QUILT SHOW PART ONE

You asked, so here we go. In my last post, I showed pictures of my two quilt cabinets. It has stirred some interest as to what quilts are stored in them. I will post a few pictures every couple days, time permitting. I don't want to overload you all at once. I wish I had pictures of all the quilts I have made and given away because there were some good quilts. Some quilts will be older ones. I won't have complete information on some of the quilts as I no longer have the patterns or books. I'll tell you what I know about them and go from there.

The first quilt is a feathered star sampler. I made it in 1999. It is machine pieced and hand quilted. It is from a pattern by Marsha McCloskey. If you have never pieced a feathered star, you may not realize that all the little triangles are not the same size. And accuracy is a must. Wow was I glad to get done piecing those things.

The next quilt is "Western Sun" from the book "Butternut & Blue". The patterns in the book are by Barbara Brackman and Karla Menaugh. I made the quilt in 2005. The sun blocks are easy to make using the easy sew method described in the pattern. The pattern gives the option of a traditional method or the easier one. The traditional has you make an 8-pointed star which involves "Y" seams. The easy has you make an off-center sawtooth star. Both methods has you then applique a circle in the center. The quilt is machine pieced and machine quilted.

The third quilt is a paper-pieced plaid pineapple. I no longer have the book the quilt pattern was in. I made it in 1998. It is machine quilted. This is the first paper-pieced pineapple that I did and now I won't make one without doing it that way. I never had any luck with the pineapple ruler. I had piles of strips in each colorway all over the sewing room floor. You have to really pay attention to what color goes where in a block as a color in one block has to march up to the same colorway in the adjoining blocks. I think the quilt was in a Dixie Haywood book. I have one of her pineapple books now but it is not in that one.
The last quilt is called "Rosy's Folly". My friend Rosy made the applique blocks. They are part of a pattern that was in McCall's magazine a few years ago. I think the designer is Robert McCallahan, but correct me if I am wrong. Anyhow, she was not happy with the blocks. Rosy does an A+ applique job but was just not pleased with these. She also made the 4-pointed star block. She asked if I would like the blocks and I jumped at the chance. I did not want to make the other applique blocks, so I thought and thought about what I could do with what I had. I drew a layout figuring how wide I would need to make the black framing strips for each individual block. I decided the blue sky fabric was a good choice for background in the center. Then I needed some kind of border and fill in blocks. I settled on the blue sawtooth stars. Each star is a different fabric. I hand quilted this one and finished it on Valentine's Day in 2003. I think Rosy likes her quilt blocks a whole lot more now only the quilt resides at my house instead of hers.

Stay tuned for more quilts. And have a great day!

Karen

LONE CABIN QUILT

Welcome to my Blog. It is a very nice day today in our area of Florida. It is sunny and should get up to about 80 degrees. I wish I could send some of the good weather to those still experiencing snow and cold weather. Our Ohio friends will be coming for a visit in about a week. They come every spring to soak up some sunshine and warm weather. We always have such a good time and are looking forward to their visit.

I finished a quilt this morning. It is called "Lone Cabin". The pattern is in a book called "Red Wagon Originals". The pattern is by Gerry Kimmel. The book was published in 1992 and I think I purchased it right about then. So, I have wanted to make this quilt for a long time. Sixteen years! I have had the top done at least 1 1/2 years or maybe longer. I prefer hand quilting but decided that, if I was ever to get it done, I needed to go ahead and machine quilt. I fused the applique pieces on and did a hand button hole stitch around them. I like the fabric I used for the log cabin as it sort of looks like logs.



I am doing hand quilting on the "Poppy Ladies" quilt. It is not a large quilt, so maybe I can get it done before too long.

Lastly, I am sharing two pictures of cabinets in my entry way and living room that house several quilts that I have made. I will post pictures of the quilts over a period of time. I will also post a picture of the small sewing machine on top of the one cabinet. It is a favorite of mine. I used to have many vintage and antique sewing machines but sold or gave away most when we down sized.

We got news that our grand-daughter and great grand-daughter will be coming to visit the end of May. They live in Texas. We are very much looking forward to seeing them both.

My friend Karen from Texas, is also coming for a visit in May. That is the visitor that slept in the bed with no sheets (see the January 21st entry for the story). Guess the lack of bed sheets didn't scare her away! She is planning a new bed quilt and wants to shop for fabric while she is here. I will make the supreme sacrifice and drag her and myself to the quilt shop. Hahaha! I will probably have bought the shop out before she even gets here. Anyhow, that is also a visit to look forward to.

Got to get busy. Thanks for stopping by.

Karen

Baskets & Blooms

Welcome to my Blog. Hope you did something fun on National Quilting Day. I joined one of my small quilting groups for our usual once a month get-together. We watched part of a video showing the technique for making "Bonnet Girl" blocks. The applique uses an embroidery stitch to attach the pieces to the backgrouond. We are making a quilt that will benefit a charity. Each person is assigned a part of the process. Some will make the blocks, one will sew all together, and one person will do the machine quilting. Later we went to lunch at the Texas Road House.

I am sharing a picture of a leaf quilt that my good friend, Kenyan, made. She showed the finished quilt at the Saturday get-together. The quilt has very special meaning to her. Her husband passed away last year. She was able to display the top at his memorial service. It represents his life and passing. The quilt has a special poem on the back of the quilt. She did a wonderful job on the machine quilting and binding.

I finally finished "Baskets & Blooms" Block of the Month by Joined at the Hip. The blocks had been prepared for the machine applique for a good while. I finally decided to work exclusively on them to get to the end. I am pleased with the top. Now I am anxious to get back to a couple other applique projects that are waiting, including the patriotic quilt and the winter quilt.

I was able to make my first two Civil War blocks today. I don't know where to find the list of the suggested blocks to make, so I just picked two. I chose "Conscription" and "Anxiety". I had to cut pieces for the pink and green block three times. It is an easy block to piece, if you cut the pieces correctly. The first block turned out too small. The second is fine. I paper pieced the black & red block. It was not hard to do but took time. I am enjoying seeing all the blocks displayed on other participant's blogs.



 
 
 

Thanks for visiting my blog and come back soon.

Karen

JUBILEE ALBUM

I decided it was time to finish sewing together a UFO project that has been taking up space on the back of my sewing machine cabinet. I was tired of having to move it to work on something else large and tired of trying to keep the blocks nicely pressed and flat. The pattern I used is called Jubilee Album. You may be recognize the pattern because it was a series quilt in "Fons & Porters Love of Quilting" in 2003/2004. The quilt top measures 72" x 91". It was designed by Sue Nickels & Pat Holly.

I used the raw edge method of applique as presented in the book "Stitched Raw Edge Applique" by the above mentioned pattern designers. It is not a quick method but does go faster than hand applique. In reading the book, I was impressed that the authors have won prestigious awards on quilts they have made using this technique. I still prefer the look of hand applique but find the blocks are quite presentable having done it by machine.

The quilt top now becomes a UFO that needs to be quilted. I have several tops piled up awaiting quilting. Being retired gives me more leisure time but there still aren't enough hours in the day.


The quilt top was too big to pin to the sticky stuff on the wall where I arrange blocks, etc. for viewing. My husband held it up as best as he could for a picture. Then we spread it out on the floor for another picture.

I have another set of applique blocks ready for machine stitching. They are smaller than the Jubilee blocks so they won't be as difficult to keep neat and stacked on the machine cabinet waiting their turn to be worked on.

Last Saturday was a stitching day with hostess, Carol (Brown Quilts), Jeanne (No Home Computer) and Susan. We had a good time visiting, poking around in Carol's sewing room, stitching, and going out to lunch. Carol had baked brownies and cookies that were very, very good. Got to see Carol's two Annies up close and personal. They sure are cute. Oh, we can't call Jeanne "No Home Computer" anymore. She did buy herself one and an Electric Quilt program.

I am also stitching once a month on a Thursday with my friends, Rosy & Beverly. A new lady was invited this past month. Her name is Ann and she does very nice hand applique as do Rosy and Beverly. I forgot to take my camera so no pictures. Will try to remember to take it along this month.

Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by.

Karen