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

Design Wall Monday

I had Scrap Quilting Club meeting on Saturday.  We had a lot of show and tell.  To see those quilts, click the link.

My week was spent prepping for the Saturday class.  Remember those scrappy rail fence blocks I made last month?  Of course not, here is a photo.

Well, I made two quilt tops with them.  The left side blocks made this Red Cross Quilt.  I purposely used ugly fabrics that did not necessarily match.  I was pleasantly surprised with the end result.  The center was a little dark so I added a bright border.

And here are the blocks on the right side.  I cut both sets of blocks the same way, but sewed them back together a little differently.  The end result looks like wrenches to me without the handle.  So, I named this one From Rails to Wrenches.  I set these blocks side by side for a different variation.

Very interesting, huh?  I plan to use these in my scrap quilt lectures.

To see more design walls, visit Patchwork Times.

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

Scrap Quilting Club

We had a great time at scrap quilting club yesterday!  I got to meet Dorothy and her daughter Tristen (not sure about spelling).  Dorothy and I have been e-mail for a little while and talked on the telephone twice.  Our schedules had not allowed us to get together until Saturday.  She and I live just a few miles of each other.

We had  a lot of show and tell this month.  I'll group them in like quilt categories so you can see the difference fabric choice can make.  If you want to see more variations, search my blog for the pattern names.  You will find links (if available) of the quilts.  Most of them are free patterns available on the web and the links have been posted in previous posts.  Also, you can click any picture to get a bigger photo for a better look; click again and you get a full size photo.  Enjoy!

1st up is Strip Tease.  Amazing how they look so different.  And how about that miniature quilt made with 1" strips finishing at 1/2".

Next up are a couple of Staycation quilts.  There are other quilts on my blog and more to come.

This was our first project and quilts are still coming in for show and tell.  There are other quilts on my blog.

Ta-da!  More work is being done on the Cathedral Stars tops.  One almost done and another participant just started 4-patches.  There are two other quilts on my blog.

And finally, here is an updated photo of the Bento Box quilt we are making to donate to the church where we meet.  They are having an auction in October.  We just need to get the binding sewed to the back side.  I've also included a picture of the back which was started with the leftover blocks.  There are more of these quilts on my blog.

Thanks for viewing the show and come back next month for more quilts.

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

Design Wall Monday

I didn't get much sewing time this week because I had meetings each evening after work Monday through Friday.  So with limited time available to me during the week days, I cut more flowers on my Go! cutter and placed sets into baggies.

On Saturday and Sunday I started quilting the Hot and Cold quilt.  I had some problems with thread constantly breaking.  I changed the needle, cleaned the machine, and even changed the type of needle.  I did have a little better luck if I sewed at a much slower speed though.  In doing that, it's taking twice as long to get it quilted.  I'm just doing simple free style wiggly lines, changing variegated threads in the "hot" and "cold" blocks.  I got a chance to stabilize between the blocks in both directions and then quilted 4 of the 8 rows of blocks.  I have scrap quilting club this weekend so I don't know how much further I'll get on it this week.  I'm looking forward to washing this one to achieve that old fashion style texture.

I got a little bored and aggravated with the machine quilting so on Sunday evening I prepped another Pushin' Up Spring block.  It's now ready for the applique pieces.  This will be my fourth block (typo in photo) and is really block #3 in the series.  I sort of bounced around when I started this BOM and am now working on the blocks in order.  This is not my design (copyrighting the photo only), but a BOM available from Apple Blossom Quilts; click on newsletter and sign up. 

Thanks for visiting.  If you enjoy virtual quilt shows, visit other Design Wall Monday sites.  The list can be found at Patchwork Times.
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Type-u-later,
Tea in MO
http://www.teaquilts.com

Design Wall Monday

I worked deligently on my Pineapple Nine Patch quilt this week.  I have all the unit 1s completed.  Cathy and Robin have posted their progress on the blog as well.

I'm setting my machine up to start machine quilting the Just String Series: Hot and Cold quilt that's been in the UFO pile for a loooong while.  We'll see how far I get. 

Visit http://www.patchworktimes.com/ to view more design walls.

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

Mini Asian Influence

Just a quick post to document my completion of the Mini Asian Influence quilt.  I still had the binding to hand sew which I completed at work during my lunch periods.  This quilt is 17" square.

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

Design Wall Monday

I got my birthday top (Noveau Riche) pieced.  The only change I made was to increase the final border size by 1.5".  Hopefully I'll get this quilted after I complete one that's already pin basted.

I had some edge pieces from making the larger Asian Influence that I made this mini quilt.  It's 17" square.

The Nine Patch Pineapple group is up and running.  We have started work on unit 1.  To read more about this and see other fabric choices, visit the NPP Blog.

These are the blocks I received from a swap.  It was a calendar blocks swap and each participant was assigned a different month.  I had January.  I took them off the design wall and put them away as I plan to used them in another project.

What are you working on?  Head over to Judy's site to add your blog or see what others have on their design wall.
-------------------------- Type-u-later, Tea in MO http://www.teaquilts.com/

Design Wall Monday

I have a few exciting things to share this week.  First, here are the fabrics I've selected to work on my Nine Patch Pineapple quilt and another photo of the quilt for you to see.  I have set up a new blog for anyone who wants to work on the quilt as a sew along.  For more information, go to this post.

 

Here are a few pieces I started cutting prior to organizing the sew along.  

I also started the following quilt for my birthday which was last Wednesday.  It's called Nouvea Riche, designed by Toby Lischko.  I'm having so much fun piecing the curves.  I've been kind of avoiding them for a little while.  If you'd like more information on pattern and fabrics, visit my birthday post. I think I have enough of the blocks completed for you to get the idea of how it will look.  I normally don't purchase kits but fell in love with the original quilt.  It's not my usual color pallette and I would have never been able to pull this effect from my stash.

As yesterday was laundry day, I didn't get any sewing done.  However, I decided that since the iron was up, I'd iron a few scraps and cut some shapes with my GO! die cutter.  I made 3 bags of flower shapes with 12 of each shape per bag.  I ran out of fusible web (which I ironed on the back prior to cutting) so I had to stop here.  I did cut a few hexagons in sets of 6 each.  But need to cut a whole lot more of these. 

To see more design walls, go to Patchwork Times.

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Type-u-later,

Tea in MO

http://www.teaquilts.com