First it was block-of-the-month club and then came the finish-a-long. Today I am expanding my horizons and joining a quilt-a-long. Melissa at Happy Quilting is starting a Star Surround QAL on July 15th and I am going to give it a whirl. Not that I need another unfinished quilt in my house…but I just can’t resist joining. Hopefully I will be able to keep up with the weekly goals. Check out the QAL here.
Filed under QAL, Quilt-A-Long, Quilting
Well I am embarrassed to admit that my 2nd quarter participating in Leanne’s Finish-A-Long was a bust. I committed to finishing 4 items (see my list here) but I only managed to finish one….Sue’s Summer Breeze. I have no good excuses except for the fact that I seem to prefer starting new projects rather than finishing existing ones. I’ve managed to start two new quilts during the quarter….they may end up being added to my 3rd or 4th quarter FAL wish list.
Filed under FAL, Finish-A-Long, Quilting
I’m half way through the second quarter finish-a-long and I’ve finally finished my first project. It is a triple irish chain that I made for my friend Sue in Ontario. She is a long time friend who follows my blog and makes such nice comments about my quilting and my four legged kids. To see more pictures and read about the making of this quilt, click here.
Filed under FAL, Finish-A-Long, Quilting
It is time to pick the unfinished quilts (UFOs) that I am going to commit to completing in the first quarter of this year’s quilt finish-a-long (FAL). This is my first FAL so I want to pick UFOs that have been hanging around for a while and that I am sure, ok pretty sure, that I will actually be able to complete as promised.
My first choice is the 2011 Block of the Month (BOM) with Quilt Essential. I managed to get all my blocks done in 2011 and I even started working on assembling the quilt top in early 2012 but I never finished it. This Sunday is the annual BOM quilt show and we are supposed to have our 2011 quilts done and hanging in the show. I’m pretty close. I just have to finish sewing on the binding and cut off all the threads.
You can see why it takes so long to hand sew on the binding…..my little, furry quilt helper loves to take a nap in the middle of my project. I don’t have the heart to disturb the princess so that I can move on to a new section.
My second choice is my Blue Hydrangea quilt. This is the first quilt top I ever made. It hung around my sewing room for a year before I found a long armer to quilt it for me. Unfortunately he forgot to use the beautiful wool batting that I provided (he used a plain cotton blend) and he didn’t quilt the individual flower blocks they way we had discussed. It hung around for another year waiting for me to put the binding on. I procrastinated because I wanted to use a striped fabric on the bias but I had never made biased binding before. I’ve almost got all the binding on now but I still want to pick out all the stitching on the floral blocks and replace it with some free motion quilting that will show off the blocks. I’m a newbie free motion quilter (FMQ) so hopefully I don’t wreck the quilt.
My final FAL for this quarter will be my Blue Odyssey quilt. I saw a beautiful wall hanging in an old edition of Quilt Mania. I decided to try and duplicate the design and change it from a small wall quilt into a king size quilt. I went a little overboard buying fabric. When all is said and done I bet I will get at least one and quite likely 2 quilts out of the leftover fabric. I need to finish the FMQ and then put the binding on….my least favourite part of making a quilt.
Update: 2013JAN13
I’m feeling ambitious today so I am going to add one more project to the FAL. It is a fleece baby/twin quilt. Once again it is one of my many UFO’s waiting for the binding to be hand sewn on to the back of the quilt. I had an emergency appendectomy a few days ago so I am not able to sit at my machine and sew/quilt for a couple of weeks. I have no excuse not to stretch out in the lazyboy and do the hand sewing.
Filed under Block of the Month, FAL, Finish-A-Long, Quilting, Tilly
Like most quilters I have tons of quilts that I have started but never finished (UFO). I either get excited about a new project and start it before I’ve finished the current one…..or I get sick of looking at the current project and need a break….who really knows why we do it….but I’ve got lots of UFOs. I’ve joined the 2013 Finish-A-Long (FAL) to help me tackle my growing mound of outstanding quilts. Basically, participants identify and photograph UFOs that you want to finish in the upcoming FAL quarter. The goal is the get each of those projects done and out of your sewing room. They have to be projects that you have already started not something new. You have to prepare your list of UFOs, blog about it and at the end of the quarter you will post links to your completed projects. I am hoping that this will be the boot-in-the-fanny that I need to get some of these projects off my to-do list. Here is a link to the 2013 FAL if you are interested.
Now I just need to identify the list for the first quarter. The 2011 Block-of-the-Month (BOM) quilt that I started almost 2 years ago will be at the top of my first list. The annual BOM quilt show is on January 14th so I really need to get my butt in gear to meet that deadline too.
Filed under Block of the Month, Finish-A-Long, Quilting
I just finished this crib size quilt. I made it for someone who is expecting a little girl in early June.
To read about it and see more pictures click here.
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I finally finished all 12 of of my quilt blocks for 2011 (these are Sep – Dec). In February, we will all get together to talk about different ideas on how to use these 12 blocks in quilt. I haven’t decided whether to make it a queen or kings size or who I am going to give it to when it is finished. There has been one person who really seemed to like the colour combination. Hey “Susu & Lulu” what size is your bed????
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I finished my quilt block for February. Not bad….it is February 22nd so I made it with 6 days to spare. This one was a little more tricky. We missed the demo class so we had to just go by the written instructions and hope for the best. My finished block looks like the picture so I guess I did it right. Both the January and February blocks have a lot of gray in them so I am hoping for a little more colour in the coming months. Next week we get our fabric and instructions for the March block.
Filed under Block of the Month, Quilting
I just joined my first quilt club. It is called “Block-of-the-Month”. Once a month for 12 months we get together at a local quilt store to pick up our fabric and instructions to create the block for that month. In January 2012 we will have 12 blocks completed and then comes the task of assembling them into a quilt. The store owner will offer suggestions for piecing them together or you can use your own imagination to construct a finished quilt. We had 3 colour options to choose from: red/green Christmas theme, an earthy/fall bali batik collection or one called spring/summer. I chose the spring/summer group. Although I am not a big fan of brown, gray or beige, I thought it would be good to challenge myself to try something outside of my comfort zone. Here are the 6 fabrics that I will be using all year:
Each block will be constructed using the Lazy Angle ruler. I’ve never used anything like this before so I’m looking forward to learning new cutting/piecing techniques.
There is only one rule for this club. You have to finish your block for this month and bring it to the fabric pick-up for the next month to prove that it has been completed. If your block is done you get your next bunch of fabrics for $3.50….if not then you have to pay $5.50 for your fabric. Just a little incentive to help keep you on track. I just finished my block for January. Phew I made the first deadline….only eleven more to go. Here is my finished January block:
I’ve been quilting for a year and half now and to say that I was addicted would be an understatement. I have completed 1 baby, 2 lap, 2 twin, 2 double, 2 queen and 4 king size quilts. I also have 3 wall hangings, 1 lap and 2 kings size quilt tops in various stages of construction. Do you think I need an intervention???
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Made a second Bargello quilt for a Christmas present using the same Lightening Strikes pattern. To see more pictures and find out more about it click here.
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I can’t believe that it has taken me almost a year to finish this. I bought the fabrics and I was all excited to start making this quilt when I first blogged about it back in February of 2010. Unfortunately life and other quilts got in the way and our quilt kept taking a back seat. To see more pictures and read about this quilt click here.
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I got my two quilts back from the Manquilter. I’m pleased with how they turned out. The blue floral quilt had a lot of detail quilting whereas the Asian quilt just had an overall design done. Last weekend I took a longarm quilting class from Matt. I am hoping that in the near future, with a little more experience/practice, I will be able to do all the longarm work on my own quilts. To see more pictures and read about them click on the appropriate link:
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I’m so excited I feel like a kid in a candy store. I have had a quilt top sitting in my sewing room for a year now It is actually the very first quilt I ever made. In fact I worked on it at the same time as I took my intro to quilting class and had it finished before the final class (ironically, I still haven’t finished the sampler quilt I made in my intro class). I didn’t want to free motion quilt it myself because I loved the finished product and I didn’t want my lack of experience with free motion quilting to wreck it. It has taken me a year to find someone who I trusted to add the magic to it for me. That man…yes it is a man…..is Matt Sparrow from ManQuilter.com.
As I type this post he is working on it live on USTREAM. Here is the link to watch it live….ManQuilter
Matt was kind enough to create a video clip for me so that I could include it in my blog. When he finishes this quilt he has another blue/gold oriental themed quilt he is going to work on. I think it was the 4th quilt I made. He said he should be done both of them in the next 3-4 days. I can hardly wait to get a look at them. I will post pictures when I get them home.
It is my niece’s 17th birthday today and I made her this quilt as a surprise. I asked her what her favourite colour was and she told me deep purple, light pink and sea/turquoise green. I tried to use those colours to make something she would like. To read more about it and see more pictures, click here.
Filed under Quilting, Two legged family
It doesn’t matter where I go in the house, all the dogs have to come with me. My sewing room floor is covered with dog treats, toys and of course fabric and thread scraps. Every so often someone gets bored and lets me know……”hey Mom…..we need a little attention here”. It was Tilly’s turn today. She kept sitting in front of me with her rib bone in her mouth…..very cute. I happened to have my cell phone with me so I was able to capture this quick video. If you look on the wall behind Wally, you will see my Bargello quilt starting to take shape.
It has taken me almost 7 months but the ladybug quilt is finally finished and ready to be given away. To read more about it click on this link Ladybug Quilt for Renae.
Check out these beautiful fabrics. There are twenty different ones ranging from a beautiful tone on tone creamy white all the way up to a deep rich blue. I am going to use them to make my first Bargello quilt using a pattern called Lightening Strikes. Bargello’s are supposed to be great for beginner quilters because you just use strips sets and cut them up but when you’ve got 20 colours that you have to keep in order…..I think it will require a lot of checking and rechecking before cutting and sewing each strip set together.
I am supposed to be finishing the lady bug inspired quilt for my Chiropractor (as a retirement gift) but I am having ‘quilters block’ trying to figure out how to free motion quilt a continuous line of ladybugs. I’m going to take a break and just cut my strips for the Bargello and then come back and try and tackle the ladybugs again.
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I’ve finally finished the first quilt for me to enjoy. Nothing fancy….just a pretty blue and brown rag quilt to curl up with in front of the boob-tube. It is also the first time I’ve come up with my own quilt pattern.
Here is a close-up of one of the blocks:
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Look at these piles of flannel all cut up and waiting to be sewn together. I’m finally taking the time to make a rag quilt for myself. They are so snuggly and warm….I can hardly wait to curl up with it.
It is made from 5 different fabrics using a pattern I designed myself. I spent the day in my sewing room, sewing all the individual pieces together to make 25 blocks.
I don’t think I will get it finished this weekend. I have a quilt binding class all day tomorrow and we’ve got plans on Sunday. Hopefully I will have the quilt finished and ready for snuggling up and watching a movie next weekend.
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Life In The Dog House 