Student finishes

 It's always fun to see quilts that students have made from your classes. This is Jane's Mosaic quilt. She used lots of bright fabrics and made a center out of some Dr. Seuss fabrics. She also embroidered her grandson's name on some of the squares, though I'm not sure if it will show up in these pix.

 Naomi took the Circle and Spin class last fall at Cut Up and Quilt. Her quilter posted some pictures on facebook of the quilt after she quilted it. It turned out so pretty.

 I got a quilt loaded on the machine yesterday and quilted about four rows. I am meeting with my retreat group today so we can plan our meals for our upcoming Aug. quilt retreat. Should be fun!

Another top finished.

I participated in a Windmill block swap with nine friends a couple of years ago. We each ended up with 20 blocks. I put tilted borders on the blocks to give them a little spin. Then I put it away for a bit....ok, a year...

I finally got them sewn together last summer and added a teal border. Then it aged a little longer....until Tuesday. A local group is making twin size quilts for a children's shelter here in town, so I decided I would finish this quilt and donate it to them. It just needed one more border to make it twin size, so it is ready to quilt. Now to find a back!

I had taken this partially finished tea cup swap block project with me on Tuesday too. I found it when I was cleaning out the quilting room the other day. I had some of the fabrics left too, so I put it all in a bag and took it with (it's on the "let's get it finished" list.) One of the other ladies ran out of fabric for her project so I asked her if she wanted it. She took it and started to work on it. She even got some more fabric to go with the leftover fabrics so that she could make a piano key border. She was still working on it when it was time to go, so more on this project later....

I spent yesterday getting a couple of quilt tops pressed and the backs ready so that I can quilt them.  Then I worked on a new string piecing project. I got seven blocks finished...string piecing is so much fun!

Kid's Camp ...let's make pillows!

 We had lots of fun yesterday making Cobblestone blocks during Kid's Camp 2013. I had three of the girls from last week's PJ pants class, so they are starting to feel like old pros. They made good use of the design walls during class and were excited when they could start putting up blocks to admire!

 Sometimes the machines came unthreaded, or otherwise acted up, but for the most part they cooperated nicely!

 Kelsey was so excited to have her pillow top ready for the back while Jordan patiently waited for her mom to fix her thread issues!

 They loved their pillows, and were practicing laying on the floor with them at one point!

 They all chose their own colors and were so proud of what they had accomplished. Courtenay had done some sewing on a Quilts of Valor quilt, so had some experience.

 Maddie made this pillow for her older brother since she had made the PJ pants for herself....isn't she a sweetie? She told the story of how they went to pick out the fabric and he told her she didn't need to make it for him. She could make it for herself. But then he saw this music fabric and he loves band, so he picked it out. She said, "I guess he wants a pillow after all!" I think she will have a hard time parting with it!

 I could easily fabric shop with these girls, they all like the same fabrics as I do!

 Amanda picked the colors of her room for her pillow. She also wore pink to class!

They were excited and happy to finish their pillows. Three of the five girls will be taking their projects to the fair in July.

Leftovers are good for quilting too!

When I made the Tasty Tablerunner, I cut out lots of different fabrics so that I could make some mock-ups for class. I had so many left over that I put some together in rows to make hexagons. I then partially sewed them together and it worked well to show students what else they could do with the half hexies. I decided that I was going to finish it yesterday, so I gathered all of the leftovers and got to work. 

I think it turned out cute. I used some fabric I had on hand for borders and made the binding out of the border fabric as well. Now I need to find something to back it. 

A really, really old ufo

 I started this quilt a long time ago, as is evident by the fabric I used. I started to make one just like this, and ended up giving it to a friend who was retiring. So I started another one for myself. It's not that big, about 27" sq. so the piecing didn't take that long, but I had hand quilted the other one, so I wanted to hand quilt mine too. You can see I got the center almost half quilted...then it ended up abandoned. Not sure why I never got back to it. I eventually stored it in a tub with some fabric.    

 When I was going through some project leftover fabrics and sorting them into tubs, I decided I should finish up some partially sewn models. When I teach a class I make a model to hang at the store so people know  what the class quilt looks like. Then I make up some demo props that show how to make it, or one or more of the steps. Sometimes I make up something else with a variation of the pattern, or the leftover cuts from the original quilt. Some of them will never be made into quilts, but some of them are small versions, so I could finish them and make a runner, or a pillow or something.

 So that's what prompted me to get out this small quilt to see how far I had gotten before I put it away and to decide if I should finish it. I don't really like the fabrics anymore, so I'm not sure if I want to spend the time to finish it. I could probably finish quilting it by machine, but not sure I want to do that either. But I hate to just throw it away. Do you have any old projects laying around like this? What would you do?

Kerstin's finish!

Kerstin, at Cookies Treasures, finished the quilting on her Snake Dance Mystery quilt. It looks so pretty. I love the quilting she did on her home machine. She said not as many people in Germany have home quilting set-ups or take their quilts to be quilted. I think it looks awesome!

I spent some time cleaning up the quilting room yesterday, as I had project leftovers stacked all around. So now it is a little bit more organized. I separated out the smaller pieces to put in the "string" tub. It was full, so I cleaned out another tub that was bigger and transferred them into it. It's time to make a new string pieced project to use them up. A friend wants some too, so I will send some to her.

I found a small quilt that I started to hand quilt a long time ago. I knew it was there, I've just been ignoring it. I will take some pictures and post tomorrow. I don't even like the fabrics anymore, so I have to decide if I really want to spend time finishing it.

Aunt Ann's Puff Quilt

 One of the quilts we showed at the Bluffs Quiltfest Show last weekend was my Aunt Ann's Puff Quilt. It belongs to my mom now, so she entered it in the show. It is made out of old clothes and most of it is double knit. It is interesting to look at all the fabrics...my mom remembered giving her some of them. She machine sewed each individual pillow, flipped it right sides out, stuffed it and then hand sewed them together.

The squares are 3 1/2" finished....it's twin size.

I was fascinated with Puff Quilts when I first started quilting and really wanted to make one. I checked several different ways to make them, as I didn't think I would get one hand sewn. I still haven't made one...yet. If you have made one, please share what method you used.

I took it back to my mom when I went to Earling on Friday even though it really wanted to stay at my house. 

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

More quilts to ogle and Steampunk dolls...

While we were looking at quilts, Cindy saw this one and said "I quilted this one!" She has quilting business and remembered this unique quilt. So we had to get a picture of her with it! I think it looks like Conrad posed for this quilt, don't you?

 Both of these quilts are from a Judy Niemeyer pattern, one was huge and the other throw size. Both were gorgeous!

I think one of the fun things about going to local quilt shows is the inspiration that follows. It makes you want to run home and sew!

 Especially if you happened to find some fabric that went home with you.

 This spiderweb design had an interesting front and back.

 This one was so gorgeous and this picture washed it out. The quilter did a wonderful applique job on it.

Just plain fun!

 Sock Monkeys!

 Another teeny tiny....

 Family names on a quilt....great idea!

 These were little beds with pillows!

 And lots of cute girls!

 I enjoy the cloth dolls at the show every year. I know a few of the creators, they are so  much fun and put so much love into their dolls.

 I had to look up what steampunk meant....I'd heard the word before but really had no idea.Even after reading the definition, I'm still not 100% sure I know what it means.....

I went to Earling to see my folks yesterday and had a great day of visiting. We went to lunch at the local bar/cafe, my sister came over for lunch, as well as 2 nephews. Then we spent the afternoon chatting. Our family reunion is next weekend, so I will be heading up again.