My friend Marilyn encouraged me to start a blog. I told her I couldn't make that commitment. People would be following me, looking for something new, stalking me (like I stalk her!). I couldn't take the pressure. But now I find I have things I want to share. So let's just set expectations early... I will not blog every day. I may not blog for significant amounts of time. But when I do have something I am working on that I want to share, I'll post!
Maverick Stars
12 of the 14 Maverick Stars (pattern from Bonnie Hunter) stitched while on a 12 hour flight. A brief video here. Used a Singer Model 20. Sure made the time fly!!!
Camping
What do you do when you go camping and don't have electricity? Sew on a 1909 Singer 28 Handcrank sewing machine! This was back in August when I was moving my daughter into her dorm up in Humboldt. I camped at Patricks Point State Park while she settled in. Hubby was reviewing the year's pictures for the holiday letter and laughed when he saw this one.
Denim Quilt
Okay Marilyn. Here is a posting for you... You are right, I've been lax updating my blog. More than a year.... but I've been quilting. Today's finish a denim stained glass. Finished the pattern, but I want it bigger so I'll be playing with graph paper and adding more to it.
Baby Bargello
Working on another Baby Bargello so I can teach this class at Guild. I've made a few of these and they are fairly simple. But, I had given them all away, so I needed to make a sample for the class.
Purses
Bought a pair of jeans for $3 at the thrift store to make this purse. All the pockets from the front and back of jeans were great, but the pouch was just too big. I kept losing things in it.
Hubby retired a pair of shorts and asked if I wanted them. I saw those cargo pockets and thought YES! I can do something with those. Made this purse. A much better size, though I prefer a backpack. But this will do until I get around to making my quilted purse.
Quilted Feathers
Diane taught a class at Guild - Thoroughly Modern. You can see my finished quilt here. You can see Donna's quilt here. When Cyndi had hers hanging on the design wall, I saw feathers! I was so excited when she asked if I wanted to quilt it for her. She was patient while I waited for Judy L's online feather class. Practiced on this quilt before I started Cyndi's . Then jumped on Cyndi's.
Practiced designs on plexiglass. Then I quilted something different in each block. It was so much fun!
Loaded
Marilyn's Monster! It is about 1/3 stitched. I estimate it will be stitching out for about 6 hours today. It's a biggun'. As it is stitching away, I'm cleaning up my craft room. Had to.... Teacher for local Community College asked me to send my paperwork in. Paperwork I printed about a month ago and never filled out to mail. Now I need to find it. I volunteered to drive for Dr Muick's Environmental Science field trips last year. We own a 12 passenger van (no bigger than an 8, just with an extra seat for 4 in the back) and I love to offer it up to group events (robotics team, volleyball team, square dancing, prom). Yes, some college students don't drive. My daughter being one of them. She knows I love the opportunity to drive groups and asked if I could drive for the class. This being an Environmental Science class, taking as many students as possible in one vehicle just fits. Many students who do drive took us up on the offer to carpool. I really enjoyed the trips and learned a bunch too. Some of the locations were parks that I already volunteer for, so I was able to contribute a bit. So, this year we will make it official. I'll be an official volunteer at college, paperwork and everything. I've been volunteering in my kids' classes since the college student was 28 months old. Its just what I do....
Finished
Finished freehand quilting feathers on this QOV. Watched lessons from Judy L's blog. Go on over. They're great and she is so encouraging, reminding us to not be too critical of our first attempts. Practice, practice, practice!
Feather Lessons
Made this one for the Feather Lessons on Judy's blog. It will go to QOV when it is done.
This is it...
It has been over a month since I last blogged. Where do I start? Is it easiest to start from the present and work your way back?
Class last week at Guild. Thoroughly Modern, taught by Diane. Finished the top in class. Quilted it up this weekend. Had great fun doing all different kinds of straight line ruler work, also Diane's idea.
Girlfriends came for a quilting weekend. Made these two quilts for co-workers expecting babies, Earthy Bargello and Amish Stripes. Only made the tops while girlfriends were here, quilted them up this last week. Also almost finished a QOV top, but I don't have pics of that one yet.
Julie made this Fractured Circles top while she was here and I quilted it for her before she left.
Arlene almost finished her Fractured Circles top while she was here. She'll put it in the mail for me to quilt as soon as it is done.
Made this Memo Board just before the girlfriends arrived. Holds all the postcards for the upcoming Quilt Shows, of course!
Back of Quilt for Coach
The backside to Coach's quilt. Had to piece it to make it wide enough, of course. So I decided to put the club logo on the back. Had to use fabric transfer paper since we have a laser printer. Can't print directly on fabric with the laser printer, nope, can't do it, I tried. It came out grey instead of black and almost completely washed out. Had my sister print it onto fabric transfer paper with her inkjet printer. Might need to get one of those, but we rarely use the inkjet so we have to clean the heads every time we want to print with it. Maybe I should just rely on the kindness of family and friends with inkjet printers.... Also inserted a panel for all the parents to sign. Our coach is awesome. Sure hope this is an adequate gift for him to know how much we appreciate him.
Quilt for Coach
Log cabin quilt for youngest daughter's volleyball coach. Decided on this layout since they look like volleyballs!
Jacket Finished
Jacket is finished!!! Many firsts for me on this one. Had to learn flat felled seams to make the jacket reversible. I had never done a One Block Wonder hexagon quilt before. And I learned how to make double sided binding so my binding matches on either side of the jacket.
Bargello side
and
Hexi side
I've been wearing it, trying to loosen it up a bit. And I always find more threads to be snipped every time I wear it....
I used Thermore batting because it was recommended (at a craft show) for clothing because it drapes well. Not well enough for me... yet? Maybe if I put it in the dryer with some tennis shoes it would loosen up a bit. When I wore it in to the local quilt store, A Quilted Heart, the other day, the owner recommended silk batting for drape in clothing. I've never even heard of silk batting!
Bargello side of jacket
Here is the Bargello side of the jacket. Can't say inside or outside of jacket as the jacket will be reversible. Next to learn how to do flat felled seams so the seams look great on either side.
Coming Along
Finished one side of the reversible jacket. One block wonder hexies.
Next, on to designing the Bargello for the other side.
Last week
Made good progress on the Purple Bargello for my bed... and then I attended Quilt Guild... They explained that the 'clothing' heading on Bring and Brag for next month meant to bring any clothing you had quilted. Well... I've always wanted to make a quilted jacket. I have notes and drawings and just hadn't come around to making it yet. Surely I can get a jacket made by next month's meeting. I put the Purple Bargello aside for a bit. I have enjoyed the Purple Bargello so much and I had extra fabric leftover, so I decided to do the jacket in a Purple Bargello. And while I'm at it, I might as well make the jacket reversible. So why not do something on the other side that I've never done before. I have a book on the One Block Wonder or Kaleidoscope quilts. Thought I would try that one out for my jacket too.
Picking the right fabric was difficult having never made one before. The book gives great tips, but you just don't know what you are going to get after you cut it all up. Cutting was a breeze. Sewing together was easy too, but you have to press every seam open before you can stitch the next piece on so it was slow going. But, the most difficult part is the layout.... so many options, has to be big enough to make the jacket, do I want to try to position things just so to end up in a particular place on the jacket? I may have to decide to just wing it and get what I get....
The birth of a quilt
It all starts with a fabric, right? I picked up the purple fabric on top when I was visiting family in the Portland OR area MANY years ago. Our kids were small then. They are not small now. Any time I was up in that area, I had to visit Daisy Kingdom and their flatfold area. Daisy Kingdom isn't there any more. I would usually pick up border fabrics to make jumpers for our girls. Our girls don't wear jumpers any more.
While digging in the flatfolds, I came across this purple. It looks like it has alot more blue in this photo, but in reality it is deep rich purples. I knew I wanted to make a quilt for my bed with it. I'm a purple person. The quilt on my bed has been there since I was pregnant with our oldest daughter. She's nearly 20 now.
This fabric has been properly aged. I bought 6 yards at the time since I knew I would not be able to find it again, I wanted it in the border, and you had to buy the fabric is 3 yard flatfolds. I started collecting other fabrics to go with this one, not knowing which pattern I would choose for the quilt. I visited a friend in Virginia in 2005. While visiting Williamsburg, I saw a BEAUTIFUL Bargello quilt all done in blues that looked like waves in one of shops there. I asked if I could take a photo and was told "No". So on the flight home I sketched out what I could remember. I knew I would make a purple bargello with this fabric. Over the years I checked out books on Bargello quilts, tried it out with Binkys, explored different designs with this Bright Bargello. All as practice runs for my future Purple Bargello. I drew out the design, figured the yardage, everything was ready to get started on this quilt. But I didn't. Too much going on. Too many directions headed for too many different things. When I start something, I want to be able to finish it.
Busy week
Field trips are finished for the fall season. I've been quilting and Christmas crafting all week. Quilted 8 Binkys so far. Four of these are BIG. Typically I load 15 yards of backing on the frame and quilt one Binky after another, but those are only 40" wide tops. Four of these tops were donated and needed to be loaded individually due to their size. Decided it was high time to get out of the assembly line mode and get these done up. Had a field day with Continuous Baptist Fan quilting pattern and stitched most of them with this design.
A nice sampler. 70x90
This attic window all done in flannel, backing too. Super cozy, super warm, super heavy! 70x90 Love the braided border.
Another of these 3 piece blocks quilt pattern. See a version of green here and red here. 70x86
This one is the biggest Binky yet. 90x106. Quilted in Celtic Scroll.
Tumblers. The high school kids cut all the scrap pieces of fabric with the Tumbler die and we put this scrappy quilt together. 52x62
Baby Quilt
Working on this baby quilt for hubby's bosses. He forgot to mention they are pregnant. Baby due December 29. Best get it done!
Feed bags
Saw a version of this at a craft fair. I don't have any animals, so I've been asking people who do to save the feed bags for me. Feed doesn't come in burlap bags anymore. Now they are made of the weaved plastic like the reusable shopping bags. Sturdy stuff!
Martha was the first to get a bag to me. She doesn't even have chickens....yet... but she emptied her feed into a bin just to get the bag to me. I hadn't even told her what I was going to do with the bag. She was delighted when I returned the bag to her in its new shape!
This is about the size of a large grocery bag, with extra long handles.
