Design Wall Monday, October 17

I got home yesterday, and was pretty tired. I wasn't up to much last evening, I just knitted for a while, had a nap, took a really long bath, knitted a while more, and went to bed. Wild party animal, that's me ;-)

Today my design wall is sporting the two blocks I got started on from the Improvisational Adventure Quilt class I took on Friday. I'm not sure how much I'll work on these this week, but I'm leaving them up on the design wall because I enjoy looking at them and pondering what comes next.



Check out Judy's blog, to see what other quilters have on their design walls. Thanks for stopping by to play. Come back again soon.

Friday's and Saturday's Projects

I only slept for about 2 hours on Thursday night, so Friday evening I wasn't up to writing a post. So now I'll share what I did the last two days of the show.

In my Mariner's Compass class, I got the arcs pieced (the round part is in quarters) and the center circle applique prepared. I still need to cut the background and piece the arcs into it, then applique the center into place, add borders, and then it'll be a quilt top:


In the Improvisational Adventure Quilt class, we started some log cabin variation blocks. I got a good start on two blocks, and made some other units, but didn't get pictures of them yet. I'll post them later -- maybe on Monday for Design Wall Monday ;-)


This next thing seems like a cross between a poncho and a shawl -- a ponchawl? a shawncho? The teacher/designer called it the Suzanne Wrap, which may be the easiest way to refer to it. So, here's my Suzanne Wrap:

The color's off on that -- it's actually a pretty sage green color, not gray as it seems in the photo.

Yesterday I had one class scheduled in the morning, and one in the afternoon. The morning class was another class with Debby Kratovil, called "Sugarloaf Jewels." Unfortunately, I overslept and missed it. I woke up just in time to throw on clothes, rush over to the Expo Center and pick up my kit. So that picture will be coming later.

In the afternoon, I had a class with Connie Spurlock called "Don't Get Caught in a Bind," which was about different ways to bind and otherwise finish your quilts. This class was hands-on, and first we learned how to do straight-of-grain binding on right angles:

then on angles greater than 90 degrees:

then we learned how to do ruffles:

and Prairie Points:

and bias binding, and how to apply it to a round shape:


and finally, I used bias binding to make this eyeglass holder:

I did one make-it-and-take-it at the show, at the Sew Artfully Yours booth. I silkscreened a leaf on one end of this hand-dyed silk scarf, and needlepunched assorted fibers on the other end:


Right now, I'm getting ready to head for home. Thanks for coming by to play. Come back again soon.

Here Are Thursday's Class Projects!

In the morning, I took a class from a woman named Barb Callahan. We each got two vintage hankies, to make two "flower" pins. She had a lot of floral and other print hankies, but I chose simpler ones -- one a white linen with a pretty green crocheted edging, and the other a white linen with a subtle tone-on-tone embroidery motif in the corners, and hemstitching along the sides. I made these pins:


Then in the afternoon, in a class taught by Debbie Kratovil and starting from a precut kit, I got this far on my Storm at Sea quilt:

As you may be able to tell, the blocks and units are joined in rows, but I haven't gotten the rows sewn together. It'll also get a border. The center will finish to about 35" square, and then it'll get roughly 4" finished borders.

Last evening, I learned about hand piecing. The instructor, a woman named Marty Moon, called the class "Portable Piecing." Here's what I got done:

The color's really off on this -- the center square is purple solid, the triangles are a raspberry solid, the border strips are navy solid, and the cornerstones are a pretty teal solid. There are still outer border strips, in a dark green solid, which I haven't gotten to yet. I seem to recall that this will finish to something like 17" square, but don't quote me. Anyhow, it's around that size.

It was a full and enjoyable day -- three good classes, and some time to shop and enjoy the show.

Today's classes are going to be fun, too. I'm taking two quilting classes from Debby Kratovil, who also taught the Storm at Sea class. The first is Mariner's Compass. I've made several of these before, but I'm always up for learning new techniques, and I really like Debby and the classroom environment she fosters, so I'm looking forward to this! Then in the afternoon, Debby will be teaching an Improvisational Adventure Quilt. I took her "No Sneaky-Peeky Improvisational Quilt" class last year, and enjoyed the whole process quite a bit. This time the class is sort of a follow-up to that one, with different techniques. I'm really, really looking forward to that one as well! Debby is the designer who has been patterning the Gee's Bend quilts for Wyndham Fabrics. Then in the evening, I'm taking a class from Emma Seabrooke called "The Suzanne Wrap." It starts with two rectangles of fabric, and its serged. I don't know what to think about this one, but I'm looking forward to it because it seems like it's based on a clever concept, and I always love to learn more clever concepts! ;-)

Thanks for stopping by to play. Come back again soon.

Design Wall Monday, 6/6/2011

I have two small things on my design wall, both of which have been there for a while. I haven't done a bit of sewing since I got home from retreat. I'm planning to change all that this week, but for now, here's what I have to show:

These are squares that were cut (according to the pattern instructions) for my blue and green "Sassy Sixteen" quilt, one of the tops I finished at retreat last month. They were supposed to be used to make a pieced border, but I decided that I wanted to do plain borders instead. So then these squares were left, so I put them up on the design wall. I haven't completely decided yet whether to sew them together as-is, or put them in with the rest of my precut scraps. But I'll probably sew them together. Some time.


This is from a class kit from Debby Kratovil, called "Coffee Filter Fans." I made these blocks at retreat last month, though I still need to stitch the fans down to the background squares. I might sew these together into a quilt, but the more I think about it the more I think they may become the basis for a jacket. These were quick and fun to do.


I hope to get some sewing done this week, have some finishes and get something new up on the design wall. Wish me luck! Stop by Judy's blog, to see what other folks have up on their design walls.

Thanks for stopping by to play. Come back again soon -- and I promise to post more regularly ;-)

Quilter's Accountability Report for 5/18/2011

It's been a busy week! Here was my list of intentions I posted last week, and how I did:

1. Finish piecing Max & Miss Kitty top. Done! I decided that I didn't want an inner border after all, because I didn't want to go shopping, and I wanted to get the top together. Seeing it, I'm sure I made the right choice there.

2. Add borders to blue and green quilt top. Done! AND I made the binding for it, as well.


3. Add borders to red and brown quilt top. Done! AND I made the binding for it, as well.


4. Work on Mom's jacket, and finish it if possible. I worked on this a bit at retreat Saturday night, got the rest of the fabrics chosen and applied to the sweatshirt that is the base for the jacket, and got the shapes zigzagged around on both sleeves, and started to zigzag around shapes on the front. Good progress, though it's not yet finished. It will stay on the list for next week. Pictures when it's closer to finished.

5. Quilt and bind Crazy Stained Glass. Done!


6. Quilt and bind Diadem. Done!



A good, productive week, quilt-wise. I'm thrilled with what I've gotten done, and hope to continue the trend. Here's what I intend to get done in the upcoming week:

1. Continue to work on Mom's jacket, and finish it if possible.

2. Quilt Oak Leaves and Reel. (This has been loaded on the HQ16 for quite some time now, and just needs to be done!)

3. Quilt Sugar and Spice.

4. Quilt Thimbleberries Goose in the Pond.

5. Add borders to Wolf Quilt.

6. Add borders to As Time Goes By Quilt.

That ought to keep me plenty busy! Stop by Bari's blog, and see how others did with their lists.

Thanks for stopping by to play. Come back again soon.

Retreat Progress, Not All of it Mine

Retreat this time hasn't been at all typical. Too many things from "real life" intruded in the first part of the week, and now I've been feeling a bit like I'm playing catch-up. Still, it's always good to have a break and get away, and when there's sewing involved it's even better.

So what have I been working on? I'm so glad you asked! So far, I've quilted two tops (Diadem, and Crazy Stained Glass, both of which I've shown before, and I'll show again when they're bound and completely finished), added borders to two tops (the blue and green one, and the Cider Mill Road Disappearing 9 Patch, which I'll show in next week's Quilter's Accountability Report on Wednesday), and squared up a set of redwork (well, brownwork I suppose, since they're stitched in brown) blocks. Today I'm planning to bind the two I've quilted, and work on making those stitchery blocks into a top.

The other night, we heard a lot of frogs trilling out in the pond outside our windows. A few of them even came up to the building we're in, and several of them were actually ON the glass of our windows, checking out what we were doing. One handsome little fellow was peeking in the side window next to the door:

when I grabbed my camera, he beat a retreat to the outside of the door frame. But since I'm a human with opposable thumbs ;-) I can go through doors -- so I went ouside and got this shot of him:

Look at how long those legs are!

Janet was making a great flannel quilt for her grandson to take to college:


And Bonnie got this top together, which she'd been working on (off and on) for a lot of years. She had a number of frustrations with it, but now that it's together, I'd say it was worth it:

I'm hopeful that the next two days will be really productive. I'll check in again tomorrow with an update.

Thanks for stopping by to play. Come back again soon.

Quilter's Accountability Report

One QA report gets posted on a Thursday instead of a Wednesday, and my brain gets reset! I was thinking this was due tomorrow, until I got the e-mail with Bari's post in it. I haven't posted a report for several weeks, because I was with my parents while my mother had surgery and recovered a bit. But I did have some sewing with me, and I DID get a few things accomplished.

Let's see how I did. Here's the list I posted, along with the status of each project:

1. Piece Max & Miss Kitty top. I forgot to take this one with me ;-(

2. Piece Diadem top. Done


3. Finish piecing Improvisational quilt. Done -- not only pieced, but totally done -- quilted and bound.
4. Quilt and bind Strippy Mini. Done.

5. Quilt and bind Mini Bow Ties. Done.
6. Quilt and bind Colorwash TATW wallhanging, and add a sleeve. Leave with mom for Mother's Day. Done, but I didn't leave it there. I realized that they have nowhere to hang it, since my dad paints. He's got lots of paintings they have no room for, so they don't need wall quilts.


7. Finish mom's jacket, and leave it with her. Never got to it at all, but I'm taking it on retreat with me. I leave on Sunday for a week.

I'm delighted with what I got done, given that I was also going back and forth to the hospital, keeping out-of-town family in the loop, and (a few nights) cooking dinner for my father. I got some knitting done, too. It was a productive time for me.

Next week I'll be on retreat from Sunday evening through the following Sunday afternoon. I still want to quilt one or two large quilts, and take them with me to bind. I also plan to take a few smaller things that I can quilt on the regular machine, to finish up while I'm there. Here's my list for next week:

1. Quilt and bind Oak Leaves & Reel

2. Quilt and bind Sugar and Spice

3. Quilt and bind Thimbleberries Goose in the Pond

4. work on mom's jacket

That's enough for the first part of the week -- the next list will have some of the smaller things on it. Check out Bari's blog, to see how others did on their lists.

Thanks for stopping by to play. Come back again any time.

More Spring UFO Club Candidates

Here are some more of the UFOs I hope to complete this quarter, as part of the Quilters Knitting Spring UFO Club on Ravelry. Wish me luck!

First is a wallhanging from a class I took last fall at the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo in Kansas City, from Debbie Kratovil. It's a pattern called "Diadem," and I have to sew the pieced corners (which are all made, even though I only have a few in the photo) to the floral squares, then assemble the top, add borders, quilt and bind it. According to the pattern, it will finish at 40" square.



This is a small Christmas Bowtie quilt. It measures 13"x16-1/2" and the bowtie blocks are 3" square. This just needs quilted and bound, and a sleeve added of course. I made this in the winter of 2006-2007, when we were relocating to Missouri and I was in the hotel while DH was working, and didn't have a lot to do. It was productive sewing time for me then, but for some reason I never went ahead and finished it all the way.

This picture was just me trying to be a little bit funny. This is what's done so far on Triple Chain, which was a Strip Club project I got from A Piece in Time. All the strip sets have been sewn, and a few have been pressed, but none have been cross-cut into segments yet. This is totally scrappy, and I believe it's going to finish to queen size. I'll probably keep this one, though I'm not sure yet.
This is another mini quilt. This was the result of a class at the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo, though I don't remember for sure what year. I'm thinking it may have been 2006 or 2007, and I think that year I attended the show in Cleveland, OH. But I'm not positive about either of those things. When this is finished, it will end up belonging to one of my teddy bears. I collect teddy bears, or I did -- I feel like I have enough, now. Anyway, I've decided that all my bears need to have a quilt or an afghan (which others might call a dishcloth) of their own. This one measures 16"x20-1/4" and also just needs to be quilted and bound and have a sleeve added.
This was another class project from the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo in Kansas City in October 2010. This was another class with Debbie Kratovil, who is creating the patterns for the Gee's Bend quilts for Wyndham Fabrics. This class, though, was Improvisational Quilts. So, in the style of the Gee's Bend quilts, but not following a pattern. We learned some techniques and just played around. These are the units I've got so far -- the smaller ones still need to grow some, and I'll need to make some more units. This is just for fun, and will probably end up being either a wallhanging or a quilt for one of my large bears. Probably not big enough for a human to cover up in it, in other words.

That's this batch of projects, pictures and stories. More to come, today and tomorrow, and probably spilling into Monday.

Thanks for coming by to play. Come back again soon.