Quilt Preview

Well, here it is. I fixed the mistake that I had made earlier and laid it out on the floor to get an idea of what it will look like. There are five horizontal rows in the body of this quilt and I still have the fifth row to sew on. I still have to design the border. I'm thinking of a patchwork style in the border since I still have a lot of the fabrics left.

My older son will be having two big events coming up in Cub Scouts this month, the Blue & Gold Banquet and the Pinewood Derby. Since this is his last year as Cub Scout, his will be in the "Crossing Over Ceremony" (crossing over from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts), along with the other boys in our den. As their Den Leader, I am responsible for decorating a table displaying our projects and accomplishments. So, that's what will be taking up most of my time for the next couple weeks.

But you know that I can't drop the quilting. I'll probably do the scout stuff while my son is at school and when he is sleeping, so it will be a surprise for him, too. Most likely, I try working on the gradation plates for now.

Til later,

Jane

Another Quilt Almost Done!

Here is another quilt I worked on since I have to get more fabric for the Sunflower quilt. I have the body of this quilt constructed and still have the border to part on. It looks as if I will have enough fabric to finish it, hopefully by the end of this week. Once the top is finished, I think this will be the first quilt that I'll attempt the machine-quilt--maybe a simple all-over meandering?

This Christmas, I had received a couple of quilty gifts:

One gift was the quilt pattern "Storybook Farm" by McKenna Ryan. It's a beautiful art quilt and it will give me another opportunity to practice machine-quilting. I just love the Hoffman batiks that are used in this quilt. This is just a portion of the fabric. I will have to look for some more when I get the black fabric for the Sunflower quilt.

Another gift was a collection of gradation fabrics. I had an idea for a quilt that used Dresden plate flowers (I seem to be on a Dresden kick!) with tones that faded from dark to light. In my mind, it really sparkled--that remains to be seen. I have constructed just one of the blocks and I have found issues of shadowing with the black background. I will have to make some modifications with that.
And for the Sunflower quilt...I was planning on posting a photo of what I had so far. But I made a booboo. When sewing the rows together, I had stitched some backwards, and the layout was all messed up. I guess I was in a bit of a hurry. I have ripped that seam out and I hope to have it sewn back together tonight.
And don't let me forget, my son had his basketball tournament this last Saturday. Our school placed with second. In the championship game, the score was 21-22, with the other team turning it over at the last 10 seconds! I'm so proud of our team and my superstar son!
Will try to post a quick photo once the Sunflower quilt is fixed.
Til next time,
Jane

It's Me, Again!

I know, it's been a long time. The last post was in November. "So, what happened," you may ask? Well, not that I am using it as my excuse, that time of the year is always busy. Added to the holidays, both my boys have December birthdays. So things got pretty hectic here. And, it's not that I didn't do any quilting, I did. It's just didn't feel motivated to post anything when my to-do list was so long.

Things are now leveling out. My older son is in his last year of Cub Scouts (WEBELOS II, for those who are familiar with Scouting) and as his Scout Leader, I am trying to get our boys prepared for their "Crossing Over Ceremony" (where they "graduate" from Cub Scouting and "cross over" into Boy Scouts). Also, his basketball season is almost over. His tournament will be this Saturday. After both of those are completed, I will have about a month before baseball will start!! Here we go again!!

You might recognize the block in the photo above. I have been trying to complete the rest of these blocks, I'm planning to combine them with some sampler block. Initially, the block seem fairly easy. Then I designed the quilt with 13 of these applique blocks. I realized just how many flowers I was going to have to applique. There are 13 blocks with 4 flowers...each flower has 9 petals...that's 468 hand-appliqued petals. Get the idea? The fairly easy block turn in to a tedious block with all the petals and petals and petals...

The top is going well. I was thinking that I could get it finished by the week's end. But I realized that I will have to purchase more of the black fabric in the sashing. I may have to make I visit to that quilt shop sometime next week.

My New Year's challenge will be to conquer machine quilting and feel confident about it. I don't know if this quilt will be the first one I'll try, but I know that I have to find a faster way, than my usual hand-quilting, to finish my quilts.

I will try to be better in my posting. I will be back soon to show some new projects I have going (as if I really needed more!). : )

Til next time,

Jane

Update on Annie's Quiltmaking 101 Class

In a past post, I had mentioned that I had won an opportunity to participate in an on-line quilt class the-one-and-only Annie Smith of Simplearts.com. Here are some of the blocks that I have finished:

Lesson 2 - Rail Fence Block

Lesson 3 - Log Cabin Block

and Nine Patch Block

Lesson 4 - Madison House

and Madison Trees

Lesson 5 - Heart Block

and Postage Stamp Block

Next lesson will be Drunkard's Path, one of my favorites.

I am using fabric from Moda's Cotton Patch. I love the colors, the oranges and the turquoises, colors that I may not normally use. I am really enjoying the class, even though it may not be the typical "classroom" setting. One problem that I am having is that Annie's blocks look SO MUCH better than mine, but that just my opinion. Another is that I am having a problem envisioning the final product, the finished sampler quilt. I just don't know if I made the right choices in fabric and color selections and if they will look right once they are set side-by-side. I'm just gonna have to trust Annie.

There are 11 lessons total and I will post more block as I finish them.

Later,

Jane

Now That Halloween Has Passed

One of our favorite holidays, in our house, is Halloween. The boys get to go trick-or-treating while disguised in their costumes and receiving an abundance of candy. What more could a child ask for?! I love this time of year because it gives me a break from quilting to make my two boys their Halloween costumes. It gives me another creative outlet and it also gives my boys an opportunity to think up a costume idea that they might not find in a store.

This year, my boys wanted to be a Jedi Knight from Star Wars and a Power Ranger. My older son wanted to wear the costume that I had made for him from last year. That made it easy for me. My younger son wanted to be a Power Ranger. He had watched an older Power Ranger dvd that his brother had and wanted to be the White Ranger from those episodes. I couldn't find a Power Ranger costume pattern from that series, so I had to figure it out on my own. And I did have to practice my machine applique on his costume.

And for me, I didn't actually dress in a costume. I had made a vest the represented a movie that I really like, "Nightmare Before Christmas." It may be more of a Christmas movie than a Halloween movie, but I love the characters in it, Jack and Sally. They remind me of me and my hubby.

I used fabrics that would represent for each character: black and white pin-stripe for Jack and crazy patchwork for Sally. It's quilt making yet not a quilt. I know, kinda geeky, huh?!

I'm planning a another vest that is Autumn themed. I'm hoping to get it finished by the end of the week so that I can work on some of my other projects.

I'll be quilting until the next time,

Jane

Festival of Quilts

Today was the Festival of Quilts in Vincennes, Indiana - and I had one of my quilts in the show!

This was the first year that I had one of my quilts shown at this show. Last year, I had entered the "Old Tippecanoe Block Challenge" that the Festival of Quilts held to commemorate President Harrison (who is from Indiana). To my surprise, I had won!!

I had won first place in the Applique category and second in the Pieced category. While at the show this year, I went to see these blocks at the Grouseland Mansion (former home of Van Buren), which was next door.



It was nice to see them on display.

I just had to "toot" my own horn!

Jane

What's Up?!

I just had my 20 year high school reunion this weekend. It just doesn't seem that long ago! It was so wonderful seeing all of the familiar faces that I hadn't seem in a long time. We all had a great time!

The trip that I had made for the reunion (a 3 and a half hour drive there and a another 3 and a half hour drive back the next day) was to short for me to bring a big project. So, I had decided to bring along the "Christmas Wish BOM" from Gail Pan.

I had finished with one of the blocks and it turned out beautifully. And I was able to start on another block. I can't wait until my son's basketball season starts as this was what I was going to work on while we are at practices.

I am still planning to enter my quilt into the upcoming quilt show, which is the Festival of Quilts at the Grouseland (William Henry Harrison's presidential home and national Historical landmark) in Vincennes, Indiana, on October 16 and 17. I still have a a little more to do before it is finished and I am happy that I had changed my mind on all that elaborate quilting.

The Annie Smith Simplearts on-line quilt class "Quiltmaking 101" is already in it's second lesson and I still haven't picked out my fabric. And, oh my gosh!! It's already the first of October and I have to start sketching the designs for the Halloween costumes. Busy, busy, busy!!

Til next time,

Jane