More of Kaffe's Class

2009-10-31T10:30:00.004-04:00

Here are some more pics from the class. As you can see, all so different, yet interesting! Imagine all the color schemes you could do yourself and all in sewing squares......how easy is that?

We wondered about the turquoise vertical line on the right but all in all, it seemed to blend with the others and make a statement. Kaffe was complimentary of everyone's quilts! Brandon Mabley also assisted Kaffe with excellent instructions.

Much stronger colors above.

This quilt had many polka dot fabrics, including black and whites....very nice!

The lady next to Margaret and I. Said this was totally different than anything she had done but ended up with beautiful thirties looking pastels!

Kaffe Fassett Class

2009-10-31T10:18:00.005-04:00

This gorgeous quilt was designed by Kaffe Fasset and in his book, Country Gardens. It is called Diagonal Madness. So, the class was designed to help you learn about color, not to COPY his quilt, even though it's beautiful. We picked a color scheme and cut 4" squares and 2 1/4" squares with the 4" going diagonally up and across the quilt with the small squares going vertically. So many options, in fact, there were 30 people in class and no two quilts were alike at all.

Here is Margaret Hunt's quilt as it is going up. And to think, she did not cut any squares until she got to class. Very beautiful pastels mostly but the stronger colors help you see the lines.

This is my quilt as I brought it home. Kept changing some of the lines. For a while I lost the large diagonals so Kaffe gave some suggestions to bring those back out, for instance the zinnias with lime green and the brown planets - they both made a huge difference.

Here is one shot with some bright yellow dots on the far right. Just too overpowering and had to be changed. You don't know until you try other options and I guess finally you say, okay, it is done and sew all the squares together.

More PHQ Pictures

2009-10-20T08:24:00.003-04:00

This quilt, Spring Garden, was made by Connie Burleson with gorgeous applique surrounded by flying geese. Beautifully done and she let me quilt it. We're still trying to figure out where the ribbon is. Great job, Connie!

Margaret Hunt won a blue ribbon for her Lone Star quilt surrounded by applique. I think it's a Piece of Cake pattern - at least many of the fabrics are. The star seems to spin in the center. Outstanding colors!

Another Piece of Cake pattern, Everyday Best, made by Barbara Albright - dots everywhere and luscious colors! I'm still collecting my dot fabrics.......BG!!

This fabulous quilt was made by Ille Waters and quilted by Judith Lockhart. The pattern is from the book, At Piece with Time, designed by Kristi Steiner and Diane Frankenberger. You actually make a journal of your life story as you make this beautimous quilt and customize the quilt to your colors, flowers and likings. This is the center square. Below, see the full sized quilt.

A second prize ribbon was won on this quilt in the Applique or Mixed Technique category.

Pieceful Hearts Quilt Show

2009-10-19T14:30:00.004-04:00

Since I love bright colors, this quilt quickly grabbed my eyes as I walked into the show on Saturday in North Augusta, SC. And to think, I cut out the paper piecing for one of these years ago and it's still waiting to be made. Now I am definitely inspired by Rachael Thomas to make mine! Isn't it beautiful? She started with the Karen Stone pattern and then added more blocks, chose her own fabrics and Wow!!

This Lady Nolly won Best of Show by Margaret Hunt. She made this after Katrina hit the New Orleans area and it was in the Houston Show in a challenge! Very artistically done!

Nothing Up My Sleeve by Rachael Thomas also - judges choices. Rachael has a gift at making these miniature quilts heavily quilted and beaded.

Best Hand Quilting by Pat Wooke - you can't begin to see all the details in this photo, plus just perfect triangles in the triple feathered star! Beautiful, Pat.

This quilt of mine, Baby Bella, won Best Machine Quilting for the show. I began this tiny quilt - 23" x 23"- in a class with Linda McCuean earlier this year. It is gold silk with navy thread. Quite a challenge but worth the effort.

Psalm 46:1-3

2009-10-07T06:25:00.003-04:00

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.

Quilts of Fall

2009-10-06T07:08:00.004-04:00

As much as I love brights and pinks and loud colors, when Fall comes around each year, I just can't wait to pull out my Fall Quilts and display them around the house. I really love the fall weather, too, when you have the cool, crisp mornings to go walking outside. It took several days for it to finally get here but now we are enjoying that weather and even seeing a peek or two of colorful leaves! Above see a butterfly quilt made using the blanket stitch on my sewing machine. This pattern was taken years ago from a quilt my mother-in-law made by hand when she was 12 years old. Paired with it is a pineapple quilt that was for a quilt challenge with the PHQ guild in the mid nineties.
This quilt is from a Country Threads book, Wear Warm Clothes, which had small quilts for all the seasons. So far, just have the one for Fall, but who knows, I may get energetic and make the others one day!
These quilts were both mystery quilt classes taught by Julie Sherar, again, back in the nineties. They were such fun classes and I made 4 quilts with the pattern in the front. Mindless sewing with such a delightful pattern that came from it.
This quilt is called The Great Unknown. It was a kit I bought and love the vibrant colors in it.

It's A Challenge!

2009-10-03T10:52:00.003-04:00

This little quilt is for the Pieceful Hearts Quilt Challenge being held in a couple of weeks. If you read Scraps and Threadtales, you might be familiar with it. You receive one vintage block and then I believe some blocks or other vintage pieces were swapped. Since I live out of town, I was mailed the block and some other extra pieces to use. I hand appliqued all the pieces down onto a vintage piece of fabric that came from my mother-in-law, which has the feel of feedsacks and definite fading, yet it seemed to be in yardage. So, except for the binding, a truly vintage piece. It is interesting when you find old blocks and pieces that did not make it into quilts. Often times you realize why. This dresden plate would not even come close to laying flat until I removed one of the spokes and then made a few more little 'tucks' to make it lie flat, but it worked. And now, who would ever know?

Happy Anniversary, Sondra & Rich!

2009-09-17T07:29:00.005-04:00

Today is Sondra and Rich's first anniversary! Congratulations to you both! I managed to get their wedding quilt completed a few weeks before their anniversary..........

Here are a couple of close-ups from the quilt. My pics are not as clear as I would have liked. Think I need to figure out what's going on with me or my camera.

Busy Times

2009-09-17T07:06:00.006-04:00

Wow, this past month has been quite full of events for us. Here is our son, Doug, as he is graduating with his Masters degree from UGA the first of August. And yes, with a 4.0. We are quite proud of him and his accomplishments. He has worked very hard the last couple of years but it paid off!

Here are Doug and Dora also. She's been a great support for him during this time at UGA!! And now, they have just moved to the DC area where he took a job with the Census Bureau as a cartographer......... and they are looking forward to their time up there.

Meanwhile, my mother had her third large stroke towards the last of August, so I have spent a lot of time at the hospital with her and now at a Center where she is receiving therapy. Thankfully, we are seeing progress every day, and that is a blessing. Also, thank you to everyone for your prayers and concern during this time. We so appreciate that.

She will turn 87 years young this Saturday. However, today, she is only 86. She never wanted to claim the next year until that day and her daughters and my daughter, all cling to that. We are not "going on 87", we are just "86", until the time!! So, Happy Birthday, Mother! She was my greatest encourager when I wanted to sew at age 12 and my parents bought me the top of the line sewing machine at age 14 and I've been stitching away ever since!

As you can see, I am showing two of my Lollypop Tree Blocks. I have a hard time sitting with idle fingers so I have been carrying my applique along with me and gotten a lot of stitching done. That is my therapy. Just a few stitches at a time and you'll be amazed how quickly hand applique comes together.

Mt. Rainier

2009-08-15T10:52:00.003-04:00

Wow, has it really been June since I last did a post? It's been a busy summer, quilting and we did make a trip to see our daughter, Sondra, in Washington. Here are a few pictures taken at Mt. Rainier. Isn't it funny, wearing shorts and sweating and snow on the ground all around, and some on the trail, too. We had to be rather careful as it got slippery in the snow (at least for me the older person). What an awesome mountain! You just can't begin to realize how large it is until you view it in person.

Here is Sondra and Wayne as we are moving on up the trail.

This is Reflection Lake. The reflection this day was in some very shallow water near the edge!

Lollypops and Fig Trees

2009-06-29T08:13:00.004-04:00

Here is the last Lollypop block that I completed. I think this makes 11 out of 16. Getting there.....!

Recently I came across a verse in Habakkuk which was put to music in the early seventies on an album called Prepare Ye the Way, Part 2. I think my Dad probably gave me both of the albums and I nearly wore them out playing them because I loved the music so. It was all scripture put to music which was kind of new in those days. Here are the verses, which are so fitting at this time when so many are suffering without jobs and the economy is rocking and people feel uncertain about their future.

Habakkuk 3:17-18
Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.

Now, if you want to hear this music, click on the link below and find song #10. Though the Fig Tree, and hit the play button. You can purchase the music but also just play it. Enjoy!! I know it will bring back memories for some but is still beautiful and true today!

http://mp3.rhapsody.com/scripture-in-song/prepare-ye-the-way-part-two

Chinese Coins - Slowly Coming Along

2009-06-24T07:23:00.004-04:00

Seems like my chinese coins quilt is just waiting patiently on my design wall. I don't seem to have the time to work on it but here is an idea of what it will look like. I also plan to put some wording in the borders, which may take a little time. Meanwhile, it is brightening up my room - all from scraps or stash!

40 Years Together!

2009-06-08T19:09:00.002-04:00

Sunday, June 7, Wayne and I celebrated 40 years of marriage! Wow, I sure thought people that had been married that long would be a lot older than I generally feel.......guess I was wrong! We met Doug and Dora for lunch at the Blue Willow and then found a shady spot and sat and visited for a couple of hours. What a wonderful way to spend your anniversary - with your dear children. Now Sondra, our daughter, was born on our fourth anniversary but she is living in Washington now so we were unable to be together today!

Here are Doug and Dora - a nice sunny day to enjoy!

Chinese Coins at a Mile-A-Minute!

2009-05-24T20:18:00.003-04:00

I first heard of Mile a Minute quilting from the American Quilter Magazine, Winter 2000, in an article by Carol A. Coski (page 49). Basically you take your scraps and just sew the pieces together rather randomly until you finally have some pieces large enough to cut some blocks. I had so many scraps left from the Challenge Quilt I showed recently because I was playing the whole quilt by ear or improvisationally, not really knowing what would work and having to slice off large bits of fabrics that I did not need. So above, you can see all my scraps left - plenty for another quilt.

I began sewing pieces together, even as small as 1 1/2". Leftover triangles turned into squares and there were many strips left to add to the odd shaped pieces I was coming up with. I finally decided I would make a quilt called Chinese Coins. Roberta Horton has one in her book, Scrap Quilts, the Art of Making Do. By the way, she has inspired me greatly through the years with her work and from taking her classes several times at the Houston Quilt Festival. She likes plaids to be 'casually off-grain'. I really like that as opposed to having to have them all match up perfectly. She helps free you from those rules instilled in us in HomeEc in high school.

Here are some of the pieces sewn together ready to be cut into rectangles. I came up with the measurements for my blocks to be 5" x 7", so my scraps had to be a minimum of that size.

I then laid the ruler on the piece to be sure it was large enough then cut my rectangle. I took the leftover pieces and began adding them to other scraps. Now towards the end I had some pieces that were almost all seams because there were just little strips left but I ended up with 40+ blocks. I found some beautiful magenta fabrics in my stash that I will use for the vertical sashing, which is what makes the chinese coins pattern. Just several vertical rows of blocks. It will be a while before I get the sashing added as I have some longarm quilting that must get done. So, until next time - Happy Quilting and Stitch when you Can!

Cotton Boll Quilt Challenge 2009

2009-05-14T14:43:00.004-04:00

And the winner is . . . . . Nancy Ratliff . . . First Place and Viewer's Choice also!!! Go, Nancy!!! Your quilt was done with excellence and beautifully made!

Our guild had a quilt challenge this year and at our May dinner, the quilts were displayed and outside judges were brought in and winners were announced. I could not believe that out of about 75 members, only 7 people participated in the challenge, I, being one of them.

We were given a paint chip with 3 shades of a color, mine being a light yellow to a bright gold. You had to use this color, or any shades of it, in 50% of your quilt top. You were given a block which had to be identifiable on the front of the quilt and two quilting techniques which had to be used in at least 25% of the quilt. Other than that, it was a piece of cake to make!! BG

This is my quilt, which I named, Sunshine, Almost Always Makes Me High, from a John Denver song of long ago. Sunshine just brightens any day! As I mentioned my color was yellow and my techniques were paper piecing and hand quilting.. .......and here I am a longarm quilter using my machine almost every day of the week. I paper-pieced the sun, the three large blocks, and hand quilted the sun area. My block was cake stand, which is one of the three small blocks at an angle under the sun area. My quilt was inspired by a pattern in the book, Beyond the Block by Linda Johnson and Jane Wells.

Oh, and did I mention, I won second place, which was pretty exciting! The ribbons were beautifully done by Pam Stapley, ....very nice!
Her is a close-up of the sun with the hand-quilting and you can see one of my little cake stand blocks! I must say, this really was a challenge just sewing all these odd pieces together, but I often like to be stretched beyond my norm in quilting!

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure

2009-05-14T06:55:00.004-04:00

I participated in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure this past Saturday, May 9. I ran with my sister, Sylvia Brush, and other members of her family were participating. Her husband, Edgar, son Trey and his wife, Nikki and daughter, Bonnie. It was the first race I had participated in and got up at 4:30 a.m. to get downtown Atlanta and be assured of a parking place in the garage at Atlantic Station. I got there around 6:40 a.m. so that was no problem, thankfully. I did not want to be driving around looking for a place to park in unfamiliar territory.

In fact, we arrived so early that we did the one mile walk at 7:45 which was not planned and then at 8:30 took on the 5K run. Sylvia and I jogged most of the time, coming in at 42.5 minutes. I was happy with my time since I normally just walk and had not been able to train as much as I'd like due to some health issues this year........it was quite exhilarating seeing the thousands (15,000) running up and down the hills of Atlanta.

When you start realizing how many people you know that have or have had breast cancer, or even died from it, it is amazing. People posted names on pink sheets of paper to remember those. I have 15 ladies on my list and I'm sure I did not remember all of them.

Thanks again to all those that supported my efforts and run!

Flowers, Spring and Easter

2009-04-07T09:26:00.005-04:00

As you might can tell by now, I love bright colors and flowers! Not only do I use them in my quilts, but I use them to decorate our home. Now it may be that since I'm not a gardener, I can 'grow fabric flowers' much easier than I can grow the flowers you plant in the dirt. Thus, here are my latest flowers.
When spring is getting close, I am so ready for the warm temperatures and gorgeous flowers all around. Just this past week the cherry blossoms were in full bloom here in the Atlanta area, the dogwoods are blooming, azaleas, etc and it is beautiful! So, I have my floral tablecloth finished and ready to bloom at our kitchen table, along with the wallhanging made a couple of years ago. And, yes, we're actually going to use it as our tablecloth, eat there and not worry about spills. After all, it is only fabric and can be washed again and again.
Here is a close-up of the fabrics which were designed by Valori Wells a few years ago. The pattern I used is a Turning Twenty Again, 9 blocks in the center, then I added borders. Very simple and quick.
Above are the two quilts together. The flowers go together after all, don't they? Wasn't sure until I put it on the table.

So, happy spring and Happy Easter! Everything is bursting forth with new life, much like the new life our Savior, Jesus Christ, gives us when we accept Him into our lives. He gave his life on the cross, died for our sins and gives us everlasting life when we believe in Him.