A Little Quilting

Modern quilting is a great way for many to express their creativity through textiles. It's not what floats my boat for piecing, but I LOVE what others are doing.

Except when I get a quilt that has no piecing and tons of open space.

It's not a "modern" quilt design, but it's perfect for this top. I'm heading to town to get some thread. I have 300 spools and none are the right color. I'm sure my LQS will have exactly what I need to finish this piece.

Don't you love the backing?  It's perfect for this quilt.  I love the color, it's so bright and cheerful and it's geen great to be working on this piece right now.  I've given JT a sneak peek today, but until she sees the finished piece, I must keep the whole piece under wraps.

So I've been quilting and job searching. The quilting is much more enjoyable, but I make sure I do my resume submissions every morning before I go downstairs to quilt.

We just finished getting 10" of snow. I know, if you live in the mid-west, you are probably laughing right now. But for us, in this tiny corner of the US, we don't get snow very often. The roads are bare, but I still can't see my backyard.

Stay warm,
Sharon

Show and Tell - Applique Society

Confession time, I've had some of these pictures for quite some time and have just not got them from my camera to my blog. This is from C.O. She does the most amazing work and I have learned so much from her. I'm thrilled to be in the same group as these ladies, there isn't a meeting that goes by where I don't learn something new.

Here is some wool/bead work that C has been doing.  This needle case is cuter than cute.

These blocks are from a group that meets at 2Thimbles, one of the three quilt shops we have in Bellingham.  The detail is so fabulous.

Today C.O. shared this piece.  It's a Lori Smith pattern and it's been hand appliqued and hand quilted.  What a fabulous finish for February.  Finish is going to be my word for 2014.

This is my block from my Sacagewia Sampler from Minick and Simpson.  I've been poking away at this block and have 4 more cherries to stitch down.  Then the embroidery for stems.  It's got a bird in the top right and bottom left but I"m leaving them out until I get more blocks done.  I can't decide on colorways.

This block shows a great way to use printed fabric.  Look at that birds wing, it couldn't be any better!

Look at all those cherries/berries. Love the red/green/cream, you just can't go wrong with this combo.

The beginnings of a small Hawaiian quilt.  I love the color combo.

J.H. does her applique with a lot of prep work for her pieces, she glues/pins them down and whips through the stitching in no time.  She has done so many appliques and her choice of color is always stellar.

A study in small piecing and a two color quilt. This is a treasure!  Not only does C.O. do great applique, she is also a fabulous piecer.

Look at all the fabrics she has in this, wow.

Finally, another small piece.  I think (??) these blocks are 4 1/2" and I think (??) it was a challenge from a local quilt shop. If you finished one block, you carried on and got the next block, and sew on ...... Beautiful piecing.

That's what I have for you today, thanks for stopping by.  I'm hoping to catch some of the Olympic hockey, I missed the US/Russia game, 4:30 a.m. was a little early for me to rise and shine!

Sharon

TV Time

I managed to get organized with some tv work. Poured a glass of wine and turned on the Olympics, then grabbed my bag of piecing.

Got the dog ears clipped, and got all my blocks pinned together. Then when I had a few extra minutes at home, I pushed these blocks through the machine and voila, blocks are finished!

Have a great weekend, I'm off to The Applique Society today, stay tuned for a little show and tell from our meeting.

Sharon

Piecing Bliss

Today I took some time to piece. After setting my timer for one hour, I got busy with my cheddar 1/2 sq tri's which are bonus blocks from the flying geese that I'm working on.

One block led to another, my timer went off and I continued to stitch, trim, press and piece together little bits of fabric.

This is my medallion project from my Gwen Marston workshop from last June. Speaking of Gwen, did you know she has an exhibit on right now? A one woman show. Pop over to Fun with Barb to listen to Gwen, (and see Barbs Olympic quilts) or click here to see the photos of this exhibit.
This 6 x 6 section is 8" square, I need 3 more to make the center of this piece. 

Each 1/2 sq triangle finishes at 1 1/4"

Once I cleaned up from this project, I pulled out this one.  I've been teaching a 6 month workshop and the last class will be in March.  That day will be spent working with students to put all their blocks together and make everything fit!  Thought I should get my sample put together before the last class.  I can't expect them to have all their blocks finished while mine languishes in a bag.

I've made this once already, the pattern is Old Glory  In the first version I chose Civil War reds/blues with PieCrust as the background.  This one is brighter but I stuck with the PieCrust for backgrounds. It seems to be my "go to" fabric for neutral backgrounds.

I got a customer quilt loaded up in between this, but taking the time for my own projects was just what I needed today!  Tomorrow is all about the job search. I have an interview at 11:30 and after that I'm hitting a job fair. With no unemployment, my emergency fund is running very low!

I hope you all get some piecing time this week.

Sharon

Valentine Banner

It was January when I was binding my Hallow'een pillow cases, but I've got this one on time! Yeah for me. Unemployment does not work well for me, I just can't seem to use my time wisely. Plus my Valentine takes a big chunk of my stitching time....but he's worth it!

I only have one or two evenings alone at home when I can sit and stitch, so it's been slow going on my BTCT. Hanging my head in shame, I'm still stitching the binding on my Sisters Choice. I have about 25% left on the binding and a label.

This banner was from a panel that I got at Fabric Etc.   You have to scroll back to Jan 16th post to see Carols, she used bright green and it is really great.   It makes 18 flags so I have two of these, but only one with lettering. I used double folded bias tape, (the packaged pre-made kind) and added little yo yo's. I had the perfect fabric for them, a mini pink and red check from years ago. Yeah for a stash!

Hope you have time to stitch this weekend, and for those being hit by cold and snow, please stay safe and warm.

Sharon