Working on a new quilt

One of the quilts on my list for 2012 is this Mexican Stars quilt designed by Annette Ornelas of Southwind Design.  I spent time yesterday and today cutting the pieces and creating all the blocks.  Tomorrow, I will put the blocks together and do the "curving" that makes this pattern so pretty and unusual.  The pattern calls for machine sewing the curves, but I am going to do it by hand because I didn't like my test on the machine.  The finished quilt, if I stick with the pattern, is 34" square.  I don't use commercial patterns very often, so this is an interesting experience.  Having someone else figure out all the measurements and fabric needs is kind of cool. 

The tree where the robin was perched in my last post fell in the ice storm.  Tom spend yesterday cleaning it up, and cutting it into usable pieces for our friends wood stove.  It was sad to lose such a wonderful old vine maple.  Fortunately, no property was damaged in the fall.

Joyful quilting, everyone.

Interesting Weather Day

This is the view outside my studio.  Most of the morning, I watched freezing rain falling and coating everything it touched. Before it turned to snow,  the blueberry bushes in back ended up with branches about 3/4" around with ice.  At one point, I heard a loud crack and crash like a tree coming down, but I didn't see anything when I looked.  We have woods behind us, so maybe it was there.

The arrow is pointed at a robin who is very confused by all this.  We usually don't see him until later when spring begins to roll around.  Fortunately, the woman across the street has is out restocking her bird feeders a couple of times a day since this strange weather started.

This is the icicle that has been growing by our front door.  It started out wider than it was long.  Today's ice storm seems to have changed its shape quite a bit.  It looks pretty heavy and lethal right now.

The rest of the icicles are pretty small in comparison.  If you look, you can see the ice on the branch hanging under the eaves.  This is my first ice/freezing rain storm.  I much prefer snow.  So many of our friends are without power, and there are trees and branches down all over the place.  Hopefully, we don't get any more ice tonight.  The weather guesser says it is going to warm up and start raining by tomorrow morning.  Let's see if he gets it right this time.

When I wasn't watching the ice and then the snow, I built this square.  I had to audition a number of fabrics for the middle where I ended up using the gold.  I would like to make a quilt eventually with blocks of all the color combinations I come up with.  Since I seem to stick in the same palette most of the time, I think this will work fine.  This one is very different from the first one I made, but I like it just as much.  I think Tom likes the first one better.  I am still having trouble with puckering in the center.  I really have to get that straight line 1/4" seam down better.  It will happen with practice.

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.

A lap quilt finished

This is my newest lap quilt.  It is made of 12" blocks from the BOMs over at 15 Minutes Play.  The background is Kona Jade (I know, it is blue, not green).  The sashing and binding is a Kaffe shot cotton with red warp and maroon weft.  There is a little bit of green Batik, that drives Tom crazy because it is not balanced.  The rest is fabric I made by cutting up my favorite Kaffe's and making fabric with them.  It is quilted with a large overall stipple in a King Tut variegated red by Superior on top, and a variegated gold/brown on the back.  While I love excellent quilting, I love seeing the fabric and the patterns created by the fabric more.  I think that is why I have not been really motivated to learn more about machine quilting.

Here is the back.

Originally, I was going to use a very colorful sheet I found at the Goodwill.  When Bella was over last week, she wanted the room darker for her nap, so I put the sheet up over the window.  It looked so beautiful, we decided I should make curtains out of it instead.  Then, I didn't have any idea what I would use, so the quilt sat.  I was going through a bin looking for something else, when I found this piece I had been saving for just the right thing.  I guess it was waiting to be found for this quilt.  I have a noren ( traditional Japanese fabric dividers, hung between rooms, on walls, in doorways, or in windows) that has these three ladies on it leading into my studio.  I bought it in Japan, and was really excited to find the fabric last year.  But I digress.

The quilt is 42" x 52"", just the right size for my lap.

Just a little snow this morning.  We are told we will get quite a bit tonight.  It will be interesting.

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.

Playing with Wonder

This is what my design wall looks like today.  The Madonnas on the left are designed by Victoria Findlay Wolfe and I love them.  I have posted the other blocks recently, except for the one with the rounded top.

This one all started with making some letters from scratch.

Wonder is my word for this year.

This one is for the January challenge at my Modern 8 Create group.  I think there will be more added, but I will wait to see what it wants.  I am going to leave the top rounded and bind it that way when I am ready.

The snow finally arrived, and it is beautiful.

This is when it started.  It snowed off and on most of the day, heavily at times.  It doesn't snow all that often here, so I am really enjoying this.

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.

A new block

Today, I decided to make this block using Victoria's tutorial over at 15 Minute Play.  It is made with may triangles - 36 in fact.  It is about 13 x 13.  I started by taking a few smaller pieces of made fabric and putting them together.  Then I cut my first eight triangles.  Then I pulled colors from the stash shelves.  I wanted to use some of my larger scraps, and that is what I did, except for the yellow and the corner setting triangles.  These two came from the wonderful stash swap.  When I had it all together, and it went together easily, I did have some pucker in the center.  That was caused by my apparent inability to sew a straight line and not from the tutorial.  I just steamed the heck out of it, and it now lays pretty flat.  I think I will make more of these blocks as I get the urge.  Isn't it funny that I am really attracted to warm colors, but I keep using these cool colors?  I plan on making a warm one next.

The weather guessers are predicting snow for us for the weekend.  That would be very lovely, but I never count on it until it actually starts falling.  We are stocked with veggies and I have plenty of projects to work on.  Let it snow!

Joyful quilting, everyone.

The Traveling Stash has a new destination

It is time to announce the winner of the Traveling Stash winner.

Mr. Random Generator selected #5

Vrooman Quilts.

Congratulations.  I will be contacting you by email right away.

Thank you to those who participated.

Beautiful fabrics from a swap

I was a participant in a Serious Stash Swap coordinated by Victoria at 15 Minutes Play over the past few weeks.  We were given swap partners and we were to swap 20 fat quarters.  My swap partner, Mimi, and I emailed each other with some ideas.  I sent Mimi her box without taking a photo.  It included some Kaffe and several shades of grey, which Mimi said she liked.  I mentioned I liked batiks and brights.  This is the collection I got in the mail today.  Aren't they incredibly yummy!  There is also a beautiful Amy Butler that somehow didn't make it into the photo.  All the warms fill in some big holes in my batik collection.  I am already seeing wonderful quilty visions.  I am so happy I participated in this swap.

I will be back Friday after my Bella days.

Joyful quilting, everyone.

AAQI and emergency bear surgery.

First, the bear.

Isn't he sweet?  For Christmas, Bella received two Build-A-Bear kits.  Her mother put one together and I put the other one together.  I wanted to bring it home to sew on my machine, but Bella wanted me to do it right then so she could take it in for her nap.  I agreed with the understanding that when it began to fall apart, because of the really crazy way they had for assembling it, I would have to take it to my house to sew on the machine.  Today, Bella came over, bear in hand, and said, "I wish I had listened to you in the first place, Nanny."  Music to a Nanny's ears.  So, I took the bear apart, took out the stuffing, and sewed it together like it should have been in the first place.  The operation was a success.

The other thing I did today was to start my January AAQI mini quilt.  When I joined in the 2012 Color Palette Challenge over at Patchwork Times, I decided to use the monthly palette to create my monthly AAQI mini.  This is the color palette for January.

I think I did okay with the colors. 

The other thing I wanted to include were prairie points.  Why prairie points?  I was watching Susan Cleveland on the Quilt Show the other day, and she made some of the cutest prairie points I have ever seen.  I thought they would make a great addition to my intuitive quilts.  This AAQI quilt is completely intuitive, even though it has some traditional elements.  Sometimes, my intuition tells me I need something traditional.  I am going to hand quilt it with #8 perle cotton in the deep purple.  If you notice, you will see my safety pin basting.  I will post it again when it is finished.

That is what I have been up to so far today.

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.

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.