And we're off...

Off to Vermont on vacation that is. So I thought I'd sneak a post in before we leave. Of course, one must take a hand quilting project when going on vacation, and I have been saving up my Joseph's Coat project for the occasion. It has been prepped and ready to needleturn for a couple of months now, and I even sewed down a few of the 'peels' before realizing how perfect it would be to take away with us.
I kept it on my bedside table, and I can't tell you how hard it's been to leave it alone and not stitch the rest of those peels down! Hopefully I will have time to get it done while we are away. The weather is meant to be nice though, so who knows?!

In other news, today I decided to give my big Juki 98q a rest, and pulled out my darling old Singer Featherweight.
My WONDERFUL mother-in-law (yes it is possible to snag a good one!) gave it to me about 8 years ago and it's been sitting in it's little bag unused since we moved to this house 3 years ago, so I thought it was time that she saw the light of day. Best news is, she still works! Yippee! I have had people see it in the past, and not being quilters, they screw up their noses and ask things like why would I use a machine that old, and I try to explain why, but you really have to be a quilter to understand the coolness of this machine!! My son saw it and said, "Wow Mom, that looks old. But it's so cool!" So there you have it. A quilter in training.

Clean room = Productivity

I have been hanging out in my nice clean quilt room of late and a girl just can't help but be creative in such an environment!

My Sampler quilt still needs to be backed, basted, and quilted, but I want to make the back different than just plain Kona, so I strip-pieced all the fabrics from the front into one long piece and will add that to the backing. I also made a new bag. I used some Anna-Maria Horner fabrics from my stash that I haven't wanted to touch, but I bit the bullet, and actually used them! After all, the more you use, the more room you have to fill with fancy new stuff, right?!! (Hope my hubby isn't reading this!)Lastly, I took a photo of my thread drawer that I mentioned I had cleaned. Since I don't have a 'before' photo, just imagine that it looked something like this...and now, so much better...

Clean up time

Every now and then (like you will see by clicking HERE) my quilt room gets to the point where I just can't stand the mess for one more day, and today was that day. I start off great, with it nice and clean, then as I do projects, it's easy to toss things to the side thinking that I'll put it away tomorrow...and of course tomorrow never comes. It had got pretty bad the last few weeks, and here I am, brave enough to show you before and after shots!

Before...(Why yes I did know that the quilt on the wall was crooked - it had fallen down one day and I couldn't reach over the mess to hang it up straight again!)
And after (ahhh the quilt is finally straight again!)


Before....

And after


Before....uuugh so awful...

And after

And finally, the actual sewing space...
Before...

And afterI did a lot of rearranging, and threw out A LOT of old stuff. I even emptied out the sewing machine desk drawers and did some serious purging. It feels great to have it done and I think I feel creative again!

Quilting suggestions please!

I finally have the sashings on this thing - I used a Kona Cotton (Tarragon) and the grey/white dot. It definitely needed the calming influence of the Kona! Now I just need to baste it and decide how to quilt it. Any ideas? I don't want to do any in-the-ditch quilting. I think something simple like just plain rows might work. Suggestions welcome!

Sampler

I have been asked to teach a sampler quilt to a group of beginner quilters at church. Luckily my wonderful mother-in-law is the beginning quilt teacher extraordinaire back in UT! She already had all the blocks designed, complete with cutting and piecing instructions all neatly put together in a PDF. Talk about making it easy for me!

I needed to make one myself though before I taught it, and have finished all the blocks. Next I need to sash them (any ideas on fabric choice for that???!) then quilt and bind it. I decided to go with something quite modern as I'm out to prove to the world that quilting nowadays isn't just for little old grannies sitting in their rocking chairs! If you decide to start quilting, there are just so many directions you can go.

Anyone local is more than welcome to come and learn - it's completely free - you just bring your own fabrics and supplies. We are getting together once a month starting in May and will try to get 2-3 blocks done each session. Let me know if you want more details.

Update....when I got up this morning, this is what I found... what can I say? Cats and quilts - they just go together!

The Leaf

Another mini quilt for my quilt gallery wall is done! I felt like playing with some strips of fabric, so I used my rotary cutter and cut freehand strips, making them wonky on purpose. Sewed them together, then drew a very basic leaf shop on my new piece of strippy fabric. I then machine stitched on the drawn line before cutting it out to give it some stability. Glue basting to the background was next, (isn't that background fabric just perfect for the subject matter?!!) followed by needleturn applique.I quilted it with more leaves and loops. A nice simple mini-quilt that was fun and easy to make!

I am nowhere up to date with my goal of a mini-quilt per week. I think I should kick things into overdrive and do a couple a week until I catch up!

The quilt gallery wall is slowly coming along....

Blogging and Quilting

Blogging and Quilting. I have done neither for one whole month! Why does it seem that I start every post off like this? I owe you faithful readers more than once a month updates!!

So onto the show. Some of you correctly guessed in my last post that I was doing the Joseph's Coat quilt from the Don't Look Now quilt-a-long. But I couldn't just do it the same way - it's already been done, and well, to me, if it's already been done, I know what it will look like, so why do it that same way?!

I decided to make the blocks smaller - 8 inches instead of 11 inches, and to make it a wallhanging instead of a bed quilt. I will be needleturning, but because of the necessity of having precise points to help in the layout, I hand basted the edges under, which I NEVER do, but it was worth it this time. So I guess it won't really be needleTURNING if the edges are already turned under?!

I also bought a big (18x27") oval quilting hoop like this one....and the plan is to mount the finished quilt in the frame, just like I did with my Flowerpot quilt, but it will be a lot bigger and hang in the living room.

Today I played around with my basted pieces and am so flippin' excited. Next I will glue baste the pieces down, then start the needleturn. The following are pictures of the progression as I laid them out...



In other news, tonight I attended the inaugural meeting of the New England Modern Quilt Guild. It was down in Boston, in a fabric shop called 'Fabric Corner' which had a really nice selection of modern quilt fabrics and more. My fears of driving down there in rush hour were unfounded, as I was going the opposite way of the homeward bound traffic.




It was definitely worth going - I met some lovely like-minded modern quilters, and it looks like it is going to be a great guild.