Sunday, May 19, 2013

Side-tracked Again!

I went to a class, last Thursday, and learned how to make a cube block. The class was at Room To Learn in Kuna, and my friends went too!  We had so much fun, then Caryl, Elverta, and I went out for Mexican lunch in Kuna at El Gallo Giro.  Then of course we had to go to a quilt shop, so we dropped my vehicle by Elverta's place and went forth in Caryl's Subaru.  We went to the Quilt Crossing and found the correct 60 degree rulers to make these cube blocks. Oh, while we were there we found some fabric, too!  Who'd a thunk it?  It was an awesome day out with friends.  I was the last one to finish one cube, at the class. Everyone was packing up to leave, and they had each made two cubes.  Well, here is what  my dandy cube looks like.
After I got home, I had to make some more.  I have made twelve all together, so far.  I had other obligations or I certainly would have made more than twelve.  There is always next week, but I have two other quilt tops waiting for my attention, and I got all side-tracked with these fun three-dimensional looking blocks.
These are not sewed together yet. They are merely suspended on my design wall. My design wall is a quilt I have hanging up and I just smooth my blocks onto it.  Right now, it is a red, white, and blue quilt, but I took a close-up so you would not see much of it.  Don't these blocks look awesome?
 

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Jack Jeppson, a most excellent long-arm quilter, will be missed. He was called away from us on April 21, 2013.  Real Men Quilt is his blog.  You can still admire his handiwork at that site. 

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Been quilting at the monastery again!

I had sew much fun at the retreat this week. I really did not want to stop quilting and pack up the rig to come home!  I worked on my Twisting Turning Twenty and I got the top all finished. Ta-Da! I will post a photo of the quilt top soon.  I have to get ready for work tomorrow. Blah!

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Clean out and Simplify -However, some things are meant to be saved

I have been cleaning out closets and drawers around the house. I have saved some linens (tablecloths, doilies, handkerchief's, and other embroidered items) for a quilt in the future. Many of these things were my Mom's, but I have some from other places/people, too. There are some things that have survived clean outs from past decades and will likely to survive again and again.  Below is a photo of my size 8 silver Connie platform shoes from 1975.  I actually wore these as late as 1987.  I must wear sensible shoes now, but these are keepers!

Monday, March 25, 2013

Snowman Trio

Below are the three quilted snowman wallhangings I made. I got the red one and pink one done the day before the last day of winter.  The pink one I gave to a co-worker's daughter, who is a pink-aholic.  I used a blanket stitch on the fuscia hat, to make it a bit more distinct.  From this distance the print looks like snowflakes, but they are not!  But that was my intention.  Happy Spring!

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Happy One Year Anniversary -Gluten Free Quilter Blog!!

It was one year ago today, that I began tinkering with the attributes of blogdom.  I must say, I have enjoyed the learning, posting photos, and info on how to do odds and ends of quilt things.  I reference the books, magazines, and patterns that I use to make my creations, although a rarely follow the directions 100%.  I like my creations to be unique. I explain my ideas. I have so many ideas and not enough time to make them all. My stash is a sure-fire indicator!  I also experiment to learn new ways of doing things.  I was looking to cheat, and use my sewing machine to stitch that hat on the snowman wall hanging, so I spent four hours experimenting with the fancy stitches on my machine. I did turn out an unexpected wallhanging, that is somewhat crazy quiltish, but I didn't get the hat sewed on the snowman. I sat down and spent 20 minutes with needle and thread and had the hat hand sewn on. Some things just need hand sewing. It looks so nice!  Here is the wallhanging that grew out of my stitch experiment.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

March and Beautiful

It is March and the weather is beautiful. The Knotty Quilters are planning their road trip to the Magic Valley to view all the beautiful and fun quilts at the Desert Sage Quilter's Magic Valley Quilt Show on the weekend of April 13 and 14.  I am all a-twitter!
     Also, we had a field trip to local quilt shop that I can never remember the correct name of.  It is Quilt Expressions.  We took the bow-tie quilt top, we all made together, and wheeled round the shop gathering bolts of fabric that were candidates for the back fabric and the binding fabric.  We definitely picked two winners!  This fine bow-tie quilt is in the final stages of really become a quilt. 
     I have been hooked on the little snowman wall hanging and have two more in the works: 1) is quilted and bound and is needing the hat, scarf, and buttons attached; 2) is quilted and partly bound and is blinding pink! My goal is to get them both completed by the last day of winter; March 20th!  Wish me luck! Luck O' the Irish!