Moving Right Along

     It has been so hot and wet around here, all I want to do is hide in the house, and sew, of course. 

     I worked on joining the blocks for my red Sonja's Windows quilt. All I have let to do is add the last border, make the back, and this one is ready to go to the quilter. 😊
 

     Since I planned this quilt, I added the narrow, solid red sashing, and an additional row of sashing and stepping stone around the outside of the center. Suddenly, my quilt was 8" larger in both directions than originally planned. This might have been fine, even beneficial for a quilt that was going to live on a bed at home, but I made this quilt to add to my trunk show, and to bring to my Sonja's Windows classes, so I was trying to keep the size down to a full. I made the somewhat painful decision to pull off a column and a row of blocks.  OUCH! But, the pain is behind me now. 

     I will save adding the last border and making the back until I get home from presenting a program to The Sea Island Quilters in Beaufort, South Carolina, and The All Star Quilter's Guild in Jacksonville, Florida, later this month. In between SC and FL, I will teach a Let's Polka workshop for The Chatahoochee Evening Star Quilters in Alpharetta GA.

     In the mean time I am working on getting the sewing finished on as many of my economy blocks as possible, so I can press them and trim them while traveling.

      I am also trying to add a couple of rows to this quilt everyday. This is an A Maze Zing quilt to replace one I sold earlier in the year. I want the colors in this quilt to remind you of the sunset. I want this quilt to get to 75" long or so. Right now it's at 63", so I have only 4 rows to go.

       One more thing. I wanted to share the amazing pincushions 2 of my extremely talented friends made for my birthday last week. 

      Aren't they wonderful! Eleanor found that metal bird at a thrift store. I think it was supposed to be a planter. She added a wool pillow, and those lovely hand embroidered wool feathers. Notice the scissor tale feathers. 

     Mary Beth is a wonderful potter and felt artist. She made that puppy out of clay, and added a needle felted wool ball to the back. The puppy reminds me of Gidget from The Secret Life of Pets. 

     I will cherish them both!

     That is what I have been up to. I hope things are going well with all of your projects. Thanks for stopping by!

I am linking with Moving it Forward Monday
                          Design Wall Monday 
                          Monday Making
                          Oh Scrap! 
                          Main Crush Monday 

Check them out to see loads of other inspiring Projects! 

Growing and Trimming

     Yesterday I trimmed Kalina, Now she is ready for binding and her label and sleeve. I forgot to put the binding in that photo. It will be a medium coral/pink color.

     I worked on the new A Maze Zing quilt some.I like the zigzag fabric on it.

     I have been spending time gathering class materials and handouts for trunk shows and classes I have coming up in February.

     And last, but not least, I found some brussel sprouts in the garden.

     Linking to Design Wall Monday 
                     Move it Forward Monday

     I hope things are growing well for you! Thanks for stopping by!

One Back from the Quilter, One on it's Way to the Quilter, and a New Beginning

     I always love looking out over the rooftops from my upstairs "sewing nest" in the winter, but it is even more sweet when there is a dusting of snow. A rare and lovely treat here in the south.

     I am so excited. My red Jacob's Ladder quilt came back from the quilters yesterday, and is ready to bind.You can see that I have already made the binding. I have also made the label. I am calling this quilt "Kalina" which I found online on a baby name website, Kalina is a polish name, meaning flower, so I thought that was appropriate for this quilt since I had a rose garden in mind when I chose the colors.






     My Lightning Strikes quilt top is pieced. I just need the backing fabric to get here so I can send it to Regina.

     Last weekend my Tidewater quilt found a new home.

     Since I use this as a sample for my A Maze Zing class, I got right to work, planning a replacement. But I don't want to make the same quilt again, so I am going a totally different direction with the colorway. Below is my plan for my next A Maze Zing quilt. I wanted something kind of masculine this time. This photo does not do the richness of the colors justice. I have tried several times, but it keeps washing out on me. I will be able to get better lighting together when I get started.

     So that is what I am up to lately. Thanks for stopping by!

 

Mr. DeVille, I'm Ready For My Closeup

At long last I have a couple of quilts to photograph. They are not the best pictures I have ever taken. I was in such a hurry to finally get photos of these quilts, that I went ahead and took the photos even though it was a sunny day (which I prefer it to be cloudy), and worse yet, it was windy. I will get some better ones when the weather cooperates better, but here they are.

Burgeoning Springtime:

See how the right side of the center block looks washed out? That is my friend Mr. Sun at work.

Hoopla:

I have also been hard at work writing patterns for both of these quilts. I decided to give myself a new challenge when I wrote these. Instead of just using Microsoft Word for the writing, and hand drawing the little figures, I am laying out the pattern, and doing the drawings in InDesign. I have never done this before, and I will confess, it has been a bumpy road, as using a new computer program always is. Hopefully, I will get good at it one day.

I have also been helping my friend Eleanor start up a booth at an antique store. I have been helping her gather, clean, and arrange items. So far I think her booth looks really pretty. It is booth #165 in a place called Gigi's in Griffin GA. Here are a couple of photos of what she has put together so far:
 

 That, and a little bit of getting ready for retreat, is what I have been up to lately. I hope you are having a pleasant January. Another month is almost here! Thanks for stopping by!

Design wall Monday

     I am currently working on making potholders for a fall show, and gifts, so I haven't accomplished much on the quilts that are on my design wall and/or design floor.

     Actually, these are last years crop of potholders. I haven't gotten any photos of this years crop yet. I will photograph them when I get some more finished.

     I have been working on the units for the next row of each though. here is how they stand now. I wrote more about the idea behind the Jacob's Ladder quilt in the previous post, and to see more about the idea behind the strip pieced quilt click here.

     That is what I have been up to. Check out what other quilters are up to at http://www.patchworktimes.com/2016/09/12/design-wall-september-12-2016/

      Thanks for Stopping by! 

Blog Reboot

Gosh it's been a long time!

Last winter I had 2 temp jobs. One I had to get up at 4:30 am for. I am not a morning person, and at the end of the day, my brain was so scrambled that I could barely write my own name, let alone a coherent blog post.

It has been a busy first half of 2016. Rugs to weave, teaching jobs and trunk shows hither, thither and yon, other trips and retreats. At times I went months with out even seeing my sewing machine (except and retreat-thank goodness for retreats!).  Through all of that, I totally got out of the blogging habit. Just as bad, I got out of the habit of taking photos when I WAS sewing. When I did take photos, uploading, and editing photos became an obstacle. But, I finally, finally got some photos uploaded and organized. 

Back in November, (shamefully, 2 whole posts ago) I wrote about starting 2 new quilts, and using them as leaders and enders for each other. Since I have to begin somewhere, let's begin with those quilts. They are both completed tops now. 

This first one is already at the quilter's.

This is the quilt that was inspired by seeing the new leaves come out in the spring, and the way they look against the clear, bright blue sky, and older, darker leaves and evergreens.

I had made a couple quilts using one of these motifs in the center, see those quilts here but I wanted to try a quilt that used several blocks. I was initially planning to make 12 blocks and lay them out 3 by 4, with no border, but as I was making it, I decided that it needed a border.

The other is a just a top, but I still have to make the back.

Again, I wanted to try this motif in repeat. 


 This is the first quilt I made using this motif.

  I also finished my Dresden Plate quilt top. It still needs a back also. I will have to feed these quilts to the quilter gradually, so I can pay for the quilting. I don't have great photo of this top yet, but I did snap a quick shot when it was on the floor.

So, that is what I have been up to lately. Thanks for stopping by!

Trying Out A New Idea

Lately, I have been feeling like I am living in that TV commercial that says: Life comes at you fast. Fortunately, I have been doing many fun things that I should be blogging about. Unfortunately, I have been a very poor job of getting photos, either because I didn't have my camera, of phone handy, or I did, and it wasn't charged, or the light wasn't right, or it was raining. We have had SUCH a rainy fall. I feel bad about those on the other side of the country that are experiencing a drought. I think it might be because WE have all of their rain. 

A week and half ago, I went to speak to the Altoona Guild in Acworth GA. I had a really great time there! Those ladies were so friendly, and welcoming. Talk about luck! I was there for the meeting where they have their covered dish Thanksgiving lunch. What a feast! What was even more fun, since they start their meeting in the morning, I got to spend the night at my friend Mary Beth's. Mary Beth lives only 15 minutes away from Acworth. It would have been too exciting for me to get there on time from where I live which was 65 miles away, during rush hour, through Atlanta.

I am proud that I have FINALLY added some tabs to the top of my blog. I think that was one of my New Years resolutions for this year. 

I have done some sewing. 

While visiting Mary Beth, and meeting with my friendship group, I have gotten a few more dresden plates sewn down on this quilt. 

I have only one left to sew down, before I start connecting the sections, and sew down the second half of plates that I could only sew one side of since, they straddles 2 sections.

I also started another new quilt. I have written many times over the last year and a half over my wish to make a quilt about new spring leaves against the cerulean blue, clear, springtime sky. I guess this is a sort of ironic time to start that, but I have been collecting fabric for it for awhile, and I couldn't stand it any more. Here is a photo of my fabrics.

  

Here are a couple of photos I took of the sky and trees last spring. I was never able to get a photo that I thought really did it justice. 

Last year my friend Eleanor ordered this quilt for her daughters wedding.

I have always wanted to make a quilt that used the central motif in the above quilt as smaller blocks. I am thinking I will make 9, or 12 blocks for this quilt. Here are the first 2.

Not sure if I like the brightness of the green in the block on the left. I will have to see how it fits in with future blocks. It may get the boot if it doesn't play well enough with the others.  

I haven't forgotten this quilt. I started 2 new blocks. I am using these 2 quilts for leaders and enders for each other.

Ironically, both of these quilts are using smaller blocks from motifs that I had previously used to make a whole quilt. Here is the original quilt from the above motif, for those who may be new to this blog.

  
So, that is what I have been up to lately. Hope you have been having a lovely autumn. Thanks for stopping by!

Trying Something New, and Some Cooking Too

     A couple of years ago I made this quilt:

     Then I made a pattern from it. I have been teaching this as a class, and folks really seem to enjoy it. I loved it because most of the quilts I make take many months to make. but I was able to piece this one in under 2 weeks. When I was writing the pattern, my friend, and long arm quilter, Regina Carter, suggested a more efficient way of putting it together. I decided to make another quilt to try out her ideas. Then I thought, why make an identical quilt? Why not do something totally different with the colors? So I made this version:

     I have been curious to see what it would be like to make a quilt out of several smaller blocks instead of one quilt size motif. I wanted to give my students another way to use this motif. So, I tried it. 
 

      The blue, and green ones are the left are blocks in progress. I started working on 2 at a time, so I could chain piece them on the machine. I will always cut the block off the back of the chain, and add to it next.

      
      Did you notice the difference in the black and white print in the new blue and green blocks versus the red block? I decided that I didn't have enough of that fabric to make the entire quilt, so I had better start working something else in now. Here are the two stripes together side by side.

      Not sure how I will use the 2 prints. Maybe all of the red and purple blocks will be one stripe, and all of the blue, and green blocks will be the other color.

      I have now cut strip sets in every color.

       I now have a whole box of them that are ready to go anytime. When I go sew at a friends house, I can just take this box with me. I can grab it and go anywhere I can bring a sewing machine, and iron.

     I pull out a strip set, and arrange the strips in the order I think they should go.

     I have also been cooking this weekend. I made some sausage, potato, and spinach soup.

    How lucky was I to find asparagus this thin! I couldn't pass it by!

     And here is my latest yard sale find. We had a big group one in my town this weekend. All kinds of goodies.

      
     Cute huh!

     So that is what I have been up too. I plan to link to Patchwork times tomorrow. You won't want to miss seeing all the Design Wall Monday fun going on there! http://www.patchworktimes.com/2015/10/19/design-wall-monday-october-19-2015/

     Thanks for stopping by!

Winter Retreat

      I am recovering from being on a wonderful quilt retreat last weekend. Quilt retreat is always one of my favorite things.

    I did a little class to teach the other ladies how to make this quilt:

     To help me write the instructions, I remade the quilt, but I wanted to try a different colorway. I thought it would be nice for people to see a low contrast version, as well as a high contrast version. Many thanks to my friend, and fabulous long arm quilter, Regina Carter for her great input on how to improve these instructions.

      It was so much fun to see the other colorways they came

up with. 

 

     Don't you just love the variety!? It was so nice to see these come together over the course of the weekend. It is pretty rare for me to come up with a design that can be done this quickly. I will have more photos from beautiful quilts I saw at retreat in the next blog post. Hope your weekend was wonderful too. Thanks for stopping by!