Design Wall Monday

I know! I'm a slacker blogger.  I have been sewing though. 
This ambitious project has been in process for two years so far.  I am determined to complete it by Christmas this year.  It is defined to grace our kingsized bed.  That's a lot of red! Oy!!
Go see what others gave been up to over at www.patchworktimes.com

Chris

Design Wall Monday 6/25/12

 As further evidence of my frugal quilting, I present you with exhibit #1,973 - a quilt to which I contributed not a single piece of fabric that I purchased!  It's true, this entire quilt was constructed of fabric that would otherwise have been thrown away.  The large HSTs were part of the largess from June's estate sale.  The 16-patches were made from bits that other people love to give me, "We know Chris will make something with this."  I still have enough HSTs and 16-patches to make at least two more quilts.  Right now this one is about 54 x 64.  I think it needs some sort of borders.  I'll get around to auditioning some after I get the rows sewn together. 

I rather like this utilitarian thing because it is the sort of quilt that can get drug around and used to death.  I think that would make June and I both very happy.

Check out some other design walls over at Judy's blog.

Design Wall Monday

Well, I thought I might be able to get  back into some more regular blogging but I don't seem to have that sort of discipline. 

This quilt isn't exactly on my design wall, it's on the quilting machine.  It's done being quilted and I actually have the binding done as well.  I will post a full picture of it later.  I'm really happy with how it turned out.  I had a lot of fun with the quilting.  Along the outer border, I freehanded some snowflakes - no picture :-( , on the inner border I freehanded snowmen.  You can see what I am talking about in the striped border to the left.  They really DO NOT look like snowmen - more like a series of ovals!!  Oh well, it was a good exercise.   I quilted little packages along the lower border, you can see just the tops of them in  the striped border on the right side of the photo.  IT was fun to make different motifs to fit the different blocks.

Check out Judy's blog to see what others have on their design walls.

Design wall Monday

Hmmmm. I made one of those quilts where you put together a bunch of 2.5 inch strips.  Most people use a coordinated jelly roll.  I pulled almost all the red, white and blue strips I had in my 2.5 inch scrap drawer, thinking that would look coordinated. So far I am not a fan.  At least it gives me a good platform for practicing feathers!

Go to Patchwork Times and see what others have hung on their design walls. 

Chris

Retreat!

Tahoe is absolutely gorgeous this year.   Last year we had a blizzard so we are really appreciating the blue sky and warm temps. 
Lots of sewing is getting done.  More photos later.

Chris

Design Wall Monday May 14

I would love to say that this is my quilt.  Alas, it is the INSPIRATION for my next project.  I took this photo at a quilt show and I desperately wish I could give credit to the quilter but I didn't write it down or photograph the card when I took the picture - I'm much better about that now.  In any case, it's an Ocean Waves pattern.  I'm using the instructions written by Bonnie Hunter and I plan to assemble it Leaders and Enders style.  It should take, what, a hundred years or so?

The 1/2 sq tris are mostly done thanks to all the guild members who "gift" me with their unwanted (!) bonus triangles.  I plan to make the HST blocks before I determine the color I want for the solid blocks.

What's on your design wall?  Go check out Judy's blog to see some excellent design walls.

Estate Sale

A dear quilting friend of ours passed away two years ago.  Her family asked our guild to pick up several boxes of fabric to use for our charity work.  They went through the 50 boxes her family put on the patio and culled fabric appropriate to our work.  They took about 25 boxes to Patti's house.  So, when I got an announcement that there was to be an estate sale at her house I didn't expect to find much.  I did have my eye on her Juki machine but I thought that was all I would take home.

 

I was a little wrong.

I dug in and managed to find 70 yards of excellent fabric.  The upper photo is stuff that I will feed into my stash.  The lower fabric is marked for Quilts of Valor.  You can see a glimpse of the Juki behind the QOV fabric!

I washed and folded for two days.  Washed and folded, washed and folded.  Oh My, was I tired by Sunday night.

Drumroll, please.  I was charged $50.00 for all this fabric.  I think I am going to have a lot of fun. 

What is your greatest fabric purchase?

 

Birthday Gift

It was my birthday a few weeks ago.  Yea me!!  My very good friend Patti gave me this super sweet quilt that she made especially for me.  It is about 18" X 24" made from "bonus triangles" and all hand-quilted.  I love love it. 

I've spent the last several years convincing my guild members that they can make really nice little quilts from the triangles you cut off when making flying geese or snowball blocks.  For the last few years they've just been giving the bonus triangles to me - thank you very much!!  Lately, however, I've been seeing some cute quilts made from these leftovers.  I can't wait to show it off at the next guild meeting.

What do you do with those triangles?

Saturday was a BIG day

Yup!  That's me and my boy, the newest JD in Southern California.  We are so immensely proud of him.  He attended University of California Irvine's brand new School of Law.  He was in the inaugural class which earned him a full scholarship for all three years.  He did very well, making friends and contacts that will last him a lifetime.  Best of all, he graduated with almost no debt!!

This Cinco de Mayo will likely be the best of our lives.

PS: Don't you love the hats they had to wear??

Design Wall Monday

I raided my red-violet stash, cut them into 12x18 rectangles. I plan to piece them to make a backing for the crumb top you see peaking out behind.