Red, White and Blue--All Set

I decided. It was tough. There were several ideas for a red, white and blue quilt for another Quilt of Valor calling my name. A Trip Around the World. A Coins quilt. Something easy but interesting. What to do, too many choices???

My next Quilt of Valor is a variation of a pattern a friend sent me:

The pattern is Sail On, by Eileen Fowler. It was published in EASY QUILTS SPRING 2019:

Mine has just gotten started:

I thought if I changed the construction, I would have fewer seams. And that is true. The downside?  I now have partial seams to deal with. So the trade-off may not have been worth it. But once I started, I was committed. "In for a penny, in for a pound". 

The quilting will delineate the star blocks--essentially putting the "seams" back in visually. I hope to have it ready to quilt before April is over. But maybe not... There are a lot of flying geese in that border.

This weekend was "hang a quilt on your house" weekend so I did:

Gift of Love from the Sunday Sew and Sews

It's a good day to read on the porch swing

Antique Rose Star--one of my most favorite quilts

I hope you are handling the stress of "isewlation" and "QuiltersQuarantine" pretty well. There is so much available online to educate and amuse us. Take care and learn something new. Some classes are free, some are offering special deals. If you are not a member of The Quilt Show, NOW is the time--$19.95 for a 6 month membership gives you access to 13 YEARS of shows. And so much more. 

Let's quilt.

Barbara

Tidying Up

I did spend a little time clearing away the clutter in my studio and found:

The comfy chair

The rocking chair--and the top of this old table

 Now I will make a few more masks:

And quilt these 3 little quilts I unearthed:

I am still searching for the perfect idea for a Quilt of Valor, using the red, white and blue fabrics from Patriotic Pineapples. It might be a string quilt:

From Pinterest

 It might be Standing Strong, a design created for Quilts of Valor--instructions can be found at shabbyfabrics.com:

Or it might be this string quilt, Blended Scraps Block, in red, white and blue, from She Can Quilt.:

Making this decision is holding me up so I will decide and start before the next blog post. Stay tuned...

Let's quilt.

Barbara

What's A Quilter To Do?

We have lots of time. Most of us have lots of fabric, ideas, plans. So, what do we DO with all that?  If you are like most quilters being safe at home right now, you are spending LOTS of time on the Internet.

Having recently finished several projects, it's time to figure out what comes next for me.

I could keep quilting the Foothills Quilt:

 I could make more masks--since I am still trying out different patterns:

I could work on this project--BUT since it's a Leader/Ender, what's the rush?

I could START one of the NEW quilts I want to make:

1. Pieces of the Past in Purple
2. Western Sun
3. A Modern Quilt with Repro Fabrics
4. Another Quilt of Valor
5. An old block made fresh
6. One BIG Pineapple block
7. Or any one of several more I'm thinking about

Maybe, what I SHOULD DO IS--clean up this mess:

Pressing surface, mostly

Stuff that doesn't fit in the closet

There is a comfy chair under there somewhere

Cutting Surface, supposedly

Without the monthly meeting of the Sunday Sew and Sews, the studio has gotten really messy. Knowing they were coming once a month meant I put stuff away most of the time. They will start coming again, and I look forward to that day. Probably ought to clean up a bit starting today.

We won't even talk about the closets--it's past time to dig through those again. My friends call it an "intervention". It looks good for a bit then, sewing happens and it gets messy again.  See what I mean:

Studio Neat and Tidy

Closet Before and After

So, what did I do? First, I wrote this blog. Then I wrote the May 1 blog--I prefer to be ahead on the posts about Afternoon Delight.

Then: I started the clean-up process--one surface at a time. When the studio is neat and tidy once again, I will decide which quilt is up next, pull fabrics for it, and get started.

It is easy to get lost down the rabbit hole that is the Internet--we have SO MUCH to read and watch in the comfort of our homes. I want to spend this time making something.

Let's quilt.

Barbara

Let's Look Forward!

During this tough time, it is easy to think of what we can't do. Seeing my grandkids is top on my list.

This month I had two travel jobs that went "poof"--one teaching for the Virginia Consortium of Quilters has been postponed two years. And the other, being one of the judges for the Lakeview Quilters Guild in Houston has not yet been rescheduled. And Spring Market--oh, I will really  miss not going to Spring Market!

But good times are coming back so let's look ahead.  It might seem strange to be thinking positively in this negative time, but that's how I roll.

How about taking a sea cruise with me? Some of you know I will be teaching on a week-long cruise to the Caribbean April 18-25, 2021. We will have a great time. If you want to get excited about something fun as well as educational, take a look at this short Video:

Scrappy n Happy! 

The good folks at Stitchin' Heaven really know how to run a Quilt Cruise--those who have sailed with them before have told me so. 

My class project was very well received a few months ago as I worked on it. You may want to purchase the pre-cut Kit available in limited supply. If you want to use your own fabric, you will receive cutting instructions in advance--come to the ship with everything cut out:

I have been on several cruises and really enjoy that way of traveling. To add "quilt teacher" to the itinerary is just that much more special.  The port I am most looking forward to on this trip is San Juan, Puerto Rico--my husband and I will take a tour of old San Juan.

Now is your chance to plan a great vacation where you will take two excellent quilt classes--for a year from now, when we can look back and say "do you remember when...?"

Here is the link to all the information you need. Register now so you have something exciting to look forward to:

Scrappy n Happy Quilting Cruise information

Only 90 students will get this chance. Come alone, you'll make friends quickly. Bring a quilt friend--sew and travel together. Bring a non-quilt friend, like a spouse--they get a discount since they won't be taking the quilt classes. There is so much to do on this ship, that person will be able to entertain themselves while you enjoy all our class time.

I hope my Bucket List trip is one of your Bucket List events too. Take a look, make your plans--a deposit will save your spot and get the ball rolling.

Let's quilt!

Barbara

Free Motion Quilting--Ruler Work--Quilting Sizzle Quilt

UPDATE NOTICE--lots of photos have been added showing how I quilted the Cool Sizzle quilt.

For a lot of quilters, deciding HOW to quilt our quilts is the biggest challenge. It certainly is for me. I really like Ruler Work so do as much of it as I can.

This week I finished quilting the Cool Sizzle quilt, with the pieced borders:

While quilting it, I thought "who can I give this to?" Our niece, Kallie, who is expecting her first baby in just a couple weeks did not get the traditional "college graduation Super Star quilt" I make for all our nieces and nephews--she wasn't an official part of the family then. A couple years ago she told me turquoise was one of her favorite colors. It just seems like she is the right one to get this quilt.

Sizzle was designed by Becky Goldsmith for The Quilt Show. It was the 2019 Block of the Month. Now Becky has the rights to her pattern back and is working on having it published. She enjoyed seeing some of the border variations members of TQS did on their quilts and this is a border she wants to include. So good photos are a must.

Once the quilting was done on Cool Sizzle, I jumped on to Foothills:

I really love this quilt and am keeping it for  myself. See these posts for more information:

Last Chance

Change Your Mind

I worked with plexiglass and a dry erase marker, trying out a variety of design ideas after going through a lot of Free Motion Quilting books and YouTube videos:

I also played with paper and pencil:

When I had a plan, I just started. Only have a few blocks done so far but I am happy with the designs overall:

For Free Motion Quilting, I am working to master a few designs I really love and those will become my "go-to" designs for most quilts. Feathers are high on the list so I might quilt a simple feather border on the narrow outside border. On second thought,  it really might be too  narrow for feathers so loopy leaves is another design I enjoy--that is fast and fun.

I will enjoy quilting several blocks on Foothills each day, now that I know what the plan is.

What are you working on? Does the quilting part come naturally to you or is it hard to decide what to quilt?

Let's quilt.

Barbara

AFTERNOON DELIGHT--Month 4

Here we are, back on schedule.

This pattern is the 2020 Block of the Month pattern offered FREE to Star members of The Quilt Show--join today to receive the entire year of patterns free. This is in addition to all the great content provided by The Quilt Show, 26 shows, a new one every two weeks, and so much more. If you want to know more about why I am such a fan, here is why.

This month we have 4 Applique blocks and 2 Shoo Fly blocks--unless your 9 total Shoo Fly blocks are already done.

Recently, I completed my Red, White and Blue Demo Quilt--with blocks I have used to prepare these blog instructions:

This month, two of the Applique blocks have narrow complete circles, which are not covered with any shapes that would hide a seam join. I had to figure out a way to make that circle without a seam.

Block 14 in my Demo Quilt:

I decided to hand applique this block so I would have one block in this quilt made completely by hand.

Using Cut-Rite Heavy Duty Freezer Paper, I printed the pattern and drew registration lines on the pattern:

Placing the white background fabric on top of the pattern, I used a mechancial pencil to make dots where the red berries go, and mark where the outer edges of each leaf go. For the circle, I drew a light pencil line in the middle of the 1/4" circle, so the pencil line would be covered by the circle:

Using scissors designed to cut paper, I cut out all the shapes:

The shapes were pressed to the wrong side of the fabrics. Notice the narrow circle is one complete circle:

 The circle is trimmed to just less than a 1/4" seam allowance and the inside curve is clipped almost up to the paper:

Using a light touch with the glue pen, the seam allowances were both turned and glued down--here is the inner circle glued:

I used Quilters Select 80 wt thread, the perfect color blue, to hand applique the edges, starting with the inner edge: 

Carefully, really carefully, I made a slit in the back of the white background fabric exactly in the middle of the circle. I spritzed that area with water and gently massaged the paper pattern out from behind the blue circle--that is why you use a light touch with the glue. The pattern came out in one complete piece:

The leaf pattern made a good edge to draw around--they were pressed to the RIGHT side of the blue fabric. I used a silver marking pencil to draw a line around the leaf shape. Then I removed the paper. The leaves were hand appliqued by needle turn. Some people like to keep the pattern in place, not draw a line with a pencil, and just turn the edge of the fabric under--just to the edge of the pattern. Whatever works for you, is the right method:

I used Karen K Buckley's Perfect Circle templates to make the berries and hand appliqued them in place too:

Block 16 has a very similar circle and that could be done with this method. I didn't make that one for my Demo quilt.

Here are the blocks from the Sample Quilt that uses the Kit Fabrics, made by the Sunday Sew & Sews. Feel free to use any of the fabrics you like:

Block 13

Block 14

Block 15

Block 16

Month 6 was released in the middle of March, instead of June 1, so anyone who wanted to could start making the 64 Double 9 Patch blocks while finding themselves home with time to do them.

We are starting to see great groups of blocks on the Forum--take a look and post your blocks there:  Show and Tell Your Blocks.

Let's quilt.

Barbara