Hourglass Quilt Top

I almost stopped after the plain gold border.  But, it was PLAIN.

I didn't have enough of any of the gold left to work with, so I found some off-white instead.  I used what I had of the leftover browns and added a couple more.  Then I made 40 curved half-square triangles.

36" square - it will be my next hand quilting project.

Not a Turtle

When I was at the quilt show a week ago, my friend and I both admired the TURTLE quilt hanging across the aisle from my booth.  Did I take a picture?  No. When I got home, I went online to see if I could find the source of the cute block.  Nope.

I found other turtles but not the one I was looking for.  And, in the midst of the turtle patterns, I found this (attributed to www.pinsdaddy.com):

CUTE!  I sketched the block and worked it out on my ancient EQ4 program (mirror image).  I printed 15 copies sized for 4" blocks. That's what I'm playing with today. 

I decided that the hourglass quilt needed a little bit more zing, so I'm in the midst of making a zillion crooked half square triangles for a second border. That should be ready for viewing soon.

Crooked Hourglass Blocks

A few weeks ago, I began to make some hourglass blocks, a la Sujata Shah.

I got completely side-tracked.

And ended up with this:

Then there was a graduation....

Then I was a vendor at a quilt show....

Everything is finally back in place and I can sew again! I had admired a quilt with the hourglass blocks set in columns, so they made vertical rows of crooked squares.  I tried that.

Then I made some blocks that included RED.  I don't know why, I just like brown and red together.

Then I tried just putting the four small blocks from each set together to make larger blocks.

I had to stop and make one more set of blocks.  Then I sewed them together and put them back up on the design wall.

I'll revisit the column idea at a later date.

Turtle Time

It's not what you'd call an ART QUILT, 

but it IS original.

My shop (Cotton Fields Quilt Shop, Washington, NC) is participating in the Row by Row experience for the third time this year.  The theme is "On the Go".

I thought about this one for a long time.  I had the turtle idea almost right away, but wondered about what the turtles should be doing or carrying. Over the years, the designs nationwide have gotten ever more sophisticated and almost exclusively iron-on applique. In my previous designs, I've incorporated a little bit of both.  I decided to keep things simple.

I heard that a lot of Row by Row folks were looking for more PIECED designs.  Out came the graph paper. After I was happy with my little turtles, I added the checkerboard bottom for a little more interest.  The discovery of the cotton tape printed like a tape measure was great.  So, the leader of my turtles is "on the go" wearing a tape measure bow. 

* If you're not familiar with the Row by Row Experience, the best thing to do is look it up online for a more complete explanation than I could give here.

Aftermath

Baby found the new quilt and gave it her stamp of approval.  I took her picture, then made her move.

Facings Finished!

I just finished the facing on the piece I've been working on.  Many thanks to influence from Rayna Gillman and Sujata Shah.

Next, I'm off to work on my "Row by Row Experience" design for the shop.  It's overdue.  I've got the pattern worked out, now to get it stitched together.

Walking Foot Quilting

This morning I finished the quilting on the brown/gold/red piece.  All straight lines, 1/2" apart.  It took 2 1/2 bobbins!  I marked the center with blue painter's tape and lined up the edge of the walking foot.  Then I continued to line up with lines of stitching, working on one side and then flipping it around and working from the center out on the other side.  

I like the texture.  Now all that's left to do is squaring and adding a facing.

WAY last fall I was working on a small tree wall hanging.  It was part of a challenge for the local quilt show with the theme "Branching Out".  I realized that I had never shown it after it was completely finished.

The straight line stitching on this piece is by hand.  It also has a little bit of embroidery and beading, plus some hand made polymer clay leaves.  I actually made the leaves before I started the wall hanging.  It's name is "Standing Alone".