In the Works

 At night I like to have hand work I can stitch on, to help me stay awake until the late news.

Here is a small quilt I hand-pieced and am now hand-quilting. Wool batting is so luscious for quilting:

Hexie Stars

Recently I started quilting "Hummingbird Hollow", the variation of Afternoon Delight my friend Janet came up with. Still have to decide what curvy design I want in the white squares and if I want to do any curvy quilting in the floral blocks--they do have cross hatch quilting through them:

Hummingbird Hollow in quilting process

When I think about gifting a quilt to a friend, this is why I want them to have a quilt I made:

A big project of Secret Sewing has just begun that has kept me VERY busy the past week and will occupy most of my time for the foreseeable future. Can't share but it's really good.

What are YOU working on? I hope it's something fun and enjoyable. 

Let's quilt.

Barbara

Before and After

Most of this post won't be about quilting so skip to the bottom if you don't care for gardening.

This is what happens when you go to the Home Builders and Remodelers Show--you always find something you "have" to do to your house.  I didn't want to go but with a retired husband now, we're figuring out the new "normal".

BEFORE:

Left corner

Left Center

Cherry Tree in all her glory

Messy, messy, messy.  Sixteen years of growth, some not in the right places, just messy.

AFTER:

When it warms up, I'll put two big flower pots at the base of the steps.

I plan to add 3 more Drift Roses on this corner and we're adding a large birdbath near the corner too.

I must say it looks pretty bare to me right now.  We were able to save some of the shrubs and irises to move to other parts of the property.  It kills me to dig up perfectly good plants and throw them out but that's what happened.  I had to fight my husband for everything I kept.

While all the digging and planting was going on, I made quilts.  Here is my current BEFORE:

This is My Scrapbasket Sampler by Cheri Payne, a Facebook project.  I'm still not sure I like my setting blocks or the actual layout.  There is some applique' and borders yet to be provided--we won't get those until next week.  This long skinny layout is unusual and I might change that.  Will wait to see what Cheri provides next.  And I might buy a fat quarter or two in Chicago for those setting squares.  

I'm off to International Quilt Festival Chicago tomorrow morning, where I will work in the Education office and teach four sessions of Open Studios on the show floor--String Pieced Lemoyne Stars, Hexie Stars, and Artist Trading Cards (ATCs)--Baubles and Beads.  If you're there,  check the schedule  for Open Studios and come on by--it's FREE and full of great info provided by lots of teachers.

Hexie Stars

String Pieced Lemoyne Star

ATC by Mariette found on Pinterest

I'm sorry this is not one of my ATC collection pieces--they are now packed in the suitcase.  But Google Artist Trading Cards and find many links, images, and videos on the process of making these little baby art pieces, generally 2.5" x 3.5".  This is a great project for a group of friends to do together--it doesn't take a lot of any one thing but the more beads/baubles/photo transfers/ephemera/etc. you have, the more amazing your cards will be.  The idea is to make a bunch and swap with other artists.  That's where most of mine came from and I'll show them next week when I get home.

Have a great week, and let's quilt!

Barbara

Summer Samples

I love teaching quiltmaking to interested students.  And I'm always looking for good classes to offer, those that teach a skill or a particularly great quilt design.  Here are my Summer 2016 local classes at Patches & Stitches.   NOTE:  Sign-ups are not open yet--I'll let you know when that happens--some time in April probably.  This is so you can plan:

Strippy Stars, 44" square

This uses a great little Creative Grids ruler and makes those sharp points easy.  They also float which is a bonus when adding borders.  A great Quilt of Valor, baby quilt, or holiday quilt in your choice of fabrics.  Saturday June 25, 1-4 p.m.

Paper Piecing--Learn to Sew Upside Down and Backwards

Paper piecing is a skill set most quilters try and some find very difficult.  Learn how to make it easy. Saturday July 9, 1-4 p.m.

Hexie Stars

Learn to hand piece or English Paper Piece these cute 6" stars.  A great way to decide if you really want to make a bed-size  La Passacaglia quilt--which is quite a commitment of time and money.  Try this FIRST! Tuesday June 7, 5:30-8:30.   I'll be teaching this at Open Studios at Quilt Festival Chicago, next month.

Smitten

Nice big pieces make this fun quilt easy to sew by machine or hand or my favorite method:  hybrid, some of each.  Saturday June 25, 9-noon and July 9, 9-noon.  A much easier version of the La Pass or New Hexagon style quilts.  And with pieces cut it's the perfect take-along project for summer travels.

String Stars

Use those small leftover pieces, strings, to make a 12" Lemoyne Star block.  Learn to sew on paper foundations then learn the simple steps to Y-seam piecing that block.  It doesn't have to be hard. Tuesday July 12. 5:30-8:30.  Another Open Studios demo class in Chicago in April.

Here are two more I'm thinking of offering--if either of these are classes you would sign up for, please comment below and share this post with your friends--guessing which classes you want isn't as good as your feedback is:

Antique Rose Star--hand or machine piece, your choice

Scrappy Trips--very easy and a great stash-buster.

Now to get the supply lists ready.  It takes more than making a sample to prep for teaching classes--you might be surprised at the behind-the-scenes work involved.

Let's quilt!

Barbara

Samples and More Finished

I have been doing some free-motion quilting and finished a class sample and a Comfy Quilt I'll donate at our next guild meeting.

This little runner is a sample for Hexie Stars, a project I am teaching at Open Studios in Chicago next month and at my local quilt shop this summer.  It measures 15"x 32" and the stars are 8" across.  There are kits available so students can starting sew right away AND they get to choose whether to sew by regular hand piecing or to do the star by the English Paper Piecing method.  I'll teach both.
This pattern is by Nellie's Niceties and is available here.  I did ruler work around the stars and a simple free-motion design in the border.  Don't look too close.

The Comfy Quilt is a pre-printed panel I have had for years and finally used to practice free-motion quilting:

It's 35" x 42" and could have used more quilting.  Truth is, I was ready to be finished and it has enough quilting so "Finished is Better than Perfect".  This will be donated as a Comfy Quilt to my guild.  Local First Responders and other agencies that work with children in crisis carry quilts with them to give as a comfort to those in need.

Both of these were bound by machine, a skill that takes practice but is a useful tool for quilts that will either get lots of wear and washing, or just need to be done and don't have to be "quilt-show" worthy.
Today I will quilt a Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt and get it bound.  Love checking these projects off  as Done!  I also planned my Summer classes so I can be sure those samples get done on time--Smitten quilting is up next.

We had a fun but brief visit with Stella, our 9 month old grand-girl, this weekend.  Here she is showing off  a couple of her "faces":

Hulk Face, complete with clenched fists

Sweet Face

Always happy early in the morning

Ready for her late morning nap

Let's Quilt!

Barbara

New Class Sample

Always on the lookout for projects that will make fun and interesting classes, I found this a couple years ago:

The pattern is called Hexie Stars by Nellie's Niceties and is available for free here.

Last year I taught this at International Quilt Festival in Chicago and Quilt!Knit!Stitch! in Portland in our Make It University, a one hour, hands-on make it and take it Educational Opportunity on the show floor.  One hour isn't enough time for more than the basics so this summer I will teach it at my local quilt shop, Patches & Stitches.  In a three hour class, most students will get their first star done and will fully understand how it goes together.  An added bonus is I have kits already prepared so they can start sewing right away--it will be their choice whether to piece this by hand the regular way or to use the English Paper Piecing method.  Their choice.

Here is the sample I got together today--for a class sample, I like to have a completed project:

I will quilt and bind it before it goes on display--it is 32" x 17".  You can certainly make many more of these blocks but this is just enough for a class sample.

Also this week I did the Circa 2016 Quarter Square Triangle blocks:

One little issue--I miscalculated and created 14 pairs of  squares, instead of 7 pairs,  so would have made 56 QST instead of the 28 needed.  I caught myself when I had 44 done.  Maybe I 'm just ahead for some future step.  I'm enjoying these, and am using repro scraps I  hadn't put away from the last project.

Sunday February 14, besides being Valentine's Day, is the first day of The Splendid Sampler Mystery Quilt going gang-busters on their Facebook group.  A week ago I was number 9950 to join the Facebook group--today it is approaching 12,000.  It will be fun to see what the 6" patterns are, there will be two each week over the course of a year.  You do not have to use Facebook to get the patterns, just sign up for email delivery. I wrote about my fabric selection here.   A few friends have accused me of roping them into yet another internet project--I plead No Contest!

Let's quilt!

Barbara

Off to Portland

I'm headed to Portland, OR this week to work at the Quilt!Knit!Stitch! show--the summer International Quilt Festival event.  As usual, the days before one of these trips is filled with laundry, lists and making sure I have everything ready to pack.  And checking the weather:  Portland, 80's and dry, home 90's and humid.  Nice time to go to the Pacific Northwest.  If you are in the area, don't miss this show!

Here are the Smitten blocks I have done--I've prepped/packed several of these to hand piece on the plane, if I have enough room to do that.  This pattern is by Lucy Carson Kingwell and I found out about it on an Instagram post of someone doing the Smitten Quilt-Along, #smittenqal

Many people are doing these blocks by English paper piecing: wrapping the fabric around paper pieces and whip-stitching them.  These I've hand and machine pieced, much faster and more accurate for me.

A friend whose blog I follow, Lori of Humble Quilts, is going on a mission trip to Bolivia this fall.  She recently asked her blog followers if they might be willing to make little sundresses/pillowcase dresses she can take with her.  The response was overwhelming:  read her post here.  She gives links to several patterns.  I made these two this week, very fast and easy.  I will be MEETING HER for the first time in Portland--I'm very excited about that, we've been following each other for quite some time now.  She lives in that area so I can put the dresses directly into her hands:

While I was making these dresses, from yardage, not pillowcases, I learned we are doing a similar service project in Houston this Fall.  So I'll make several more when I get home.  It's a great way to use up yardage I am ready to part with. 

I also got my Stars in a Time Warp blocks done for this past week.  We are working with Floral Trails-type prints.  As I was making the small dress above I realized that fabric was a floral trails reproduction so it became the background of one of my blocks:

In Portland I'll be working at our Open Studio demo area on the show floor, demonstrating String/Crumb piecing.  Here are a few samples:

I wrote about the String Swap Block Challenge in this post.  The 8 pointed star is 12" finished and I really like it so I'll be making several of those during the demos.  I also suggest lots of other ways you can use leftover pieces to make great string blocks.  This is a free event, four different sessions are going at the same time, for two hour sessions and people come and go as they please.

In addition, I'll be teaching two sessions at Make It University, again on the show floor.  This is a one hour class that costs $10--for that, the student gets a kit with everything they need to make the project being taught.  Here are my offerings:

Hand Piece the 8 Pointed Star, this is 6" square

Hexie Stars:  English Paper Piece OR Hand Piece, students choose which they want to do

 These events are in addition to my other duties in the Education Office--it's a fun and busy time.  It's also great to reconnect with my Education Team friends who come to help run the show.  Good times!

I may not have time to post this week but I'll take lots of photos for the next time.

Let's Quilt!

Barbara

Is It Just Me?

Who has several projects ongoing at the same time?  Here is my current design wall:

There are Stars in a Time Warp, a growing collection of those.  I'm making 2 6" blocks each week.  There are Simple Whatnots Club quilts, I teach one of these each month for 6 months.   There are X and + blocks, bright ones and darker ones, a class I will teach for our guild Quilt-In this July.  The log cabin blocks are a simple leader/ender project, easy to cut from the Kim Diehl Simple Whatnots collection 2 fabrics.  There are HexieStars, a project I may be teaching at Quilt!Knit!Stitch! in Portland, this August.  And there are Lemoyne Stars, samples for a Make It University class I'll teach at International Quilt Festival in Chicago one month from now. 

Here is the Honeycomb quilt from the Simple Whatnots Club, Collection 2, featuring Kim Diehl fabrics, 11" x 13":

The pattern has you make split hexagons with freezer paper, then applique' those to a light pieced background.  I decided to English paper piece (EPP) the entire thing.  I drafted it in Electric Quilt, printed the design onto heavy duty freezer paper, then cut out the papers and used a glue pen to wrap the fabrics around the shapes.  There are hexagons, diamonds, and triangles, all EPP.  It took a few nights of hand sewing and I like how it came out.  In the class at our club, I'll offer the page of shapes printed for students who want to do it this way.  And I'll do a tutorial of the process before the class meets and post it here.  There are more than 30 people in the class and it can be hard to see my demos in class. 
So the design wall has lots of things to look at up there.  My plan is to start sewing the X and + blocks together next week so I'll take a bunch of stuff down, giving me room to play with color and design. 

It has been very cold here, today we won't break freezing and it was 10 degrees this morning.  We may get sleet and freezing rain tomorrow afternoon and evening so the Simple Whatnots club may be postponed a week, we just have to wait to see what actually happens.  We can't complain, it's not Boston!  They just have too much snow!

Let's quilt!

Barbara

Fun Projects for International Quilt Festival

I've been asked to present a couple educational sessions at IQF Chicago, March 26-28, 2015 and Quilt!Knit!Stitch! in Portland, OR, August 13-15, 2015. 

For Open Studio, I demo how I work on my choice of project.  People come and go over the 2 hour time segment, asking questions, basically they "visit" me in my studio and we converse about the process.  For Chicago I'll be showing String Blocks with several different setting/design possibilities:

Half Red/Half Neutral

1" finished black strip in the middle, color on one side, neutral on the other

 

There are lots more possibilities and I'll be working on samples for the next month.

In Portland, I'll be making Japanese X and + blocks, showing how easy it is to get those intersections to intersect:

I also get tiny bonus triangles from the corners that are cut off.  They finish to 1" and are so cute.  I wouldn't be likely to create 1" finished half square triangles, but these are too cute to throw away so I'll show several ways to use them.

The other event is Make It University!  This is a one hour, hands-on project that costs just $10.  Each student gets a kit with everything they need to make the project.  All they have to do is drop in, buy a ticket, and they are good to go, no pre-registration necessary.

Finding a project that can be completed, or almost completed, in a hour is a challenge.  And I have to prepare the 25 kits for class.  This will take some time too.  Since I have 2 sessions to kit for, I think I'll need to call in my troops for a "help me" day.  I'll teach them the one hour class to be sure it works well in that timeframe, then have them help me make the kits. 

In Chicago, I am offering  Hand Piecing the Lemoyne Star, yes, the real one with the dreaded Y seam:

This is a 6" star and one I really enjoy making by hand.  Having a hand project ready at all times is a must for a lot of quilters.  I can't take my sewing machine to the doctor's office, but a baggy with the basics of this block is easy to whip out and sew a bit on. 

In Portland, I am offering the HexieStar, 8" across the middle:

 

 

I found this on Pinterest and have gotten permission from the designer to offer it as a class.  You can find her free pattern here. Her pattern is available for your personal use only, which is why I sought her permission before going forward with this class.  Please abide by copyright rules--artists deserve that respect for their work.

Here is my question to you about HexieStars:  The top one is English paper pieced over freezer paper templates, while the bottom one is hand-pieced, with sewing lines drawn on the back of each piece.  In a one hour class, would you prefer to only be given one set of instructions, EPP OR hand-piecing, or would you like to be able to choose in class which method you want to do?  The kit prep time for this project will be intense, and my friends will come in handy here.  I need your input on this one.

So, along with everything else I'm working on, I've now got another couple of deadlines to work toward.  I love to teach so this is not a chore, it's fun! 

And, if you are in Chicago and/or Portland be sure to come to our shows and look for the Open Studios and Make It University opportunities we bring to you!  It's a great way to sit for a bit and learn something.

Let's Quilt!

Barbara