3.31.13

You know how I like weird architecture and giant whimsy. This was spotted on our recent Macon trip outside a flooring store. Why not.

3.30.13

Getting my TREK on. Wish I had a Featherweight even withOUT an Enterprise attachment.

3.29.13

This is a block I designed called Best Friends Block. It is a 12" finished square and has two friendship stars in it. What you do is select two fabrics for the stars--one is to be YOUR favorite color, the other the favorite color of one of your friends. When you assemble them, switch out the hearts so she has yours and you have hers. The above is the second one I made. At first, I thought scrappy creams would be great for the background fabrics. But look. My neutral/creams are kind of spotty. I even used some backside-front and coffee dyed the white ones. No go, so I settled with the above.

3.28.13

Mauvelous Day For Sailing, Dahling!

This little quilt fulfills requirements for TWO challenges. The crayon I drew for the Pieceful Mountain Quilt Guild's Crayon Challenge is called Mauvelous. The color has to be MOST of the quilt and the name of the crayon has to be in the quilt title. Since I hate MAUVE, this little quilt fit right in with the SmallTalk Yahoo Group March Challenge of HST (Half-Square Triangles) using "ugly fabrics". So, there you have it.

3.27.13

Did I tell you that I am making TWO quilts for my Audrey class? I am almost finished with the blocks for my kindergarten quilt and I am a little behind with the ones for my more advanced schematic. Kindergarten blocks are all red, yellow, and orange. I will sash them together using white strips and royal blue cornerstones.  The other quilt is ALSO red, yellow, and orange but each block uses black and all blocks relate to farm fowl. The one above is called Birds in Flight. I imagine the little triangles as the younger birds following the bigger birds.

3.28.13

Isn't this a great idea? It is by designer Mark Huang. Happy Tea Time Tuesday!

3.25.13

Hindsight is healthy when it is followed by progress.

I don't know who ELSE said that, but one of my beautiful nieces did. Thanks, Chicklet, that is a good one.

So what is the chant for the week?

I am getting better and better. 

3.24.13

 

It  rained a lot on the way down to Macon but we were able to go to the Arts and Crafts Exhibit. Then we went to the Allman Brothers Band Museum. On the way out of town, we stopped in a parking lot and I got some close-ups of a few of the blossoms. Aren't they pretty? After they bloom they look very white but while in bud, dark pink.

3.23.13

We are gone today, to Macon to see the Cherry Festival. It is raining like crazy right now but supposed to clear up. Hope so. The drive is a 6 hour round trip on a good day. I would hate to get there and than have to turn around.

3.22.13

Southern Appalachian Modern Quilt Guild March Challenge. I enjoyed making this little thing. It is a little longer and narrower than a standard sheet of printer paper. I hand appliqued, did some hand embroidery in a variegated green perle cotton, then machine stitched the rest of the "channels". The batting is what makes it look a little formal. I used a hunk of leftover fusible fleece so the filler is denser and more consistent than the standard batt.

I am a little disappointed with the way this guild seems to be forming up. I had hoped to find  new, exciting things but at the last meeting, it seems they want to find a charity to support and everyone agreed to do an online block of the month tutorial. It looks like it is just going to be the same old same old. I will hang in there and see if it takes a new direction. Of course, I could use the block-month as my own personal challenge to go modern and quit whining. 

They have scheduled a trip to a long-arm machine business that two of our members run and I am sorry to miss it but it will be on the night of one of my other guild meetings. If every field trip lines up that way, I am going to be further disappointed.

3.21.13

So. I am in class. But you get to see what I won from Kit Lang Fiber Arts. Go check out her website and then marvel at what I am about to receive:

 Yes. A book, some fabric, and some AURIFIL. I am LUCKY.

3.20.13

KD's Flower Basket

This is the last of KD's blocks that I photographed. I think she may have some vintage feedsacks in her stash. Each one is lovely. I could imagine them framed and on the wall in a little cottage like the one I showed you a few days back.

Yesterday, I got a lap sized quilt "sammached", and I also had time to "sammach" the little ugly one. Sammaching means stretching out the backing and taping it to a table, spray basting the batt to it and then spray basting the top to the batt. Smoothe everything out, then pin it with special curved safety pins. I have another which is ready but I don't have any more pins. In the mean time, I am trying to keep up with my Audrey assignments. I have almost caught up to where I wanted to be for Kindergarten, but I have so many more blocks to make for the quilt I drafted for the grade 1/2 levels.

She keeps having us do complicated blocks which I did not include in my draft so my plan is having to wait a little. Right HERE is where I would insert a picture of my kaleidoscope block but I haven't photographed it yet. Maybe I will get somewhere on my feathered star tomorrow and have a photo session. If not, when you return here tomorrow, there won't be anything new to see, probably.

I haven't yet had time to work on my Blue and White BOM (block of the month), this month's Scrappy, (I usually get those done the first two days after they are handed out),or my Barn of the month. Plus, I will be in class all day Thursday, busy all day Friday, out of town on Saturday, and packing for a doll and bear display on Sunday. And the next week, our class got moved to the same day I have to set up the doll and bear display. I am feeling a little jammed up.

3.19.13

TEA TIME TUESDAY
Come see what I just added to my virtual tea collection! Isn't the pattern pretty? It reminds me of the seeds we planted this weekend.

 
Want one? Get it here.

3.18.13

 Monday Mantra

A goal without a plan is just a dream.

~Herm Edwards

My mantra this week is, "Follow through." 

3.17.13

MARDI GRAS Quilt Pattern from Butterfly Threads

Look! I won another contest! This came from Butterfly Threads. No, Not the quilt. I won the pattern and a copy of QUILT magazine and maybe another surprise.

And here is some more quilty happiness from KD, my Audrey classmate.






KD says she gets some of her ideas from kids' coloring books. Good idea!

3.16.13

Happy International Quilt Day! 
I am going to help you celebrate by showing you more of KD's applique. The watering can is sweet, 




 but I especially like the little cottage and tree. I have a few things going with this type of 30s feedsack style fabric but nothing as ambitious as this.

I won another contest. This is a package of charm squares--5"--and these are all Kona solid darks. They were part of a blog hop giveaway from Fabric Engineer.

I am not sure what I am going to do with them. Whatever it is, it will be filled with pretty colors!

 Maybe I will do THIS. Made from charm packs.  I am working on making a back for this quilt today. I will piece it from Kona Snow yardage and a couple blue and green charms left over from the top. I had a package of Kona Snow charms and I just bought more of the yardage to finish it off. Good think I did. You can't have enough white if you are doing modern quilting.

and then on to work on THIS one. More charm packs, beautiful oranges, reds, violets, fuschia, yellow with milk chocolate brown. I plan to hand quilt but we will see.
 

3.15.13

Jacob's Ladder for my Kindergarten Audrey Class. I enjoyed making this block but in isolation it just looks like lots of pieces. I have in mind to do a Jacob's Ladder quilt. The ladder rungs make an on-point square. Click HERE and see one made by someone who is not me.
Want to see some more colorful work? This is the first few of a BUNCH of hand appliqued and hand embroidered blocks by a fellow Audrey classmate, K.D. She is PROLIFIC with block production. And very talented!

KD has enough for a quilt! I will show you two a day until you have seen them all.

3.14.13

 

This is Churn Dash, a block for my Kindergarten Audrey Class Quilt. It is right in your face with the color, isn't it? Today I go to the third meeting of the Southern Appalachian Modern Quilt Guild. I hope to take pictures of our March Challenge pieces and maybe put them on our FaceBook Page.

3.13.13

Friendship Star. This is one of the blocks for my Kindergarten quilt in my Audrey class. It is a nine inch block and as I said some time last week, this little star is really growing on me. It is a good one for today's post since I go to Friendship Group in Blue Ridge today.

I set out to do the Kaleidoscope and the Feathered Star from the 2nd grade quilt but only got as far as cutting out the pieces for the first one. My Tallahassee Quilty Friend has her star completed. It is very pretty but has scared me off. Instead, I have been doing one of my favorite things, sewing beads. That is, I dug out an old wall hanging that I had pieced and basted and I am quilting it and embellishing it with beads.

3.12.13

Tea Time Tuesday

Isn't this STUNNING? LOVE the Deco look. It was on Kim Kardashian's gift registry for her marriage to Kris. It listed at $1,650.

AND NOW IT IS PART OF MY VIRTUAL TEA COLLECTION!

3.11.13

And I used to hate math. Who knew there was an algebraic formula for life.

3.10.13

Reverse of mug rug with Oregon Sister-in-Law's stash fabric.

Still sewing away. In the past few days, I have done some of my assignments for my Audrey class and worked on the UGLY FABRIC Challenge for my online Small Quilts group. I think it is larger than the pattern calls for because I only looked at the picture and didn't read the directions. I just cut my squares for prepping the triangles the size I felt like doing. It is fairly UGLY because I used the crayon I pulled for my Blue Ridge group's Spring Challenge. See?

At the store, they looked EXACTly the same color. At home, not so much. Any way, here is what ELSE I got to go with it.

Kinda pretty, isn't it? I managed to return to the ugly theme. See?

I haven't quilted it and bound it yet but I am not expecting any improvements. I will not be disappointed. I have to use the crayon's name in the title. I am calling it Mauvelous Day for Sailing, Dahling.

3.9.13

My Barn Quilt, Variable Star

One day, while wandering around the internet on some of my favorite sites, I found a BARN CHALLENGE. Bee in my Bonnet designed a 14" barn block--with a quilt on it! 

Weather Vane Block

Well, I had NO trouble pulling fabric for a red barn. I did have a problem using the weather vane block as my barn quilt, though. 
I do REALLY like the weather vane block and Bee does a wonderful tutorial but my barn fabrics were too formal for such a cute little design.

Instead, my barn has a different star.  Now I feel compelled to go back and make a second one and use the weather vane design.

3.8.13

It is called Friendship Star. It is a star I never really liked that much but it sure is growing on me. This block is a 3". That means the center is ONE INCH. 
 
I did one by hand that took several hours and had half inch blocks. I was not satisfied with it, so I went up to a more manageable size. This was inspired by the key chain I won.

Back

The little fob is a friendship star block. I got the idea from one of my books, 130 Quilt Blocks, by Susan Briscoe. I thought a book that features 3, 4, and 6 inch blocks might come in handy since I am pretty much infatuated with little quilts. The book was specifically written to take advantage of pre-cut fabric purchases such as stacks of 5" squares, rolls of 2.5" strips, and stacks of 10" squares.

3.7.13

Remember the deer picture last week? We have had snow two times since then and mostly overcast skies. Occasionally, we get a little sunshine and the whole world changes.

I won another contest! It was a door prize, actually. These are fussy cut rulers made by Quilt in a Day. Nice to have. I already used the little one. I like the key chain, too. Wait until you see what I did with it! I have enough key chains, so I detached the charm. You will have to come back tomorrow to see what I did next.

3.6.13

This is the little quilt I made for the February challenge for my SmallTalk Yahoo Group. I faced a lot of challenges but I still loved the quilt. Sometimes, if I face too many challenges on a project, I begin to dislike it but this little thing is so endearing. 


1. I had a hard time making it scrappy because my Civil War reproduction stash is new and small.  
2.Then, I made the same mistake in assembling each of the five basic blocks. Unsewed, fixed it. 
3. Putting the blocks together and getting the points right caused me to unsew some spots three times. Audrey says if you have to unsew more than three times, throw out the pieces and start again or move on.
4. Then I had to put it aside and hope I could find two border bars fabric I liked. Chose a pretty green brushed cotton and put one on brushed side public and the other bar brushed side to the batting. 

5. Couldn't find a backing. Settled on muslin and decided to machine quilt. In the ditch seemed like a good choice so I could finish by February 28. Attached the walking foot, sewed two stitches, it fell off. Fixed it.
6. Started again. Machine ate the thread. Fixed it.
7. Sewed almost six inches, needle broke. Gave up, put away the machine.
8. Choosing perle cotton and needle had me selecting by color--variegated brown and red--perfect--but it was a size 5. TOO THICK. Too bad, I like the color.
9. Realize I have somehow managed to find the LOWEST QUALITY POSSIBLE for muslin for the back. We are talking TISSUE PAPER THIN. With size 5 perle cotton, this is a little dangerous but I heart the little quilt so much I keep going.

Now it is finished and I still like it, mistakes and all!

 

3.5.13

Looks what's new in the Virtual Collection!

 

Isn't it cute? I think it might inspire a red and white quilt. I will have to be on the lookout for red and white plaid, red and white dots, and some red and white stripes. If you want this set for your very own, go HERE.

3.4.13

Back on the low-carb diet for me. The doctor gave me a GREAT report. He was very pleased that I had read the book he recommended and was happy to see all my significant numbers were lower. I had slipped up a couple days but I have renewed energy to stick with it. Over the past year I have lost roughly a pound a month, a little more maybe. My already low cholesterol was lower and the triglycerides were great.


So today's mantra has to be that good old stand by:

I CAN DO IT 

3.3.13

Subbed it in for my Circles quilt. I belong to SmallTalk--a Yahoo group of small quilt enthusiasts. Our mentor is Kathy Tracy who blogs HERE. Each month there is a challenge issued. January originally said design your own or do any small quilt but later on it was apparent to me that I should have done a Kathy Tracy. Since I had one ready--well almost--I finished it up and subbed it in. 
I LOVED doing the little hexagons and I enjoyed using the perle cotton for quilting but I had to get some advcie for needles. I am also noticing that my quilting does not pierce the backing sometimes. Can you tell from this picture?

I asked my quilt teacher, Audrey, about it and she said I should ask LJ, who is a MASTER quilter. I did not expect to get much help there and I was right. LJ NEVER has to deal with missing stitches on the back so she does not know how to advise me. She would if she could, though. She is amazing. I am going to ask her if she will teach me. Her hand piecing is exquisite, too. 
I can see I am headed to scalloped edges. I like the scalloping here and if I had more experience and a little more time, I would have scalloped the hem edges. Those ideas are rolling around in my head for now... Come back Wednesday and see my February quilt. It IS done and on the wall but Monday is philosophy day and Tuesday is Tea Time.

 

3.2.13

OH, DEER! I did not get good photos of finished quilts this week. It has snowed all week and last night it finally STUCK. Maybe we will have some sunshine and I can try again for the pictures. Until then, enjoy our deer, out for  walk on the one morning of sunshine last week.