Design Wall Monday

I missed last Monday's post but made sure I caught up this week.  In my last post I told you about Block Party Sampler quilt I was working on.  It is now finished and the post is here.  I had a very successful trip to Pittsburg, KS and Joplin, MO.  I had access to post last week but was just too tired to do so.

On my design wall today is the Twist and Shout top (sorry, blogspot is turning my photo) from pattern by Lyn Brown.  It's really a neat way to get a quilt on point.  I'd seen this before in an old book at home with rail fence blocks but didn't want to cut up my blocks after sewing into a top so I forgot about it.  Now, why was it so easy to cut just plain ole squares?  I selected this pattern for the scrap quilting club's first project.

My scrap quilting club met Saturday and we swapped the Bento Box quarters.  My generally "bright" quilt turned into something not too bright and not too sedated.  I really like getting fabrics from swaps.  This photo is of the scrappy version.  My blocks are sewn with sashing in the middle.  I still have to add a border in the beige fabric before adding the red print as the final border.

And here is the Batiks only quarters we swapped.  My scrap quilting club is doing an awesome job?  Now I have to figure out how I want the second top pieced...

Again, another scrap quilting club project.  We are working on a major project over a few months.  We have until the end of May to make 305 3.5" 4-patches.  I started on mine yesterday and made 110 units that need to be pressed open.  I have a few more 2-piece sections ready for the next batch.  These were all made from 2" squares and 2" strips I had already cut that was stored in my studio.

I worked on some other projects but don't have photos of them, so that's all for now.  To see more design walls, go visit Patchwork Times.
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Type-u-later,
Tea in MO
http://www.teaquilts.com

Scrap Quilting Club - Twist and Shout

Here are the results from Scrap Quilting Club today.  We worked on Lyn Brown's Twist and Shout pattern.  Judi won the $15 gift certificate to Borders, Bindings and Squares; Sue won the 3 FQ bundle; and Mary Ann won one FQ.  You all are doing a great job!  I'm looking forward to seeing the bento box tops next month.

Sorry, Blogspot is turning this photo.

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Type-u-later,
Tea in MO
http://www.teaquilts.com

Back Home

I've neglected posting in the past 1-1/2 weeks.  I must admit that my schedule got a little overwhelming even for my standards.  First I was busy prepping for my upcoming road trip to Pittsburg, KS and Joplin, MO.  Here is a photo of me leaving my home with the car packed.

What?  You can't see in the car?  Get ready to be shocked.  Here my car is stuff with all my quilts and stuff. This shot is of the back passenger side.  The quilts on the left are for my Sampler Quilts lecture.  The ones in the middle are the remaining of the quilts for the Scrap Quilts lecture.  That's not it, hold on...

This is the driver rear area.  The red case has my clothes and remaining quilt supplies I couldn't fit anywhere else.  The tan container is holding everything I need to teach the Exploding Star class.  The Target bag holds Snapware containers I gave as door prizes.  The blue you see is my sewing machine cloth cover (car way too full to get the machine carrier in there. 

But that's not all, my friend Sarah has to get in their with her luggage and sewing machine too.  I don't have that shot, but here is Sarah sewing at the workshop.

Oh, but wait, you haven't seen the trunk. I had about 40 quilts in there, bottle water, and very minimum car tools.  Not an inch to spare.  These are the remaining quilts for the Scrap Quilts lecture.

The following pictures are of the workshop at the Little Balkins Quilt Guild in Pittsburgh, KS.  I'm in the photo with some of the participants partially completed projects.

I also gave the Scrap Quilts lecture in Pittsburg before going to Joplin, MO to present two programs.  For the Town & Country Quilters, I gave the Scrap Quilts lecture.  I got to see some familiar faces as some members of this guild are also members of the Little Balkins guild.  Then, I gave the Sampler Quilts lecture at the Four Corners Quilt Guild in Joplin, MO.  I'm sure you can guess that members of the Town & Country guild are also members at this guild too.  I again saw familiar faces!

I must thank Mary LeClerc of Quilting in Oz for recommending me as a speaker to the Pittsburg guild.  I was then able to offer my services to the other guilds.  I went to Mary and Tom's home where Mary gave me the most amazing quilt show.  She does beautiful work and must be the fastest hand appliquer (sp) in the world!  She blogged about my visit here:  Teajuana Mahone

Everyone I meet in Pittsburgh and Joplin were so nice.  I made so many friendships during my visit.  I have many contacts and have a few who are planning to come to the St. Louis area for a shop hop.  I'm going to try to convince them to make it a retreat at one of our facilities that's setup for quilters.  I'm looking forward to my next visit to these areas, even if I'm not hired to lecture.  Thanks Pittsburgh and Joplin for making me feel so welcome.

If that trip wasn't enough, I hopped in my car (after I cleaned it out) and headed to Paducah, KY for the big show.  It was a great show and I saw some familiar faces here too.  First, I ran into people in my guild.  Then a quilter in the guild where I taught at their retreat last June.  What was even funnier was seeing a group from the Pittsburg, KS area where I visited this past Monday.  I saw some beautiful quilts in Paducah, the food and weather was excellent, and the event was well attended.  I was glad I was so overwhelmed with my own schedule that I wasn't able to concetrate to leave TOO much money behind.  I left a little, but I left some things I would have liked.  I was so tired by then that I wasn't sure if I was being practical, so I just quilt.  I left the area around 4:15 and headed for home.  I'm glad I did as I had showers on the drive home.  I got home just as the rain was getting heavier.

Today was spent sleeping.  During my periods of alertness, I sorted and stored all the quilts.  I now need a vacation from my vacation.  Oh, but wait, I must go pack for Scrap Quilting Club tomorrow.  No rest in the schedule for now.  I've gotta go.

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Type-u-later,
Tea in MO http://www.teaquilts.com

Block Party Sampler

I got around to hand sewing the last side of the binding on the Block Party Sampler quilt.  These blocks were in my "extra block can" (I keep large popcorn tins for storing them).  I taught a class on how to make a sampler quilt when your blocks are various sizes.  First I grabbed test blocks I made of my guild's optional block of the month.  I have a lot of units included that are typically thrown in the trash, like leftover strips I made into 9-patches, HSTs from snowball type blocks that could have been in the trash, edges from trimming stack-n-whack blocks that I made into squares (before the 4-stacked posey pattern), prairie points, and various units that I made into blocks just because.  The pieced border was made from things most quilters throw away.  It was so much fun to make.

Here is a close of the quilting that was done by a professional long arm quilter, Sarah.  The design is a free style allover design.  Where I have 3-d elements, she quilted around them.  Using yellow thread tied the quilt together so well that I decided to use yellow binding.

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Type-u-later,
Tea in MO
http://www.teaquilts.com

Design Wall Monday

This is a long post as I worked on a few things this week.  Please scroll down as I saved the best for last.  First, I finished Window Panes, a log cabin quilt.  I am also working on the binding for a sampler quilt; just didn't get that last side sewed by hand.  I'll post it in the next day or so.

My design wall changed almost on a daily basis this past week.  My Merry Go Round quilt progressed a little further.  I still need more than half of the blocks and I pieced all the precut strips in the colors I picked.  So this one will be put on the back burner for a while.

Then I worked on the Modified Bento Box my scrap quilting club is making this month.  We have the option of swapping quarters.  I decided to participate in both groups, scraps or batiks.  My blocks are made and ready for swapping!

Oh, the joy of being commissioned!  I've been putting off working on a few WIPs because, well they are a pain in the butt.  This first one used Marti Michell's templates and I just don't like them (sorry Marti).  Some of the templates in the set B are too small to hold.  Whenever possible, I use traditional rotary cutting to make the pieces.  However, because this was a BOM, I don't always get that option because of the size of fabric in the kit.  I stopped here because I want to finish out the sashing design in the 1st border but don't have enough fabric in the finishing kit for that.  This is a few years old and the fabric is probably long gone, so I'll probably cave and put the 3 plain borders on it as planned.

 You would think that the previous projects would be enough for the week, but "no, unfortunately."  Okay, I need this one for an upcoming lecture too.  This is Stars in My Garden by Piece 'o Cake.  I started this as my 'almost" first hand applique project.  I had only made one hand applique block previously.  I got the first 8 or so blocks done pretty fast and then lost interest.  Two years ago I pulled it back out and got the blocks done.  I couldn't decide upon a setting (didn't want to use the one in the book as  that would make my quilt look like other quilters').  So I decided to make this setting with geese.  I must have been out of my mind.  I needed 658 geese for this setting.  After getting them all made and sewing them into the sashing units, they were too BIG!  I adjusted a few and decided it wasn't worth my time.  Well, Saturday and Sunday I spent a lot of time RIPPING and a little time sewing.  Now that it's all together, I like it again.  However, I did decide during this torture that I will not be hand quilting it like I thought.  I'm sending this big boy to a professional long arm quilter.

I have another quilt top that needs a border for the lecture as well.  I want to piece a picket fence.  We'll see if I get that done.  My other goal for this week is to check class lesson plan and lecture agendas. 

I'll be out of town next week.  I have 3 lectures and 1 class.  I've been busy preparing for the trip and in the process validating to my husband that I'm completely crazy.  I've been pulling out quilts for the programs and my already small house is even smaller.  I'll post next week if I have Internet service but if not, you already know why.  Pittsburgh, Kansas and Joplin, Missouri quilters I look forward to meeting you!

To see more design walls, go here.
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Type-u-later,
Tea in MO
http://www.teaquilts.com

Window Panes Log Cabin

I have another finish to report. I made this floral (mostly calicos) log cabin quilt top in March 2006. I had a hard time trying to figure out how to quilt it. I really wanted circles, starting with small ones in center, gradually getting larger in each light and dark area. I just couldn't figure out how to do that on my DSM. Then a week or so ago I used a friend's long arm and just quilted it in a free style meander. I have loops, spirals and flowers.

Here is a close up of the quilting:

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Type-u-later,
Tea in MO
http://www.teaquilts.com

Design Wall Monday

My week's goals kept changing as the days passed.  Then, on Friday it was decided that Easter dinner would be at my home.  That change completely reorganized my weekend into shopping and cooking the big meal.

I did finished Craps and Women of Influence this week.  You can click the titles to see them in their separate posts.  I have two more quilts needing binding sewn down by hand and another I pin basted in preparation for machine quilting. 

On my design wall is two (actually three) quilts I started.  The first photo is cuttings from 2 bento box tops that the Scrap Quilting Club is working on for April.  The participants have a choice of making blocks in all batiks or any scraps.  We will swap quarters at this month's meeting.

The second photo is the start of my "merry go round" quilt.  I just couldn't resist starting this.  I'm using precut strips in blue, red, white, gold yellow, and purples.  The jury is still out as to whether it will work or not.  I'm basically trying to get rid of the "old" fashion type strips in my collection.  I'll throw in a few new ones and a zinger or two to spice things up a bit.

To see more design walls, go visit Patchwork Times.
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Type-u-later,
Tea in MO
http://www.teaquilts.com

Women of Influence

I got the binding completed on the Women of Influence quilt.  It was a BOM of a local quilt shop in 2004/2005.  The center attic window block I added as I needed 13 blocks.  The setting from the quilt shop was just plain sashing.  I saw this setting in a book (too long ago to remember) and decided this setting was perfect for these blocks.  The label photo underneath the quilt photo indicates each woman each block was made for.  I didn't like the quilt blocks and now love the completed quilt.  Quilted by a long arm quilter in the area name Sandy.

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Type-u-later,
Tea in MO
http://www.teaquilts.com

Craps

I finished a utility type quilt for my brother.  I used poly batting so it doesn't look square in the picture but it is.  He loves playing dice and when I saw the border fabric, I just had to use it.  I finished and delivered it yesterday.  One more off quilt off my family/friends quilt-to-do-list.  I hope to have it cleared by the end of the year.

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Type-u-later,
Tea in MO
http://www.teaquilts.com

New Quilting System

This is so funny.  Go here to check our a new quilting system.  Sure do wish that it was real though!

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Type-u-later,
Tea in MO
http://www.teaquilts.com