I had the whole week "off," if a non-working person can take a day off. By that I guess I mean I didn't have to go into town, and so I had lots of time to sew.
I call this quilt "Blue Moon," and I finished the piecing way back in April. I sent it out to my Long Arm Quilter, Erin D., who is ever so talented, and I just got it back yesterday. Word is, she's booked until December! I'm glad I don't have any other big quilts finishing up soon. Anyway, this quilt is for our bed. The original pattern can be found in the
April, 2009, issue of Quilter's World. Theirs was called "Blue Betty." I still need to do the handwork on the binding. Other than that, it will soon live on our bed. I'm going to make a couple of shams out of the leftover fabric. Here are some close-ups:
What would a quilt image be without a cat in the middle of it? This shows the back.
This is a close-up of the blocks. There are six diffrent batiks in it.
This is a close-up of the border and some of the quilting. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.
As for my design wall, my guild is playing fabric bingo next month. These are my two 25-patch bingo cards. The columns (sideways in the bottom image) are done by color, yellow, red/pink, purple, blue, and green. Then they are categorized as florals, leaves, whimsical, batiks, etc. There were about a dozen different categories. The center patch is black--a free space.
This is my sixth of 13 blocks for my Spring Sampler quilt from the April Fab Shop Hop. If you missed this in April, it's still going on through the end of July. You can get the blocks by participating in the Shop Hop (or you can get them from me!). This is what I have done so far:
Then, after months of readiness, I finally got started on my "Peaches and Dreams," quilt. I got the pattern from
Patchwork Times. Here is my first block:
I think I have a little too much of the light value fabrics. I'm going to shoot for more dark value. It's probably because I have more light fabrics in my collection. I've added some darker ones for my next block. I think I'm going to name my version of this quilt "Orange Julius," one of my favorite summertime drinks!
I got this 2nd of nine blocks finished for my "Let Sleeping Cats Lie" quilt. Here is what I have so far:
My guild is doing a challenge, which I wrote about on an earlier post. It has to include a technique I've never done before. The one I've decided on is landscape quilting. Since I'm not someone who feels confident enough to wing it, I'm going to take a class in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, I've decided on what image to use. This one is a shot I took in
Italy several years ago. It looks like one I might be able to do. Luckily, I have found perfect fabrics for the rock walkway and also for the little building.
Then, what luck! About.com: Quilting is doing a
Summer Breezes Landscape Quilt Challenge that was just introduced a few days ago. She's posted some images for inspiration, but I think I'll do this one that I took on the Longbeach Peninsula in Washington State a couple of years ago.
This is a picture of the lighthouse at Cape Disappointment (I think). There's some sort of contest with prizes to be awarded. I seem woefully unlucky in that regard, but I'm so glad to have a couple of opportunities to learn how to do this. I'm not exactly sure what the about.com site will teach me, but I'm game.
Finally, I'm going to do a mystery quilt that appeared in the
September, 2010 issue of American Quilter. And I am so glad I decided to tell you about this, because my search for the link led me to a blog with corrections to the original instructions published in the magazine. (What a "Whew!" moment.)
These are my focus blocks. There is a lot of cutting involved in this quilt, and so I'm just getting started. I've never done a mystery quilt before, and never really wanted to. For whatever reason, this one caught my eye. I figure if my landscape project doesn't work out, I can do this one for the challenge quilt. But then I'd have to choose a different book.
I'm realizing that quilting can be as interesting or as chore-like as you make it. Previously, I thought I could only work on one quilt at a time, and that I had to finish that one quilt before I could start on another one. Now that I'm doing multiple projects for multiple reasons (i.e. charity quilts, mystery quilts, challenge quilts, quilts for gifts, quilts for my family) it seems so much more fun and exciting to me. And by joining this community of Design Wall Monday, I feel as if I'm a part of a big brother and sisterhood of quilters. (You can tell I don't get out much, can't you?)
So that's it for me this week. See you at Design Wall Monday. I'm looking forward to seeing what you've been working on!
14 comments:
Your quilt is stunning. The quilting was well worth the wait!
Oh I love the cats! Oh so beautiful! I want to do an "orange julius" of my own soon. I like your block. So fun.
glen in Louisiana (who is g today on the list)
Thank you both for your comments!
Your quilt is lovely, but it's your cat Gracie that made me smile because I have a calico named Gracie, too–her full name is Grace Hopper.
Your Blue Moon is beautiful. And my gosh, all those beautiful feathers. No wonder your quilter is booked up so far in advance.
Love your blue moon quilt. Those colors really soothe me. I'm going to have to make me a quilt using those colors.
The quilting on that top quilt is amazing! I love the cats too.
Very pretty top. Your blocks are so vibrant and way cool. I think you have some really creative ideas pictured.
Thank you all for your kind comments.
LOL...I don't get out much either :)
Love your finished quilt and the feather quilting sets it off so well!
Can you tell me more about how the Bingo game works...maybe we could play it at my guild next year??!?
Fabric bingo is just like regular bingo except that the cards are made from fabric. You make a 25-patch. The columns are assigned colors: in mine, yellow, blue, red/pink, purple, and green. Then, instead of numbers, the blocks are designated into different categories: batik, polka dot, floral, leaf, star, whimsical, solid. The names of the categories don't really matter. You just have to be able to identify each block on the bingo "card" by a color and a type of fabric.
In regular bingo, the caller calls out B1 or I5, etc. In fabric bingo, the caller calls out red solid or blue polka dot. You use buttons for tokens. The middle space on the card is black, designating it as a free space. Then you play bingo just as always.
At my guild, we donated prizes, like fat quarters, patterns, books, magazines. I donated a pattern a couple of books, a couple of freebies I'd received from Fons & Porter--anything related to quilting that I didn't want or need. Others did the same.
Finally, you have the option of using the bingo cards to make a charity quilt. Just take the blocks and sew them together with a sashing. They turn out very pretty. Have Fun!!
wow! What a post! so many pictures! my head is spinning! lolol I have had my eye on the "let sleeping DOGS lie" the one at my shop is done in batiks...and it SHOUTS at me when I visit! Guess I'm gonna have to pay attention soon. Love your blog...
Hey, Beth. Thanks for the comment. Let Sleeping Cats Lie is a really fun block to put together. I can highly recommend it. Be sure to post it when you get started on it!
Love your kitties! I have 2--Bobo and Tippy. I need to make a let sleeping cats lie quilt for them, not that they don't have the run of almost every other quilt in my house! Thanks for the inspiration from all your projects!
Post a Comment