Only a Little Progress

The three fabrics I showed in the last post will eventually be a Patience Corner quilt.  That's the pattern that I'm teaching to my beginners in January. Since it will eventually come together in pattern form, I have been taking pictures along the way to illustrate.  Here's where I'm at now.

While digging around, probably looking for some other lost item, I came across the demonstration samples from the Hexagon Table Mat class.  I had managed to piece four of the six segments.  It was either going to sit in a pile with its left-over coordinating scraps, or I could WORK ON IT.  So I finished the piecing and decided what order I would like to arrange the triangles.  Then I took a picture, so I could remember.

No hurry at all, since this is the third one of these I've made.  And with the fall theme, I won't really need it to be finished until next year.  But it's nice to have a little hand-work project to fall back on.

I'm getting nervous because some of the fabric for the shop hop quilt hasn't come yet and the hop starts Feb. 4!!!!!  I also need to put together samples for two other January classes.  

  

New Project

Just a little "tease" today.  I am starting the cutting for a bed quilt that will become the January beginning quilting class and also a new Cotton Fields pattern.

Trust me .... the center piece picks up the color of the leaves MUCH better than it looks here!

So excited!  I haven't been able to get near my machine for two weeks.

Bee Happy

Back in August, a little "bee" group that I belong to started a simple fat quarter challenge.  Each person put in two fat quarters and was given two different ones back.  The assignment was to make anything we wanted out of the two fat quarters and we were allowed to add other fabrics.  Here's what I received:

It has been a busy fall and I almost waited too long to get started.  I had to think of something that would be cute, yet easy to get finished in a short length of time.  TWISTER!  I found some coordinating fabrics and was able to locate my lil' twister ruler.  The two fabrics that I was given made for a rather unusual fabric combination!

Here is the top, pieced:

I decided to add a little something extra to the back.  I used peel and stick letters to spell BEE HAPPY, then went over them with acrylic paint with fabric medium added, using my stencil brush.  I was pretty heavy-handed with the paint.  Here's how it looked when I removed the letter stickers.

Here it is, quilted:

Close-up:

Working on the binding:

Finished front:

Finished back:

Not bad for only three days in the shop, in between customers!  I admit that it is only about 16" square.  But, it is finished.  And the due date is three weeks away.  Yay!

Repair Work

A couple of weeks ago, a man called, saying that he had bought an old quilt. He said that it was in fair shape, but some of the squares had disintegrated. I don't normally take on this sort of project, but he assured me that only a few pieces needed to be replaced and it wasn't a fancy quilt.  He just wanted to have it cleaned and lay it across a spare bed.  So, I said to bring it over and let me take a look.

I am not any kind of expert in dating quilts.  All I can say is that it is old.  At least depression era.  The blocks are sixteen-patches, but there is no rhyme or reason to the color placement.  Someone was just using what they had. The back is pieced from feed sacks, very coarse fabric.

Here is the sort of damage I found.

The first thing I did was round up some fabrics that would blend with what was already in the quilt.  It's obviously a a utility quilt, made of all sorts of scraps.  I chose a few solids and small prints, then I tea dyed them.

There was not a square on the quilt that was a square!!!  Actually, that made my work easier, because I could extend a patch a bit beyond a seam line if necessary.  I ended up replacing 10 squares, two because they were badly stained and the others were tattered.

After I finished the applique, I went back and added quilting just through the patch and the batting, not all the way to the back side.  I found a couple of places that the original quilter had missed and added lines of stitching there, too.

I called Mr. Bryan this morning to tell him that his quilt is ready.  I think he'll be pleased.  I enjoyed working on this old quilt, but sure wish it had a label. REMEMBER to put your name and at least the year on any quilt you make. Fancy or not, years from now people won't have to wonder about it!

Not a Quilt

Started Tuesday night in jewelry class, finished Friday night.  Whew! 

Inspiration for the project came from www.happyhourprojects.com.

Want to Do VS. Need to Do

Much of my day Thursday was taken up by making a little book as a store sample.  OK, it's cute, but it wasn't what I really wanted to be doing.

Last night I took some ME TIME.  Remember this quilt from last year?

Recently, I unearthed some of the left-overs.

Then I rounded up a few more "greens' that I thought might be nice.

Those strips at the top of the picture were left-over from the backing and facings of the original quilt.  It was a pretty fabric and would be introducing more pink tones, where the original had reds.

I cheated and got into some brand new bolts that have only been in the store a week or so.  They were JUST RIGHT!

Time for the fun to begin.  I sewed some new strip sets and added to others that I already had.  They went up on the design wall to play with.  I decided to use simple squares of a dark red/pink for accents.

At this stage, engineering comes into play.  In what order should it be sewn together?  Bits and pieces are added, extra strips here and there to make things fit.  I didn't want too many seams running all the way across.

  

Here's how things ended up.  I am pleased.  I will quilt it before I square it up, so I don't have to trim off more than necessary.  That was a nice bit of therapeutic sewing!  Now I can get back to the ONE MORE THING that I need to put together before I vend at a quilt show in two weeks.

Miscellaneous

One quilt show in August.
One quilt show in September.
Two quilt shows in October.  

Where does the time go???

Oh, and I also flew "home" for a week in September to visit family.

I am gearing up for the last quilt show of MY year, coming up in two weeks. After that, I should have more time for me.  Of course there are the holidays to think about .....

Even though not original, I thought I'd better show off some of what I've been sewing.  Two cute little patterns from "Bloomin' Minds".

I also put together a panel and pattern from Block Party Studios.

All of the above will look good as samples at shows and in the shop.  Today I got caught up with the not-so-fun job of adding hanging sleeves.

And let's not forget the beginning quilting classes I've been teaching on Tuesday afternoons.

One FUN activity just for me lately has been to take a wire wrapped jewelry class.  Here are the products of the first three class sessions.

So many things to do, so little time.

Sorry!

So sorry to be absent for so long.  One more quilt show this fall, then I can get back to doing a little more of what I want to be doing.  Here's where I was the past weekend:

I WILL have some new show and tell soon.  Promise!

Spinning My Wheels

What I WANTED to do today was play with this:

And this:

But, I just got back from a week away from the shop and there were boxes and more boxes waiting for me.  I needed to process this:

And this:

And this:

Plus a big box of notions!   The feline assistants were no help at all. Maybe tomorrow I can get out the sewing machine!

Skinny Strips Again

I was feeling more than a little creatively STUCK, then a kind note from Rayna Gillman got me kick started last night.  I sent her a note this morning, asking how it felt to have a box named after her!

That box holds strips and strings left over from other projects or trimmed while cutting.  With her "Create Your Own Free-Form Quilt" style, almost nothing is too skinny.

I pulled out scraps left over from this, made from the Pagodas pattern from Maple Island Quilts:

And this, the Carnival pattern, also from Maple Island Quilts:

Then I sewed and sewed for about 1 1/2 hours.

I took a break and browsed through Rayna's book for a while.

When I was pulling out all of those fall-colored strips, a couple of red pieces of batik also appeared and I decided that they could stay.  I went looking and found that I had more.  I also found a pretty gold Kona Bay texture.  Those will come in handy for accents and if I need any larger chunks.  The solid yellow is ancient and will be used in small amounts also.

Back to the machine for another half hour or so.  This is what I ended the night with:

Probably the next step will be taking everything off the design wall and playing with arrangements.  I'm taking a trip next week, so I will look at it all with fresh eyes when I return.

Deeper down in that box, I found a lot of leftovers from this:

 More than I remember, these are definitely "seed" for another project.

I dug further and found a variety of greens that I think might play nicely with the rest.  Some of it is from the backing and facing.

One of the galleries in town is planning a "tiny art show".  I will visit them today and find out the particulars.  

Now I have some new fun things to work on and think about!

 

More Christmas?!

Before I toddle off to vend at another quilt show next week, I wanted to put together one more sample.  This is a pattern from Bloomin' Minds.  I have a number of patterns from their Half to Haves series, fun little wall hangings that go together quickly.  I chose to make "Owl Be Home for Christmas". It's about 13" square.

After hand embroidering the letters, the colored pieces were fused, then I did machine blanket stitch around the edges of each piece.

Borders on.

Machine quilting in a simple stipple.  Straight stitching on both sides of that narrow inner border.

Isn't this CUTE???  If you are curious about the other Bloomin' Minds patterns that I carry in the store, take a look at my store blog

 http://cottonfieldsnc.blogspot.com/

See the August 12 post - they are not on the ordering page YET.

Today in the store, I'm giving a lesson on making fabric Christmas ornaments. Not an original idea, you can find this on YOUTUBE under "Folded Fabric Ornaments".  Always give credit where credit's due!  In progress ...

The finished product: