Busy, Busy, Busy

This is what has been taking up a lot of my time:


                                                   ?

Oh, do you  see a big blank?  That's because I've been working on the shop hop quilt, which remains a SECRET until February.  I've been making steady progress and only have the borders left to sew on.  I'll send it away with my good friend Lilly next week to be machine quilted.  (Lilly's Machine Quilting, Vanceboro, NC, 252-244-1988)  Lilly has quilted all of my shop hop quilts except one, which was small enough that I decided to hand quilt. 

About two weeks ago, I discovered the pattern for the Hexagon Star (designed by Kaye Wood) in an old Fons and Porter Magazine.  Here is the first one in progress.

And what do I always do?  Go crazy and cut out a bunch of them!  This is the collection so far:

I'm not just doing this for my health - I have a Christmas craft sale coming up in about three weeks.  One problem, though, is that I didn't make any in Christmas colors.  So I've rounded up a few combinations and will cut out some more this afternoon.

Here's another SOMETHING in progress.  I'll keep you guessing until next time!

As you can see, while cutting I couldn't resist trimming off some selvages to use in a future project.  I have a whole shopping bag FULL.

Hot off the Ironing Board!

Here it was at the beginning ...

Inspired by ....

The blocks are all together now and I am pleased with the effect.  The next decision will concern borders, pieced or plain?  I have more of the green fabric left over.  Julie said that she thought I should bring in more of the dull rusty orange.  Hmmm ..... will have to think about it for a while.

It's Wednesday and I put together the Dear Jane block shown at the bottom of the picture.  The other two were made last week.  SLOWLY BUT SURELY ... now I have approx. 45 finished blocks.

Sampler Quilts

Today is the last day for two beginners quilting classes, afternoon and evening.  We have had a good time together and all of the quilts are looking great!  Here is Dottie - we are in the process of basting her quilt in this picture.

Geneva's quilt is already basted and she is sitting by the window quilting.  Ann is adding her final borders.  They all did a great job!

Here's a picture of one of the hexagon stars after it was quilted and bound.  It will be a quickie afternoon class here at the store next Tuesday:

Of course, I've cut out three more and also want to make some in Christmas colors .....

Hexagon Star

Today's sewing included finishing the 12 big blocks for the telephone book quilt.  It won't take too long to sew the blocks together, then I will need to come up with a plan for the border.

Next, I worked on another step of the SUPER SECRET SHOP HOP QUILT.

Then, needing to REST after all that industrious sewing, I sat down with a pile of quilting magazines that my friend, Lilly, dropped off the other day.  You just never know where the next inspiration will come from!  The pattern for these table toppers (centerpieces, candle mats) was designed by Kaye Wood and found in a Fons and Porter Magazine from 2006.  I couldn't stand it!  I had to drag scraps out and make a couple right away!  These will receive minimal quilting and then I will bring the back over the front for binding.  I think that I need to try a couple in Christmas colors, too.

Sally recently gave "the girls" a kitty tent.  They were mighty suspicious of that contraption for a while, but then one day I found:

A day or two later, I found:

If they weren't such big girls, they might fit in there together.

Phone Book Quilt

After a brief (?) intermission, I'm back at work at the phone book quilt, so named because it was pieced using phone book pages as foundation.  Now that all the blocks are finished, I am trimming and sewing them together into bigger blocks.  Here are the first two.

Another beginning quilting class will be wrapping up next week.  This time around, I had everyone making 12" nine-patch blocks, enough for a lap quilt.  As always, I end up with another unfinished project myself, after I have demonstrated.  Students have made 12 or more blocks ... here are the 6 that I have made.  I'm thinking of finishing it off at 6 blocks, adding an applique border, since I enjoyed the little star quilt so much.

I don't know why everything today seems to be earth tones/ fall colors.  I only made one Dear Jane  block today and here it is.

I'm very close to beginning to put them together (remember, I'm NOT making the whole thing).

Done and Done

Two recent projects are complete!  This morning I finished binding the Tessellating Leaves Table Topper and added a hanging sleeve to the star quilt.  It has been officially named "Summertime Stars".

The next thing I did was begin to cut out the shop hop quilt.  You'll have to take my word for that, though, because each shop's quilt is a secret, not revealed until the shop hop begins on Feb. 1.  If anyone is interested in learning more, find complete information on our store website www.cottonfieldsnc.com or check out the Facebook Page for "Romancing Eastern North Carolina Shop Hop". 

Tonight I finally finished sewing the 48 string blocks that I have been working on for a while.  Tomorrow I will trim, remove the foundation paper and hopefully begin to sew them together.

Hand or Machine?

As you can see, the machine won.  Straight lines down the center of the leaves and curves on each side which ended up making a very nice unexpected continuous line pattern.  The CD is what I used to mark the curves - don't worry, it's not music, just one of those advertising things we get in the mail from time to time.  I also wrestled with myself about whether to try to do free motion quilting or mark my lines and ended up marking.  I've still got the borders left to quilt.

 

Isn't this just the cutest thing?  My friend, Pat, loaned me two Elizabeth Zimmerman knitting books because I was interested in a baby sweater pattern.  I found this STAR instead and couldn't stand it until I gave it a try!  Stars will look nice embellishing some of the knit hats I've been making.