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This week I finished a stack of 140 string pieced blocks - enough for a quilt! I worked on these on and off for a couple of years.
It's a good thing I'm not in a hurry for this quilt; it will probably take a long time for me to decide on a setting plan.
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Last night I started cutting scraps into one inch squares and 1 1/4 inch squares. I'm not sure where I'm headed with this but I'm having fun.
I'm reminded of my weakness for cute novelty prints.
What are you working on this week?
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We are enjoying some much needed family time this holiday weekend. This photo was from an early morning kayak outing yesterday.
I hope you are also having a great weekend doing whatever it is that fills you with joy.
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I'm still making slow progress on my La Passacaglia quilt.
I made these rosette centers in the car on the way to Minneapolis and back last weekend. Thank you, Debbie, for driving!
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Garden Window, which I made back in 2010, is another string pieced quilt that uses the 6.5 inch square rotary cutting ruler. I string pieced the blocks and put them in an alternate block setting with hourglass blocks.
The hour glass blocks give a secondary pattern to the overall quilt design. Since they blocks are fairly quick to make, mixing them in with the string blocks makes for a faster finish.
Finished size 40'' by 51''.
This is another version of the same quilt that has been made in browns and rusts. I started this quilt in 1999 while at Beaver Island quilt retreat with Gwen Marston and finished it for the birth of my niece who was born in early October, 2001.
Finished size 30'' by 42''.
There wasn't room to include both versions of the quilt in the book so I'm including the first one here. It warms my heart to see that it has been well loved.
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You can purchase an autographed copy of the Every Last Piece from me here.
I can't compete with Amazon's low prices. But if you want to save a little and purchase from Amazon, please click here. This is an affiliate link and clicking through to purchase will allow me to earn a few extra pennies.
You can also ask your local quilt shop or book store to get the book for you.
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I've been doing a little knitting in my "spare" time. One finished pair for B, thanks for the yarn, Adele, and a pair of basic 2 x 2 rib socks for me in the works. My bag always contains a basic crew sock on needles. I get a nervous twitch when I have to wait for something and I have NOTHING to do. You should have seen me a couple of weeks ago at M's U of Michigan graduation when I couldn't take my knitting into the stadium. Only cameras were allowed - no bags or purses. I ended up with a lot more photos on my camera than I really wanted.
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It's time for the May Aurifil designer of the month feature over on the Auriblog.
I'm designer of the month for May and made a bright spring colored mini quilt.
Hop over to the Aurifil site to read the interview with me and download the pattern for my mini block.
I used aurifil poly thread for for the first time when quilting this quilt and I really like it. It is strong and has a wonderful sheen. The variations in color in #5505 were just right to tie all these bright pinks, greens, and oranges together.
I love what Pat did in her version of this mini. She has a secondary design in the background squares. Go see it!
Remember, if you make one of the featured projects, take a picture and add it to the Aurifil flickr pool for a chance to win a box of thread. EACH month someone will win a big box of 12 spools of thread. That's a BIG prize! I can't wait to see all of the projects coming up this year.
Here's a list of the 2015 designers
Jan – Gudrun Erla www.gequiltdesigns.com/
Feb - Joanna Figueroa www.figtreequilts.com/
March - Kimberly Jolly fatquartershop.blogspot.com/
April - John Kubiniec bigrigquilting.wordpress.com/
May - Lynn Harris thelittleredhen.typepad.com/my_weblog/
June - Barb Groves and Mary Jacobson www.meandmysisterdesigns.com/blog/
July - Ebony Love www.lovebugstudios.com/blog/
August. - Nancy Rink www.nancyrinkdesigns.com/index.php
Sept - Valori wells www.valoriwells.com/
October - Sara Lawson sewsweetness.com/
Nov - Bonnie Christine www.goinghometoroost.com/
Dec - Celine Perkins www.perkinsdrygoods.com/blog/
Host - Pat Sloan blog.patsloan.com
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Rose Trellis is a quilt I finished back in 2008. I enjoyed piecing this scrap buster quilt and giving it to Miss P for Christmas. You can read the original post here. I have to say, my photography skills have improved a lot since then!
The blocks were string pieced from the center diagonal out to the corners. The center strip of each square is the same solid rose color fabric in similar widths but not exactly the same. They are cut slightly off parallel so they are wider on one end than the other which gives the quilt a high energy look. The finished blocks were squared with my 6 1/2 inch rotary cutting ruler. This technique is shown step by step in Every Last Piece.
Miss P still loves this quilt and spreads it across the foot of her bed for a splash of bright color in her room. We love to layer quilts on our beds in the winter. It can get a bit chilly in our old farm house.
She's sure grown a lot since I made it for her.
It's hard to believe she used to be this small!
Finished quilt size: 40'' by 51''.
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You can purchase an autographed copy of the Every Last Piece from me here.
I can't compete with Amazon's low prices. But if you want to save a little and purchase from Amazon, please click here. This is an affiliate link and clicking through to purchase will allow me to earn a few extra pennies.
You can also ask your local quilt shop or book store to get the book for you.
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I finished my first quilt in 1976. This quilt is made from the scraps of clothes that my mother made for us when we were young. It also has left over fabrics from the first clothes that my sisters and I made for ourselves in 4-H.
That black fabric with the yellow stripes was the fabric I used in my very first clothing project when I was 9.
My sisters and I had a set of matching dresses and shorts that our mother made for us in 1973 out of that blue fabric with the red and white birds. That's me on the right.
Page 9 in the book shows a photo of the three of us modeling out 4-H garments in 1975 those fabrics are in there too - the upper left two in the quilt photo.
I remember taking my cardboard template and tracing around it with a ball point pen and cutting out all of those squares. It was an evening activity while watching The Waltons or The Rockford Files on TV. I pinned about every half inch and used a LOT of pins. To get the quilt the right size, I made a strip and added to it until it hung over the edge of my bed the amount that I wanted. I made more strips and added them as I went.
Here it is on my bed before it was quilted. My room was part of a home improvement project in our basement and we hadn't installed the carpet yet when this photo was taken. I was sure rockin' the rick rack on that top wasn't I? You can probably tell that was another hand made garment.
This first quilt has polyester batting and the backing is kettle cloth, a textured poly blend, that was turned to the front to cover the edge. I remember fussing to get the backing fabric folded into a neat miter on the corners.
I tell you, this quilt takes me back.
Over the coming weeks, I'll feature other quilts from my book, Every Last Piece.
You can purchase an autographed copy of the book from me here.
I can't compete with Amazon's low prices. But if you want to save a little and purchase from Amazon, please click here. This is an affiliate link and clicking through to purchase will allow me to earn a few extra pennies.
You can also ask your local quilt shop or book store to get the book for you.
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I've been wanting to learn more about working in photoshop and illustrator. Last spring I bought the "Classroom in a Book" series for them but never really did much with them. I find it difficult to learn while working through a book excersize.
I saw on facebook that bari j. is offering a class on designing in photoshop. It seems like it will be right up my alley. (bari j. designed the fabric I used to make Miss P's favorite shirt.) This class looks like just what I need to help me step up my photoshop and design skills.
The class is through Jeanne Oliver. You need to sign up with an account to have access. Also, with this site, you will have lifetime access to the class. Look for bari j.'s Pattern Play when you get to the website. It is a one week class starting June 1st. Bari will be available to answer questions the first five days. If you don't have Photoshop you can get a 30 day trial from the Adobe website. I hope to see you there!!
I'm eager to get started, who wants to take it with me?
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