Prep and a Finish

   Wednesday was Sew Day for my church comfort quilt group.  We spent most of the time cutting up scraps into usable sizes including 2 ½” strips that we plan to use to try out the Jelly Roll 1600 Quilt.  Missouri Quilt Company has a video how-to on  Youtube.   Greater Columbia Quilters are also planning to do this as an After-After at the March general meeting.  The directions call for 40 WOF 2 ½” strips.   I have a set all sewn together ready for the event.  

 

      Martha spent the morning sewing borders on her Lone Star quilt ( using the “Radiant Star” pattern by Eleanor Burns). This is only Martha’s second quilt. Notice the unusual design.  When Martha cut her strip sets into units, she accidentally cut them at the wrong angle.  It was a lucky accident because her quilt top is lovely and unique.

Today I finished the t-shirt quilt for my daughter-in-law.  

I did not quilt it heavily.  I used the walking foot to stitch-in-the-ditch for the sashing.  Then I free-motion quilted around the designs trying only to stabilize and accent the designs. This is how it looks on part of the back.

Victoria Finlay Wolfe

    I find the work of Victoria Finlay Wolfe inspirational. She does a lot of improvisational piecing and creates "made fabric" which she uses in her quilts.  If you visit her blog here this week, she has a link to watch her recent episode on "The Quilt Show" for free.  You do have to sign up for a free account. 

I love her quilts and hope you check out the show and her blog.

On her site "15 Minutes of Play" Victoria and others share tutorials worth checking out. 

Maverick Stars and More

    I’m have not been in the mood to sandwich and quilt one of the many tops waiting.   Instead I have gotten a lot done on the piecing of multiple quilt projects.  Tuesday from guild meeting I brought home an adult kit of 5 ½” squares. I wanted to add more interest and creativity to the squares so I used the lightest squares to create Bonnie Hunter’s Maverick Stars.  This photo shows half of the top complete. 

    My leader/ender project has been Crossroads blocks for a comfort quilt.  Twelve blocks are complete.   I am considering whether to add more or a simple border of the fabric in the top right of the photo.  You can find out more about this block here. 

Yet another quilt top is ready to be quilted because I added the sashing to my daughter-in-laws t-shirts.  

The weather was so beautiful and spring-like a couple of afternoons that I have also thought about taking time to work in the yard OR making a new spring dress.  

        

                   Happy Sewing!

A Little Sewing

     Monday was Snow Make Up Sew Day for my church sew group.   We met in our new room.  It was warm, sunny and very nice.   I helped Gail add borders to her Lone Star and several of us spent the most of the morning cutting small pieces into usable size pieces like 2 ½” strips.  Next month we plan to make Jelly Roll race quilt tops without racing. 

      Today was guild general meeting day.  We enjoyed a presentation from Suzi Parron on Barn Quilts.  We had a good number share something for show and tell.  You can check out the photos here. 

    This afternoon I finished sewing scrap blocks together for a child’s comfort quilt and added a simple border.  Here is the top. 

 

Next Tuesday I will take it to guild comfort quilt sew day and get backing and batting for it.  

I have started on a t-shirt quilt for my daughter-in-law.  Her mother saved her t-shirts for it.  After I get the top together, I will share a photo.  

      Tomorrow is another sew day here.  A guild friend is coming over to help piece guild name tag tops. 

         Keep Sewing! 

More Snow Weather Sewing

  This morning I woke to ice on the trees and then it started snowing very large flakes.  We only got a little snow on top of all the sleet and ice.  It was pretty.

I stayed in all day sewing.  I finished a t-shirt for my little granddaughter.  She loves dogs.

I finished piecing the "Stack" quilt top.  I will probably not quilt it until I finish some other projects.

Late this afternoon the ice started melting, but it is expected to refreeze overnight.  Hopefully, a lot more melting will go on tomorrow.  In the meantime I pulled another UFO.  Last year I bought an X-Large diamond template from the "Pizza Girls" and used some old bandanas.  I'm not sure how I will finish this project.  I was just playing and trying out the giant template. I have more of the smaller Lemoyne stars yet to piece.

Weather Sewing Day

       For over 25 years I have enjoyed watching Sewing with Nancy on my local PBS station SCETV.  Two shows filmed in 2012 had guest fabric and quilt designer Tula Pink.  I liked her  “Stacks” quilt and thought its 18” blocks would make a fast comfort quilt.  I cut the pieces and have sewn on them as a leader/ender project until yesterday and today as the icy weather kept me inside all day.  

My 12 blocks are pieced.  I thought I was ready to sew them into rows until I looked at this photo of them laid out.  I need to move a few blocks around first. 

 

You can watch the full show free online at SewingWithNancy/Video

I also had plenty of time today to sew on another puppy appliqué t-shirt for a granddaughter.

 

Stay safe and warm.  I’ll be sewing. 

Celtic Solstice Top Together

     The weather outside is nasty so I have spent the day sewing on my Celtic Solstice adding the last borders and finally the top is altogether. 

 

I prefer my green squares border instead of Bonnie’s orange dogtooth blocks.  The only problem is that I do have a stack of the orange and blue dogtooth blocks made.  They will just have to go into my orphan block box for another project.   I wanted to use a blue fabric for the outer border that I used in the quilt.  I needed ALL except an 1 ½” WOF strip.  Just did make it. 

Valentine Snack Mats

      Where has the time gone? I don’t feel like I’ve accomplished much; at least nothing big.  Still unsure about what borders I want to add to my Celtic Solstice, I pulled out a variety of small quick projects to work on.  The major one has been Valentine Snack Mats (AKA Mug Rugs).  I made a couple as hostess gifts and a couple to cheer up ailing friends. 

 

The one below uses a heart pattern called "Heart Strings" by Annette Ornelas that creates curves with straight seams and fabric squares folded on the diagonal so the bias edge can be folded back and stitched down to create the curve.

Then I decided to make a couple for my granddaughters. 

     While looking for greens and blues in my stash for my Celtic Solstice border, I took the time to organize those bins in the “file” system.  I really like this system so far because it is so easy to see what I have.  I hope I can keep with it.

    Sometimes I’m just in the mood for a challenge.  I pulled out 2 adopted UFOs that will become comfort quilts for my church quilt group.  As may frequently be the case, one was probably abandoned because the sewer was having trouble getting the units to finish up at the planned size.  What to do!  I thought about using the pieces for improvisation piecing and not worry about losing points.  They have the potential of being really lovely so I decided to use traditional piecing. I have carefully sewn 2 blocks to get them close to the planned size hoping to keep most of the star points by sewing scant ¼” seams.  Two more I added frame strips around the blocks.  There are still lots of adopted small units that need squaring up.  With the pieces given, I will not be able to complete the original pattern so I will have to make a plan on how to use these pieces.  I’ll plan to show a picture when I have more of an idea for this project.

      Have you ever taken on a similar UFO challenge?  What did you do?

Beginners and a Finish

      Last Saturday I taught a class at JoAnn Fabrics to a couple of new quilters.  They had taken the beginner class and made “Hole in the Barn Door” blocks.  This class was to put them together with sashing and cornerstones and a border for a quilt top.

Reese decided to use a large floral print for this first top and use her blocks for another quilt.  Candy is making hers as a gift.

 

They did a great job.

A month ago my guild had a speaker to help us organize our home and sewing room.   When I needed a black and white fabric the other day, I decided to organize those bins in the “file” method.  Already I can tell this will save me time and be helpful because I can more easily see my selection of fabrics.

   I finished the charity quilt.  

 

As I quilted I practiced an open style free-formed feather. After quilting one side, I stitched the S curve through the middle back to the bottom to stitch the second side and then to go to the next feather. I could use the center area for many other types of fillers but decided to focus on the plume part this time.