Birds - A Quick Peek

Quilting is progressing on the little bird quilt.  It's taking a while, with parallel lines approx. 1/2" inch apart. 

Snowed in Again

When the snow came to eastern North Carolina yesterday, classes were cancelled for safety's sake, and then I had the afternoon to myself!

I was happy to return to the "birds" project.  I had originally planned on making a twelve block wall hanging, but after making seven, I decided that a six block piece was as large as I wanted it to be.

Nothing is measured during the piecing process, so the blocks are all different sizes.  The answer is to add over sized borders to each block (3" or 4" depending on the block), and then trimming to a uniform size.  I trimmed them all to 14" this morning and put the little birds together.  Here's the top, flapped out on the floor.  I've chosen the backing and located a batting, so I'll start putting in all together now.

These were a LOT of fun and there will definitely be more birds in my future!

Now it Can Be Told (Shown)

We kicked off our ninth annual shop hop yesterday.  Here's my quilt, that had to be kept a secret until now.

Each shop owner chose a different block pattern.  Mine was "Castle in the Air" in the top row.  Then we put them all together into a row quilt.  Can you see the crabs in the 4th row?  That's courtesy of one of the shops at the beach!

Preview of Thing to Come

I discovered a fun book Hot Flashes of Inspiration while on my New York trip. Over the weekend, I FINALLY had time to try out the funky birds block, the reason I bought the book.

Number one:

Number two:

Number three:

Number four:

I'm going to be busy, busy, busy this week with our local shop hop, but hope to get back to my birds SOON.  They are so much fun!  The fabrics I'm using are the Neutral Territory collection from P&B Textiles, plus a few coordinating batiks. 

Little Sampler

In the midst of some store re-arranging a week or so ago, I took a little quilt top off the wall and decided that it was high time that it was finished.  Last Friday, I layered and basted.

Yes, I still baste with needle and thread.  I don't like safety pins, REALLY don't like the chemical smell of sprays and don't mind the basting process. Years ago I was the lucky recipient of boxes (and boxes) of cone thread from a local garment factory.  I gave it to the students in my classes, two quilt guilds, and I still have lot of it left.  Call me old fashioned. 

I've used this little pattern twice to teach beginner classes.  My first sample had 6 blocks and hand quilting.  This one has brighter colors and 9 blocks.  I wanted this sample quilted NOW, so headed to the machine (see, I'm not so old fashioned after all).

Quilting on Tuesday morning, binding on Wednesday morning.  Today I'll add a hanging sleeve.  To get around the problem of binding thread catching on the quilting foot, I make small stitches on the top and large stitches on the bottom - an uneven basting stitch.  I hardly ever get stuck anymore.

I found a cute print for the backing. 

We had a tiny bit of snow here in Eastern North Carolina early Wednesday morning.  Guess I'd better post a token snow picture, too. View from the front window of the store. It's not as pretty today, after half of it has melted.

The Zippered Bag

From this:

To this:

Many Thanks to Sue N. who showed the Friday afternoon bunch how to make these little zippered bags with front pockets.  Pretty quick and easy.  I may just have stumbled upon a new Christmas present/craft show idea!

A lot of my energy this week has gone toward getting two new beginner quilting classes off the ground.  We are making sampler blocks, so that they can experience a little bit of many different methods.  Maybe I'll be able to show you some of their efforts at a later date.

Pagoda Fun

This project was last seen way back on November 14.  It's the "Pagodas" pattern from Maple Island Quilts.

Many things have gotten in my way:  Thanksgiving, Christmas, challenge quilt deadline and shop hop quilt deadline.  I was so happy to hand over the shop hop quilt top to the machine quilter yesterday!  It has to stay a secret until February 5, the day the hop starts.

With all of those things out of the way, I was free to go back to the Pagodas project.  I worked on it Wednesday and Thursday, taking time out for a night of BRIDGE, and put the borders on last night.  It is 48" square, large wall hanging or small throw?  Either way, I like it!

What's next?  I'm taking it easy this afternoon with some sewing friends. One has promised to show us how to make little zippered pouch.  I am assembling my supplies now.