Two Classes I'm Teaching

I get to teach two classes at my favorite quilt shop! The first will be in March, and the second in April. Both will be at Cherry Berry Quilts in Calimesa.  I just finished making these two quilts, had them quilted by January (who owns Cherry Berry), and now they're hanging at the store so people can sign up!



This will be basic string piecing, using Bonnie Hunter's technique and paper from phone book pages.




This one is New York Beauty foundation paper-piecing - I'll be providing patterns and the participants can do them however they want (scrappy or planned, batiks, prints or solids). Maybe this is the start of something good!

Inukshuk

While we were on our Alaska Highway trip this summer, we saw many, many of these for sale at the souvenir and gift shops. We saw them made of jade, gold, rocks, marble, wood, and lots of other materials.  This is called an Inukshuk, also spelled Inuksuk, which is a type of cairn. A cairn is a marker built to identify paths or specific locations, and these were made by the First Nations people in British Columbia and the Yukon. When I saw this paper-piecing pattern for sale at Bear Paw Quilts in Whitehorse, Yukon, I had to have it so I could make one for myself.

Batiks or Prints?

This is the New Year 2010 block from Carol Doak - and I did it first in batiks, and then in prints. Which do YOU like best?

November STUD swap

This adorable little mini was from Kimmie, my partner for the November swap on STUD.




Included in the package were some post-it notes, chocolate, and some green rick-rack (which I forgot to put in the picture).


This is what I sent to Kimmie - it's Donna's Block by Carol Doak - all paper-pieced.

At least I remembered to put a border on it. Have you ever gotten into a series of mistakes - like forgetting to put borders on your minis before you quilted them? I did 5 in a row - finished the block, then made the sandwich, then quilted it, and THEN realized that it would really look a whole lot better with a border. I think that I've done it enough times now that I won't forget any more. But now I have 5 little unbordered minis that would make great potholders!

Paper-pieced bookmarks

More Handmade Ornaments

These three little ornaments are also paper-pieced, and the patterns are from the same old Quiltmaker magazine as the Santa in the previous post. I plan to make more of these as they'll make wonderful gifts.

This little stocking is 3 inches tall.


This little one is only 3 1/2 inches tall - see those teeny weeny triangles?






The tree is about 4 inches tall.

Minis sent out in swaps

This little quilt is for Kimmie, my November partner in the STUD (Swap Til You Drop) Flickr group. I used "Donna's Block" from the Carol Doak book 40 Bright and Bold Paper-Pieced Blocks.

This one went to Dee - who had sent the fabric as part of her package for me. I used some of the fabric and made her a second little mini. The block is #294 from Carol Doak's 300 Paper-Pieced Quilt Blocks.

Laura also sent fabric with her October mini - some orange with black spider webs. I used a little of that orange to make her this little witch, block # 89 from Carol Doak's 300 Paper-Pieced Quilt Blocks.

Table runner and coasters for my daughter

Theresa requested these, saying her table in her apartment "needed some color." She went with me to the Quiet Mouse, where she picked out the two red and black batiks. I told her she needed a good contrast for the third color, and we found this rich blue/black batik. The two coasters are from Carol Doak's book Easy Machine Paper Piecing.

Raccoon Mini

(I forgot to take my own picture before I mailed it, so I've borrowed Laura's!)

This little raccoon was my second attempt - there are 6 different parts to put together, and it still doesn't look as good as the original. But he's still cute. The pattern is from Piece by Number's Etsy Shop. I think that when I make him again I'll add a border before I add the binding. I don't know why I didn't do that. I'm very proud of this little guy since it's was so intricate and time-consuming. I sent it to Laura for the Woodlands theme/October STUD swap.

Carol Doak's Holiday Mini Challenge

Carol Doak designed this mini-quilt for her Yahoo Group. Since it had a blank white square in the middle, I thought it would be nice to add a design - and I had an already-stitched Santa ornament just waiting to be placed there.

The Santa has a garland around his head that has pretty red beads on it.

A few new paper-piecing converts

Last week I taught paper piecing to some ladies in the quilting class I take on Tuesdays with Nancy Fraley. I asked Carol Doak for her permission to use "Donna's Block" from her book 40 Bright & Bold Paper-Pieced Quilt Blocks. I felt that was a simple block to start with, and I was thrilled with the colors everyone chose - they were all different. Of the nine pictured above, I'd say that 7 are "converts" to paper-piecing. The other two were glad to learn how to do it but don't like it.

Birdhouse Mini finished

I finished the binding on this mini-quilt this morning. It's from Forest Quilting, where you can find lots of great free paper-piecing patterns. The finished mini is about 15 x 10 inches.

It's Not Easy Being Green

I made this little mini-quilt as part of a challenge on the Carol Doak Quilting Yahoo Group. We were to use the crayon pattern any way we wanted, and I like mini-quilts. Each little crayon is 4 inches long. The upside down green one is deliberate.

Lovin' that paper piecing!

That's my NEWEST delight. I was forced to do a little paper piecing on a quilt back in June - America the Beautiful - and realized that it was not as hard as I thought it would be, and was fun, too. I've now dived right in and am having a great time with little blocks and miniature quilts.

Here are a four finishes from last week:


This is called Indian Summer. It's designed by Wendy Vosters, and is from her book Paper-Pieced Mini-Quilts. It measures 9 1/2" x 12".



This is another Wendy Vosters mini-quilt, called Geese in the Air. It's from the same book as Indian Summer, and it measures 8" x 9".




This is little mini-quilt made from four Carol Doak squares (#G10) from her book Easy Machine Paper Piecing. It measures about 10" square.







While this one looks as big as the other three, it's only 4" square. It's #F11 from Carol Doak's Easy Machine Paper Piecing. I went ahead and turned it into a little coaster for my office manager.