a ufo completed - quilt #6

I started this quilt in 2009 at a class at Quilter's connection, with Sharon Wilhelm. It's from a book called Nickel Quilts, and the title of the pattern is "Woodland Clover." There were so many triangles, this one really discouraged me; I think I need a new sewing machine that sews diagonals better. Many things delayed getting this finished, but I finally had it quilted by Mindy Washburn last fall, and finally got it bound last week. She did a nice job with variegated thread on top and beige on back. I still need to get a label on it.

(I have lots of red and blue charms left over from this quilt!)

progress on terms of endearment blocks

Wendy Poling in her blog, "Sewing in the Wendy City," has inspired me by example to show more of the process of the quilt creation. I was lucky last year at this time to win the "terms of endearment blocks" along with Sophie, and she has already showed her design board, with the liberated roses going along with it. I am not so wonky as Sophie and have been mentally playing with the blocks, and particularly their different sizes (some almost 2 feet long) and how to arrange that in some kind of rectangular quilt (the mind boggles at the prospect of other shaped quilts, but I won't go there!)

I thought about arranging the words so that they would go from small to large and actually form a heart out of the words, but the sizes I had just didn't fit that model.

Then, thumbing through a quilt book, I saw a bright batik "round the world" quilt with multi-colors, and it seemed like a could use the words as a central diamond with the widest words at the center, and then surround them with the graduated colors of the 'round the world" or bargello technique.

I also decided to divide the blocks into 2 quilts, so one will be pink and white, with lime green accent, and the other red and white, with blue accent. (Which has prompted crazy unrestrained fabric purchases !

The two attached photos show the beginning of my design process, with the words laid out in a pink white background alternating order, and the line-up of fabric strips beside them that will make the bargello pattern when sewed together and "shifted"

This is not the final order of the colors, as I think I will reorder to start with a darker pink near the blocks, then going more pastel, and then adding the pink and green and then the brighter t-o-t lime (maybe not shown here). I found a wonderful Moda Love panel on-line that has pink and green that I will use on the back, but it hasn't arrived yet. Also, I think the candy heart print has too much yellow so it may have to go!

To make the true diamond shape, I'm thinking of making wonky strip hearts to go at the top and bottom of the diamond to fill out the diamond pattern. I know I am going to have to do some careful measuring and trimming to get the words to graduate their sizes proportionally so that the bargello pattern has some regularity to it (I'm hoping to use the quick Elenor Burns tube strip piecing method rather than having to cut individual rectangles and individually piece.

I'll post again when I receive my on-line fabric purchases that will fill out some of the color way.

Grammy awards

I will be watching the GrAmmy awards this Sunday night, because my son alex page will be playing on the show with nominee janelle Monae. alex plays violin. We are so proud!

fruit basket turnover

I am hoping that 2011 will be the year of completing some UFOs that lingered throughout 2010. Here is the first of 3 that I have gotten back from the quilter and actually finished the binding. I call it Fruit Basket turnover because the string fabrics are a variety of fruit, floral and bug prints, and some ginghams. This quilt started in Ami Simms' workshop on string piecing and uses here pattern. (Thanks!). The back is a large scale tic tac toe block based on Jan 2010 Block Lotto "liberated quilting" block. Thanks, Sophie!

This will be our picnic quilt. Thanks to Mindy Washburn for the quilting. Not sure if it is visible in the photo, but the quilting uses variegated thread, which is stiking against the black.

This is my UFO that is almost finished after more than a year of stops and starts. I need to add two borders wo each side and the top will be done. I decided it will be a gift to my sister-in-law Lisa in thanks for all the care she gave my late mom, but I had to expand it to a king, which meant I had to use some of the original backing fabric for the borders of the top (the medium aqua). The binding will be the darkest blue.

So that meant I had to piece multiple fabrics for the back, and I got carried away, making a French braid and triangle stripe, keeping the southwest feel. (In an abundance of caution I had bought a yard each of all 9 fabrics, and was able to find extra yardage of the pale blue a year later, but I didn't have a full 9 yards of any single fabric. So the medium aqua will be in the middle of the back, flanked by the two patterned stripes, and then the paler blue on each side, in case the quilt is reversed.

The last bit has involved working with really big chunks of fabric, which makes me really ready to get back to nice manageable 12 inch squares or smaller, or maybe a mini quilt!

my first quilt

I thought it was time to post photos of the first quilt I completed. The photo on the right is the whole quilt, queen size, and the one on the left is the lable on the back and a bit of the backing.

This was block-of-the month quilt from Joann's that I bought 3-4 years ago and finally started on in 2008 and finished in 2009. I changed the fabrics in the large setting squares and the inner border, because the kit had used the brownish floral that is in the center of the quilt (and I dislike that brown and wanted more of a blue look), and the large setting squares. My long-arm quilter, Mindy Washburn, did a beautiful job of pulling together this novice effort (my borders were a bit wavy, and there were other problems with "squareness"). My prior sewing experience was a lot of garment-making so I was used to "easing" seams to make things fit. I know now this is not a great technique in piecework!

grandmother's flower garden quilt

One of my major projects in process is a Grandmother's flower garden quilt being made with a yellow center, first ring of solid fabrics, then a coordinating 30s reproduction, then an outer ring of white. The hexagons will be connected with green (sort of kelly with a slight bluish cast).

I started this in homage to my grandmother who had made one of these that our family had until it was used in a dog bed and destroyed when I was about 13. So the green I selected is an attempt to match the colors in this vague memory of a quilt.

I am pretty new to quilting and have done mostly machine piecing, but started this project because my time at my machine is pretty limited due to travel, and now my mother is living with us, so I can do hand work and watch tv with her. I'm aiming at 46 hexagons (4 rows of 7 and 3 rows of 6, with half hexies on the tops and bottoms to make the edges even). I have about 34 completed including the white rings, have the other colored rings finished and next need to add the white rings to those. I started all this in late July 2009, so the progress isn't bad.

I have a wide variation in the brightness of the solids, but have tried to have a pretty even representation of the basic colors: pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple.

I haven't had a chance to put these on a design wall, but am trying to figure out if I should let this be totally random, or start with the brightest solids in the focal center and then go to the paler hues toward the edges.

I'd love any advice on this.