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Design Wall Friday 3-12

First of all had to show my poor little empty sewing table!
My Viking somehow managed to "eat" some (a whole bunch) of thread while trying to wind a bobbin and had to go to the sewing machine doctor...sigh...I need to take the time and do a little house keeping while she is having her thread untangled LOL

My version of lesson 3 from Color From the Heart book.
The lesson was to find dark, medium and light fabrics with just one color in them for the nine blocks in the wall hanging. I was pretty satisfied with all but two. The red dark had way too much black in the print and it sort of blends into the black setting pieces. The blue green block I feel the med is too dark and the dark is too dark but over all I did find plenty of fabrics in my stash.
It was a good lesson in helping me choose the tints, tones and shades of fabrics to get the look I wanted.

Quilts From My Friends

A few recent quilts made by my friends.
Top
L: CN shows her Mexican Stars quilt, CV and friend show off our recently finished charity quilt made by the group. We all were to create one of the stars in a workshop helping us make 60 Degree stars with diamonds then a few weeks later we learned how to set the blocks with big triangles and then one of the members finished it up
Bottom
L: Another Mexican Stars quilt...quite different from the other one R: CV shows her quilt from lesson two of Color From the Heart workshop Can you tell which two colors she worked with?

Two more friends ..
MH shows the project for lesson 3 from Color From the Heart workshop. This lesson was about choosing light med and darks.
KH is proud to have finished her BOM from last year. She let us know that these are NOT her color palette but she learned to like them as she did the project.

Plants and Bugs

A little update on the tomatoes in the Aero Garden. As you see they are coming along nicely. Mr Creative has been able to visit them since all his medical issues are finally getting better. I am anxious for the first flowers to show up but they are a bit small still for that.

Here are the bugs... a bit of a surprise working so this is all I am going to show you for now. Love the little Ladybug and can't wait to show the whole project.
We had lots of rain today here in American Fork Utah but it's all good as I took the time after church for a very long nap. Found a station on XM from Dish network that has the perfect soft 70's type music called Ambrosia...lovely for sleeping and I am glad I checked it out. LOL

Victoria"s Friendship Friends

A few of my quilting friends are working to make the quilt Victoria's Friendship together and this is a picture of our second month's blocks. Mine is the top row on the left and the applique is the bottom on the right. Just love seeing how each of us select different fabrics and yet they all look so beautiful!

Harry Potter blocks update

I probably should have waited until tomorrow but I decided to go ahead and share my most recent two blocks.
Here are the 8 blocks all in a row. Youngest DS big A said the thought I had a hodge-podge of fabric on these blocks but I told him that is exactly the look I was going for! LOL Good thing this week's block was a simple one as I needed to catch up from last week.

This is last week's block...I had fun with the book beside the timeturner. DS mentioned it was hard to see the timeturner and I agree with him. I plan to do some stitching around the glass and sand to make it stand out a bit more when I start putting the blocks into a quilt.

This week's block...can you see where I made a change between the picture of all the blocks together and this one?
I made a boo-boo and fixed it before I forgot! LOL
I have also started a new feathered star block but haven't had much time to stitch on it lately. So nice to be able to see the stitching lines with the new red fabric!

Two Finishes

OK, since this was a rather slow weekend I made an effort to finish two projects that were almost done.

A cute (in my opinion) top for my grson A. I thought I had made him two baby quilts before he moved to Texas but my DD informed me that nope only one. I love the Fat Quarter sets sold by Fabric Boutique and good thing it is in Calif. cause I would be so tempted to buy them all the time. Their patterns are perfect for the sets as you only needed to add some border fabrics and everything else can be made from the 8 coordinating fq's from the set.

This is a real TA-DA! for me. I am in love with the color combo and the Inklingo method of making my first Feathered Star. I have a second set of pieces cut and ready to piece for the future 4 block wall hanging. I am very happy to use this wonderful method to piece either by hand or machine.

Design Wall Friday 2-25

So this is what is on the design wall today. I have been working on it for the past couple of days. I bought the fabric in Houston in the fall and have had this little quilt in mind since then.
The Fat Quarter pack came from Pin Cushion Boutique...one of their Sweet Treats. I asked if they had any monkey fabric sets and she brought this one out for me...It's the Boys Will Be Boys line from Freespirit. I have one more border to add and then it will be ready for quilting. I think I will try it myself GASP! LOL
You can see the old Harry Potter blocks and Victoria's Friendship quilt on the left. No new blocks for those yet.

Is It Ever Gonna Be Spring?

Not much I can say except...told Mr Creative I want to move somewhere where it doesn't snow and he said, Well I guess we will have to move somewhere in the Caribbean! LOL

The First Star...Almost

My current take along project is this Feathered Star and it has slowly but surely been progressing along. I am finally in the stage of adding the final outside pieces and I am so excited to see it come together. I love the cheddar and red colors but not gonna use that red for the next stars.
As I explained to my neighbor yesterday as to why I am making it all by hand..." I have plenty of projects in the works where I sit at a machine and sew but this one is for me to work on when I am on the go. Yesterday I worked on it at Carl's Jr (fast food place) while grandson I played with kids in the play area. I could keep an eye on him while I stitched and got a good bit done.
I will see how much longer it will take but it's OK, I am in no hurry on this one.

Design Wall Friday 2-18

Hard to believe it is Friday again and time to show what's up in quilting.
This week brings block #6 for the Harry Potter Project of Doom quilt. The top photo shows all 6 blocks together. They are looking pretty fine I would say.

Below is block 6 close up. We had two books and a flask of a potion to make. Pulled out some interesting fabrics this time I think LOL
Can you tell what potion I put in my little flask? If you are a Harry Potter fan I am sure you can guess. The designer of the quilt made one with Lace Wing Flys in it but no fly fabric in my stash so I picked something different . Not so sure I like the pink I used in the middle book. Somehow the print doesn't "fit" the book fabric. I may just remake that book in the future if it bothers me.

This is the first of my goal baby quilts for charity. If you remember my Underground Railroad quilt that isn't at all a civil war theme...this is part of the leftovers. I plan to use this sort of stuff to make 6 total quilt tops that I plan on donating by the end of the year. I found this pattern in the book Weekend Scrap Quilts by House of White Birches. I changed it quite a bit. I used the cute forest friends fabric instead of an applique block and left off the Wandering Stars in the borders plus I made it smaller by making less blocks.
I am pleased with it and know that some little baby will snuggle up in it one day.

A Bit of This and That

My friend PN showed off her completed Underground Railroad top this past Tues. I loved several of her blocks and the machine embroidered square with the story of those blocks. It is a fun story but pretty much proven to not be a true account of escaping slaves. We enjoyed doing the quilt as a BOM for my local night meetings bee.

I had to share this piece of fabric. It looks like a shaft of sunlight on the fabric but it is actually the effect of sun damage. It was hanging with several other pieces but this was the only one that showed any damage. It is interesting to see how antique quilts might have changed colors over years of light exposure from what happened to this modern fabric.

OK, I am ashamed to show off this mess but....
Mr Creative got me a Cricut Gypsy for Valentine's Day and I struggled all Sat to get it ready to use. Thank goodness for some friendly online help at the Cricut message board and youngest DS big A who were able to get it registered and then updated and linked to my cartridges. As they updating and linking took a while I decided to use the time to sort out various piles of scrap paper, accents, kits, and pictures. Yikes! so much stuff and I still have things I have never even used yet. Sorry you have to see the kitty box too...Muffy won't share boxes with the other two kitties so hers is in this room where she spends much of her days.
It is much cleaner now! piles sorted and things put away but I am not known for my neatness in general! LOL

Lastly and update on the tomatoes in the Aero garden. They are getting bigger and it won't be long until we will have to move the light up one "click" to accomodate their growth!

From the Design Wall 2-11

A few things are on the design wall right now.
Top
is the Harry Potter Project of Doom blocks with this weeks addition on the right. Four books on the shelf.
Bottom left
is my feathered star in progress. This is a hand pieced project that I have used Inklingo to prepare. I have one problem that has come about from my choice of fabrics. The cheddar (gold) was printed with darker gold lines and except for an ocassional spot where it printed a bit too light, has been great. The problem fabric is the red. I ordered it online with the hopes that the print would be light enough that when I printed the dark lines they would show up just fine. Well...I am sure if my eyes weren't so bad and a bit younger I would be OK but it has been much more difficult than it needed to be. I can only work in daylight with GOOD light from the windows plus I have to add a pair of readers on top of my regular trifocal glasses.I have pretty much decided that I won't be makeing the other 3 stars for my planned wall hanging from that red. I have to decide if I want to make 4 more from an alternative red I have on hand or see if I can find a third red and start over. Yeah,
anyone have a suggestion?
Bottom right
You see the second block from Victoria's Friendship Quilt by Lori Smith and the first applique block along with last month's star. I am loving the fabrics and colors I chose and even though I made cutting and assembly changes from Lori's pattern am happy with them so far.
I also finished the second hush, hush project with a label but it will wait a bit to be revealed!

There's A Storm Coming

I have been plotting and planning to make a Storm at Sea quilt for a few years. I love the movement when you combine the different parts of the block and I knew what it should look like. I almost chose to make it with the cheddar and red combo that has been dancing around my head for years but no, that wasn't the way I wanted it to look. I finally decided I wanted to use hand dyes or fabrics that look hand dyed in blues and greens. I have been shopping around for months for just the right fabrics and had found several good candidates but somehow never bought them.

Well as you see I finally found just the right fabrics to make my quilt. They come from a seller on Ebay that has a very nice selection of hand dyes and best of all the prices are less expensive that many I have come close to buying before. One of the things that really got me to buy was that the shipping is very very reasonable. That is what has been stopping me when I found something I liked online, the shipping just added too much to the cost per yard for me. She also was willing to cut 1/2 yards and not make me buy a full yard and then put together a special deal just for me so that I could get the colors I wanted. I am so happy with them and find that they are much like the ones I have dyed myself but the colors are richer.

Here is my Inklingo Cheat sheet that allowed me to figure the amount of fabric I needed plus how many of each piece I need to prepare for printing my precise Inklingo lines. I will probably hand piece this one but I don't have to if I decide to machine piece it
Sigh, another project for the future but I just had to share! LOL

Be My Valentine Surprize

Here is my special Valentine Grson A holding the Mystery project from last month. I love these little quilts from Kim Schaefer Calendar Quilts. Pulled it all from my stash so none of the new trendy fabrics but I think it turned out dang cute!
It's almost as cute as my little Grson who claimed it for his own. LOL

Design Wall Friday (uhhh Saturday) Update

Yesterday was not exactly the best day for our family. Mr Creative is still very sick on top of his broken ankle poor guy. He is very tired of it all right now. Then oldest son D went to the yesterday evening and has a bad case of strep. I took grsons I and N out for dinner and that took up a bit of the evening and by the time midnight rolled around I hadn't gotten anything ready for the blog.
However! Last night I stayed up really late and volia 3 blocks completed for the Harry Potter Quilt of Doom mystery block of the week.
So cool so far and I peek at the weekly block so that I can get some help choosing fabrics. As you can see so far it looks like a row of books with a couple of things like a crystal ball and a bottle of mystery potion! LOL So fun pulling out some of my crazy or wilder fabrics and making book covers out of them Nice thing is that the blocks finish at 10 inches so there isn't much tiny pieces so far although the next block (which I might get to today) does have a lot of small parts.
If you are a Harry fan and a quiltmaker join in with the group and you too can have a special quilt. Best of all they are free blocks!
You can also see a little peek and the next "mystery" project recently completed and my Mexican Fiesta quilt top.
(I finished the 4th block last night and added it to the post)

Snow Crab

I get the feeling there are many of you who can relate but this is for my sister Beachgirl Miss PittyPat!

Tomato Plants

I told Mr Creative that once Christmas was over we needed to get our Aero Gardens back to growing some plants. We decided to do tomatos this time. I have friends that have had success with the tomato plants so cross your fingers that ours do as well.
I need to get some lettuce and herbs for the second garden asap so they can get growing as well.

FROM THE Design Wall Jan 28

A couple of projects from the quilt room today

Another hush hush project in progress. The one I was working on last week is done but I can't share yet but soon I promise. This one was fun to do and can't wait to share the whole thing

This is a sample of the Pattern I am teaching called Mexican Stars by Annette Omelas of Southwind Designs. It uses her technique of folding triangles to create a curved look from straight sewing. It's not a new technique but the pattern is all her own design. I picked it up at the Houston show last fall and and when I shared it at the board meeting we chose it as a workshop. Of course since I had suggested it I had to teach it! LOL That means I needed to create a sample. I used Fossil Fern prints for everything but the background which is my favorite background fabric Floral Fusions. I wish I had bolts and bolts of this stuff as I could use it for almost every quilt in my mind! LOL The print that is in the "sashing" was the inspiration a lovely crazy colored Fossil fern my Mom bought for me. It's not my usual style but it reminds me of a Fiesta and that is it's name for now! The color is not quite as bright and clear in the photo but enjoy!