I have just finished a challenge.  I can remember back to my first challenge, many years ago.  I had just found out that there were quilt groups and joined the Tuesday Night Quilters.  Before then, I had just enjoyed quilting alone at home.  I was introduced to the world of challenges, round robins, classes and the Vermont Quilt Festival.  Who knew that quilting could be so much fun.

For the first challenge, we were given a piece of striped fabric and instructed to make something from that fabric.  We could add any other fabric that we wanted,

 

I made this little wall hanging.  It is hand quilted.  I only did hand quilting at that time.

 

There was fabric left, so I made a second wall hanging.  It is very simple, just half square triangles.  It does look as if I did a lot of piecing.  I like this one because it is simple, yet very striking with the hand quilting.

 

 

 

My last challenge was a paint chip challenge.  We were given the dark teal paint chip and drew two others out of a bag.  We could use only those colors.  No additions,  The piece had to be 18″ square.  We also could use only 10% or less of the dark fabric. 

I found a pattern for appliqued leaves and flowers.  Also a tutorial on framing squares.

When I applique, I draw the whole pattern on heavy stabilizer.      

Using a light box with this pattern underneath the fabric helps place the pieces in the right spot.

The center is machine cross hatched with a walking foot and then the border is free motion stipple quilted.  

 

 

I think that I like making the smaller pieces.  They, at least, get finished.

 

Have a great day and happy quilting

 

 

 

 

How do you make a queen sized quilt from seven 12″ blocks?  Check with Sharon Craigue’s book – Setting Solutions,  It has a wealth of information.  Sharon tells how to make blocks the same size,  gives templates  so that you can insert your blocks,  and how to incorporate different blocks into a quilt.  It’s an amazing book.

I had several orphan blocks which I made for examples of the block of the month. So far, I have made three quilts and have more to do.  My block bin is still full.

 

                                     

This quilt is 88″ x 106″. I haven’t named it yet.  I sure that a name will come to me soon.  So far, I just call it the big quilt.

 

 

 

UFO’s are going to stop for a while.  I have to make two baby quilts.  The baby shower announcement for one baby came in yesterday’s mail so I have to start that one.  The other baby is due a month later, so I should finish that one also. At least the top is done so it can be counted as a UFO.  Does it count for a UFO if I finish a quilt that never hits the UFO pile?

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

 

 

 

It’s time for more garbage to Gaa-barge.  This is a fun piece.  It is about 9″ x 9″. First, I made some ” made fabric” from different colors of fabric.  I had a small piece of fish fabric, so I fussy cut several fish to swim near the ocean floor.

One of the background fabrics was a peacock feather.  It was perfect for the bottom of the ocean.

 

 

The background didn’t look just right so I scribbled different colored circles all around the fish. It softened the look of the sea.    The orange thread looks like coral.

 

This piece didn’t need netting as the scribbling held everything down.

This is one of my favorite pieces in the Gaa-barge series.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

There is a lot of contrast in two color quilts, especially red and white quilts.  It is very important to wash the red fabric several times so that it doesn’t bleed  onto the white fabric and spoil all the work.  Using a dye catcher will pull the red dye from the water and let you know when all the bleeding is done.

I have a small wall hanging for each month of the year.  These little wall hangings are about 12″ x 12″ and are changed on the first day of each month.  The February wall hanging is red and white in honor of Valentine’s day. Naturally, it has to have a heart.

 

 

A log cabin in red and white.  The back is blue and white.  It was made in the flip and sew method.  Two  quilts in one.  

 

The red-work quilt had a long shelf life.  I started it many years ago and put it aside.  I had other quilts to make.  But when I picked it up, I couldn’t stop until it was finished.  It is hand quilted in a grid.  Hand quilt is very relaxing.  I feel that if the quilt body is handwork, the quilting must be by hand also.

 

The Hunter Star quilt was made for a red and white challenge in the Maine Guild.  The red and white quilt display at the show was awesome.  Every one was different and beautiful.  I used Deb Tucker’s Hunter Star ruler to cut the pieces.  The diamonds come together perfectly when using this ruler.  I have a few of Deb’s rulers that I just had to have.  The Hunter’s Star and the Tucker Trimmer are the only ones that I have out of the package.  I am going to have to try the others.  I know that there are many  more quilts to make.

have a great day and happy quilting.

One of my favorite quilts to design and make is the Puzzle Quilt.  It is a fun quilt.  I’ve made at least five and gave all but my first puzzle quilt  to family.  They have so much fun trying to solve the puzzle.

The quilt is made of 20 blocks, but only 10 block patterns.  The design uses different fabrics and  different shadings in each set of two blocks. Similar fabrics can be in adjoining sections if the block.  It’s amazing how your eye can be tricked.  

The block patterns should have multiple sections to make this concept work.  Each of the pictures show the same block with different fabric.  Wouldn’t it be fun to make a four block  wall hanging with the same block with different colors.

To solve the puzzle, one must match the similar block patterns.  Even though I made the quilts, I still have to stop and think about which blocks  match.

Another version of this quilt is called Old Maid’s Puzzle.  It has several two block patterns with different fabric, etc. and one block that does not have a partner.  To solve this puzzle, you have to find the odd block,

Quilt making should be fun !!!

Have a great day and happy quilting.

A quilt should be basted before quilting if it is quilted by hand or by machine.  In the summer,  I baste using safety pins and clamps on a 4 X 8 basting table.  It is quick and easy to baste a large quilt.  The quilt is very heavy with the added weight of the pins.  The table is in a shed and I don’t slog through the snow in the winter to bring it into the house.

In the winter I  thread baste on a PVC pipe frame. I could pin baste, but I enjoy thread basting while watching TV.

 

 

The pipe frame goes together easily.

 

 

 

The backing is centered with the right side down and clamped on the rails.  The under side is checked several times during the clamping to make sure the backing is taut.

 

The batting is and top are centered and the pipes are re-clamped.  Again, the underside is checked.  This is the time to make sure that there is enough backing and batting to cover the top.  If the backing and batting are cut several inches bigger than the top, there should be no problem.

 

I use my “bad” thread for the basting.  There are some threads that shouldn’t be used in the sewing machine.  I have a lot of thread that I inherited from my Grandmother and Mother.  It is old polyester and old clunky threads that say they are hand quilting threads. These threads have a wax coating and would damage your machine.  I like to use thread with a contrasting color to the top as it is easier to see when removing it after quilting.

I baste, with a big needle, in a grid of three inches horizontally and vertically,

 

 

After the center if completely basted, the package is moved to baste the edges.  Again, checking the bottom to see if the backing is taut and smooth.

 

After the quilt is completely basted, I fold the outer edges over to the top and baste around the completed quilt.  This prevents the batting from fraying while you are quilting the quilt.

 

 

Now that this quilt is basted, I’ll get busy and quilt it.  It will return to the blog when it is finished.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

A few years ago the Guild gave us a paint chip challenge.  I received brown, gold and green.  The colors looked like sunflowers.  I had to make a sunflower wall hanging.

 

 

I had several sunflower embroideries in my file so I used them.

 

 

My signature butterflies were recolored with the correct colors.  I use these three butterflies often, usually on my quilt labels.  They can be colored to go with the quilt.

 

After all the pieces were embroidered, I sewed them together where they fit.

 

 

 

Making a piece out of colors that you don’t usually use is sometimes difficult, but it helps you explore different options.  It’s good to get out of your comfortable box.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

Several years ago, when taking classes at the Vermont Quilt Festival, I noticed a lot of laughter coming from one class.  I signed up for that very popular teacher and finally after four years of trying, I was accepted to her class.  It was wonderful.

The class was held on a very HOT  day in July.  There was no air conditioning.  The teacher, Doreen Speckman arrived, wearing a bathing suit and her signature cow earrings.  We had a wonderful time , laughing and learning. The class was worth the wait. 

Our project was a Carolina Lily made using Doreen’s Peaky and Spike templates.  I immediately changed the name of the wall hanging to “Poinsettia”.  It is one of my favorite Christmas wall hangings.  It is 34 x 34″ and is machine pieced and hand quilted.

Our Guild was having a challenge that year that used different shades of black and one other color.  I couldn’t figure out what to do.  The design presented itself to me as I left Doreen’s class.  I went to the dorm and cut out the squares and started sewing.  This quilt was pieced before I went home.  I was on a roll.  It was hand quilted after I got home.  It took a little longer to finish the class project. The name of the 30″ x 30″ wall hanging is “Peaky and Spike Meet the New Fish on the Block”.  I wonder – Is the little red fish brave and bold enough to visit with the big gray fish?  Do they accept him even though he is   different?  Did he go back where he came from, never brave enough to venture in the big world again? I’m glad that I saw him out and about at least one time.

 

MARCH

 

 

 

The Mile a Minute quilt is made of strips and pieces left over from other projects.  Pieces are added to the strips, then cut apart and the two joined pieces are added to another strip.  Continue in this manner until the made fabric is large enough to cut with a 6″ or 6 1/2″ square.  These mile a minute blocks can be placed in any quilt that has a 6′ or 6 1/2″ part to the block.

The fabrics can be themed, such as 30s fabric, pastels, or just a jumble of what is leftover.  All fabrics can be used next to one another without concern of color.  When set with sashing, the quilt will take on the color of the sashing.  I saw a mile a minute block that had random pieces of black poker dot scraps.  It was striking.

Blocks can be set straight

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Blocks can be set on a diagonal.

This is such a versatile block and can use up all of your scraps.  I small wall hanging made from the leftovers from a single quilt would make a matching piece.

Have a great day and happy quilting

Gaa-Barge #4

This wall hanging is 19″ x 19″  Several fabrics from different colors, red, yellow, tan and green were sewn together to make new fabrics.  Then, the made fabric was cut up and pieced in a tulip pattern

 

 

 

 

The piece was then machine quilted with polyester thread.

 

 

 

 

 

The small gaa-barge quilts are fun to make with the tiniest of scraps.  I have several bins of small scraps to make more gaa=barge or maybe a mile a minute quilt.  Mile a minute quilts are also fun to make.  They use  scraps that are larger than the gaa-barge scraps.  Nothing is thrown away.

Have a great day and happy quilting