Sunday Summary

Another week has gone zooming past.  I finished quilting the Quilts of Valor quilt and went to my monthly QOV meeting on Friday. 

Then I went to a class on Saturday to learn how to make a 2-Hour Backpack.  A local quilt shop a little north of me, Scrap & Sew, offered the class.  I am making mine to give to kids in need.

Ha!  There’s no such thing as a 2-hour backpack.  We were instructed to cut out all of the pattern pieces and have them fused to the interfacing before we went to class – that took me an hour and a half on Friday night.  Then the class took three hours and we all took the entire time to make our projects.

this was the class sample

The above pictures are the projects made by two other participants in the class.  Don’t you love their fabric choices?

And this is mine.  I LOVE IT !!

I will be making more of these – it was great fun once you understood the pattern (parts of it were not clear/instructions not included but the picture was there/conflicting instructions, etc).  Good thing the instructor had made a sample because we referred to it often, but the process will go more quickly the next time.

What's Up Wednesday

This is Local Community Service week here at the homefront.  I have been busy quilting for the two local groups that I support - Project Linus and Quilts of Valor (QOV).

These are the two that I quilted for Project Linus:

Panto is I Love It by Anne Bright

Panto is Stardust by Patricia Ritter

I don't make these tops, nor do I bind them - I'm just the quilter!

And sometimes the tops I receive need a little TLC.  This is the top I received to quilt for QOV:

Do you see the minor boo-boo in the upper right corner where the stripe isn't going straight?  Since this was an easy fix, I saw no reason not to go ahead and make the adjustment.

And, Voila!  The top looks better and worthy of a Veteran.

And it is now on the frame to be turned in at the local group meeting this Friday:

Panto is Stardust again - by Patricia Ritter

So, that's What's Up ...

Sunday Summary

An on-line friend and I had an email discussion about borders of quilt tops - especially borders that are wavy and ripple and really don't fit properly on the quilt and cause untold angst when trying to longarm quilt that top!

I pulled out a v-e-r-y old quilt top that I had made and laid aside for many years.  And lo and behold, there was an improperly applied border.  I must have learned a lot since the 1990s - lol.  But did I unstitch the border and apply it correctly?  No, I did not.  I receive quite a few quilt tops to quilt for donations to various groups and I decided to practice on my very own *mistake* in case I encounter another in the near future.

So, this is a part of the rippled border - see that waviness?

I just decided to quilt the entire top with a denser pattern than I usually use and expected that to flatten down the border.  This is the result - it worked pretty well:

I think the feathers (Feather Elegance by Christy Dillon) look pretty good on this relatively plain quilt:

Lyn Durbin's YouTube video was the first one I had ever seen where it showed how to quilt and work in excessive fullness and waviness of borders - this is almost magic!  Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPHsBYa36W0

So, this Bars and Strips quilt is on the pile that need bindings (only two left now!).  It will go in the box to Wrap-a-Smile.

And I finished quilting a little Duckie panel, but I didn't get a full photo of it yet.  It will have to wait for its binding until the other box goes out the door - this one is destined for Quilts Beyond Borders.  Here's a sneak preview:

What's Up Wednesday

It’s pretty late and “today” is almost “tomorrow”, but I got busy quilting – you all know how that goes!

So, What’s Up with Today in History?

Today in 1903 was the first day that people saw the “Teddy” bear” that store owner Morris Michtom devised.  Michtom had received permission from President Theodore Roosevelt to use his nickname for the new toy.  Although the stories differ, it is often told as being based on a compassionate act of Teddy Roosevelt to save an adult black bear.  When political cartoonists later portrayed the bear as a cub, they were intending to show a sensitive side to the macho, he-man image of Roosevelt.  No matter how it began, the Teddy bear is now beloved by children and adults alike. 

This cute teddy is Brogan - Available at plushhub.com

Since I love Teddy bears, this is the backing fabric that I have selected for a panel that was sent to me to quilt up for Quilts Beyond Borders; it will be next on the quilting frame: 

And, here is a pattern that I bought at a quilt show when I saw and fell in love with the sample:

One day, I will make this quilt!

Celebrate!

Happy Valentine's Day !!

Sunday Summary

I just took another quilt destined for Wrap-a-Smile off of the quilting frame.  Last summer, we had a Challenge in my quilter's group to make a quilt using the colors of the Olympic Rings.  So I used all of the colors, but made squares instead (no copyright issues here!).  We had all kinds of cute quilt designs result from the Challenge, but I am happy with my simple version.

Then I found the cutest backing fabric at Connecting Threads on sale.

Now I don't know what to name my quilt.  I was calling it Stepping Up to the Olympics, but now I am considering calling it Out of This World Athletes just for fun.

I really like the quilting I selected, too.  I have worked up this pattern before - it's called Square Dance by Anne Bright - and it always turns out nicely.

So let's hope this one doesn't languish in the to-be-bound basket too long ...

Specialty Rulers

Do you have a lot of specialty rulers/templates that you don’t use much?  I am unable to resist the sales pitches and cute patterns/classes available for these types of rulers.  I store mine in protective plastic page sheets in a three-ring binder (unless they are extra big or extra long) and have often used them just the once to make “that certain” quilt and never used them again.

Well, they came in handy the other day when I wanted to add something extra to a Jelly Roll Race quilt.  This technique makes a very quick quilt top - Wee Folk Art has a good tutorial.  My colorful top looked ok, but was a bit boring and I thought it needed a punch of fun to be a good children’s donation quilt.

I saw a cute Hipster Cat pattern on Shwin and Shwin’s site that I used for inspiration.  Since I didn’t want mine as large as theirs, I made my own pattern and I dragged out these specialty rulers:

I forgot to take a photo of the circle template/ruler that I used for his head, but you can see that I used all of those triangle rulers - lol.  My cat still needs eyes and a nose and to be stitched down, but I think he’s turning out to be pretty cute.  I’ll post his photo again when I get him finished.

Quilt Show Part 3

These will be the last photos from the Quilter's Crossing of Palm Harbor's Quilt Show (FL) since I took so many pictures.  These went into my category called "AMAZING!".  Some I thought were fabulous due to the attention to detail, some because of the colors and workmanship and some due to the quilting or thread painting that was fabulous.

I don't have much progress to report on my own work right now, so I thought I'd just put some more inspiration out there for you all.  Be sure to read the description cards and credits to the quilters: