Sharing Liberated Stars

Here are the results of a workshop that I put on at Yvonne's Barn.

The best comment I heard was "I just want to keep making them". Liberated piecing is fun, pure and simple. It's not for every block or every quilter or every quilt,  but I haven't met a liberated star that I didn't like.

I can't wait to start making a liberated red/white/blue star quilt. Beth has got me so inspired!

Here is the group all together. (minus the red/white/blue)

What a fun and inspiring day!

Hope you have a great weekend,
Sharon

Shop Hop Fun

Whew, I survived the Western Washington Shop Hop! I was the stamp girl for Fabric Etc. in Bellingham, WA for four days. Here is how our Sunday started out!

It doesn't get any better than this. Gotta love creative quilters with a lot of spunk and spirit.

Sharon

The Journey Continues

There was some uninterrupted time on Monday and I took full advantage of it.  The outline stitching on this block is now finished, and it's time to move on to another section.

The hand quilting was started Jan 1, 2013 and each time I sit with this quilt, it gets a little closer to finished. My goal of July 2014 had been pushed back to Dec 2014, but that is in pencil. The passage of time and the memories that are stitched into this piece continue to grow, it gives me great satisfaction to pick this up and rock the needle.

We had a crazy looking sky last night and I had to snap a few pictures while driving. This was sunset, no storm happening, just a very cool cloud formation.

The longest day is coming soon, I love spending that evening at the beach, savoring every last minute of the day.  Lets hope its a sunny one on the 21st.

Sharon

Birthday Blues

Last week was my birthday week and the excitement of it all has worn off and regular life has settled back in.    It started off with opening up my gift from my gal pal M, is this CUTE or what?  It's on a little stand and is about 12 x 18". She added Timtex in the top to keep it standing up on the curve.  The sleeve is about the height if the candle. L-O-V-E everything about this and I will now keep it up for the whole month.  I usually say "it's my birthday week" but this deserves more than 7 days.

Mani, pedi, facial at the spa was my surprise, along with dinner with friends and a beautiful suite at the hotel.  What a sweetheart he is!

These were waiting for me at the table and 5 days later, they are still beautiful.

And to ensure some quilting in this post,  another Wedge project in the works.  Way out of my range in terms of color and fabric prints, but so far the comments have been good.

Sharon

Third Finish this Week

Wow, I really feel like I made some tangible progress this week, as this is the 3rd finish for me.  I have finally got the binding sewn and the label attached.  This sampler is made up of 9" blocks that have been hand pieced and/or appliqued.  I made this, hmmm, let me think, probably back in 2006. Oregon was my home at the time and I wanted to have a hand stitching project. 

 

I love this little block, I think it's called Honey Bee.  Just the right amount of applique to dress up the patchwork.

And who doesn't like star blocks, this one is sweet, but the Lemoyne star has to be my favorite star.  Do you have a favorite star block?

After I finished the quilting this past month, it was on to the binding right away.  I always make binding when I finish a top and I do that for several reasons. However, when I looked for this quilts binding, it was nowhere to be found.  Did I not make it? What will I bind it with? Do I have any of these fabrics left in my stash resource room?

The quilting goddess was looking out for me, I had ONE fabric left and just enough to get the binding strips. Whew!  And it was the perfect fabric to have available.

I managed to use up some crazy fabrics on the back of this piece.  I bought them thinking I was going to make a black and white quilt, then I look at these and wonder, are they black or are they white?  The backing is the perfect place for them.

A few details about this quilt.  Blocks are 9" and have been hand stitched.  I do machine stitch blocks together along with the strips in the sashing.  Patterns are traditional blocks and are from a book I got in my first quilting workshop. Sashing has a center strip that finishes at 1/4".  This detail really adds to the overall look of the quilt. 

Now that I have pictures and details of this piece it's all ready to get gifted.  My niece will be the caretaker of this one and that leaves me with one more nephew who needs a quilt.  It's in the works, but I don't see a finish on that one until 2015!

Enjoy the weekend,
Sharon

Batik Spins

Batik fabrics are a rare find in my sewing room, so I had to dig through the scrap bin at my fav LQS for some additional colors for this piece. The idea for this came from seeing Wanda post her blocks and Kathy Doughty's book, Adding Layers. I've played with the wedge ruler a bit, but this got me really going.

Making a template and following a pattern sometimes just isn't in the cards for me. I pulled out my EZ Dresden ruler and got busy. I had so much fun with this one that I started a third one before this was even finished. Then my mind started with other ideas and needless to say, this one ruler can keep you busy!

I'm teaching a Wedge Workshop at Fabric Etc in Bellingham, WA on June 26th, if you are in the area, sign up and come have some fun! I think there is still room at the table for one or two more quilters. The sample is hanging in the store, have a peek if you stop in during the Western WA ShopHop.  I'll be stamping passports and helping out 4 of the 5 days, stop by and say hello!

Sharon

Binding Kind of Day

This is the second of this quilt, the first one was donated to my gf who runs a hospital foundation and she raised $1000 on a raffle. I've finally got the second one quilted.

Saturday was a sew day with our guild and I decided to be lazy and not pack up my machine and all the gear required for machine piecing/cutting/pressing etc.

I took a bag of hand stitching. There were two bindings, one applique block and some hand quilting.

The result was a finished 60 x 60 binding, label included. Blocks are 12" and it's 5 x 5. All the quilting was done using circle templates and rulers. Now it just needs a sleeve, and I need a massage!

Today I took a leap of faith, and submitted a quilt (not this one) to a magazine. I will keep you all posted.

Sharon

Photo Session

I'm working on a digital archive of my quilts. This was part of my afternoon last Thursday.

 

Here is where I was at yesterday. Thank goodness for friends. MF came down with her camera, and her mojo, and we got all of my quilts photographed.

At the end of it all, we thought a fence shot might be nice. It's amazing to see how the sun really pops the quilting.

 

Lesson learned - Put a sleeve on every single quilt that you make. We Muriel pinned and unpinned a temporary sleeve again and again and again.  M, Thanks for the great day!

Sharon