Design Wall Decisions

This week I'm making some decisions to finish Birds of A Feather, a Blackbird Designs pattern.  It was gifted to me, partially completed, by my friend Sharyn Woerz, and I am feeling the urge to finish it up.  I am auditioning some plaids to use for the pieced blocks of the quilt.  What do you think?

I'm also cutting pieces to prepare for a Bonnie Hunter class, Talkin' Turkey, which will happen at my guild in early April.  I put the pieces for two blocks together to see what it would look like, and it's on my design wall also. 

It's Monday, so I'm heading to Judy Liquidara's blog to look at all the other quilter's design walls.  (Here)  It's sunny and bright here, and the birds are telling me that Spring Is Coming!

Beautiful Inspiration!

This week the Elly Sienkiewicz Applique Academy is in Williamsburg.  I was in awe of the beautiful work done in the classes at the academy.  The brochure is  (Here) 

One quilt that I saw was a great inspiration to me.  It reminded me of the Jane Austen quilt for some reason.  It is being made by Delores Miller, of Redding, California, and here are some pictures that she graciously gave me permission to take and share with you:

Delores Miller doesn't have a blog, and so I hope she can view her quilt in progress here, and the lovely comments that I'm sure you will make on her lovely work.  It is a quilt of her own design.

Her use of the fabric motifs is so beautiful, and also her choice of fabrics to border the quilt is stunning.  I came home and looked through my pink fabrics and dreamed of making some six pointed stars and diamond shapes from them.....it's added to my ever growing bucket list.

I love pink and brown together, don't you?

No Cabin Fever Here!

Cabin fever is defined as being indoors too long and bored, with nothing to do.  But as a quilter with lots of projects to work on, I'm not experiencing cabin fever, even if I'm indoors a lot more than I usually am.  I always have something to work on.

Today on my design wall are nine patch blocks that I'm making in preparation for a Bonnie Hunter class coming up in early April.  I'm excited to finally meet Bonnie in person as I read her blog about every day.  I'm taking her all day class on her quilt Talkin Turkey, which is in reds and neutrals.

After cutting the pieces for the nine patches, I decided to go ahead and make them, so I can get a jump start on the class.  
  

I also finished the little doll quilt Midwinter Blues from the Humble Quilts blog (Here).  Lori's little quilt-a-longs are so much fun to make.  On this one, I quilted the center, and was undecided about quilting anything on the borders, but decided to give the Baptist Fan pattern a try.  It was just what I wanted to give the border a little extra attention.  I didn't have enough of the sashing stripe to use as a repeat for binding, so used another stripe.  It is finished now and is waiting for Lori's linkup with all of the other little Midwinter Blues doll quilts.

Here's a pic of the entire quilt so you can see my Baptist Fans, and the binding.  It's Monday, so Design Wall Monday's linkup is (Here)  Are you experiencing cabin fever?

I Love Valentines Day!

To celebrate Valentines Day,I am happy to show you the beginning of a bed quilt that I have just started.  You can see by my computer printout on the left side, how the pattern will look.  

The toile and red nine patches and heart blocks will be leaders and enders for me during 2014, and the quilt will be ready for Valentines Day in 2015.

  

Happy Valentines Day to you!  I hope you have flowers, candy, and a hug from your loved ones!  

Doll Quilting Today

Today I worked on quilting the little doll quilt that I talked about (here).  It's called Midwinter Blues, and although mine is a little more red than blue, I sure have the midwinter blues.  I'm ready for spring. 

I quilted it by following the squares of blue and the shapes of the blocks and half blocks.  I may add more quilting, but this is as far as I got today. Here's a picture of the back of the quilt.  The instructions for making this quilt are on Lori's blog, Humble Quilts (Here)  If you want to make it, go to her blog and search for "Midwinter Blues" as the directions are in several posts.

Also in the works is making blocks out of a kit I bought on Etsy.  It's from "Q is For Quilter" and the fabric is old 30's fabrics.  I made two blocks, and here's a picture of them with Sophia Grace and Rosie.  They are in their little basket on the cutting board, with all the rulers in the background.

To give you some idea of the size of the blocks, here is one on a ruler.  I will be making only a few of these every day, as they are very tiny, and they have partial seams.

Happy Valentines Day!

Here are four of my very small collection of very small pillows. They are on a doll dresser in the front hallway.

The heart shaped one is covered with white buttons, and is 7 inches in width. All the buttons are sewed on, and it is backed with muslin and is filled very firmly with batting.  It was an ebay purchase.

The felt flowers and beads pillow is filled with rice and is 6" x 6", and is all hand stitched. I don't remember where I got it, but possibly my friend Dee made it for me.

The little "H" cross stitched one is 5.5" square, and is filled with lavender.  I love it so much, because it is backed with blue plaid, and the cross stitching is so tiny, and it smells so lovely.  Again, an ebay purchase.

The embroidered flower basket pillow is 6.5" square, and is a very pale pink, with a lovely small pink print on the back.  Filled with cotton batting.  I bought it at a craft fair years ago, and don't remember the time or place.

This week I've been working on more blocks for my Indigo Dear Jane quilt.

To see what others have on their design walls this morning, go to Patchwork Times, Judy Liquidara's website to see pictures of a lot of quilter's design walls.  (Here)

Benjamin Biggs Wedding Quilt - Block 2

Here are block 1 and 2 of the Benjamin Biggs Wedding Quilt: 

I talked about this quilt before (Here) and I decided to change the corner leaves from the pattern to make them look more like rose leaves, because the buds look like rosebuds to me.  I drew out a pattern on freezer paper of how I will place the corner rosebuds and leaves on each block, with a rosebud on each block corner, and a leaf on each seam where two blocks are sewn together.  Pic of my pattern:

There is a blog where you can see progress on all of the different quilts being made from this pattern.  (Here) and below is a picture of the whole quilt.

The Benjamin Biggs Wedding Quilt is a free BOM from the generous "Just Takes 2" ladies, Gay Bomers, and Brenda Papadakis.  Website (Here)

Lori's Little Quilt-A-Long

Today I finished the doll quilt top called Midwinter Blues.  The instructions are (Here) The quilt went together nicely after I made amends for my mistakes.

Lori's directions for the half squares at the edge were to make four separate half blocks.  I have seen vintage quilts that are made with blocks cut in half to achieve the same thing, and I decided to do that.  I knew that the seam allowance would be a little smaller, but decided it was just a doll quilt and it would be fine.  

Well, right after I sliced the two blocks in half, I realized I had sliced them in half in the wrong direction!  Oops!  So I cut all of the previously made blocks in half, and in half again, and put them all back together again.  With the seven blocks back together and now with center squares of four different blues, I cut two blocks in half the correct direction.  Picture Tim Gunn from Project Runway urging me on......"Make it work!"

Here is the doll quilt top:

         Lori's directions included cornerstones, but after the trouble I had with the setting squares, I decided to forgo the cornerstones in the sashing.  It measures 21 inches square.

Here are the five blocks I started with before making the setting blocks:

For the rest of the week I will be working on Dear Jane triangles and blocks.  The Dear Jane group meets next Tuesday, and I am hoping to get caught up with my blocks before that meeting.  

Link up is happening today at Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday.  (Here)

Playing with HSTs on Sunday Afternoon

This picture is of some carpeting, and I was intrigued by the pattern, or should I say, lack of pattern in the design.

Sunday afternoon I played with the leftover half-square triangle parts that I didn't use in Celtic Solstice, and replicated part of the design.  I have yet to figure out if there is a "block" that can be made and then turned various ways to get the look of the carpeting.  You can see where I penciled in the squares.
Here is my start on the design.  It is as close to modern art that this civil war repro quilter will probably ever get.

If you want to see what other quilters are doing, here's a link to Design Wall Mondays at Patchwork Times (Here)