A puzzle, a show and tell...and I'm a winner!

I worked on the baby puzzle quilt yesterday...it is almost finished. I am doing the edge of this one a little differently than I did the first one I made.  I hope to finish it tonight AND get a better picture. Then to get a nice warm flannel for the back. I love to put flannel on the back of baby quilts...makes them so warm and snugly.

Eileen brought her finished Twister top with her Saturday.  So many pretty batiks, they really shine.

I was excited to find out that I have won a "mystery bag of goodies" at Cherry Red Quilter....I can't wait to get it and see what's in that gorgeous bag!      

Stringpiecing Workshop

 We had a great day yesterday during the Stringpiecing Workshop. I don't think there is anything more fun than using up some of the leftover fabrics from previous projects.

Guilt-free quilting for sure!

 No big fabric purchases for this one!

 So you really feel good about yourself making this quilt!

 Everyone came with their strips all nicely packaged in tubs and bags.

 But you can see that by the end of the day, the strings seemed to be multiplying...all over the table!

Stringpiecing is so relaxing, no matching, no worrying, just sew, sew, sew...Everyone got lots done!

 We had a full house....the classroom I use isn't all that big, so we arrange things the best way we can!

 Makes for some cozy sewing and lots of great conversation!

This is just one type of stringpiecing. There are many more, including one I demonstrate in a tutorial you will find along the right side of my blog.

 You can use any size of strings, so the more the merrier!

One student had to leave early, so I didn't get pix of her and her blocks. 

This is what it looks like at my house when I stringpiece! 

Stringpiecing is great on so many levels, but I think one of the best things about it is that any level of quilter can stringpiece!  It is great to do when you feel like sewing, but don't want to think too much, or have to be so careful. I have taught other stringpiecing classes, including the Spiderweb Stringpiecing, and Corner the Stringpiecing Market, but love this basic block!

Sampler class show and tell and other tidbits...

 I don't often get pictures of the sampler blocks as they make them because we work on one or two each month. The other night during class, three of the ladies put their finished blocks for the Spiraling Out Sampler Quilt up on the design wall.

 So pretty and different in the different colorways.

I got a lot done on the baby puzzle quilt Wed. night. I have five rows sewn together now. It is going to be very busy with all the bright and boyish prints, so this baby will be very stimulated! I will get a picture of it tomorrow. 

Last night was the first time I met with the new Beginning Quilting class.  I can tell these ladies are going to be enthusiastic quilters! I will keep you posted with their progress. 

More show and tell...

 Two more finished Twister quilt tops....

gorgeous!

A little progress...

I worked on the puzzle quilt last night for awhile. I didn't get as much done as I would've liked.  I have been having some trouble with my back again, and I have to be careful how I sit, so sometimes sewing bothers me. I liked it when my body did what I wanted it to....now it just does what it can. Anyone know where I can trade it in for a newer model?

No pix today, sorry....

Alphabet Quilt quilted!

I did a little shopping today...for clothes, not fabric. I did find a couple of good buys...then back home to finish quilting the Alphabet Quilt. This quilt was fun to make and I have another "Letter" project in mind. I will share when I get it started. It may be  a little while...I need to get the puzzle baby quilt finished too.  I put a little surprise on the back of this quilt...

I really wanted my initials on it somewhere! I have the binding ready to put on, so shouldn't take long to finish it!

Blue letter quilt quilting

It's been a busy week. I had a Sampler class Wednesday night. Then my daughters helped us celebrate our anniversary Thursday night. We grilled and gabbed! Yesterday I didn't have a class, so went out to breakfast with a friend, then shopped with my sister's family for awhile. I also got the back ready for the Letter Quilt. It has a little surprise on it, which, of course, I forgot to take a picture of before I loaded it, but you will see after it is finished. I got it partially quilted as well. I am excited to get this one finished and bound. Then I will have to think of a name for it...can't keep calling it the Red Letter Quilt! Some thoughts:
Alphabet Quilt
ABC's and More
Blue Letter Quilt

If you have any ideas, let me know!

I have an idea for another letter quilt....hopefully will get it started soon.

New quilt start...

 I got the pieces cut out the other night and worked on an arrangement for this puzzle quilt. I laid it out on a piece of flannel backed tablecloth (the blue flowerpots). It works better if you hang it, but I don't have anywhere to hang it by my TV and I was watching while I played with the pieces. After I got finished, I folded it all up inside of the cloth.

 I unrolled it tonight and started sewing the pieces together. It's kind of busy...

2 rows of blocks ready to sew together. I love puzzle quilts!

I have a Sampler class tonight, so I won't get any sewing done...maybe on Thursday night.

Red Letter Quiltalong top finished!

 I was having trouble figuring out what to do with that pesky last row of the Letter Quilt. I tried several different arrangements of asterisks, the little girl (she HAD to be in that quilt!) and even added my initials. I just wasn't happy with what I had tried. I like the idea of the initials, but didn't like how they looked. I didn't like the 2 asterisks, looked too arranged. So I made another asterisk (they are fun and cute, after all) and added it to the row.

 I think they add some fun to this quilt.

 I auditioned borders. I just wanted a small border to frame and finish the quilt. Since the main idea of the quilt was to use one color (blue for me) for the letters, and a POP color for my first initial, I wanted a blue border to finish it off. I like these two because they have other colors, but are basically blue.

 They are so similar, that it probably wouldn't make much difference, but I went with the busier one.

 Originally, Lynne had told us that it would take approximately 2 - 3 yd. for the background.  I think I had about 2 1/2 yd. of this when I started. This is how much is left! I was saving all the leftover pieces, and using them when I could. The plastic bag holds more of those bits and pieces, but the biggest piece in there is about 3 1/2" sq. So I was being very careful how I used the background towards the end.

 The lighting isn't the greatest in this pic, but here it is, a finished top! It is about 35" x 53".

  I am going to use the same fabric for the binding that I used in the border, so I got it ready too.

Now to get it quilted. Thanks Lynne for a great quiltalong!

Show and Tell: T-shirt and other glorious quilts...

 The T-shirt class is always fun...taking old, sometimes pretty worn out favorites and making them into quilts. Tracy had a little bit of all of her favorites in her quilt....not pictured are her concert Tees. You'll notice her shirt to announce her daughter's birth in the center.

 Pat is so nice, she is making a quilt for her friend out of her friend's husband's shirts. Love the Old Dude shirts!

Vicky is making this one out of her husband's shirts for him. Nice to see so many colors in this one!

 Cindy brought her retreat Twister quilt to show the class I taught what you can do with solids! She finished hers off with a special twister border.

 Betty just got her Centrifuge Sampler quilt back from the quilter, so was showing it off!

 Dianne got her St. Marks Quilt finished this week. She used her leftover diamonds in the border.

 Betty also got her St. Marks Quilt finished this week...she cut her leftover diamonds into little slanted pieces and sewed them back together. A lot of work, but it paid off!

Jane made a Mini Twister quilt out of some of the same fabrics she made the Twister out of. She wanted to try cutting, but not on her big quilt. Then she cut out some kids prints and made a child's Twister quilt...

I am lucky to have so many talented students!

Twister revelations

 Yesterday was the second sessions of two classes, the Twister Quilt and the T-shirt Quilt. Both groups had made great progress since last week.

It is exciting to see the Twister Quilt go from plain squares to pinwheels! Jane used fall colors...

she also made 2 other smaller Twister quilts in between last week and this week....I'll post those pix tomorrow!

This is definitely a great stashbuster quilt!

 Laura used lots from her stash!

 Betty couldn't wait to get started cutting hers, so had it partially done when she came!

This will make a pretty Christmas quilt.

 Eileen used batiks....so colorful!

It's magic!

 Tammy's is pretty in pink and black!

We talked about all the variations of this quilt you could make...alternating 2 colors, or 2 colorways, like Tammy did. 

 Dianne is doing Christmas too. Check out the candles in her border...in both pix.

Trouble with seeing all of these pretty quilts in all of these different colorways is that it just makes you want to make another one! We used the Twister Ruler for these quilts.

I will post the pix from the T-shirt Quilt class tomorrow, as well as some show and tell that some of the students brought. I hope to get some quilting done today. Still haven't made a decision on the last row of the Letter quilt, so might have to buck up and decide!