Author: JayeL

Quiltmaker who enjoys writing and frozen chocolate covered bananas.

Mod Lights Buffet Runner

I spent most of Saturday’s Sew Day working on the Mod Lights pattern from Sew Kind of Wonderful. When I say ‘working’, you have to take that with a slight grain of salt, because I can’t help but change up the pattern.

In this case, I am not changing a lot. The fabrics are different and the size is slightly different. I want it to fit my buffet and that piece of furniture is a certain size.  Otherwise, the layout and the way I put it together was the same.

Holiday Lights Buffet runner
Holiday Lights Buffet runner

I finished the top on Sunday, so now I have to make a back and find some batting.

I bought the pattern on a whim at Stitch in Ferndale.  I stopped there, as mentioned, on my way back from Portland right before Christmas. I love that store. I would drive up there for a class, if they had one I would enjoy.

Trimming the lights
Trimming the lights

This pattern required the small/mini Quick Curve Ruler, which I also bought at Stitch. I was slightly annoyed because I thought I could use the larger version, but I ended up happy after seeing the lights develop and how great the motif is.

As mentioned when I was making MetroScape, all the curved portion of the blocks require trimming. You might sincerely dislike trimming, but I like it as it sets me up for success. Some of the curved pieces I sewed together came out super weird looking. If I had tried to sew them together as is, I would have had a disaster on my hands. As it was, I was able to help fill a pet bed and be successful.

The pattern has a couple of different projects included so you are getting some bang for your buck. All of the projects include the light. I got some ideas on other projects in which I could use the light motif, so I might get even more bang.

Green Strips Donation Quilt Quilted

Tim texted me the other day and sent photos of the Green Strips Donation Quilt, which he had finished quilting.

Green Strips Donation Quilt quilted
Green Strips Donation Quilt quilted

I gave it to him as a top and back and he sent photos of the top quilted.

I really like what he did and am planning another one in purples as soon as I finish a couple of the regular postage stamp donation blocks I have started.

Tim was nice enough to send me some details of the quilting, which looks great! He was excited about quilting this piece because I didn’t use white. I’ll think about grey or yellow when I make the purple one.

Green Strips Donation Quilt -scrappy binding detail
Green Strips Donation Quilt -scrappy binding detail

He changed the back, because he didn’t like it, to an ombre fabric (see that blue at the bottom?). It’s fine with me as long as he doesn’t give me the back back. I already counted it in my fabric used tally and it is hard enough to get those yards used as it is. He is also thinking of a scrappy binding. Photo is of his thoughts on binding.

Drawstring Gift Bags

Finished Jeni Baker Drawstring Gift Bags - Snack sized
Finished Jeni Baker Drawstring Gift Bags – Snack sized

I finally finished all of the gift bags I started at Gerre’s house a few weeks ago. I know I showed one of them previously. Sometimes I just have to show progress in order to make it seem real. The gifts are in them and ready for Christmas.

Crazy, I know, but those gifts arrived late for Christmas 2018, so I’ll just save them.

I am not sure I will make more of these bags for gift bags as they take quite a bit of time. Still, I bought some twill tape so I wouldn’t have to suffer through making drawstrings and I want to use that up. We’ll have to see.

As mentioned previously, Jeni Baker sells the pattern, which includes multiple sizes including a laundry bag size which is good for those of you sending kids off to college.

Dream Projects #11

I last wrote about my dream projects in July. Since then, I have, actually and surprisingly, made some progress on this list. This makes me kind of feel like writing down dream quilts isn’t a terrible idea. Of course, some projects haven’t changed.

Art Institute of Chicago Fusible Applique’ (Ticker Tape Style) Quilt

  • Status: Dream state
  • Pattern: Original, I do have a version of the pattern I used for the Whole Cloth quilt and I will use it as starting point.
  • Fabric: Turquoise and red, mainly, but other colors for the leaves and flowers, perhaps
  • Steps: need to fuse a bunch of turquoise to some piece of fabric in the ‘ticker tape’ style so i can cut it up into small pieces. I am thinking of making it similar to the Whole Cloth Quilt and using red, again, for the background.
  • Thoughts: I might make another one with turquoise on top of red with just two pieces of fabric.

Art Institute of Chicago Fusible Applique’ (one sheet of fabric) Quilt

  • Status: Dream state
  • Pattern: Original, I do have a version of the pattern I used for the Whole Cloth quilt and I will use it as starting point.
  • Fabric: Turquoise and red, mainly
  • Steps: need to fuse a big piece of turquoise to SoftFuse or similar, then cut out the image and fuse it to the background. I would satin stitch all around the image. I don’t know that I can make one continuous piece, but will try. The image would be similar to the Whole Cloth Quilt and using red, again, for the background.
  • Thoughts: I might make it with turquoise on top of red with just two pieces of fabric.
  • Added: 9/14/2017

Basketweave Baby

  • Status: Dream state
  • Fabric: Scrappy
  • Pattern: Fons & Porter, series 1000, episode 1005
  • Thoughts: I like the challenge of piecing this quilt and using a lot of partial seams for the piecing

Blue Rectangles Gradation Quilt

  • Status: Hunting and Gathering
  • Fabric: blue 2.5×4.5 rectangles
  • Pattern: similar to FOTY 2008
  • Thoughts: I can’t decide if this is still a dream or if it is already started and I just need to arrange it and start piecing. I have done a lot of cutting, so I think I have started it, thus it may not be a dream anymore. The original idea stemmed from the FOTY quilts. I just decided to do a monochromatic version – using just blues, in this case. I probably have enough patches now and just need to slot the time to work on it into my schedule.

Blue Lemonade

  • Status: Hunting and Gathering
  • Fabric: blue, purple and green scrappy
  • Pattern: inspiration from TFQ’s Pink Lemonade quilt
  • Thoughts: I probably had enough squares to make this quilt, but then I used a bunch of them to make En Provence. Now I am working on cutting more. I hope to slot the time into my schedule int he not too distant future.

Easy Street

  • Status: have pattern/ dream state
  • Fabric: pinks
  • Pattern: Easy Street by Bonnie Hunter
  • Thoughts: I really liked Daisy‘s version of Easy Street, which she calls Cherry Bomb (she thinks of the best names for her quilts) in terms of color and feel. I don’t want to copy her, but if I do this quilt, I’d like to have the same pinky-red feel to it. One challenge about a mostly monochromatic quilt is getting enough contrast. I look forward to that challenge. Not sure this will become a reality.

En Provence #2

  • Status: Dream state
  • Pattern: En Provence by Bonnie Hunter
  • Thoughts: I loved the one I made before and can’t stop thinking about it. I have to make another one, but I can’t figure out what colors to use next. The ones I used before were almost perfect.

Feathered Star Block (or quilt?)

Flying Geese Quilt

  • Status: some Flying Geese made, good design in mind
  • Pattern: I did a drawing that I want to use
  • Thoughts: this wasn’t on any of my lists, but it has been on my mind lately and I think I will make it soon.

Good Night Irene Quilt

  • Status: dream state
  • Pattern: Good Night Irene from the Missouri Star Quilt Company’s Block magazine, Spring issue v.2, issue 2, pg. 54
  • Fabric: I decided not to use a layer cake and will use the scrap 2.5 inch squares I have been cutting. I love the cheerfulness of Scrapitude Carnivale, as I say over and over, and am not done with that combination yet.
  • Thoughts: I thought about using dots on a white background, as I did with the Scrapitude Carnivale quilt as the background. It makes the Scrapitude quilt look so cheerful. I probably wouldn’t call it Good Night Irene.

Interlocking Triangles Quilt(s)

  • Status: dream state
  • Pattern: This is an idea that I designed myself. I made two quilts and have variations on the pattern to make more.
  • Fabric: I have a few different collections of fabric I want to use. Most are rainbow colored; I also have a lot of stripes to use
  • Thoughts: This is a quilt from which I get a lot of bang for my buck. The visual impact is tremendous. The easiest way to do the spiky triangles is with paper piecing. I am not that big of a fan of paper piecing (read my laments about the Spiderweb‘s paper piecing). I made Spiky Stars using templates and that was meditative and won a prize, so it is doable.

Jack’s Chain Quilt

  • Status: dream state
  • Pattern: Jack’s Chain, a continuous pattern
  • Fabric: bright scrappy, consistent centers
  • Thoughts: This is one of the first quilts I saw hanging in a quilt store and thought of making, after I learned to quilt. I have seen a number of variations lately using different hexagons in the center. It occurred to me recently that I could do four rings and make a pillow cover instead of a whole quilt. Partially, I thought of this because I saw an EPP pattern for this quilt. Taking on another large EPP quilt is not in the cards. I could also make the pattern larger, making the piecing for a quilt much quicker.

Music Quilt

  • Status: dream state, but not very inspired
  • Pattern: Top will have a piece of music the Young Man can actually play. That will probably be applique’
  • Fabric/Colors: music prints and tone-on-tones with a little red
  • Thoughts: The Young Man has requested this quilt as his high school graduation quilt. I missed that deadline. He has sent me a piece of music, which I printed out. Now I need to make into an applique’

Pineapple (Hunting and Gathering)

  • Status: I have some strips cut.
  • Fabric: dots. Have most of the strips cut. Will be much more selective about which strips I use.
  • Pattern: Pineapple log cabin
  • Thoughts: I haven’t given up on a Pineapple quilt despite my frustration with the previous attempt. I bought a different ruler: a Creative Grids Pineapple ruler in hopes that it will work better for me

Silk Colorblock quilt

  • Status: I have the fabrics and the plan
  • Fabrics: silk dupioni and cotton in brights (of course)
  • Pattern: Similar to Colorblocks 2
  • Thoughts: I have made a couple of, what I call, Colorblock quilts over the years. One was the Kona Challenge in 2011, another was my 1990 Colorblocks 2 and the first one, Colorblocks, also made in about 1990. I bought the silk fabrics at the Marin Needlearts show about a zillion years ago and they have languished waiting for me to learn to back them so I can use them. I think I have that covered now and there is nothing stopping me except time and will.

Spin Wheel

  • Status: Hunting and Gathering
  • Pattern: Fons & Porter Spin Wheel, 1200 series, episode 1201
  • Fabric: Scrappy with controlled scrappy background
  • Thoughts: I like the construction of this quilt and am convinced that I will make it. Another one just waiting for time and will. I have forgotten to cut the pieces I need to make the quilt, so I’ll have to add the correct size to my cutting sheet.

Windmill (Hunting and Gathering)

  • Status: half cut; need more greys for the background
  • Fabric: Scrappy. I will use a grey for the background, because if I use more of the cut fabric patches, the pattern will be lost. The pieces are too oddly shaped and I don’t want to lose the pattern in a mass of scraps.
  • Pattern: Come Quilt with Me Rotary templates
  • Thoughts: I think I will buy the Sizzix template and cut grey windmill pieces with that instead of by hand

Out of the Dream State: Below is a list of projects that were on this list at some point that I actually made or am working on:

Other:

I removed Stepping Stones #3 from the list, because I decided to give the pre-cuts to quiltmakers from the CampFire who need projects to work on. The details were:

  • Status: waiting.
  • Fabric: Macaron pre-cuts from Hoffman. It isn’t started, but I have lots of pre-cuts and think they would make a really fun version of this quilt.
  • Pattern: Stepping Stones by the Lintott girls
  • Thoughts: Hmmm. This is less exciting to me now. I think I need to finish #2 and then decide. It is just as likely as not that I will make this.

I might make another Stepping Stones quilt, but for the moment I think I am done with that pattern.

26 Projects 2019 n.3

Finished 2019 Quilt Projects

Stepping Stones n.2 – finished January 1, 2019

Finished 2019 Non-Quilt Projects

This category covers bags, toys, aprons and knitting as well as other non-quilt projects.

Doing Good

  • Ends n.7 quilt top and back – finished 1/6/2019
  • Green Strips quilt top and back – finished 1/16/2019
  • Green Thing donation top and back – finished 2/2019
  • Libs Elliot donation top – finished 2/2019 – Cheryl actually did the quilting and the binding. She made me feel good by saying she really liked the quilt. I should try the technique using stripes instead of making stripes and see if I feel differently. I should do a lot of things.

In Process
The ‘In Process’ is used to denote projects on which I am actively working or are on the design wall waiting for me to stitch. I try not to put away projects, because that will ensure I never work on them

  • FOTY 2017 – pieces cut. Off the design wall. I counted and resorted the pieces while I worked on the City Sampler. Now the City Sampler is finished, I need to get it back on the design wall. I am tempted just to sew them together as I have sorted them and not worry too much about gradation.
  • English Paper Piecing Project– half hexies – I work on this generally at night in front of the TV, so I made slow but steady progress. I am still thinking of my friend Faye whenever I work on it. She says that I have to think of this as my slow project.
  • Serendipity Lady Quilt: I was kind of surprised that I made progress. As mentioned in a previous post, I finished satin stitching the pieces on this project and am ready to baste it for quilting.

Still WIPs
I still have WIPs. Who doesn’t, after all? A project in the ‘UFO’ category means I am stalled. A nicer way of saying UFO is a WIP. The list is a lot shorter and the projects are newer, for the most part.

  1. FOTY 2018 – this has to be on the list now as I have cut a ton of squares and need to arrange and sew it together.
  2. Handbag Sampler – this is still the forgotten project. The blocks were teaching samples when I taught a sampler class the time before I started writing the quilt class sampler tutorials. I found one block recently, but otherwise I actually don’t know exactly where the blocks are hiding. I have an idea and still have to crawl up in the far reaches of my fabric closet soon and see if I can find them. I haven’t even found a picture of all the blocks. Sad.
  3. Lobster – I still have more stitching to do and then I need to quilt it.
  4. Pies and Points from 2016 Victoria Findlay Wolfe class. The last time I worked on it was when Julie and I had a playdate in April 2018. I brought this piece with me so I could cut more elements (Julie has a Sizzix). I lost my excitement about this piece and will have to get it back. Thus, I had to move this to the WIPs area.
  5. Pointillist Palette #4: Fourth is a series of 6 quilts; needs tiny square patches sewn together. No progress.
  6. Self Portrait: started in 2006 at a class at Quilting Adventures in Richmond, Virginia. I am still stalled on this again. As my oldest (I am pretty sure) UFO, I put it on my blog and out into the Twitterverse and Diane suggested that I not consider this as a self portrait. I think that strategy is a great idea. I am now trying to think of a new persona for her.
  7. Under the Sea: the top is done and I need to finish the edges and make it into a pillow
  8. Black and Red quilt – This came about because of two other projects. I made a whole bunch of bias tape as part of my failed attempt at doing the Mighty Lucky Club a few years ago. Another part of the inspiration came from my class with Tina of Little Blue Cottage fame. This was going to be for a nephew, but I think it will be for one of my SILs and BILs. I have rectangles cut and some bias tape ready. My next step is to sew the bias tape to the rectangles like pickup sticks. I don’t have any photos of this, so you’ll have to use your imagination.
  9. Who Am I? – This piece is up on my design and I keep meaning to work on it, but I haven’t. I am not sure why, but I don’t want it to end up like the Self-Portrait.

Small Projects in Process

Most of my progress involves thinking or just cutting.

  • 4-Zip Organizer – part of Crafty Gemini Organizer Club. It is on my list, but I haven’t actually started
  • Chubby Charmer with Good Fortune charm pack – gift; not started.
  • Quick Curve Ruler lights tablerunner – The pieces are cut out and ready to sew
  • Retreat Organizer – another project from the Crafty Gemini Organizer Club, also on my list, but not yet started
  • Solid black cell phone wallet – The pieces are cut out and ready to sew
  • Ultimate Project Organizer – another project from the Crafty Gemini Organizer Club, also on my list, but not yet started
  • White on black dots cell phone wallet – The pieces are cut out and ready to sew

Ready for Quilting

  • None now

In Quilting Process

  • BAMaQG IRR –I have been working on this lately and am making progress. It is slow since it is hand quilting. I might add some more machine quilting to the project to move it along
  • City Sampler was taken to Colleen on 2/26/2019.
  • Theoretically, the Tarts Come to Tea is in the quilting process, though I haven’t worked on it in a while. Mom said she is really looking forward to me finishing it, which might be the incentive I need to get back to work on it.

Binding

  • The Aqua-Red Sampler is ready for binding. I got it back at the end of February 2019. This won’t count against my fabric usage goals as I counted it last year when I finished the top and back.
  • Metroscape is being bound. I got it back at the end of February 2019

Hunting and Gathering

  • 30 Something: I continue to cut 1.5 inch squares. I am pretty sure I have the 800 I need, but I am not ready to sew them together yet, so whenever I have a chance to cut more I cut more. It will give me choice when the time comes. I looked at whether I could start piecing this, but I found I need to cut some other sizes. I got those sizes on the cutting sheet and have a cut a few. I need over 600 of a size something like 1.75×3.75. I need some more accessories boxes to organize these new pieces. I’ll have to think up a new name for this quilt, too, since I am not using 1930s fabrics.
  • Blue Gradation Quilt: cutting 2.5 inch x 4.5 inch blue rectangles. It has to end sometime. I wasn’t sure I was ready to put this together, but I think I might be. I might do a couple of gradation quilts in a row just to get the practice.
  • Blue Lemonade: cutting blue, green, purple 2 inch squares. I used a lot of these squares for En Provence. I need more and have made some progress at Craft Night using the Accuquilt.
  • FOTY 2019: I decided to cut 2.5 inch squares again for the 2019 version.
  • Pink Gradation Quilt: cutting 2.5 inch x 4.5 inch pink rectangles
  • Spin Wheel: really not started, but supplies gathered. I might have to cut some more background fabrics. I probably have enough fabrics and just need to decide to start.
  • Windmill quilt: Still hunting and gathering. I am supposed to be cutting a variety of greys for the background, which required the purchase of a new template. Cutting is very therapeutic, so I should try and do it when I have a few minutes.

Other

Gross usage is just over 21 yards YTD. My net is at about 9 yards. It is early in the year so I am hoping I can still use 100 yards of fabric net.

What’s on your list?

Aqua-Red Sampler

Aqua-Red Sampler, quilted & ready for binding
Aqua-Red Sampler, quilted & ready for binding

The other quilt that came back from Colleen, along with Metroscape, was the Aqua-Red Sampler. I am very pleased with how it came out.

I am glad I made the decision to forgo the sashing. I think it looks good as is. The blocks don’t bleed into each other too much.

I noticed when I flipped the quilt over that the back was very cohesive, like I made the City Sampler back. I am not giving up my big bold flowers, but I might try and keep some backs similar to the front if the design warrants it.

Aqua-Red Sampler back, quilted & ready for binding
Aqua-Red Sampler back, quilted & ready for binding

This back is very subtle except for that one red rectangle. I wonder what I was thinking?

Gift Bag Done

Gift bag, drawstring style
Gift bag, drawstring style

The other week I went and had a sew day with Gerre.

I started to sew some drawstring bags to use as gift bags on the day I sewed with Gerre. I am trying to get the small gifts I purchase throughout the year wrapped as I buy them. As you know, I don’t like wrapping gifts and wrapping 30+ small gifts right before I went to Portland was my own special kind of torture. These bags, using Jeni Baker’s Drawstring bag pattern, are a start.

They have been laying around since the Sew Day with Gerre while I worked on other projects. The other day, I stitched a bit and finally finished one!!!! It turns out that I didn’t have much left to sew and doing several in a row really helped the process.

The size I chose (pattern includes multiple sizes) is a tiny bit small for the gift on which I planned to use them, but it will be fine. I can’t remember what I did with the drawstrings on the Juggling Balls bag, but I need to figure that out as the strings on this bag are definitely not acting like drawstrings.

Metroscape Returns

As I mentioned yesterday, I dropped a quilt off to be quilted. I don’t normally just go to Colleen’s to drop off a quilt. I try to take two or more at a time. As it happens, two were ready for me to pick up and Metroscape was one of them.

Metroscape quilted, reading for binding
Metroscape quilted, reading for binding

I am pleased that it is nearly finished. Colleen machine stitched the binding on for me as usual, but I will hand stitch the rest.

Metroscape back- quilted and ready for binding
Metroscape back- quilted and ready for binding

The back is kind of fun. I know I didn’t think much of it when I made it, but it has grown on me.

Progress!

City Sampler Back

City Sampler back
City Sampler back

Normally, I wouldn’t give a back its own post. In this case, the back would have been another top, if I had just had a bit more fabric.

I used the blocks I didn’t want to use on the front in the back and I am pretty pleased with how it came out.

The photo isn’t great as the back is fairly huge and doesn’t fit on my design wall.

I took this quilt over to Colleen yesterday and she will quilt it. This means another UFO is well on its way to being finished.

February 2019 Donation Blocks

It is a little early to post a complete list of donation blocks for February. I am dong it anyway. I have been doing quilt a bit of gift sewing, which I can’t show for a few weeks, so here we are.

It was easier while I was working on my secret project to make donation blocks rather than work on the back of the City Sampler, thus I used the 2.5 inch squares as my leaders and enders. I’ll finish up the city Sampler back today.

Not a ton, but some progress. I have more ends to use up, so I may work on that next.

BAM Meeting 2/16

A couple of things came up at the guild meeting which I wanted to share.

Libs Elliot donation top
Libs Elliot donation top

First, Another of the tops I made and donated was finished and shown. Cheryl finished the Stripes donation top that I made at QuiltCon last year. She gave me some nice compliments on it, which made me feel better about it. I may try that stripes technique without actually making the stripes. I know I can’t vary the stripes when I do’t make them myself, but making the stripes is super tedious.

Peggy's HST donation quilt
Peggy’s HST donation quilt

Peggy, as usual, was prolific in her quiltmaking. She made the above donation quilt from scraps she had saved generated by a previous pattern. Each of the non-white triangles consist of made fabric. I think the randomness of the layout could be done with HSTs and would make a fun donation quilt. Once I am done with the Bias Rectangles, perhaps I will play around with this concept.

Color My Quilt for Sam
Color My Quilt for Sam

Finally, we have a guild baby. His name is Sam and he is about a month old now. His mom, Velvet Pincushion, brought him and his grandma with her to the guild. The new little family will be moving soon, so we were thrilled to get a chance to meet him. I am excited to see that VP is still stitching even with a new baby.

She brought the Color My Quilt quilt she worked on before Sam was born. Progress has halted, but she made good progress before Sam was born. I don’t know if we’ll see the quilt before they move. It is more block based than some of the others. My shard is on the bottom left in between the Friendship Star and the very bottom left hand star.

Sew Tites and EPP

Sew Tites
Sew Tites

The other day I got an email from Culcita saying they were raising the prices of Sew Tites.

Like a sucker I bought more.

Sew Tites from QuiltCon 2018
Sew Tites from QuiltCon 2018

OK, I am not really a sucker. I like this product. I got my first three free at QuiltCon last year and I found them to be incredibly useful for bags and sewing with vinyl. These fill in the gap where WonderClips won’t work. I bought a 15 pack thinking I would disperse them around my various bags so I would have them handy when I needed them.

Sew Tites are magnetic and fall somewhere between a pin and a clip. One half goes on the top of your piece and one half goes on the bottom. There is nothing pointy or sharp which is why they work for vinyl. I think they would also work for something thick like Soft & Stable. I can’t remember if I have tried that or not.

EPP: 1st two half hexie legs
EPP: 1st two half hexie legs

The other night I was, once again, fighting to line up my half hexie EPP project. The tips need to be in just the right place. I remembered I had received the Sew Tites. I went up and got a few and tried them out.

I was putting half hexies together to make stars. I use a ladder stitch (or an approximation thereof). The trick is to keep the two legs next to each other in the correct position long enough to sew them together. This is really tricky since I only have two hands. I have been using WonderClips. They work okay but not great, especially for the inside angle.

The Sew Tites aren’t perfect either. They are a little hard to maneuver to get the pieces to stay where you want them. Still, once you get the Sew Tites in place, they stay put. Thus, your pieces stay put. The Sew Tite are kind of large, so I am only able to hand sew half of my seam before I remove the magnet. Half is enough to ensure that I can keep the two half hexie legs together the rest of the time needed to sew the seam.

EPP: 3rd half hexie leg
EPP: 3rd half hexie leg

The magnetic Sew Tite can also straddle areas of piecing where there may be no fabric or paper to which to cling. Unlike a WonderClip, which needs something on which to clip, the Sew Tite sticks to itself. In the second EPP picture you can see that there is a space on the inside angle where there is no fabric or paper. The ends of the Sew Tite are on paper and fabric while the middle sticks to itself. There is no problem and they still hold the pieces together.

There is a benefit as well. The farther down I can place the Sew Tite and still have it hold, the more of the seam I am able to sew without moving or removing the Sew Tite.

EPP: 2 halves make a star
EPP: 2 halves make a star

I have also been struggling with getting the centers of the stars to line up. Sew Tites work for this problem as well. Again, once the pieces are lined up, the Sew Tites hold them in place.

I have been wanting to tell more people about them in the Crafty Gemini Facebook Group, but there is a prohibition against talking about other products. Oh well, I assume people will hear about them eventually.

Check out the Culcita/Sew Tites website for videos and more information.

 

Improv Block Donation Top

Remember I said I went over to Tim’s the other to meet with a group from BAM and traded donation quilts with him?

Fun & Cheerful Donation Quilt Back
Fun & Cheerful Donation Quilt Back

I made a back for the fun and cheerful quilt I took from him. I started with pink fabrics, but then realized I should use orange. The quilt top has other colors, but came across as mostly orange to me, so orange it was.

The color will be great for a boy, but not the flowers unless the boy is open minded and doesn’t mind a few flowers.

Fun & Cheerful Donation Top with border
Fun & Cheerful Donation Top with border

I also added a small border to the top. Somehow it didn’t look finished to me, so I added a border. A slightly larger quilt is always better IMO.

The blocks remind me of the Tina Michalik class BAM had at Always Quilting a few years ago. It is a fun quilt and the texture of the piecing is really nice. I think the border frames it. I do wonder if I just made it un-modern by adding the border. C’est la vie.

 

The Friday color and creativity posts will return soon!

Stepping Stones n.2 Finished

Stepping Stones n.2 - Finished
Stepping Stones n.2 – Finished

I meant to drum both of my quilt hangers into service for this huge monster, but, sadly, the YM left to go back to school before I could do it. Regardless, the Stepping Stones n.2 is finished.

Some guild pals helped me take the photos by holding it for me.

There are things I don’t like about it, mostly concerning value (or maybe contrast– I haven’t delved into the differences yet), but the overall look is good. I may not be done with this design yet, but we will see. I am not sure what I would do differently aside from changing placement of some of the fabrics or create a different border.

The quilting shows up really well from the back.

I will send it off to its new home soon.

City Sampler Top Finished

City Sampler top finished
City Sampler top finished

I finally finished the City Sampler top. I have the binding dome as well, but the back is still in progress. No worries except time as I want to have at least two tops finished before I head to Colleen’s.

I didn’t use all of the blocks. I ended up deciding not fix the ones that would be a pain after I realized I couldn’t find all of the fabric. I did fix a number of them. The ones that didn’t make the cut will go on the back.