Back in the studio at last

I finally made it back into the studio to work on quilts.  It has been way too long.  The place was such a mess, I couldn't find a table top or anything that I was working on.  After spending some time straightening things out, I decided to work on some small projects.  I have posted the red and white part of this one before.  Here it is with the border.  I just need to quilt it and add a red binding and it will be done and ready to send to Germany as part of the Doll Quilt Monthly swap for July.  The theme is Patriotic.  I am hoping red, white, and blue fulfills the theme.

This is the June quilt for the doll quilt swap.  This theme is Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue.  The lighter border is old fabric I had in my stash.  The darker fabric is new from my trip back East.  The borrowed is the idea for the pattern from an antique quilt pattern I saw in a book.  The blue should be obvious.  This one was really fun to make. I really like the dark fabric.  I wish I had purchased more of it.  This one is on its way to Florida.

This last piece was made for a new friend who had us over for dinner the other night.  I knew she liked purple, so that was where I started.  It is a 12" square with fast finish triangles for hanging, if so desired.  It is always tricky to make anything for someone you don't know well.  The colors are a bit tame compared to what I have been working with lately, but it was very calming and peaceful to work on.  Maybe a larger calm quilt is in my future.  We will see.

For those who are interested, we did get the chickens.  We have four beautiful Americauna chickens:  Veronica Lake (the blondest and most difficult to get into the coop at night), Janis Joplin (the one with the darkest coloring who dares to be different), Katherine Hepburn (the classiest looking and the one who behaves the best), and Lady Bug (the one with the dark cheeks who Bella named).  I will try and get photos posted soon.  So far, we have enjoyed getting to know them.  They are pretty quiet, making only soft murmuring sounds unless they are upset at us.  They love the weeds from our flower beds and oatmeal.  By the end of the summer, we are hoping for fresh eggs with beautiful blue shells and creamy yolks.  As we go along, I will add snippets of our life as backyard chicken farmers to this blog, along with more quilting adventures.

Until later, joyful quilting, everyone.

The last house

Here she is.  The last house for the wonky house swap.  This African Hut created itself, practically.  I had a pile of scraps on the cutting table from other projects, and they asked to be made into a hut.  Do your scraps ever talk to you, or is it the diet I am on that has turned my mind toward hallucinations?  Anyway, this is the last one I am making for now.  I need 11 to send in for the swap.  The object was to make 12, then decide which one to keep.  That choice was becoming very difficult.  I wanted so many, and Tom wanted other ones.  This way, I don't have to choose.  I can make the 12th one after I get my 11 back from the bee and see just what is needed to make that quilt work best.  And, I have photos of all the others in case I want to recreate one of them.

This is a pretty pitiful showing for an entire day, but I am off my game these days.  My body has been invaded by a pesky and irksome bacteria, and my doctor has put me on some hideous medicine to get rid of it.  The bacteria is less annoying than the side affects of the antibiotic.  I am a big believer in the development of all modern medicine, but I think we may have gone a bit over the top with some of it.  I won't get on my soap box here, so rest easy.  I only have to take this terrible stuff for another couple of days, then I should be as good as new, and back in a creative frame of mind.

Hopefully, I will be somewhat productive tomorrow.  I have siggy blocks to make, and blocks to mail.

Until then, joyful quilting everyone.

(By the way, for anyone intrigued by my diet statement above, I have lost 23 pounds since January 1, and almost 4 inches around my middle.  I am on my way to a new streamlined me.)

Building houses again

I decided I needed to try and finish up the wonky houses this weekend so I can get them in the mail.  For the first one, I decided to go with pink for the house and a nautical print for the windows that makes it look like little panes.  I am afraid, it looks like bars on the windows, but it will look better when I get the machine applique stitches on them.

The next block started with the bottom.  It is left over from my Jacob's Ladder quilt.  I thought it looked like a farmers fields, so I decided to build what I think looks like a farm house.  Tom thinks it is a bit of a stretch to see farm fields, but I just let my imagination  go.

The last house was made with some strata I was playing with.  My goal here was to have it be sort of symmetrical wonky.  I am pleased with the way this one came out.  Now, I have two more to make before I have to select one to keep.  This one is in the running.  Here are the ten I have made so far.

I will be happy and sad to see these go, but I have seen some real beauties from other players.  This will make a fun quilt.

Until tomorrow, joyful quilting everyone.

A house and a doll blanket

This is wonky house seven.  Only five more to go.  I machine appliqued the tree onto this one.  I am sad that I don't have enough of the sky fabric left to make any more blocks with it.  I think it is a great sky.  If you want to see more great wonky houses, go over the the Wonky House Flickr page.

After I finished the house, I decided to put this doll quilt together.  Last week, when Bella was in the room with my stash, she pulled out the fabric with the blue flowers.  She decided she loved it.  Then she pulled the red and white to go with it.  Next, she pulled the pink and red and said she needed one more.  I pointed her toward the teal.  She wanted it to have flowers, but decided it was okay when we couldn't find any teal with flowers.  Then she asked me if I would make another doll quilt with them with a cuddly back.  I think she means minke, but she will get flannel.  I had the fabric on my table for a few days when I decided to just start playing. 

I really like how this pattern worked out.  I wouldn't mind having a larger quilt like this.  Unfortunately, the red with blue flowers is from a deconstructed shirt, and it was a small shirt.  The pink and red was from an estate sale bag of scraps, and there is very little of that left.  I have plenty of the red and white I got at a garage sale next door.  It is home decor fabric.  The teal is from a bag of solids I was given by a friend.   I think there is enough of everything to make myself a mini to hang on the wall, or a pillow top.  This quilt is 20"x20".

I think the snow is about at an end for us.  It snowed steadily all morning, and we got about 5" total in our neighborhood.  It has been so beautiful.  I think most people will be happy to see it gone.  We are supposed to get back into our typical winter rain starting tomorrow. 

Joyful quilting, everyone.

Two new wonky houses

When I created this house, I was thinking of yurts I saw photos of 40 years ago from the barren plateau region of Afghanistan.  On the inside, the walls were covered with beautiful woven rugs.  I put them on the outside here.  None of the ones I saw had an overhang for shade.  I decided it needed it.  It looked very hot in the summer.  Another thing I remember about the photos was how deep and dark the sky was.  It is quite a high altitude.  Maybe that is why.

I saw a house like this in a Dr. Seuss book at Bella's.  It was a little curvier, but I decided I was not up to curves today.  I was most taken with the room that just hung off the side with its own roof.  I used the same house fabric as the yurt because I didn't want to waste any of it, and because I think it is bright and pretty.

I also got a wall hanging prepared for hand quilting.  This one is the UFO for February for my guild.  I may actually get it done by the meeting.  That would be sweet!

There is still plenty of snow on the ground here, and they are calling for more over the next couple of days.  We had one of those really beautiful biggish flakes-coming-straight-down showers for a while earlier.  I am sure the Eskimos have a special word for it.

Have a wonder filled day, and joyful quilting, everyone.

A tree for Sunni, and other things

I decided to join in a couple of interesting online bees this year.  This one is over at Stash Bee, and is hosted by Sunni of Love Affair With my Brother fame.  I was originally in Hive 2, but someone dropped out of Hive 1, so I joined that one.  There are 18 quilters in this hive, and my turn for blocks won't come around until June 2013.  I sure hope all the quilters in that group hang in there for that long.  If they don't, I will learn a lot and have fun making blocks for them as their turns come up.  This is my first online bee of this type.  I have done the other kind where you make a bunch of blocks, send them in, and get the same number back from other people.  In fact, the wonky houses are for that kind of bee.  I like Sunni's block because she just asked for a single tree on a 12.5" square of Kona white.  It was great fun to design a tree to machine applique for this block.

I have also started making little houses.

These little guys are 4" squares finished.  About a year ago, I found myself caving in to the cuteness of a Moda candy bar box of traditional fabric cut in 2.5" x 5" pieces.  There are four collections represented in the candy bar box, with 42 "pieces of candy" in each collection.  I haven't used them until now.  At the same time, I also got some  mini (2.5" x 2.5") charm packs from three different Moda collections.  Also not used.  I guess I was saving them for this little house project.  They are just perfect. There is not enough to build all 120 houses, but I have some Kansas Trouble jelly roll strips left from another project, and I think there is enough there for several houses.  These are paper pieced. and now that I have the fabric sorted out, I think this is going to be great fun.

I said I would show you the latest AAQI quilt once it was finished.

This one is 9.5" x 5.5".  I call it Kasbah Nights because the colors reminded me of exotic places.  I hand quilted it with #8 perle cotton in the same burgundy color as the HSTs.  The binding is a very dark blue.  I will send it off as soon as I get the registration number.

It has not started snowing yet, but I am still hoping it will come our way.  I am ready.

Joyful quilting, everyone.

Houses, big and small

This is house number 4 in the 12" x 12" category.  I did this without any pre-planning or sketching.  As it started, I started thinking about making it a ship captain's house, complete with widows walk at the top.  As I build each of these houses, I create a story for each one.  Crazy?  No, just a quilter with a big imagination. I am thinking of adding some salmon to the stream. 

Have you read Quilt Mania?  It is a beautiful magazine published in France.  I found it last summer and have become a big fan.  The pages are filled with quilts from shows around the world.  There are a few patterns, but mostly it is just eye candy.  In the Sept/Oct issue, there was part 1 of a house quilt created by Joe Wood.   He is the owner of Thimble Creek Quilt Shop.  Then, in the next issue came part 2.  Each house has a mini quilt side.  In the middle of the night, I woke up with a vision for a house quilt using a big house with mini quilts on the porch railings surrounded by rows of very small houses.  I have seen the tiny 3" houses all over the blogosphere lately, but I decided on 4".

I did the sketch, got the measurements, and cut the fabric.  I was not thrilled with the outcome.  I decided it would be better if it was foundation pieced.  I took the time to create foundation pieces for all 120 houses I need.  I drew the pattern for the big house I want to use.  This quilt will take a while, and I really have no business adding another project to the already long list, but I am pretty excited about it.  The added bonus is that it will use scraps.

I need to buckle down and get projects done that have January deadlines.  Maybe tomorrow.

Joyful quilting, everyone.

A New House and a New challenge

This one has a mid-century modern feel.  Each of these houses is a different kind of puzzle for me.  I get an idea, sketch it, then try and cut and sew it together.  I love puzzles, so that is fun for me.  This one gave me a little trouble in the driveway/walkway area, but I was able to make it work.  Three down, and nine to go.  I don't know what the next one will be, but it will be fun.

I have decided to join the 2012 Finish-a-long over at Quilter in the Gap.  For the first quarter, I have chosen these three projects to finish.

I need to quilt and bind Hokule'a.  This is a priority, and will be the first one I tackle.  I have stressed about how to quilt this one, but I think I am going to go with the thing I do best which is overall stippling. 

I would really like to get this wall hanging finished.  I want to hand quilt it, so it may take me a bit longer.  I do plan on getting it done by March 1.

Bayou Sunset is another small wall hanging I would like finish by hand quilting it.  Actually, I need to get this finished by the second Tuesday in February for my guild UFO challenge.

These are the three I am entering in Rhonda's challenge.  Hop on over there to see what other people are doing.  You might want to enter as well.  There are great prizes.

Have a wonderful few days while I spend the next three with Bella.

Joyful quilting, everyone.

Wonky House 2 and a Mystery Quilt

Meet Wonky House 2.  I wanted it to have a Seuss flavor.  I added curves, window shashings, and fused trees to this one.  The problem I am having is that I want to keep the two I have made so far.  I have to come up with 11 to send in for the swap before March 1.  I am really enjoying the puzzle aspect to these blocks.  For the most part, I am piecing them.  For this one, I drew the design on freezer paper.  I labeled and cut out the different parts, then ironed them to the fabrics I wanted to use.  As I cut each one, I added 1/4" to each side.  I fused the window sashing to the windows before I sewed them to their adjoining parts.  I ended up fusing the trunk for the tree on the right, but the one on the left is pieced in.  If I do include this one in the swap, I hope the other person who gets it likes it as much as I do.

I am in charge of the Mystery quilt for my more traditional guild for 2012.  I have decided to use one of my own designs. These are the fabrics I am going to use.  The quilt is called Pinwheels in the Garden.  I am going to figure out how to link PDFs to this blog so I can share the clues here for anyone else who wants to join in.  This quilt will be a 48" square lap quilt without borders.  Borders can be added to make it bigger, or the number of 12" may be increased to make it even bigger.  I hope to put up the PDF for fabric requirements and cutting guide next Tuesday. I hope some of you will decide to join me in making this quilt.

Joyful quilting, everyone.

Wonky Houses and Four Patches

Ever since I started blogging and found Victoria's blog where she had people making house blocks, I have wanted a house block quilt.  I just haven't gotten around to putting one together.  So, when I saw this opportunity over at Jane's Fabric and Quilts, I jumped on the chance.  I will be swapping 12.5" wonky house blocks with 11 other quilters.  There is room in another group for more swappers if you are interested.  Above is my first wonky house.  I made another house block earlier to send to Beth at Love, Laugh, Quilt for a chance to win a few more.  She will do the drawing on January 1.

I have been working on these leaders and enders blocks for a while now.  I sewed a few hundred 2" squares into pairs.  Now I have been creating four patches.  I put a few of them up on the design wall just to see what it might look like.  I got these squares in a box at an estate sale a while back.  They were scissor cut and not all perfectly square, but I think this is going to be a fun quilt.

Today is my one year blog anniversary with this blog, and my 200th post on this blog.  All together, I have been blogging for over four years.  I love quilt bloggers the best.  You are the best, most supportive people out there in blogland.  Thank you so much for all your comments and encouragement.  I look forward to another year sharing my quilting life with you all.

Joyful quilting, everyone.

Studio time and a giveaway reminder

Today, I played in the studio.  First up was this house block for Beth over at Love, Laugh, Quilt.  She is collecting 12" x 12" house blocks.  If you send one in before January 1, you will be put into a drawing to receive some of them back.  I love house blocks.  This started out to be a wonky house, but as you can see the symmetrical me took over at some point.  Sometimes that happens, and I just have to let it go.  I will get this in the mail to Beth tomorrow.

This is my next fun project.  This one is for an exchange.  I showed a little peak the other day.  I had great fun figuring out how to get the three trees done.  The one in the middle is hard to see in the photo.  I made it light so it would look like it is in the distance.  I tried several fabrics for the border and the stars, but this red plaid just called my name.  This is for Shelly over at Prairie Moon Quilts.  She seems to like things with a western theme, which I think the plaid brings.  The stars and rays will be needle turn appliqued since Shelly has said that she really likes applique on a several posts.  I am going to hand quilt this using big stitches.  I hope she likes it.

Last, I made this little beauty.  This is my first zippered pouch and it will definitely not be my last.  A friend was here when I finished it and she has already ordered six.  There are some little tricky spots, but not so much to make me crazy.  These are fun to make, and will make great little gifts. 

Tonight, I will be working on some hand applique.  Tomorrow, I will make some more bags and work on Hokule'a.  I had misplaced it but found it today.  One of these days really soon, I am going to have to quilt the pieces I have been making.

Don't forget to enter the giveaway by commenting on yesterdays post here.

Joyful quilting, everyone.