Scrap Quilt Finish

Happy to say my scrap quilt is done! The binding went so fast. I'm sort of surprised! I think this size is so nice. It measures 70" x 70". Very manageable!

As you can see, I just quilted an allover larger meander. I think it complements the quilt very nicely. 

Here's my label! The quilt is not complete until that label has been sewn onto the quilt. I guess this one's finished!!

Fold N Stitch Wreath

I bought the fabric and pattern a while ago but today I finished 2 Fold N Stitch Wreaths by Kristine Poor of Poorhouse Quilt Designs. The one on the left is for me! I made the other one for my mom. She chose the purple floral which sort of surprised me! I thought she'd want the quiet colors and tea cup fabric. Either way, I was happy to make it for her!

I'll take you through the process in a very general way.

I had to cut the "applique" fabric and back it with stabilizer.

I backed the front fabric with foam stabilizer.

I cut the backing fabric and cut an X in it.

I sewed a few things together, turned something inside out and then fused over that X. My blocks are now ready to make the wreath!!

Here are the wreaths all put together but the points still have to be sewn together.

Here is my mom's wreath. I used little flower buttons to tack the points together. I also added some buttons to the outer points.

This is my wreath. I used pearls to tack my points. Love it!! 

This is such a fun project. If you have the chance, make one! I can see making one for each holiday. Such a nice way to decorate your house!

Slow Hexie Project

I think this is the slowest project ever I've ever worked on! I realize the sewing is all done by hand but it takes so long! It measures about 26" x 26"so far.  It's such an odd shape that it's difficult to measure. It's actually quite pretty in person. I'm just amazed at how long this has taken to get to this size. I suppose it's my fault too since I knit and tend to ignore this piece for off and on.  

This is my latest flower. Making the flower itself doesn't take a very long time. I think the most time consuming part is sewing it to the larger piece. Does anyone have any shortcuts?? Maybe it's just me. 

I like the way it's coming out so I will keep trudging along! Someday, I'll be happy I didn't give up!

My Farmer's Wife 1930's Quilt

I finished it! It's my version of the Farmer's Wife 1930's Quilt. It's my version because I used 42 blocks and made it my own size. This quilt top measures 64" x 72". It's a very nice lap size which is my favorite size to make. The book included 4 different sizes that could be made. This quilt falls between the crib and twin size. 

This is the quilt without the outer border. Not many Farmer's Wife quilts include a border made from the background fabric. I decided I wanted to really outline the blocks and thought the background fabric would be best. I didn't want to introduce another fabric color. I feel the blocks have all the color and should be allowed to shine.

It took a few days to find the border fabric. I really wanted to find a really pretty lavender but my local quilt shops didn't have anything I liked. I found this teal Penny Rose fabric and thought the color was perfect. 

I'm so happy to have finished this quilt. The quilt along is ongoing so I feel as though I cheated!! I'm hoping to finish machine quilting my scrap quilt today too! For once, I won't have 4 or 5 projects I'm working on at the same time. I'm going to try and restrain myself and only work on 2-3 projects at a time. Maybe. 

Farmer's Wife 1930's Progress

I had a nice sewing day today. I got so immersed in my projects that I lost all track of time. In my book, that's the sign of a good day! As you can see, I'm sewing together Farmer's Wife 1930's. I opted to make a smaller quilt made up of 42 blocks. There are 99 blocks available in this book. I used half of the blocks I made today. This piece measures about 25" X 60".

Here's a view of the 3 strips of blocks on the design wall. I'm not sure why but my cats love hitting the design wall from the back and watching the blocks fall off. I don't understand why they enjoy that so much! I took a picture with my phone so I can see where each blocks goes. Silly kitties!

This is just a little picture to show you how each square is prepared before sewn together. I thought this was going to be such a long process. I was so wrong! Once the triangles have been cut, it's actually quick! I sew the triangles to one side of the blocks for one strip. I chain piece each side. Not too bad!! I'm hoping to have all 6 rows sewed together sometime next week. I'm working tomorrow so I won't be able to work on this project for a few days. Hate it when work interferes with my quilting!

Green Tea and Sweet Beans - Section 4

I finished Section 4 of Jen Kingwell's Green Tea and Sweet Beans. I love that this quilt consists of applique as well as piecing. I'm having fun using my scraps but I'm also buying some background fabrics that I've never been interested in before this project. I love the multicolored polka dot background used in Day Lily. I never even noticed this fabric before. It's so fun!

This is the block made of the propellar blocks. It measures 13 1/2" square. It was a little challenging to meet all those little propellars! Glad it's done!

I attached the Propellar Block to the Day Lily block. I had to sew a row of 1 1/2 inch blocks to the top of this piece so it would be the correct height.

I sewed my two sets of blocks together and Section 4 was done! It measures about 26" X 30".

Time to start the next section. I think I'll be hand piecing Double Drunkard Path blocks. Time to get out the freezer paper!!

My Wonderful MQX Classes!

The first class I took this week at MQX Quilt Festival was Custom/Advanced Quilting on the HandiQuilter Sweet Sixteen Sit Down machine. Jane Hauprich was our instructor. She was fabulous! She is so talented! You can find her blog here. She taught us many patterns but I love that she likes to combine a few different patterns. This really makes it more individual. The possibilities are endless! 

I found this photo on the MQX page on Facebook. That's me on the right with the brown jacket over the chair. There were 10 machines total in the classroom. We got lots of individual attention. We got to talk to each other as well. I met a fellow quilter who co-owns a quilt shop in New York City! How great is that?! This was a truly enjoyable class!

My second class was with Sue Heinz. What a fun teacher! She's so enthusiastic! She has so many ideas that I don't think she can speak fast enough to keep up! She gave us so many handouts. We drew for almost 4 hours! I bought side threading needles from her as well as a stencil to make lines and grids for quilting. So much information! You can find her products at Kismet Quilting.

Here's one of the designs she was teaching us. It looks complicated but she broke it down and made it look much easier. I can draw it but not sure I can quilt it!!

My last class was Intro to Ruler Work with Bonnie Dwyer. I have used rulers in the past but have never felt comfortable with them. I loved Bonnie's style of teaching. She gave us basic instructions and then we just played! She had rulers for us to use. She would walk around and help us if needed. I made this piece using a straight edge ruler in a 4 inch square. Such fun! I would never have even attempted this without taking this class. It's not perfect but I felt so much better moving that ruler around while sewing. You can read all about Bonnie Dwyer here.

That's the summary of my classes. I still have all my class notes in a huge tote bag. I have so much to put away. I keep putting it off since that means MQX is really over for another year! I look forward to this quilt show every year and never disappoints!

Propellar Block

                          

I wish I had more pictures to post. I've been machine quilting my scrap quilt whenever I have the chance. I've also been working on Jen Kingwell's Green Tea and Sweet Beans quilt. This quilt is a combination of applique and piecing. It's worked in 4 sections. This picture shows my progress on the Propellar Block. There will be 16 small blocks that will make one 13 inch finished block. This block is the last block I need to complete Section 1 of this quilt.

I decided to paper piece them. They're very small. Each of these propellar blocks is 3 3/4 inches. The pieces are easier to sew on paper. I'm trying to make a combination of light and dark propellars. The arrangement in the picture is not final! I'll be moving things around.

I'll be taking classes at MQX Thursday and Friday. This is a favorite show for me. I love to take machine quilting classes as well as enjoy the quilt show. There's always some gorgeous quilts to see. And the vendors are always great too! I'll definitely post all about the show over the weekend! See you then!