JUNE AND JULY WORK

It has been so long since I have posted anything on my blog so today I am going to do a quick recap of things I am working on and/or have finished.

Straight line quilting on a piece called "Spring Gardening".

Hand piecing hexies for my upcoming class I am teaching at QuiltWeek Chattanooga in September.

Finished the quilting on the "Leftovers Table Runner".

Quilt As You Go Valance for my breakfast room.

Lots of straight-line quilting on little projects for my Trunk Show/ Lecture coming up in September.

Finally finished this queen-sized bed quilt in Improv and Quilt As You Go techniques.


                                               -sandi

APRIL WRAP UP

Whew!!!!  April has been a busy month. I continually set up goals for myself and I continually miss reaching lots of them.

So here is what I have accomplished.

I finally finished all of the components for the Bonnie Hunter Easy Street Mystery Quilt.  This is one of the corner blocks and one of each of the two blocks that make up the quilt design.  Not too sure how long it will take me to get all of these blocks made and assembled....

Second block completed of Starry, Starry Night.  These blocks are about 18 inches square.

Made a few clamshells using my friend's die cutter.  Might turn into a pillow.

These are tiny (3/4 inch) leftover HSTs from the Bonnie Hunter Easy Street Mystery Quilt.  Thinking something modern will come out of these.

Of course, April would never be complete without the Frogpond Quilters Retreat at Grand Oak Retreat Center in Scottsboro, AL.  What a super bunch of gals to hang out with for four days!!!

Cute little make it/take it project that Jackie brought for us.  Still need to quilt it.

I did manage to get one project completed at the retreat - well, the top that is.  No, Carol is not being punished by standing in the corner.  She says it is some kind of exercise???

 

 

Having lots of fun in my paper piecing group making these seasonal mug rugs.

 

Still quilting this strip pieced quilt on my DSM.  Almost there...

Have another block of my QAYG on the design wall.  Not too happy with that large blob of yellow dots in the center there.

 

Of course, I have a carry along project making more hexies....

In my SLKS bee group we are starting a round robin with the four of us.  I have the first Round of Sharon's quilt and here is a little sketch of what I might could do, but then again, maybe not.  Her block is the colored star that she wants used for the center.

I did completely finish one small project.  This is a quilted mat for Lady Dog.  She belongs to a friend of my hubby.  We wanted to say thank you to her master for some kindnesses he has shown us.
The HSTs are made from the Pampered Pooch Charm Pack from Moda.  I still have enough to make another mat, maybe for LilBit.

This piece is about 32 inches square and I love the low contrast of the blocks to the light blue background.

Looks to me like I have a lot of things in progress. . .   Maybe next month we will see some completions ???


                                      -sandi









 

WEEKLY UPDATE

This has been a very busy week for me and not much quilting time.  I did finish my Cascade scarf.

I made another little scarf using a wash away stabilizer but I did not get a picture before I gave it away.  That is a funny story.  We were having dinner out and the waitress kept commenting on how much she liked my scarf.  Finally, I decided I would just give it to her because I "can make another one" whenever I want, right??
She was thrilled that I just gave it to her-- just like that.  It made me feel good, too.

I did get another Improv block up on the design wall.  I haven't sewn it together yet.

I made this center medallion piece for a round robin I am starting with a couple of my friends.

Next week, I will be going to A Mountain Quiltfest in Pigeon Forge for three days so I won't get much sewing done --  well, I plan to put bindings on a couple pieces while I am there.

                               -sandi

WEEKLY UPDATE

This has been a very busy week.  We have had a day or two of snow and that always creates a great deal of excitement since snowfall is not routine for us in southeast Tennessee.  Well, at least a lot of snow isn't.  We had about 8 inches this time.

I become more energetic in the sewing room when it snows.  It is like a "free hall pass" to do all the sewing I can possibly cram in.

I made three more of my low volume improv blocks.  They are pieced but not quilted yet.  This makes six of the nine needed for my guest room bed.  I wanted to complete four of these blocks according to my Proposal blog.  I still have a week and a half to go.

This week I will concentrate on getting them quilted.

 

This is  a new improv piece using batiks.  This is part of my Tree Series  quilts.  It is not an optical illusion, the blocks are off center of each other!  On purpose!!

This is the third piece of quilting that I worked on.  This is my kaleidoscope and it is quilted and part of the binding is finished.  This is a completion from my Proposal Blog post.

The Pineapple Block workshop has been postponed due to bad weather.  May not get it in during February.

One other thing I worked on this week was my scarf using the Cascade Pluscious yarn from my friend, Laura Valdez.  I am loving it.  This is about one-fourth the finished length. 

And, of course, no post is complete without LilBit.  She nagged Papa all morning to hold her up so she could see out the window to watch the children sledding on the hill behind our house.

I already have two new designs sketched in my notebook and I must get started on a T-shirt quilt for my grandson!!  Lots to do.


                                                  -sandi

 

 

WEEKLY UPDATE

My weekly update for projects includes finishing two Improv blocks and getting them quilted together for my QAYG project.  There are seven more to go.

 

I pieced the top for this quilt in 2012 and have just had it quilted by Gayle Grier at A Quilter's Playhouse.  I love that it has no borders.

 

The red fabric I used for the back of the Friendship Star was so interesting to me.  I just loved it!!  I used leftovers to do my back and to write my label.

This was not one of the projects on the  Proposals post, but it just surfaced and I was able to finish it.

I also started working on a scarf with the wonderful Cascade yarn that my friend, Laura, sent to me.

Okay, that is one week's worth of work.  Hope this next week brings me more time to work on my projects.

                                   -sandi

 

 

IMPROV QUILT UPDATE

Last week I showed you my finished pieced blocks - well, the first two.  This week I have finally finished quilting each of them.

I love the straight line quilting I did.  I tried to do something a little different in each of the different fabric components. 

I tried some curves in the dark gray and I love those.  Makes me think of a river.

I also did some pebbles.  Hmmm, not sure I like these.  I know I will not pick them out, but may not do anymore of these.  Free motion quilting is not relaxing for me and it will require a lot more practice time than I want to give to it.

Speaking of practice:  I am calling this entire project a "practice piece" even though I intend to use it in public on my guest bed.  I am not planning to do any ripping out if something doesn't quite "hit the mark".  I learned the term "organic" when I went to Quilt Con - the first Modern Quilt Conference - in Austin, TX last year.  The term refers to doing "straight-line quilting" mostly in a straight line.  The "mostly" part is what I like.  So my quilting is very organic.

I also chose to do some larger areas with contrasting thread.  It creates a little "sunshine and shadow" effect, I think.

In other areas, I linked together a few components that I could quilt together and make an interesting quilting design.

I guess my very favorite style of quilting in straight lines is what is called matchstick quilting.  These lines are very close together.  Again, this is very "organic". 

 

 

I am having a lot of fun with this project.  This is the first two blocks of nine.  I think the size of these  blocks (27" x 30") will give me the size I need for my guest room bed.

I need to make another block, then I can "connect" my blocks for the first row.

 

 

Each time I get something finished, I will post.  So stay tuned . . .

                                                        -sandi