Some Progress

     Both of the quilts I have been working on have grown large enough that I needed to move them downstairs to the larger design wall behind the loom. I am using these 2 quilts as leaders and enders for each other.

     This one is going to be a lap quilt. I am planning to keep going around until it is 6 feet long.
    

     
     This quilt just needs a couple of rows added to three of the quadrants. Then the center will be finished. I have some pretty elaborate pieced borders planned for this one. 

     I am hoping to get both centers finished this evening while I watch Quiltcam with Bonnie Hunter tonight.

     After that I will head over to http://www.patchworktimes.com/2014/01/27/design-wall-january-28-2014/  
to check out all of the other Design Wall inspiration posted there. Thanks for stopping by! 

Keep on Keepin on

     I have done a bit of work on several projects.

     I am trying to learn how to do several new things on the computer. In the past, when I didn't know how to get it to do what I wanted it to do, I just gave up, or figured out a way to work around it. Lately, I have taken some time out from watching Netflix to watch some U Tube how to videos. I am trying to learn how to put my name and a copyright symbol on the photos I post on my blog. I am also trying to teach myself to use Microsoft Paint to draw the diagrams for my  patterns, instead of hand drawing all of them. If anyone knows of another good, easy, affordable program to use, I am open to suggestion. 

     I went to a house warming party for a friend of mine tonight, and brought a set of potholders.

    I had a great time making these, and now I have the urge to make a quilt from small, improvised blocks like these. I will resist the urge for awhile though, since I have so many other projects that are more pressing, that need to be finished.

      I found fabric for a binding, and machine stitched the binding on Kimberly's quilt this week. It is going to be a chilly week next week, and I know that I will enjoy having this on my lap while I do the hand stitching.

     

     I worked a bit more on this quilt.

     
     I have volunteered to teach this at our February retreat next month.

     I have also worked on this quilt, though I don't have a good current photo of my progress. It continues to grow, and the center is nearly complete.

    
     Under the category of getting my house more decorated, I have thought for a long time that my bed would look a lot nicer if I made pillow cases to coordinate with my quilt.

         
     This week I chose some fabric groupings for those pillow cases.

     Well, it's back to the sewing machine for me. I would love to get the centers of those 2 quilts that I am working on finished this weekend. Where ever you are, I hope you are staying nice and warm, and getting lots done.

Thanks for stopping by!

Design Wall Monday

     Finally! I have finished quilting Kimberly's quilt! Now this project is on hold until I can get a light purple batik to use for binding.Hopefully, that will happen this week.

      My initial color idea for this quilt was to use all blues and greens, and try to invoke water. When I spoke to her mother though, she said her favorite colors were purple and yellow. With that in mind, I added sunset colors to my water. I would still like to do one in all blues and greens. 

     My dear friend Regina Carter has been prodding me to get a pattern done for this quilt:

     It didn't take much convincing. I had already decided that I wanted to get this pattern in time to take it to Arkansas with me this March. Regina had a good suggestion for the doing the piecing a different way, but in order to try it out, I had to start another quilt. I couldn't muster any enthusiasm for using the same colors over again. Why not try a new approach to see how that looks? Maybe this is a good opportunity to try out that blue/green idea.  So, I pulled some fabrics. I wanted to only use what I already had without making another trip to the store, or spending any money.

     I have most of the pattern written, but I would like to proof read it tomorrow, when I am feeling a bit fresher. I think that I will enjoy finishing this quilt. 

     I had a couple of outings sewing with friends this week. I needed something that was portable to carry with me. Neither was a great situation for carrying in a sewing machine. Last year, I cut a bunch of strips to make a quilt using the Economy block:

  

      I got this idea a couple of years ago when I made all of those Economy blocks for my Missing Monkeys quilt.

     This time I am planning to use this painting for a color reference. 

      

      I cut all of the strips last year, so I have been spending my time with my friends cutting those strips into squares. Next outing, I will start pinning color combinations together.

    Last, but not least, I am still working on this quilt:

      It doesn't look like I made much progress, but I got several strip sets put together for it.

 

      I am planning to link up to patchworktimes.com for Design Wall Monday, where you can see what many quilters are working on. It's loads of fun, and will surely brighten your day. Check it out! Thanks for stopping by!

Getting 2014 Started

     I hope your year is off to a good start. I have started out by working on things that I have been putting off for awhile now. (or maybe longer)

     Most of my fabric is sorted and arrange on the new shelves. My sewing room still feels like a crowded mess because the old dressers are still here. I have a call in to a friend who will come by soon to see if she can use them. I hope to get them gone within the next week or so.

     I have continued to quilt Kimberly's quilt. I have only 2 rows and the border left, but now I am contemplating going back and adding more quilting to the wider bands.

     I moved into this house in March of 2010. When I did, I was so tired of all of the packing, unpacking, and everything else you have to do to move, that I never really "decorated" this house. I unpacked, but there were a few rooms that I wanted to change the wall color of. Since I knew I wanted to paint, I never hung any pictures. One big obstacle has always been that I would rather be piecing something. Now it has been almost 4 YEARS! Ridiculous! So, one of the things I decided I want to accomplish for 2014, is to get that started. There are SO many projects I can do around here that would cost little or no money, but would make things so much nicer around here. Project #1-paint the living room. Maybe we should call that project #2 since I did all of that fabric rearranging. (I digress) My living room was this color:

     After painting most of the day for the last 5 days, it is this color:

     
     With a blue sofa, you can see why the blue walls needed to go.

     I have an order for an "Arabesque" quilt.

       
     I made an initial strip set to see if the client liked this combination. This time I made my strips just a 1/2" wider so you could see the fabrics a bit better.

     She did so I have been working on more strip sets in the evenings, after painting.

     So that is what I have been up to lately, hope your 2014 is off to a good start. Thanks for stopping by!

2013 Recap

     Well, It's the time of year when we all record for posterity what we have completed in the year that is drawing to a close. And as usual, I failed to live up to my own expectations, but vow to do better in the next year. Stay tuned and wish me luck for 2014! And of course, I will do the same for you.

Missing Monkeys

     This quilt was inspired by a paintings by Gustave Klimt. While I was working on it my friend Eleanor often asked me " How are you doing on that quilt with the monkeys?" Monkeys? What monkeys?

A Maze Zing

     The idea for this quilt came from a jelly roll race. It's not very often I get a top pieced in a couple of weeks, but this one I did.

Tangerine Twist

     This quilt was  collaboration between Karen Daniel from Honeybegood.com and I. It was so much fun to work with her. I also produced the pattern for this quilt this year. I am going to count that as another finish.

    

Let's Polka

     I actually finished this quilt a couple of years ago, but I finished the pattern, and taught it as a class for the first time this year. It is a great class for beginners, but with so many different blocks, simple though they be, it makes for a full day!

 

Double Star

         I finished this quilt a couple of years ago, and sold from my Etsy shop at etsy.com/shop/quiltdesignsbycandac The person that bought it ordered a second one this year.

      This quilt was a small class sample that I made to give students taking my Pineapple Storm class the option of starting a smaller quilt. I machine quilted this one myself. Something I don't do very often, but I am trying to do more of with small quilts.    

    

     This is a T shirt quilt I made for a client. This is the first time I showed a photo of this quilt because it was meant to be a Christmas surprise. Many of the T shirts are unique to this person, and I did not want to take a chance, however slim, of spoiling the surprise.

     The next two quilts are borderline cases. The tops are finished, and Regina has them. The are waiting to be quilted, and don't even really have proper names yet. One you will notice is rather similar to Tangerine Twist. It is the quilt that Karen saw in progress that was the jumping off point for Tangerine Twist. 

     I made this top while I was making the pattern for Native Harvest. It is the same pattern, but I did not go as wide with this one. I meant for it to be more of a lap size. I think these proportions are actually better. I always thought that Native Harvest was a bit squat.

Native Harvest

 

      I am especially looking forward to getting this quilt back. I want to get it bound in time for my next trunk show.

     The main things I wanted to do in 2013 that I did not accomplish were things I wanted to do with my blog. I wanted to work up to 2 postings a week. I barely averaged one a week this year, and there were a few times when I went over a week without a post. I also want to add a gallery tab to the top of the blog. Maybe start adding a couple of free patterns. Hopefully I will get to that in 2014.

     My most urgent goals for the beginning of 2014 are to finish what I have started in reorganizing this sewing room. I have 2 custom orders that are priorities. I have hit a snag on my fussy cut quilt.

     I think it needs more variety, so I am looking for different blocks to replace the alternate blocks. Maybe I just need to do something different with the setting triangles. I would really also like to get patterns made for my Arabesque, and A Maze Zing quilts before my Arkansas trip in March.

Arabesque

     So many quilts-so little time! Hope your New Years festivities are fun and safe, and your 2014 gets off to a happy start! Thanks for stopping by!

Odds and Ends

     Once again it looks like I have neglected to write a post for a couple of weeks. I am trying to think of what I have been doing that might be blog worthy. Unfortunately, not much, I am  afraid. I have accomplished a couple of things that have needed to get done for a long time, but, not much designing. 

    I finally got the back made for my blue and green strip pieced quilt made, and got that to Regina. I did not take a photo of the back yet. It was too large and unwieldy. I will make a photo of the back when it comes back from Regina. For those of you who want a reminder of what the top looked like, it was this one:

     I am reorganizing my fabric. I picked up a few shelf units very inexpensively at an estate sale, last summer, and I am just getting around to putting my fabric on them. These are two of them stacked. I have my traditional fabrics on these. So far I have done all of my warm colors, neutrals, and purples.

     They all came out of this dresser, which just has not been very space efficient for fabric.

     My blues ad greens are still in there. I have 2 more larger shelf units. I still need to move the blue and green traditional fabrics, batiks, solids, stripes, paisleys, and contemporary designer fabrics.  I will have to find someone to help me move these dressers before I can proceed further with this project. 

     Today, I set up the 404 straight stitch Singer my friend, Eleanor gave me last summer, and actually sewed on it a bit. This type of foot petal is a new experience for me.

   
      At last, I have started quilting Kimberly's graduation quilt. I am embarrassed that it has taken me this long to get the back made and start quilting it. The back was the main stumbling block. I also didn't have a thread that I wanted to use, but finally remebered to get some. I forgot to take a photo of the thread this time. I will try to remember that for the next blog post. Wish me luck on this. Machine quilting is not my forte.  This poor girl as been waiting for this quilt since summer-2012! How did that happen! Sometimes, things just get away from me. At least she is in the Navy, and spent a good bit of the time on training, and on a ship where she would not have been able to use it anyway.

      This quilt was inspired by a jelly roll race I did at a quilt retreat. It has 2" bands alternating with 1" bands down the length of the quilt, and I am quilting a zigzag line in each band.

    I have only 2 more days left of my seasonal job at Patrick's. Hopefully things will get a bit more normal around here after that. The last 2 months have been a total blur. I have lots I want to accomplish in 2014, but that is for another post.

Hope you all are enjoying this holiday season, and doing lots of fun things with friends and family. Thanks for stopping by!
    

Design Wall Monday

     It has been awhile since I have anything happening on my design wall. I have been finishing up a custom quilt order, and making small items like chicken pincushions and potholders for a craft show in November. I don't want to show the custom order on my blog until after the first of the year because I don't want to take a chance on spoiling anyone's Christmas surprise. 

     Finally, there has been some significant movement on my design wall. I have been making the scrappy strips for my fussy cut quilt by using them for leaders and enders while working on other projects. I finally got past some deadlines and spent some time assembling them into blocks. So far I have all 9 of my  "A" blocks done, and 3 out of 4 of my "B" blocks done.They look the same at first glance, but the difference is that on the "A" blocks a 2" scrappy band goes around the center, followed by a 3" band. They are reversed on the "B" block so that I do not have the 3" bands next to each other. I only have 1 "B" block left to make, and all of my full blocks will be completed.

      You can see on the right hand side, where I auditioned some slightly wider sashing between the blocks. You can also see the beginnings of a setting triangle idea.

     There have been many holiday festivities going on in my small town of Porterdale, GA this past weekend. Thursday night we had a tour of homes, and some live musical performances in our newly remodeled gymnasium amphitheater. The Oxford Youth Singers, Newton County Community Band, and the Covington Regional Ballet all performed. I really like living in a county with such an active Arts Association. I have not taken a photograph of our new musical venue, so that will have to wait until a future post. It was originally a gymnasium, built in the time when this was an active mill village. Several years ago it burned leaving the brick walls, but nothing inside, and no roof. After sitting dormant for many years, due to the prohibitive cost of repairing it and putting on a new roof, it has been remodeled to become an outdoor music/events venue. The town is very excited about it. 

     On Friday night we had our annual Christmas parade, which culminated in a visit from Santa with some actual live reindeer. I am in the community garden, and we participated by passing out little bags of sunflower seeds that we had grown last summer. It was warm for the parade-73 degrees!

On Sunday afternoon we had Tuba Christmas, and the temperature was 50 degrees for that! With the wind and misty rain it sure felt much colder. What a difference a day and a half makes! I know that for most of the country, 50 degree days in December is no big deal, and they really are not all that rare here, but the contrast between Friday and Sunday was quite something.

     Are you familiar at all with Tuba Christmas? I had never heard of it before I moved to Porterdale, but there is quite a history behind it. The short version is that Tuba players gather together and play Christmas carols. For more information click HERE
One of our City Council people is the head of a very musical family, and he has spearheaded Tuba Christmas in our town. It is a lot of fun. It doesn't show very well on the photo, but some of the Tubas have Christmas decorations on them!

    So, that is what I have been doing lately.  I am off to make that last "B" block. Don't forget to check on what the other quilters at http://www.patchworktimes.com/2013/12/09/design-wall-december-9-2013/ are up to.

     Thanks for stopping by!  :)