Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Tour - Love it

http://www.quiltmaker.com/blogs/quiltypleasures/

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks issues are some of my very favorite magazines.  In fact, yesterday I browsed through my issues to find blocks to use for the Boston Modern Quilt Guild project for the Marathon victims, and of course, I was able to find several blocks that are perfect.  The tour for the newest issue is this week and there are many giveaways, so click the link above and join in.  Good luck to all of us:)

Quilts for Boston

This is an fyi post.  The Boston Modern Quilt Guild is collecting quilt blocks to make quilts for those who were affected by the horror of the bombings at the Boston Marathon.  Please visit their site and consider helping out if possible.  http://bostonmqg.blogspot.com/p/quilts-for-boston.html 

They also have a button to post to your website if you would like to do that.  I am a Massachusetts resident who has been praying along with others since this horror, and now I can contribute something materially as well.

Another fyi.  A few years ago I contributed blocks for the Quilts of Valor organization, and subsequently heard from one of the men who received a quilt from them that included some of my blocks.  It made him happy and made me feel that my time behind the sewing machine is very worthwhile.  I feel pretty sure that the same applies here. 

Thank you, and of course,

God Bless You.

Trip Around the World in Progress

My grand-niece asked me to make her a quilt in pastels and for some time I've been watching for a design that would catch my eye.  The April/May issue of The Quilter Magazine http://www.thequiltermag.com/ has on its cover a Trip Around the World quilt that is a bit different because it is set on point.  Julie Lynch designed it and she named her version Sun-Kissed World.  So now that I had my design I just had to get the fabric layout to my liking.  In a traditional Trip Around the World quilt there is a center  block with organized rows of colors orbiting around it (albeit in a square formation.)  I chose my fabrics and cut them  into 4.5" squares.

 

Then last Sunday I auditioned them and moved things around a bit.  I made a four patch square for the center block using the solid pastel fabric, Fairy Frost by Michael Miller. 

 

I thought this would be the final layout.

Today I began putting it together on point.   Excuse my sloppy bed; it made a good design wall.

 

When I got to the edge I just didn't like the coral so I changed to green and stayed with that.

 

 

Here are my rows.  The squares are sewn together and the rows are pressed in alternating left/right directions waiting to be sewn together.  I hope to get to that tomorrow.  Then I have to think about the border or maybe try it without one. 

 

 

I had a wonderful day sewing today.  This project came together so easily. 

 

I did finish America the Beautiful and love it. 

 

Hope you are enjoying your weekend as well.

 

God Bless You.

Hello World

The thing about working on UFO's is that there isn't much to post except the bits of progress so I 've let my blog rest for awhile.  I've reached the point on my America the Beautiful quilt where I am auditioning fabric for the binding and that makes me very happy.  I just have a few pictures of the FMQ I've done.  Look at the difference a little stippling makes.

 

And I've enjoyed making twinkly stars because they look nice and are easy. 

 

 

I am surprised at how long finishing this quilt has taken.  I am just not a fast quilter. 

I made the 10th block in the Ben Franklin qal http://erikhomemade.typepad.com/files/our-editor-block-10-benjamin-franklin-mystery-quilt-page-1-3.pdf  It is called Our Editor.

And I put together a body pillow cover using Blank Textiles' Bora Bora.  These fabrics transport me from my very sedate home to daydreams of the tropics. 

 

I finished the mini quilt I was making during SewCalGal's International Quilting Day.

 

I have won some nice things as well.

This is from the Worldwide Quilting Day site.  They had a whole month of giveaways.  I've never tried Aurifil thread so now I have the chance.  Thank you.

This I won from Judy Chain of Sew Fun Quilts during SewCalGal's Golden Quilters Awards.  I love that I have the makings of project already cut and ready to sew.  Thank you, Judy and SewCalGal.

And also from SewCalGal is this collection of batiks from Hoffman Fabric.  I hope you can see the pansies, daisies, ferns, leaves graphics and in the upper fabric the shells. There is also one with sea horses.  I had just purchased a Bali Snaps pack of Hoffman Fabric and as you can see it blends well with the other pieces.  This will be another fun project to put together.  Thanks again SewCalGal.

Is that it?  Think so.  I did put together another I Spy quilt for my sister's grand kids and my day was made when my nephew posted a picture of his little one and in the background was my quilt on the floor.  It's being used. That warms a quilter's heart. 

That's where I am.  Hopefully America the Beautiful will be a finish this week.  I hope you all had a blessed and happy Easter.

 

God Bless You. 

WWQD Post 2

I have the mini quilt sewn, sandwiched and ditch-stitched.  This is a good opportunity to play with FMQ so I'm going to take some time to think about what I would like to do in that regard.  I have the sleeve sewn to my log cabin quilt but need a rod for hanging, so that's on hold. 

 

 

Hope you are having a fun day.  You can link in to this sew-cial at SewCalGal's.  http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com/

Today is Worldwide Quilting Day

Here I am at home sewing alone, but in fact, I am probably sewing with , perhaps millions or is that too high an estimate, of other quilters around the world.  There isn't a quilt shop in my area, but quilt shops everywhere are hosting activities to celebrate this event.  Bloggers, too.

This is what I'm working on today;  Putting a hanging sleeve on a log cabin quilt I made from my Little Quilts All Through the House book ( one of my first quilts and now I want to hang it,)  a mini quilt to replace my Valentine mini quilt and my America the Beautiful quilt that is still in the 'stitch in the ditch' stage. 

 

 What's appropriate about this mini quilt is that the fabric is aTy Pennington strip set that I won from Quiltmaker and the quilt block is from Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks edition Volume 1. 

 I have taken two Craftsy courses; one by Cindy Needham and one by Ann Petersen and both advocate ditch stitching before any decorative quilting is begun.  But on this quilt I think I will never get to the decorative quilting stage:)

One place you can join in with other quilters online today is SewCalGal's qal.  http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com/  Join us if you can.

 

God Bless You

and

Happy Worldwide Quilting Day!



Snow Day

I'm still working on finishing up my PHD's (projects half done.)  I have been ditch stitching my America the Beautiful quilt.

Just getting this quilt sandwich done was a major accomplishment and now I am enjoying seeing this one come close to the finish line. 

I'm home today because this is what's happening out the back door:

But tomorrow the temps hit the 40's so Mother Nature will be teasing us with a bit of Spring again.  She's been quite the character for us this year. 

 

God Bless You.

 

 

GQA Winners Ceremony

The winners of the Golden Quilters Awards have been announced.  Padsworth hosted the award ceremony quite nicely, and I think Hollywood could learn a thing or two from him.  http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com/2013/03/welcome-to-2013-golden-quilter-awards.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+InsightsFromSewcalgal+%28Insights+From+SewCalGal%29

 

Congratulations to the winners and to all who were nominated.  That is such a nice honor.  I liked seeing the tools that were nominated because some of them were completely new to me, so there are some gadgets out there I need to investigate.  Thanks to the sponsors, to Padsworth, and to SewCalGal for making this event fun for us.

 

Quilting keeps you in stitches:)

 

God Bless You.

Festive Mystery Finish

A bit late for Christmas or else very early, this baby is wrapped up.  My first prairie points are not perfect and I'm not sure when I'll use them again, but they definitely add a nice touch.  It's just tedious sewing the backing edge down.  So I end February with 2 nice finishes.  Another quilt with Sue Abrey's name on the label as designer.  Thank you, Sue.

 

I also made the ninth block in the Ben Franklin QAL.  It's called Happy Home.

It's the middle block in the bottom row. 

 

I'm finishing my course with Cindy Needham on Craftsy, and then I'll try quilting another UFO.  I may have another finish in my near future.

 

Be quilting or be square.

 

God Bless You.

 

There's Nothing Like a Finished Quilt

 

This is a big finish for me.  The QOV is done.  I am going to add a hanging sleeve to the back in case my brother wants to use it, but other than that, this project moves across the finish line.  I feel very good about that.

 

I added a friendship star to the backing.  It's very appropriate. 

 

 

When I was at MQE last spring the person at the Quilt of Valor booth gave me one of the labels they use when they present a quilt.  I doctored the picture so my brother's name isn't visible.

 

 

Some of the backing fabric.  My very poor hand quilting is visible but that's ok. 

 

This means I can move to another UFO and push it across the finish line.  I selected the Festive Mystery Quilt because all I need to do is quilt it and bind it and it's done.  I've already run into problems with that simple intention, so I'll begin today with some unsewing.  That's the quilting life. 

 

I want to give a shout out to SewCalGal for a recent review she did on a Craftsy class with Cindy Needham.  http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com/2013/02/craftsy-class-design-it-quilt-it-with.html  Based on her post and review I decided to take the course, mostly because one of the segments was about a table-top method of basting the quilt sandwich.  This part of quilting for me has always been the big dread.  Last night I watched the intro and the basting segments and feel that I have already learned so much.  Cindy is terrific, and has a nice way of conveying what she knows.  FYI, when I clicked on the Craftsy link through SewCalGal's post, the course was discounted 25%, but when I opened Craftsy from my browser the course was the regular $40.  I don't know how long that discount is in effect.  

 

Wishing you a finish soon.

 

God Bless You.

 



Philadelphia Pavement and Real Progress

This is the eighth block in the Benjamin Franklin QAL.  http://erikhomemade.typepad.com/  I love how this block turned out and think I got the balance just right in the colors and prints. 

What really pleases me is that I have reached the point of sewing the binding on the Quilt of Valor I'm making for my brother.  That's what I'll be doing for the next few days. 

Moxie loves this quilt.  When I was quilting it she would get on the fabric that was in the hoop and try to nest there or else crawl under it for a nap.  I had to put it away in a plastic container to keep her off of it.  Too funny.

 

God Bless You.

GQA Voting and Adventures in Squirrelville.

Yesterday Moxie was jumping from window to window facing the backyard so I looked out and saw a squirrel hanging like a monkey by his tail in the redbud tree.  I was thinking "wow, I didn't know squirrels could loop their tails around and hang like that" (duh) when I realized it was in distress.  Now the snow was still mid-thigh high, but I put on boots, hat, scarf, coat and gloves (mostly to protect myself in case he got violent), went out with branch clippers and tried to help it.  The poor guy had gotten his tail caught in the Y of a branch, but I could not cut it.  However, because I had lowered the branch he was hanging on, he could get his forepaws on another branch and pull, which he did, and suddenly he was loose and running for cover.  This was left in the tree:

That's fur and it's still there today, so it's caught really well.  He removed the bark trying to get free.  I think that should make up for the squirrel who jumped under my moving tire a few months ago. 

It's time to cast your votes in SewCalGal's 2013 Golden Quilters Awards. http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com/2013/02/2013-golden-quilter-awards-voting.html

The thing to remember is that not only can you vote for someone you want to acknowledge in the quilting world or for something that you rate highly, but you give yourself a chance to win prizes donated by sponsors who support SewCalGal's event.  There are gift certificates, fabric, quilting tools, thread, books, and a neat set of lotions.  You can vote until 2/28/13.  When I first began quilting and blogging a few years ago, few of the faces and names meant anything to me, but I am happy to say that I recognize many of them now so it's a bit of a challenge to choose.  The easy ones are those I nominated.

This morning I intended to drive to the library, post office and drug store.  But, parking is a mess what with snow mounds covering any parking spaces, so all I got done was the drug store.  However, we've been lucky in that fog has eaten up some of the snow and it's sunny and warm today, so maybe tomorrow will be better day for doing errands. 

 

God bless you.

Fashion Show

My location is experiencing a blizzard tonight so I thought I'd have a little fashion show of some Barbie clothes I've been making.  She always loves a dress-up and it's fun, so here we go.

 

 



Barbie in no one's fool.  She doesn't want Ken to have any excuses for not knowing it's Valentine's Day next week so she got some really big indicator pieces to make sure the message is received. 

 

I also made an I Spy quilt much like one I made a few years ago, and used my favorite backing for a kids' quilt.

 

Do you like the little quilt pictured behind Barbie?   I recently won the first issue of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks magazine that was reproduced because the series is so wonderfully popular.  And I was lucky times 2 because I also won one of their very coveted mugs that is printed with all 100 blocks from the issue on it. 

 I really love it.

Thank you to Quiltmaker. 

This block was designed by Vicki Bellino and is called Queen of Hearts. 

 

If you are in blizzard territory, I'm praying for all of us to be safe tonight and the next few days.  After that, it's a big warm up. 

 

God Bless You.