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!