Piece to Peace group--latest quilts

A group of quilt friends that I am lucky enough to quilt with each month makes quilts for charitable causes.  We recently finished a couple and had them quilted by our local longarm friend, Joe.  The red, white, and blue "twister" quilt will be presented at a ceremony at the VA hospital, and the flower  quilt in the background may go to a Habitat for Humanity family.  Then this week we had some fun making sailboats!

Finished....

and hung in place.

A start on making a new office a little more inviting!

Many little projects and a kaleidoscope quilt

Learning kaleidoscopes and group quilt work

I was shopping the IDEA store here in town with some quilting friends, and came across a UFO that I snatched up.  It had about 70 blocks in batiks done, but some of the blocks were needing some re-sewing to fix some puckers, etc.  I picked up the whole thing for less than $10 (!).  The picture here is of blocks that either needed re-sewing, or I put together with the included scraps.  I put the rest of the blocks in the hands of our quilt group leader--we will probably try to put it together as a charity quilt while on retreat next week.

And this is my first attempt at a Ricky Tims style kaleidoscope quilt.  It was a ton of fun to make!  I learned a lot while making this with scraps/stash fabric,  and am really looking forward to making one with some seriously beautiful batiks from Threads.. and if it comes out well, it will adorn Dan's office.

Learning some thread painting/ completing my BOM

I attended some workshops put on by Ellen Anne Eddy on thread painting and bobbin work over the past two days.  I learned so much.  And it amazed me to see the collections of thread that some of my fellow quilters have.  Here are some of my practice pieces--- (don't look too close, they really were just learning pieces)

Also this week I finished the block of the month program that was sponsored by our local quilt shop.  It was a  pattern of 3 by 3 blocks, but the shop provided us with enough fabric in each month's kit that I was able to expand the top to 4 by 3, making it large enough to become a bed-sized quilt and potentially much more useful.  Now I just have to get it quilted!

Quilt as you go

I've made plenty of table toppers and table runners-but never a placemat!  I've made my first one using the quilt-as-you-go technique and machine sewing the binding (a no-no when it comes to quilts, but for placemats... especially since the fabric and thread are black--hardly even can tell!)  I dug into my stash and used colors that will coordinate very nicely with the "coffee" fabric I received from a friend to make placemats like the ones I admired in her kitchen.  So perhaps eventually I will have 6-8 placemats that will look terrific!  Here is the first one complete--

Mother's Day means... quilting time

A couple more lap quilts--probably one for donation to the ALS challenge, and one to keep.  The second one is still just blocks, in case it looks a little wonky : )

And thanks, kids, for the beautiful flowers and quilt book!

April projects

In addition to working on my mandala quilt (here's a sneak peek at progress),

I've also been working on...

a table topper that was really just a place to practice some free motion quilting,

and....

  a lap quilt to donate to the ALS challenge.  Here's the flannel back with some scrappy additions to liven it up!

 Finally,  the charity quilt that my small group made was shown at a local quilt show this past weekend, and sold for the maximum asking price--yay for the children's home, but it made us happy too!

New design wall and some spiral progress

 I finally have a real design wall!  It is 4' by 8' (and I have another piece of foam insulation board, so it may double in size-- I just have to get more batting.)  I was able to cut it down just a little bit, so that it fits the height of the wall perfectly, eliminating the need to put holes in the wall... and it is portable in case I decide to move things around.

And here is some progress on my mandala quilt project--  

Playing with spirals

After seeing the fabulous quilts of RaNae Merrill, my friend Cheri and I have decided to try our hand at one of her designs, each using our own choice of colors/fabrics.

I wanted to try out a sample before cutting into the actual project-- so here we have a pieced spiral using solids left over from a previous project.  The second photo shows the full mandala design, with the piece that I made colored in.  This promises to be a fun project!

Farmer's Wife Quilt Sow-Along, 1st blocks

I've decided to finally start a Farmer's Wife quilt. I've had the book for a year or two, and was wanting to do something "sampler", but wasn't inspired by the traditional colors.

I am following along with Randy D. and her blog, Barrister's Block (and Bonnie Hunter) and have decided to make the quilt with bright colors and a background that is a light purple. I don't know what the final product will look like, but I'll certainly have fun sewing with these colors!

The "sow-along" started this month, with three different blocks to complete twice a month- and the blocks are all fairly simple. Should be fun!!

Happy Fat (Quarter) Tuesday

It was fun to wander the fabric store today, gathering goodies for future projects...

One more project--my first tote

This was a challenge from the CIMQG (modern quilt guild, central Illinois)--to make a circle of geese block and then use it in a project.

I made this while on retreat #3 (Feb 2012), and even though I feel as though I am just learning to paper piece, was able to teach three others to make their own "Circle of Geese" block. Margaret even made hers into the same style tote--yay!

The second photo shows a variation of the pattern, inspired by a sudden lack of background fabric... thanks to Pat for immediately seeing the alternate possibilities of the geese pattern.

Some (mostly) finished projects from the last six months

This posting is mostly for my benefit-- I am so bad at labeling/documenting my work that I am putting up some pictures to keep some dates straight. Hopefully I will go back and properly label, etc! I made the bed topper, below, in July/Aug 2011. The pattern is from Fons and Porter(July/Aug 2011) and is called Lily Patch Topper. It is 60" x 60".

The next piece is a "mystery" quilt that I worked on between Feb 2011 and Sept 2011. I started it when I was at my first retreat in Danville. I chose the fabric that February Sunday morning as I was heading out the door to go home, and worked on it as each Quilter's Newsletter came with a new installment every couple months. On the day before I was headed back to my second retreat in September, the final installment of the mystery arrived in my mailbox, so I set aside my other projects and pieced together the "mystery" throughout the weekend. It was tedious work at times (especially the installment that was all applique work), but was very rewarding. I finally got it quilted by Joe F., and have almost completed the hand sewing of the binding.

You might be able to see some of the great quilting that Joe did, as well as some of the applique on the quilt. I used the freezer paper method for the applique work.

I spent a lot of the fall, mostly October and November, making a t-shirt quilt for my older son, who had given me a pile of t-shirts about a year ago and suggested he might like a t-shirt quilt! It didn't sound very appealing to work on at first, but once I started working on it, I was so glad I did. It's not exactly the most exciting work (lots of cutting and stabilizing), but the designing was fun, and finishing off the project was so satisfying. I used flannel for the sashing and backing, and machine quilted it myself. When I discovered that my son, who has a new apartment mate while at grad school this year, was in a competition with his roomie not to be the first one to turn on the heat in their townhouse.... I knew I had to give him the quilt early, and gave it to him at Thanksgiving rather than waiting until Christmas!!

And then, after returning from the Houston Quilt Show in November, I started working a little bit on charity quilts... the kit we picked up in Houston (3 one yard cuts of fabric plus a pattern called Square Dance). Joe quilted it, with flannel on the back, and glow in the dark thread on the back--so cool.

Next, a Project Linus quilt that is part of my quilt guild's work. The sailboats are paper-pieced (fun!), and I made about a dozen of the sailboats (friend Cheri's boat is the right boat in the second row from the top). I had enough extra fabric that I asked to finish it myself. Again, Joe quilted it. (Jan 2012)

Another "3 yard/3 fabrics" quilt. This is the Topsy Turvy pattern and I pieced this over a 24 hour period this past weekend. All very fast, except for the FIVE borders. This one is waiting to be quilted ( I found a wonderful coordinating flannel for the back)

Also, some fleece blankets (with pocket hugs), also for donation.. (Feb 2012)

Finally, for something completely different.... this morning I finished a scarf that should have been done months ago! Now that spring is almost here...

Project Linus quilt

I am so behind in posting my quilt activities... but here's a pic of my first Project Linus quilt!

It was fun to put together, good practice at paper piecing (I did most of the sailboats, friends from guild did some too), and the best part is that it will go to a child who needs the comfort of a quilt.

Circle of Geese block

This was a great block to practice my paper piecing techniques. The pattern is courtesy of a member of the Central Illinois Modern Quilt Guild--a group that I hope to get to know better this weekend!