Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Finished Dream Big on Halloween!

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Happy Halloween! I have the candy all ready and I'm waiting for the trick or treaters! I'm trying so hard not to eat that candy! Hurry up, kids!!

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It's done! There were many times that I thought it was just coming out awful. I actually thought that maybe I should just toss it. However, I kept going and I actually like how it came out!

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I tried all different types of motifs. Some of them worked and some didn't. 

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I started to think of it a big practice panel as opposed to a real finished piece.

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I'll have to admit that I did enjoy it as I was finishing up.

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I think the pressure was off and I could finally enjoy it. I'm going to bind it and hang it on the wall behind the long arm. Phew!!!


Sunday, October 28, 2018

Connections Quilt Festival 2018

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My friend, Marlene, and I went to the Connections Quilt Festival in Westford, MA. This is the third year for this festival. We  had a great time visiting the vendors and looking at all the great quilts. We both loved this wall hanging. I love Kaffe Fassett fabrics anyways but this pattern is so innovative!
The name of this wall hanging is Garden Party. It is made by Linda Pearl and measures 28" X 22". Linda is one of the founding members for this quilt show. She does a great job!

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This is Random Rosegarden by Karen Eckmeier. She was teaching some classes at the quilt show.

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This is Villages For All Seasons by Karen Eckmeier also. I really love her work. There were no measurements for either one of her quilts. 

We also had a great time shopping. I bought some thread for my long arm from Superior Threads. I also bought more hexagon papers and a book with scrap quilt patterns. (For that pesky quilt stash!) All in all, it was a fun day!

Thursday, October 25, 2018

More FMQ Dream Big Panel

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I'm trudging through the Dream Big panel. The only leaves left are rather large. I have been looking over some of the finished panels on Instagram and Pinterest. I feel that there are too many decisions to make as I finish each leaf! I made a fern in this leaf. Ferns are easy, fast and forgiving! My type of quilting!

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I used a ruler to make lines in this leaf. Then, I went back and made back and forth lines in every other channel.

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I made curved channels and quilted pebbles in every other one. 

I'm almost done. Every time I plan on quilting, something tends to come up. We had work done in our house today. I planned on quilting when he left but he was here all day! Then it's time for dinner. I'm hoping I make some progress tomorrow! I'm hoping things quiet down around here. I need my quilting time!



Friday, October 19, 2018

More Carolina Chain Blocks

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I made 2 more blocks to add to the Carolina Chain pile of blocks. These two seemed to take me forever! I've been busy and only doing a little sewing when I've got a few minutes.

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I cut the pieces out one day. A few days later, I got to piece them together. 

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Once they're blocks, it was easy to sew them together.

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It took awhile, but 2 more blocks are done! Only 50 to go!! I'm so glad I decided to make this a long term project! 

Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Beginnings and Endings

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My Block of the Month is all done for this month. I made 4 versions of the Star Blocks, one for each corner. The only other block this month was Flying Geese. I only made one of those. I've already made 5 blocks out of a total of 16. Each block measures 12.5 inches square.  I feel like I'm doing good with this project.

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I made a label for the Double Wedding Ring. I bought a new sewing machine over the summer so I'm still trying to figure out how to use everything. The label only took me one try. Not bad!!

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Here's my table topper that I finished a little while ago. It looks perfect in my formal dining room. The blue in the topper picks up the blue walls, I like how it looks in this room. So glad I made it!

Friday, October 12, 2018

New Quilt Guild BOM

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The guild offered a new Block of the Month this year and I joined in! Here are my 2 first blocks. I'm using a fat quarter pack of floral fabrics. I think they're the state flower fabrics. The quilt consists of 12 blocks which will be set up as 4 rows of 3 blocks. I decided I wanted to make mine 16 blocks so I could make 4 rows of 4 blocks. I like symmetry and 16 blocks would work better for me. I decided to make 4 of the Star Block which is the first block we're making. I'll place a Star Block in each of the 4 corners. I have 2 finished blocks which you can see in this picture. 

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This whole quilt is made of  Half Square Triangles. I used the old tried and true method of drawing a diagonal line and sewing 1/4 inch from each side and then cutting on the line.

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Here are my blocks before they're sewn together. I trimmed each square. I love making them a little bigger and then trimming them down to size. I feel it's so much more accurate this way.

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Here's a sneak peek at my next 2 Star Blocks. These squares still have to be trimmed. I was too tired to trim them. Maybe tomorrow after work!

Monday, October 8, 2018

Feathers on Dream Big

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I was off this past weekend which is a rarity for me. I thought I would get so much done! I did a little free motion quilting on the Dream Big panel. This picture shows one of the leaves quilted with feathers and pebbles surrounding them. 

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This is a much smaller leaf. I just did a little wishbone in it.

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This was a much larger leaf. I made a feather with pebbles in the spine.

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This was just a portion of a leaf poking through. I decided to just make swirls.

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This was also a smaller leaf. I tried to make hook feathers. One seemed to have become squished in the process! 

That's all I did! I think I'll like it when it's done but it's a little frustrating to me. The leaves can be good sized or small. I feel as though I just get comfortable quilting in that space and it's already time to move on! I'm using this panel as a teaching tool. It's fun to be able to use the many different feathers I've seen over the years. I just wish I was more comfortable with all of them!

Thursday, October 4, 2018

Dreaming Big!

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I've had the Dream Big panel for awhile but finally got around to quilting it. I'm finally getting my energy back from that awful cold. I loaded this quilt today and started to quilt it. I started in the middle. 

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Before I loaded it, I tried to outline a flower in the middle. I quilted pebbles in the round center. I outlined the flower petals and just echoed inside each petal. 

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Just a quick overhead look while I was loading it. It's not too large so it was quick to load! I'll be working on the larger petals next. It should get interesting!

I Like Thursday #228

Welcome to I Like Thursday! A bunch of us bloggers like to write happy and uplifting posts on a weekly basis. Please visit  LeeAnna  to link...