Arcadia Avenue - 3 Blocks and A Half

I finished Northern Lights, the third block of Arcadia Avenue. I'm loving these blocks! They're fun to make they're just striking. Somewhat addictive too! Each block is made up of 12 wedges. I make 3 wedges at a time. I think this block looks harder than it is! The only thing I don't like is the bulky seams when putting the block together. When paper piecing, the seams all go in the same direction. I'm experimenting with the next block. I'm going to paper piece 6 wedges according to directions. However, the second set will be sewed together in the opposite direction. I hope it works! It's so easy when the seams butt up to each other. I'll let you know if it works!

Here are my 3 blocks together. They won't be set like this but I thought it would look nice to put them all together!

Here's half of Block 4, Spiderweb. Hope my experiment works!!

More MQX Classes

 

Does this quilt look familiar? It's on the cover of Judi Madsen's book, Quilting Wide Open Spaces. I took a class with Judi Madsen and thoroughly enjoyed it! Judi was fun and friendly. I volunteered to help out in her class so I got to meet her and her sister, Amy.

The class I took was Quilting With Shapes. She showed us innovative ways to quilt different shapes in backgrounds. She made perfect sense and I wondered why I never think of this stuff! She had great advice and I want to try some of patterns she shared with us.

These are samples of the shapes she taught us. Very innovative! She was full of ideas. She also tried to make it easy for us. She took us through each step and had a great handout for us to follow with her.

I was right up front! I think I had the best seat! There were about 70 of us taking this particular class.
Judi was nice enough to raffle off a book and a ruler. I won the ruler! I'm so excited to try it! I'm hoping some of her talent rubbed off on me!

The only other class I took was with Karen Marchetti. Her class was how to quilt wide borders which I've had a problem with in the past. She showed us her method of dividing the border and marking it. She makes lines and arcs using a boomerang type ruler. So interesting! Everyone has such great ideas and they're all so varied.

There you have it! I had such a great time taking classes at MQX! I'm looking forward to next year already! I saw little bits of other classes and hope they'll be available next year. There is so much offered but so little time! You know how that goes!

Leah Day Classes at MQX

I took two wonderful classes with Leah Day at MQX in Manchester, NH. Free Motion Quilting was the main subject of the first class. We brought quilt sandwiches all ready to practice the new designs that Leah taught us. It was so helpful to have her watch us and fine tune our techniques. The six hour class just flew by. It was amazing to see how much we all improved. She had handouts and books ready for us. She also showed us all sorts of patterns on the white board as you can see above.

The second class concentrated on feathers and we received patterns that can be easily traced onto any quilt top or block. I don't think I've ever quilted as many feathers as I did today! This class was 4 hours.

 

The classes were very casual and fun. We could walk around and talk amongst ourselves. I usually get a little nervous when I have to sew a new technique with a classroom of people around. I was quite comfortable. I wanted to sew so I could practice the new techniques I was just starting to learn.

 

Leah walked around the room and helped us.

Leah showed us her new projects as well as some of her older ones.

Her machine quilting was amazing! She passed around all sorts of projects she had worked on.

I'm sure this looks familiar! It was great to see this in person. It's on the cover of one of her books also and represents her 365 free motion patterns.

 

This is one of her newer projects.

 

This was a whole cloth she designed. I actually started this project but never finished. My free motion skills just weren't good enough. 

These two classes were excellent. If you ever have the chance to take a class with Leah Day, go for it!  You won't regret it!





 



Happy Easter!

Hope everyone has a wonderful and Happy Easter!

I'm surprising my dad today! I made an Italian  Easter Bread just like my grandmother used to make. I hope he likes it! Actually, I hope my whole family enjoys it too! Enjoy the holiday!!

Sewing Cat

 

I'm finally done with Sewing Cat, a pattern by Edyta Sitar. After machine quilting, I had to add a few little embellishments. I usually don't add anything after quilting so it took me a little while to figure out what to do.

 

I finally gave the poor kitty some eyes! I actually tried to copy the shape of the iris by looking at one of my cats! Their irises are sort of diamond shaped, not round like ours. I've had 2 cats with green eyes so I went with that color.  My younger cat, Molly, has one black whisker. That was added in her honor.I embroidered the whiskers after studying Lily's whiskers. They have a nice gentle curl to them. The cat is gray in memory of our cat, Ricky, who died almost 2 years ago.

I wanted to add pins to the pin cushion. I found these beads in my sewing basket and thought they would work just as well. I tried to add them in a random way, the way you would stick pins on any pin cushion.

And it's done! I'm going to hang it in my sewing room. It will be nice to look at it and think of my cats while I'm sewing away!

 

Quilt as Desired!

I've reached that stage where my Downton Abbey quilt is all ready to be quilted but I'm not sure what to do! I doodled on paper for a little while until I found a few ideas I liked. I also wanted to try and make a secondary design within the block.

The above design is what I came up with. The Ladies of Downton Abbey is made up of the uneven 9 patch block. I stitched 2 blocks on fabric and marked the quilting I had decided on. It's always easier when quilting a small sample as opposed to a full sized quilt. I'll have to mark each block but I'm going to do that as I move around the quilt. I'm pretty sure that I'll end up with this design. I will quilt a little slower and be more careful when I'm doing the real thing! I think I like it! (Still trying to decide for sure!)

Peacock Feathers

Here is Block #2 of Aracdia Avenue, Peacock Feathers! These blocks are so fun to make and very addictive. I can't wait to start the next block. Paper piecing each wedge is a breeze. However, putting the block together is a bit more difficult. I'm getting better at it but it's still a challenge for me.

Here are my 2 blocks together. Only 10 more to go!! I'm having a great time making these blocks. So fun!

This is just a repost of the cover of the book showing the quilt. The blocks are all gorgeous! I'm so glad I started this project. It's one of my favorites so far!