Still quilting

I have spent the last few days making sure I had everything ready for my guild's upcoming show.  The show is July 22 - 24 at the downtwon Renton branch of the King County Library, if anyone is interested.  I am entering five pieces.  At this time last week, only two were finished.  I have shown you the finished Tanzanian Tango, Rhumba, and the Iris.  I am also showing a vest I made, but haven't figured out how to photograph it well because it is pretty dark.  On Friday, I quilted Farmer's Market and attached the binding by machine.  I put the last hand stitches in it this morning.  It is pretty bright, but I do love it.

While I was quilting away, my husband came in with a surprise for me - a new shelf for fabric!  Here you can see how my stash has been stored, and the new shelf after the first five minutes of cleaning off one table surface.

It is a bit fuller now, since I cleaned off another table.  I don't think it will hold everything that is in the bins, but I have another shelving unit coming at the end of the month that I hope will hold most of it.  My stash consists mostly of smaller pieces of fabric - fat quarter size to half yard size.  I haven't done much stash building.  Most of the time, I only buy fabrics I need for a specific project.  Every once in a while, however, I do buy small amounts of something just because I love it. 

My last project with a deadline is the H2H quilt.  It is on the frame as of this morning.



You might have noticed in the first photo and in this one that my batting and top are just hanging and not on pick-up rollers.  I started doing this about six months ago, and I am much happier with the results I am getting.  I have much more control of the top while I am quilting using this method.  I know it probably breaks a few rules, but it works very well for me.  This quilt needs to be done and in the mail Tuesday. 

My list of new projects is growing daily.  For one of them, I need to find Kelly green fabric.  For two of them, I have some ideas for color, but have to earn some money to buy it.  These three are gift quilts.  Then there are the three I want to make for us, and more to make for charity.  I have also embarked on a Matisse QAL with Victoria at BumbleBeans.  Such fun!

Playing with fabric

Today, I finished piecing Farmer's Market.  I won't show it again until I get it quilted and bound.  I decided not to put a containment border and will rely on the binding to do that.  I don't have batting or backing material yet, so it may be a few days before it gets done.  I have four quilts now awaiting quilting.  I just need that 50% off coupon for the batting, and Priscilla and I are in business.

 Yesterday, I decided it had been a long time time since I played building fabric.  I grabbed some of the larger scraps from the top of the basket and put this 12" x 12" piece together.  I really like the pattern and the colors.  Now, I just have to figure out what to do with it.  The problem of doing things like this, using up all the similar scraps, is where to go next.  This one may end up as part of a 12" finished quilt exchange.  That is if I can part with it.

I had so much fun yesterday, I wanted to play some more today.  This time, I grabbed the left over strips from the Nature's Choice fabric I cut the other day.  I made some strata, then sliced it all at angles.  I also added some Hawaiian fabric scraps for color.  Once I played around with it and pieced this 14" square fabric together, I asked myself  "What if I .  . . . ?"  So, I sliced 2 1/2" from each side, the top, and the bottom.  Then I added a 2 1/2" inner frame of cream on cream flowers.  I made the cut strips longer and added them to the outside.  Now, it is a 17 1/2" square.

I have some gray I can use for the next border, then a wider border of the Hawaiian print.  I think I am going to grow this one to be a lap quilt.  I am so glad I discovered 15 Minutes Play. I love that I can use my scraps in a way that is unique to me.  It also pleases me to use as much of my fabric as I can.  This is all very good.

Farmer's Market Quilt

It isn't completely put together, but this is what it looks like on the design wall this evening.  I had a grand time putting together the sashing/border strips and trying not the get two fruits/veggies on the same block.  I ended up with only two blocks with repeated patterns.  Not bad, I think.  This is going to be such a fun quilt.  It is very colorful and really brightens up the studio.  Tomorrow, I think I will finish up the top.  I am still undecided about a plain border to contain all this excitement.  I welcome your feedback if you care to share.
I am also in need of a reasonably priced source for some hand-dyed cotton.  I am looking for something dark with little to no visible pattern.  I found a piece in the box from Carol Doak that I love, but don't have enough of it.  It is what I used for the background on the Sunbonnet Sue.  I need two yards, but can't afford to pay huge sums of money for it.  Any suggestions?
Tomorrow, I will be in the studio again.  Happy quilting, everyone.

Farmer's market blocks, Sunbonnet Sue, and more

I got a yummy surprise from Bella and her Grandma Edwards this morning.  They bought me these four beautiful fabrics.  More beautiful paisleys, and the polka dots.  Bella picked the polka dots, and they go beautifully with the paisleys.

I finished all the basic blocks for my Farmer's Market basket.  Twenty-five tasty fruits, vegetables, and hazelnuts.  The new fabrics I bought the other day are the bananas, carrots, and mixed berries.  The rest include oranges, summer squash, blackberries, apples, plumbs, sliced cucumbers, olives, garlic, blueberries, and the list goes on.  I did manage to get the borders on one block.  All of them will have mixed borders made from the basket fabrics.

The most fun I had today was creating my own version of Sunbonnet Sue.  Since I was in college, I have wanted to make Sue, but I never got around to it.  This afternoon, I finally did it.  I drew up a sketch, and tweaked it until it was what I wanted.  Then, I dug through my new box of batiks and came up with fabric for her and for the background.  Making Sue entailed several firsts for me.  I did fusible applique for the first time.  I then used the buttonhole stitch for decor.  On the apron, I used a different decorative stitch.  I really love how she turned out.  She will become my next Alzheimer's art quilt.

I like the back almost as well.

Joyful quilting, everyone.

I have linked this post to Quiltstory Fabric Tuesday.

Studio Day

I spend seven hours in the studio today.  I cleaned off a couple of shelves for my project baskets.  Previously, the shelves were filled with materials for my painting and collage work.  It has been a slow but steady transition from other art media to fabric.  Soon, it will all be fabric.  The best thing is that now, I don't have baskets on my work/cutting table, so I can use my new 6" x 24" Omniqrip ruler.  This is a good thing. 

I spent most of the day piecing together the units for the fruits and vegetable blocks.  I have finally settled on a new name for this quilt, Farmer's Market.  It is all fruits, veggies, and some hazelnuts, and I am going to try and finish piecing the blocks this week.  The bonus is that I have a nice little basket of 1.5" HSTs.  I think I will have enough fabric left to do one, or maybe two more fruit and veggie quilts.

The last thing I did was get out the kit I bought some time ago for a quilt called Nature Rhythms.  The pattern is free from Clothworks.  The fabric is all from the Nature Rhythms collection by Johnny Karwan.  It is a very modern quilt, and different from anything I have made before.  Tom and I saw it at Harbor Quilts in Gig Harbor, Washington.  We both really liked it, so I bought the kit.  It should go together pretty quickly.  I will post the progress as I go.

Joyful quilting, everyone!