Bee Blocks–January ’16

Posted on January 29, 2016 by Quilting is in my Blood

I am participating in two online quilting bees for the first time this year. I’ve been assigned to Stash Bee’s Hive 7, and I’m in one of The Bee Hive’s USA swarms. In fact I am the swarm leader of The Bee Hive Mary USA. I’m new to quilting and even newer to blogging, but our swarm leader went MIA, so I stepped in with fear and trepidation!

The January queen bee for our swarm in The Bee Hive is Patti, and I am so grateful for Patti stepping up and being willing to be first. We choose from 25 different block tutorials posted on The Bee Hive, and even if a previous month’s queen bee has chosen a certain block, it is perfectly fine to choose that block again when it is our turn to be queen bee. I will be queen bee in August, and I still don’t know what block I’m going to choose, but I have decided on a color scheme (to be revealed in late July!). Patti chose the Quatrefoil block in blue, purple, lime, and white. I decided to use Karen Lewis’ Blueberry Park fabrics for Patti’s block. Be sure to check out other Quatrefoil blocks made with Patti’s color scheme on Instagram at #BEEHIVESWARMMARYUSA. They all look awesome!

Quatrefoil Block

Quatrefoil Block

For Stash Bee, the queen bee can choose any block tutorial that is freely available on the Internet or one that she has written herself. The blocks can be up to 16 1/2 inch unfinished. For January, our queen bee, Cyndi, (who is also our Hive Mama) asked us to make a scrappy diamond 15 1/2 inch unfinished block choosing the following colors: pink, mustard, navy, aqua, purple, kelly green, and grey along with low-volume fabrics. Cyndi wanted the block to be bright. The purples I had on hand were batiks which a lot of people don’t like, and I don’t have any kelly green, so I used the other five colors which gives it a more subdued look (which I like) but definitely is not as bright as many of other blocks posted on Hive 7 this month. I’ve never sewn this large of a block before. It is huge!!!

Scrappy Diamond Block

Scrappy Diamond Block

I can’t wait to see what blocks we’ll be making for February!

Linking up with Building Blocks Tuesday.

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2016 Finish-Along Q1

Posted on January 10, 2016 by Quilting is in my Blood

I have two projects that I am carrying over from Finish-Along 2015 Q4. The first is my Gratitude Lanterns Mini Quilt.

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I have changed my mind a few times about how I want to finish this project. I was considering embellishing the lanterns with a running stitch, but I don’t think I have the time, energy, or focus for any kind of hand-work right now. I sewed one row together last fall and did not like how the lanterns looked sewn together. So now I am planning to use the chalkboard text fabric as sashing between the lanterns and between the rows.

The second carry-over from 2015 Q4 is my Birthday Gifts Quilt WIP which is now actually a quilt top. It is about 30″x37″, and I plan to quilt it myself. I will be using two Cotton+Steel fabrics from their Spring 2016 collection for the backing and binding.

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Five New Projects for 2016 1st Quarter

I started the Midnight Mystery Quilt-a-long hosted by Meadow Mist Designs in June 2015 and kept up with the monthly assignments through September. We were supposed to sew gigantic courthouse step units in October which I still have not yet done and then we found out in December that these courthouse step units were to cut into fourths horizontally and vertically. I really like the flying geese I made in August (see pic below). I hope to get back to this project during this the first quarter of the year, but realistically, I won’t have this done in time for the Big Reveal  on March 10th, especially since I’m going to QuiltCon this year. I’m so excited!!!!!

Midnight Mystery Quilt-a-long Flying Geese

Midnight Mystery Quilt-a-long Flying Geese

I participated in my first Instagram swap this past Spring/Summer. I swapped #logcabinparty blocks with 16 other quilters (and one lady made me two lovely blocks). Unfortunately, I never received one of the blocks that was promised me, but 17 out of 18 is a dang high percentage. I made two of my own blocks and now will need to make one more to have 20 squares to sew together for a baby-size quilt. Now here’s the exciting part. After I take Christina Cameli’s Free Motion Quilting Workshop at QuiltCon, I plan to free motion quilt the squared-off stipple I like so much on this quilt.

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I may also free motion quilt the mini mini quilts I will be making this quarter for Yvonne and Sarah. For Yvonne, I’m going to try improv piecing for the first time using the scraps in the pic below:

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For Sarah, I will be making one of the blocks half-size in Elizabeth Hartman’s wonderful Patchwork City book. I will be using my current favorite fabric collection, Terra Australis, by Emma Jean Jansen.

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My final workshop at QuiltCon will be Alison Glass’ Wool Appliqué Workshop. I was very glad to find the Sew Mama Sew Wool Appliqué kit for this workshop on Alison’s website. Sometimes it’s SO nice to have somebody else put together necessary supplies especially in an area where I have no expertise. I plan to make this appliqué project into a pillow.

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So that’s it for Quarter 1. My list is actually on the small side compared to some of my fellow quilters. But it will keep me busy, and I will be happy if I get half of these projects finished.

Linking up to 2016 Finish-A-Long.

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Birthday Gifts Quilt Top

Posted on January 6, 2016 by Quilting is in my Blood

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I finally got back to my Birthday Gifts Quilt project over the New Year’s long weekend. I trimmed up my 20 blocks to 6″ squares because my unfinished blocks were all over the place from seriously under at 6″ to the right size of 6.5″. I didn’t know how to sew a scant 1/4 inch seam this past spring which would’ve helped the blocks with little tiny pieces end up the right size. But I am happy with how they turned out, and they are the perfect size  for a quilt wall-hanging.

And the sashing went fairly smoothly. I like the clean look of it, but if you want to see how blocks like these can look with a two-color sashing and setting triangles, you should take a look at Color Girl Quilts 2015 Summer Blockbuster Quilt. It is awesome!

I’m not sure how I’m going to quilt this. I’d appreciate any suggestions, but keep in my mind that my quilting skills are lagging behind my piecing skills!

Linking up to Freshly Pieced: WIP Wednesday.

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Sunday Stash #9–Terra Australis

Posted on January 3, 2016 by Quilting is in my Blood

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For Christmas my friend gave me one-yard cuts of two of the above fabrics–the big orange flowers with feathers on the left and the turquoise and orange flowers on the right because the owners at ThreadBear told her I loved it. The fabrics are by an Australian designer, Emma Jean Jansen, and the collection is called Terra Australis. It is amazing that my local quilt store is carrying this new collection because it’s not all that popular yet here in the US, but they fell in love with it when they saw it at Quilt Market in Houston. My friend also gave me a gift certificate to ThreadBear so I bought one-yard cuts of the other four fabrics. Then I bought yardage of Kona Shadow (bottom left) on Etsy to use with this collection.

I have big plans for this stash! I plan to make 25 twelve-inch finished blocks to make into a quilt for my bed. With sashing it will be 72″x72″, so I’m thinking I’ll add a pieced border to make it bigger, but I really don’t have to figure that out today! I will be using blocks sewn from Blossom Heart Quilts’ The Bee Hive tutorials and also some blocks from her  Modern HST Sampler Quilt-Along. I am also going to make up some the blocks from the 2015 Fabri-Quilt Block Blog Hop, and I just came across Stitchery Dickery Dock’s Sugar Block Club this weekend. I can’t wait to make the modern churn dash January block. Each block will have some triangles in them which is major progress for someone who used to be so triangle-phobic!  It should be lots of fun. I’ll definitely be giving updates on Freshly Pieced‘ WIP Wednesday.

Linking up to Molli Sparkles: Sunday Stash.

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Modern Baby Quilt Finished

Posted on January 2, 2016 by Quilting is in my Blood

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My modern baby quilt has been finished for almost two months except for having the quilt label made and sewn on the back of the quilt. Part of the reason I haven’t blogged about it is because I have been very busy with other projects the past two months, but probably the bigger reason is that I’m not happy with how the binding turned out. I made this quilt in a beginning quilting class I took with a friend who wanted to learn how to quilt. I definitely learned things in this class. The most valuable lesson was using two rulers to cut my fabric on the right side of the fabric because I can’t walk around my cutting table to cut the other side of the fabric. See my 2015 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop post for photos of this ruler tip and a better explanation.

Our instructor offered to teach us how to machine sew the binding to the front of the quilt using a regular quarter-inch seam and mitering the corners (which I’ve done with all my previous projects) and then machine sew the binding to the back of the quilt using a decorative stitch. I’m glad to have learned this technique, but I just didn’t do it very well the first time I tried it on the Modern Baby Quilt. The binding ended up narrow in parts and significantly wider in other parts, and the sewing looks mediocre. One thing I know for sure is that I should not have started to sew the binding down to the back of the quilt after having a frustrating day at work and being tired. I flat out DO NOT do my best work in the evening or at night. I know many of my online quilt friends kick ass at night, but I’m much more of an early morning quilter, sometimes as early as 4:00 a.m!

I’ve used this technique of sewing down the binding with a decorative stitch on the last two projects I finished, Morning Coffee and Cream Quilt and Japanese Quilt, with much more success. I decided to use two-inch binding strips with the Japanese quilt rather than the 2 1/2 inch strips I’ve used for all my other projects, and that was a little more difficult, but I was happy with how it turned out. I especially like sturdiness of the decorative stitching on the binding and feel these quilts will wear better than the quilts where I have stitched down the binding by hand.

So I am not planning to give this quilt to any human baby, but as you can tell from the photo above, my feline babies are literally all over this quilt! Most of the time that makes me smile, and I forget that I’m less than satisfied with the binding.

This is my third finish for Finish-Along-4th Quarter.

Linking up with Show-Off Saturday.

Posted in 2015 Finishes, Uncategorized | Tagged | 4 Comments

2016 Goals For Quilting and Blogging

Posted on December 29, 2015 by Quilting is in my Blood

Quilting/Sewing

I have A LOT of quilting/sewing planned for 2016. I’m not sure how I’m going to fit in working 40 hours a week :).

I enjoyed using my copy of  The Quilter’s Planner 2016 for the first time to write down some of my bigger quilting/sewing goals for 2016. They are not written in order of importance. My first priority has to be the monthly blocks I need to make as part of my commitment for signing up for two online quilting bees, The Stash Bee and The Bee Hive.
With The Bee Hive, I am also a swarm leader because our original swarm leader went MIA. I certainly don’t feel like I was the best qualified having only quilted for a little over a year and never having participated in any kind of quilting bee before. But I have over 25 years experience of project management, so I think I can do a decent job. Fingers crossed!

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My focus next will be to get ready for QuiltCon. It is seven weeks away! I am signed up for five workshops (see below). Gulp! I’m going to get all the cutting done ahead that I can and spray baste quilting sandwiches for my free-motion quilting workshop. I still need to pull the fat quarters and yardage required for the workshops, but that shouldn’t take too long unless I get totally sidetracked going through my stash. It can be so delightful to revel in the sight and feel of so many beautiful fabrics!

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As you can see from the photo of my planner page above, I’m also signed up for a few quilt-alongs and Block-of-the-Month (BOM) clubs with the goal of moving my quilting skills from advanced beginner (love that oxymoron!) to an intermediate skill level.

I have several quilts that I plan to make as well this year. I’m just about ready to start on my simple 5-inch squares quilt using a Carolyn Friedlander Doe layer cake that I will use on my full-size bed.

There will certainly be some secret sewing done this year, probably two to three quilts. One may be the Low Volume Tiles quilt from Elizabeth Hartman’s Inspired Modern Quilts Craftsy class (I love, love, love this class. Since baseball season is in hiatus, I often put it on for background when I quilt.) Another will be a small lap quilt for my brother’s 70th birthday. And most likely something for my most favorite person to sew for–my sister.

Finishing Up 2015 Projects

I have already started working again on my Birthday Gifts Quilt and plan to start back on the Midnight Mystery Quilt-a-long during the upcoming holiday weekend. I’m going to leave my Gratitude Lanterns Mini Quilt alone for now because I’m thinking the lanterns will look much better with some running stitch embellishment, and that will be a great travel project for trips planned in February and June.

After I take Christina Cameli’s Free-Motion Quilting workshop at QuiltCon, I want to practice my free-motion quilting on a quilt that will be made up of blocks received from other quilters who also participated in the Instagram Log Cabin Party swap early to mid 2015.

Charity
This past year my local quilt guild sewed blocks for Girl Scout Diana Jasany’s Scrappy Trips Around the World quilts for foster children aging out of the foster system. In 2016 we are going to sew  Days for Girls Hygiene Kits. I am open to other projects that may present themselves to sew blocks that can be included in quilts for people in need.

Swaps
I obviously don’t have a lot of time to participate in swaps in 2016, but there are two that I will do for sure. I owe Yvonne@ Quilting Jetgirl an improv mini mini, and Sarah@Sarah Goer Quilts and I are planning to swap Patchwork City mini minis. I also really like those Polaroid Greeting Blocks that were so popular in 2015, so I plan to participate in this particular swap if another gets going early in the year. But I am going to try really hard not to get sucked into Instagram Swapland!

Extra Credit
I’m printing up all the patterns for the blocks for the Moda Sampler Block Shuffle. I have set aside a layer cake of Modern Background Paper and Ink Modern Background both by Zen Chic. I don’t know if I will even touch this project this year other than printing up the block patterns.

Blogging

When I joined the 2015 New Quilt Bloggers Group on Facebook in June 2015, I committed to writing at least four posts a month. I’m going to stick with that particular goal though there most likely will be months where I will write more than four blog posts. I do want to improve my quilting photography skills. My sister made a good suggestion to find a place to photograph my blocks that is a little lower than my cutting table so that I can get right over them for a more “squared” look when I take pictures thereby avoiding the vanishing perspective look with the top of the block being skinnier than the bottom (like my planner page above). I also want to take more quilt photos outside.

Linking up to Yvonne@Quilting Jetgirl’s 2016 Planning Linky Party.

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Best of 2015–Favorite Pics of Animals on my Quilts

Posted on December 27, 2015 by Quilting is in my Blood

I saw yesterday that Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs is hosting a Best of 2015 Linky Party where quilt bloggers can pick their best five posts from 2015. There is no set criteria, and people were encouraged to pick their posts anyway they would like. She did provide a few examples such as posts with most views, posts with most comments, posts that provoked the best discussions, posts showing favorite 2015 finishes, posts of best tutorials, and overall favorite posts.

I’m going to go a slightly different route. I’m only highlighting three of my 2015 quilts but am including five adorable photos of animals on my quilts.

First is Slinky who is a one-year-old dachshund, and he belongs to my niece, Mary Frances. Here are two pics of him with her Fashion and Food Quilt.

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Slinky makes another appearance snuggled up in my sister, Jackie’s quilt, Morning Coffee and Cream Quilt.

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And then there is Jackie’s cat, Otis, looking regal on her quilt.

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Finally there is my cat, Jackson, underneath the quilt I made for my stepdaughter.

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Linking up to Meadow Mist Designs Best of 2015 Linky Party.

Posted in 2015 Finishes | Tagged | 8 Comments

Japanese Quilt–Finished & Delivered!

Posted on December 26, 2015 by Quilting is in my Blood

Even though I started this project in October, I was really pushing it to get my stepson’s Japanese quilt done in time to send to California for Christmas. Early in the morning on December 19th I was pressing the seams supposedly one last time before I was going to make the quilt sandwich, and I noticed many of the seam allowances resembled fringe. The fabric that the Japanese rabbit panel was printed on is very loosely woven, and it frayed like nobody’s business! I liberally used some Fray Check on those seams only to discover that it had seeped through to the front of my quilt and had stained some of the solid fabric I’d used. I was devastated considering all the hours and money I’d put into this quilt, and for a few minutes, I wasn’t sure I was going to complete this project! I had planned to quilt it very sparsely  outlining each block in cream 1/4″ from the seams that joined the blocks together, but that no longer felt like an option because the quilt literally would’ve fallen apart at the seams.

A friend helped me spot clean with some diluted Dawn dishwashing soap, so the spots weren’t so visible. I then consulted with the owners of my local quilt store, ThreadBear, (showing up as Ann was turning the sign from Closed to Open!) and later that day with some ladies in my quilt guild, and we decided that my best bet was to quilt a fairly wide decorative stitch on the seams to hold the fabric together.

And it worked! I actually went over each seam twice–once with a wider decorative stitch and then again with a more narrow zig-zag. I finished the binding in the wee hours Monday December 21st, took a few photos, washed and dried it (which thankfully the quilt survived!), and packed it up. My friend took it to UPS for me, and it was delivered the afternoon of Christmas Eve. Whew!!!

Below is a photo of Drew with his quilt followed by some close-ups and then a couple of pics of a Christmas surprise for me!

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The two pics above are of note cards that my sister had made up for me using photos I had sent to her of my work in progress. I was so touched by this Christmas present, and I especially love the pic of the rabbit panel inside the cards and the photo on the back that shows the fabrics I selected for this quilt. No wonder I have at least five quilt projects in my head that I want to make for my sister!

I have made a promise that I will not put myself in an eleventh-hour finishing-a-big-Christmas-project-situation again. Hopefully I will follow through on that promise!

This is my second finish for the Finish-Along-4th Quarter.

 

Posted in 2015 Finishes | Tagged | 9 Comments

Sunday Stash #8 under my Holiday Decorated Shelf

Posted on December 13, 2015 by Quilting is in my Blood

I’ve been looking at Joel Dewberry’s Aviary 2 collection in Granite for awhile and recently decided it would be perfect for Elizabeth Hartman’s Low Volume Tiles Quilt from her Inspired Modern Quilts class on Craftsy. So far it is my favorite Craftsy class. Since I spend so much time at my cutting table, I decided to decorate the shelf above it that my sister gave me as an early Christmas present. Some of the ornaments hanging below and on ornament stands on top of the shelf are incredibly special to me. The beaded Santa egg was made by hand one bead at a time by the mother of one of my friends, and she gave it to me over 20 years ago.

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I can’t wait to start working on this quilt, but unfortunately it has to take a number because I have a few projects ahead of it!

Do you have a favorite Craftsy class I should put on my wish list?

Linking up to Molli Sparkles: Sunday Stash.

 

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Cotton+Steel Placemats

Posted on December 12, 2015 by Quilting is in my Blood

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Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments