Finally a Post!

I've received some emails and personal inquiries about my lack of blogging.  Sometimes life just gets in the way and disrupt our plans.  I've been a tad depressed regarding my friend's death.  In addition, I was helping the family sort out all of her studio items and being a set of ears to the family when needed.  I was so exhausted because along with that, I still had quilt lectures and workshops scheduled, I've been traveling with my line dancing group and been dealing long distance with family regarding my grandmother's health.  When I did have "free time", I used it to read which is what relaxed me the most, not quilting or blogging.

Well the last few weeks I've been going back into the sewing studio.  I quilted and put binding on 3 quilt tops that my friend had made and gave them to her family.  I absolutely forgot to take pictures of those.  However, I finished two of my quilts that I gave to two cousins in Birmingham, Alabama.  They love them so much already.  The colors in these photos are not true and are bad presentation of the actual quilts but this is all I have.

Peaches and Cream quilt pattern by Judy Laquidara.  Instead of a tone on  tone quilt, I pulled out all the scraps as my cousin specifically requested a very colorful quilt.  This was definitely a joy to make.  The next photo is the back of the quilt.  I found this neat fabric that makes the quilt looks like a two-sided quilt.  I named this quilt Colorful Boxes and started it in January 2011 with the scrap quilting club.  I finally finished it in April of this year.

Another scrap quilting club project that I completed to send to my 2nd cousin, son of the quilt recipient above.  This one I call Rows of Boxes however, the pattern is Awesome Lap Quilt by Jamie Mueller and can be found in Moda Bake Shop.  I started this quilt in 2011 when the pattern first came out.  It had a few direction mishaps so I compensated by adding fabric pieces to the row ends and trimmed them all to the same size.  I've been told that the pattern has since been corrected so you shouldn't have any problems with it if you try it now.





This is the start of April's scrap quilting club project called Chain Reaction published in Quiltmaker's Magazine March/April 2012 issue.  You can see more ideas by clicking Quiltmaker. I have almost 4 of 7 rows shown here.

I have those 4 rows pieced.  Now I need to make blocks for the remaining 3 rows (30 blocks).

Apparently because I just LOVE works in progress, I started machine embroidering the "Names Above All Names" quilt.  I plan to give this as a gift.  I have about 20 more blocks to make. If you want to see all the block names, click this link:  http://www.embroideryonline.com/p-48535-name-above-all-names-quilt.aspx

I want to make a charity quilt with fabrics I received from Karen.  I got out two GO! dies and started making signature blocks.  But wait a second, I didn't make signature blocks.

I used some Kona cotton I had in my stash for the background.  Here are the first 16 blocks I made.  I plan to make many, many more in all colors. I could set them this way but I would have to worry about all those seams matching up.

So, I decided to set them this way.  I think I like the background space in this layout because it's not the norm.  I have about 90 blocks cut but don't have any plan at this time.

I have a lot of scrap quilting club photos I need to upload.  I'll try to blog again soon.  Until then, happy quilting!
-------------------------- Type-u-later, http://www.teaquilts.com

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

Design Wall Monday

Hello and welcome to another Design Wall Monday.  I've had a very productive week.  I did finish my "mystery" scrap quilting club quilt top I talked about last week.  I'll post photos from the entire group at the end of the month. 

My picture below shows my design wall as it currently stands:
(1) The blue and pink blocks and strips on the left are a charity project that I'm working on with a buddy.  I sewed the blocks and will make the quilt top.  The strips will be the binding and if I get time, I'll make the backing.  Then I pass it to my buddy who will quilt the top and bind it.  The pattern can be found here.
(2) The diagional strips block and strings to the left is the start of the July scrap quilting club project that will be assigned later this month.  My strips are all sewn for the project.  I'm working ahead so I can tell them what to do as I don't have written directions online for this one.  It has a cleaver technique for cutting the strings into blocks without sewing the diagional seams.  I'm hoping to make a tutorial for this one that will be posted in August.
(3) The stack of 12 blocks with snowman fabric and snowman embroidered center are for an online calendar block swap.  I had the month of January so I made "Snowman in an Evening Star" for the trade.  They'll be mailed tomorrow.

My last project this week was piecing a Bento Box quilt top for charity quilt donated by the scrap quilting club.  One member donated her center with 12 blocks to start this project.  I asked additional participants to donate blocks and they did.  I cut and rearranged them into this setting, making an additional 18 blocks that were placed around the provided center.  I have such a great group that I have someone making the backing, providing the quilting, providing the batting, and sewing the binding.  I really do have a terrific group of quilters surrounding me.

I put the cathedral stars on the back burner this week.  I hope to get back to that after my step-daughter's weeding next weekend.  I have a busy week scheduled sewing/not quilting too much though.  My daughter (who is maid of honor) is about 5 feet and her dress is about 5 inches too long.  It has 3 full layers so that's what I'll be doing this week starting tomorrow.  So, I have today to quilt, maybe go to JoAnn's, and do the laundry.  To see what other design walls are showing, visit Judy's site.
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Type-u-later,
Tea in MO
http://www.teaquilts.com

Scrap Quilting Club Meeting Nov. 29, 1014

I'm sneaking in...

I know it's been a long time since my last post.  I've been very busy with work, traveling, line dancing, and of course, quilting.

Today my Scrap Quilting Club met so I decided to share some photos.  We had our annual potluck before we take our holiday break.  The next session will start in January.

First up, I offered a t-shirt cutting class and a few of them participated in the cutting and some others were spectators and will try the technique at home.

I handed out official Scrap Quilting Club t-shirts and of course we had to take photos!

And here is Show-N-Tell!

My current projects which all need to be quilted.  The ABC and Footprints in the Sand tops are gifts; the other is a fabric and ruler challenge.

The following quilts are from the members:

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I'll post again soon!

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

Reorganizing, Moda Sampler Shuffle, and Scrap Quilting Club November 2015

November was a very busy month.  It started with my group hosting our annual line dance party.  It was filled with activities the first weekend in the month.  It was fun hosting the event, but I'm sure glad the planning and preparing is over.

My husband received layoff papers earlier this month from his machinist job.  This is the third time in his career.  We were preparing for him to retire next year so it isn't too stressful, just a curve ball being thrown.  This reaffirms my decision to keep moving along with the professional side of my quilting business.

I'm in the process of moving items between two rooms in my home.  It's going to be a long and tedious process as I have outgrown my quilting area, especially since I retired and need office space, instead of just working from my laptop.  Since I have to move all my fabrics, I'm downsizing my older scraps (because I'm tired of looking at them and need new materials for motivation), redefining my new size of scraps I will be keeping if I don't cut it immediately, and refolding any yardage over 1/2 yard.  In the photo below, here is my green fabrics that I started with.  I now have the red and blue groups sorted.  While refolding the fabrics, I also pulled fabrics that I don't "love" anymore and am using them for quilt backs.  I have already made ten quilt backs from this group.  If I remember, I will take photos as I work to share this process.

In addition to reorganizing, I have started the Moda Sampler Shuffle.  You actually get the links from any online quilt shop.  However, the block patterns are only available for two weeks and then the links are disabled.  Three blocks are assigned each week.  Here are my blocks 1 through 12 on my design wall.

And here are this week's assigned blocks.  I'm using scraps that were out from my previous project so nothing has to match, just getting the blocks completed.

Now, on to the Scrap Quilting Club's show-n-tell.  This was out last meeting of the year and we had a holiday potluck.  This is always a fun event because we do more socializing than sewing in November.  I demonstrated how to make a gift box from two pieces of paper which will come in handy during the holiday season.

This is Connie's year long project.  She worked very hard to get caught up in the last month.

Rita also completed the yearlong project. She changed the border.

Elsie is still working on her yearlong project.  Keep going!

Jennifer completed her yearlong project bus is adding more applique to the border.

Jennifer is also working on baby quilts.

Sarah quilted a quilt top she purchased from a local quilt shop years ago.  Yeah!  One UFO almost completed.  Its for a soon-to-be-born baby.

Kathy is working on coaster sets for Christmas presents.

Kathy is sewing together blocks she won from optional blocks a few years ago.

I can't remember the story behind this quilt, but Kathy did an excellent job piecing the top.

Gwen's quilt is made only with HSTs.  I love the design and that it makes your eyes pop to various secondary designs.

Lee Etta showed this awesome patriotic quilt top made all from scraps.

Lee Etta also show her completed top from Bonnie Hunter's mystery two years ago.

So sorry this picture is sideways...  Laura showed this piece of cloth that she wants to enhance and asked the group for ideas.

Judy made fabric gift tags and gifted each person in attendance with one.  Thanks so much Judy!

This is my yearlong project where I changed the side border to make them longer; I also added cornerstones and the pattern didn't look good coming across the side borders after I changed the size.  I also changed two of the row patterns, row 4 and 8.  I love how bright this quilt is.

The Scrap Quilting Club members!  About seven or eight people were unable to attend the meeting.  I love this group of ladies.  We have so much fun each month while sewing, socializing, and providing advice (sometimes it's unsolicited, but in good faith).

Girls just want to have fun!

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