Catching Up for the Last Two Months!

I HAVE been quilting during the last 2 months, just not blogging about it. I finished the "Simplified Log Cabin" a few weeks back and last week I went to GA to see our kids and grands and also to take a class in using the Handiquilter at A Scarlet Thread in McDonough. After taking the class I rented time on the machine for the rest of that day and most of the next day. During that time I was able to get a comfort quilt done that I started 2 years ago - as well as my "Simplified Log Cabin" and the "BargelloBowl" that I pieced on Super Bowl Sunday 2008 (a Bonnie Hunter project) These last 2 will stay at our house - I am hoping to get them bound and labelled in time to put them in the quilt show our guild has in July. I learned a lot from Kathy, the Handiquilter teacher at A Scarlet Thread, and had fun using the machine. Thanks so much to Wendy for helping me out when I had little boo-boos! I am not planning to buy one anytime soon as I have no room for it, but it sure does allow this hand-quilter to get some tops done more quickly!

Our guild had a retreat 2 weeks ago. It was held at the Virginia Horse Center in town, but it still felt like a get-away with 20+ quilting friends. Friday we had a class taught by Augusta Cole about making what she called Batik Beauty. We made 9-patch blocks to look like half-square triangles and saw various ways to assemble them. I have 9 blocks made so far and am thinking that I will put them together like this - The picture of the red and white quilt is in Karen Combs' Combing Through Your Scraps - called Star Puzzle. I took a class from Karen Combs thru Quilt University 4 years ago when I first got back into quilting - it was called Combing Through Your Scraps, but at that time I didn't realize she had a book by that name. I never finished that quilt, but I did learn a lot from her. We all enjoyed Augusta's class, as well as her lecture on tips the following morning, and hope she will come back for a guild meeting next year. One of the most helpful things she showed us was how to use Eleanor Burns' Triangle Square Up Ruler - a great ruler for squaring up HST's! And most of us bought one from her too!

Saturday afternoon at our retreat one of our members showed us how to make a folded log cabin square using iron-on templates from Foldy Stuff. Here are the two I have done so far - It is fun to do, and goes pretty fast once you have your strips cut. Of course it took me longer than most of the others because I was trying to use different fabrics in each block, or at least putting the fabrics in different places - typical of the way I seem to do things -- making them more difficult than is wise! A few of my quilting friends were surprised that I was using colors that were not blue and yellow, but I have lots of black/white and white/black fabrics left from the quilt I made for Lillian.

I am the program co-chair for the guild for the next two years. We are planning a challenge for our ladies that will begin in June. I don't want to give anything away in case some of them are reading this - but here is a picture of the pieces of a block that is involved in the challenge - More to follow in mid-June!

Allie's "Going Around in Circles Again," the Final ALA Biblioquilters Block and Progress on the Simplified Log Cabin

Allie has now finished her "Going Around in Circles Again" quilt and it is probably on its way to the recipients. This photo shows her quilting really well. I don't see how she does all those lines so evenly spaced, even with using the walking foot, on her domestic sewing machine!
Here is another picture showing the quilting up closer and closer still I wish I could see the quilt in person, but she made it for the niece of the family that she works for, and it is probably on the way to her and her new hubby now.

I finished the last of the 5 ALA Bilbioquilter blocks a couple of days ago. I like the design, and I like the look of stars, but I don't think I can do them very well. I can add the flying geese pieces on the sides OK, but sewing the blocks together so that my seams don't eat the points is frequently a problem. I always have to sew at least one seam again to get it better. If anyone has suggestions for that problem I'm all ears!

I've also been working on the Simplified Log Cabin and now have 9 rows pieced It is 11 blocks wide; I'm thinking I will make it 13-14 blocks long and hope to be working on it some more today. I love the fact that the border is a part of the piecing, so when I'm thru it is ready to sandwich. I' m thinking I will use a batik for the back - maybe see what I can find in a wide piece so that I don't have to piece it. I think I want to learn how to use a Handi-quilter at some shop where I can then rent time on the machine to do some quilting myself. There is a shop about an hour from here that does that, but you have to buy a set of leaders. There also at least 2 shops in the Atlanta area that have Handi-quilters so I might be able to work in a day or two of lessons and practice with an extended trip to see kids and grands there.

Cabin Branch and Stone House Quilters 2009 Show

Today we took a roadtrip to Northern Virginia - DH attended a sports card show in Chantilly and he dropped me at the Cabin Branch and Stone House Quilters Show in Manassas. This is only the 2nd quilt show I have attended that had vendors. It was not nearly as big as the Hampton Show, which I have only heard about, but certainly bigger than my guild's show. I took pictures of some of the 225+ quilts and loaded them into an album on my Webshots page. This was one of my favorites The woman who made this quilt was there as one of the "white glove" ladies, so I was able to hear about the making of this quilt - and it made entirely from batiks, which I love to use. Check out my Webshots album to see more of my favorites. I also took pictures of most of the labels, so if you are particularly interested in some of them let me know and I can maybe tell you more about them.

Two of the things that I was specifically looking for there was some fabric sheets for the printer and some Civil War era reproductions for the final ALA Biblioquilters block. I was able to find all of those things, plus some fat quarters, patterns, books and 1/2 yd cuts that just jumped into my hands! I was there from 11:00 - 4:30, so it was a long day of walking and standing, but also quite an inspirational day!

This Pattern Kept Calling My Name!

A couple of days ago I bought a pattern online called Simplified Log Cabin from e-PatternsCentral. I printed it and it has been sitting by my computer calling my name - over and over again! Tonight I finally gave in to it and pulled a bunch of colorful batiks to use in it. I have now cut 21 blocks, and positioned them where I think I want them to go, and have sewn 3 of the blocks together. Here is the layout for the upper left corner - and further to the right Here are two of the blocks sewn together and a third ready to sew to the first two. I think one of the reasons this pattern appeals to me, besides the bright batik fabrics, is that it is a tessellating design. The pattern calls for 42 blocks, but I think I will make it bigger. Since the border is part of the blocks I will need to decide on the size I want before I can finish the top row. I think the thing that will decide it for me is how much more of the border material I have.

This was not the best time to be starting another quilt top - I still have Lillian's quilt to bind and label (but I have finished the quilting on it), another block to make for the ALA quilts, fabric to cut for a table runner class at our guild meeting on Saturday, and tomorrow, well, actually today, I need to start taking the wallpaper off the bathroom walls so the contractor can start on our renovation project. Oh, and I also need to make some of the refreshments for the guild meeting. So around all these things I wonder how many blocks I could get sewn together this weekend??

Blocks for ALA Quilts

One of the online quilting groups I belong to is the ALABiblioquilters. We are all librarians and library-related folks. For the past several years this group has been making 2 or 3 quilts to be auctioned at the annual ALA meeting held each summer. The proceeds of the silent auction go to ALA's scholarship fund. I just heard about the group and joined last year, and contributed blocks for 2 of the quilts last year - shown here. This year I volunteered to make 2 blocks for "Chicago BLT" and 2 for "Star Struck"(a Bonnie Hunter gem) For "Chicago BLT" (Chicago because it is the home of ALA, and the site of this year's conference) the organizer sent us the brown and red fabrics and we are to supply the yellow and green. For "Star Struck" the organizer sent us the more solid red, which we could use for some or all of our sections, and were are to supply the black and white prints. For this one we are to send the 8 quarters back to her and she will arrange them. I have lots of black/white prints left from Lillian's quilt and would love to do a bigger one of these. As usual, Bonnie has come up with a great quilt pattern! I have one block to make for the 3rd quilt, then I'll mail them all off to the "Quilt Mamas." It is a version of a 4 patch with 2 parts being smaller 4 patches and the other 2 being stars. I still need to select my fabrics to go with what was sent to me for this one.

Allie's Quilt Top is Finished

DD Allie just sent me more pictures of her "Going Around in Circles Again" quilt. She has now finished appliquing the circles and has it sandwiched, and will start the machine quilting on it in a couple of days. Tomorrow is market day for her - she goes to the Greenmarket in Union Square in NYC for Hawthorne Valley Farm, where she was an intern during the summer of 2007. On some Saturdays she goes to the Inwood Greenmarket too. In between these times she will be quilting away. I think she will be outlining the circles but don't know what else she will come up with. I think she has done a great job with adapting the double wedding ring pattern to make it her own.

Senior Center Gift Quilts Finished

Last Friday the quilting group that I lead at the Senior Center presented the two quilts we have been working on for months to the director and associate director of the Center. Both are the Turning Twenty pattern, one in blues - with a large lighthouse panel on the back - because the assoc. director likes blue, and reminds us of that every day we are there, and he likes lighthouses. We made this one for the director - I used some large pieces of sunflower print on the back - At the time we were making this one the director was involved in getting a raised garden going behind the building, so we thought lots of floral prints would be appropriate. These were both made out of fabrics donated to the Center. One of the members of our group has a long-arm, and though she didn't want to volunteer to quilt them both she was willing to show me how to use a pantograph so I quilted both of them. The quality of the quilting does not stand up to hers, but we got them done - and the recipients seemed to like them. If they suspected anything during those months we were working on them they were kind enough not to say so. I am hoping that the woman who took some pictures will send them to me so I can add them to my collection. Here are the labels -the is Ray's and this is Jeri's I was finishing up the labels about 2 hours before their monthly musical program at the Center! I had quilted Jeri's the previous Friday, and though the other ladies said they would help me bind it at our meeting on Wednesday, I decided I didn't want to ruin the surprise by having one of them ask who it was for at that late date, so I just did the binding - and the labels - myself.