CLAMSHELLS

Today should have been spent cleaning up my studio and organizing the projects that need to be ready when I go to Retreat next week, but, instead, I got a little sidetracked.

A while back I made some clam shells.  They were cut on the Accu Go machine at my local quilt shop.  I put them up on the design wall.  After looking at them for a few days I decided to make a pillow.

It was easier to applique the clam shells on the pillow top so I faced the clam shells with the same fabric as the background.  This made them a little thicker and the background blended better.

So the top was made and I made the quilt sandwich and pin basted it.  That has been lying on my worktable for several weeks...

 

Today I was trying to get projects ready to take to Retreat.  I thought I would finish this pillow top at the retreat so I set out to get the back pieces cut so I could sew it all together next week.

One thing led to another and voila! I had a pillow top made.

Organic straight line quilting in the top part of the pillow:

Serpentine quilting in the lower part;

After assembling it into a pillow top I tossed it in the washer and dryer to get the "crinkle" look.

I really love this!!

-sandi

LET'S DO IT AGAIN!!

I have been using up random blocks from my leftovers drawer to make practice pieces for piecing and quilting.  I keep one near my sewing machine all the time.  It is a great way to test thread, stitch length, and tension.  When I finish I have a place mat that can be used for our daily meals.  Of course, they don't all match, but that is okay by me.

This is the last Maple Leaf block leftover from a set of step outs I did when teaching this class.

It has been used for practice for several months and today I have finished it off.

The binding came out of another drawer where I keep leftover remnants of binding I used for other projects.  I try to use the same width binding for all my projects and it makes it easier when I want to drag pieces out to use on a different piece.

I chose this plaid binding.  

I discovered that I had used it on one of the other place mats.

Take a look at the quilting techniques on these place mats.  They are not great work, but they served the purpose of me practicing and learning them so I could use them on my other pieces.

My favorite thread is Superior Threads Bottom Line in Shade 617 which is a taupe color and it goes with everything, even navy, black, and dark brown.  I use it for piecing and also for quilting.

 For projects that will be used and laundered a great deal, I usually add the binding by machine.  I think it is more serviceable and durable.

Okay, enough about the place mat, "Let's eat!"

-sandi

LIL BIT GETS A NEW QUILT!

LilBit likes to share the love seat with me when she has a snack or a treat bone.  Well, being the spoiled princess that she is, allows her the privilege of doing just that.  I put a quilt on the love seat to try to protect it from her food mess.  

This is a quilt I made using some of my step-out blocks from Snail's Trail Class that I taught a couple of years ago.

I decided that she needed a new quilt with a fall theme.  I had a bunch of strips left over from another project.  Imagine that!

I decided to play "What if . . ." and make improv blocks.  I started out making some wonky log cabin blocks.

What if...

I decided to use up more strips and make some strata blocks that I then cut to size to go with the wonky log cabins.

What if ...
I make a center block of dark strips.  Then cut these in half twice on the diagonal and re-sew into one 12 inch block.

Now what if....
I put these together into a 9-patch design???

I am not so sure the center block was effective, but it will remain.
What if I add a border,,, or not??

NOT!!!  This quilt did not need a border!  It was more interesting on its own.

Now for the quilting. . .

I love straight-line quilting.  On this quilt I chose to use simple flannel as my batting with a cotton backing so the quilt would launder and dry quickly and easily.  When I do straight-line quilting with regular batting I get a stronger texture than I got on this piece.

In two of the corners I chose to do rays.

I learned that it would have been better to originate my base on the opposite corner because the collection of threads in that upper right corner was tedious to say the least.  It was quite a build up and burying that many threads was a chore!

In the other two corners I chose to go back to working the stair step pattern.  I really like this pattern because a secondary texture usually develops at the intersection.

The secondary texture is not as evident here because of so many lines on the logs.

The strata blocks were quilted in sets of lines with a very organic feel to them.

And in the center I chose to do a spiral.  Again, lesson learned here was those blocks were way too busy for that design to show much.
Using all of these batiks made the pieces very busy and less clean looking.  I think this is still an example of a quilt with a modern aesthetic, but it would have been more interesting with less busy patterns on the fabrics.

This was a really fun practice piece and has turned into a cute little quilt for LilBit to snuggle into on the love seat.  It measures 36" square.

Here is a look at the quilt hanging up.

The indoor shot gives you a better perspective of size with it hanging over our fireplace.  The outdoor piece appears larger.

"Hey Mom, I love my new quilt.  Thanks", says LilBit.


                                                        -sandi

LEFTOVERS

I lived in the country when I was a girl and my mom was a stay-at- home mom.  She was also a great cook!!!  Even when our income was meager, she still managed to put together meals for us from leftovers.  Sometimes the leftovers were much better the second time around when she had added other ingredients to them and changed what they looked like the day before.

I have talked about the "drawer" in my sewing room that contains lots of leftovers.  Sometimes it is blocks, sometimes it is components of blocks, and sometimes it is simply scrap strips.

Here is what I found in the "drawer" the other day.

This is a leftover split 9-patch block made using batiks.

I looked around until I found a bin of leftover batik strips.

Then the fun began.

I decided to make a place mat with this block placed on point.

I could build it out by Quilt As You Go and Flip and Stitch.

The first thing I did was quilt this block.

Here is the way it looks on the back.

I thought this was pretty cool!!

Then I started adding strips to the four sides of the diamond.  I decided to reverse the value of the strips to the block.  Light against dark and dark against light.

Since I was using Stitch and Flip Method here, I did not need to add any more quilting.

I really like how it looks.  And on the back it looks pretty neat too.

I pulled some strips out of the bin and made the binding.

I decided to complete the binding on the machine to make it sturdier because this place mat will get a lot of washing.

Of course, there is only one of these, but I don't mind that every one's place mat is different at my house!!  After all, this was a practice piece for trying some straight-line quilting and using up some leftovers.

                                                     -sandi

COLLABORATION

Collaboration is a very big word for something that was so much fun.  My SLKS group (acronym for the initials of the members) did a Round Robin, sort of, for several months.  I absolutely love mine and am still thinking about how I want to quilt it.  We only have a couple of months to get it finished because we want to show it at our guild meeting in December!

It started here.  I made this block and said that it could be used anyway the others chose, but I preferred asymmetrical layouts.

After two rounds this emerged...

Here is the final round added...

And then we all showed our pieces together...

Outside...

and inside...

What a wonderfully talented group of ladies to hang out with.  This was a challenge for me!!

Our fearless leader, Linda, has already proposed our new group challenge project for 2015.  Wow!  more creative stretching is in store for me!!

-sandi

ROUND ROBIN

It is the last round of our Round Robin in the SLKS group.  SLKS stands for Sharon, Linda, Karen, Sandi.

We started this project about 4 months ago and I had Linda's top this month to add my two cents worth.

It started with an applique block of original design by Linda, then Sharon added her round which included the cute little bee, next came Karen's and she added the fence and another flower with a vine.  So, when it came to me I decided to keep it simple to emphasize the center work.  

Linda had this gorgeous gradated piece of fabric and I chose to use it and add simple asymmetric borders.

-sandi

DID SOMEONE SAY HULA SKIRT???

Oh, I guess not!  Oh, well, my Pineapple Blocks are ready to assemble.

Should I line them up in a row like this

OR, should I line them up on point?

Of course I chose on point which then required setting triangles.

Some serpentine quilting on my domestic sewing machine.

and then binding and label

Ta-Da  All done!!!  And LilBit slept right through it all!!

                                      -sandi

ANOTHER FINISH

Several months ago a friend of mine saw a quilt that I was adding a sleeve on while we were in a meeting together.  She loved the quilt and wanted to know if I would sell it.  The answer was no because this quilt was already spoken for.  She asked if I would make her one "just like it".

Well, we all know that cannot happen if the line of fabric is more than a few weeks old.  I explained to her that I would have to research and see if I could come up with the fabric line.  If I could, then we could make a "similar" quilt to the one she just saw.

Of course, I started my search online.

I was able to find a fat quarter bundle of Moda's line called "Freebird" designed by MoMo.  Whew, that was great!!  I ordered the bundle and off we went to make the quilt.

Since the pattern "Lawn Chair Quilt" from Moda's Bake Shop called for a jelly roll, I had to cut the fat quarters into strips.  

The quilt is finished and ready to deliver to my friend/customer!!  It is not identical to the one she saw, but it does use the same fabrics.  I made sure that I did not refer to the original one while making   this one.  This one has a couple fabrics that are not in the other quilt and vice versa.

I hope she enjoys using this in her "cabin" in the woods!!

By the way, the original one was chosen as part of the BAQS Exhibit in Des Moines, Iowa for 2014 Quiltweek.

         -LilBit and Sandi