2012 Sewing Technique Challenges

I have been working all year to be able to create a block like this.  The corners all meet nicely.  I didn't lose any points.  The block is the correct size. (This is a 12" square BOM for my traditional guild.) For my first year quilting, after a 30 year hiatus, I have been working at getting better at quilting basics. 

This is one of the first blocks I did last year.  The seams are crooked and the points are not great.  The colors are very strange in a "What was I thinking" sort of way.  It is a far cry from square, and it ist not the right size.  I am so glad I didn't let myself get discouraged.

In the past year, I have tried many, many things outside my comfort zone, and have learned to embrace many of them.  I especially like intuitive, improvisational quilting.  I learned to do curves so that my improv pieces would have more interest.  I learned to make fabric the Victoria way (15 Minutes Play).  I even worked on some applique. I got pretty good at fusible machine applique, but the little bit of stiffness in a lap quilt is off putting to me.

That brings me to 2012.  This year, I have a few big things, to me, that I want to get much better at.

1.  Y seams.  There are so many quilts I want to make that I don't start because they involve the dreaded Y-seam.  This year, I will conquer that fear.

2.  Hand Applique.  I love the look of applique, whether modern, traditional, or primitive.  I am just not good at it.  My points are non-existent.  My stitches are always too visible.  I don't like the idea of glue or starch and pressing, so I am going to have to learn good needle turn technique.  I also need to get the correct thread to help reduce visibility.  Then, I need to learn to make those pointy points.  I really want to make the Rhapsody quilt I have designed, but I need my applique technique to get better. 

3.  Hand Quilting with perle cotton and big stitches.  I have done a few small pieces using this technique, and I am not really happy with what happens on the back.  I can get the front to have fairly nice even stitches, but the back is not great.  I read on a blog the other day that Warm and Natural batting (my favorite) is not really good for getting these nice even stitches on the back. I need to learn something call the rocking motion with the needle. I will continue to work on my hand quilting this year.

4. Color.  I would like to work on getting out of my color rut.  I don't know how successful I will be with this because I really like to work with certain colors.  I plan on doing more charity quilts this year, so I am determined to experiment with color on these.

That seems like enough to tackle for this year.  I will continue to work on my traditional piecing and my intuitive/improv quilt techniques throughout the year.  The quilts on my list of 2012 "Want to Makes" has some of all of this.

What techniques do you want to work on this year?

Joyful quilting, everyone.

The Traveling Stash Arrived!

This drawing is now closed.  Thank you to those who participated.

Today, the traveling stash arrived at my house.  Tom was as excited as I was.  We opened it together and oohed and aahed at the contents.  There are patterns, even a book, a couple of tools, and lots of fabrics.  I went through each piece, one by one, and picked out these lovelies to stay with me.

I am still debating about a four panel piece of fabric that provides foundation piecing blocks for 32  8" kaleidoscope blocks.  I have to decide if I would ever use it.  Maybe.  I guess the next person who gets the box will know.

How would you like to have the Traveling Stash come your way?  Here is what you need to know.

1. You must have an active blog.

2. You may take whatever you want from the stash but you must replenish the box

3. You agree to host a giveaway on your blog and send the Traveling Stash on to the winner.

4. U.S. friends only please due to the shipping costs.

If you want a chance at the box, please leave me a comment telling me your favorite quilting design book.

I will leave open until Tuesday evening.

Good luck, everybody.

Starting block for Improvisational Round Robin

In December, I was chatting with Stephanie at Venus de Hilo about round robins.  We were both inspired by Victoria at Bumble Beans, Inc. She and a friend did an improvisational round robin exchange that got us to thinking.  What if we did something similar, only with more people.  Stephanie got it all worked out, and there are five of us in this first group.  This piece is my center for the first step.

I have been playing with scraps, in my usual color choices, with nothing in particular in mind.  Then, at my guild meeting on Tuesday, I was presented with 17 of the spool blocks in a variety of colors.  This one, made by Sharon M., really struck my fancy.  In the middle of the night, I realized it would work really well with the scraps I was playing with.  This morning, I pulled out the scrap units, and played until I came up with this.  I am really excited to see what other people add to it over the next five months.  This is my first round robin.

Speaking of color choices, Victoria is doing a series about color and quilters and the way they select color.  Check this post out to read her interview with Stephanie at Loft Creations.  Read a couple of earlier posts to say what Victoria has to say about her color choices.  Then head over the Loft Creations for Stephanie's interview of Victoria.

I will be back in the studio for the next four days.  I have the first clue for the mystery quilt made into a PDF.  If anyone could tell me how to create a link in my blog for this, I would be most grateful.

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.

The 2012 List

I have no new photos today, so I am going to put up some of my old favorites as I record my lists for 2012 for posterity.  If you are not interested in finding out what I want to do this year, you can just look at the photos. 

What I need to finish

1.  15 Minute BOM quilt - quilt and bind

2.  Prairie Flower quilt - finish piecing, quilt, and bind

3.  Bayou Sunset wall hanging - quilt and bind

4.  Hawaiian Shirt quilt - finish piecing, quilt, and bind

5.  Echo quilt - quilt and bind

6.  Christmas Virgin - finish piecing, quilt, and bind

7.  Autumn quilt for BASICs - quilt and bind

8.  Matisse mini - quilt and bind

9.  Postage Stamp quilt for BASICs - finish piecing, quilt, and bind

10 Pinwheels in the Garden - finish piecing, quilt, and bind

New Projects I want to do

1. A quilt for Ian

2. A quilt for Hugh and Cyrielle

3.  A quilt for Lisa and David

4.  Rhapsody quilt

5.  Blue plaid quilt for BASICs

6.  Lone Star

7.  Star Sampler for BASICs

8.  Mexican Star quilt

9.  Bloggers BOM quilt

10.  Paisley quilt

11.  Flying Geese Quilt

12.  Dresden Plate quilt

13.  Blessings from the Hollow from Kim Brackett's book

14.  Wonky House quilt

15.  Mini House quilt

16.  Northwest Native design quilt

I am quite sure this list will be added to and modified over the year.  More of the quilts will be donated to charities, but I am not sure which ones yet.  I am also sure I will come up with other ideas I just have to do.

Ongoing Monthly projects

1.  AAQI quilts each month

2.  Modern 8 Create Challenges

3.  Rebel's Challenges

4.  Quilter's as Readers quilts

5.  Intuitive Round Robin

It all seems like a very ambitious group of lists, but I like having it all written in one place.  It looks like it is going to be a very quilty year.

Enjoy the first day of 2012, and joyful quilting, everyone.

BOM blocks and a new project

The BOM blocks for January for my guild were fun to make.  There are two 12.5" blocks here.  I had fun going through my scraps looking for 18 different brights to make the 2.5" squares for the corners.  I love bright quilts, but I don't seem to make many of them so I don't have loads of brights.  I thought I would find some in the fat quarter collection I won at my December guild meeting (over 100 of them), but there weren't many brights in their either.  At least I have a good strong red group.

When I went on the Western Washington Shop Hop last June, I found this pattern I had to have.  I don't often use commercial patterns, but I fell in love with the example.  It is very hard to see in this photo, but there are some curves in this that are done in a Cathedral Window style.  Today, I finally got to the fabric store, gift certificate in hand, to buy the fabric I will use for this small quilt.

The color on the left is a deep rich plum that is repeated in the little pattern elements of the orange.  These fabrics are from different manufacturers, but they work really well together.  The middle batik is a much better color match than the photo shows.  I am pretty excited about getting started on this project.

This just makes my WIP list a little longer, but I really enjoy having several projects going at once.  That way I don't get bored.

I hope you are all planning a safe New Year weekend.

I am going to take a little break until at least Sunday.

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.

Bella and the doll

Bella liked the doll and has named her Dolly.  She even shared some of the stuffed friends from her bed with Dolly.  Later, Dolly went jumping on the new trampoline Santa brought Bella.  Dolly and Bella skipped nap today.

Dianne, Bella's other quilting grandma, made this incredible mini for me.  It is about 15" square.  I have always admired the Tree of Life pattern, but this is amazing.  Those HSTs are so tiny!  Thank you so much, Dianne.  I love it.

My SIL sent me these two wonderful fabrics from Africa.  The one on the right says it is from Ghana.  They are both "Guaranteed Wax."  Thank you, Willa.  I love them.

Tom had great fun in the fabric store.  In addition to a generous gift certificate, he picked out thesebeautiful fabrics.  Most are fat quarters, At least one is a half yard.  He also got me the clippies for hand binding.  He was laughing at me using my hair clips.  The green pin cushion is also from Tom and the red one is from Bella and her parents.  I am a very lucky woman to have so many supportive loving people in my family.

Have a joy filled day, everyone.

Merry Christmas to all

I think I can safely post the things I have finished that will be delivered tomorrow.  Here is what I have been doing.

AAQI for December.  I hand quilted this one using cotton floss.

Mug rug for my son in law made from his old shirts. I used the stippling to add a little fun to the business like tone of this one.  I made another one like it for my BIL using his old shirts.

I made two of these mug rugs for the hunters in the family. I quilted it in a sort of plaid pattern.

Another mug rug for an in-law.  The quilting is very simple straight (or as straight as I get them) lines.  I used my new walking foot for much of the quilting I did on these small projects.  It is a wonderful thing.

The red and white mini for Bella's other quilting grandmom. It is 15" x 15".

I made six of these all together.  They are 7" x 10" and fully lined.

And then there is the doll.  I painted the bed white to match Bella's.  I made a little pillow and a Kaffe pillowcase to go with the quilt.

Everything is now wrapped and ready to go in the morning.

Wishing you all a very joyous holiday from my home to yours.

A pictorial year in review

I am really busy with finishing up Christmas presents, but I made this collage the other day of many of the projects I created during 2011.  The smallest is 9" x 9" and the largest is 70" x 70".  I realized as I was doing this that I had not photographed all the quilts I made, or if I did, I put them in a folder never to be found again.  I hope I will be more organized in 2012.  It great fun to have them all in one place to look at them and remember creating them.  Next year, I will have even more, I hope.

Joyful quilting, everyone.

Doll quilt top done and ready to quilt

I went to our local IKEA today in search of a doll bed, and I got the last one in stock.  I am so glad I went today, or I would have been really upset.  It is very cute, and just needs a quilt.  I saved lots of fabric from Bella's quilt because I knew I wanted to make a doll quilt for her.  I decided to make on in the jelly roll race style.  I cut my strips 1.5" wide and various widths.  I foolishly thought I could control where the different patterns and colors went, but I won't do that again.  Actually, I really like the surprise element in the jelly roll race.  This little top is about 17" x 19".  Just right for the little bed.

It is now in the stack of little projects to quilt.  I made sandwiches of everything this afternoon, and made the bindings.  I have five mug rugs, one doll quilt, one AAQI mini (that I am hand quilting tonight), an 18" square red and white mini, and an exchange 12" square (that is also going to be hand quilted).  With luck, and patience, I will get it all done on time.

Joyful quilting, everyone.

One doll finished

She is done.  One pink doll with pink hair and pink clothes.  Just what Bella ordered.  Now I have to pick up a doll bed and make the quilt.  Then finish all the other folk's gifts.  Busy week ahead.  I will post as I go.

Joyful quilting everyone.

Making a doll and contemplating a finish

 Bella has asked me to get her a pink soft doll with pink hair and pink clothes.  I bought some pink flannel a couple of weeks ago and a pattern for a 15" baby doll.  Today, I decided to begin the process.  I had to iron on interfacing which I was worried about with the flannel, but it worked okay.  I have not followed a commercial pattern for a long time.  I would not recommend this pattern for beginners.  It is not user friendly.  I got called away before I was able to finish stuffing her, but I think she is looking cute.  I have to figure out how to create the required pink hair.  I think I am going to use yarn.

I don't think I have posted these blocks all together.  I have until mid-January to figure out how I want to finish this and get it completed.  I am thinking of using a Kaffe shot cotton in purple with red undertones and Kaffe print cornerstones.  It will all really depend on what I have in my stash.

Tomorrow night, I am going to see my husband, daughter and granddaughter in the Polar Express.  Tom has been playing Santa in this dance adaptation to the story for a few years now.  Until then, I am going to keep working in the studio.  Only one week to Christmas.

Joyful quilting, everyone.