One Thing Leads to Another

After I made my first 'house' block at the retreat in November, I made a house block with the "Challenge Fabric" for the quilt show next August.  I decide, after I finished it, that there was too much blue and it needed a tree perhaps.  My friend, Mary F., said, "It is easy to do. You just remove this section and replace it with a piece that has a tree!"  Well, I have risen to the challenge and made my first tree piece of piecing.  However, it was a fat little tree and I did not want to cut off either side of it, so I used it to make another experimental bag. I did actually make another tree that I did piece onto the challenge block. 

Of course, a tree needs some bears or something and I had bought this cute orange and brown bear fabric at The Quilt Barn (Kimberly).  I really needed a snack bag, because I was planning on departing to Albany, NY on December 15 and then drive all the way back to Boise from there, so snacks . . . absolutely.  Corn chips, bottle of H20, peanut butter M&Ms, gluten free biscotti, etc.

Wow! This bag really handled the trip cross country. I love it.

Piecing Test Complete

I finished my "You had me at Merlot" tote bag!  It was a test. I love piecing new designs and having fun with colorful fabrics, but instead of making a whole quilt from a new block I tried, I just make another tote bag.  I should check my records to see just how many tote bags I have made over the years.  One side of the bag is the house block from Collaborative Quilting, the other is a strip I pieced using the techniques in 15 Minutes of Play.  I showed my husband my finished bag last night, and he took it and held it and asked if it was his.  What I love about him is that he seems to like every single thing that I sew.  Every quilt, bag, and even curtains!  He always asks who am I making this for?  He does not understand that sometime I am just making something and it is for no one in particular.  I love to experiment. So, I do some experimenting between quilt projects.  It keeps me enthused.

 

Making random house blocks!

You know that "Fifteen Minutes of Play" book/concept? Well, I love it, but 15 minutes is hardly enough time to begin.  But I do love to play.  I have made four more of those bright, blinding house blocks. What fun! Meanwhile, I have decide to use the first one as part of a tote bag.  I am just beginning to make it a little larger; 'growing it' with some black fabric that will really make it stand out.  Here is what I have so far. I just put 1 1/2 " strips around the block and trimmed it square.  I think I will use the gray/pink/orange floral as the main fabric for the bag, so I will add some of that next. 

Wonky House Block

Hi! Just got back from the Second Annual Naughty Quilters Retreat.  I got the quilt top finished for my Aunt's quilt and I did something else, then I got to do some experimenting and made a wonky house quilt block that is not so wonky.  I just love the quilt tops that Freddy Moran makes. I have the book, "Collaborative Quilting" by Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston. It is Fab.  Here is my first (not so) wonky quilt block. Wild and crazy, yes. Wonky, no.  I will have to practice!

Twisting Turning Twenty

I finished my 'Twisting Turning Twenty" quilt in June, but I see I never posted a photo of it for all to see.  I apologize for my oversight. I learned a lot about color tones and saturation from making this quilt. I have another all cut out and ready to be assembled, but there are at least four others in the queue ahead of it.  That is how it goes. 

Use Addition to Make a Jelly Roll Quilt

I prewash my fabric before quilting, therefore I stay away from layer cakes, jelly rolls, and the like. However, I decided to give one of those jelly rolls a try. I purchased it at the Calico Cow in Roswell, NM, last year. It was easy, fun, and cute!

Happy Birthday Mary Buehler!

Surpise!  Carol got off her duff and completed her dolphin themed quilt, named Sea of Tranquility.  Happy Birthday, Mary!


This is a happy quilt.

full shot of all the activity; 69" X 95.5"

Wooden Boxes -something different

Up To My Neck in Projects

Hello.  I am working on an oceany quilt that is for a friend, so I can say no more.  I hope to have the quilt top finished tonight.  Then tomorrow I will need to clear off my quilt table to prepare the backing.  Doing the back is my least favorite part because of the need for squaring it up. 
I did just finish a sweet baby quilt on August 30.  It is constructed with nine exploding pineapple blocks, bold polka dot inner border, and scrappy outer border.  I am not a fan of Mickey Mouse, but I am amazed at how wonderful it turned out. Chase is the Mickey Mouse fan. It is his quilt now.

Ribbons from the Fair on Doll Quilt

Remember, I said I went to The Fair for an hour?  It has been reported that I had ribbons on the doll quilt that I entered in The Western Idaho Fair.  Well howdy! It was more than I expected, and frankly I was rather in shock, but I was smiling all the rest of the day.  It got first place and best of division ribbons. Smile!


Doll Quilt for 18" doll. Finished the weekend prior to the fair.

Summer is Not Over Yet

Summer is going by so quickly. I still have summer-time things I need to do, so I feel like I enjoyed the summer. I went wadding, ran through a sprinkler, had a picnic in the mountains, ate watermelon, went paddle-boating at the park, went to the Western Idaho Fair for one hour, drank a root beer float, made stepping stones, irrigated the property, and did some woodworking.  Yesterday, we went to the botanical garden where I got some sun on my shoulders and had a relaxing wonderful time.  I feel better now. I see I have done some summer things.  Below are photos of my quilts that won ribbons at the Kuna Quilt Show.  I am very pleased.

Cup O'Joy -2nd place; Fish Quilt -3rd place

Is it August already?

The Kuna Quilt Show is over already!  We planned, we planned, we arrived and set up and did the whole thing and took it down on Sunday afternoon, and now it is over.  blah.  It is quite like Christmas. 
The quality, of the quilts, was outstanding. I was having difficulty deciding which quilt to vote for in each category; except my own, of course.
In the theme category: Crazy for Color, my husband said to me, "I like Helen Clapp's quilt the best, but I voted for yours, because I helped pay for the fabric."  Isn't that sweet?  Speaking of irony, the quilter's definition is: not wrinkly.
Well, what is next year's theme for the Kuna Quilt Show?  I am so glad you asked:

I made this banner (& stand) for the stage display, announcing next year's theme.
See you can't even tell that the letters are not hand appliqued!

The CONFAB's quilt for Nursing Research Day is quilted!

This is a sneak peak at the CONFAB group quilt. It does not have the binding on yet.

Our quilt was quilted by Bev Hoek. What a great job she has done.

some detail of the quilting on the front.



This is the detail on the back of that lovely stripped material.

What? It is July Already?

Hello!  I have been slacking on the blog side of things. But I have had so much other stuff to do. Some was much fun and some was none fun!  I have done some yard work, despite having air conditioning in my house, which causes me to want to stay in and sew sew sew!  This last weekend, my husband and I built a fence from the corner of our garage to the property line, where we joined it up to the fence there.  I sawed all the fence boards down to the size I wanted them. We did our best to keep them in line and spaced correctly.  I am rather pleased with the result. All that is left is for it to be painted and a little rake up underneath. Also, on Saturday was Eagle Fun Days, so no way to get into Eagle for my violin lesson.  It was a great opportunity for me to go to the dump with my husband.  We treated ourselves to a little java on the way back home, and we had a wonderful time.  We got more yard work done after we got home. 
     Last Tuesday, after work, I rendezvoused with my husband at the Idaho Botanical Garden to enjoy our take out pizza under the hot sun before the Prairie Home Companion show began.  The show was awesome. It was relaxing and enjoyable, however, the sun was very slow in going down.
     Did ride in the Idaho Blue Cruise; a whole 5.5 miles! It was delightful. I also got to see "Blithe Spirit" at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival. Sunday before the 4th, we drove up to Big Rattlesnake Creek and discovered a beaver dam in full swing.  It is beginning to erode the edge of the road! Getting out to the mountains, no matter how hot or dusty, is just one of my very favoritist things in the whole world. We had a picnic lunch and I found a nice shady waddy place to cool off my tootsies. 

Big Rattlesnake Creek is a rapid noisy creek, not usually a placid lake.

 Yes, I did get a dab of quilting done. I even spent some hours with my mom, at the assisted living facility, helping her piece some fabric for a quilt she would like for herself.  It is going slow, but winter is far away.  We will persist.  I did finish my 3D cubes quilt.  Although pink is not my favorite in quilts, I really like how this came out.

Result of the fun class in May at 'Room To Learn'

'For The Birds' Dining Room Curtains

Cube Quilt Top

I made a bunch of these cubes, but they were not completely unwonky.  I figured out how to make them even, but that was after I made a bunch that was not exactly the same evenness.  I will have to cover that in depth soon, and show how to piece them so they are perfect half hexes and easy to sew without frustration.  Meanwhile, I took the four cubes that did not belong with all the gray and purple cubes and made them into a quilt of their own.  The dozen purple and gray may never make it into a quilt at all, unless I want to rip a bunch of seams out and make them the right shape.  I found out how tough it is to line them up without trimming off half an inch in some places, but it was only four, so it was not that over taxing.  The pink I found to go with the little pink chickens on the pale yellow (light) fabric really worked out well.  I keep ending up needing pink every now and then, although I do try to steer clear of it.  I am quite happy with this baby quilt top.  It is 30" X 37".

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?

 

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. 

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!

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!

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!

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.

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!

February is still Winter: Snowman Wallhanging

I have been a maniac this month! I just finished this cutie-pie snowman on Feb. 22.  I completed two mini-quilts the week of Valentine's Day. I also did an experiment with my fancy stitches on my new Husquav sewing machine. I just got it at the end of August and I don't usually use the fancy stitches. I bet I will get the binding on that wallhanging, that I made from my experiment, by tomorrow evening, at The Confab.  That makes perfect sense!  The mini-quilts can be viewed on the link to the left, titled "Gluten Free Doll Quilts."  That page has been taken over by Kirsten Larsen (the American Girl Doll turned maniac quilter).
This little snowman, I started on Valentine's Day evening. It took me 1 hour and 45 minutes from start to having it sandwiched.  The buttons and hand sewing are not my favorite thing, so those parts took me longer. Plus, I had to go out and buy black snaps. All I had were silver ones!  The mouth is black snaps, while the other buttons are from my grandma and great-grandma's button tins/jugs.  I found the "Slim The Snowman" pattern in "Primitive Quilts and Projects" magazine, Vol 2, Issue 4.  It was sew e-z it blew my mind!  I want to make another with retro-green background and another with reds and whites, but another time.   I made mine a little wider and with a shorter hat. I like to be different. E-mail me with any questions. Thrilled to answer!

Welcome to Baby Girl Roy

Baby Girl Roy came into the world last weekend. Both Mom and baby doing well. Congratulations to the Roy Family!

Jungle Baby Quilt

Finally a photo of the Jungle Baby Quilt that I made for the Roy Family of Colorado. They are expecting a baby girl.  I like to think of her as, Joy Roy, the Joy of the Family Roy.  It has a flannel backing that has the most amazing fabric pattern, however, I failed to take a photo of it. Oh, well the front is wonderful as well.

I have a couple more quilts finished to show you.  The one that frustrated me so in November, that I could barely write a blog entry about it, is the Zebra II Quilt, below. The quilt was not a problem; it was the long-arming of it.  I had decided not to vent on my blog about the on-going problems with a certain quilt shop's long-arm machine.  It has completely put me off of long-arming my own quilts. I did get another appoint for around the second week of December, then I waited until the night before to rip out all the stitching I had quilted into it. I tried to keep happy thoughts as I was driving over there.  It was not a problem free experience even though she put me on the newer machine and said, "You're going to love quilting on this machine."  NOT.  I still ended up with a tension problem and had to lean over that sucker and rip a couple feet of stitching out.  It still took my 5 hours to get it done, and it was not really done, because I decided to do the borders on my own Viking machine at home.  I could not stand more than 5 hours and did not want to have to deal with another broken thread or tension problem.  Anyway, I did finish the borders on my own machine, then got the binding on and was completely finished on December 28th.  My daughter lives in Missouri and is not too accustomed to the cold weather. She had lived in Tucson and Shreveport prior to Plato, Missouri.  She said it keeps her warm and she really loves it.

I really enjoyed making the outer border with irregular shaped pieces.

Ah ha! Bowtie blocks successfully uploaded. All the blocks are actually sewn together now and it is in the very capable hands of Phyllis the Wonder Quilter. She is going to sew the borders on.  We met last night and had a great time doing our individual projects and sipping tea while chatting it up! We are known as The Knotty Quilters!
   I have to dry my hair and get to the commutter van now, or I shant make it to work!

I have been busy and not being regular on my blog as of late. Right now there is a problem with the blog, it won't let me upload my photos in the usual way.  So, for now no photos.  Blah!!!  But the latest is, Elverta's quilt will be finished in the morning. Sooo, close, but had to take a break. I got it all quilted last weekend, then added the black/gray grunge basics binding. Looking good!  I think she will be nicely surprised.  Meanwhile, just before Christmas I finished the bunting for Marie's upcoming wedding, the baby quilt for the impending joy of the Roy Family of Colorado.  I completed my daughter's Zebra/Jungle Quilt on December 28th; just in time for her to fly back to Missouri.  We got it in the mail the next day and she had it very soon after.  Then I did the New Year's Eve Quilt that I posted photos of on my last post. Had a very nice Christmas with Mary visiting. We went to the aquarium and the art museum (BAM), and to Five Guys Burgers, etc. I took more photos of Merlinda the Ninja Cat and some photos of Mary and Pete.  This cold snap is not dampening my spirits, but it is of those around me.  I have so much stay-in work and things to do in a cozy spot with hot tea or something better, I cannot complain.  I have been practicing my violin and making it to my lessons. A very busy week, this last one, at my job at the BVAMC.  But it is a three-day weekend and the playoffs for the Superbowl is tomorrow afternoon.  Going to visit Mom in the morning, then make rice krispy treats, then in the afternoon go to the CONFAB where we Knotty Quilters are assembling the quilt we all made blocks for. It is to be raffled off for a benefit.  It is going to be beautiful. I would love to post the photo I took of the blocks I sewed together, but  . . .  gotta figure out this problem.



Kirsten's New Years Eve Quilt

 Happy New Year!  Remember those itty-bitty blocks I mentioned in my Dec 12 post? Well, Kirsten made a lap quilt with them on New Years Eve! It was all completed by 11:41 p.m. on December 31, 2012.  She and her friends are already enjoying it!  In all actuality each block is 1 1/2 " square, and when they are sewed with a 1/4 inch seam, they become 1" blocks in the quilt top. This quilt has 100 one-inch blocks in it, with a dark blue border and red and white plaid binding. The binding was cut at 1 1/2" then sewn on the quilt edge at 1/8" seam allowance. One-eighth seems just right for a quilt of this size. It was quick and alot of New Years Eve fun!!   Click on the "Gluten Free Doll Quilts" link to see Kirsten enjoying her new lap quilt with her friends.