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.

Design Wall & Thank You

This is on my design wall today.  It is step one of my Journal quilt for May.  I don’t know if you can see that it is woven with two different blue fabrics.

And this is step two.

This will be step three sometime this week, that is once I work on all these little pieces a bit.  I think I am getting into this art quilt thing.  Next week I will show the quilt and what I am using for inspiration.

Here is what I got from Australia last Friday.  It came from Peg Cohen, she is one of the OPAM administrators.  I have used OPAM to help me complete several UFOs and in February I won the drawing.  Here is a quilt pattern that I probably will use for a comfort quilt and four DMC embroidery flosses.  With all the hand embroidery I am doing on BOMs, I can really use these.  Thanks Peg.

This weekend was our great grandson’s 3rd birthday.

Here he is attempting to blow out the candles.  After three blows, his mother had to help him and then we could have cake.

 

Now, last but not least, here are my hydrangeas, just starting to bloom.  Soon this bush will be covered in blue: how wonderful.

Now, it is time to go to Judy’s blog to see what else is going on in quilting land.

Honeysuckle Time

 

Morning and night we are greeted by the smell of Honeysuckle.  I love that sweet and clean fragrance.  Last year there wasn’t any in our yard so imagine my surprise when it showed up in abundance this year. 

But, that didn’t keep me from spending time in the studio.  I have the binding sewn on the Eleanor Burns BOM and now will need to find the time to do the hand sewing.  And I also got some hand embroidery done on my Snowbound blocks.  I may just be able to make a quilt out of them, yet.

I also got caught up with the LCQAL blocks.

Here is block 11.  I had to do some fiddling with the pattern (changed the fabrics) but it came together rather quickly.

 

And this is block 12.  The circles were part of the fabric so I didn’t do anything special there.  I do like both of these blocks.

Here are all the blocks together.  I really am not fond of the brown or dark green fabrics so am considering breaking them up into two smaller quilts.  But that decision will have to wait until some other projects are closer to completion.

Well, that’s it so far.  Wed and Thurs are Weight Watchers days and then it is back to the studio for some more sewing time.

Design Wall & Family

This has been a most productive week. 

I got my April Boot Bash block done: 

These have been fun and rather easy, a nice break from the Heart’s Desire blocks which are quite a challenge (here).  These I have made great progress on (no picture ) and hope to have Block 2 and possibly all three Block 3s done and on the wall by Wednesday.

Here are the four done blocks, don’t you think they will make a fun quilt?  I am getting some ideas of settings but nothing for sure: I do have 8 more months to get creative.

 

And I completed the April block for Henrietta Whiskers.

 

 

And here are the Jan – April blocks all together.  The blocks are made in different sizes so it will be interesting to see how they all play together.

And Sunday was a very busy family day.  Our DGS and DGDIL came for a visit.

They are on a “road trip” all the way from CO.  He just recently got out of the Air Force and she is entering the Air Force next month.  It was so much fun being with them and when she is in tech school they will be really close to us so we should get to really know them, for a while.

As they were arriving I got a call from my mother but had to call her back when our company left.  We talked for 30 – 45 min and almost as soon as I got off the phone with her our DD called.  I felt very popular today.

Now I’m going to get another cup of coffee and head on over to Judy’s blog to see what other’s are up to.

Studio Wednesday, Yea!!

This has been a week of working in the studio, so far.  DH has taken a couple of small parts in the musical, Big River, and, besides his teaching schedule, has been out until after 10pm every night.  What this has meant for me is that I haven’t had to work within anyone’s schedule except mine.  So I have been in the studio all day, every day: what fun.  Of course sometimes one has to do the more mundane and today was one of those times.  I have a really nice, soft, light cotton nightgown that I love.  However, it is flimsy and today I had to sew up several tears in the fabric.  It is a wonderful gown to wear in the summer so I keep putting it back together cuz I haven’t been able to find another one to replace it.

After that I worked on Heart’s Desire.  What a mess applique makes of fabric.  I finally decided that I didn’t know where the parts I had prepped earlier were so I started all over again.  And since Block 2 and the three Blocks 3 are very much the same, I made all of the parts at the same time.

Here are blocks 1 and 3 (3 is not quite all together as I can see two missing stems).  It really takes a lot of time to draw each of the parts and then press to the fabric (and remember to press to the wrong side), cut each of the little pieces out and then place them according to the pattern.   However, I think the next two will go faster as most of the pieces are ready.

 

There will be no studio work tomorrow but Friday I will be back at it and I hope to have all these blocks done by Sunday.  Then I can clean up the applique mess and go on to the waiting projects. 

Design Wall Monday

 

My design wall contains 23 16 patch blocks, enough for a comfort quilt.  I am trying to decide if I will use white or cream as the alternate blocks. I plan a white or cream containment border and then a scrappy border, and then, a who knows border.  I will probably piece the backing and even have some of the backing left from the Egg Money quilt quilt.

Next to those blocks are two Underground Railroad blocks, the BOM from my LQS.  I found them to be really easy and quick.

And under them is my Journal Quilt for April.

I found making this was very interesting and different.  I saw it as kind of a picture of Spring in our woods.  Lots of green, sprigs of color, and frequent gray skies.

This is the picture I like the most: aren’t my roses looking good.  All of the bushes are covered with roses.

I had hoped I would be showing completed blocks from the Heart’s Desire BOM.  However, I seem to have lost the applique pieces I had prepped.  So today, after I search for them one more time, I will be doing them over. 

This week I will have more sewing time.  One of my Weight Watchers meetings has ended and another is taking the week off for Spring Break so I will only have one to do.  I love leading these meetings but it will be nice to have more time with my machines.

Now, before you start sewing, drop by Judy’s blog to see what everyone else is working on.

 

Third Time’s The Charm

What does that mean? Well, for the third week in a row, the design wall remains the same. Does that mean I haven’t done anything? NO!!

I quilted and bound this comfort quilt. I am very happy with how it turned out and hope it makes some child feel better.

I also began quilting Eleanor’s Egg Money quilt. My original plan was to custom quilt each block and border but early in the week I began thinking about where it was going and what would be appreciated by them. This quilt will be gifted to really great people who don’t have any knowledge or interest in quilting. They will value it because I made it for them but would not appreciate the hours it would take for custom quilting. So I decided to quilt using a panto.

The panto is feathers and I am using a light silver gray thread that blends with the colored fabric and shines on the white background.

And this is where I am in the quilting now. The quilt is 103” long so I really feel great at how far I have come. And, the binding is ready, too.

This is the pieced backing (better picture to come after quilting is done). That was a chore itself but it did use up a lot of 30s fabric. And now that I am almost done with this quilting, I will be getting back to applique and piecing.

And what kept me from getting that quilt done? Well on Friday we shopped for our new toy and Sunday we went to buy it. We live on 5 acres and 2.5 is “yard.” I have been trying to keep up with parts of it with a push mower and finally decided that I deserved a riding mower. This one is supposed to be able to head into our woods and cut down the brush that grows up between the trees. And don’t I look like a natural?

Now, when you are finished laughing, ride on over to Judy’s blog to see what others are quilting.