Tuesday, March 29, 2011

I've been sewing...

I have been sewing some things, now that the DQS10 has ended for me.  I sent my quilt to "Lochside Quilter", that is her Flickr name and she lives in Scotland.  She loved the Tula Pink Plume quilt and that is all I wanted.

I received this quilt from "Sew it up Baby" from Arizona!

Lots of hexies and hand quilted, very pretty.

I have been in love with Kate Spain's Central Park fabric ever since it came out.  My LQS Harper's Fabric and Quilt Company got some of the fabric in so I bought 11 fat quarters and made this;

This pattern was PDF download from That Girl That Quilt called Serendipity.  It was quik and easy and I love the way it turned out.  I have another Central Park quilt planned.... and some more fat quarters coming my way!
Kansas City Shop Hop is this weekend! Enjoy!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Solids

I have joined a couple of solids quilt-a-longs on Flickr.  The P2-Patchwork Squared group that begins on Monday.  I chose the teal and lime colorway.  This should be lots of fun.  Ryan Walsh and our own Charlie Scott from Patchwork Squared are running this quilt sampler quilt-a-long.
















I told myself to take a break from the swaps and such but really didn't listen to myself.  I was trying to stick with my own quilting adventures but I guess I will do a couple more group projects.

Have you seen Elizabeth Hartman's Tokyo Subway Map quilt?  It is wonderful.  A group was started on Flickr where 25 quilters would make 25 copies of the same block...they would then be gathered by Kreated by Kari and distributed so that everyone has the 25 blocks that are required to make the quilt.
I am excited about having this quilt.  Now to get my 25 blocks done by deadline.
These are the colors I need for my block along with a few goodies from my stash.
Hope you all are making progress on your projects too!

Monday, March 21, 2011

Making Progress

Those two piles of fabric in my last post have now become one.  This is a pile of about 180 half blocks that need to be trimmed and pressed and then joined.













Needless to say I did a bit of chain piecing of the blocks.  Made pretty quick work of this process.  Rather than sitting and drawing a line through the center of the smaller block, 180 times!...I placed a piece of painter's tape on the center line of my machine.  Line the front point of the square up on the tape and that kept me straight through the center of the block.


Tonight, a little trimming and pressing!  This was an impromptu project....I need to get back to the others!!

I joined the Tokyo Subway swap group on Flickr...despite my pledge to stay out of the swaps for a little while.  I must get started on my Christmas quilts for the nieces!!!  If I don't get started, I won't get finished.......

Have a great productive week.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Something New

This is where it began.  I had this pile of fabric sitting on the table next to my chair for the past few weeks.  I just wasn't sure what project this fabric would complete.  I matched up that blue with Azure on my Kona color card.  I recently bought a pdf pattern from That Girl That Quilt for Serendipity.  It was a match made in heaven.


Carla Timberlake...Lollyquiltz recently blogged about her version of this quilt and it is fabulous!





This is what the pile looks like now after being cut into the appropriate sized pieces.  I whipped out the old June Tailor Shape Cut Ruler and made quick work of this fabric.  Now for the piecing.  I have barely just begun...and already I think the blocks are wrong.  Get that seam ripper out.



I am questioning the blue now but I think it will be fine when all is said and done.

If not....it will be a nice gift for  someone!!
Back to the drawing board.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

DQS 10...finished and in the mail!

Finally it is finished.  Finished the beads around the edge of the label tonight and then packed it up

This was a fun challenge.  I tried to push myself to do things I hadn't done before.  Took me a while to decide on the design.  I just had this design in my head and it had to be set free.

I packed up a few goodies, mostly from my stash and I am hoping my partner likes it.

She did not comment once on my quilt...not once....not on even one picture so that makes me a little nervous.  It is what it is and I did my best so I have to be content with those thoughts.

Off it goes.....we shall see if she likes it.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Robert Kaufman "No Prints Allowed" Challenge

I wanted to post about this but I forgot to get any photos of my finished quilt!  Shea and Nikki kindly took some at the March KC MQG meeting so I swiped them and here they are

Above you see the back!  I really like how the back turned out
It is so bright and cheerful.  Made from a pastel solid jelly roll.

This is the front of the quilt which is a Whirlygig made from a pastel charm pack and Kona white.  I got some little shell, pearly, flower shaped buttons and tacked them to the center of each whirlygig.  I thought to my self that it would be a great way to hide seams that don't match up....even though that was certainly not my issue!!

I quilted it pretty heavily with a variegated pastel shiny thread in a paisley pattern.  I am happy with my final product. I left it with Jaime at the meeting to be photographed in April, sadly I will miss the April gathering.

Thanks so much to Robert Kaufman for donating these charm packs so all of us could be creative with their fabulous solid fabric.  As most of you know I love a solid quilt.  There is just something intriguing about making something fabulous without a print in sight.  You have to make your statement with color.  I like that challenge.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Back to Work

I can't believe the weekend is over and it's back to work tomorrow.  We lost an hour of sewng time this weekend and I want it back!  Have to wait awhile I suppose.

I read on Cherry House Quilts blog last week about a baby/toddler charity quilt project for the Headstart program in Baltimore.  I thought making a couple baby quilts this weekend might be fun.  I pulled out a free quilt pattern that I had printed from the Oh Fransson blog.  It takes 38 charm squares and two 5 inch strips and 4, 2.5 inch strips to make the top.  It is the Charm Square baby quilt.  Anyway, I managed to whip up three....very easy pattern...

I managed to finish one and then the other two are waiting for binding.  All will get a wash and then head off to Baltimore.  I used a Sweet Baby Jane charm pack and I love that AMH Garden Party backing that I used.  The flowers are huge and I really like it.
This one is from a Moda Tiddlywinks pack.
And of course a little Tula Pink Nest with a swirly blue backing. 

It was a good weekend.  I'll finish these up tomorrow as I have the Scrappy Bee block and some dresdens calling my name.  Have a great week.

Monday, March 7, 2011

SEEING SQUARES!

Have you seen this???  It is Shea Henderson's first quilt pattern.

 Shea is offering this new pattern for presale with free shipping until St. Paddy's Day.  I am pretty excited about this pattern because that is my baby on the front.  Yes, my quilt was chosen to be the cover girl. 

It is different to make a quilt for a quilter!  Your family and friends think all your creations are wonderful and glorious because they love you and because they can't do anything like make a quilt!  When you make a quilt for a quilter there is a different drive to your quilting.  You want it to be a little "more perfect"!  I love the way it turned out.  When I saw it complete and quilted by the fabulous Angela, I thought it was fantastic.  I hope you like it too.

This is Shea's second pattern.  Give it a try.  It was fun and a lot easier than it looks.  I made this quilt in about 8 days.  I would have taken more time but those "Cover Girls" are always on deadline.

Hope you like the quilt.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

UFO's

I have been thinking a lot about my own UFO's for the past week or so.  Wondering what is the reason these things have become ufo's?

This was my first UFO;
I think this is a photo of Robin Askin's demo quilt for the "Strips and Curves" class but mine is very similar....just not put together!!It isn't that I dislike this quilt.
I just don't know where to start with putting it together.  I need to re visit this I think because I love the quilt, and the colors.

My second UFO;
This is a One Block Wonder that I made when I took a class with Karen Moore at Harper's.  Once again I like the quilt but found it very tedious to put together.  I am going to get this out for my next project.
Once it is together it's done right?

Then sometime ago I started this table topper;
I am working on this now along with a couple other projects.  I love this.  I took it out of the plastic bag it has lived in for too long and loved it some more.  I started looking at some of the stitching and had to wonder what 5 year old had sewn it together!!!  Yes it has been a ufo for a while!  I got the seam ripper out and tore out what I thought was not up to standard and I am working on it again.

I have other things not finished, a Parisville coin and several tops that go unquilted but I am making a promise to myself to re visit them one by one.

How about your UFO's?  Take a look and maybe you will find an old friend!