Quilt Show Update and a Few Goals for 2013

     Yesterday, a friend, and  I delivered over 50 items to Art Station in Stone Mountain. Most of these were quilts that were 50" wide or larger. I am very excited about the variety and range of beautiful quilts our guild will be exhibiting. In addition to that, I found out that our show is going to be a part of a larger Art Stroll event that is taking place in Stone Mountain Village, the evening of the 7th; that will include other artists, Art studios, and galleries. I had been advertising our opening as beginning at 7pm, but the surrounding festivities will begin at 5:30 with a sculpture dedication, and will continue on from there.I believe it will continue till around 9:30 with prize drawings taking place at 9:15. It sounds to me, like a wonderful evening out that will include many types of visual stimulation, and inspiration. I am really looking forward to it!

     It has been a bit difficult for me to concentrate on a list of goals for the coming year, while trying to get his show up and running; but I thought at least, I could cobble together a list of quilts that I would like to finish, and others that I would like to star. The primary reason on these last is so I will not loose the idea. As I stated in earlier posts, I have many quilts that are well under way, I like to concentrate on the one that is closest to being finished, just so that I can see it through, but every now and then, you get an idea that you are just dieing to try out. I know that you all know what I mean, don't you?  

     So here goes. There is The Bird Cage quilt,this is just a working title because of the birdcages in the large print. My friend, Eleanor, always refers to this as my monkey quilt, because she says it looks to her like a time and place that would have monkeys. of course there are no monkeys, but I have considered naming this quilt "Where's the Monkey", for that reason.

     There is the small, solid fabric unit quilt. Ih ave no ideas for the name of this quilt, but I know I am planning to make the open areas reds, rusts, with maybe a bit of brown. I have all the small units made, but I still need to make 6 more large blocks from them.
I am very interested to see how this is going to look, once I get those background colors added.

 

     Next, there is my ellipse quilt, all of these quilts, so far, I started early in 2012, when I had just started my blog. If you want to see more about the beginnings of this quilt look here  This is the most recent photo I have of this quilt. I only have 3 or 4 more motifs to add.

         The next quilt is going to be a large lap quilt. I started it to test a pattern for my Native Harvest quilt, while I was writing the pattern last summer. The quilt is as long as it is going to be, but I plan to add to the width, and fill in the corners.

   
      Then, there is my new Galapagos quilt.

       The next is a third in this series.

      I do not have the 3rd quilt in this series on my design wall yet, but all of the blocks, and strip units are pieced. At least, I hope I pieced enough strip units. This 3rd quilt will have dark blue as a border color.

     I also think I have all of the units pieced for more quilts in this series.

The next quilts in these series only use the flying geese and four patch units. I have 3 different drawings I did on EQ. I an looking forward to seeing if any of these drawing work with actual fabric.

     I recently sold the quilt to the right on Etsy, so I don't have it anymore. I am seriously considering making a quilt like this, but doing light on a dark background, instead of dark on light.









     There is one more small quilt up on my design wall now, but I am going to save blogging about it for tomorrow, and Design Wall Monday on Patchwork Times; rather than repeat myself 2 days in a row.
 
      I have a long way to go on this next quilt. I am not even sure if it will be one quilt or 2. I have just been using these blocks as leaders and enders, but I have no idea of how I will arrange them. If you want to see this beginning of this idea, and the intact fabric, you can click here and here.

     The following is a list of quilts I have either started or only in my head. I don't have any photographs of them yet; and most don't have enough done on them to take a decent photograph that would look like anything to anyone. I mostly include it here for my own benefit. No way am I even going to be able to work on all of these this year, but I just want a record of the ideas in case I run out of things to do (yeah, right).

Crossroads
Italian Mosaic (bedroom wall)
Phillip Jacobs grape fabric
Spring Forest
Solid Log Cabin Steps
2nd painting quilt
funky economy block from painting
Batik diamond strips-nuetrals
strip triangles
Japanese Ladies
Spears
Spider Lilies-equilateral triangles
Pineapple Blossom
Trees

     I am supposed to be somewhere in a hour and a half, so I will have to quit planning 2013 for now and start living it! Perhaps I can think of some marketing goals for this year for another post. I am planning to link up to patchworktimes.com tomorrow for Design Wall Monday.

     Thanks for stopping by!

Better Late Than Never- 2012 Finishes

 

    Well I finally got those quilts photographed! Here is what I managed to complete in 2012.

     In April, I got an Etsy order from Spain. My first ever international order EVER! In this photo, it has a sheet pinned to the WHITE back to keep it clean. It was scary to make this quilt because white is not usually a part of my lifestyle.












     Last year, I finished my Let's Polka quilt. It was in my 2011 review at the beginning of  this year. When I exhibited at the Inman Park show in the spring, I got an order for a king size version of the Let's Polka quilt. 

          I was asked to make several pillows to go with the quilt.

     This next quilt is the 2nd in my Victorian Library series. It is called English Garden, I finished the piecing last year, but it took until this week for me to finish the binding, and the sleeve. This is the quilt that I putted the sleeve on the wrong edge of; but I have that fixed now.

Victorian Library from last year

English Garden, finished this year

     These quilts use the same block, but I used a different setting, and a different border color. I have a third quilt halfway along, and possibly, will make a fourth. When I made these blocks, I made many more than I needed, so there is no telling how many more quilts there will be from this block.

     This quilt is called Arabesque. I made it this fall. It fulfilled a couple of goals I have been meaning to work on. First it is a large lap quilt, rather than a bed quilt. It was a relatively quick quilt to finish that would have relatively simple instructions.  It only took me a month to make the top, which is unusual for me.

     The last time I tried to submit a quilt to a magazine, the feedback I got was that they thought the quilt was lovely, but it would take too much space in their magazine for the directions. Even though most of my quilts use pretty simple techniques, people tell me they are intimidated by them. I thought that if I made some smaller ones, perhaps they will seem more accessible to other quilters.

     I always like quilts that appear to have curves in them, but in reality, have all straight seams. And next is another quilt that fits that same description:

     This quilt is called Anastasia, because a friend of mine thought it looked Russian.I am disappointed that it is difficult to see the corner to corner background gradation. That shows up better in person, though it is subtle. It feels serendipitous that I should be including this quilt in my end of the year wrap up since it was the subject of my VERY FIRST blog post, here, and you can also check out kaleidoscope labels for further progress on this quilt. 

     I feel I should mention again, that I got all of my scraps organized into a system. I can't wait to see if this help me find more fabrics in my own house, for future quilts.
   
     I also wrote a synopsis of my program, and all of my classes, and sent them to guilds and shops. I sold patterns at 3 quilt shows, and exhibited quilts at 3 art shows; added items and policies to my Etsy shop; and I learned to blog! This year, I spent a lot of time with my new fiend the computer, but I still have lots to learn. Next year, I might try to figure out Pintrest.

     I am feeling that my quilt finishes were a bit thin last year, but, as I said before, I have many quilts close to being done, so 2013 should be filled with finish after finish!

     Now that the look back to 2012 is finished, I can concentrate on goals for 2013. The nice thing about a blog is that you have this information where you can find it, so you can see how you did! I can't wait to see what 2013 is going to bring! What that I never thought of?

     Thanks for stopping by!

Happy New Year!, Quilt Show Update

     Happy New Year Everyone! I am feeling remiss for not getting this post up earlier. I had hoped to get it posted early in the day, but had the opportunity to go to the movies with a friend this rainy New Years afternoon. We saw Lincoln.  Both my friend and I  thought it was wonderful. Now, New Years Day is almost over, but I hope yours was a nice, relaxing one.  I wanted to post the last couple of days, but time kept getting away from me. Partly it was not getting the right photos taken for what I wanted to illustrate.

     I have been working on getting our guilds quilt show organized, cutting rods for hanging, calling quilt shops for award sponsorships, etc. Our guild is a relatively small one, so, it is not going to be a large show, but now that I have seen some of quilts that are going to be in it; I think it will be a beautiful show, with lots of  wonderful quilts to look at.

     The show will be at Art Station at 5374 Manor Drive in Stone Mountain Georgia, 30086. Our opening is January 12 at 7pm. If you are in the area, I hope you will stop by. Like most quilt guilds, our guild has many great cooks, so I think there will be some yummy refreshments at the opening. It will also be a time for meeting those who made the quilts. But, if you can't make it that night, the show will be up through March 2. I am planning to have silent auctions, and demonstrations from time to time through out the show. I will post more about that here when I know more details about timing.

     Like most people, I have spent yesterday and today reflecting what I have gotten done this year, and what I want to put my efforts into next year. This is my blogs first year, and this time last year I didn't even have a blog! When I started, I hoped to post about twice a week. At the end of this year I have 74 posts, so I didn't quite make the twice a week goal, but I did get almost 3/4s of the way there. Not terrible, but maybe I can improve on that this year. I had no idea what to expect in for page views, but last night, when I came home after midnight, I had 3737. First, I was grateful that anybody was willing to look at my ramblings that many times, but It also struck my as a nice number to finish the year on, somehow. In 2013, I hope to organize my blog more, with maybe some tabs across the top, maybe a quilt gallery, and some tips, along with a list of patterns that are available on Etsy. As always, I am open to suggestion, but be patient with me. I am much less adept at dealing with technology than others, so this is a slow learning experience for me.

    Soon, I would like to post a list with photos of the quilts that I finished in 2012. I really spent a lot of time trying to market myself as a quilter this year, and this took some time away from my quilting. I keep wondering if I should try to write a book. So many of the other bloggers are also book authors. Perhaps I will be able to explore that a bit more in the coming year. It is either, find a way to earn a living with my quilting, or find some other way to earn a living! I think that Lyn is not going to want to weave rugs forever; so I will need to come up with something else to do eventually. I am trying to wait on doing a 2012 retrospective post, until I get the last 3 quilts of the year photographed. It was wet again outside today, and between wind, rain, other commitments, and bright sunshine throwing shadows on the quilts, I have not gotten it done yet. The quilts are going off to be hung in the show next Saturday, so if I don't have pics by then, I will just have to settle for whatever weather is going on. Then again, I guess I could take them while they are hanging in the show. There is nowhere inside my small house to take a good photo of a big quilt.

     When I uploaded the photos I did take, I realized that I really had done some quilting related things after all.

    I finished a Christmas tablecloth from some  fabric a friend had given me. It's too late to use it this year; but I will be ready for next year.

     A couple of weeks ago, I posted about trying to decide what to do about a quilt I am currently calling "My Bird Cages" quilt. You can see that post here. I decided to do equilateral triangles in both corners; so now I have to cut more triangles, so I cut the strips for that.

     In the first couple weeks of this blog, I wrote about a fabric that I was pinning to cut into a One Block Wonder. You can see that post here. The fabric is towards the end of the post. I did cut that fabric, and it has been sitting near the sewing machine all year. Occasionally, I used it for leaders and enders. I finally got the first seam on all of those blocks sewn, and most are pressed.

     I was a bit disappointed, because I didn't think I would have so many blocks that had so few colors in them. I still think that I can use the lines in the print to do something interesting with. That failing I could always add other fabrics as I did in this quilt.

Does this quilt look familiar? It is the quilt my header came from. Speaking of that, I am thinking that since my blog's 1st birthday is January 7th, it might be time for  a header photo change.


















     I have also been doing the same with this fabric.

 

 

     At one time, I thought I might combine the 2 fabrics in one quilt, but now I don't think so.

     Last, but definitely, not least-I have been working on this project since the summer when I traveled to Batavia, and Bearea. I had several large containers full of scraps. I brought a grocery bag full of scraps on each trip I went on. and sorted them into different categories in ziplock bags. I used some of the scraps when I made my pot holders, but I didn't even begin to put a dent in them. Finally, this week I finished sorting all of my scraps. And I mean ALL of them. I even went through all of my project boxes, decided if that was a project I ever wanted to get back to; and if not, I sorted all the scraps in the project boxes. I emptied 13 project boxes! In the process, I found a treasure trove of fabric that had been locked away with one project or another. I kept saying "oh, that's where that went, I didn't think I had used it all, but I never could find it. " I also sorted a bunch of fabric that friends had given me when they purged their own stashes. I am know in my friendship group as the person with the broadest taste in fabric, as I like both traditional fabrics, and more current styles. I found 9 extra blocks from one finished quilt, and 11 from another. I had no recollection that I even had so many leftovers!

    In the process, I devised my own scrap system, based on how I see myself using them. We will see if my system helps me make use of the scraps. I think all of that watching of Bonnie Hunter's quilt cam is having an effect on me. Here are the categories I used:

Large Triangles,

Small Triangles,

Medium Bits (2" square or larger)

Small Bits (smaller than 2" square, but not smaller that 1")

Large pieces (smaller than fat quarters, but, most likely, too large to used without cutting)

Solid Strips ( am planning a courthouse steps out of solids)

Larger than 2 1/2" strips

2 1/2" - 2 1/4" strips

2" - 1 3/4" strips

1 1/2" strips - separated by themselves because I use them a lot

smaller than 1 1/2" strips- these and the 2 bits categories, and the small triangles was what I used most often for the potholders

small sewn together pieces (leftover HSTs and the like)

Large sewn together pieces (whole leftover strip sets, large pieces of same)-these were also very useful for potholders

      Such a great starting fresh feeling. AND, it feels like I have a whole new collection of fabric!

     Well, well, so much for shorter, less rambling, more frequent blog posts. It's something to strive for in the coming year.

     By next time, I hope to have photographs in line, of all of the quilts I finished in 2012. I think there will be many more finishes in 2013, because I have so many quilts that have a large percentage already done.

     I hope you are ready to take charge in the coming year-what am I saying? Coming year? It's here!

     Thanks for stopping by!

A Quilt Portait

     There hasn't been much sewing going on here the last couple of weeks with me working 6 days a week at my Christmas temp job.

     When I got up this morning it was nice and bright but cloudy outside so I decided that conditions were excellent to photograph this quilt. It's name is English Garden. I got it back from Regina Carter, my quilter last January or February.
 

       For some reason, it took months to get the binding on; and I just got the sleeve attached.  Part of the reason that took so long was that Regina was teaching me to do a "D" sleeve on my quilts so they would be show ready. I was conflicted about this since most of my quilts are bed quilts, and I am not sure I like having that type of sleeve on them since hopefully, they will spend more time on a bed than they ever will hanging. Also, most of my quilts don't do that well in shows, first, despite my best efforts, my piecing is not perfect enough, in addition to that, I can afford neither the money or the time to get them custom quilted. It seems like show judges hate overall quilting designs on a quilt. I have so many quilt tops in my head that I am anxious to piece, I am not likely to invest in a long arm quilting machine any time soon; besides, that would be a whole other skill to wrap my mind around! Also, though I appreciate seeing elaborate art quilts crystals, thread play, extensive quilting, I enjoy more simple piecing, and prefer to make more functional bed quilts.

     This quilt is the second in a series that began with this quilt.

     When I made these blocks, I went a bit crazy and ended up with about 800 of them. I knew I wanted a lot, because I had plans for 2 different large quilts, plus a small lap quilt that I needed for a gift. I have been working on strip units to put with the blocks and some dark blue fabric to make a third quilt that will probably be finished next year. See library series on my labels list to see where I mentioned this before; but they are just short strip sets. I am not ruling out a fourth quilt either.

     I am also trying to get the binding done one 2 other quilts before my guild quilt show in January. One binding is about halfway on. I am going to have to make a run to the quilt shop to get the fabric I want for the other one. This will give me an opportunity to get the border fabric for the Galapagos 2 quilt. I also need a yard of beautiful fabric for a fabric swap for a retreat I am scheduled to go to the end of January.

     This will likely be my last post before Christmas so I want to wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas holiday with your loved ones!

     Thanks for stopping by

P. S. Good Grief! As I was proof reading this blog post, I realized that I put the sleeve on the wrong edge of the English Garden quilt. This is why it looks so wide in the pictures! Don't I feel ridiculous! Augh!

Design Wall Monday

     I am in a bit of a hurry today, I took on a Christmas temp job and it is turning out to be way more hours than I thought it was going to be. I am grateful for the work, but I am only barely staying up to date on other things I am trying to accomplish. Such as getting Christmas presents out in the mail, and blog posts...

     Anyway, I have been working on this quilt on and off since this February. It all started with this fabric that was given to me for a birthday gift by a dear friend years ago.

        I didn't really want to cut it into small pieces, so I just cut the yard I was given into 4 equal panels, and sewed some borders around them.

I am going to lay the blocks out like this.

     I have long thought that the paintings of Gustave Klimt would be great source material for making quilts because of his use of patterning. This painting is one I had been looking at, thinking that I could use some of the elements in a quilt.

     So, I thought it would be fun to incorporate some of these design element with the large blocks of this quilt. Forgive me if you have read this explanation before, but I first discussed this when this blog was less than a month old, and I had about 30 page views, so I'm guessing this won't be a problem for many of you.

  












     This is a drawing of the layout I am planning.

     Many steps later (If you are interested in seeing more of the steps look up my bird cages quilt labels) this is where I am with this quilt. I have really enjoyed including a wide range of fabrics in this quilt. There are everything from Kaffe Fassett, to batiks to traditional paisleys and such.
 

   
     My quandary is this: My original plan was to put rectangles in opposing quadrants, and equilateral triangles in the other opposing quadrants. The alternate option is to do the rectangles in all 4 quadrants. Here is a photo of what it looks like with rectangles in the top 2 quadrants.

     What do you think? Is my original plan too confusing? I am going to have to think about this awhile. While I do, go see all of the other pretties in progress at Patchwork Times' Design Wall Monday!

   And as always, thanks for stopping by!

Indian Summer?

     The weather here has been amazingly warm. I just couldn't stand the thought of being indoors. I found myself a picnic table in our community garden to doe my trimming outdoors. I keep thinking, how much longer before cold temperatures chase us indoors for months.

     So, while I was out there, used my phone to take photos of what I was doing, and earlier today I transferred those photos from my phone to my computer. I know you all are saying "Ya? So?" Well it was a big deal to me anyway. I had never done that before and I was tickled that it worked. And to those of you who are thinking "Why didn't she just write the blog post on her phone?" Maybe next time. One technological  breakthrough at a time. lol

     Anyway, I got all of the HSTs for the pillow covers trimmed.

       Today I paired each set up with a center and center bar. I plan to get as much sewing done on these as I can tonight.




           I also cut the some pieced triangles for my Bird Cage quilt.

     I used a plastic template.

 And a ruler.

     And cut out a triangle. I have plain triangles which will all be pointing up; and 4 different kinds of pieced triangles, which will all be pointing down.
 

     I couldn't wait to see part of them laid out together on the design wall to get an idea of how they will look.

      

     That's all for now.  This is my attempt at a shorter, more freequent, less rambling blog post. Thanks for stopping by.












    
   

Odds and Ends and Design Wall Monday

     I have been working on many odds and ends this week. 

     First, I finished sewing together the center of my Galapagos ll quilt. So I have to set it aside until I find time to buy some border fabric for it. I didn't want to choose the border fabric until  I could audition it next to the finished center.

     It is a pretty simple pattern, just pinwheels and plain blocks.

     I am working on some more pillows for the person I made the Let's Polka quilt for this summer. These pillows are going downstairs in the parlor. She chose the solid quilt block, but with a couple tweaks to the color scheme. I sewed and pressed all of the HST for that today.

     She wants 2 more 24" pillows for a different room; so I have been working on some drawings.

   





  I had a friend who wanted some pot holders for a Christmas gift, so I made 2 large pairs and 2 small pairs in her color scheme, so she would have some to choose from.

     As you can see, I have yet to hand stitch the bindings on most of them.

     While I was working on those for her, I pulled this combination of scraps out of the scrap box as well.













     I got this quilt back from my quilter, Regina Carter, in January. Can you believe I am still doing the hand work on it?  Shame on me! I am still working on stitching down the sleeve. I will show a picture of the whole quilt once I get the sleeve finished. It is 75% done. I had better hurry. I am scheduled to get a lap quilt back from Regina, this Tuesday. I am planning to put both of these quilts in the quilt show that my quilt guild is having at Art Station in Stone Mountain Village in January.

     When ever I am writing these long  blog posts, I always think I should make shorter blog posts more often, but somehow, it never seems to actually happen. I thought one of the good things about trying to link to Design Wall Monday, would be that it would cause me to get in the habit of writing 2 blog posts per week. Oh well, maybe next week. 

     Don't forget to check out all of the other beautiful things at Patchwork Times, on Design Wall Monday, and; thanks for stopping by!