Another Long-Term Project

In July, 2015, Bonnie Hunter introduced her "Leader/Ender" 2015 Challenge--Tumblers.  I didn't think I would be a fan of this project but I was curious as to how she would easily cut the pieces.

 See How She Does It Here!  I thought that was pretty cool so I zipped off to the store to get my Dresden Plate EZ Tool and started cutting 2.5" strips and squares.  You can make them larger if you want to cover a bed faster.

This project has been sitting by my machine since early July and now I have 13 rows together.  No rush, it gets done while working on other things.  I think of it as "saving thread" and making a "free" quilt.  I'll be teaching the Leader/Ender process this winter at Patches & Stitches--I'm always surprised to learn how  many people aren't familiar with concept.

This is another one of those quilts I would not enjoy making to the exclusion of all else--it would just get to be boring for me.  But this way, I can see progress without getting burnt out.

And, no, I don't try to plan any of the colors--just alternate light and dark pieces.  Can you see the "oops" areas?  In the top photo there are the same 3 green tumblers at the top center--didn't plan that but I'm not changing it either.

Would it drive you nuts to have 2 of the exact same fabrics on top of each other?  Yeah, me, too, BUT I'm not changing it.  Considering how hard it was to find this to photograph, I'm betting when the whole top is together this will be very hard to find.  It happened because I used this fuchsia print as a dark in one row and as a light in another row.  Oh, well, things happen..  One hundred years from now someone will be certain I did this on purpose to prove I'm not perfect--right!?

I'm liking how this is coming along.  Glad I jumped in on this one.

Let's Quilt!

Barbara

Quilt Show is Around the Corner

A guild quilt show that takes two years to plan and execute can seem to take forever to arrive.  Then, BAM!, it's right around the corner and there are all those little things, and some not so little, to finalize.  Three weeks from today, October 9, 2015, Fanfare 2015 Quilt Show and Sale will open in Huntsville, AL.  See all the info about the show here.  There is also a Facebook Event here.  If you are anywhere within driving distance, come to the show--you'll be glad you did!!

We have arranged for several nice incentive prizes to encourage our members to volunteer for all the jobs that must be done.  The committee has done all it can to prepare, the rest of the jobs have to be filled by the membership.  As an incentive to sell raffle tickets, the person who sells the most tickets will be awarded this little quilt that I've been working on this week:

 

It is a replica of the Raffle quilt, Celtic Solstice, designed by Bonnie Hunter and used with her permission.  These blocks are 50% smaller, 6" blocks, vs. 9" blocks in the quilt and is 21" square.  The fabrics are leftover from the Raffle quilt.  I used wool batt and will add some free motion quilting on my new machine--when I get the courage to tackle something I really care about instead of just "practice" blocks. 

Here is the Raffle Quilt and it's not too late to buy tickets--you don't have to be present to win:

Queen-Size, 94" square

The other thing I make time for each week are the Stars in a Time Warp QuiltAlong from Barbara Brackman.  This week it's Lancaster Blue and/or Greek Key designs.  I didn't have any Greek Key fabric but I did have the lovely Lancaster Blue:

I still have to finish hand quilting one of my show entries, sew the binding in place on a very large quilt and add all 3 labels to my 3 entries.  It will all get done, I just have to keep at it. 

Tomorrow I'm riding our guild bus to the AQS show in Chattanooga where I will meet up with my good quilting friend, Ellen and her daughter, Lauren, and see Anne Francoise again, she's visiting from Switzerland and seeing a lot of the South this trip.  She brought a sweet onesie for my grand-girl Stella, featuring the Swiss  National Flower, Edelweiss--may you have an earworm all day of that song from the Sound of Music:

Edelweiss...
Edelweiss...
Every morning you greet me
Small and white, clean and bright
You look happy to meet me
Blossom of snow
May you bloom and grow
Bloom and grow forever...

Let's Quilt!

Barbara

String Blocks

I've been saving strings of fabric for years to make string blocks.  It's a process that is really popular now and allows you to use very small pieces of leftover fabric.  Bonnie Hunter uses string piecing in a lot of her quilts and her blog is loaded with ideas for this technique, check her out here.

Last fall our guild quilt show committee formed a swap group to make string blocks.  I wrote about that here and this is a tutorial.

At Houston last fall, seven of us in the Education Department decided to do this too.  These blocks start out with paper cut 6.5" and we are only making 6 blocks for each person.  Everyone got to decide what colors and design they wanted.  The deadline is March 31 to have them in the mail to each person so when the calendar turned to March yesterday I decided I'd better get BUSY!  I am also going to demo this process and show the many quilt designs you can get with these blocks at International Quilt Festival in Chicago, March 26-28, 2015.  Don't miss the Chicago Show!

Here are the sets I have done: 

Bert wanted random black and white

Carol wanted scrappy
 

Vickie wanted scrappy with a 1" finished black strip in the middle

Tanya wanted various greens with a bright light 1" finished green in the middle
 

Melissa wanted scrappy

 

Judy wanted red and white from the diagonal out--still have to finish hers

This was a great way to run my Featherweight sewing machine after cleaning, oiling and lubricating it.  The motor needs to be run to help get all the oil/grease through the machine and this was the perfect way to do it. 

Here are a few tips:

1.  I use telephone book pages, lightweight and no cost, and, no, they don't put ink on me or the fabric.

2.  Use a small stitch, 1.5 mm or about 15 stitches/inch--this makes paper removal easy.  Leave the paper on so the recipient can decide if she wants to make them smaller and she can trim them.

3.  If doing a design that puts a specific color in the center, it helps to start with paper larger than needed to allow for trimming the block to get that center in the center--I cut those papers 7"

4.  If doing a design with a specific color in the center, I pinned that fabric in place first.  Then I added strips to both sides.  Otherwise, I use no pins in the process.

5.  I usually piece with gray thread.  For the half white/half red set, I'll use white thread on the white half and sew all 6 of those first.  Then I'll change thread to a gray and do the red side of all 6 blocks. For all the other blocks, I alternated sides, and pressed the blocks after adding to both sides.  You don't have to press until the blocks are done but I like to press and getting up from the machine is my aerobics.

This process can be messy because I have a big bag of saved strings:

 

So when I start this project, I keep going until I'm done or can't stand it any more.  The larger strips I save are kept much more organized than this, but for strings, they just get tossed into a big tote bag until I'm ready to piece string blocks--then it's a sorting frenzy.

So I'm almost done and that's what's on my design wall today.  Check out Judy L's blog to see what others are doing.

Let's quilt!

Barbara





Fanfare '15--Let the Fun Begin!

Tax season is over so it's time to start the next major project:  being co-chair of my guild's next quilt show.  Jane and I are working hard to get all the pieces in place:  date and location are set, next job is to finalize the budget and the rules.  Fanfare '15, our 14th judged show, will be October 9-11, 2015, at the Von Braun Center, here in Huntsville.  Check out our guild Website, it's terrific.

Also needing to get done:  the Raffle Quilt!  It takes a lot of money to produce a show as wonderful as ours is, and having a great "opportunity" quilt people can purchase tickets for is a necessity.

Here's what we have planned.  With Bonnie Hunter's permission, we are going to use her latest Mystery quilt, Celtic Solstice, for the pattern:

 

 

And with the permission of Rhianon Taylor, the Nifty Stitcher, a quilter from Fife, Scotland, we are going to use this colorway:

Isn't this just luscious?!  Jane and I both fell in love with Rhianon's version--it's perfect for the look we want.   Thanks to the amazing Internet, I was able to "talk" to her and get her permission to post these photos here.   Why?  There's a good reason...

Jane and I are striving for a quilt show of inclusion and participation from our almost 250 members. Now you probably know, this is NOT the kind of quilt you want to make as a "group" project.  Apparently, not everyone has the same 1/4" seam allowance!!  So, we chose one of our excellent members, Carla R, who is a superb piecer, to make the quilt top and thankfully, she agreed. 

As a way for our members to participate, we are asking everyone to donate ONE fat quarter of fabric, in any of these colors.  They have ONE month--this will be revealed at our April 17 guild meeting tonight and the only time to turn in the fat quarter is next month  at the May guild meeting.  Since the quilt show at Paducah is next weekend, those going to the show can easily pick up a fat quarter.  Those who can't go, should definitely treat themselves to a visit to their local quilt shop in the next month, since they can't get to the big shopping experience in Paducah, and while there, pick up an extra fat quarter for this quilt.  After the May meeting, we'll shop for the remaining fabric we need, most likely background, and Carla will be off and running to get the top made.  The reveal of the quilt to the guild is set for early Fall of this year--to kick off the next year of fun plans and some hard work too.

Since Spring has tried to appear here, this quilt, in these color,s is like a breath of spring fresh air, minus the pollen.  I'm looking forward to seeing what our members contribute to this effort! 

Let's quilt!

Barbara