. . . . . . Enjoying the journey of quilting

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

February 2014 Bloom Project Linky Party


Joanie’s Trendy Quilts It's not too late ~ you have til February 28th to submit your lists. If still considering to participate plan your 2 lists as directed here in the instructions. Send them to me at joaniestrendyquilts@aol.com.

Since the Bloom Project began in January feel free to include those UFOs and NewFOs finished or started in January and February.


 



So to begin our show and tell I will share my "Tadas." 


February 2014 Finishes 1.Tyler's  Baseball t-shirt quilt, 2. I Scrap-A-Palooza QAL, 3. Whistle Pig Charm Tote Bag

Newly begun in February 2014 - 288 HSTs for Star Light Star Bright QAL


Now it is your turn to show and tell!

Some of you may not have a blog so you might want to start a flickr account to have a place to download your images. This will give you the ability to link up with the linky party. You can only have one photo per URL. I deliberated allowing duplication but was concerned that if spammed that we would lose the legitimate hook ups.

Don't forget to visit others to congratulate them on their accomplishments! We as of date are small intimate group so let us get to know each other. I have set this linky party to run through March 5th. I will create a new linky party on March 6 that will conclude on the 31st. This way you can add your images as you finish. I will place a hyperlink for each party of the month under the file tab "Bloom Project."

Also when linking up your image please use the title as used in your list submissions so I can appropriately scratch off your completed projects.







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Monday, February 24, 2014

Celebrating Another Finish ~ A Real Whopper!


This baby is 84" x 105" and weighs 8 lbs! This quilt had to be quilted in 3 sections to manage the sheer weight of it, 2 rows, 1 row and then the last 2 rows. Hefting this quilt around from the ironing board and sewing machine gave me quite a workout. In order to put the binding on I placed a table to the left of me to hold the weight and prevent dragging while stitching.

This quilt is for my oldest grandson Tyler. So please allow me to share a bit about him ~ a proud grandma! Today Tyler is in his second year of college and is on the Dean's list at East Carolina University. He grew up with baseball beginning in grade school and all throughout middle and high school. He was on a college showcase team for several years which meant he traveled to various states every weekend during baseball seaon to play ball. Through all this he maintained very high grades in school which I find a bit amazing! He is quiet and soft-spoken and quite respectful! He has 2 brothers which he is very good with most of the time but can be quite a tease! Can't make him out to be too perfect!

 



Each frame which there is 3 of them around each 15" block, has been ditched stitched. The shirts have been quilted with a meandering stitch. I love the shadow boxing on this quilt!









Letters and numbers have been stitched around. Each shirt has thread matching the color of the shirt so the back is quite colorful too. The back is gray Kona Cotton.




 



This is Caleb's baseball t-shirt quilt, the first t-shirt quilt I made. I thought it might be fun to see both quilts together.  Only one more to to go for my youngest grandson, Parker.










 




Parker is looking at the camera, Caleb is to the right of him and Tyler is at the end of the table.







 

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Saturday, February 22, 2014

Modern Celebration of Valentine's Day Quilt Done!


Following along with Quilting is More Fun Than Housework/Cynthia Brunz's I Scrap-A-Palooza Challenge, this quilt was made with scraps and older stash. Love, love using up fabric that at best was no longer an interest to me. If someone had told me I had enough fabric to pull together a Valentine's quilt I wouldn't have believed it was possible. This is such a nice pattern where there is no concern of matching seams.







Finally a nice day to take a snapshot outside. And the picture made me see my blooper - after it is totally completed! Argh Argh!!

Did you catch it?














Each row is quilted with hearts and curly cue vines.  The strips are feather stitched along the seam lines in a medium blue thread.







 

 
 
 
I had plenty of this ticking like fabric that has hearts ~ again some old stash that is getting used up!

Did you notice that the binding also has hearts on it too? The binding is hand stitched on the backside.

It kept my hands busy while spending time with hubby since it was his birthday yesterday. He didn't want to go out leaving Miss Cassie, our Lhasa Apso who had major surgery this past Tuesday,  home alone. Which by the way she is making up for those 4 days she hadn't eaten and is galloping down the hallway!   

Quilting is more fun than Housework

Don't forget to stop by Quilting is more fun than Housework's blog to see the latest quilt-a-long scrappy quilt! The quilt design is fast, easy and such a great looking scrappy quilt!  Go here to see it. Which means I better get busy to catch up with her newest QAL but first I need to finish a baseball quilt today!

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Wednesday, February 19, 2014

One Checked Off on My Bloom Project List

This is what it looked like early this morning - pieces of a partially made tote bag, a pattern from Whistlepig Creek Productions - Charming Totes 3.

I had purchased the pattern a couple years ago from my local quilt shoppe. The charms used in this were ones I happened to win from the same local quilt shoppe.

Now that it was on my list to finish I was motivated to get it checked off for the Bloom Project. Which by the way it isn't too late to sign up and send your lists.


But first I had to order my favorite fusible fleece from Heat n Bond. I love working with it! It can be purchased by the package or by the yard at Therm O Web.

It arrived quickly but I was up to alligators as they say in a couple of Quilt-A-Longs.

So today was the day to get this tote bag completed that has been in the making for at least two years. Didn't it come out cute? I just love the orange, yellow and green together.  I was  able to take a snapshot of it outside since it was such a gorgeous day in the mid 70s!! This is pretty amazing since Charlotte was shut down after a couple days of snow, sleet and ice only last week.

Back to the bag before I rabbit trail any further. Did you notice the little pocket in front? There is one on the other side as well. Great for a cell phone.



For quilting I used decorative stitches. And . . . it has a double pocket inside of the bag on limey green lining that just looks happy!














On a final note for the day Miss Cassie is home after having surgery yesterday. She's just not feeling herself today. She had a torn ligament and a partial tear of her medial meniscus both in her left back leg, both needing to be repaired. Not only that she had 3 benign lumps removed on the front part of her neck. She doesn't have much of an appetite. Even a biscuit/treat didn't tantalize her to eat. That says much since she nags me every evening by yipping at me while I am sitting quite comfortable in my recliner to get up and get her one.







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Star Light Star Bright

A friend, a quilting blogger, wrote it took her a whole day to make 288 half square triangles as we were sharing our experiences with the Star Light Star Bright Quilt-A-Long being led by Melissa at Happy Quilting. It took me a few hours a day for five days to complete mine.
Center Squares inside of Geese

The first and a quite important step was deciding which fabric mixes were to be used per block. Thank goodness for my design board where I could organize and visualize how the fabric choices and colors worked together. Finally being satisfied I labeled my blocks as:
(Fabric Match defined is the fabric used for the geese per block)

 Fabric 1 + Fabric Match (f1+fm) - 2 squares of each to make 4 HSTs per block

Fabric 2 + Fabric Match (f2+fm) - 2 squares of each to make 4 HSTs per block

Fabric 1 + Background (f1+bg) - 2 squares of each to make 4 HSTs per block

Fabric 2 + Background (f2+bg) 2 squares of each to make 4 HSTs per block

Fabric Match + Background (fm+bg) 8 squares each to make 16 HSTs per block



Tada!

288 HSTs sewn and trimmed!!
Aren't they scrumptious?


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Friday, February 14, 2014

Geesing Along with Happy Quilting

Snow days are days meant to be in my quilting studio and after two days of it much was accomplished. One project was catching up with the Quilt-A-Long Star Light Star Bright being led by Melissa over at Happy Quilting. Following along with QAL the second step was to make Geese.  Looking good? What you see on my design board are the geese laid out per 9 what will be 24 inch blocks. Each block has 8 geese, 4 of which the goose is the main fabric and the remaining 4 where the goose is the background fabric.
I am getting excited how this QAL is coming along. I took a peek at other participant's in the QAL to see how their geese were coming along. There are some gorgeous quilts in the making. What a fun QAL!  If you want to know more about the QAL there is a button on my side bar for the Star Light Star Bright QAL that will take you directly to the page to learn more about it.

The snow storm brought many visitors.


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Sunday, February 9, 2014

Happy Quilting QAL; Scrap-A-Palooza; Bloom Project; Sandwiching, Happy Valentines Day

Happy Quilting - QAL
Yesterday morning beginning at 4:30 a.m. - Yep for real! It has become the normal wake-up time in our household, and until 8:30 p.m. last evening I cut fabric. My neck keeps cracking today having used those muscles for rotary cutting pressing down for such a long period of time. I am happy as can be though having a good leaping start on a couple QALs I have wanted to participate in. Better late than never - right?

The first is Happy Quilting's Star Light Star Bright Quilt-A-Long. I am so excited about this project. If this is the first you have heard of this QAL I suggest you go take a peek at her place. Melissa has done such a fantastic job of designing, planning and writing the instructions that have been revealed as of date. Cutting the fabric per her instructions was a breeze! This is an image of the Star Light Star Bright quilt! Can you hear my heart going pitter patter? Click on the button on the left to learn more about the Star Light Star Bright Quilt-A-Long.


Scrumptious cut and ready to be sewn!

Scrumptious by Moda - Spring time happiness!






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I Scrap-A-Palooza


Quilting is more fun than HouseworkI am equally excited about participating in Quilting is More Fun Than Housework/Cynthia Brunz's I Scrap-A-Palooza Challenge. In my humble opinion she is equal to being called Queen of Scrap Quilting as Bonnie Hunter. Cynthia's take is more on the modern slant vs. Bonnie's being more traditional. Cynthia has assisted me (via her blog messages) in reducing my scraps and old stash into some nice quilts. Her quilts are creative, some sophisticated, some cheerful, colorful and fun. She has a great organizational system, something that is needed when scrap quilting.

As I was reviewing the stages of Scrap-A-Palooza she suggested giving your project a title, something I rarely do. So since we are coming upon Valentine's Day I have titled my quilt Modern Celebration of Valentine's Day. I knew I had some fabric with hearts, and red and pink fabric. Now with my creative brain being motivated and spurred you can see the results. It looks great on my design wall! I will let it sit a couple of days to make sure I shouldn't move around a block or find an alternative fabric from one that might look like it is sticking out like sore thumb. I am leaning towards using white strip sashing. I have a couple of other fabrics with hearts that might work as well.

Electric Quilt did the work for me. :) Cynthia has a good method for planning, sizing your quilt and the math to go along with it if you don't have a quilt design software program.

This was a first to cut out 2 quilts in one day for me! Can you believe me when I say I was tired by days end? It was a good day!
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Bloom Project

Joanie’s Trendy QuiltsBoth Star Light and Star Bright are quilts on my Bloom Project lists. So I am forging ahead.

Other participants have said:  Paula is set to finish 2 of her quilty projects In February. Yeah for Paula! Marsha states she is working away already! Bea says, I am looking forward to finishing some of my UFOs :)."  Marge says, "I think that will definitely help me to stay focused, and as you say, save on the budget by sticking to projects already in mind."

Anyone interested in learning more about the Bloom Project can click on the button located on the right side top of my blog and read all about it. February 28th is the new deadline date.

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Sandwiching a Quilt Sharon Schambers Method

Weather conditions interrupted the spray basting of the final section of the baseball quilt. It is being quilted in 3 sections. In order to continue I chose to sandwich the quilt using Sharon Schamber's method. See the pictures below of the process:







Baseball t-shirt/jersey quilt is now completely quilted. Left to do is sewing the last section together and binding. This will be a February finish. Looking forward to giving it to my grandson and the reveal of the finished quilt.

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Happy Valentine's Day

For about a month I have been scavenging around to find a small tote that I made with a paper pieced heart and bow. I happened to come across it this morning when sorting and organizing scraps for the I Scrap-A-Palooza challenge. Yippee! just in time to share with everyone with the holiday coming on us! The other blocks below were made several years ago for a block swap. Thought I would send some Valentines Day love since it is this coming Friday.


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