Square in a Square Variation

Yipee!!! Back to playing with my quilts! This morning I made the new block posted Friday by Cheryl on the 1880s Sampler blog. I cut into two of the Julie Hendrickson Fabrics that Cheryl sent. I LOVE them!


Square in a Square Variation

 Just love making these 5 inch blocks. The HSTs in the corners finish at 1/2 inch! The smallest I have ever made. I am changing to a different color theme for this quilt, replaced the black and white check with a brown and tan in place of the yellow. Plan to continue making some of the blocks in the original colors and make a small quilt using the blocks that I have already made. Love these small prints and this was a fun block to make. Cheryl makes it easy!

This afternoon will be catching up on the Civil War quilt. Today's new block is Empty Spools. The quilters that have already finished and posted on the Flickr site have already come up with 3 different ways to make this one! Amazing

It was so nice to get the duvet finished on Wednesday. It was boxed up on Thursday morning, UPS ground and it is on it's way to Tahoe! Switched my workroom back to quilting mode and began working on the Color Me Happy BOM for Cathy's. Made half of the blocks but am not happy with one of the fabrics. I am taking that bolt back to the shop and see what I can find that will work better. It's so kewl to be working from bolts! lol

Time for lunch and a visit with mom. Have a wonderful Saturday!

Getting work done

 Sunday I picked up my mom and brought her to my house to sit in my garden in the morning while it was cool. We went out for lunch and I brought her home. By the afternoon I could not find the energy to work on my quilts. All the bobbins had the wrong color threads. Just one of those days. Rather than waste the rest of the day, I pulled out a bag of 2 inch squares. There are thousands of them that someone had cut on a die cutter. Perfect "no brainer" project, I thought so I started putting squares together to start a postage stamp quilt. Found out the squares were not so square but muddled thru it and emptied 2 bobbins. 100 squares made a finish 15 inch block. Turned out OK. Not my fabric choices but once I get more blocks done, will make a nice donation quilt for the teen center.

 

The rest of Monday and today I worked on the king size duvet. Zipper is sewn in and tomorrow hope to finish that job. It weighs a ton, made of upholstery sofa grade fabric. Not fun!

Got allot done but nothing on my quilts, not the Civil War BOW or the 1880s sampler. I want so much to start cutting into the pink and brown fabrics that Cheryl sent. Carol, neverhaveenuffabric is also doing the sampler and posted all the blocks that she has done in some of the same fabrics, the Julie Hendrickson collection. They are gorgeous!!! You should check them out on the flicker site: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1880samplerpics. Magpiememories has also posted her blocks there and is making her quilt in pink and browns with some neutrals. Equally gorgeous and her blocks are what inspired me to switch to the same colors. Imitation is a form of flattery! Yes indeed... Now to find the time and energy to work on my blocks!!!

Quilting Class at Cathy's

The last in a series of four beginning quilting classes I teach at Cathy's Sew and Vac, we covered machine quilting and binding. The class quilt we made is a quilt design by Kathie Holland ~ Black, White and Red All Around. Thank you Kathie for permission to feature your design. Here are pics of the quilts made in class...



Carol





Darcy



Kristi





Pieced back on Kristi's

Carol made a small wall quilt version using sparkly star fabrics in patriotic colors. She did her machine quilting with blue and silver metallic threads and it's ready for binding! A+ 

Darcy made a 54 x 54 inch quilt using scrappy black and white prints with the red inner border and a dark black floral print for the outer border. Her quilt is basted and ready for quilting. She used a gorgeous black rose print for the backing and is considering doing free motion from the back following the rose print.

Kristi made the same size quilt and wanted to incorporate Zebra print fabric, a favorite for a member of her family. She placed the Zebra print in the center star and the outer border with a dark print for the star circle. Nice design layout. She also pieced her backing with the Zebra print in the center. Her quilt is also basted and ready for quilting.

We practiced on small quilted pieces first. We did 1/4 inch straight stitch quilting, SID, cross hatch and echo with a walking foot as well as some free motion quilting. I was very impressed with how well everyone took to machine quilting. We also sewed binding on to the quilted practice pieces. Everyone did a beautiful job! A+ for everybody!

Baby "Boot"ies

Here is a pic of the "booties" I made. They are sitting on the fabrics I am using to make the baby quilt that will be given with them. Also making a special place mat for the baby's big sister, Emma who recently turned 2 years old, pieced from the same fabrics. I quilted the bootie fabrics first using jean weight variegated thread, then cut them out and sewed the pieces together. The top edge is meant to be cut with pinking sheers. Could not find mine so I snipped a sawtooth edge. The booties are a size 2 (6 to 12 mos). Just for fun and cute, don't you think?

This project as well as my BOWs have been put aside as I have jobs to do! They are fun jobs... well most of them. 

Duvet fabrics are in and work order arrived so that is ready to go. I rolled out the face fabric and lining yesterday to check for flaws and yardage. All good to go. The face fabric is a heavy upholstery chenille fabric. Gorgeous print with pine branches and cones. Very Tahoe. It is going to be a challenge, it will be VERY heavy and big, it's a King. Zipper closure instead of buttons. Not sure which is worse... Biggest challenge will be the stretch. Typical of upholstery fabric, the stretch is in the warp and this one is very stretchy. This one does not fall under the "fun job" category. VERY happy this will NOT be quilted!!!

 This, however, will be fun:  Fabrics that we ordered at Cathy's Sew and Vac came in this week. I picked up 10 bolts that are sitting on my work table waiting to be cut for the BOM and the store sample quilt. Fabrics chosen are bright jewel tones and batik fabrics. The pattern Jeni chose is by Pat Speth (Nickle Quilts) called Color Me Happy.

Tomorrow is the last of 4 beginning quilt classes, focus for this one is machine quilting and binding, that I teach at Cathy's. We are planning a new series in the Fall as well as the Color Me Happy BOM.  http://www.cathyssewandvac.com/

My personal fabric choices are 1880s reproduction and batiks ... how yin and yang is that? (Not together in the same quilt :0) lol

The Civil War block and 1880s blocks will have to wait until the weekend.

Also VERY fun is I am waiting on a delivery of fabrics... from Julie Hendrickson Miniatures collection... for the 1880s sampler quilt. I can't wait to see them!!!
!*!*!*!*Thank you to a very special person!*!*!*!*!

Added note: They came this afternoon!!! I LOVE them! Thank you Cheryl!!!!!!!!!!!

Off to work on the duvet...

Civil War BOW ~ Next Door Neighbor

Block #28 Next Door Neighbor

After changing two fabrics, I am very happy with this block. Part of the fun of this quilt is playing with colors and values. Fabric selection takes more time than sewing the block and now I have a rather large pile of cut triangles! lol

Back to work...

3 blocks for 1880s Sampler

Finished three blocks today for the 1880s Sampler Quilt. Cut them out yesterday along with two blocks for the Civil War BOW. Started piecing them but I am not happy with the fabrics I put together.

The colors in my 1880s blocks are very bright and I am not sure I am happy with them either. I do enjoy making them! Toying with the idea of choosing some different colors and beginning again, especially since I will need to buy fabrics for the sashing and borders. I like how Magpiememories has pulled soft yellow and pinks together with browns. It looks very nice. For now, here are 3 more of my 5 inch blocks:

Courthouse Steps

New Album Variation

Bordered Nine Patch

Courthouse Steps is the most recent block Cheryl posted for the quilt along. My plan is to keep up with the newest while working back from when I started this quilt. But that plan may change if I decide to go with some different fabrics. Hummmmmmmmmm

Have yet to do any fabric shopping, at least for me. Today I did get to pick out fabrics for a new Block of the Month ~ Color Me Happy. We plan to launch it at Cathy's Sew and Vac in Chico sometime this Fall. It was fun picking fabrics from samples with a sales rep and Jeni at the store. Hard part is having to wait until the bolts come in! Maybe 2 whole weeks!

Saturday's class was allot of fun. Again, I was completely drained by the end of the day. I really enjoy teaching and the women taking this series of classes have been great. We have one more class, machine quilting and binding. At Cathy's I am setting up another set of beginning quilting classes after the end of summer. So I have two quilts to plan, the BOM and a new class sample. This time I plan to make a 9 patch with an alternate block to make an Irish Chain for the featured quilt, and making the sample in red and white.

For now it's back to work. I have several home dec jobs going on including a duvet. Fabric for the duvet should arrive the middle of this week. Also have the ball rolling to have a yard sale this weekend. It's the first Saturday that I am not teaching a class and the weather is not over 100 degrees!

Will check back in with finished blocks for the Civil War BOW soon. Oh, I am also starting a baby quilt and I did make some quilted booties out of the same fabrics. Will have to take some pictures and post them next time as they are so CUTE... Cowboy Boot Booties... CUTE!

1880s Sampler Quilt ~ First block

This is a pic of my first block from the 1880s Sampler Quilt.

Five Patch Chain with Borders

WOW... I am officially insane! lol It's confirmed... I love these little guys! It took me two blocks to get my scant 1/4 inch seam allowance dialed in. Even this one I had to cut down a bit. This is the most recent block posted on the 1880s Sampler blog. It looked like a good one to start out with as others look to be more difficult. Thank you Cheryl! Measurements and cutting directions are spot on.

This is a sampler quilt originally made by Barbara B. Snyder. Here is a link to the 1880s blog site so you can check out a photo of the quilt she made. The blocks are set on point. This block is finished at 5 inches.
http://samplerquiltpatterns.blogspot.com/

Fabrics:  The four patches ~ pink ? cut from an 8 inch square from swap; dark green (in place of black) is cut from a FQ, by Jeanne Poore, the rest of the salvage is missing; yellow is a FQ with no salvage; red border is Old Sturbridge Village Collection for Marcus Bros and the green border is Sturbridge Village Greens ~ 10 inch square collection of 14 prints I ordered from Keepsake Quilting a bazillion years ago. ;0)

Yep... therapy is needed.... more fabric please! lol

This is the perfect quilt to use even the smallest of scraps from the Civil War BOW. One really gets how every piece of fabric was used back in the day. The amazing part is HOW they were used, the designs and blocks these women came up with. Truly amazing and inspiring even to this day.

Civil War BOW ~ 2 blocks

Completed 2 blocks earlier today (actually Saturday, it's after midnight now so this will post as Sunday).

Block 26 ~ Barbara Frietchi Star

This is last weeks block #26. ALL HSTs which is OK with me. I enjoy making them. I cut oversize and then square to size. Takes a little extra time but I find it's worth it to get nice points and a good 1/4 inch seam allowance.

The light is Nineteenth Century Backgrounds II for the collection of Judie Rothermel for Marcus Bros and the blue in the pinwheel is Windham Fabric Presents Miniatures c.1886 by Nancy Gere Pattern #25856. The remaining fabrics were cut from 8 inch squares swapped in 2004. I've been collecting repros since then so allot of them are older. I am running out of madders so... it's time for some retail therapy!

Block 27 ~ Irish Chain

Block #27 is an easy block. I love how everyone on the Flickr group challenge one another. Even a simple block becomes a challenge with fussy cutting! Becky makes her interpretation on Barbara Brackman's blog. Sometimes I follow her lead, sometimes not. I liked how she changed the direction of the rectangles on her block. She also set the center block with a central design which everyone began doing back with the first blocks in some very creative ways. I chose my fabrics with that intent except I did not have a nice large print that would work for the center. Like I mentioned... retail therapy is in order! Especially if it involves a new line that Kathie Holland posted about... Crossroads to Texas. Gorgeous!

I reversed the lights and darks. Gives a whole different look which I am not quite sure works for an Irish Chain. I do like how the dark green fabric has the look of a chain. I didn't see it until I looked at the photo. Always interesting to see how fabrics play with each other in a photograph.

Center fabric is from Documentaries by Benartex and the dark green is Pockets and Housewives by Sturbridge for Kent Avery. The light green is cut from an 8 inch square and unknown to me.

I also cut out some fabrics for the 1880s sampler but that will be tomorrows project. Maybe a second Irish Chain block? What do you think? Until tomorrow... or should I say... later today! lol

Summer's here!

First summer bulbs I planted in the Spring are blooming. This is a Mexican Day Lily. It's beautiful but only lasts for one day! Multiple flowers emerge from one stem, one at a time. It's worth it.

 Columbine started blooming and are now recovering from a rain storm last Tuesday. By this weekend we will be back into triple digits for the 4th of July weekend, summer is definitely here!

Red Poppies mixed in with some Shasta Daises and Foxglove

Looking forward to the weekend and a new Civil War BOW block. I have 2 blocks to make, last weeks as well. After last Saturday's class, I spent the rest of the weekend reworking my class handouts and restructured the classes. With a second set starting July 10 and a BOM in the planning, I wanted all that squared away, after, I was done for the weekend! Lots accomplished this week and jobs are on schedule. 

Now I am ready for a nice long weekend. A little gardening in the mornings while it is cool and then spending lots of quality time indoors, A/C on and sewing machine humming.

After spending some time last night blog hopping, I found a new project!!! A reproduction of an 1880s sampler quilt, the original was made by Barbara B Snyder. Will spend some of my weekend time checking that out along with making some little log cabin blocks from the pile of CW BOW scraps. 

So inspired by blogs of so many talented quilters and needle artists!

Happy 4th of July!!!

Play safe