Moving Right Along

When I was working, I had visions of me quilting, quilting, all day long.  Turns out, that hasn't happened.  There are other things to keep me busy.  But, I have been getting a lot more quilting time in than I used to - that's for sure!

I joined a quilt group in town.  It's very small, only about a dozen members, but that suits me just fine.  We quilt for the entire day (9 - 5), then go for supper.  Then, some of the ladies go back and quilt into the evening.  For me, 8 hours is enough!  

I have finished a couple table runners.  Both of these are kits.  Theoretically, they are nice quick projects.  That's without factoring in the procrastination.  They both sat for quite a while waiting to be quilted.

This first one is bright and cheerful - springtime colours.  I have it on my table now, in contrast to the very cold temperatures we've been having.  It warmed up today to -7 C.  This is the warmest it's been in a month.  Most daytime temperatures have been around -20 C.  (January was mild, but we're paying for it now!)

The second one won't come out till the heat of the summer - when I'm in the mood to eat watermelon.

And a close up of the quilting.  I did wavy lines in both directions.  Easy!

I've got some other things almost done - should be able to post again in the next few days!

Colleen

  

Back At It

I have a couple projects to show you - one completed and one not.

First, over at the Calgary Modern Quilt Guild, we had a zipper pouch challenge last month.  I had put in lots of zippers back in the "old days" (pre -quilting days!) so I wasn't intimidated.  I also had instructions in Malka Dubrawsky's Fresh Quilting.

I really want to make that sewing machine cover on the upper right, but that's for another day.

Here is the final product:

I chose black, white and grey text prints for the outside, so wanted something colourful for the inside.  And, I used a zipper that I had on hand (from the "old days"!), so there needed to be some blue in there.

It turned out pretty well for a first attempt.  Since making it, Cathy, over at Blueberry Patch, posted some great hints and tips for making zipper pouches - including how to put those little ends on the zippers.  Now, I'm itching to make another one!

I also pulled out a little kit I bought last year, at Village Quilts in Lethbridge.  (Just looked for a link to their website - they don't have one!  Strange!  But it is a great bricks and mortar shop, nonetheless.) It is a Thimbleberries pattern, but the gals at Village Quilts kitted it up with some fresher fabrics.

I've got the top done.

I need to embroider some seeds in those watermelon slices, then quilt it up.  It's about 24 x 36 inches, so a good sized tablerunner.  Hopefully, I'll get it done before those three hot days we get here, that we call summer.

That's it for me, for now!  I'm linking up with The Needle and Thread Network for WIP Wednesday.

FAL Second Quarter Goals

After my complete FAIL last quarter (when I only had two goals), I've decided to list more goals this quarter, in the hopes that something will pique my interest enough to get finished.

Goal Number One:
Of course, it has to be Sand and Sea Glass.

This one is soooo close to being done.  I've got the sashing and borders quilted, and have to figure out decide how to quilt the blocks.

Goal Number Two:
Aqua Stars

It has to be quilted - but I actually have some ideas about how I want to do it.  Surprise!

Goal Number Three
Table Runner and placemats

I dug these out from where I stashed them away when I didn't want to work on them last quarter.  They just need to be quilted.  (I think I'm detecting a pattern here!)

Goal Number Four
This is a new one.   I've had the fabric and pattern for this quilt for several years.  It is called Maple Sugar.

The pattern is by Toadusew. The photo doesn't do it justice - it is striking!  I don't know why I haven't jumped into this project before.

Goal Number Five:
No photos yet, but I've started stitching together a baby quilt using charm squares.  Weeks Ringle had a simple pattern in this month's American Patchwork and Quilting.  (You can see it here.  I don't know if it is appropriate for me to copy their photo.)  She didn't use charm squares, but it seems easy enough to modify. (Famous last words?)  I'm using brights - eye spy type charms.

So, five goals to get working on.   I'd better get on it!

Linking up to She Can Quilt for the Finish A Long.

Trying out the Twister

Last spring, I bought the “Lil Twister” at a quilt show.  I’m always a sucker for new notions, and this one looked like fun.
 Around the same time, I won a charm square pack from AJ at I Knit n Quilt 2.  It was Martinique, by 3 Sisters.  Beautiful, soft browns, greens and pinks.
I finally tried out the Twister on these charm square fabrics.
First, I sewed all the charms together

Next, I had to pick a border fabric.  For some reason, I have lots in my stash to choose from!

Here is the Twister template.  It has lines on it, set on the diagonal.  You place these lines on the seam lines of your patches, and cut around the template.

Then, you lay out the newly cut pieces in exactly the same order that they were in as you cut them out.  Voila – twisted blocks!

As your border has become part of the twisted blocks, you need to add on another border.  Here it is unquilted

I decided to quilt it in diagonal, parallel lines.  The lines are about an inch apart.

You can’t see the binding very well, but I found a soft green stripe in my stash that worked well.

It finished up at about 30 x 33 inches.  Just a nice size for a table topper.
The Twister does leave a lot of fabric behind.  Being the thrifty person that I am, noticed that the pieces left included 42 squares about 2 1/2 inches in size.  I cut them down to 2 inch and added them to my leaders and enders.  Yes, they are cut on the bias, but I figure that they will end up sewn to lots of other pieces, so the bias won’t have any harmful effect.

Finish! Table Runner

Just a small success, but a success nonetheless.

I bought this table runner as a kit.  I loved the bright colours!  The background is also a batik - mostly white, with a little purple. We have a table in our front entryway, and my goal is to make a table runner for every season and/or holiday.  So far, I have Christmas, summer, autumn and now spring.

I quilted this with a mulitcoloured pastel variegated thread.  I did loopy things to look like petals in the coloured parts, and an all-over meander in the background.  When it came to pick a fabric for the border, I was looking for green, to look like the leaves or branches going with the flowers.  I found a green batik that has the exact shades of blue and purple in it as in the quilt itself.  Perfect!

I'm still working on my son's Blue Bayou quilt - that I've been wanting to finish all year.  I am quilting it now, so should have it done shortly.  (Shortly, for me, means a couple weeks!)