Basic Quilting Class #1

I had planned to give this quilt to the Long-arm after I got a job - I wasn't in any hurry to get this one done. And then a friend asked if I had anything that she might be able to give her mother for Christmas. She came over and looked through the quilts  that were ready and didn't find what she was looking for - she wanted a small/lap sized quilt and since her mother was fond of purple, that was the preferred color. Unfortunately, the only purple quilt I have done is quite modern and not exactly the style she was looking for.

As we looked at the project I have in progress, the quilt from class jumped out at me. There is a lot of purple in it, it's flowers and is quite  "sweet". When I laid it out on the floor, I could tell it was just what she was looking for.

So, The Quilting Loft was nice enough to say they could get it quilted by Monday if I could get it to them before the weekend. No problem - it already had a back and was ready to go. I got it back Monday afternoon quickly sewed the binding on and made the label and then plopped down in front of the TV and started to hand stitch the binding on. I got done around 11 o'clock so we fell asleep to the sound of the quilt in the washing machine.

I got to deliver the finished quilt on Tuesday - just in time for my friend to wrap it up and put it under the tree for Christmas morning. Not only did I learn lots in this class but now, the results is going to get used. The best of all possible worlds - at least for me :)

Here are a few pictures of the finished product.

 

Pieced back

Wedding Patchwork Quilt

I spent a lot of time yesterday and today working on the Wedding Patchwork Quilt and it is finally starting to come together. I'm learning a lot about myself with this one - not that I didn't already know this but I have a rather structured way of thinking and doing things. This quilt isn't in rows and the pieces are all different sizes and colors and the customer wants something that includes all the material in no particular order. So that is what she is going to get (I'm proud to say).

I pinned a flannel sheet so it was the size of the top of a Queen sized bed - fortunately, we have a queen so I used it for laying out all the pieces. I really wanted to figure out if there was enough material to make the quilt but even after laying out the pieces, I wasn't sure. So I took fate in my hands and started sewing.

I'm really glad we did all the pre-Christmas shopping yesterday so all I had to do today was sew. Although I never really got into a "rhythm" like I do with other quilts, I feel like I got to know the material and to trust my first instinct in putting it together.

About half way though the first section, I remembered that the customer was supposed to find a collage logo and I hadn't heard from her so a quick email revealed she really wants to have this logo in the quilt but hasn't gotten it yet. So she'll take care of that and we'll get together after the new year. I'm a little sad that I won't be able to just finish the top this week but without the logo, she isn't going to be happy and I'm not going there.

So, here are the two sections that are sewn together. I suspect I'll need to add a row between the sections to make it long enough to fit on top of the bed so I won't sew the sections together until the third one is done (complete with logo).

Wedding Patchwork Quilt

I finally cleared the decks enough to start working on the Wedding Patchwork quilt - both physical and mental. This is a really interesting one - there's no common or focus material. It's a stack of material that wedding guests brought with them to the ceremony and now I get to make it into a quilt.

There were a number of pieces that got fussy cuts - just certain parts of the material are going into the quilt. And others that are to be used "sparingly". And there are a couple pieces that just needed the edges trimmed and they will go in as is.

I got nearly all the cutting done and made a couple blocks - from little scraps. And then laid it out on our bed. Can't wait to hear what Michael has to say about this one. It isn't even remotely orderly like most of my stuff.

Here's a couple shots at the lay-out; not that it will stay this way but this will give the owner a chance to see where I'm heading and correct my course if need be.

Christmas Bake Shop

I know I promised not to bore you with too many pictures of the cookies I made for Christmas giving so here are just a couple. We've sampled each of the different kinds and they are all quite yummy. I got to distribute bags of cookies yesterday - very fun.

Anise-Almond Biscotti and Moravian Wafers

 

Double Chocolate and Coconut Macaroons

  

Chocolate Shortbread and Oatmeal Squares

Cinnamon Swirls and Chocolate Chip

 

Pecan Icebox Cookies

All wrapped and ready to deliver

Christmas Placemats

I got 4 placemats put together, quilted and the binding sewn on. I just need to get the binding tacked down before Wednesday and we'll use them for our Christmas dinner. I like this pattern so much I think I'll use it for the yellow and grey fat-quarter bundle I bought a few months ago - it would look great with solids.

 

Christmas Placemats

I found a few pieces in my stash to put along with the fat-quarter bundle I got last year and played with these pieces the other day. I decided to use Laurie Shifrin's Making Waves pattern to make placemats. Don't know if I'll do the table runner - can't think of how I'd use it.

So here we go...

Other Christmas Activity

For the past few years, I've made several different kinds of Christmas cookies to spread around to the people in my life. A couple weeks ago, I told Michael I was thinking about NOT making cookies this year - I'd much rather quilt than spend all day in the kitchen. Much to my surprise, he asked me to reconsider my decision. That so seldom happens, I did reconsider and have spent the past couple days pulling recipes, grocery shopping and finally, yesterday I started making cookies. I got four batches made but only two baked - the other two get to hang out in the freezer for a while so I'll bake them up in a day or so.

The first batch was the most chocolaty cookie I've ever made - 2 pounds of chocolate and 1/2 cup flour (wouldn't want to distract from the chocolate). Michael pronounced them good - high praise from him.

And this is one of my favorite - Anise Almond Biscotti. Delish!

There is plenty more to come but don't know that I'll bore everyone with the details. Just my way of explaining why there isn't any quilting going on up in here.

Disappearing 4-Patch Quilt

The project that started out as a total experiment with a couple fat-quarter I didn't really like all that much turned out to be quite a nice quilt - if I do say so myself. I took a tutorial from a blog on how to make disappearing 4-patch blocks, added a couple of the techniques I learned in the Basic Quilting Class #1 and ended up with a quilt that has 4 hearts with a postage stamp in the center. Or at least that's what it looks like to me.

I did the quilting myself - nothing fancy but remember this was an experiment.

What do you think?

Here's the back:

I know! I haven't posted anything in quite a while, have I? It doesn't mean I 'm not quilting, I just haven't taken the time to let you know what I'm up to. So, here's what's happening:

Kaleidoscope Quilt

We decided to add a couple borders to the chevron pieced top to make this one large enough for a lap quilt - instead of going the original direction and making placemats with the material. The top is now done:

I had to do a little piecing to make the back big enough but was able to use most of the material the customer gave me to work with.

Yesterday, I dropped it off at The Quilt Loft so the Long-arm quilter can do the quilting. The thread is a variegated dark blue and black and the quilt design is Scribbles - just an over all kind of pattern. It probably won't be back from the Long-arm until after the new year so won't be ready for Christmas but not long after that.

Basic Class #1

Our last class was the week of Thanksgiving. I really learned a lot and appreciate how much the instructor put into all the directions, samples and how easy she was to understand.

I didn't exactly follow the pattern - big surprise, huh (not). So there are a few blocks I did for class that aren't in the final quilt top. I used the focus fabric for the main border - which really pulled everything together well.

 

And, I used the left over material to make the back. I'll take it down to The Quilt Loft for quilting after the first of the year (or as soon as I get a job, which ever comes first).

Other Projects

I haven't heard from the customer for the Wedding Guest quilt. It is ready to go to the Long-arm. She has three small children and I just imagine, this time of year is a little busy so we might not get together for the next step until after the first.

The customer for the Wedding Patchwork quilt and I have been trading ideas for her quilt. I haven't started cutting the material yet but hope to get that going this week. There isn't really a pattern to go by since the material is quite random - in size, color and texture. So I think the best thing to do is just start and make adjustments as we go. I suspect nearly every block in this quilt will be a different - to show off all the great material.

I got all the material pressed and the garments torn apart so the stack is ready whenever we are:

Last year during the post-Christmas sales, I bought a fat-quarter bundle of red and white Christmas prints. I'd like to have time to make it into placemats for our table this year - nothing like waiting until the last minute. So until I hear from either/both of the Wedding quilt customers, I'm going to get started on that little project.

Lava Meets Sea Quilt

Saturday, I got to hang out with a new customer - the daughter of my photographer - and her Mom to initiate a quilt for her. She had seen a quilt on one of my Pinterest boards and wants to have it made in red and navy. I'd never considered making this one - it looks really complicated - but once I read through the blog-instructions, it is just a lot of HST with only 2 colors (lots of different shades of two colors) so how bad could it be :) Daughter and Mom are picking out a couple fat-quarter bundles of Kona solids to get me started. Nice to have a new project to think about.

Wedding Guest Quilt

This week I hooked up with the owner of the Wedding Guest quilt to show off what has been accomplished. All the blocks are together with a rich chocolate brown sash to help separate the chaos of the blocks. She picked out the border, backing and binding material.

It's really hard to tell from my poor photography but the border is a rich cream on cream herringbone print. The back is a beautiful plum with grapes and leaves woven into the fabric.

Today, I got to put the border on and make the backing. This is a beautiful quilt. We'll get together in a week or so to talk with the Long-arm quilter to take it to the next step. The border is so close to the color of the floor (where I laid it to take a picture) it's hard to tell where the quilt stops and the floor begins.

Wedding Scrap Quilt

I met a new customer this week - thanks to the wonderful people at The Quilt Loft who keep passing out my business cards - and she handed me a bundle of material to make into a quilt. She had asked the people who attended her wedding to bring material that meant something to them. It is an interesting combination of colors and patterns without an obvious connection - at least there isn't a connection by just looking at the material. So it is going to have to be a design as you go quilt - with some creative adjustments along the way to make everything fit.

 

Now that I have all the material ironed and the clothing pulled apart, it is easier to see what I've got but I haven't quite come up with an idea for putting it together. Very interesting project!

 



Just a few quick notes...

I met with the owner of the Wedding Guest quilt and we picked out the border, backing and binding material. The top and back should be ready in a couple weeks to take to the Long-arm quilter for the next step. This one is turning out quite nice.

Met with a new customer who had people bring pieces of material that meant something to them to her wedding. We went through what she received and it is going to very interesting figuring out how to put it together into a quilt. Fortunately, she is open to the "scrap" quilt look and she likes that the material doesn't have a color scheme. There are a couple pieces she really likes so those will be the focus materials and others will fade into the background. This one will take a lot of prep work - lots of different kinds of material in various conditions. Should be fun.

Talked with the customer who wanted placemats made and her life has changed a bit in the past few months. Her partner has been in the hospital for months and will be coming home soon but will be in a wheelchair for a while. We are sifting gears and will make a lap quilt instead of placemats. I bought a couple solids to use in the boarder. I'll post pictures once I get the idea that's in my head made up.

I get to join a couple other women at a Craft Fare Saturday to sell my quilts. Terrifying and exciting all at the same time. Who'da thought I'd ever get to a point where selling something I made would be a good thing. Since I've never done something like this, I'm not sure what to expect but if I get to sell a couple quilts, I'm down with that.

And, the first quilt I took to The Quilt Loft for help is being picked up by its new owner today! I made this one from scraps of material left over from the dresses I used to make for little girls. I'd only done one other quilt and wasn't sure what I was doing or if I was really interested. It is so great to see it go to a new born - and a good home :)

Lots going on and lots to do - just the way I like it.

I know, I know! It's been a while since I posted anything. I took a little vacation (just in my head) from Daring Greatly and that spread out into other forms of vacationing from the normal routine. All except the habit of quilting :)

Disappearing 4-patch

This is a surprise quilt - to me at least. I started out with material and a very simple pattern but shifted to the Disappearing tutorial thinking if it didn't work, it was just a couple of fat quarters - I could toss them and no one would be the wiser. Now that it's almost together, I'm not sure what to do with it but I'm liking it!

Here's what the blocks looked like after the slice and dice:

 

There were a bunch of possible lay outs - as you can imagine. I had 21 blocks to play with - odd number but that's the amount of material I had. After the blocks spent several days on the design board (which is really our spare bed), I had a rather bizarre idea to integrate a piece of yellow material to make it look like the Yellow Brick road - I'd just tried to watch the new Wizard of Oz movie and was overly influenced by those cute little Munchkins.

The math turned out to be just a little too much for me - figuring out how to add yellow sash on 3 out of 4 sides of the block and still have everything fit together made my brain smoke. So I stepped back from that idea but still wanted to use the yellow material - it brought out the yellow in the focus fabric.

With my new-found skills from the Quilt Basics class I'm taking, I decided to put some yellow on the edges of the outer blocks, fill in with sash of different widths and here is the results. I totally didn't expect the way the blocks almost look like hearts or that the center looks like a framed picture. Funny how the "design as you go" approach always seems to show me things I couldn't have ever imagined.

And for the back, I took a small piece of left over flannel from another project and used the rest of the top material. I wanted to imitate the blocks on the front - only bigger. Here's what the back looks like.

My plan is to do the quilting my self on this one - just simple stitch in the ditch. And that way, I can take it with me to the Craft Fare this weekend. I think it would be good to have something to work on so the passers by don't feel like I'm just sitting there waiting to pounce on them.

Basic Quilting Class - #1

I've also been doing my homework for the Basics class I'm taking. We postponed class until next week and I'm glad I didn't wait until then to do the blocks we were assigned to do. Although the blocks aren't my favorite, getting to practice all the new techniques is going to make all my other quilts better (and easier).

Here we have a house - looks like one, doesn't it? I don't think it would pass the city inspector but it is great for a quilt (it's a bit more lopsided than I'd want to live in).

And then there is a block with the year:

And my favorite - a cat. We were given a book with all sorts of animal blocks but the cat called to me. If I were serious about using this block, I'd learn more about appliqué so I could "poof" up the tail and make the ears flop over - to make it look more like our precious Rave.

I also found a tutorial for making half-triangle squares that I wanted to try out so I made another one of the blocks that uses a lot of HTSs. I didn't get the math right (no surprise there) so the block is 12 x 12 instead of 10 x 10 but the method in the tutorial is very easy and there is zero waste. I'll use this method the next time I need HTS. And give the block to the Scrap Squad to integrate into one of their fabulous quilts.

While I was at it, I decided to make a couple more of the other blocks. I'm not sure which ones will end up in the quilt top but at least this way, I have plenty to chose from and I've gotten lots of practice. It's great to have this level of confidence - I think I could pull apart and make just about any block now.

Wedding Guest Quilt

The last block for this quilt is now in place. Now, the customer and I are ready to get together to pick out the border, backing, and binding material. We are having a little trouble with schedules but it will happen in the next week or so.