Strip Twist

I made this top in two days - it's from 2 1/2" strips. I donated it to our guild's community service program, and Barbara K took it home to make it into a quilt. 


This is a Bonnie Hunter pattern, free from her website. Go here to get it for yourself.

My First Landscape Quilt

In addition to all the shopping and the wonderful quilts on display, Road to California Quilt Show also offers classes. I wanted to learn a new technique, so I signed up for "The Art of Landscape" with Terry Waldron.We were to bring lots of fabric that we thought could be used for mountains and trees, and anything else we wanted. She showed us how to make the initial design board (simple:  foam core board and batting), how to cut fabric so that the edges were rough and ragged, and took us through some basic principals of design and perspective. She took us through the making of our mountains, and then our foregrounds.  Everyone else in the class made green-based foregrounds - but I wanted a desert landscape. When I realized around lunchtime that I needed more fabric, I visited several hand-dyed fabric and batik vendors and stocked up.

By about 1:30 pm, I had completed my mountains, canyons, and desert floor.  The stage was set, but I needed a leading actor.

Still in need of a focus

At one of the vendors I'd visited, I'd picked up a stash of fabric that could be used for rocks, trees, leaves, and such.  One of the pieces reminded me of the bark of an oak. It also looked like granite, but I decided to use it for the main part of the tree trunk.  I cut it out, and put it on the background, and thought it looked pretty good.  But Terry said it needed depth - and suggested filling in the inside of the trunk with darker colors.  An hour or so later, I had filled in the interior of the trunk with brown batiks and hand-dyed fabrics.We thought it looked really, really nice.

By then, it was 4:30 and the day was over - I couldn't believe I'd been working since 8:30 am.  I brought my piece home, and leaned it up on the couch where I could see it from my recliner. I looked at it for almost two weeks - thinking it still needed something else.  I initially thought I might need an animal of some kind, and looked at roadrunners and desert bighorn sheep.  But due to the requirements of perspective, they would have had to have been huge, and I didn't want to do that.  My husband eventually said to try leaves, and just put them on the ground. So that's what I did, and I was really pleased with the results.

Next came the quilting - and since I was doing it on a Featherweight, it was a bit dicey in places. But I pretty much just outlined all the pieces, and added lots of horizontal lines in the sky, mountains, and desert floor, and vertical lines in the canyon walls. Terry had said that these kinds of quilts didn't need borders, so I just added a dark brown binding.

From my vantage point in the recliner.

The final result.

I'm quite proud of it. I hope you like it, too!

Cool Giveaway on Alderwood Quilts

Of course, I would like to win, but you can have a chance or two as well. Go HERE.

America the Beautiful - finished quilt

I finished the binding on this last week, and got it mailed off to _?_ for Christmas. (I'll put their names in after Christmas!)

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.

Swaps Received - Wow!

I received from both partners this past week for the October mini-quilt swap. (We're in the Flickr group STUD -Swap Til You Drop!) First was the package from Dee - who included this adorable little doll-like guy who sits on the edge of my tv cabinet.




Her package also included a pincushion, a handmade card made by her nephew, some autumn-themed fabric, and a lovely New York Beauty mini-quilt.











Arriving the same day was this package from Laura, who sent me a mini-quilt for the "Woodlands" theme. See the cute owls? She also sent a sticky-note pad, a pencil pouch made from a recycled pretzel bag, and some Halloween-themed fabric and stickers.


I love the colors in this - and since it's woodlands-themed, it'll be going up in our trailer.

Thanks so much, Dee and Laura!!!!!

Quilts for my great-nieces

One of my goals when I started quilting was to follow the rule of the icon on the right side of the page (Buy Handmade) and give handmade gifts. I also decided that as often as possible, the handmade gifts would be made by me. But thirdly, I made a pledge to myself to make quilts for all my great nieces and nephews. Right now there are three - two little girls in North Carolina and a little boy in Lubbock, Texas. The two little girls in NC are the daughters of my nephew, and I've been developing a nice relationship with his wife - who is, get this, an English teacher like me! We've learned we have a lot in common, and keep in touch via our blogs. Hers is called Perpetually Creating, and you need to go visit it if you want to see some great ideas for vegeterian, vegan, and sometimes raw cooking. Right now she's busy with an infant, but the recipes will soon return. Anyway, the two quilts are below.

This one is a small rag quilt, which is just right for Baby J to lie on. I plan eventually to make her a larger quilt, but for now this is the one I chose to make for her.

The pattern for this quilt is called 5 and Dime, and I chose a set of cute little girl pinks that has large-eyed deer, mushrooms, ants, and other cute designs. This one is for Little J, since she's older and bigger than Baby J.

If you'd like to see photos that B took of the J's with their quilts, go to her blog, Perpetually Creating.

Mother's Christmas Quilt

When I saw the black paisley print at my LQS, I immediately knew I had to make a quilt from it for Mom. She loves what she calls "jewel tones," and this one has them. She'll be able to use this as a lap quilt during the cold northwest Texas winters.

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.

Japanese Circles

This is from Karen Costello Soltys' book Bits and Pieces - I've done 6 quilts from that book. If you're a new quilter, like I am, get this book! Pick one or two from each "chapter," and do them in order - you learn so much, as I did - from squares and rectangles, in chapter one, to triangles in chapter two, to diamonds in chapter three, to appliqué (different kinds) in the last chapter. This little quilt was so fun! My circles aren't perfect, but I don't care - the overall effect of this piece is beautiful.

Quail Trail - Sandi Selk

I mentioned the Chiloquin, Oregon, quilt show a few weeks ago, and am now posting about Sandi Selk because I finished one of her designs. Sandi, above, is from Chiloquin. I bought two of her patterns - Quail Trail and Kokopelli, both from her Southwest Icons series.


(You can see Sandi's designs at her website: Sandi Quilts. )



Below is the finished wallhanging, which measures 17" x 36". I learned about fusible appliqué and used a new (hand) stitch - the outline stitch - which I used on the baby quail. I used blanket stitch around the mama.








Don't you love the fabric I found? I wanted mine to look like they were in a forest - so they're walking on some rocks in front of aspen trees.

I love Jo Morton!

Before I left for vacation, I visited Donna Sheridan's Calico Horse, a LQS in Redlands. (Donna is the mother of a former student!) I told her I liked to do miniature and small quilts, and asked if she had any books. She didn't at that time, but went back to her office and brought me a pattern for a small quilt by Jo Morton. This one is called Nine Patch Checkerboard, and it measures about 23" square. The original pattern called for shades of red with some dark tan accents, but I decided to try it "scrappy" style. I'm quite pleased with the results.

Americana Nine-Patch

Hello from Parcher's Resort in the Sierras - where I accidentally discovered I had WiFi. I booted up the computer to look for a block pattern I'd saved, and there it was. So now I'm busy checking email, viewing all the posts on Google Reader, and updating two of my three blogs. I'll be posting the travel-camping-fishing pics on Wanderlust, but don't have any new cooking-related stories to tell.

The little quilt shown above is another one from Karen Costello Soltys' Bits and Pieces. I wanted to do a patriotic quilt for July. This is basically nine-patches and snowballed-squares. Easy and quick.

Camp Sherman Quilt Show

We stayed at Black Butte Resort in Camp Sherman during the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, and the Pine Needlers of Camp Sherman (guild) had their own little show in the Camp Sherman Community Center. Hanging prominently in the center, permanently, is a quilt made for Mary Lou Loar (see placard below). I took several closeups of some of the squares.

This is the whole Mary Lou Loar quilt.

Below are some other quilts from the show that caught my eye - though I didn't take note of who did them (sorry!).

Some little quilts finished

See the wavy, wonky edges? That's because I'm new to making something with so many bias edges. Maybe it'll look better hanging up, or as a table centerpiece. It's called "Antique Diamonds," and it's from the book Bits and Pieces by Karen Costello Soltys.

At the Chiloquin Quilt Show, there was a basket on the table with a sign that said "Please Take One." The basket was full of scraps, all in sets, and I pulled out a set of 6 three-inch batik charms. The little tag on the set said these were "Quilt Seeds," so I made a little mini-quilt from them.

I learned a lesson about quilting with this little guy. I learned that when you're making tiny stars, your alignment mistakes and seam allowance differences are magnified when you use dark thread to quilt straight lines. I wanted to do lines that followed the seams, but my seams weren't in straight lines! Oh well. This is called "Honeymoon in Vegas," and it's from Lori Smith's packet of fat quarter patterns. The company is called From my heart to your hands.

Chiloquin Quilt Show

When we checked into the Rocky Point campground, we were handed a tourist "newspaper," with a guide to the Upper Klamath Lake area and a calendar of events. I was thrilled to learn that the Chiloquin quilt guild (I think they're called the Chiloquilters) was having a two-day show. Of course, I was there! The town was on the other side of the lake, but it was definitely worth the 25-mile drive. I met a designer from Chiloquin, Sandy Selk, and will be doing a post later about her and two wall hanging quilts I will be doing of hers. The pictures below are of quilts that caught my eye.

The one below is their raffle quilt, and I bought a ticket. They won't draw until September - but at least I have a chance to win!



This is a Sandy Selk design - from her Southwestern Icons series.