Poor Steve!!

Steve was a little under the weather this weekend, so what did I do?

I went out and got him Nyquil then left for a quilting weekend at Debbie's.

The upside was that I got a lot done. I pulled out an ArtBin with projects from a retreat from a year ago.

I already the center of the blue quilt together and half the trees made.

At the sew-in, I got the border on the blue quilt. It is the fabric from the 2010 Quilt Minnesota Shop Hop. The pattern is Frosted Window Panes from Six Halves Make a Whole Christmas.

The Christmas trees were made by stacking three fabrics and cutting out the tree and shuffling the order of the fabrics. I used a layer cake from Moda, Figgy Pudding.

I also used my left over blocks from my leaf quilt to make a table runner and table topper. I think the both turned out nice.

The challenge will be that they are for a fund raising bazaar this weekend. I need to get them quilted in the next couple of days.


Anyone who knows me, knows I don't quilt, so it should be interesting to see how these turn out.

Wish me luck! I'll need it.

Bin Tour

Since I'm working on a mystery quilt, about all I can say is that I've completed steps 1-3 for both of my color ways. With 5 steps in all, I'm making good progress.

While I'm working on the quilt that cannot be named, I thought I would take you through my stack of ArtBins.

I decided to organize the ArtBins so that all the project that I started sewing on would be at the top.

I'll be showing you my stack from the bottom, the cut out, but not started projects.

This will become Steps to the Stars. This has been cut out for a while. This dates back to Debbie coming over for my session of Rent-A-Friend in the summer of 2010.

I really loved the background fabric, the bird fabric. I picked my other fabrics based on the colors in the fabric. I have brown, blue, green and red fabrics. I tried to get a range of values and also a range of textures.

I tried to keep the dark fabric patterns simple because of the birds as a background are relatively busy.

I can't wait to finish all the projects I have started, so I can get to this one.

I want to see the stars in border. The birds will look so cute!

Autumn Leaves

I just finished Mystery Weekend, and what a blast!

Thanks Nancy and Susan for another wonderful quilt.

I took both sets of mystery fabrics with me. I sewed a little on both. I didn't want to get too far ahead on one, because I thought I wouldn't stay motivated otherwise.

I think I'll probably have both quilts done here shortly, but remember these are mystery quilts. That means I won't be able to show them to you until Mystery by Mail finishes in January.

Check back then for pictures.

My favorite part of mystery weekend is the show and tell. It is fun to see what people have been working on and get inspired.

Luckily I finished up my autumn leaves quilt to show. I think it turned out really nice. I'm liking the softness of the chain blocks. They let the focus be on the leaves.

Originally I thought I'd do a 7x9 block arrangement, until I figured out that with 12" blocks the quilt would be 84"x108" without any borders. I ditched a row of blocks to get a better size.

The discardered row left me with three orphaned leaf blocks with no home. Mary Brady, the president of South Minneapolis Quilters and Monday night co-worker, suggested making a donation table runner.

I love doing a good deed and can't pass up a challenge. Stay tuned for a picture of the table runner!

Lessons Learned

Sometimes when you pull out a UFO, you find you've come a long way since you left it.

This happened to me when I pulled out this ArtBin. The points in the leaves are all paper pieced.

I started this project at a sew-in at my place over two years ago. I hadn't done much paper piecing at the time and certainly wasn't doing it right.

I got frustrated on my first piece. I couldn't get the pieces of fabric to cover the pattern. I figured I'd not cut the fabric big enough and put it aside.

Along comes a Judy Neimeyer pattern, Sylvia's Bridal Sampler and a paper piecing class at Glads. After paper piecing 30 different blocks, I'm a professional.

In my quest to empty bins, I reluctantly decided to pull this out.

It turns out that first piece had at half inch seam, which might have explained the pieces not covering the pattern.

Using my new learned skills, I have finished all the parts that are paper pieced and now I'm assembling the leaves. I'm in complete production mode. As you can see, I have all 32 leaf blocks laid out.

This is a pattern is called Autumn Splendor from Cotton Tales. It is a nice pattern with about 5 different projects that use this basic leaf pattern.

I'm doing a single chain arrangement surrounding the leaves. After the leaves are made, the get a two inch border of more background to make them float. I also need to make the chain blocks.

I have to say that it is very nice to be on a fall themed quilt this time of year. Also, it is an excuse not to go out a rake the actual leaves outside.

Showing Off

I just picked up my quilts from Kars Quilting. They did a rush job, so I would have them in time to show at South Minneapolis Quilters tomorrow.

A quilt always looks better quilted.

Kim did a really nice job helping me pick out quilting patterns and thread color.

On my Sew Many Stars, we used a pattern called Denali and orange thread.

On my Sky Dancer, we did a pattern called Sunflower and used a light blue thread.

Both of them turned out great. You should click on the pictures and zoom in to see the quilting.

Thanks Kim and Kerry for the great job!

Nancy, Susan and Glad are the program for tomorrow's meeting. They will be will be showing quilts and telling their story. I'll be helping them vend before and after the program.

The members of the group have been encouraged to bring their quilts made from Glad Creation patterns, so there will be lots of beautiful quilts to see. I'm very happy that I get to bring these two beauties.

It is tomorrow night at 7:00 pm at Southwest Community Church at the Corner of 54th and Humbolt. Hope to see you there!

Missing My Mom

I lost my Mom a year ago today.

I'm missing her a little bit. A lot bit.

I miss her calls and our chats about my latest quilt project.

I owe my first exposure to quilting to my Mom. She and my grandmother would put quilts on the frame and quilt while us kids would play underneath it.

I remember laying on my back looking up at the stitches on the back side.

She and I made baby quilts for my Eagle scout project. She didn't trust me with her sewing machine, but I would pass her the pieces.

She was also an excellent cook. I got my love of food and cooking from her.

And of course I owe my good looks to her.

I begged my sisters to let me have my Mom's shirts, so I could make a quilt.

I brought the shirts into Glad's and Nancy suggested Slide Show by Atkinson Designs, to show off the shirts' fabric.

The ladies also had the bright idea to sew shirt parts into the squares to showcase the shirts. I used a collar, a placket and a pocket in squares.

Judy Remiger quilted the quilt for me. I told her about my Mom's love of flowers which she incorporated into the quilting. There is even a rose inside of the collar.

She also quilted mine and my siblings' names into the border.
I think it turned out well. When I look at this quilt, it reminds me of my mother's warmth.

I miss you Mom!

Fall to Pieces

Is everyone as excited for Mystery Weekend as me?

I'm all ready to roll with my cutting completed.

It has been interesting for me to look at the pieces being cut and start guessing at the quilt design. I've come up with some interesting possibilities.

I'm sure the actual quilt with be much better!
I also cut out both sizes, so here are some interesting facts.

There are more backgroud pieces than dark fabrics, 184 vs 160 for the small quilt and 240 vs 208 for the large quilt.

The small quilt is 68"x84" and the large is 84"x100", which is 1.5625 times bigger. The small quilt has 344 cut pieces while the large has 448, which is 1.3023 times as many.

Now I need to decide what to do with my time until Mystery!?

Mystery Weekend 2.0

I know I have fabric for Mystery Weekend #48, but now I have options.

Tonight was my last with Cheri. She isn't working Monday nights with me any more.

To commemorate the occasion, I just had to buy the fabric she picked out for me.

I love it! My other option is a bit on the feminine side. This option is definitely masculine.

I got all the fabrics tonight at Glad's, so if you don't have your fabric yet, we can have twinner quilts.

I'm looking forward to working with Mary. She is my new partner in crime Monday nights. I hope she doesn't tempt me as much to buy fabric.

Malted Sky Dancer

Cheri when she saw this collection of fabric said that it looks like malted milk. I think she is right. The fabrics are very soft.

As you can see, I was able to lay out the quilt and get it sewed together.

I'd have to say that I love this pattern. Really simple components that went together quickly!

I also really like the secondary pattern that happens with the sashing and the corners of the blocks. You get these fun little gem like shapes.

I would definitely recommend Sky Dancer to anyone.

I also think it is fun to see the fabrics from one quilt used in a different pattern.

My next project will be to cut out my Mystery Weekend fabrics. Got to keep those ArtBins full of projects.