May Project Day Fun

We had another lovely project day a few weeks ago.  Our theme project was scrappy nine-patch quilts.  Here is Virginia working on her blocks.

And here is Sheila, with Mary in the background.  We were glad to see Sheila's thumb had completely healed from our last project day.  (The paper plate she was carrying collapsed, and hot barbeque sauce spilled on her thumb - second degree burn, ER visit, special ointments. Yuck!)  She was very patient with us hovering over her in the kitchen this time.  8)

We were glad that Nancy was able to join us.  She's a very experienced quilter, who actually got her entire quilt top pieced during the time we had together.

Mary put together some very lovely leftover blue and brown polka-dot fabrics.  She came very close to finishing her top too.

Here is the layout of the quilt which Rachel and I pieced.  We split it up to take home so we could each assemble half the quilt.  Rachel is new to sashing, and when I picked up her half, the rows were sewn with the sashings together.  lol  That would be LOTS funnier to me if I hadn't done the exact same thing myself once  **blushes**.  Oh well, all fixed now.  8)

Unfortunately I didn't get many pictures of quilts in progress, but with luck, I'll be picking up some of the completed quilts at this week's meeting of the Blanketeers.  If I do, I'll be sure to share them then.

Beautiful Flowers from a Budding Photographer

My friend's daughter, Krystian, took these lovely pictures.  Krystian is a young teen who wants to be a photographer.  I think what she has accomplished with her simple camera is amazing.  Her sense of color and composition are really wonderful.  I've told her to send me more, and I would post them here.  Enjoy!

I love the deep veining on this one: 

And the way this rose peaks through the leaves - I wouldn't have thought of that! 

I can never get vibrant yellows like this; they always wash out for me. 

This one was my favorite.  I just love the way the light glistens on the water droplets, and the ruffled edges are adorable.

I'm not even sure what flower this is, but I love the way it pops!

Let's all give Krystian some encouragement.  I think she definitely could have a real future as a photographer!

Ethan's Quilt now has Borders

Ethan's quilt now has nice wide borders and I'm beginning to really like it.  I don't think it looks too busy anymore.  In fact, I'm looking forward to adding more embellishments.  I think I'll start with his name.  I'll use the orange fabric from the Card Trick blocks if I have enough left over. 

I can't let this one hang around.  I have to get moving on it if I want to show it off at guild in two weeks.

Ethan's Quilt - Gators & Golf

My buddy, Joe P, asked me if I would make a quilt for his grandson, Ethan Ross. Sure, I say, but then he tells me the theme is alligators and golfing! Really? I was hoping he was kidding,... but no. Really. I had to think about that one. I searched my stash and found this animal print which fortunately has an alligator.

Now Joe is a HUGE gambler, and rumor has it that Ethan was conceived on a family trip to... wait for it,... Las Vegas, so the card trick blocks were a no brainer. Joe (ever the kidder) lobbied to have his grandson named "Ross Vegas", but thankfully there were no takers.

This is already the busiest quilt top I have ever made, and it just keeps getting better. My plan for the border is to have have 2 sides be holes of a golf course, one other will have a large gator on it, and the final side will just say "Ethan". Gators and golf. Wish me luck!

Happy Easter, New Look and New Siggy!

I hope you like the look of my blog. I thought it was definitely time for a make-over, and Easter seemed like the perfect time for a fresh start.

Here's my most recent siggy. It arrived a week ago from Helma de Jongh, who lives "between the cows in Lopik" in the Netherlands. I really love this siggy. I used to live "between the cows" in Wisconsin, so I know just what she means.
I've been busy quilting, but that's a story for another day. Happy Easter, everyone!

Group Nine-Patch Scrap Quilts

The Blanketeers decided to harvest our scraps to make some nine-patch quilts. I've made 18 blocks so far and have barely made a dent in my stash. Rachel and I decided to use blue as our coordinating color. I made 12 of these blocks using only scraps with white backgrounds,... and six of these blocks using intensely colored prints. I love the really saturated hues like this one. Remember the "Great American Smoke-Out"? These bright scraps came from that haul. If you look closely at the GASO picture, you can see a bit of it peeking out.

I love this one too; I think it's a bit of Laurel Burch from who knows where.

And these ponies brought back fond memories of this quilt.

This clown fabric is more of the GASO fabric; I love the happy motifs.

And these stars were from the Baby Fats quilts. I remember picking them out at JoAnn's with Virginia many moons ago. I love using up scraps, especially from quilts I enjoyed making in the first place. I can't wait to see what Rachel comes up with. I'll probably recognize her fabrics too. 8)

Disappearing Nine-Patch Quilt Complete

My first attempt at using glue to bind a quilt was a big success. Even though I had to overcome several screw ups on my part, using glue is definitely the way to go. Despite making a narrower binding than usual (I only had 12" of pink left) this method was much easier and more accurate than using pins.

The binding was especially easy to make with glue. Just lay down a patch of glue... then line them up and iron them together. Heat setting really make the Elmer's bind quickly and tightly. And popping the fabric back to the seam was fun. Note to self: Always trim after popping the glue loose.

I guess my starch wasn't heavy enough, because my binding didn't stick to itself much at all when I initially ironed the binding. Note to self: Use heavier starch next time.I also didn't measure my seam allowance very well, and as usual, didn't allow quite enough. This put more pressure on the binding to get it to overlap the seam line in the back, and made gluing it together a much messier proposition. Still, I was impressed with how well the glue held. An added benefit, all that glue stabilized the edges so well that the final seam went together like a dream.

And to all you free-motion newbies out there, here's the real trick to making your stippling look its best: Buy 100% cotton batting and using the hottest washer & dryer settings the fabric can stand for maximal shrinkage.

With all those extra crinkles in the fabric, no one will ever spot your "problem" areas. 8) And all that glue just washes away. Yeah GLUE!

Disappearing Nine-Patch Top - Stipple Complete

I lit out at lunch in the rain on Tuesday and bought another spool of my favorite baby pink Prescencia so I could finish stippling.

This was a bigger quilt than I usually make, and it took me longer than normal to stipple the whole thing. The center was a PITA to reach, but I got it done. I don't think it's quite up to my usual stipple-standard, but it will do. Here's a close-up of a part I'm not too ashamed of. lol I'm going to bind it with the pink batik, using the gluing technique I've seen here. In fact, I had better review the process before I start; otherwise, I'm likely to mess it up!

I was happy to hear my friend, Dorthy, is going to start stippling. She took my advice, and selected a quilt that is in such bad shape it can only be improved upon - apparently after washing, the back is falling off. This removes all pressure to stipple perfectly, and lets you just get in the flow.

Disappearing Nine-Patch Top - mid-Stipple

I ran out of the pink Prescencia thread I'm using for the top of the Disappearing Nine-Patch. Too bad, I was really on a roll. Now I'll have to run over to the Berry Patch at lunch tomorrow to see if I can get some more matching thread. It feels good to be stippling again, but I'm eager to try out the new glued binding method I read about over on Barb's blog. Imagine, a binding that stays put while you sew it down. Inconceivable!

A Year in Siggies

Has it really been over a year since I posted any siggies on my blog? (I guess my words, "Your siggy will be posted on my blog shortly" were just a big fat lie. oops) I appear to have a backlog of 17 siggies, so without any further ado, in no particular order, for your viewing pleasure, may I present: Helen McNaught of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and her lovely embroidered koala:Lilo Kreuzer of Merishausen, Switzerland and her iconic steeple. Saski Smit of Hoofddorp, in the north of Netherlands and her collection of seasonal gourds.

Ans Vollebregt of Naaldwijk, in the southwest of Netherlands, where the fruits and vegetables embroidered on her siggy grow prolifically.

Mia Jansens of Geldrop in the southeast of Netherlands with her frolicking Poo bear.

Mary Winegar from Oswego, in the great state of Illinois (the land of my birth.)

Regina Friedek-Maciolek (mother of young Martha below) of Korb, Germany, with her lovely machine-embroidered flowers.

Monique Boucher of Quebec, Canada, with the Fleur-de-lis of our dear neighbors to the north.

Sherry Beddard of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, with Canada's lovely maple leaf flag. (I love this siggy, even though it is technically illegal. Gasp!)

Janet Lee Monnett of Cloverdale, Indiana in the good old U.S. of A. Love the appliqued heart!

Martha Maciolek of Korb, Germany, with her shiny free motion kitty cat.

Lotte Klint of Copenhagen, Denmark and her embroidered ravens.

Carolyn L. Hosier of Des Moines, Iowa with lovely Miss Abbie.

Ineke Lagraauw of Maassluis in the south of the Netherlands, with her affectionate penguins.

Thomas LeClerc of Pittsburg, Kansas, "Vaya con Dios"

Mary LeClerc (Thomas' wife) also of Pittsburg, Kansas with her dear little Sunbonnet Sue.

And last, but certainly not least, Willie Timmer of Ide in the Netherlands, with her exquisite hand-worked counted cross-stitch.

Whew! And yes, they have all received siggies from me (except for my most recent one from Ans, which got posted yesterday). I'm better about getting them in the mail than I am about blogging about it, thank heavens. I didn't initiate any swaps last year, just responded to requests. If this looks like fun to you (and I'm going to have an AWESOME quilt someday from all of these) join in the International Siggy Swap fun on Annelies' blog. You swap one on one with Annelies first, then she puts your name on her list and sends the list to you. There are hundreds of people from all over the world currently swapping.