MAKING HAND DYED FABRIC

Spending a day with quilty friends is always wonderful.  I did just that this week when we met at a friend's home and started dyeing fabrics.

The morning went so fast and we had dyed up everything we could find.

I put each color in its own baggie and took them home to sit overnight.

Then the rinsing began.  I rinsed and rinsed and rinsed by hand and finally put them in the washer and washed them in hot water and then into the dryer.

Aren't these just luscious colors?  I already have two or three projects in mind and started in my sketchbook to use these gems!

What a funderful day that was!!


                                             -sandi

MARCH WORK

My first finish for March was this little wristlet pouch.  It was fun to make.  I am making several of these with variations.

I tried adding tabs to my zipper pull for this one.  I think it should have been quilted.  

I also made this little pillow.  I simply made the little pillow cover with no zipper or opening to stuff left over bits of batting into.  It turned our really cute.  

More blocks from Vintage Quilt Revival.  


Our first National Quilting Day celebration called STITCH IN THE MALL took place on March 21st.  We had so much fun with quilters coming from all around the region to sew, chat, and sign up for great prizes including a donation for an opportunity to win a beautiful lap quilt to benefit THE NEXT DOOR, a non-profit organization whose mission to help women in crisis.

Quilters signing up for door prizes.

Clothesline Quilt Show

 Quilters demonstrating projects and techniques.

 More quilts on display.

Meeting new folks.

The winner of the Opportunity quilt was Melissa Dumas.

I had a fantastic committee of women who worked with me for this event.

From left to right:  Carol Hooper, Suzan Dodd, Pam McCallie, Sandi Suggs, Linda Meck, and Sandy Rathjen.

Now I will get back to sewing and preparing for the April Retreat.  Until next month . . .

-sandi

2015 MODERN SAMPLER: FEBRUARY

I am still working on my Modern Sampler.  My small group is using Vintage Quilt Revival written by Katie Clark Blakesley, Lee Heinrich, and Faith Jones.

The two blocks for February are Dakota Star

and     Classic Rolling Squares Block

These join with the blocks from January:

Double Z Block:

Classic Riviera Block

Altogether they look like this:

Wow!  That yellow block is loud!!!  Will have to see how well that plays with the others in the final layout!

Until next month when two more will be completed. . .

                                     -sandi

2015 MODERN SAMPLER: JANUARY

I have started the blocks for my 2015 Modern Sampler using the book written by Katie Clark Blakesley, Lee Heinrich, and Faith Jones called Vintage Quilt Revival.

My small group of friends and I will be doing this as our BOM this year.  Our plan is to complete two blocks each month and have twenty blocks by October so we can put it together and have it quilted by Christmas, 2015.

Keeping to this plan will force me to complete a project and not create another UFO.

My first two blocks for January:

My fabric choices are Kona Color Solids and Kona Snow.
I am using solids to challenge myself.  I think working with solids forces me to really think about the value and hue intensity of each color.

                                          -sandi

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IN DECEMBER

Another quilt finished for one of my sweet friends.  Her birthday is in December.

This is an Eleanor Burns pattern and I used all Batiks.  I like the clear, crisp lines it has.  It is called "Hole in the Wall" designed by Sue Bouchard of Quilt in a Day.

I changed the cornerstones to a fabric that was similar to the block centers for added interest.  In the original pattern, the cornerstones were the same fabric as the sashing.

This is the back of the quilt using up most of the scraps.

I really like this label that I am using.  It is simple and basic.

A personal size quilt for a special person!  Happy Birthday, Phyllis!!

                                              -sandi

QUILTING BUDDIES

There is nothing more fun than getting together with quilting buddies.  I know I have said this over and over,  but I am always inspired when I am with ladies who think about quilting the way I do.

Since I am part of a lot of different sets of quilters, I am constantly inspired.

Join me for the Show and Tell from yesterday's Piecemakers Bee.  I affectionately call these gals "The Pbees".  I have a knack for coming up with acronyms or abbreviations that just sound good to me.

Phyllis showed us this beautiful two-color quilt.  She has been quilting for only a few years and it is wonderful for me (her first quilt teacher) to see her progress on each quilt she does.

Her choice of scrappy blue fabrics makes this such a refreshing quilt.

 

Linda decided to do this really cute baby quilt and this time she chose to quilt it herself on a domestic sewing machine.  She chose to use a pre-printed pantograph on tissue paper.  She said that it was fun to do after she got the hang of it.  "By the time I was on the last row I wasn't as worried about staying exactly on those little dots", said Linda.

 

 

Here is the back of Linda's Caterpillar quilt.

 

Several of us in this little group have been working on Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street Mystery Quilt project.

 Today Carol brought her finished top so we could all offer input on borders.We all loved it, but Carol wanted to tone down the green.  We auditioned several fabrics for an inner border and finally settled on a purple.  She is going shopping and then next month we will see it with the inner and outer borders.

Sandy is still working on her darling baby quilt and I am sorry I did not get any pictures of her finished blocks.  Sorry, Sandy, I will do better next month.

 

This month is Linda's birthday.  My contribution was to make her a quilt to celebrate.

 

These are the colors that Linda likes to use in her Log Cabin home.  I decided to use a non-traditional setting for this very traditional block.

 

No meeting of quilty buddies would be complete without the Bit being in charge.  She absolutely loves it when "the girls" are coming for quilt days.

Hope you enjoyed out little "quilt show".  Until next month. . .

                                     -sandi

 

 

 

 

QUILTERS' PLAY DATE

I cannot think of anything I enjoy more than having a "Play Date" with my quilting buddies.  Yesterday was that day.

It started out early in the morning when my friends, Linda and Sharon, came over to "stitch a while".

Of course, there was a lot of chatter and laughing.  Laughing is the best aerobics for the soul!

Linda is working on a beautiful applique project with these lovely birds.  She is a member of the Applique Bee Group that meets at the local quilt shop and they are doing a sampler BOM of lots of "feathered" friends.  I cannot remember the name of the book they are using.  Linda is using hand dyes and they are gorgeous.  This is her current monthly block.

Sharon has a broken finger and this makes it difficult for her to use her rotary cutter and ruler.  She wanted to start making some hexies so I showed her how to do those.  She made a few and then had to rest her hand.  She is checking out Bonnie Hunter's "Texas Tumbleweeds" quilt in the current Quiltmaker Magazine.

That is my Hexie Star Quilt on the corner of the table.  Sharon was using it as a guide for making her hexies.  Don't you love that beautiful blue she has there and in her little plastic bag is a luscious brown and the print that she will use for the centers.

Of course, Lil Bit was there and she was helping me do the hand sewing on adding the binding to the  "Believe the Dream" quilt.

Sharon and Linda left in the early afternoon and the Piecemakers Bee Group arrived in the evening.  The Pbees, as I call us, is 6 women who began taking classes together and eventually evolved into a monthly Bee Group. 

We have done one group project in a Round Robin style using one of M'Liss Rae Hawley's books.  Each of us chose our own fabric and passed it from one to the other each month with each making 1 large and 2 small blocks to put in our finished samplers.  We had a lot of fun doing that.

Another year we made individual projects together and I taught them several different techniques in several little mini workshops.

Last night each of us was working on finishing something we had started.  Everyone was doing hand work.

This is Carol, and she is putting binding on last year's Sampler BOM that we all did together.  Love the pink and brown and her ribbon border is stunning.

Phyllis had a completed table runner in nice golds and browns.  She also had one of her log cabin blocks to show for the Eleanor Burns' Christmas Wreath Wall Hanging she is making in a class she is taking. 

Her other "Show and Tell" was a completed project from our last Workshop on the Lake.

Linda had her project from Workshop on the Lake as well.

Isn't this gorgeous??  Linda made this as a BOM at a nearby quilt shop.  It was the Saturday Sampler.

Suzan was telling us about baby sitting her new grandson.  She is the sitter for Mommy to go to work each day.  Later on she was learning to make hexies, too.

I was adding the binding to my "Quilter's Playhouse" quilt.











We missed Sandy, who is away on vacation.  She will be back with us next month.

Maybe I will have another post from this group next month.  Are you inspired yet??


                                     -sandi