Quilting With Friends - Part 3

A quilter can't help but be inspired to get busy on projects when she quilts with the likes of quilters that I am blessed to know. Recently, several of us sewed at Terry's and I'd like to show you a few of the beauties the girls were working on.

These delightful creations were all from 2 ladies - Laura and Jan, both friends from the quilt guild that a few of the Frankfort girls belong to.

Aren't you inspired to get busy?

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Same Pattern, Different Looks

Three of the Frankfort girls are in a guild, and every March they go on a retreat with that guild. One of the features of the retreat is a mystery quilt, available as an option if members wish to participate. I'd like to show you the wide variety of the quilts made from this year's mystery. It's remarkable to me that a quilt can take on such a variety of looks.

 

This is the back of the quilt above it. Cool, eh?

 

The pattern is from the Missouri Quilt Company, and it is called The Big Star Quilt. The directions are for using two layer cakes, which will make big stars in a big quilt, or two charm packs, which will make little stars in a small quilt. If you go to the MQC website, click on the tutorial tab to find a gazillion YouTube videos teaching all manner of quilts, including this one.

Makes you want to get right to work, doesn't it?

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Quilting With Friends - Part 2

I am not going to have all the details right on who made which quilt, and what pattern it is, and which line of fabric was used, so I think I will just post some pictures of some beautiful finishes from the many quilting BFFs I've sewn with lately.

Several of these were completions of UFOs, which is one of our focuses for this calendar year. The girls are certainly getting lots done!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Quilting With Friends-Part 1

In my long absence from blogging, I have had several days of quilting with friends, both the Frankfort girls and the Frienzies.

Rather than post all of the activity on this post, I will break it down into parts. I will begin with some bridal quilt activity with the Frienzies. As you know, the quilt for my DD Erin is at the quilters, and we were ready to get to work on bride-to-be Carly's quilt, Pam's daughter. She'd requested a red and white quilt, and wait until you see these pictures.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the back of the quilt. Is it not amazing?? We had such fun making this quilt.

The backing is an enlarged version of the individual block! Cool! It took Sherrie's skill at problem solving - or should I say puzzle solving - to figure out all the cutting and sewing. I was on sewing machine duty along with Kay. Pam and Lyn were in charge of pressing and probably some squaring up. We all worked really well on it to get it completed in just 3 days of working together. Below is a picture of just one block.

The pattern, called Metropolis, is from a book Sherrie owns called Modern Patchwork.

Since the back is done, it too has probably been delivered to the quilter. We had some fast turn-around time on this quilt! Carly is having a short engagement, so we needed to work quickly. Here's hoping we can get it all done by the wedding coming up in July.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

March Block - Wishes QAL

The quilt along sponsored by Jolly Jabber, the blog of Fat Quarter Shop, is called Wishes. Participation is free, but it is requested that participants make a donation to Make A Wish Foundation. If you go to Jolly Jabber look for the Wishes icon in the sidebar.When you click on that icon, you will find all the necessary details for making the blocks. Here is my March block.

I am so excited to see how this quilt turns out. I love these older Fig Tree fabrics. I bought them in a fat quarter pack way back in 2006, and have had absolutely no plan for them all this time. I do believe I was just waiting on this quilt along to make a perfect match.

Getting all three blocks together made for some weird lighting. Aren't they fun, though? I really like how these blocks are looking. Those sweet, soft colors will be really gorgeous in a quilt, won't they?

Happy Quilting, Friends!

March Block - Tell It To the Stars QAL

As promised in the last post, I am sharing the accomplishments of Friday's work at Terry's. I'm participating in not one, but two, quilt alongs this year, something quite out of the ordinary for me. I suppose I was inspired by a fresh new year back there in January, and all the possibilities a new year promises.

This quilt along requires that we make 2 blocks each month, so here are my March contributions. It was an odd block to make. The construction was unlike any I'd ever made before. That center star block is on point, so the pieces that create the outer star have to be made in a rather unusual way. It went together easily enough, so if you try it, you won't be aggravated. It's just unusual.

Here are the blocks for January, February and March.

January's blocks are on the bottom, then February in the middle, and March on top. I am eager to see how they are to be set together. If you note, there is a blue print in the January blocks, but it has not been used since. I hope it returns in April's blocks.

If you are interested in making any of these blocks or doing the entire quilt along, let me hook you up with Judy at Patchwork Times. Once there, look on the sidebar (or bottom depending on the device you are using) and click on the Tell It To the Stars icon. That will link you to all the information you need to select fabric and retrieve patterns. You can't work ahead! The links aren't activated until the first of each month.

To go along with this quilt, each month in addition to the pattern, there is a question about quilting that you are supposed to answer. I have not been keeping track of when those are posted, so I have missed two of the three. Maybe when life settles down a bit, I will look back through Judy's blog and find them.

Tomorrow, I will share with you the block I made for the other quilt along.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

She's Baaaack!

Good grief, that was some hiatus, wasn't it? I can generally get my act together every couple of days and post some sort of tidbit here; these past 10-11 days have been crazy, though, and blogging was just about the furthest thing from my mind.

I have had just enough sense to take pictures of what I've been working on and projects that some of my quilting friends have shared.

I sewed at Terry's yesterday with  a bunch of the girls. Here is one little project I hoped to complete--the pieces for the March block of the Wishes Quilt Along ready construction. I spent a bit of Thursday afternoon prepping this block.

While I was at it, I cut the pieces for the other quilt along I'm doing--Tell It To The Stars. My objective for Friday at Terry's was to get these 3 blocks made. (One for Wishes; two for Tell It To The Stars.) Come on back tomorrow and see if I managed to do it!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Midwinter Blues

Snow, snow and more snow! Yes, we had 4-5" of the stuff on Sunday, and I think most Ohioans are indeed experiencing the blues. Bring on spring!

Lori at Humble Quilts hosted another doll quilt quilt-along last month. She generally does one early each year. This one is called Midwinter Blues, and the name is most fitting! I was a bit late to the game, but I did finally finish my little quilt last evening.

This picture was taken Monday afternoon, at which time I still needed to tack the binding. You can see my pins. While watching TV last evening, I took care of that binding, and can now count Midwinter Blues as a 2014 finish!! Yay!

If you'd like to see the quilts made by others who quilted along with Lori, just click on this link. You will see some beauties!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Some Dog

When my oldest was a wee boy, one of our favorite children's books was Charlotte's Web, the enchanting classic by E.B White. One of the magical webs that Charlotte spun said "some pig." Well, we have "some dog" here at the hacienda. He reads!

Steve (yes, that's his name) fell asleep while reading, sweet boy. Reading tires out even the hardiest of dogs!

Ha!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

February's UFO

It's a good thing I put really small projects on my UFO list for our challenge. After two months, I feel like it's all I can do to finish!

This little pillow has a bit of a story. We live in an area where barn quilts are popular. Eight or ten years ago, the Greenfield Historical Society began a fundraising effort by making big wooden quilt panels to put on historic - and not-so-historic - barns in the area. Our neighbors had a very striking panel on their barn, and from the very beginning, I wanted to make that block in fabric.

After a couple of years, I decided that I would give it a try. I made up dimensions and hand-pieced a fabric version of the neighbors' quilt design. It ended up being smaller than I would have preferred, finishing out as a 9" panel. I pinned it to my design wall and there it's hung for over 5 years. 

At some point I got the idea that I'd turn that panel into a pillow and give it to my neighbors. Their barn panel is aging and I thought a pillow would be a good reminder of their barn quilt. That idea never took shape until this month, when I needed to finish it for our UFO challenge.

The panel finishes out as a 12" inch pillow. I did a modest amount of quilting on it; I didn't think it needed lots, so I made it easy on myself. I really like the finish, although I still wish it were bigger.

This post needs a picture of the barn quilt to go along with it. I think I have seen it on Pinterest; I should look it up. It will be added when retrieved!

Happy Quilting, Friends!