Wednesday, November 30, 2011

WIP Wednesday #15

This week brought 2 new projects!  One I can talk about and one's a Christmas Secret for 4 special someones - you know who you are!!  :) More on 'that' later....

The New Project that I can show you is going to be a quilt for our lake house.  I'm working with colors I have in a Batik Painting I purchased in an Etsy store this past year.
Etsy Artist: http://www.etsy.com/shop/puterinoor He's only showing Owls now but I ordered this special and was very pleased with how it came out. 
I have been wanting to work with two ideas.  One is Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project (1-10 shown) and the other is from the Crazy Shortcut Quilt Books YouTube Video (they used 4 fabrics).  Use the links here to go see these are useful demos :)


So my idea was to pull the colors out of the batik above.  I decided to use 10 different fabrics, I layed them face up then I cut them into 10 pieces then took one piece of each color fabric for each block.  So this one fabric 'cut'  will yield 10 blocks.- confused??  Look below and I'll show you what I have done so far.  I wish I had taken pictures as I went - maybe with the next set of 10 if you're interested.  I started with blocks of fabric that measured 20" square.  After the seams the blocks will finish at 18" - just barely!!  More was lost in the seams than I anticipated but I can make this size work :)
Block 1 of 10 - first series - FRONT
Block 1 of 10 - first series -BACK
 
To piece this block to attach the pieces in the exact reverse order that you cut the in.  Last cut, first seam, second from last cut, second seam..... 
This first block has been pieced together, I then used one of the built-in stitches to go over the seams then I begin machine quilting using Leah's first ten blocks - sorry Leah, some might not be quite what you were looking for, but I'm happy with the results and looking forward to all the practice with free motion quilting this project is going to give me.  I was working from pictures of the blocks and only after watching the videos again did I get the 'cursive f' - I plan to watch the next 10 BEFORE I start!    







Here's the back.





My plan is to make 3 sets of 10 blocks - 30 total.  Each block will use a different built-in stitch from my new sewing machine.  I will then take on 10 new free motion stitches from Leah's Free Motion Project and continue to post the results.  30 blocks = 30 built in stitches and 300 Free Motion Stitches.

I have the next 3 blocks pieces together and the seams are sewn over with the built-in stitches.  Next step will be to free-motion quilt them, finish the remain 6 in this group, then on to the next batch.  Here are pictures of the next 3 so far:

Close Up

 
Close Up
  
Close Up

 
Camp Bed Quilt Blocks: First 10: 1 done, 3 pieced, 6 cut out

Completed Projects:  none
 
New Projects: Camp Bed Quilt - Free Motion / Crazy Quilt (November 2011)
Eric's Browning Quilt (Christmas present 2010!!!)- still! hand sewing binding :)
Secret Christmas Project

Ongoing Projects: Worked on this week: also see no progress
Bottled Rainbow - ticker tape quilt - Continue collecting fabrics & attached borders :)

Ongoing Blog Projects-monthly: include donated amounts - shows one person CAN make a difference!!!
4 Patch 4 Hope - 72 4-patch blocks (December (Nov = 0)
Block Lotto - monthly  - December (Nov = 0)
Valor Quilt Bee (Month 1)

No progress:
Berry Bliss Twin Quilt 2of2 played with several designs... still deciding pattern 8/17/11 (got some fat quarters for this!)
Mason's graduation quilt - Back - continued - cut out fabric and started to assemble blocks 8/31/11
Snowman Quilt - top together awaiting borders, quilting, and binding 8/17/11
Boat Log Cabin Quilt 8/17/11 - took pictures - hanging in sewing area
Row Robin Sampler Quilt! have 5 strips of four blocks each... MoVeD the rows around... Still Thinkin...  8/24/11
Sunflower Glacier Star -Completed June's block - 4  behind now! progress!!! 9/4/11
SVQG - Mystery Quilt - Received instructions month 2&3!! - 9/9/11
Jelly Roll 1600 quilt! - completed top :)  10/5/11 - thinking I'm going to add some flying geese?!?
Two baby quilts! - pinks using D4P design - still piecing blocks...
Door quilt for camp

This week’s stats:
New projects – 2
Completed projects – 0
Currently in progress –18
WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

WIP Wednesday #14

Ok... So I didn't actually complete anything this week but I have to say I have had a GREAT WEEK!!

12:01 Saturday, November 19, 2011




My hubby got me my FIRST BRAND NEW SEWING MACHINE!!!  Isn't he just the BEST!! I am so excited!!!  So I played a lot! but didn't finish anything!

I did start a new project!  It's a quilt for the doorway at our camp that goes to the upstairs which we think will help keep the heat downstairs... but with all the knot holes in the wooden floor/ceiling it may be more of a decoration then a practical heat saver - we'll see  :)  Either way here's the first completed block.



I'm using the Hard Candy collection again with a single background fabric.

I have a bunch of the other 4-patch and 1/2 square triangles made but not together yet.  Trying to make it look 'scrappy'!  Going to put 2 blocks across by 7 down for a total of 14 place binding.  Show you more as I go along.  Didn't work on anything else this week because I've been cleaning the house and getting ready for the holiday.


I am taking a few minutes to realize how very lucky I am!!
Wishing you all a Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving!
Marie


Completed Projects:  none
 
New Projects: Door quilt for camp

Ongoing Projects: Worked on this week: also see no progress
Eric's Browning Quilt (Christmas present 2010!!!)- still! hand sewing binding :)
Bottled Rainbow - ticker tape quilt - Continue collecting fabrics & attached borders :)

Ongoing Blog Projects-monthly: include donated amounts - shows one person CAN make a difference!!!
4 Patch 4 Hope - 72 4-patch blocks (November next)
Block Lotto - monthly - November
Valor Quilt Bee (Month 1)

No progress:
Berry Bliss Twin Quilt 2of2 played with several designs... still deciding pattern 8/17/11 (got some fat quarters for this!)
Mason's graduation quilt - Back - continued - cut out fabric and started to assemble blocks 8/31/11
Snowman Quilt - top together awaiting borders, quilting, and binding 8/17/11
Boat Log Cabin Quilt 8/17/11 - took pictures - hanging in sewing area
Row Robin Sampler Quilt! have 5 strips of four blocks each... MoVeD the rows around... Still Thinkin...  8/24/11
Sunflower Glacier Star -Completed June's block - 4  behind now! progress!!! 9/4/11
SVQG - Mystery Quilt - Received instructions month 2&3!! - 9/9/11
Jelly Roll 1600 quilt! - completed top :)  10/5/11 - thinking I'm going to add some flying geese?!?
Two baby quilts! - pinks using D4P design - still piecing blocks...

This week’s stats:
New projects – 1
Completed projects – 0
Currently in progress –16
WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Wordless Wednesday! Happy Thanksgiving!

ALQS6! Received a beautiful quilt! from Cathy!

Over the weekend I received my ALQS6 mini quilt "Early Evening" from Cathy.  I love it!! And Cathy, who lives in Texas, filled the package with books, a bag, a book marker and more! from the International Quilt Show and The Quilt Market - it was like Christmas!  The package made me feel like I got a backseat view to these wonderful events! along with a 'if you are in the area I'll show you around'!! Which is so very sweet and I may be able to take her up on it as my favorite quilting gals and I are planning to make the trip next Fall for the Quilt Show! 

This is a picture of what came out of the mailer:

The book is marked with different things of interest one of which is the fact that Cathy's group had a quilt in the show.  If you have a minute check it out: Alice's Odyssey.Cathy marked lots of places with things for me to check out and her personal notes with information - fun!!

Congratulations on 'Alice's Odyssey' Cathy!  Thanks for the quilt.  I love colors and the stitching which is done in a variegated rainbow colored thread, plus Cathy tested out her quilting abilities using many different free motion stitches  :)  Oh, and check out the lovely personalized label.



If you have a chance check out the Kate's ALQS6 site for more beautiful quilts!  Thanks Kate and I can't wait for ALQS7!?!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Wordless Wednesday!

photo credit: Eric Joerger

WIP Wednesday #13

This week I completed the Rose of Sharon Wall Hanging.  I spent lots of time quilting!  Fun!!


First I went around the outside of the 'wreath flowers' then inside the vine, leaves, and flower center...



 
Then I quilted a round feather design in the center - you can see that I'm using a variegated thread which helps to make the quilting stand out...

And I quilted the corners with another feather design...
I finished up the flying geese and pinwheel border with a straight stitch pattern...

Added the binding and here it is!
 This will hang at the Camp! I love working with these bright colors!!  Now on to the quilt to cover the space to upstairs to help keep the heat in this winter....


The other project that I made some headway on is the  Bottled Rainbow - ticker tape quilt

Steph and I decided to reduce this project's size due to time restraints.  We are doing 3x3 instead of the standard way and they're a bit smaller too.  Steph narrowed the colors down and set the placement.  Got the background pieces attached and here's the layout  :)


We have LOTS of fabric collected and started cutting and layout pieces....  Hopefully have more pictures for next week!

All for now - happy quilting!!



Completed Projects:  Rose of Sharon wall hanging
 
New Projects: none (new jelly rolls are still calling to me!)

Ongoing Projects: Worked on this week: also see no progress
Eric's Browning Quilt (Christmas present 2010!!!)- hand sewing binding :)
Bottled Rainbow - ticker tape quilt - Continue collecting fabrics & attached borders :)


Ongoing Blog Projects-monthly: include donated amounts - shows one person CAN make a difference!!!
4 Patch 4 Hope - 72 4-patch blocks (November next)
Block Lotto - monthly - November
Valor Quilt Bee (Month 1)

No progress:
Berry Bliss Twin Quilt 2of2 played with several designs... still deciding pattern 8/17/11 (got some fat quarters for this!)
Mason's graduation quilt - Back - continued - cut out fabric and started to assemble blocks 8/31/11
Snowman Quilt - top together awaiting borders, quilting, and binding 8/17/11
Boat Log Cabin Quilt 8/17/11 - took pictures - hanging in sewing area
Row Robin Sampler Quilt! have 5 strips of four blocks each... MoVeD the rows around... Still Thinkin...  8/24/11
Sunflower Glacier Star -Completed June's block - 4  behind now! progress!!! 9/4/11
SVQG - Mystery Quilt - Received instructions month 2&3!! - 9/9/11
Jelly Roll 1600 quilt! - completed top :)  10/5/11 - thinking I'm going to add some flying geese?!?
Two baby quilts! - pinks using D4P design - still piecing blocks...

This week’s stats:
New projects – 0
Completed projects – 1
Currently in progress –15
WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Baby Rainbow Bright has a new home!

Susan from FL sent an adorable email thank you to me when she received my quilt "Baby Rainbow Bright" for Kate's ALQS6 (mine is #33).

I visited Susan web page "Arts-4-All' and saw that she did a wonderful write up on my little quilt :)
Thank you so much Susan!

Enjoy the quilt and hopefully I'll see you at Another Little Quilt Swap Soon!

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

WIP Wednesday #12

Not a big week for accomplishments in my quilting world but a GREAT week for exposure!  This week in Nashua, NH  The Eastcoast Alliance 3 presented A Quilters Gathering.   Three members of our guild, The Souhegan Valley Quilts Guild,  had quilts accepted into the show!  Very proud of you, Faye, Kathy, & Terry!! 

I also took a class with my friend Patty.  The class was called Uncensored Art--the naked truth about techniques with Sarah Ann Smith.  Sarah was a very energetic and creative person who is busting with ideas and techniques! If you have a chance to take a class with Sarah I would recommend it!  She's lots of fun!!

I learned lots but didn't finish a piece as there was just too much going on!  These are two items I worked on.  The first was painting fabric using freezer paper stencils.

I can think of a lot of things to do with this for Christmas time!

The other piece I played with are a fabric art post card.  I was not particularly thrilled with my fabric choices but intend to add lots of bling and see what I can make of it...  with this one we used paint with all kinds of textures to apply it.
 I'll revisit this when I've had more time to play!

The other really great thing about A Quilters Gathering is the SHOPPING!!  They have LOTS of vendors, a great selection of fabrics with many that are not regularly available locally plus many new gadgets to try.  Patty and I found one to try with our new Art Fiber group but it's a secret for now - more later  :)

Also spent several hours manning our both for the quilt raffle - our drawing is on November 17th - if you're interested there's still time to take a chance to be the proud owner of this beautiful quilt!

Is that not the most beautiful smile?!!!

Ticket are available with paypal: http://www.nhquilts.org/2011/09/autumn-gathering-raffle-quilt/

See you next week!  Marie




Completed Projects:  none
 
New Projects: none (but did come across a FEW new jelly rolls that will be looking for projects soon!)

Ongoing Projects: Worked on this week: also see no progress
Eric's Browning Quilt (Christmas present 2010!!!)- hand sewing binding :)
Rose of Sharon wall hanging - decided on feather design

Ongoing Blog Projects-monthly: include donated amounts - shows one person CAN make a difference!!!
4 Patch 4 Hope - 72 4-patch blocks (November next)
Block Lotto - monthly - November
Valor Quilt Bee (Month 1)

No progress:
Berry Bliss Twin Quilt 2of2 played with several designs... still deciding pattern 8/17/11 (got some fat quarters for this!)
Bottled Rainbow - ticker tape quilt - Continue collecting fabrics :)
Eric's Browning Quilt (Christmas present 2010!!!) made multi-fabric binding strip  8/24/11
Mason's graduation quilt - Back - continued - cut out fabric and started to assemble blocks 8/31/11
Snowman Quilt - top together awaiting borders, quilting, and binding 8/17/11
Boat Log Cabin Quilt 8/17/11 - took pictures - hanging in sewing area
Row Robin Sampler Quilt! have 5 strips of four blocks each... MoVeD the rows around... Still Thinkin...  8/24/11
Sunflower Glacier Star -Completed June's block - 4  behind now! progress!!! 9/4/11
SVQG - Mystery Quilt - Received instructions month 2&3!! - 9/9/11
Jelly Roll 1600 quilt! - completed top :)  10/5/11 - thinking I'm going to add some flying geese?!?
Two baby quilts! - pinks using D4P design - still piecing blocks...

This week’s stats:
New projects – 0
Completed projects –0
Currently in progress –16

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Wordless Wednesday!

photo credit: Eric Joerger

Monday, November 7, 2011

Our new Fiber Artist Challenge Group

My good friend, Lois and I are spear heading a new fiber art challenge group. 

It's called the "Creative Conglomeration" and seven of us located in Southern New Hampshire are embarking on this creative adventure together.  

I look forward to all this incredible talent that will surround me and inspire me to grow!!!  Lots more information to follow!  Stay tuned  :)

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

WIP Wednesday #11

Well if you are from New England then you know what kind of week this has been.  14" of snow and trees down everywhere!  We're still without power at home but are hiding at our lakehouse where the snow came but not the power outages...  Nothing like a storm to bring on the creative juices!!

I finished Katy's quilt and am thrilled with how it turned out!



 And Sunday when I realized we were 'stuck' in Newbury for the night and who knows how long...  I got in the quilting groove and finally attacked the feathers on the border of Eric's quilt.  I'm so happy with how they turned out!

I also got the binding attached and have started to sew it down.  Still have the 'grid work' to go through the center of the quilt.

Have a wonderful week! :)

WIP Update: (date) is when entered the list or last worked on...  8/17/11 is my starting point

Completed Projects:  Katy's quilt! - pinks using D4P design
 
New Projects: none

Ongoing Projects: Worked on this week: also see no progress
Eric's Browning Quilt (Christmas present 2010!!!)- Quilted Feathers on border - all the way around! :)
Two baby quilts! - pinks using D4P design - still piecing blocks...

Ongoing Blog Projects-monthly: include donated amounts - shows one person CAN make a difference!!!
4 Patch 4 Hope - 72 4-patch blocks (November next)
Block Lotto - monthly - November
Valor Quilt Bee (Month 1)

No progress:
Berry Bliss Twin Quilt 2of2 played with several designs... still deciding pattern 8/17/11 (got some fat quarters for this!)
Bottled Rainbow - ticker tape quilt - Continue collecting fabrics :)
Eric's Browning Quilt (Christmas present 2010!!!) made multi-fabric binding strip  8/24/11
Mason's graduation quilt - Back - continued - cut out fabric and started to assemble blocks 8/31/11
Snowman Quilt - top together awaiting borders, quilting, and binding 8/17/11
Boat Log Cabin Quilt 8/17/11 - took pictures - hanging in sewing area
Rose of Sharon wall hanging 8/17/11
Row Robin Sampler Quilt! have 5 strips of four blocks each... MoVeD the rows around... Still Thinkin...  8/24/11
Sunflower Glacier Star -Completed June's block - 4  behind now! progress!!! 9/4/11
SVQG - Mystery Quilt - Received instructions month 2&3!! - 9/9/11
Jelly Roll 1600 quilt! - completed top :)  10/5/11 - thinking I'm going to add some flying geese?!?

This week’s stats:
New projects – 0
Completed projects – 1
Currently in progress –16

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Wordless Wednesday! OCTOBER! 29th - only in New England!