Quiltathon and Design Wall Monday

I'm combining my Quiltathon and Design Wall Monday into one post as they sort of go together.  I've had a productive weekend. Click photo to see larger version that shows all projects. 

I pieced all 27 of the Crazy About Hearts and Stars blocks. 

I then realized I only need 10 more quilts for friends/family so I went shopping to get theme fabrics.  My nephew like basketball and my great nephew like writing lyrics and setting them to music.  So I cut and pieced 2 sliding bricks tops.  I have the backings pieced and the batting cut to size from yardage.

Then, I decided to work on some heart blocks that I won in a guild raffle.  Of course, none of the blocks were the same size, so I added a frame to them first.  Then I added some text I typed into my embroidery machine as the center white areas were plain, plain, plain and that just wasn't going to work.  I then squared them all to the same size. 

My goals for the week are:

(1) baste and quilt the music quilt

(2) sew the heart blocks into a top (minus the border for now as not sure what size I want the quilt to be)

and (3) sew the crazy stars/hearts into rows (still haven't decided on borders yet)

To see what others are working on go here for Quiltathon or here for Design Wall Monday.

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Type-u-later,

Tea in MO

http://www.teaquilts.com

Design Wall Monday

I've been really busy this week.  I finished two quilts.  If you'd like to see them go here. 

I saw the Mountain Top on another Design Wall Monday blog and decided to make a block myself so  that's on my design wall.  I'm using scrap muslin as the background and the left over pieces from sewing bindings together.  I've been looking for something that uses half square triangles and this is it.  I LOVE this block.

In additon, I started the Crazy About Hearts and Stars by Buggy Barn.  The pattern has 20 blocks but I'm making mine with 25 blocks.  But because of how I wanted my fabrics placed, I'm actually making 27 blocks; two will become pillows.  I started out making one block at a time.  After the fourth block I'd had enough.  I chain pieced the next six.  It worked so well that I then chain pieced the remaining 17 blocks.  I have two more seams to sew to complete the blocks.  I tend to get the blocks pieced pretty fast but then stop at the borders, so my goal now is to finish the blocks, determine a border to get the quilt to queen size and then make back and binding. We'll see...

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

Two More Finishes

I finished two quilts this week, Heart's Content and Trip Around the Scrap Basket.  The Heart's Content quilt top is for a great niece.  I now have the 6 quilts done for my nephew's entire family.  I'll show them at my quilt guild next Thursday then I will have some free space in my storage area.  I've been working off and on with them for about 3 years.  I'm glad their off my UFO list!

The second finish is Trip Around the Scrap Basket.  I'm teaching this technique at our guild's retreat in February.  I didn't want to teach the class with just a top.  I've started another one to teach with that's all in batik fabrics.

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Type-u-later,

Tea in MO

http://www.teaquilts.com

Red, White and Blue Stripes AND Next Project

I finished the Red, White and Blue Stripes quilt after work yesterday.  The binding was put on by machine so it only took about an hour and a half.  Now I just need one more quilt for this family.

and had time on my hands.

Since I had not basted the final quilt and had time on my hands, I cut the "Crazy About Stars and Hearts" pattern by Buggy Barn.  I wanted to take the lazy route and just use red, white and blue fabrics.  Had even pulled the FQs from my stash. However, after a silent reprimand, I went and pulled the patriotic yardage I'd been collecting for this quilt.  Knowing I wanted to make this quilt, I'd been collecting different patriotic prints for years so it was no excuse to take a short cut now.  Took me about three hours to cut a FQ portion off the yardage, iron and cut the blocks.  I even got two blocks done.  Now I want to sew more blocks and forget quilting the next family quilt.  It's always a delima around here.

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Type-u-later,

Tea in MO

http://www.teaquilts.com

Completed Embroidery Projects

I'm home quilting the Red, White and Blue Stripes quilt and decided to take a break to upload 3 completed embroidery projects.  The wreaths and banner is from PJs in the Hoop Valentines cd from Anita Goodesign.  I made one wreath for my daughter whose birthday is February 16th as a BD gift.  I hope she likes it.

This onee is for my daughter with the purple ribbon.

I made this for my front door, even after Valentine's day.

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

Design Wall Monday

Okay, I'm off track already.  I've decided to participate in Design Wall Mondays so here's what I worked on this weekend.  I actually made two of the pink/purple hearts, one with pink sashing and another with purple sashing.  Since the purple sashed one is for me, it's put up with my other tops.  I pieced borders on 3 quilts, two hearts and the red, white and blue stripes shown below.  I also made backings and bindings.  As you can see, I have pin basted one for quilting tonight.  These are the two quilts I need for a family of six.

This quilt is for my supervisor who is retiring around May of this year.  While I'm doing all the work, the department staff will help with expenses.  I have 6 more rows to piece.

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Type-u-later,

Tea in MO

http://www.teaquilts.com

2009 WIPs Summary

For documentation purposes I make this post. I’ll post a few photos in the next post (hopefully later today) of some things I made this year already.


I did not document how many WIPs I started at the beginning of 2009 which is a bummer. Okay, here are my statistics:

I completed 55 projects for 31.43% of my WIPs. This includes UFOs as well as projects I started in 2009. I end the year with 120 WIPs (don’t laugh…it would have been more if I wasn’t keeping track.) Why do I have so many WIPs? I teach classes and lecture. Sometimes Most times I make samples as I feel showing and telling participants is better than just telling alone. It seems as if whenever I finish a class project (even years down the road) that lecture or class is then requested. I can’t get ahead of this process. So, I'm okay with the number of WIPs just don’t want it to get too much larger.

I started 57 projects in 2009 and of those finished 36 of them (do not include the multiple projects like the 64 cell phone cases, multiple bookmarks, etc. I made.) So that means I finished 19 actual UFOs in 2009.

List of projects Completed

January 2009
Christmas Cookies with Janiacs

February 2009
Batik Rainbow
Just Strings Series: All Together Now
Wonky Hearts
Splat Attic Windows
Origami Bag
Underground Railroad Quilt Code
Dump Bag

March 2009
Freedom Tote
Dog Baby Bib
Embroidery Blanks
Bunny Basket
Trapunto Rose
Chicks Basket and Doily
Bunny and Egg Basket
Magic Trip Around the World

April 2009
Window of USA
Challenge Ribbons
3-D Butterfly

May 2009
Ruler Holder/Cutting Supplies Wall Hanger
She Loves Me, She Loves Me Knot Purse
Flying Geese Challenge Quilt
Cell Phone Cases (made 64)
Bookmarks (made 10)
Turning Twenty Again Quilt

June 2009
Missouri Botanical Gardens
Exploding Star
Teaquilts Banner
She Love Me She Loves Me Knot Purse 2
Christmas Charm Tote
Scrappy Ocean Waves
Totes for Charity (made 3)

July 2009
Portable Design Wall
Split 4-Patch
Covered Bridge
Fall Scene

August 2009
Birthday Banner
Block Swap Round Up
Reconciliation
Crazy Pumpkin
Chocolateberries
Floral Garden
Halloween Treat Bags (made 5)
Mirage

September 2009
Bamboo
Pinwheels

October 2009
The Abbey Bag

November 2009
Frosty the Star Man

December 2009
A Star is Born
American Friendship Round Robin
Flower Garden (Wicked Easy Quilt)
Star Explosion (Exploding Star)
Quilted Notebook Covers (3)
Hunter's Star
Marbles
I know, long and boring but I need to get this written down somewhere.

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

Couple of more finishes for the year.

I'm adding two more finishes for the year to report for the works in progress challenge.  I have two banners I hope to get done tonight if possible or definitely tomorrow.

This first quilt is called Marbles and is for my nephew.  I made this top in May 2008 and it just sat there without a border.  It was supposed to go to someone else and when that fell through, I had not interest in working on it.  Then, I pulled it out and realizing that it was almost twin size that it would be perfect for a family quilt.  I now have 4 of 6 quilts that will go to this family.  Need one more for a great niece and a great nephew.

This one I started as a mystery quilt in a yahoo group in 2006 and finally decided to get it off the UFO list.  It's quilted on my home sewing machine and it took me almost a week to get it completed.  The colors are a lot richer making for a nice autumn quilt.

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

Quilts to Share

I have a few quilts to share.  I've been quilting on my DSM and got some projects off my UFO list before year end.

The American Friendship Round Robin was organized through Teas Snowman Swap Group in 2005.  I made the center based on pattern Stars and Stripes by Shannon Williams.  I then sent it to Yveline Mignot in Florida.  She made the flag panel into a stamp by adding white border.  She then appliqued all those half circles and the final black border.  It was then mailed to Barbara Foster in Missouri who added the applique stars and hearts and the blue spacer border.  It then went to Annette Hester in North Carolina who added the "God bless America, Land of the free" spacer and the rail fence border.  However, adding the eagles made it truely American.  It was then returned to me in Missouri and I just had to add something more to reflect the USA theme.  I made 50 friendship stars and put each state's two-letter abbreviation in the center.  In the spacers on the sides, the fabric has USA  tossed about in various text sizes.  This one quilted up nicely and I am anxiously awaiting for Saturday so I can show it to my small quilting guild that meets monthly in each others homes.

This quilt is for a 2nd cousin.  The coloring in photo is horrible because the fabrics are really pretty.  This quilt was made from the Wicked Easy Quilt pattern that was free on the internet a few years back.  Its twin size and just something for her to take when spending the night with friends.

I've taught the Exploding Star class a few times and this quilt started as my class sample.  I thought I was through teaching my final star class in June so I completed the top.  However, a few months later, I got a contract to teach this class in April 2010 (I know, that how it works.)  So, I'm making a new class sample quilt (actually two as I'm creating an expanded version of the pattern) so my UFOs grew here instead of decreasing.

That's it for now.  Hopefully I can get some projects completed before the month is out.

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

Baby Quilt

I'm not a huge fan of fabrics that typically make up baby quilts, unless of course you add them into a scrap quilt. My friend's step-daughter had a baby last Tuesday when she was unexpected induced. I thought I had more time to make a quilt, but it quickly ran out. I made this quilt in a couple of days for the new baby boy. I picked the star fabric at a LQS last month and then picked the two coordinating prints to go with it. Not your typical baby quilt, but it will do.  Quilt is 40" square...

I have been quilting like mad. I have a quilt for a second cousin made, just need to sew two sides of the label. Ive also quilted the American Friendship Round Robin quilt. I'm working on hand sewing the binding and label. In addition, I have quilted a mini exploding star quilt I'm calling Star Explosion. So come back as I'll be posting pictures of these quilts this week.
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Type-u-later,
Tea in MO
http://www.teaquilts.com