Monday, March 31, 2008

Hancock retreat quilt


Finished the star top from the Hancock retreat. I changed the placement of some of the colors in the strips and changed fabrics for the stars. I used two different golds and alternated the center colors on the stars. I like the effect, even DH said he liked it a lot. So suspect I will finish it and he will be the proud owner of the quilt. Now to decide what to do with the quilting.
The new Take it Further challenge came out, the subject is change. Now what to do with that? The moderator mentioned "circle" and I thought life is a circle, so may think up something using circles. The color scheme for this time is kind of neat too, so may have to play with that a bit also. should be a fun challenge though.

Friday, March 28, 2008

progressive center


Finished this little 6" block for the center of a progressive that I am doing with my friend from Las Vegas. Their guild is doing a personal progressive, where each person works their own quilt. Each month new directions will come out as to the next step. Should be fun. I decided to go really small as I don't need another large project right now. Machine appliqué with invisible thread. Can't wait to see what the next step will be.

Thursday, March 27, 2008


A photo of the crazy 9 patch class we did at quilt club on Tuesday. It turned out a lot better than I thought it would. Used leftover black/white plus some green squares to start.
To do this you cut 9 squares of fabric, all different if possible, Stack them and cut through vertically at an angle through all the layers. Keep the edge of the cut at least 1 1/2 inches from any edge. Take the top piece from the smallest section and put it on the bottom of the pile. Sew them all together. Keeping them in order, press the seam open and restack in the exact order you sewed them in the first time. Make a second vertical cut through all the piles, move two of the pieces from the smallest section, to the bottom of the stack. Sew again. Press, restack, cut across horizontally, move 3 layers to the bottom of the smallest section. Sew them all together, keep them in order. Press, make the 4th cut horizontally, this time move 6 pieces of the smaller section to the bottom of the stack. Sew again. Press then square up all the blocks to your smallest block. Repeat this with 3 more stacks of 9 fabrics. This will give you 36 blocks, This is set 6 x 6 blocks with a 3" border around. Really good way to use up fabrics. I started with a 9 1/2" square to start and ended up with 8" blocks. You can use any size starting square. One in the class used 18" squares to start, one did 12 1/2" squares to start. So you can figure about 1 1/2" to 2" smaller square in the finished block that the square you started with. If you want larger quilt, keep making stacks of 9 until you have enough to make a quilt the size you want.Have fun with this.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

challenges




Finally getting something posted. The flower is for February Take it further challenge. I remember the beautiful peony's that my Mom always had blooming in the summers. Had to locate a photo and get it on the computer, then printed the actual photo on the fabric. What fun.
March is little things. There have been many little things this month, but mostly they have been not so good, so will not bore people with them. My piece for March is of my former neighbors kitty. I put it in a kaleidoscope program and then quilted it. Angel kitty was rescued last winter while almost frozen solid. She did earn a place in the house though, so maybe being frozen was worth it.
The last piece is of my poppies, also put into the kaleidoscope program.

Friday, March 07, 2008

progress

Stitching on block #9, then 3 more to stitch down and I am ready to trim and put together.
Was -2 degrees this morning with a wind that made the wind chill minus 22 degrees. brrrr. Good day to stay indoors and sew.
TIF--small thing today was watching the temperature get all the way to the teens. Ah for some of that global warming they are always preaching about!!!!!

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Geese flying

Went out early this morning and the geese are flying North. Beautiful.

Monday, March 03, 2008

still stitching

Still stitching the appliques down on the blocks. Working on #5. decided to do colors for the applique instead of invisible thread, so its taking longer to switch colors all the time.
New take it further challenge is "small things". My first small thing observed was the crocus poking up through the snow bank. Also saw the first string of Canadian geese migrating. The first morning I heard the cardinals singing too. Lots of small things in the spring of the year. Now to figure out something for a small quilt.