Design Wall Monday March 26, 2012

It's Wedding Week and life is hectic!  We worked in the yard most of Sunday and things are looking good there.   Spring has sprung early this year, as it has for most of you, so the place should look nice later this week as a few friends come to visit.  Here is the pond:

Yesterday I saw the first water lily bud so hopefully, there will be a bloom in a few days.

I've signed up for a doll quilt monthly swap, starting in April, and here is what I think I'll do for the first one:

I have a large bag full of these 2" finished size half-square triangles so this is a fun way to use them. 

And I'm almost done all the Just Takes 2 red/white blocks for the first quarter.  The last block is supposed to be hand-pieced but I'm doing it by the hybrid method:  machine piece the straight lines, hand piece the curves.  I'm eager to sew this first quadrant together--we should get that info soon.
My friend, Judy Murrah, has a great challenge for those who love vintage lace.  Check out her blog: Judy Murrah   She provides creative ideas for embellishing and making memory gifts.  I couldn't resist this one--making a wedding memory is my next plan--after tax season!!!

I hope you all have a wonderful week--can you believe it's the end of March already!  Check out Patchwork Times to see what others have been doing.

Let's quilt!

Barbara

Design Wall Monday March 19, 2012

It's crazy time for those of us who work "tax season".  Add a wedding to that, and a 5000 gallon backyard pond that is coming to life, and I am BUSY! 

Here are my Just Takes 2 blocks--and I'm only 5 blocks behind.  Hopefully, tomorrow, my last day off for a while, I'll get several of those, foundation paper pieced, blocks done.

The other big news I received this week was from Pam Dransfeldt, of Califormia. She is the Joyful Quilter, an awesome longarmer I met on Facebook.  A few years ago she quilted my quilt, Joyful Journey, (the purple one center on the top row of my banner) and I pieced a second one of those for her.  Hers is called Joyful Journey Too and she was pleased to get a call from the Glendale, CA quilt show last week that our quilt won First Place in Two-Person quilts:

The blue ribbon matches so well!  Maybe now I can get her to enter Paducah--mine was accepted there in 2010.  It would be great if the twins both got to hang there.

And just one shot from the yard--our cherry tree looked so pretty last week:

Be sure to see what's happening at www.patchworktimes.com

Off to work--wish I could quilt!

Barbara





Design Wall Monday March 12, 2012

Relief!  Peacock Love is done! 

The border print adds a great touch.  I added 2" black solid strips to both sides of the border print before attaching it to the quilt.  I had hoped to do perfect miters but the border print is not symmetrical so each corner is different.  The lines all match as close to perfectly as I could get them so the flowers not being perfect seem less noticeable:

If you are working with symmetrical border prints, like Jinny Beyer designs, you will find tremendous help at her website: jinnybeyer.com  Her tips and lessons are great:  Tips and Lessons. 

Now I can get back to those red and white blocks from JustTakes2.  The 15" feathered star is next, then a couple simple paper-pieced flying geese strips.  Hope to get these done before March 15, when the next unit comes up.  Then we'll get instructions for joining all these blocks into the first quarter of the quilt. 

I've been very busy at work and to complicate matters, I was rear-ended on our main highway 2 weeks ago so this week my car goes into the shop for repair.  The other guy's insurance will pay for the rental car and all repair costs but it's just the time to do all this that is annoying.  Fortunately, I was completely stopped and had left lots of room with the car in front of me so it was only one wreck, not two.  He was very apologetic and claimed full responsibility.  I was stopped, he was looking in his rear-view mirror and just plowed into me.  No one was hurt but I was shaken up for a few minutes, until we could get our cars out of the main traffic lanes.  A police officer was on the scene for another issue, so that helped.  Be careful, people, watch out for each other.  None of us has time for a car wreck, so slow down!

My beloved husband took the netting off our large pond yesterday and now the goldfish are coming to life and ready for food again.  There's some leaf debris I need to get out and the water needs treatment but the wedding is less than 3 weeks away, it's the height of tax season for me, and I really just want to sew!  With guests coming for the wedding I must work on the pond some but not today.  Maybe tomorrow...

Check out what people with more time than me are up to at Patchwork Times

Let's quilt!

Barbara

Design Wall Monday March 5, 2012

Teaser!  All 30 blocks are done and only the  last row has to be joined to the rest.  I ran out of steam.  So here is a shot of the border fabric:

It will be a great outer border.  Hopefully,  Tuesday, my only day off this week, I'll be able to complete this last step. 

Be sure to check out Patchwork Times with Judy L to see what others have done.  Probably a lot more than I got done. 

Let's Quilt!

Barbara

Design Wall Monday February 27, 2012

Well, here is Peacock Love, still those first 15 blocks done.

I thought you might like to see how I get each row organized in preparation for the sewing.  When I have a few minutes, like 15 minutes before heading to work each day, I'll select the fabrics for a block, cut then and stick them on the design wall.  Then, when I have time this week, I'll make a block or two.  At least all the centers are done and placed, now I just have to sew those remaining 15 blocks.  Stayed tuned...

Today I completed 4 of the 5 Just Takes 2 red and white blocks from this 2nd half of February unit.  There are some "issues" with this group.  The basket must be paper-pieced--I figured I'd just piece it but the sizes are odd so, of course, it was 1/4" too small.   I took off two pieces, remade them extra large and fixed it.  One of the patterns (2nd from the top) had the colors in the wrong place, though the cutting instructions were correct, except for the four little pieces I cut that were not needed.  Corrections were posted a few days later but things still slip through.  Other bloggers were very upset with the large amount of waste built in--with fabric already at $11/yd or more, we don't want to cut our pieces quite so large, then trim.  I'll be checking all the measurements BEFORE I cut any pieces with the next group--they are available March 1.  At least, I'm on schedule--the 5th block for this unit has 12 little leaves to applique'--I'll get them finished tonight. 

We worked in the yard some this afternoon.  Wait a minute!  It's tax season--I don't want to work in the yard during tax season!  Spring is coming on early this year. 

Be sure to check out the other Design Walls at Patchwork Times by Judy L.

Let's quilt!

Barbara

Why Quilts Matter

Why Quilts Matter is a fantastic Series on American Quilts, making them, collecting them,  and the marketplace, hosted by Shelly Zegart and airing on selected PBS stations.  Sadly, not my PBS station. 

BUT--this wonderful 9 part series is currently available free for members of thequiltshow.com--until March 31, 2012. Check this out:   thequiltshow.com   Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson created this world-wide community a few years ago and I've been a member since before it began.  I cannot sing the praises of this website/community enough.  Lifelong friendships have been made, there are amazing free classes available all the time, the forum is a wealth of information for everyone from beginners to professionals.  And, of course, every 2 weeks there is a one-hour show featuring the best, brightest, newest, most well-known, quilt teachers and makers who offer great information for all--some very modern, some artsy, some very traditional.  I often say, if I had to seriously watch my quilting dollars, this is the LAST money I would give up--it is that valuable to me. There is so much more on the site, I am just touching the highlights here.  No affilitation, just a very satisfied member!

So, if for no other reason than you can watch all 9 segments of Why Quilts Matter, I strongly encourage you to join thequiltshow.com now and catch them before they go away at the end of March.

Let's Quilt!

Barbara

Thimbles!

Bonnie Hunter, at Quiltville.com, has a Thimble Link-Up Monday--all about thimbles:  Thimble Link Up Monday.  Here are some of my thimbles--I had to hunt in lots of places to find them all:

Some are leather, some plastic, some for the underneath hand, some for the top, even one for the thumb--that's the yellow one.  I even had the same small plastic box that Bonnie showed in her post.  Quilters are such gadget/storage people!

Here are my favorites from the bunch.  The center one is my newest, a TJ Lane thimble will an amethyst gem stone.  It is beautiful.  My most used is the one on the left, I have several of these in different sizes.  And I really wanted to love the one on the right;   it is a sterling silver ThimbleLady thimble.  Liuxin Newman is the ThimbleLady and she quilts with the side of her finger, saying it will prevent hand and wrist problems. I've tried it some but didn't get the hang of it.   Still, it is beautiful and feels good on my hand.   I love to hand quilt so these are important tools to me.  I hope my someday grandchildren will love these as I do. 

I tried to get a shot of that newest one--believe me when I say it's HARD to take a photo of your right hand with your left hand.  Sorry it was just too fuzzy to use. 

And, BTW, I love the feel of the Roxanne thimbles too.  They are heavier and sometimes that's just what I want, like when I'm doing Utiltiy Quilting with Perle Cotton.

What is your favorite thimble? 
Let's Quilt!

Barbara