Wednesday, April 10, 2013

On a rollFrom early April!

 This post has been lost in my drafts! Wrote it about a month ago...

I did get to my whole cloth quilt yesterday.  Sat and ripped out the corner flowers and the rabbits.  Decided that it had enough busyness and only needed the straight lines finished. So I think I am on the downhill slope for that one.  About 15 years on my ufo list!



Am planning to stop by Quilters Quarters after the guild meeting this morning to pick up my buck a block and the Birthday Bloom block. When I have finished those I will dig in my ufo bin for the next project to finish.  I am thinking that I will do the one I started in a class with Marian Nathan Robertson (not sure of name) where I hand dyed the fabric.  It is pretty retro - grey, pink and charcoal!


While runching through my ufos I found this finished top and back! I hand pieced it in a class at College of Marin about 13 years ago! The Big Guy and I looked at it on the bed and decided to make it a summer weight quilt and also to hand quilt it as it is hand pieced. Maybe I'll use that new technique with perle cotton.  So it looks like I won't be at a loss for quilting to do for the rest of this year. 

 
Laurel Birch flannel for the back
 I also want to work with my Flynn Frame to improve my machine quilting.  Am planning to use the 12" orphan blocks from Birthday Blooms and make them into wall hangings or pillows and  practice machine quilting on them.
Hand drafted and pieced sampler blocks.




Tuesday, April 9, 2013

I can't believe it is April already and I've only posted once this year! I have been quilting, though! Finished the quilt for my cousin's grandson and it has been deployed, with them, to Italy. My first international quilt and it is an original design by me!

 

The quilt for Roller Derby daughter is at a new long-arm quilter.  We are trying Ladybug Quilts service. They are the local Manteca quilt shop and I spoke with the owner and long-armer at the Manteca  Quilt Guild show in March. They are reasonable but, as usual, slow. The Big Guy keeps asking when it will be done.

 

One of the ladies at church has invited me to join the Tuleberg Quilt Guild which is the Stockton guild.  Tomorrow will be the second meeting. It is a large, cheerful group.

Another of my lady friends from church is in the hospital.  She has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. If you are so inclined pray for Annette - thanks.

The large ones are my fabric, small are Fassett fabric
This year I decided that, in addition to the block a month at Quilters Quarters, I would also do buck a block. The point is to keep me quilting and it has.  In addition to doing the monthly block, which I do twice - the first time with my own scraps to work out the block because they are hard - and the second time with the fabric provided. That quilt, called Birthday Blooms, is also going to one of my cousin's grandchildren. The buck a block is with Kaffe Fassett fabrics. I have to say that I am disappointed with the
quality of the fabric. But the colors are nice.  So with that one I make the block with 2 1/2" Thangles and the fabric provided, then I make it again with some of my own fabric and larger Thangles.  So, by the end of the year, I will have two quilts to put together.

All of these are birthday blooms for the quilt



The upper right and the lower left are practice blocks, the others are for the quilt. Almost done, I think there are two to go.

Yesterday I finally got back to the quilt for our friend Hugh's granddaughter - Kestrel's Cousins.  Worked diligently on the quilting and finished that! Picked the fabric from my bottomless stash - The Big Guy always helps with that and is rarely wrong - and cut out half of the binding.


Still needs the binding

I've also been working on my whole cloth quilt. Dreamt about the other night and am going to rip out the last part that I did and redesign it. Again!


Removing this

Want it to look more like this

I also made a quilt top for a color class that only one person signed up for - it will be scheduled for later in the year and maybe we will get enough people.

Can you find the mistake?
 Hopefully this post will not be the last for four months again! I do enjoy writing and must push myself to continue doing it.