Design Wall Monday

This week went by way too fast!  I played chauffeur for my sister three days during the week and assisted her with her job hunt.  I helped her create a resume and then showed her how to upload it to various websites specializing in job listings.  The great news is that she acquired four contacts in two days and has her first interview tomorrow.  That was definitely more important than quilting.

I did manage to quilt for a hour or so on Friday evening and completed the border units needed for my Star Burst quilt.  Next I need to make a decision for the spacer border.  I have pulled a few fabrics from my stash and hopefully one of them will work.

Saturday was my Scrap Quilting Club meeting.  We are working on string, crumb and/or mile-a-minute quilts this month.  I started my string blocks but will not post a picture until next month's meeting.  I have lots of show and tell that I'll post later this week when I get the photos edited.  Here is a picture of my Pineapple Nine Patch quilt in progress.  We are working on completing unit 2.  This quilt is really getting exciting now as we have another simple unit to complete then we can starting piecing the units into blocks.

As I was working on the other projects, I got another Mountain Top block completed.  I seem to use a lot of blue in my bindings and that color was taking over the blocks.  So, I decided to make one block that's color controlled.  I still need to trim it but I think I like it and will make a few more to balance out the quilt.  This block is not as accurate either as I was tried sewing without pins at the intersections.  These pieces are so tiny that the pins causes big lumps making it difficult to sew.  I will go back to the pins as the blocks line up much better.

And while I'm here, I might as well show the completed Loving My ABC's quilt for documentation.  I just need to hand sew the binding and this made a great project to take to work for entertainment during my lunch hour.

Go here for mor design walls.

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

Design Wall Monday

I finished a couple of quilts on Sunday.  You can see the completed Red Cross Quilt and one of the ABC quilts that I started last week by going to this post.

In addition, I quilted another ABC quilt but need to hand sew the binding to the back.  I forgot to take a picture of the 3rd ABC quilt in which I sewed the rows together.  Here is a photo of the one that's almost done.  I had a perfect Kona Cotton in green for the binding.

I got a little bored with the baby quilts and did not feel like working on my pineapple nine patch quilt so I pulled out my Star Burst quilt.  I needed 1/4 of the inside pieces so I sewed those together.  I'm now working on the missing border pieces and they are almost completed.  After working on this all day Saturday, I started to feel guilty about ignoring the baby quilts.  Weird how the brain works, huh?

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

Finishes

Just a quick post to document a couple of finishes.

I've been quilting a little this week.  I finished my Red Cross Quilt and then found the perfect red binding fabric in my stash.  You can read more about how these blocks were made by going to a prior post regarding scrappy rail fence blocks.

Then I got this ABC finished that I started last week.  It had the binding finished and even has a label on the back.

That's it for now as I must prepare my Design Wall Monday post.

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

Design Wall Monday

Quilts for Children...

This week I spent my time working on quilts for children.  And first up is the quilt top Debra and I made for Quilts of Valor on Saturday.  Yes, the military personnel are children to all of us as they protect our beautiful country.  To read more and to see how you can help, visit my post from yesterday.

Then I got stuck saying my "ABC's" and just couldn't stop.  I've heard of that being called an ear worm.  My niece is expecting her third son in October and my new boss (recently promoted co-worker) is expecting her first grandchild in November.  What better to celebrate than to make baby quilts.  So my design wall is filled with ABCs.

First up is the quilt for my great nephew to be.  It's an Andover Fabrics 2004 quilt panel from the "Children of the Inner Light" line.  I didn't want the traditional look of adding a red border and then a scrappy black and white 2nd border.  Instead, I see this quilt with lots of color so I cut lots of 4.5 squares.  I used animal prints, mostly cats and dogs with a few frogs and hippos thrown in.  Right now I don't think I'll add another border.  Now how do I see additional color being added you say?  When I finish this quilt I plan to gift it with Crayola crayons and freezer paper.  Don't you think a kid would love coloring in the images?  Very non-traditional indeed!

The next quilt is for my boss' first grandchild which will be a girl.  I saw this ABC panel from Moda that was designed to be made into a book.  You can see the book on Moda Bake Shop site.  However, I don't need a book, I need a quilt.  So I made this darling quilt top instead.  I have enough of the border fabric for the backing.  Now I need to figure out the binding.

Since I was making ABC quilts, I decided to use the last panel I had in my stash.  This quilt just so happens to be in the American Patchwork & Quilting October 2010 issue.  However, I purchased the panel before all that and saw a similar pattern on All People Quilt that I'd plan to use.  This one is my favorite and I'm not quite sure that I'll be able to give it away without crying.  I need to square up the square in the square blocks before continuing.  I don't think I'll be adding that rick-rack either or at least I don't think so at this stage.

More design walls are waiting for your perusal at Patchwork Times.
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Type-u-later,
Tea in MO
http://www.teaquilts.com

Quilts of Valor

I had so much fun yesterday!  I got to quilt, be with friends, enjoy snacks and lunch all while donating to a worthy cause.  You see, I sewed in a Quilts of Valor Marathon.  The goal is to make 100 quilts in basically 6 days of group work.  When I left, they had 115 quilt tops sewn with most of them having backs and binding made.  In addition, volunteers were also making pillow cases that the quilts will be donated in.  It was so well organized.  Thanks Joy and Susie for all the prep work to make this such a successful event.  Here I am playing working on the quilt.

This is the quilt top that me and my friend Debra made.  We also made the backing and binding.  With precutting of the fabrics, we were able to finish the work in about 5 hours.  Please consider donating a quilt to such a worthy organization.

Next week, Thursday through Saturday, the long armers are going to Gammill headquarters in West Plains, MO.  If you'd like to volunteer to quilt quilts, visit Amazing Graceful Stitches.

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

Design Wall Monday

I worked most of this week on my Pineapple Nine Patch quilt along.  We need to make over 150 tri recs units.  I got them completed.  Since I met with a group Friday night and needed a quick project to take with me, I continue cutting on the next two steps.  I sewed a few of the upcoming steps so I could see how the design would look.

Then, I started putting away supplies around the house as I host Labor Day for my family and friends.  Over 6 months ago, I cut three fat quarters to make HSTs with an accent strip using Sharon Schamber's method.  My mistake was that I cut 1.5" strips for 1" finished HSTs, not thinking how tiny that would be with an accent strip.  So, after sewing just a few, I quickly lost interest.  Had I cut them at least 2.5" it would have been doable.  I like the end result though and will try the method when I actually have a project in mind.  I wanted to get these strips off my storage room floor so I sewed them together.  I have lost some of the strips since I cut them and this is what I ended up with.  I'll store these and make HSTs if needed for a future project.  Or, maybe I'll cut them into strips and use them in a quilt border; or maybe cut some designs from one of my Go! Cutter dies.  Well see...

To view more design walls, go to Patchwork Times.

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