Diagonal Madness

I love the name of this quilt - Diagonal Madness. It's a Kaffe Fassett quilt from his book Country Garden Quilts. I figure I will be exhibiting a fair amount of madness as I try to work on this through a busy fall semester.

This is the quilt featured in the book. I have had it earmarked for several years. My selection of this quilt was made largely for the use of many fabrics - none of which is needed in large amounts. I have lots of his fabrics, but very few are cut larger than a half yard or a full yard. I would be hard pressed to come up with extensive yardage for less scrappy-looking quilts.

I spent some pleasant bits of time throughout this weekend perusing my options from these books. Not shown in this picture is a view off all the tabs sticking out of the tops. I use sticky note tabs to mark quilts that I like; and then over time, if I have forgotten patterns, the ones I like are easily identifiable. Interestingly, I have gone back through old books and magazines and wondered what I was thinking with a few that I find marked. The photo below sorta' shows some tabs at the top of the book.

I LOVE the riot of color so characteristic of Kaffe's fabrics. This quilt promises to be really fun to work on!

The 4-patch blocks are 4 inches at this stage. These will be sewn with plain 4-inch blocks, and they will be laid out on point. I am going to use a distinct fabric for the setting triangles - probably light - something that will frame the center. Then I will think about the 9-patch border on down the road.

I plan to have fun working on this quilt. I am not putting any pressure on myself to work hard at it, as I know the school work will be picking up in a few weeks.

In addition to the school work, I have two or three other projects to focus on this month. I will put together a blogpost about those soon.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Returning The Favor

I spent a happy afternoon yesterday at my niece Abby's house. She needed some assistance on a home decorating project she'd begun.

Here is Abby, comfortable in her dining area where we were set up for sewing. See that cool map behind her? I will explain how that was done at the end of this post. First, I need to take care of the sewing project.

Back in early August, Abby came here to help me with a project with the express purpose of learning how to do these sorts of jobs herself. She was a huge help in making a chair slipcovering which I shared in this post. We worked and stayed at it until finished! I surely would have quit midway had she not been here.

Now back at Abby-Doodle's house. (Doodle - a loving nickname) While Abby's ultimate goal is recovering her sofa, she started out with something way more manageable - a porch swing cushion. When I got to her house, she had already taken apart the old cover, used it for a pattern to cut the new, and had pinned the pieces together, right sides together. She was stumped on the back closure. Her plan to reuse the original zipper failed as it was most likely dry-rotted and disintegrated as she was removing it from the fabric. We thought an envelope-type fold would work, or maybe attach some buttons or Velcro, or even ties.

We left it at just being pinned, as Abby decides what she prefers doing. I have every confidence that she can handle it from here. Doesn't it look great? The original cushion had piping, but it looks perfectly fine without, and it was definitely a faster job for omitting it.

Here is the sofa which will be recovered. Whoa! That's a whopper! It intimidates me, but she is sure she can do it! Yikes!

And here's that cool graphic artwork behind the dining table. You will not believe how this was made. Ingenious.

The map began as a shower curtain. It was cut into thirds and stretched onto frames that they built to fit the length and width of each section. Then the panels are simply leaned against the wall. Does it not look fantastic? It has major WOW-factor impact for an inexpensive DIY. What smart kids!

That's all for today, Peeps. We have some work to get done before Buckeye football time!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Coaching, Round 2

I suppose you've heard the adage "give a man bread, you feed him for a day; teach him to plant, and you feed him for a lifetime?" Well, that principle applies to my learning lately, as I had a second opportunity to visit my friend Terry for further long-arm coaching.

Many of you know that I have been in possession of a long-arm machine for nearly 2 years, yet I have not quilted a single quilt on it. This sad fact has many extenuating explanations, yet truthfully, most of them stem from my own poor excuses and, as one shop-owner/quilter told me, being "chicken."

You can click back here to read about my being gifted the machine from another sweet friend, Sharon O.

Is it becoming apparent that I am surrounded by sweet friends?? I am so blessed by them.

In mid-August, I asked Terry if she would quilt two quilts for me, as I had immediate needs for both, and didn't see myself getting to the point that I could successfully do them on my machine. Instead of offering to quilt them, she offered to teach me how to quilt them. Inspired!! I think she sensed that I was, truly, "chicken" or at least intimidated.

The first quilt was done a week ago, and I haven't fully revealed it yet as it's a wedding gift for my nephew. I wrote about it here.

This week, I quilted a t-shirt quilt that is being raffled to help fund a scholarship sponsored by my DH's fraternity alumni. I shared my shirt-gathering adventures here. Obviously, I don't have to keep this one a secret.

In doing two quilts in two weeks, I have gained such confidence. It definitely has motivated me to do what is necessary to get mine up and running. I have big plans for doing just that, which I will share as it all gets going.

So back to the quilting, I did 'freehand loopy meanders' over the entirety of this quilt. It seemed like a good idea at the beginning to make the quilting dense, but as I neared the end, I was wishing I'd been looser with the stitching, as I ached through the neck and shoulders; I just wanted to be done! It is far from perfect, but for a t-shirt quilt, it is certainly acceptable, and I hope whoever wins this raffle will use it at tailgate parties, picnics, and ballgames at the 'Shoe.

A few blocks were noteworthy. This one had a 3-dimensional rosette attached, so I made sure to stitch around it.

Another shirt was done in pink rather than scarlet; I am assuming it was in conjunction with breast cancer awareness.

I have so appreciated the opportunity Terry afforded me to do this practice quilting on her machine. As I said, it has truly given me the kick in the rear (which I needed!) to begin using my own!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

The Fun Lasts All Month

Did you enjoy visiting all the quilt bloggers in yesterday's Meet and Greet? I admit that I had several things planned yesterday which prevented me visiting everyone. Have no fear! The event lasts all month, so we have plenty of time to visit the participants and enter the give away with each visit. Sweet.

I have a quick little project to share today. The cross body bag I made a couple weeks ago has been serving it's intended purpose, and I have used it quite happily. If I have any complaints about it, though, it is too big. a bag of this sort needs to be more compact. With that thought in mind, I decided to make another.

I made minor changes on this bag. Of course, it is smaller. The first bag measured 11x13 inches. This new bag measures 8x11 inches. It feels more comfortable at this size. I have repeated a picture of the first bag here for comparison.

Another change is obvious; I quilted this one. And I changed the closure method. I went with a loop and button. I am not exactly thrilled with my button choice as this one seems too bright. I am gonna' try rubbing it with some brown shoe polish to dull it a bit. And, the hardware has the addition of the clips onto the D-rings.

I plan to continue honing my skills on these bags. They are quick finishes, and the results are pleasing.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Quilters Meet and Greet

Hello to all newcomers! 

I'm Jayne and I have been recording my quilting/life activities here on the interweb for just over 10 years. I began in the months following my retirement from full time teaching, with the thought that it would be a fun way to keep track of my quilt projects. It has morphed somewhat to include occasional posts about family, household projects and vacations. It's been lots of fun, and I don't see myself stopping any time soon.

In a nutshell, here's a bit about me. I am an English teacher by profession; I retired from public school teaching in 2009, and have taught part-time at the college level ever since. In June, my husband and I celebrated 40 years of marriage; we have three great kids, Adam, Erin (and her hubby Jeff), and Emma.

My quilting story begins as a child learning how to sew from my mother. She started me in 4-H, and I recall making a tea towel, a needle book, and a simple 3-seam blouse - which I actually wore. By the time I was in high school, I was making most of my wardrobe. Growing up, we lived next door to our maternal grandparents, and Grandma seemed always to have a quilt on a frame. As a youngster, I paid very little attention to the quilts, however I believe her prolific quilting must have made an impression, because after I married, I was crazy to own quilts. In my adult years, I came to appreciate her skill as I began my own quilting journey.

I am grateful to both Mom and my late Grandma for their influence.

So, back to the meet and greet -- I shared a picture of one of my quilts with Benita, and while long-time readers here may be familiar with it, I will review it for newcomers.

The history on this quilt goes way back to the late 1990s, when I began hand-piecing the stars at track and cross country meets when our son ran. At some point, I decided I'd made enough stars, and proceeded to hand-stitch the stars together using the white diamond. That took me through all the meets of son's college years (longer trips)  in the early 2000s. I stopped stitching and put the whole thing away when I became totally stymied by the uneven edges that were inevitably going to happen. Agghhh! I couldn't fathom cutting off the sides of the stars!

Fast forward to 2016 when my lovely quilting group - the Frankfort Girls - suggested we do a year-long UFO challenge. I did terrible in the challenge, but I did finish this quilt. I found that I could lop off the sides of perfectly good stars.

I hand-quilted it and hand-bound it, finishing just in time to enter it into the Ross County (OH) fair where it earned a blue ribbon. To date, this is the only quilt I have made entirely by hand from piecing through binding.

I could go on and on about quilting (obviously, since I have blogged about it for 10 years!), but I will invite you to search out the yearly completion pages on the sidebar where you can peruse my finishes. My tastes run the gamut, as you will see. I don't think it would be possible for me to pigeon-hole myself into one category or style preference.

The meet and greet hostess, Benita, invites you all to her page to see the other quilt bloggers involved. And if you click below, you will be entered into the giveaway drawing.

Each visit to a participating blogger will give you additional opportunities to enter the giveaway. So get going!! You'll have over 40 chances to enter, if you visit each blogger participating and enter from their page.

Have fun meeting new friends, and I hope you will come back to visit me often! I'd love to hear a comment from all - especially you newcomers!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Meeting On-Line Quilters

Blogging for over ten years has given me a unique glimpse into a world of quilters and other makers that I would never have otherwise encountered. This blogging journey has been ever so fascinating, and has immersed me in quilting world-wide. Technology has afforded me access to a tremendous diversity of quilters - all ages, all styles, all backgrounds, and all methods.

One Canadian quilter I follow, Benita of Victoriana Quilt Designs,  invited me and many other bloggers to join in on a meet-and-greet event which will be ongoing through September. If you visit each blogger, there will be ways to enter give away opportunities to win all manner of quilt-related prizes. The event officially kicks off tomorrow, Tuesday, September 3,  and lasts all month. Consider this your obligatory "tease." You can click here to read Benita's official tease as well as peruse the list of prizes she's compiled.

Look for this Meet and Greet coming up tomorrow!!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Hello September!

Well, gosh. As reluctantly as possible, I am waving goodbye to sweet summery August, and welcoming in crisp and cool September.

I just can't explain why I am so ambivalent about leaving the summer months behind. I have never been prone to looking back with melancholy or sadness, but letting go of this wonderful summer is proving hard for me.

My best explanation: I feel like we accomplished so many little chores and projects around the house, all of which were exceedingly satisfying. Couple that with several mini-trips along with just enough days of no-particular-plan-at-all, and I just didn't want it to end.

Now here I am on September first, and I have finally completed my August collage. I really labored over selecting 9 pictures - so many more could have been included.

In the top row, first up is a sweet little craft made with my dear Frienzies on Friday evening. We were at Susan's house for dinner al fresco, and afterwards, she showed us how to make the candle stand out of a down-turned wine class and fall décor. Add a candle to top it off. Sweet and easy.

Top row middle is my long-arm effort courtesy of my "coach" for the day, Terry. I will have more on this quilt after my nephew's wedding. And last in the top row, the aged porch swing after it's power-washing. I am still in the process of getting the necessary hardware to hang it on our front porch.

Middle row - the Ohio State t-shirt quilt which will be quilted this coming week and then donated to the scholarship fund-raising effort of DH's fraternity alumni association. Center pic is of a long-standing tradition of swimming on the final day of summer before the kids go back to school. In this case, since all of my kids are beyond that age, we (my sister and I) used our twin nieces - they are now 6th graders! The last pic of the middle row is from Kingwood Garden in Mansfield. I sure did love visiting that garden. I never did a full post about this visit, and I probably should have. It was gorgeous.

Bottom row - Perry Monument on South Bass Island/Put-In-Bay, Lake Erie. We have enjoyed brief trips to the island for several years now; we have putzed around on a golf cart many times, and always enjoy the relaxing pace and familiar scenery. The reason we were in northern Ohio was because we had selected one afternoon game to go see the Indians; we had a bonus, as the previous night's game had been rained out. So we sat through a doubleheader, both WINS, and enjoyed every minute of it. Finally, last picture, I finished a UFO of about 15 years, Six Degrees by Miss Rosie's Quilts. It was fun to work on, and for the life of me, I have no idea why I had been so intimidated about completing this way back when.

Gosh, what a great month. Wouldn't it be great to fill September with equally fun and satisfying days? I am working on a goals list; knowing that my time is going to be limited due to classwork, I will be careful to choose projects wisely.

I do have one really big plan, and I promise to share it soon. I will tease you a bit. Hint: it involves my long-arm machine. *winky-grin*

Happy Labor Day Weekend, Peeps, and
Happy Quilting, Friends!