Saturday, April 14, 2012

Crazy Jane - Three blocks finished this week!

 I added two more blocks to the pile this week - for some reason they all ended up being from column 5!  These are F-5 and M-5.





 I chose M-5 because it was close to midnight and I wanted something simple to work on while I was waiting to have to go pick up my daughter from a rehearsal.  This is another one that I re-drafted to look more like the actual picture in the book.  I thought the star fabric was fun!


F-5 I chose because it was the next  applique block in the next row I want to finish!  I saw that I could have either chosen to applique the white on the blue background and work with little pieces or applique larger blue pieces on the white background.  I chose to work with the larger pieces and it came out really nice.  The final corner triangles were machine pieced on after I did the applique.


Tonight I am working on one of the side triangles.  (I picked 5, just to stay in the series!)  I am hoping to get one block done each day, so maybe I'll check in next week with 7 done - that would be half a row!

Ok Lee - lets see what you can do - I know you have tomorrow off!  (She told me she needs a kick in the rear, so I have to give her the business - you know that's how friends are!)

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

WIP Wednesday

I've been working on a lot of stuff this week, mostly alterations, but I have had a few quilting projects going, too.  I've been working on some quilted journals - I have a set of birds that I cut out of a lovely piece of fabric a while back, so I want to get those done.  My youngest daughter has chosen one of them as her own, so maybe that will be next, but this is the one I worked on today:
I love this kind of sewing - I just add on to my design as I go, no planning ahead.  I really like the flying geese with that pretty floral fabric!

I also got back on the Crazy Jane horse.  Really need to be more consistent in working on these if I want to finish the top by August!  This is H-5.  Michael's Motorcycle.  I redrafted this one a bit to make the triangles even in the center.  I didn't like the way the one in the book wasn't at a 90 degree angle, so did it my way.  I'm a lot happier with my blocks if I make them the way I want them to look rather than following the diagrams in the book 100 percent of the time.  It was an easy one, only took a half hour.  Then I spent another half hour looking for my chart.  I saw it the other day and told myself I would be sorry if I didn't put that where I could find it later. I was right.  No clue as to where it is today, but I'm certain it's in my disaster area sewing room somewhere.  It will turn up eventually!



No more for tonight, time to turn in and get some sleep.  I work a full day at the quilt shop tomorrow!  Hopefully I will be able to resist any new fabrics.  You know how it is, especially when you have to spend the whole day being tempted!

To see what my other Quiltsy team members are up to this week go visit our team blog here:  Quiltsy Team.

Monday, April 09, 2012

Spring Cleaning

Though it doesn't feel like spring yet here on the Oregon Coast I've been inspired by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville to do a little sprucing up for the season.  After all, by the calendar it is spring, and after Easter, so it must be time to get out all the sunny spring household items, right?  But I am sticking with the flannel sheets for a while yet!  I finally am taking off my Christmas Quilt (I know, I know...I intend to make a proper winter quilt soon!) and replacing it with the sunny blue and yellow Round Robin Quilt.




This one was made from an internet swap.  It was a row by row swap, and we each included our own fabrics.  Each participant made a row of 8 inch blocks for each quilt in the same pattern.  My poor box got lost a couple of times, but eventually I got it back with all the lovely rows ready to sew together into a bright and cheery quilt!  Each row is signed by the maker.  My husband thought it was odd to have a quilt with peoples writing on it, but I like remembering all the people who worked on it.  I am no longer in touch with any of them, but it was really fun making the quilt and working on all the other ones that passed through.  I believe that somewhere I have a journal that traveled with it, I should see if I can find it!

This is the first queen size quilt I ever machine quilted, all the previous ones were done by hand.  I used my 1979 Kenmore and it was a super tight fit in those middle strips, but we made it!  All of the white is stippled down, with a bit of outlining, etc in the colored pieces.  The batting is Warm and Natural and I love the old fashioned feel and look of this quilt.  It gets softer and drapier every time I wash it!

It  measures around 88 x 92 inches, a bit small for my current pillow top mattress, but I still love it and enjoy having it on my bed for spring.  The label is getting a bit faded, but I can see that it was started in April of 2002.  It must have been finished before September of 2003 because I showed it at the Sea of Quilts show of that year. 

This is what's on my bed today !  Now I will go document it in my Quilt Album program so that I won't have to try to decipher that faded label again!

Make sure you go to Bonnie's Blog to see everyone else's quilts or to add what you have on your own bed! - What's On Your Bed?

Sunday, April 08, 2012

Liebster Award!

I recently received a very sweet honor and I want to share it, and to pass on the love as well!  I was really honored by Maria for her nomination, it was so sweet of her!  One of the many things I enjoy about being part of the quilting world on the internet is the fact that I have been able to get to know many quilters from all over the world.  Maria is in Hungary and I was privileged to get to introduce her to the Quiltsy team on Etsy, so I got to know her a bit at that point.  Her blog is called the Patchwork Mill and I have enjoyed her posts there.  It's so neat seeing what she does with the lovely fabrics that she has available!  She is such a cheerful and kind person and it really shows in her posts, so definitely stop by and see what she is up to.

Thanks Maria, I appreciate your kindness!  It's been a joy to get to know you!



The Leibster award is given by bloggers to exceptional blogs with fewer than 200 followers. For those who decide to accept the award, the Liebster Rules are:

1. Post about your win on your blog.

2. Link back to the blogger who presented you with the award.

3. Copy and paste the award to your blog.

4. Present the Liebster Award to 5 blogs that have less than 200 followers that you think deserve to be recognized.

5. Let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

Now comes the hard part - deciding on 5 blogs to pass the honor to!  I follow quite a few and choosing 5 of them was not an easy chore, there are many more I could also share, but maybe I will do that in the future.  For now you get a little taste of these:

Miriam's Sewing Studio

Miriam is another one of my Quiltsy Team members.  She loves quilting and birding and likes nothing better than making something from bird fabric!  Love it!  Lately she has been creating the cutest little crocheted cup cozies - not only has she made the cute owl here, but also has sock monkeys in brown and grey plus panda bears (one of my favorites!).  She is in Canada - see isn't it great how the internet connects us with other people?

Ferret Fabricates

Another one of the international bloggers I follow is Ferret.  I think I originally found her blog through a friend who passed on a link to her fabulous Victorian Steampunk Dress.  You really need to go to her blog and check it out!  She is a long-arm quilter living and teaching in England.  Her blog is always interesting as she travels, teaches and drag races!  Got to love the new generation of quilters - definitely not your traditional quilters and lots of fun to follow - I would love to take a class with her sometime, I'm sure it would be great fun.

 The Dread Pirate Rogers Blogs Into the Sunset and Beyond

I first became acquainted with Shelley on a quilting forum years ago - I was pleased to find her blogging as she has a wonderful style not only in her writing, but in her projects.  She always says what she means and means what she says - and it's fun to read about her various projects!  She not only quilts, but has been known to immerse herself in making various garments for her daughters so she has a great variety of topics.  Definitely a favorite of mine!

Salzanos

Brenda is a real life friend of mine, though I might never had met her if it wasn't for us both being sellers on Etsy!  She founded a team for local Etsy artists and we have grown into a supportive group of friends who are all artists and love to create in a variety of media.  Brenda uses her blog to show the new things she creates for her Etsy shop.

One of my favorites is this cute bead that is a bird in a nest - just adorable!  She is running a giveaway right now, so it's a good time to check out her blog.

Frivolous Necessity
Another fun blog from a fellow Quiltsy Team member!  You really need to check out her fabulous patterns at her Etsy Shop, also called Frivolous Necessity!  I really like this one -


You can also buy her quilts there, too.  Though I am just getting to know her blog, I am really enjoying it. 

So there you have it - 5 blogs that I think are worthy of this award.  Thanks again to Maria for passing it to me!