Saturday, January 29, 2011

Midnight Stars Quilting and Jane Stickle Quilt


I wanted to post another photo of the original quilt so you could see the quilting. I did my first Midnight Stars the same way and am very happy with it. The quilting pattern is called hanging diamonds which you can see in the diagram below.  Because the horizontal lines make no rhyme or reason I started with the diagonal lines,  going through the center of the block, then next to the outside half square triangle, then between blocks (in the ditch) and continuing throughout the quilt.
Then I stitch horizontal through the center of my setting squares.Taking the measurements of how far apart the quilting was diagonally I measured and marked the same distance from my horizontal line on both sides not even looking at where the sewing lines went through the block.
A lot of you may not be able to do this but I think it gave my block a bit of old fashioned charm. Let me know if you need clarification.
I finished one whole side and a corner block of my Jane Stickle quilt. I actually enjoyed more than I thought I would. My photos are a bit washed out. There's not a lot to see anyway.

I decided it was easiest for me to stitch in the ditch down each side of the triangles, then do two sort of V shape quilting on the plain ones.

I'm taking each triangle as it is and just quilting whatever it calls for. I figure as long as it does the job of holding three layers together then I'm good!
It has been so much fun re-visiting the fabric variety. I cannot even remember what is under the folded and basted edge. Did I mark scallops?? LOL

Monday, January 24, 2011

Church Dash!

 I got the binding on my churn dash, which I have renamed Church Dash because of my poor typing skills! My friend Sally B quilted it for me. I love the fans!!
 I like that not every block looks like a churn dash although they are assembled the same way.
I'm back to hand quilting my DJ quilt in the evenings. I'll use my Hera marker to mark the plain triangles. I didn't have it last year (which was the last time I had it out!) I am hoping to keep quilting on this until I get one whole side finished, then I'll rotate back to Beyond The Cherry Tree blocks.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Elizabeth Hake Mini Quilt

This is the first quilt I got the binding on this week.  You can read about on Sue's blog and if interested please email her to purchase a pattern. Her friend Sue, drafted this mini quilt from an old cushion. It isn't my usual style of quilts but I love the muted charm of it.

Sue even had the quilting patterns, which I followed fairly close. I had planned on hand quilting this but already have too many hand projects. I think the machine quilting turned out pretty good. You should be able to click on the photo to get a better look.
I went on a little mini retreat at my friend's last week and she has always loved this little floral jewel. We chose some lovely fabrics and she whipped this beauty up in no time.



Here is another small quilt I finished. Kathie sent me a little kit to make it up. I machine quilted between the hst and did a simple cable in the border. I also practiced machine sewing the binding down. My friend, Randy, always does such a nice job and uses a decorative stitch. I didn't have a stitch I liked that much and it seemed to make my binding really flat. It was fun to try something new, although I think I'll stick to hand sewing.

Part 4 of the Midnight Stars quiltalong will be posted on Friday.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Wool Crazy

Here's what I got done on my Wool Crazy during my 4 days of handwork.
I'm planning on adding some buttons down the center and making a few more snowflakes.


Simple addition to the row houses.

A little autumn vignette.

If you'd like to learn more about Wool Crazy please check out JoAnn Mullaly's blog.  I ordered the book through Country Loft. She has a new book out called Crazy at Home that I want to get my hands on!!


My next rotation of handwork projects was quilting my Jane Stickle, but I did manage to get three quilt bindings on so I am going to start on them tonight!! Woo-Hoo that means 3 quilts almost done!!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Wool Crazy

Here is my latest handiwork project. It feels great to be working with wool again!!
I like to add my applique pieces and then do the embellishing.
This is my fall and winter square. Although you may not be able to tell right now what some of this is supposed to be, hopefully it won't be too long until it will look familiar.
Another little autumn corner with an empty cornucopia.
Giant size snowman compared to my houses!!

So after feeling like I needed an extra hand or two or three, I decided to rotate my hand work projects. Basically, I have Wool Crazy, Beyond the Cherry Tree applique, hand quilting my Jane Stickle quilt, then misc...mostly consisting of hand quilting small projects. I figured three or four days for each project should let me enjoy each one of them. I'm not in any hurry to finish, but love them all and want to work on all at the same time!
My other plan is to always have an applique block ready to take with me. It seems to be the most portable project.

Thank you all for your wonderful tips and suggestions. I appreciate it so much!

Part 3 of Midnight Stars will be posted on Friday.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Roll Roll Cotton Boll

 I finished the top in the nick of time to get the final step and border tomorrow. And yes, two sections of half square triangles are on wrong. I can live with it. I messed up one of the blocks too and put a different pink half on another pink half and I can live with that too! This has been fun but I am ready to slow the pace. Thanks Bonnie!!
Here is another block from Beyond the Cherry Tree.

 You all had some great suggestions for organizing and working on my hand projects. Thank you all so much who commented. I have a plan and hope to share that when the mystery frenzy is over.

Because I am keeping the parts to Midnight Stars fairly simple I'll plan on posting step 2 on Monday.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Winners!! My Trash...Your Treasure...

I spent the better part of yesterday cleaning and organizing my sewing room. That means I am ready to part with a few things. Hopefully my trash is your treasure...


This little bag is supposed to hold a book and has little pockets under the bird house. It's also a bit of a grab bag since I have put things inside.....Surprise!!

The Grab Bag book holder was won by Cornfield Quilter.
I was kidding myself when I thought I'd make Birds of a Feather. I believe all the patterns are here although I am not taking the time to check.

Birds of a Feather was won by Sharon Mallow Woerz.
The same friend who gave me the red and white bear paw quilt surprised me by including these in the box. I know I will never do anything with them. Maybe you will? I think there is 15 of them.
Dresden blocks were won by Jay in NE.
A bag of Robin Pandolph scraps. Most of these are older, the soft washed out looking ones. Big pieces and little pieces.. And look..a checkerboard already pieced!!
Robin Pandolph scraps were won by Nancy near Philly.

Please email me with your addresses and I'll get these mailed right away. Thank you all for helping me clean...now I've got some new blogs to read!!

PS Thank you for pointing out the errors in RRCR. I've already sewn the rows together, so I will not be taking anything out, but I will be more careful as I get the rest of the quilt together.



Leave me a comment and let me know what you'd like to have. You can tell me you'd like all of them, or just one of them, or two.....I'm usually up about 5 AM pacific time and I will post in the morning who gets what. This is a quickie. I want this pile out of my neat sewing room.
This is not in the giveaway!! 1/3 of the mystery quilt from Bonnie at Quiltville. They are not sewn together yet so they look a little wonky. I'm going to have to work hard to get the top together and be ready for borders on Friday.

Later this week I'll be posting a photo and fabric requirement for the doll quiltalong. It's called Midnight Stars.