Friday Finish Sampler

This was a wonderful finish a month or so ago. I didn't take any pictures because it was winter time.  I finally had a moment to give it the proper attention it deserves.

This quilt is a Sampler Class from Craftsy from 2012 with Amy Gibson of  Stichery Dickory Dock.

I accidentally added the wrong link to a linky over at Crazy Mom Quilts.  So this is really my entry. Go check out her beautiful quilt and all the other links to peoples quilts.

I am submitting this to SEWjo.  Go on now- go check it out.

The Other Side of The Tracks at Amy's Creative Side Quilt Festival

This quilt is called The Other Side of The Tracks. I am submitting it to Amy Creative Side for the Quilt Festival.  Go to the site and check out all the inspired and amazing quilts.

This quilt was a lot of fun to make.  I was surfing the internet and the idea came to me.  I quickly jotted down a drawing that I would use as my reference.

One of the hardest parts of piecing the huge pieces that go into this quilt is getting them measured in a concise way.  There are no rulers to measure pieces of this size.  Even the yard stick is not long enough.  I should have thought of it then but probably a plum line would have worked best.  ha!

Anyway, it all worked out.  I think because I was so inspired and hit minimal roadblocks, it was done in record time.  I was just that jazzed about seeing the end product.  In looking back, I see things that I would have done differently but that is what the quilting journey is all about, learning and creating. I am very happy with this quilt.  It's one of my favorites. 

If you like my quilt too please go and vote for it at Amy's Creative Site.  You can place votes in each category when you find your favorites.

X and Plus Block

This block was originally called Spools.  It was first designed by Nancy Cabot. In 2010 a woman named Setsuko Inagawa did it for the Tokyo Quilt Festival, something I dream of going to. A lot of people fell in love with the block and started a Flickr Group and Quilt Along (QAL). It is now more commonly referred to as 'x and plus'. A blog called Badskirt did a tutorial for a 7.5 inch block.  Click here to go to that tutorial.  You can also find the measurements for a 12 inch block here at Portland Modern Quilt Guild.  Here are some other, very cute examples at Gone Aussie Quilting.

I am kind of late to the party but I am in love with this block.  This is the first one I made (before final pressing). I think it is so cute. I will definitely be making some more of these.

I do remember seeing this quilt a few years ago.  And I think I was more focused on the macarons (ha ha) and the overall French look of the quilt than the background.  But now my attention has shifted.

So I have made about four of these and plant to keep on working on them. With my scrap quilts, I accept the fact that they are works in progress.  There are little squares that wait for scrap and then me to have a moment to put them all together.  Its like that with my 1000 pyramid quilt that took three years to put together.  No repeaters. Now, it's done (and waiting for inspiration to quilt it).

Photo by Be mused

Scrapitude Finish

Scrapitude Finish.  Wahoo!  Totally excited to have this beautiful, wonderful scrappy quilt finished.  I started it when our guild had a Mystery Quilt Challenge.  All scrappy.  Very scrappy.  We began in September.  I finished quilting it in March.  I think that is a record for me.  I am very happy with how it turned out.  I really wanted borders but I just couldn't find something that spoke to me so I did it as is.

Its pretty big.  It actually fits on my king size bed but it does hang over the sides.

AQS Lancaster Day 3: Some Quilts From The Show

On the third day of Lancaster we shopped the vendors and looked at all the quilts in the show. Here are some of the ones I was drawn to for one reason or another.


Love this modernist take on red, white and blue

Some close up details of the beautiful quilting on this one.
 

Love the quilting.

Lots of beautiful flowers and I love the zebra print on the vase at the center.  Honestly, I would have loved to see this fabric carried out a little into the other flowers.  Dont know how exactly but I just think it adds a nice juxtaposition to the flowers.

I love the colors and design of this one.

This one I just had to snap a picture of because one of the ladies in my guild talked about how she was going to make a monkey quilt.

Love the water in this one.

The colors and the design are just yummy to me.  As you can tell I am not a traditionalist quilter.  That is not to say I don't love the traditional quilts, I just am not drawn to them in any particular way.  I can sit back and find something beautiful about most quilts.

Now here is a traditional quilt that I have always loved- Dear Jane.  I admire them and the workmanship that goes into them.  This one cracked me up because of the title, which was so completely fitting- Jane In Her Teens. Love it.  And I of course love it.

Love the technique used here and the quilting. 

This is unbelievable, the detail and the colors and the design.  Great craftsmanship.

This one cracked me up.  The zaniness of it is what I liked.

Very pretty.  I am always drawn to floral and the colors in this are very nice and soothing.
 
This one had all kind of funny things written in the planks of the wood about the funny things dogs do.
 
Here is some detail of it- pretty amazing, eh?
 
I really loved this one.  Very pretty.

Later that day I attended the Ami Simms Gong Show- worst quilts.  She is hysterical.  I really enjoyed listening to her talk and looking at all the botched quilts that people had sent in for her Quilt Gong Show, as well as her own botched quilts.  After seeing all those incredibly gorgeous quilts, seeing these made me feel like I could actually quilt something worthwhile.

Lancaster AQS Day Two

My dyed fabrics- rinsed, washed and dried after my return home.

My friend and I took a class from Frieda Anderson, Flooded With Color.  She is a great teacher to take a class from.  She knows what she is doing, has lots of experience and can impart knowledge in an organized way. 

It was so nice to spend the day playing with color, especially having a buddy to share that with.

Here are some pics from the class.

 Students in line waiting for Frieda to give them their kits.

 Our work station.

 My partner in crime, Sandy, of Quilting For The Rest Of Us.

This is the room where we worked. 

 

Sandy and I.

And some more pics of my dyed fabrics. Love them.

My pastels were a bit mottled.  Totally okay with me.

These are my favs- coincidentally they are my bigger pieces of fabric.

AQS Lancaster Day One

I went to AQS Quilt Show in Lancaster this past weekend.  Learned some, shopped a lot and had a very good time.  I ended up coming home with a new project.

While I was there I took Charlotte Agnotti's class called Surprise Me.  We had no idea going into the class what quilt we would be making.  We went through the class not knowing either.  After making the two blocks, Charlotte revealed the quilt to us.  There it is above.

This was our machine- a top of the line Janome.  It was a breeze to sew on. 

This is Charlotte Agnotti, our teacher. She was a lot of fun.  She kept us all entertained as we sewed our way through the two blocks.

This is the fabric kit we received in class to make our blocks.  I enjoyed working with the fabric- already precut- yeah! The blocks went together pretty easily.

I will let you know when that project is completed...

Later that night I went to the All Star Review.  I really enjoyed getting to know some of the teachers and what they do.  This is an excellent seminar to attend at a conference.  It highlighted some of the teachers and what they had to offer.

Billie Lauder, Linda Hahn, Dierdra McElroy, Nancy Sapin, Edyta Sitar, Karen Gloeggler and Ami Simms talked about their specific expertise.  Here are a few of them and their quilts.

Edyta Sitar

Linda Hahn