Sunday Summary

After attending a quilting Retreat in Omaha, I brought home 13 quilt tops to quilt and bind.  Oh my!  I had to quickly finish up a few bindings that I had left from quilting the same groups' lotto tops and fill a box for Quilts Beyond Borders.  Just one more to bind and that box will be on its way and I can load up those Omaha tops.

Here's the recent finishes in the box.  These were assembled by Tammy S from blocks sent to her by members of the Sunshine On-line Quilt Group:

Panto is called Cotton Candy

Panto is called Cotton Candy

Panto is called Cotton Candy

This was  panel sent to me a while back from Ann D, a Regional Coordinator of Quilts Beyond Borders.  It's just too cute!  And it's in the box, ready to go out:

Panto is called Cotton Candy

And this is the preview of the one that still needs binding.  The crumb blocks were sent to me by another member of the group, Lois.  Hope to show the finished quilt tomorrow and get that box in the mail ...

Panto is called Delight

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!

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.

Hot Tea Month

I love tea.  I have always loved tea – it is my “go to” beverage.  It can be warming, comforting, relaxing, healthy for you, celebratory or just plain tasty!  This month is great for new beginnings or to revisit old friends (in the tea category, of course).  This month:

        Try a new black tea like Assam.

        Or go caffeine free with a unique and flavorful herbal like Roibos.

        Maybe it’s time to detox with a Tumeric Ginger Herbal tea (always consult your doctor before detoxing)

        Spice up your tea for winter by adding Cardamom to black teas.

        Or bring in the tropics with a touch of lemon or orange zest to your tea.

        Revisit an old tea-friend that has been in the back of your cupboard – I like both the dark Prince of Wales or a very light Oolong!

        Experiment and enjoy hot tea all month long …

And speaking of new beginnings, I began the construction of the Simply Woven pattern from Moda Bake Shop.  And two blocks that are assembled wrong have been corrected (all corner blocks should be small)!

It is actually fairly easy to assemble, but a little time consuming.  I made enough blocks for a kid-size quilt and decided to call it a day on this pattern and change it up a little.  This won’t become a larger quilt, but it will make a wonderful donation with its cheerful colors.  

This isn't the final design (they are now in two columns, and I’m auditioning a border to bring it to the right size today, then into the UFO pile to be quilted!

Celebrate National Quilting Day!

http://clipartmountain.com/7clip/quilting.htm

The National Quilting Association, Inc., hopes you enjoy making the official 2015 National Quilting Day project, Crooked Path by Danielle Bohannon. Whether you make this pattern for personal use or for charitable giving, enjoy the annual celebration of quilting this year on March 21!

For the pattern and directions, go here:  http://www.nqaquilts.org/nqd/

Another colorway you might enjoy:

 

 

Easing into Scrappy - Part 2

Yesterday I described my current stash and scrap system (such as it is).  I expect it will not change all that much, but I am devising some ways of actually seeing what I have and some ideas for how to move forward.  If you didn't read it, catch that post here.

I had received some wonderful 2.5 inch squares from several members of my Sunshine On-line Quilt Guild (thank you, thank you going out to Beth, Joann and Cathy L!).  Those will be my starting point.  I know I can work with these and find some sustainable ways to work with this size leftovers from my work.

 

just some of the squares next to my sewing machine

I don’t want to make her blush, but I have found Cynthia Brunz’ website Quilting is More Fun Than Housework to be so inspirational for how to use scraps/yardage and have the quilts come out looking beautifully pulled together.  I recently went to her page for the Scrap-a-Palooza Quilt Gallery where she shows the step-by-step progress of some scrap projects and found the Zig-Zag Quilt (May 2014).  Please follow the links above to her site if you are looking for some great ideas.

Since I wasn’t sure if I had enough squares to make Cynthia’s Zig-Zags right off the bat, I switched over to this pattern that has smaller centers:

 

Pattern called Field Day

It is from the book "Seemingly Scrappy" by Rebecca Silbaugh:

I will go back and make Cynthia’s pattern after I have cut all of my own leftover binding pieces and created a special place for 2.5 inch squares.  Then I know I’ll have enough and the colorful squares will look wonderful in her design!

And this is the work in progress while I was auditioning for the big squares:

 

the blue in the background wasn't right and the yellow was too washed out

but the black with multi-color was just right!

I still have to rearrange some blocks to distribute the logs that were slightly lighter (I used everything from my stash after all) – but, I’m in love with it!  And they look way better after quilting...

Linking up to Oh Scrap!  on Sunday.  Check out what ideas others are coming up with for using their scraps (see the button on my sidebar).

Work in Progress Wednesday

My inspiration pattern was a fabric line called “Emma Grace” by Kathy Brown for Red Rooster Fabrics:

And this is the progress I have made on my blocks using 1930s reproduction fabrics:

Still pulling from my scraps and stash, but I am not that good at totally scrappy.  I’d have to identify with the group that calls themselves “controlled” scrappies!

Sunday Sewing

I have made a crib-size quilt before from Eleanor Burns' Quick Trip Around the World book and it turned out well (see this link for that one):

So this time I decided to go for the lap size.    This is my progress so far on my Sewing on Sunday:

I didn't realize my colors were similar to the book cover's until I posted this photo!

These aren't really Quilt in a "Day"s for me - LOL.  I call them my Quilt in a "Week"s!

National Quilting Day

Today has been designated as National Quilting Day

and the theme this year is “Celebrate America”!

I had my Quilts of Valor meeting yesterday so the day before I had to lay out some more blocks into Bonnie Hunter’s Fourth of July pattern to take for another member to sew the rows together.

Why is it that you can spot the mistakes in a photo that you didn’t see with the naked eye?  Before I picked up and numbered the rows, I did fix that 4-patch that was sewn wrong  - it had two blues and 2 reds side-by-side rather than in opposite corners (it’s in this photo wrong at the bottom left).  Always something, right?!

And I also finished up the last of the little tissue covers and took them over to my mother.  She has fifteen to give out as bingo prizes.  I hope she remembers to actually take them to the Activities Director and doesn’t plan to secretly keep them all!

I also spotted another free pattern that I might consider making as my next personal contribution to Quilts of Valor.  I like stars and I loved this design that uses 10 inch blocks and finishes at 80x80:

This quilt called “Cayuga” was designed by Michele Scott and the pattern can be found on the Fons & Porter website:

http://www.fonsandporter.com/articles/Cayuga_sixteen_point_star_block_free_quilt_pattern?bc=c

It looks great in the muted neutral colors as shown, but I think it would also look fabulously patriotic in red, white and blues.  I’m adding it to my pattern collection right now!

Quilts of Valor

In addition to taking beginner’s Yoga classes (that I have been liking a lot), I’ve added another new activity to my calendar.  The closest quilt shop to me (Crafty Threads) has graciously allowed a local Quilts of Valor group to meet in their large classroom and I decided to step out of my comfort zone and join.  It’s very hard for me to walk into a new situation, but I had decided to try to be a little more active in my local community and this seemed a good fit for my skills.

The mission of the Quilts of Valor Foundation is to cover all combat service members and veterans touched by war with comforting and healing quilts.  And I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to slot right into this local group.   One of the things that some members do during the monthly meetings is to make up kits of blocks that other quilters can pick up and sign out to take home to work on.  I posted about those [here] when I made a few in advance of going to the monthly get-together. 

So when I walked into the shop on meeting day (Friday), I brought back the last of my finished 4-patch blocks and they set me to work laying out a top to sew together.

This is the Fourth of July pattern offered by Bonnie Hunter free for personal and charitable use.  Thank you so much for your generosity, Bonnie!

This particular group has only been meeting for a short while and they have already completed 4 quilts to distribute.    One will be given out in early February to a recipient who was hit by an IED in Afghanistan two years ago.  He is currently undergoing rehabilitation here locally.  We have two major Veterans’ care centers in our area (the James A Haley Veterans Hospital in Tampa and the Bay Pines VA Healthcare Center in St Petersburg) plus several outpatient clinics.

We also went to a nearby restaurant that we could walk to for lunch.  This is the look back at my lonely sewing machine where I was sewing together rows when we left for lunch.

And quilters being quilters, someone brought homemade cookie bars.  Oh, joy!  This group could be addictive … I’ll definitely be going back!

And as a small aside … remember I was having trouble with my thread breaking on the top I was trying to quilt on my frame?  Well, I bought this product that was recommended to resolve that issue.  It’s a liquid silicone to drop onto the thread and bobbin spools.  I’ll report back if it works for me.

Happy 4th of July!

Here in the United States of America, July 4^th has a special significance as the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

As we celebrate with picnics and fireworks, we might remember this quote from Adlai Stephenson, an American politician and diplomat:

“America is much more than a geographical fact.  It is a political and moral fact – the first community in which men set out in principle to institutionalize freedom, responsible government, and human equality.”

I must admit, I really like bluegrass and country music.  I think one of the best patriotic songs in country music is *God Bless the USA* written and sung by Lee Greenwood.  And one of the best lines from that song is:

   "I gladly stand up, next to you and defend her still today/

  'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land/

   God bless the USA".

Though Greenwood wrote this song in 1983, it didn't become a big hit until Desert Storm in 1991, when radio stations embraced it to help boost patriotism. The song re-entered the country charts in 2001 after 9/11.

I usually make children’s quilts for donation, but once I had an opportunity to make  a patriotic quilt – that was shortly after 9/11 when a co-worker’s church group wanted me to teach them how to make a quilt to send to the heroic firefighters.  I really regret that I never got a picture of that finished quilt or the wonderful group of ladies that made it.

If you are thinking of making a patriotic quilt, here is a great link with free patterns and suggestions:

http://www.bomquilts.com/Free-Patriotic-Quilt-Patterns.php

I hope you and yours enjoy this Independence Day Holiday and spare a thought for those who fought to ensure our country remains free.