Around the World Blog Hop!

Maer over at The Hard-Rock Quilter tagged me to participate in the Around the World Blog Hop.  I met Maer @ an online mug rug swap and was BLOWN away with the beautiful pieces of ART she created for me!!  So much more than Mug Rugs!

In answer to Sophie over at Sophie Junction's question "does anyone know who started this? and Or why there isn't a nice long list somewhere of everyone who has blogged an Around the World Blog Hop post?"  My answer is no but I think that like she and Kate over at Kate's Quilting, the hardest part of doing this was finding 3 more people to pass it on to. And since there's no master list the thought that if you'd like to play along - do!

Here are the question and my answers:
1) What are you currently working on?
Just finished one block for Sophie's September Block Lotto. Super fun group and I won both January and February this year :)

I also just mailed a mug rug to VA for the Two for Teal Mug Rug Swap 2014 which support research for Ovarian cancer.  Can't show the whole thing as it hasn't been received but here's a peek:

 I also finished a challenge for my local guild's 30th Anniversary, which, again I can't show but here's the back - actually had a bit of time to quilt this one myself which is always fun:

here's a peek at the front:

I am also doing Tula Pink's 100 Modern Quilt Blocks with several friends. We are working on blocks 41-80 for a reveal in a few weeks.  No pics but will add some soon.

Mostly I have been working on developing a pattern using 1/2 Rectangle blocks.  I have my 72" sq and 49" sq quilt samples to my friend Lisa to have them long arm quilted and am planning to send out the rough copy to my friend, Susie who has offered to test it for me!  More on that over the next month or so!


2) How does my work differ from others?

I'm not sure that it does.  I like to think that I take things that look very hard and find an easy way to approach it.   I often work from pictures I've seen and seldom use a pattern.  I have patterns & desings 'pop' into my head constantly and grab a piece of graph paper and scribble away.  I have a tendency to jump into a project with an idea and just go with whatever sparks me.  Usually that works out but every once in a while I just make an addition to my UFO pile...  

Here's a quilt I recently made for my Creative Conglomeration Group:
For this one I took 2 photos and some clipart - mushed it into the 13" required size and:

(hubby says I made HIS face too fat, LOL, I thought I was the one with chipmuck cheeks!)



3) Why do I write and/or create what I do?

Well, this summer has been very sparse with my blogging but I like to blog to share what I'm up to because people have shown interest it seeing it and have said that I inspire them.  I love that thought and enjoy encouraging others to reach past their comfort zone and try new things! This might be why I enjoy teaching as much as I do.  Blogging also creates a bit of a diary of what I have created, which I find is a nice reference to have.  I also love the interaction with the blogging community. I really enjoy being involved with the many online swap and round robins, etc.  It is fun to be involved with people all over the world while sitting at home.

As I stated above being involved with the online swaps, etc. opens me to interacting with some fantastically creative people.  Never know, some of it may rub off on me :)

4) What is my creative process?
First answer that popped into my head is - depends.  I LOVE to create NEW things!  Love, love, love it!! BUT I bore very easily!  That being said I seldom make an item twice, unless it's a gift item for a group or a Log Cabin which is my favorite 'go to' pattern.  I have notebook after notebook of ideas just waiting for me to have time to turn the thoughts from paper drafts into quilting creations! 

So that's a little about me!  Remember if you haven't been tagged and want to do this...  Go for it!!  As for me, my three 'taggies' are:

Lois Kindley over @ Creative Gypsy -  Lo and I go back 4 1/2 years but it feels like a life time!  She is presently located in Mansfield TX but as her site relates, she is a tumbleweed that landed in my life for a few years and my heart forever!  This is one creative lady!  Don't let the lack of recent blogs stop you, she is just getting over surgery on her 'good' hand and will be back in force soon!  Lo's ramblings will keep you well informed and often in stitches!

Second, head over to Terry Burris @ Terry Burris Quilting.  Terry moonlights as a long arm quilter while still working her day job like me.  I got to know Terry while chairing the last quilt show for SVQG.  She worked magic at getting her wonderful vendors to donate their beautiful products for our raffle baskets!

Next up in Beth of Quilting Hottie Haven.  Beth is running the "Two for Teal" Mug Rug Swap I mentioned above and is a pattern designer and teacher.  I first met Beth when she was a speaker for SVQG then got ran into her again  through the NHMQG.  Fun and interesting blog, check out her!

Promise to blog sooner! M 

Wordless Wednesday!

WIP Wednesday #3

Added another project to my WIP list...  Actually it's a 6 month 'block of the month' quilt and I just received the THIRD month's package!  I'm only 1/2 through the first month so this one needs to get on AND move UP the WIP list if I hope to ever catch up :) 

This is a picture of the quilt when it's complete:

Sunflower Glacier Star - Quilting by the Bay

This is the first month's block - making 8 of them:

And this is what I have done so far - all 8!

OK,  sad...   But I also have the rest of block one cut out!

I also worked more on Mason's graduation quilt, back of the quilt this time.  I have all the strip pieces cut out and paired up for sewing the block tops.  This took a long time as I am using 30 or so of the Bali pops from the Sangria collections.  I found that some of the fabrics were too light.  I have also collected and cut out 20 or so different fabrics for the background pieces.  Will have some actual pictures of the quilt shortly  :)

 

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

Completed Projects:
Nothing completed this week. 
 
New Projects:
Sunflower Glacier Star 8/31/11

Ongoing Projects:
Mason's graduation quilt - Back - continued - cut out fabric and started to assemble blocks 8/31/11

No progress:
Berry Bliss Twin Quilt 2of2 played with several designs... still deciding pattern 8/17/11
Eric's Browning Quilt (Christmas present 2010!!!) made multi-fabric binding strip  8/24/11
Snowman Quilt - top together awaiting borders, quilting, and binding 8/17/11
SVQG - Mystery Quilt month 1 of 4 (August) 8/17/11
Boat Log Cabin Quilt 8/17/11
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

This week’s stats:
New projects – 1
Completed projects –0
Currently in progress – 9

College Graduation! Creating to show how Proud you are of them!!

One year ago my daughter Kristen graduated from college.  Being the oldest, she was the first of our kids to graduate.  I began thinking of what I could make her that would show just how proud her Dad and I were of her...  At the same time I realized that this would become the standard as our other 3 children completed their education.  It didn't take me long to decide on a quilt! But I wanted this quilt to be special. Something to keep her warm, to hug her at the end of the day, and to remind her that wherever she is, we're still there for her. During this time she was setting up her first apartment and creating her first home so I wanted her to decide on colors and theme.

So off we went to one of my favorite Quilt Shops - The Quilt Patch :)
 


We walked in the door and Sue, the owner, greeted me by name. After introductions off Kristen went searching through the fabric and patterns for what would make her new apartment more homey.  Kristen is always very fun to shop with as she has wonderful taste and unique style!  She decided on a simple pattern named "Just Can't Cut It"  - but added her own flair with very exciting colors!

Kristen immediately knew the color theme she was after and chose several fabrics right off.  With the help of Sue! a pro at putting different textures of fabric together, Kristen made her final fabric choices and ended up with these 6 - don't they just BRIGHTEN THINGS UP A BIT!

Funny, I have two of these fabrics in my 'stash' and NEVER would have thought of putting this combination together.  I love to work with other people and see new ideas!  Always learning new things.  :)
 
The finished quilt front come together beautifully and after adding the borders and multi-colored binding this is the quilt as Kristen received it:

Kristen's graduation quilt 2010

Kristen loved the quilt! but she was in for a surprise...  I designed the back to also be a quilt!  Using all of the fabrics she had chosen I decided to go with more lights so that she would have two different 'looks' to choose from.  Here are a couple pictures of the back.  Aren't the pinwheels fun?!

close up pinwheel design

Full back of quilt.

Here is the Quilt folded so that you can see both sides.

This past May our son Mason graduated and has just made his fabric choice and being a boy...  looked at the several! quilt tops in process and said 'that one looks nice' to a 9 patch design.  He chose Hoffman's Sangria Bali Pops for the fabric :)      I'm heading out for a retreat mid-September with my girlfriends from SVQG and plan on this quilt to be one of my projects.....  What shall I do with the back???.... 

Girl Friend and Quality Quilting Time!  Can't beat that...  

And I would have to say that I've never seen a Bali Pop that I didn't want to take home and play with!! 

There... admitted ONE of my guilty pleasures!!

WIP Wednesday #1

This is my first WIP post SO the in progress list is well...  Lengthy!


Recently completed from my WIP list is Berry Bliss Twin Size Quilt:

Berry Bliss Bali Pop (retired-so sad!)

I love working with these Bali Pops!  I am making two coordinating but not matching quilts to go on a trundle bed, each using the Berry Bliss Bali Pop.  The bed has a metal daybed style frame in Hunter Green and looks wonderful with these colors.  (Didn't get a picture on the bed-I'll save that for the second one! :)

I recently saw a sample quilt at a quilt shop and loved the pattern. I used 4 of the Berry Bliss colors in each square then added a border strip on each side.

 

Simple yet it comes together and looks very interesting. The quilt took 150 of these squares plus the boarder to complete the quilt.

 The love the effect on the finished quilt!

This is the largest quilt I have machined quilted so far.  I am quite happy with how the quilting turned out.  Practice... practice... practice!!  :)

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

Completed Projects:
Berry Bliss - Twin Quilt 1of2  Done! and on our lakehouse trundle bed!  One down, one to go!
 
Ongoing Projects:
Eric's Browning Quilt (Christmas present 2010!!!) attached borders, pinned for quilting 8/17/11
Berry Bliss Twin Quilt 2of2 played with several designs... still deciding pattern 8/17/11

No progress:
Row Robin Sampler Quilt! have 5 strips of four blocks each... need to complete 8/17/11
Snowman Quilt - top together awaiting borders, quilting, and binding 8/17/11
SVQG - Mystery Quilt month 1 of 4 8/17/11
Boat Log Cabin Quilt 8/17/11
Rose of Sharon wall hanging 8/17/11
 

This week’s stats:
New projects – 1
Completed projects – 1
Currently in progress – 5

Art Quilt

 I have always been fascinated by trees.  Since I was a small child I loved to draw trees, not that I'm very good at it, just that it is so amazing how the branches grow and head off in all different directions.

Maybe it's because I am ALWAYS in SO MANY DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS AT ONCE!!


 
I wanted to play with the yarn in this picture and it just looked like a great 'bark' color so I decided that it would make a good 3-D tree feature.

I cut out a background piece for the tree top and two landscape pieces for the bottom and placed them on the blue fabric I wanted for the sky.  Using detailed embroidery stitches I outlined and attached the tree top to the background.  I then sewed the yarn into place to form the tree.

Once the tree was formed I used detail embroidery stitches and free-motion quilting to add dimension to the landscape pieces at the base. 

Stars sparkling in the night.

I continued free-motion stitching the sky then add small Swarovski Crystals for create tiny far away stars and larger shell buttons for closer stars.

And here is the completed Quilt

It's to be one in a series...

I better get creating!!!

MJ Art Quilt Tree Series 1 Fall Tree Night OOAK Wall Hanging

  This Art Quilt Mini measures 11" x 11 3/4"

To View in my Etsy Store

Log Cabin Pillows with Theme Fabrics!

As a follow up to my last post, I wanted to share some additional 

Log Cabin 

pieces.  

While log cabin is my favorite Quilt Square, working with Theme Fabric is one of my favorite design features.

 

This is a 15" pillow.  It was made using 4 log cabin squares plus the border.  

It has an envelope back that you slide the pillow into.

I used a theme fabric for the outside of the squares in this pillow for the  

Musician in your life!!

16" square over a 14" pillow form.

My second themed pillow is to celebrate 

Halloween!

Who can resist these Pirate Ghosts!

17"-18" square over a 16" pillow form.

By pulling out 3 of the main colors in the theme fabric you can nicely design a log cabin block that flows.  Making two different blocks, yellow-green-orange & orange-green-yellow 

gives the design a very eye catching feature.

Both of these items are available in my Etsy Shop: www.etsy.com/shop/MJJoerger

Log Cabin 'Barn Raising'

My absolute favorite traditional quilt block is the Log Cabin.

My favorite way of putting together log cabin blocks is to make the center the same on all the blocks then use 3 lights and 3 darks.  

I number the lights and darks 123 then on one block I use the fabrics in a 123 order and the other a 321 order.  

Make sense?  Probably not.

Above is the 123 order and below the 321 order.  Notice that the inside purple above became the outside purple below.  Doesn't look like much yet.

Next is a picture when you put 2 of each of these blocks together.

 And when you add another row all the way around?

This pattern layout of the log cabin is known as 'Barn Raising.'

I have a finished quilt! Actually there is also binding added that matches the center color and brings the whole project together. The quilt seems a bit rounded in it's lines, that is because I made the light strips a 1/4" thinner than the dark and that creates the 'flow'.

This quilt measures only 13 1/2" square.  Looks a lot bigger doesn't it?  This quilt was a birthday gift I made for my wonderful friend Anita who loves purple and green and flowers!  I made her a tote bag to match...  But that's another day!

When I googled 'Log Cabin Quilt Pattern Tutorial' I got almost 500,000 hits.  Below are a couple of links I thought did a great job of explained 'how to'.  

Enjoy! 

Great Online Step by Step Log Cabin Pattern by Quilt.com

This one is for Strip Piecing - A great time saver from quiltingboard.com

Something New!

I fell in love with a game table years ago at Jordan's Furniture.  When my husband and I closed on our lake house last fall we went back to Jordan's looking for the table which would be perfect for our new place.  

Unfortunately the table was no longer available.  Bummer...  

Several weeks later, my husband, the ultimate shopper in our family, phoned me saying "I found your table at a local consignment shop! It's not exactly the same but come and see."  So off to the consignment shop I went!  The table was just what I wanted and had 4 chairs!  Yeahhh!!! This table boast four game boards: Backgammon, Checkers/Chess, Scrabble, & Monopoly, Plus a plain wood piece which makes it just another beautiful piece of furniture.  The set even had all the game pieces intact!  This was quite a find and is even better than the original one I fell in love with....   

Way to go Eric!!

We took the set up to the camp and I gave the wood a thorough cleaning with Murphy's Oil Soap.  Amazingly it looked almost like new with just a few marks for character.  

Only one problem - the chair pads were stained. 

and this was the nicest one!!

 

This brings me to my 'Something New!' 

I learned how to upholster this weekend  :)  I searched for a striped fabric with bright stripes to go with the theme we are decorating the camp with.  I found just the right fabric at Joann Fabrics.  

 

The chair on the right is the BEFORE and 

the chair on the left... the AFTER!!

 

The first chair took an hour or so but the other three went much faster.  The hardest part of the process??  Taking out the old staples!  They were a bear to grab hold of but luckily my hubby jumped in to help :)

 

Don't you just want to sit down and play???