Progress for September 2011

Here are some of the blocks I have completed these past couple of weeks. 

This batik block is called Windblown Square and is part of the "Sylvia's Bridal Sampler" quilt. I am making the block of the week (most of the weeks). It finishes at 6" and instructions are in the book by the same name.

 The above blocks and second border are the latest ones I've made for the Stars and Sprigs. These beautiful fabrics on the 4 blocks were given to me by friends. I love the fabrics and the people, so it is all good to me. The border is half done and half  held with pins to be appliqued as time permits (laundry is waiting as I type).

My new quilt is a mini that I received from our Modern Guild swap this month. Bethany made this for me. I totally love it and it hangs on my studio now. She appliqued the 2 flowers, did some machine and hand quilt.
The colors on these pictures are not that great. I did use flash to take them. It is raining outside and it is dark; but we do need this rain really bad. So, I am not complaining.
Personal note:  Muitas Saudades!!!

More Sprigs blocks

I have had a chance to make more of my blocks for the Star and Sprigs quilt. I have prepared several blocks and now I am "appliqueing" them at every opportunity. Here are the photos of the last 8 ones that I've finished. I have 3 more completed; but they need to be ironed before I can show them.

Even during a blackout I was able to keep going. Thanks to a battery operated headlight.

It was kind of fun to do that.

 

Quilt Retreat

We had a plan to have a long quilt retreat here in NC. Some people I knew and some that I was looking forward to meet. Quilters are always very nice people, so I knew we would have fun. We started well on Friday afternoon; but Irene the Hurricane, decided we did not need electricity for our fun. So one day into it, the lights went out.
What were we to do? Find out if the nearest quilt shop had power; and if they were opened, of course.
The lady at the shop told us that she had power; and would stay open for an extra half hour.
The photo above is us ready to hit the road to shop. And shop we did.
Unfortunately, power did not return and we had to pack and come home half a day earlier.
The UFO's had to be repacked :-(     Oh, well!
We did have fun! I was right, these are great people.

Quilts of valor

This red and white quilt was made with blocks that I won at our Guild meeting in July. Every month, we make a designated block; and one person win them at the meeting. I was so happy that I won these ones. I wanted to make a red and white quilt since the show in NYC. The picture was taken on the floor because my design wall is way too busy right now. But the quilt is a twin size rectangle. I have donated to the "Quilts of Valor" program and I hope the soldier that gets it feels the love we send that way.

The block below is the block we made for the August raffle. It was fun to sew it since I had the 2 inches square almost all cut in my stash. The half square triangle was made using 3 1/2" strips and cut using the "easy angle" rule. The block is 12 inches finished.

Love of Chickens

If  you know me, you know that I love chickens. The little clay ones are from Brazil. Some are gifts from DH and DS. (Love you guys.)
When I saw this fabric on a local shop, I had to buy it. Have not sewn garments for a while; but here it is a very short skirt (oops) in chicken fabric.
But since this is about quilting too. Here it is: I made a "mug rug" to give to a friend who loves chickens like me. This rug is 6" by 10". Enough to hold her cup of coffee and a cookie or 2. I just cut strips about 2" by 6.5" and a wider one for the featured chickens. The back is all chicken fabric. I quilted with a stitch from my Pffaf that looks like chicken foot prints. I cut the binding at 1.75", so it is more in proportion with the little rug.

SBS blocks (Sylvia's Bridal Sampler

This is my progress so far on this quilt. The blue and gold star is the block for this week at the SBS site. The other ones is just that I had some time to make more. It is really fun to make this 6.5" blocks. 8 done and way too many to go. But no worries, I'll get there. My goal is to enjoy the process and maybe make 10 a month. This will give me a year to finish.:-)

Sylvia's Bridal Quilt

I have started a new quilt. So what's new?
I have this book since last December. It is the "Sylvia's Bridal Sampler" by Jennifer Chiaverini. From the Elm Creek series.
The sampler has 140- 61/2 inches blocks. I will be making the quilt with a friend, so we each will be making half of the blocks. Maybe. We tried to convince others to make it with us; but no takers.
Since I quilt for fun, I will do what is fun for me. But I see the whole thing completed sometime in the future. I am kind of OCD and will probably finish all the blocks.
I am making them in batiks.
There is a web site for people doing this quilt. If you go to http://sylviasbridalsampler.org you will see a gallery of quilts with blocks from this book. But you also will see that there is a BOW- block of the week- session. The deal is: you make the block featured, send it to Lynda with a photo and your information by the end of that week. At the end of the month, she will pick a lucky person from all the e-mails and this quilter wins a pin.
Of course, I want the pin. So I guess I have to get busy and learn how to send the JPEG at 480X480 pixels.
This is a great opportunity to learn this stuff on the Mac, I hope.