Design Wall 5/30/11

Today we celebrate Memorial Day. It is the time to remember all the men and women who have sacrificed to keep our nation free. Thanks to one and all for the freedoms I have. I am truly grateful.

This is what is on my wall this morning. I have the center done, 3 borders on and the 4th border is on the sides. I am hoping that this morning I will be able to get the top and bottom borders made and on and then this top will be ready to quilt. This is a throw that will be 60 x 70, just the right size for snuggling when it is either cold outside or the air conditioning is turned down too low. Anyway, I think I have enough black batting for it but won't know until I get it done and on the frame (and of course, until I make a backing for it). I got a new panto from Urban Elementz Saturday that will be just perfect and I think I am going to quilt it with purple thread.

And to make the weekend even more productive, look what I got finished.

My feathered star is now a full fledged, finished, flimsy. In my previous post I showed my "one" mistake while making the friendship stars but otherwise it went together quickly and I am really pleased. It looks a little washed out in this picture because I took the picture in full sun but once it is quilted, later this summer, you will see how really pretty it is. I am not sure how I am going to quilt it: I may be looking at other feathered stars for inspiration.

Now, before you return to either your celebrations, eating, or sewing, be sure to go over to Patchwork Times to see what other quilters have been up to.

Feathered Star: working

On my schedule for Tuesday was “complete the feathered star table topper. Well, here is where I am, one border on. All of the parts are made but I spent 3 hours on the phone Tuesday and 2 hours on the phone today, trying to get service from my internet server. I believe the router is kaput but they think it is my computer(s). I was using my cordless phones and had all three go dead, because of how long I was on the phone, both days. However, I seem to have service, for now, so thought I would share what I have been up to.

Here is another reason I didn’t get as far as I should have. What is wrong with this picture? And I didn’t see there was a problem until it was all sewn together either. I made a couple more before I was willing to take this one apart and do it right.

I now have 12 that are complete and, except for the sewing part, look just like this. All of the borders will look like the one in the first picture with plain squares in the corners. Then I will bind it with the background fabric, after quilting it, of course.

I am off to teach a WW group this afternoon and will be in FL doing the same thing tomorrow but hope to have this top finished on Friday. It will be good to have this one done because I have visualized it for so long and I am really proud of the feathered star.

May 23rd Design Wall

So here is my design wall for today. In the center is my most recent attempt. I am sewing squares and rectangles of batiks, framing them in black and then sewing them together. The squares are 3” and the rectangles are 2.5 x 3". Of course the strips are different lengths but I have a plan to even them out. As you can see, I have several rows sewn but the rows are not sewn together, yet. I had a plan for blocks on this quilt but I couldn’t make it work. So I went with the little squares and I am liking it a lot. I have a plan (read: thought) for borders which I am hoping will work.

And, sadly, off to the right, is my feathered star. I think I heard it sobbing yesterday when I was in there working on the batik quilt. But I have blue friendship stars scheduled for today so with any luck you may be able to see some progress in that area.

To close out this out I am sharing what I wake up to every morning. There is nothing better than waking up under your own quilt, with Abby.

Don’t forget to go over to Patchwork Times to see what other quilters are up to.

Design Wall 5/16/11

Well, doesn’t this wall look busy? First off, on the left, we have the first 5 blocks of Esther’s Heart’s Desire BOM. All done and boy, was I ever proud of my accomplishment. She gave us the center block one month and then in March she gave us the outer four and two months in which to do them. It took me all of that two months but I finished at the last moment. I was looking forward to the next block until I looked at it Saturday night. It is a beautiful block but we have four, again, to do but this time we only have one…YES, I SAID ONE… month to get them done. I will probably not even try to get them done on time but tomorrow I will begin prepping. You really should go over to Esther’s blog to see our new task/treat.

The little colored squares are the beginning of a batik quilt. I designed a block for this quilt but as I began piecing I have changed my mind and right now I am just making little blocks, lots and lots of them, and will decide how they will be placed, later. I really love how the batiks pop when sashed with black.

Unfortunately, you can also see my feathered star, still without a border. This UFO is not getting done at this rate. But it is still on the wall, just to keep me from forgetting it.

Now, don’t you forget to go to Patchwork Times to see how other quilters are getting along.

Design Wall 5/9/11

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother’s Day.  With all of our children either miles away or working, DH and I spent the day in Pensacola, FL, eating and shopping.  The weather was beautiful and the day was fun and restful.

So, my design wall for 5/8/11:

I’m afraid that nothing got done on my feathered star table topper.  I wonder how long it will hang up there before it goes back on the shelf.

To the left are 7 of the 8 Underground Railroad blocks, LQS BOM.

These are the two for May and for the first time in a long time I have them done ahead of time.

Here are all 8, one of them was lost for a short time but I found it before posting this.  The fabric is chosen by the LQS owner and it seems we are going for a lot of orange, my favorite color.  I did add some of my own batiks in the log cabin as only one fabric was there for the dark side and it just didn’t look good to me.

I also spent some time doing the applique on other BOMs and chose the fabric for others.  These BOMs are really filling up my sewing time.

While we were out today we visited one of our favorite antique malls.  And I found these:

I love overalls and couldn’t pass these up, so fun.  They are a little heavy so will probably be used mostly during the winter.  I now have 4 full overalls as well as two shorts ones.  What I need is a farm: my dad always wanted to be a gentleman farmer, I guess I am following in his footsteps.

Oh, did you see the flowers next to my hand in that picture?  DH brought them for me, aren’t they pretty?  Now for more pretties, run on over Patchwork Times and see more quilts in the making.

Design Wall & Book (Vook) Review

But before we look at my design wall, you MUST look at my completed Eleanor Burn’s Egg Money Quilt. I am really pleased with it. Also, please note the llittle bald head right behind the top of the quilt. Isn’t he cute?

And here is my design wall. On the right is the UFO I am going to begin work on later this week. I made this feathered star almost two years ago in a group class some guild members put together. I was so very pleased with how this came out, designed a table topper for it and then…nothing. So it has come up to the top of the UFO list and it will get done!

And here are the five blocks for Esther Aliu’s Heart’s Desire BOM. The top and bottom blocks are not complete but far enough along for me to feel I might have them done by the time she gives us the next installment on May 15th.

Book (Vook) review: Several weeks ago I was asked if I would read and review an e-book on quilting.

I will start by saying that I have an iPad and a Nook and have already been reading e-books and e-magazines on it so this part was comfortable for me.

This particular book is written for someone who may be interested in quilting but knows nothing about it. It covers the structure of a quilt, fabrics, colors, tools, etc. And the best part it that every chapter starts with a video, introducing the subject.

As to content, I found it somewhat superficial. By that I mean that many terms and/or ideas (example: batting) were not well explained, but only skimmed over. If I were a beginning quilter I would have no idea at that point what batting really is That said, many ideas were introduced and, much like a survey course in college, if you were still interested, you would know that you needed more to learn about it.

I really like the concept of this book but wish it had been more fully fleshed out.

Now, for more quilty fun, head on over to Patchwork Times.