Oriental Table Runner

I made a table runner out of some rectangles I picked up at a stash sale.  There were six made.  In the bag was some Dupioni silk and a few cotton rectangles.  One mans junk is another mans treasure.  I added some of my own fabrics to get the length I wanted.

I was looking through my stash for some Oriental type prints and found the pink one.  It was a perfect size for the table runner in width but was just short about five inches.  I added some stripes and now I have a reversible table runner. I am pretty pleased with how it came out.

For the quilting I did a butterfly pattern with swirls in between each butterfly.  Sadly, you really cant see the design since the print is busy but it was good practice.

I am linking up to Sew Fresh Quilts.  There is a big giveaway going on over there.  Go check it out and join in!

Eight Is Great

A 2015 Finish, in November.  I am finally getting around to posting it.

When my oldest daughter was 8, I made a quilt for her using her art work. I was early on in my quilting and it is nice but boy was out of whack when I went to quilt it.  But she loves it just the same. She loves it from afar you see.  Stashed in a bench tucked away from her teen friends.  Eh, its the age, I totally get it.

My other daughter who just turned 10 had to have one of her very own, made from her drawings as well.  Of course.  Its all about fairness after all. I am totally happy to make it for her.  It felt like a right of passage.  Being in third grade and being 8 is a pretty big year.  It is the age of reason, when you realize there is a world out there other than your own.

My youngest daughter did have the opportunity to get her artwork on fabric done by a company in order to raise some money at her school.  Each year I buy it.  I thought this project was a perfect opportunity to use it.  I have used it in the photo below and then another one in the owl photo above.

She had did one of those paper cutouts,  It was a square piece of paper that she fashioned into the cut out below.  I took the cutout and made it into fabric.   I did some reverse applique where the opening in the paper would be.  I thought it kind of looks Hawaiian.  I also thought it kind of looks like a face.

I added some colorful pieces, accents, sashing and voila!  The quilt was finished.

A Square from Vicki

In early January we lost a fellow quilter who was very loved in our group.  It has been very sad. Her best friend, Jan, of Quilting Revolution, shared some leftovers from a quilt she was working on with us at retreat.  We all made the same square together learning a few techniques.

I decided to use it with some Easter stuff I have. Just a little table topper. I figured I would find a piece of binding to sew around the perimeter.  When I returned home from retreat I was sitting in my new sewing room.  Lots of boxes of scraps and stuff that I still have to go through to organize.  This one box kept attracting my attention.  I opened it up and started looking through it.  Didn't I find a perfectly matched strip of 2 1/4 and just enough to go around the Vicki square.  Love it! I felt guided.  Who knows maybe Vicki stopped in for a visit and suggested it to my subconscious mind.  In any case, I am finished with it and am happy with the results.  Just beautiful! A great remembrance of a dear person.

 
I had a great time quilting it.

Before I came from retreat.

Quilting Retreat

Lucky me, I went on retreat this past weekend.  Our quilting group has a retreat twice a year, Spring and Fall.  I have been very lucky to be a part of it, thanks to my friend Jan.  It is a wonderful group of ladies that getaway for a weekend of sewing and fellowship.  I had the BEST time!

 Did I get a lot done?  Well not nearly as much as I wanted to but I did get a lot accomplished.

 I will show you later what I worked on.  Part of it included dyeing.

It's a beautiful view, isn't it?  I even managed to get a walk or two in.

What to do with my Farmer's Wife

It's a conundrum.  I have so much color going on in my blocks.  Well, too much color, really.  It is very difficult, at least for me, to decide how to set this one up.  Depressing really. So I set it aside.  I thought nothing really looks good with this.  Sashing doesn't set the colors far enough apart.  Too much chaos in this quilt.  I thought I had better set it with black or white?  Straight up and down or on point....  ???

 I dunno.

I even tried a different design.  I thought this would be kind of cool so I cut up all the white and sewed it together and thought it look rather silly.  Then I ripped it all out.  I did actually rip out that lavender block (the one in the inner square bottom left) that was sewed wrong and redo that one too.

Any suggestions on where to go from here?

Iron Craft Challenge: UFO's

Don't beam me up yet, I have to much to do. Too many UFO's (unfinished projects) or WIP's (works in progess, as other people call them). You know, the kind of stuff you have lying around that haunts you. It speaks to you, "Hey, remember me, I am the ____ project that you were excited about, spent money on... and then forgot about". Oh, indeed I do, remember you. I had made a sommitment in January of this year to really buckle up and get some of those projects done. I have to say that I actually have finished a bunch of stuff. Of course I started a ton more as well. The above bucket is a small sampling of projects that I have to complete.

Thank you  Kat and company at Just Crafty Enough for inspiring me to get some things done.

Like this for example, I had other quilts in progress but this one, because its my daughters, begged to be done first.  She really hasn't bothered me about getting it done in a long time.  But I wanted to get it done.  Her sister has her quilt on her bed and I want her to have hers.

So at a day retreat this past Friday and Saturday I worked feverishly to get it quilted.  I had begun some Free motion stitching a while ago when there was a cool day but then stopped.  With all the heat, the last thing I wanted to do was get under a blanket and stitch.  I stitched in the ditch around my pinwheels and finished all the free motion stitching.  At the last hour, I added the binding. Now I am waiting for another cool day to attach all the binding.

It is called Kokopelli Dancing.  Someone, Jan, over at Quilting Revolution said that my free motion stiching reminded her of Kokopelli.  Since my daughter loves dancing I decided to name it "Kokopelli Dancing". As soon as I get the binding on I will post.

Here is my next project that has been sitting right by my table that has simply been driving me crazy.  I put it there purposely so I had to move it out of the way all the time.  This way it would persistently work its way up to the work table.  Its been like that for about four weeks.  I had to get it done.

I made a few of these because they are convenient for people to have and I wanted to give some away.  I made one for my Mom as well. The center square was made when I was at an embroidery class.  I didn't want it to go to waste, so that is where it all started.

The Farmer's Wife Quilt: Week 11

The Spool #84

The Spider Web #83

Lightening #92

Design Wall Monday

I am new to design wall Monday. My friend, Jan, over at Quilting Revolution told me about it.  I was suppose to start posting it last week but fell a little behind the 8 ball.  If you'd liek to join in or check out what everyone else is up to then head on over to Patchwork Times.

Here is the complete bag.  It's huge.  I wanted it carry things to retreat.  I had seen it when I went on a Quilters retreat with my local quilting bee.  This woman had it.  She didn't have a pattern.  She told me that you just make it howver big you want and reduce the bottom row from each side by two.  I looked online to see if I could find something similar but didnt come up with anything.  I decided to wing it.  What the heck.  Live on the edge.

Picked out my fabric, cut squares and put it up on my make shift design wall.  My design wall is a tablecloth hung up with the wrong side facing out; tacked into place.  It may not be the most fashionable thing but it gets the job done.

I have been using this same fabric for my Farmers Quilt.

The squares are 5 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches.

I used purple for my sandwich.  I wasn't thinking because I should have used just plain muslin.  I was going to put a lining in anyhow.  Make and learn.  Right?

Added handles and lining.  I also added a loop to hook over on the other side.  I also added ties on the side when I sewed my front and back together.  This helps to give the honking thing some shape.  Because let me tell you, this thing is HUGE, honking huge!

When you sew up all the bottom you form a gusset without having to cut off the triangles and such.

All in all I love the bag.  It's very feminine and cheerful.