Two for One

Let me first give credit where it is due.  I've found this most amazing quilt site with the most amazing tutorials.  The lady does the most amazing work.... I know, I keep using the work amazing!  Try this blog: http://www.thequiltingedge.com/   That said the following quilt idea came from her tutorial and making two quilts at the same time.  

First you start with 15" squares of batting.  Since this was only going to be a learning quilt, I only cut out four squares.  Tomorrow if Joannes still has the same packet of material I will get it and expand on the size of the quilt.  So here it goes with pictures.

The first piece goes face up, the second piece goes face down.  You have two right side materials facing each other.  Sew with a quarter inch seam, press open and continue until you whole square is filled.  You are making a log cabin pattern. 

DO NOT SQUARE UP YOUR BLOCK AT THIS TIME!

I won't bore you will the step by step for each quilt.

 


These are my four finished blocks.  I used other material from my stash and scraps.  Again, do not square up your blocks! Set these four squares aside.


The back of the quilt can be as much fun, if not more.  I went for a totally different color run.  The back squares are sewn independently and when finished are placed on the back.  This is when you do all of your top stitching.  I put on my walking foot and did straight stitching to hold all three pieces together.  You can get as fancy as you like for this stitching.

The backs.  Again, DO NOT square up your blocks until you are ready to join them.  The next step of joining the block is on hold for the moment but if you want to know how to do it see the blog link that I have attached.


Being I jump from project to project the following quilt top was made last year.  I am only now getting back to it since I have the time to finish it.  I still hesitate with the "big" machine sewing as I don't have the skill to do the pretty fancy top stitching and this sewing machine is so hard to get the tension just right.  I can spend as much time sewing with it as ripping out what has been sewn.

All set and ready to go!  Maybe today!!!


Happy Trying Something New Day!

Thanksgiving Day

There are so many things to be thankful for today.  Family, friends, home, love, kindness, caring, and sharing dinner with friends today since family is so far away....

 I am very thankful that this morning gave me the time to finish the last pumpkin quilt.  This one looked like a sea urchin for most of the time it was worked on.  The material for the large pumpkin was changed from the first picture since the coloring strongly reminded me of the sea urchin even though, strangely enough, it match almost perfectly the pumpkin that was used for the model.  Go figure!

While at our local quilt store I was talking with Charlie, the owner, and after listening to my tale of woes on this quilt she sent me home with two spools of varigated thread to try. 

Needless to say the colors did not work.  It is almost impossible to hold a color in your head/mind and think that you can match it without material in hand.  So all the top stitching was ripped out.  (Note the TV remote!!!!)  So after a few programs of Home & Garden, it was back to the sewing table.

 The stem really helped with making it no longer look like a sea urchin!

And today the whole thing is completed and just waiting for another one of Bill's fancy quilt holders.

I promise 'no more food or fruit quilts' for a while.  But I have started a new quilt project....more about that later.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Mushroom Maddness

These just popped up in the backyard.  Since they circle the tree can they be called a "Fairy's Circle"?

And we don't even know if they are safe to eat... so we will let nature keep them - every single one!


Happy Winter Days!
 

One More Done

It was finished yesterday but it took till late this afternoon before the little black straps were added to hang it with.

Bill made the display stand!  Isn't it wonderful!  He is so clever with what he can make out in the garage.  Show him a picture and he can make it.  

 The mini quilt is 8 1/2 by 8 1/2 inches.  Just in time for Thanksgiving!


Happy snowy winter days (we had the first snow fall today :-))
 

A Day in the Loft

Yesterday was one of those days.  We all have them.  The day flies by and you wonder what you have accomplished.

Most of the day was spent (happily and quietly) in the loft working on the pumpkins.  I can't believe how such a simple project can take so long to complete.  And it is not even close to being completed....

How long can it take to add the shadows....and settled on final positioning!  

This is the second white pumpkin and it is a little better than the first one. Sitting here looking at the picture I can see a solution to the white pumpkin!  It has been nagging at me for days now.

And the bananas are moving again....

 
All in all a good day.

Happy winter days!

Who Can Pass Up a Bargain?

Or this could be called "You can never have too many projects going at the same time!"

I've had my eye on the bags of petite pumpkins ever since they came in season but: 1) didn't want a whole bag of them, and 2) was too cheap to spend the money.  So this last week when in town they had them in a bin at give away prices.  Now who can pass up a bargain. And no, I am not going to cook with them.  Being a quilter and not a cook you can well guess what happened to these happy little guys.

Aren't they cute :-)  The colors are so wonderful!  It was a sunny day so for the photo shoot I put down black material and just put the little guys on it.  The sun was coming through the slider and gave me all the shadows I wanted. From there the pictures were downloaded to Photo Elements and played with and printed out.  I'm still working small since I can only print on 8 1/2 X 11 sheets of paper.  But small is good. 

At first I didn't think I had the right colors.... until I started pulling out my stash.  This is so made for fall that it might actually get finished before the bananas!

The bananas have not been forgotten and there are now 50 French knots on the plate with probably another 1,000 to be added.  Its a great project for watching TV with.

Update on Bill Bryson's book "At Home".  It is not witty but it is filled with trivia that is fascinating.  It is not a 'can't  put down page turner' but every page is filled with something interesting.

Happy Fall Days!

Banana 2

The bananas have not been forgotten.  Every day they have been looked at, thought about, and then set aside.  The question, "Where to go from here?" never had a satisfactory answer.  It wasn't till I popped in the DVD on thread painting (remember that from the pears) did a make or break possibility arise.

Having vast resources at my finger tips does help - okay, I am a compulsive quilt shopper when it comes to books, fabric, thread, DVDs and anything connected to the hobby. The bookshelf, attic, and wardrobe are over-flowing!


This does not make me an expert especially when it comes to thread painting.  But the bananas are another learning step so whatever happens to them is good, (not beautiful but good).  So that said, here is what happened to them today.

I am thinking of doing French Knots around the outside of the plate and then using fabric paint for light and dark shadows....this could be interesting.

Book recommendation:  While at Costco I spotted Bill Bryson's new book "At Home".  Years ago I read his book "A Walk in the Woods" and thought it was one of the most witty books I had read.  Well, he is back.  While sitting in the car waiting for Bill as he did a quick (no such thing) trip into Lowes, I picked up the book and began reading.

This is not my thought but Bill Bryson's and from the introduction to his new book:  

"Sitting at the kitchen table one afternoon, playing idly with the salt and pepper shakers, it occurred to me that I had absolutely no idea why, out of all the spices in the world, we have such an abiding attachment to those two.  Why not pepper and cardamom say, or salt and cinnamon? And why do forks have four tines and not three or five?..."

...and so I am lured into wanting to read more.
 
What better time of year to curl up with a good book, a glass of wine, and a comfortable chair in front of the fireplace.

Happy winter days!

On a Fruit Roll !

It was either fishing or bananas.  Bananas won out.

The pear quilt was a breeze compared to the struggle with bananas.  If nothing else, it is another learning curve - both in quilting and photography.  You're asking, 'just how hard is it to take a picture of a bunch of bananas?'  Not very, except when you want to make it into a fruit quilt/pattern.

For some reason this blog picture looks a lot better then the one I was working from.  There is a bit more contrast.  But that said, the lesson learned is to set up the picture with a strong direction of light to give heavier one way shadows. 

I use a light box for making the drawings for the templates.  How easy does this look! Notice there are no shadows drawn for templates.  Oop's!

First thought was to use contrasting colors.  The plate was going to be purple but as you can see it is red.  That is proving to be a bad decision.  I am now wishing I had stay with the white as in the picture and used a black background.  But the fusible applique is already ironed into place. So we will play with what we have.

Thank goodness for a bit of watercolors. By the time I had to seriously think of those darn shadows all the pieces were fused in place.  For the shadow between the bottom banana and the next one is done with fabric and a yellow/brown mixture of watercolor paint.

And this is as far as this one has gone.  

I've finally had the time to set up my short-long arm quilting machine and get the Christmas quilts on them.  Good days and bad days with that piece of equipment but I think I finally have the hang of it.  After hours of pulling tangled thread from underneath the quilts, taking out the bobbin and everything around it to clear out that mess of threads, breaking thread, setting tension.... the last quilt is on the machine.

I'll post the Christmas quilts after Christmas as they are secret gifts!

Also for the month of November I am on call for jury duty and have to call in every night.  So far my number has not been called.   And then three days a week I am doing Zumba.  And then there are the books I can't keep my nose out of and also the morning hours spent on the computer looking at other people's quilt blogs.  No wonder the poor bananas are still hanging on the design wall.....

Happy quilting!