More Fabric

I have shelves (5) full of fabric but had to buy more so I could do the Pinwheel Party quilt that Twiddletails is posting blocks for every week.  I'm excited to finally make a 'black' background quilt and I love the bright pinwheels.... it will be perfect for my son's kids.

I'm sending 4 quilts - all different - down to San Diego for his birthday in May.  They'll be great for him to put in his VW van for the kids to wrap up in after they get off the beach.... or they can sit on them on the sand. They spend a lot of time at the beach so they should come in handy.

I had to stop quilting on the pear wall hanging.  My daughter celebrated a birthday yesterday and it was a long day.  Her brother and sister took her over to Seattle for dinner, drinks and some jazz and they came back on the 1:35AM ferry... the last one for the night.  I picked them up so no one would have to drive after drinking.  So I didn't feel much like quilting today after my 4 1/2 hours of sleep.

Tomorrow, I will possibly be able to complete it so I can find a nice place to hang it.  Then... on to the Pinwheel Party quilt.  I'll have to rush to catch up on that one but it'll be fun to do it.

A Wall Hanging of Pears

On Friday, I received the new copy of McCall's Quilting magazine and my eye was caught by a wall hanging - Pear Still Life - designed by Joyce Robinson that was not only beautiful but was done with a technique that I had never tried.  I had black and orange in my stash so on Saturday I picked up some bright green batik and a chunk of brown from my LQS (local quilting store for those who are new to quilting) and today I began cutting out the pieces from the templates given in the magazine. 

I just love the website for McCall's quilts; I've made a few of their quilts... mostly from their Golden Quilt collection but their magazine has some lovely ideas for quilts also. Lots of scrappy block quilts which are my favorites.

I had a kitty helping out so thought it would be advisable to wait until tomorrow to do the applique/quilting to finish up.

So here is what I got done in about 3 hours today. 

The technique used to appliqué the pieces onto the quilt also is the quilting.  The background is stippled and the bottom/table is done with lines.

I've never applied fabric to fabric in this way before... I've always turned the edges under and hand sewed the edges down, then added the batting and backing and quilted. 

But here, the quilt 'sandwich' is done; the pieces are pinned on.... and the quilting will begin.





I'll use green thread to make it look like the 'pears' are round and 3-dimensional.  Then I'll use orange thread to zigzag the stems on with only a few lines to pin down the leaves.  None of the edges are turned under so this should be a pretty quick quilting job.








Though I still have remnants of a cold, I feel so much better than I have for the past two weeks.  Hopefully I will lose this little cough and I won't get another cold for years and years!

Sylvia's Bridal Sampler

I can't make up my mind.  I've had a bad cold for a week now and haven't been going out so that I wouldn't infect others... I'm coughing a lot.  So I decided to make a block from the Sylvia's Bridal Sampler quilt.  I bought the book last year but didn't start on it because I didn't have the background fabric.  I want to make it in yellow so I think I'll dye some muslin a cheddar cheese color and use that.  I need about 12 yards.

Anyway.... I made a block (A-1) because I was bored.  I had some yellow fabric but just a couple of fat quarters so this is not the yellow background color I was intending... however I wouldn't be unhappy if I could duplicate this color.... not the pattern, just the color... kind of a golden tan maybe.  I really have to get out and buy muslin.... and dye.

The weather here west of Seattle has been marvelous.  Wonderful cloud formations and beautiful blue water and skies.

My rosemary is in full bloom which the hummingbirds seem to love... and I thought they were only attracted to red flowers.  Live and learn as they say...

My cats are bored because I'm not quilting.  Luckily, there are lots of yellow and red finches flitting around outside for them to watch... but not touch.

Windy Day Today

There must be a storm coming in because the trees out front are being blown far to the left.  I called my daughter who lives 5 miles north and is always worried about trees falling on her cottage... and sure enough, the trees are bending there too.  It's a little overcast but not raining.  Quite a good day to stay in and think about what I can find to amuse myself with next.  I've come down with a cold that wakes me with a headache at night so I'm tired anyway and don't really want to go anywhere.

Yesterday I shopped and met my granddaughter and her friend at the dentist's office where she was scheduled for teeth cleaning.  She needs a filling also so she'll go back on March 30th for that.  I paid her bill so the charges wouldn't accumulate.  I really hate it when bills become huge whereas if you pay for the service at the time, no only can I get a 5% discount for paying cash but the bill stays at zero.... until next time, of course.

As I was putting away the book where I kept notes and instructions for 'the quilt that will not be mentioned', I found that I had tucked away in the back of the book some photo-copied pages from a library book with a very cute quilt on it.

I've always wanted to make a quilt with browns and tans as the main colors and though this quilt has a few other colors in it, it might fit my criteria.

I don't want to spend a year like I did on the last quilt I made so I've asked my daughter, who is good at this stuff, to figure out how I can strip quilt it.  I think it can be done but I just can't see how.










Hopefully, Liza can tell me how to put it together easily.

That high wind knocked out the power as well as the Comcast signal - internet and tv - so it's going to be a while before I can finish this post and add pictures.  Looks like no American Idol for me tonight, or blog-writing.  (Update: 8 hours later and I uploaded pictures but the cable came on too late for me to watch AI - good thing I'm not a big fan of the show)

Another quilt top done

Not only is that dad-gummed quilt top - Stars for a New Day - done but it was put away in my quilting closet right away.  People can tell me over and over how much they love the quilt but I don't like the colors at all and I regret that I chose what I did.  It taught me a lesson... just because the blocks are pretty and intricate, it doesn't mean the quilt is going to look good unless the fabric and colors are right.  Good lesson!

But time consuming!



















Here's a picture of the center.  Everything was fine until I had to choose the colors for the large star blocks.  The suggestions were for pink and green so that's what I used... and don't like.

And, I finished my Academy Award party dress.  It is hanging in the closet also because .... the party didn't happen!  Both of my daughters got very sick the day before the Oscar ceremony, so no party for us.

Jaik helping.

The top with sheer sleeves, ruffled shoulders and a ruched side.

Skirt with net fishtail. 

As you can see, this dress was not meant to be a serious item in my wardrobe... it was made for fun.  I feel like Kermit the frog in it.  I'm ready for Hallowe'en.






My next project is to hand-quilt my Dear Jane quilt... to get it on my hoop frame and work at it daily.

I also want to make some summer clothes so I've been to Pattern Review a lot lately.

Still finishing up

I thought that getting the pink border and the star borders done would mean the Stars for a New Day border would be complete and ready to attach. 

BUT.. it turns out that each corner of this border has a log cabin block so I've been slowly doing those.  

Only one left to complete.... but the strips are cut and ready to go.

They're paper-pieced so very easy to do but once again, I ran into life situations that have delayed getting them together and onto the quilt.

 

I'm hosting an Academy Awards party for a few people so I have to stop what I'm doing and get a dress put together.  Here it is in it's pre-sewn form.

Also, my youngest dd has been diagnosed with pneumonia so she's off work and having a hard time breathing right now so I'm going to make a long drive off-island to pick up her antibiotics as well as some groceries for both her and her kittycat.

Hopefully, by the next time I add a post to this blog I will have completed both my quilt... and my dress... and will have pictures of both to share.  And my dd will be feeling much better.

'Til next week then.

Final border is put together!

I've been working like a beaver to get all those stars put together in 4 border rows... and they're done.

Now I have only to cut and sew on a pink floater strip and I will be able to attach the star row. This is a detail of  the star rows.  Can you see the 1 1/2 inch strip that was attached to the side of each star block before the block was then sewn to the one before it.

You can also see here where I have to sew the floater strip between the flying geese and the floating stars.










And here are all four of the rows completed and hanging folded in half awaiting their presentation on my completed quilt top.

My daughter and I went to the Kitsap County Quilt Show last weekend and lo and behold what did I spy but a Stars for a New Day quilt all completed, unlike mine.  The person who made it must have kept up very well with the BOM challenge whereas I was a shirker.  Oh well, at least I can see daylight on mine.  It should be completed within days.

Interesting how different we quilters all are... some like to do small, intricate blocks while others prefer big, simple blocks.  Others like paper piecing... or not, and some sew everything by machine and others only by hand.  I envy the people who love to applique because I find it a challenge.  The love for machine embroidery alludes me but I just adore to embroider by hand.

So as I've complained and whined these many months about how boring it is to make star after star, I was reading Stitches and Seams blog today and she was complaining about the exact opposite as I was.  She prefers to make the same block throughout and finds it tedious to do different blocks while making a sampler quilt.  That is the reason I really enjoyed making my Dear Jane quilt because every tiny little block was different - all 169 of them.  Vive la difference!