Binding Day for me!

I'm going to sew with friends today, and have 3 quilts to bind, so that is what I will be doing. I am really happy to be getting these finished. I will get some good pix too!

I got the Twister quilt on the quilting frame yesterday, and quilted a few rows, then left for an appt. I didn't do much sewing after that, but I did get two of the quilts trimmed for binding today. Wish me luck!

Cubes quilted

 I finished quilting the Hollow Cubes, Too quilt yesterday. I was a bit worried about the quilting taking over the quilt, so I used a gold variegated thread. It blended nicely, I think, and it didn't ruin the 3D effect of the quilt pattern.

 I had some problems with thread breakage, I guess from having so many seams. Alot of the fabric is on the bias too, so I wondered if that would make a difference.  I did slow the machine down and that seemed to help.

I love the border fabric and used it on the back too. I am using one of the fabrics from the rust cube for the binding. It's ready to go. I am going to work on binding all three quilts I finished last week tomorrow.

I made the back and cut the binding for the Twister quilt I made last year...and haven't quilted yet. I hope to get it loaded today. I also need to start planning what I will take on my upcoming quilting retreat with friends. We all take our own projects and sew from morning to midnight. It's great fun and I can't wait! We leave Thursday.

Round robin finishes

 I have been posting off and on about the Round Robins that a group of friends and I have been working on. My stitching group met the other night and we got to ooh and ah over our quilts.  Cindy added a green border, quilted and bound it. Finished!

Jo added 2 borders to finish her top. 

 Debbie added borders to finish hers as well.  Rose forgot hers, but she has added blocks she made a few years ago to hers. She promised she will bring it next time.

You've seen mine already, when I finished it, but thought I would post it again, to finish out the group. I didn't add any borders, I like it just the way it is.

I didn't get a lot of quilting done yesterday. I tried to work on the Hollow Cubes, Too quilt, but I was having trouble with thread breakage. Not sure if it is all the seams or what. I am going to try slowing the machine down a bit today and see if that helps.  I don't have a stitch regulator, so once I turn it on, it just goes the speed I have it set at.  I have to keep up. Wish me luck!

Another quilting finish...now to have a binding day!

I quilted the Peas in a Pod quilt yesterday. I designed and made this a couple of years ago, but was too busy at the time to quilt it, so it's been waiting patiently. I had already sewed the back together and made a scrappy binding for it, so I will probably bind it on Tuesday when I sew with the ladies.

I like to take a picture of the back of the quilt as well, since many times you can see the quilting pattern better on the back. 

 I love this kitty fabric! I didn't use it on the front, just the back.

 Here is the actual panto. It's Leafage, by Keryn Emerson. I have done several quilts in a row with this panto, so I am very comfortable with it. I got a new plastic panto cover for my table and it looks so pretty..no tears fixed with tape...no residual masking tape marks. Love it! The old one was getting hard and cracked easily. It came with the used machine and table, so who knows how old it is. 

I want to get the Hollow Cubes, Too quilt loaded on the machine this morning. Not sure how much I will get quilted as I have some class paperwork to do and need to run up there for a bit later too. I'm feeling pretty tired and lazy this morning, so let's hope I wake up soon! 

Funky Rock Stars quilted

 Here is the  Funky Rock Stars  quilt fresh off the quilting machine! The lighting in there isn't the greatest, so I will get a better pic when I get it bound. I just like to take a picture when I take it off so I don't forget.

 I used the same panto that I used on the Potato Chip quilt. I like this one because it quilts a nice. allover design with no empty spaces.

I love this back fabric. It is actually a sportswear cotton, so a little heavier than normal, but it quilted up just fine. I had purchased it because I loved the owls and the colors...thought I might make pillows out of it, but it fit this quilt just perfectly. It's 60" wide, so I didn't have to piece it either. I used a sportswear cotton on the Jigsaw Puzzle quilt last year because I loved the circular pattern for that quilt, so I knew it would quilt up just fine. It makes the quilt a little heavier, but should wash up just fine. 

I am heading up to load another one soon. My stitching group meets tonight, we are all bringing our Round Robin quilts...can't wait to see what everyone did to finish them up. I will take pictures!

Potato Chip quilt finished!

 I got the Potato Chip quilt bound yesterday so it is officially finished!

I then put this teal border on the Windmill quilt. I hung this on the design wall, but I should've had friends hold it up too, as it is not up there very straight. I think it's finished. I made the binding out of an orangey-peachy colored fabric yesterday, so it'll be ready when I get it quilted. Since the blocks were made by friends, I will keep this one, so I don't want it to get too big as I will probably use as a throw. Even so, I keep thinking of adding another border. Maybe I am just so used to borders, that it looks unfinished without one. It's about 57" x 70.5" now. I think I will try to get people to sign one of their blocks. Or make a label with siggys. What do you think?

I also worked on the traditional Cathedral Windows blocks a bit yesterday. No pix yet.

Today's plan includes starting the quilting on the  Funky Rock Stars  quilt that I loaded on Monday. I should make some good progress on it since it is a throw. Are you sewing today?

A quilted finish and some unsewing!

 I finished quilting the Potato Chip quilt yesterday. I was cruising right along, when my machine stopped! The belt had broken. So I had to run to a sewing machine shop and hope that they had what I needed. They did, so I came back home and easily attached it. I resumed quilting and realized something was wrong...my thread had broken. I'm not sure what had happened, but I had problems on the back of what I had quilted.

So I ended up un-sewing about 20 miles of thread. Thank goodness that I hadn't made it all the way across! I finally got it all taken out and finished the quilting.  I used white thread, and you can't really see the quilting on this picture that well, but I always like to take a picture of the back too. I plan on putting on the binding today.

Do you think I would ever get this finished?

 I don't, that's why I am making pillows! I went to the Harrison Co. Fair yesterday to see their bed turning. Lots and lots of gorgeous quilts, some old, and some newer. Since I have been working on the Cathedral Windows blocks, I was especially interested in this one. It was hand sewn the traditional way. It was so pretty and somewhat worn, which made it even prettier.

I didn't take my camera, so asked a friend to take these pictures. I think it would be fun to make this version of the Dresden Plate. I have made the block with the curved edges, and the pointed edges, but never this version with both. The Dresden Plate is one of those traditional patterns that I never get tired of. I think partly because of the scrappiness. What is your favorite traditional pattern?

I had a great time with friends at the fair, and really enjoyed the show.

Today is my family reunion with my dad's side of the family in my hometown, Earling, IA. I always enjoy going because I get to see family that I don't see much otherwise. I will be takinig lots of pictures!

Windmills spinning a bit tilted...

 The Windmill Swap quilt blocks are sewn together.  Still deciding about the border. If I do a border, it will probably be smallish. A pinwheel is supposed to show up where the blocks intersect (white parts on mine) but you lose that with the tilt. There isn't that much tilt to the blocks, but it still breaks it up.

One of the reasons I tilted them is because when you do a swap, there is a good chance that the blocks won't all be the same size, so putting some type of border around them and resquaring the blocks helps even them out. Plus it adds a little more pizzazz!

Going to a quilt bed turning today at the Harrison County Fair today...should be fun.

Another way.....and a cottage finish!

 I sewed with my friend, Debbie,  yesterday, so spent some time cutting and pressing squares to make some Cathedral Window blocks the traditional way. I wanted to try that method too, so I can show the difference when I teach it. It took a long time to press them. I think I will machine stitch them together and then hand stitch down the curves. I haven't decided for sure yet. Since I want to get them finished in the near future...and we all saw how the hand sewn hexie project is coming along, I think I should probably use my machine. They are still cut and pressed the traditional way...

I also sewed my Windmill blocks together from the swap last summer. I had decided to tilt my blocks to give them an extra spin, and that's as far as I got. They have been aging nicely, so went together just fine. I'm not sure if I should put a border on or finish as is. I will take a pic later!

Debbie showed me her finished Cottage quilt. She is part of the group of friends that I meet with and do swaps, and round robins with. I was one of her swap partners on this swap, so lots of my blocks are in her quilt. Here is my finished Cottage quilt.

Have lots to do today, so better get busy!

Lovin' it!

 I got both of the Cathedral Window pillows finished on Tuesday. The great thing about these blocks is that you can just keep making them and sewing them together to make any size pillow or quilt that you want!

 I made envelope backs for both of them, as I like to be able to take the pillows out and wash the covers if necessary.

I really like it with the pillow inside!

Yesterday I spent some time quilting the Potato Chip quilt. I have it about half finished now. No pix yet.

Back to hexies....

  I have been working on my hexies again the past few weeks. I looked back and this was the last post I found about them....so it's been awhile since I worked on them. I am circling around for the third row around (the center is the darkest blue one) and then I am going to figure out how to finish it. 

Cathedral Windows

I have loved this block for years and am really happy to finally be working on a project using it. I want to teach a class making this version of the cathedral windows block, so I am making pillows. That way my students can try out this method without committing to a whole quilt. If they love making it, they can always make a larger runner or quilt.  I cut out the squares to make a different version and started sewing them together yesterday. Hopefully I will make more progress on it today.

Are you sewing today?

Sewing and shopping

My assistant and I were working on the Cathedral Window blocks yesterday when friend called and asked if I wanted to go to Seams to Be Quilt Shoppe in Plattsmouth. I haven't been there in ages, so I jumped at the chance. I am replenishing my stash of batiks because I have very little left in usable pieces, and they have a wonderful stock of batiks.

The one under the rest goes from light green to dark green all in one piece...so I had to have that one. And the rest...I just liked.

I plan on finishing the cathedral windows project today if all goes well. What are you working on?

Kid's Camp finish and the footstool...

 The girls got  finished in the nick of time and were so happy to have made a quilt! Teaching kids is a lot more strenuous than teaching adults, but it was fun. They were really getting the hang of sewing straighter seams and I think these young ladies will be looking for their next project!

 I painted the footstool legs a deep brown. I like it much better.

They still look like tree trunks, but at least they don't show up as much.

I haven't done any sewing the past few days, so hope to get back at it today. It's supposed to be very warm again, so a good day to stay inside! I have watered everything so I'm ready to sew!

Kid's Camp and Windows

 The girls struck a pose with their quilts in progress today during Kid's Quilt Camp. We will finish them today...I hope!

I have been wanting to try making Cathedral Window blocks for some time, actually years if the truth be known. I started this project on Tuesday. I haven't gotten much done after kids camp this week except relaxing, but I hope to work on them again soon. I love them so far.

I painted the legs to the hassock last night...gave them two coats of deep brown. Hopefully this will inprove them!

Small projects are so much fun!

I taught the first session of three for some budding quilters yesterday. They were very good students and by the end of class, they were doing a good job of sewing straight seams! I have three girls in class and I taught them to cut with the rotary cutter, but I am helping some with the cutting as they are all eight yr. old. I was a little worried about all that cutting, safety and time-wise. I am going to try to remember to take some pix today, as we were so busy today I didn't think of it. I will get some pictures of the finished quilts on Friday, for sure.

 I got little footstool on a really good sale the other day, so I wanted to cover it in something fun. I had sewn some leftover batik strips together awhile back, so I got them out and played with them a bit.

 I decided to do a checkerboard type strip and offset it on the front of the hassock.

 I like it! It's not fancy, but fun!

 Now, what am I going to do about these crazy legs?

They didn't look so much like tree trunks when they were flat in the package....any ideas?

It's ready to be quilted!

I got the final border on the Hollow Cubes, Too quilt yesterday and it's ready to be quilted. I am going to get the back and binding ready today, so it will be ready to go when I am!

Heading out to sew with friends...hope you are having a quilty day too!

Getting excited!

I sewed the rest of the rows together yesterday on the Hollow Cubes, Too quilt. I have added the background border...now just need to cut and sew on the final border, hopefully today. I am excited to get it finished!

Since it was a bit cooler this morning, I started loading the Potato Chip quilt on the quilting machine. I'm not sure if I will get anything quilted today, but it helps to have it loaded and the bobbins wound so that I can quilt when I get a chance.  I had to do a bit of straightening before I could load it. I tend to lay things on the quilt machine table when I am cleaning up fabric messes around the sewing area downstairs or have bought new fabric. I keep most of my fabrics in tubs under the quilting machine, so when I am cleaning up from one project I take those leftover fabrics upstairs and put them away. (Or lay them on the table to be put away later.)

Now that this quilt is almost finished, I need to decide what is next. I have a lot of ideas of things I want to make, so I guess it's time to start fine tuning one of them. I really enjoy having the summers off to work on these projects, but it seems like the summer is going by so quickly and there is so much more to do. I am trying to get quilts finished for my fall/winter class schedule this summer while I have the time. There is some painting I want to do too, but I'm waiting for it to cool off a bit for that. 


Speaking of lots to do, I guess it's time to get off this computer and get busy!

Cutting, lots of cutting.....

 I decided to take a break from sewing yesterday and cut up this box of pieces. I have used these fabrics in several quilts, and most of them didn't have enough usable fabric left to do much with.

 Sometimes I cut leftovers into strips for stringpiecing, but this time I decided to cut them into squares.

 These pieces were left from cutting diamonds last year. I also found a bunch of strips that I sewed together using leftover bits and pieces from cutting diamonds. I forgot to take a pic, but there are enough strips to make a small quilt. That's a project for another day.

 Here are the stacks of squares with the box of fabrics that are left. (aren't they so cute in piles?) Does this look like a day's work?  I spent last evening sorting them into color groups. Some of them are hard to sort, as they have so many different colors in them once cut up.

Small pile for the stringpiecing box.

I have lots of pieces of batiks as well, and will sort through those next. I have a project I want to make using batiks so I need to see what I have that's big enough to use. The rest will get cut up.

I want to load a quilt on the quilting machine this morning, since it's a little cooler. It's supposed to be cooler all week.  Then I want to get back to sewing the Hollow Cubes Too quilt. Maybe I will get those rows sewn together!