Spinning and spinning

One of my evening Sampler Clubs are learning how to piece circles making the Circle and Spin or Circle and Spin to the Moon quilts. They had lots of blocks finished when we met last time. Love all those colors!

They are doing a great job and found out that doing circles this way isn't that hard at all!

I will be teaching this again on Nov. 12 at Log Cabin Quilting in Exira. If you live in the area and want to try it, give Robin or me a call!

Two of the quilters from the last class of beginners are making the Double Four Patch quilt. These will be gorgeous when finished!

I have been working on my entry for the Quilting the Blues 2016 Challenge, so I can't really post my progress, but I took a picture of the 16 fat quarters that I received to use in the challenge. You can add 3 of your own fabrics to the mix. There are size requirements as well as other rules for this challenge, but if your quilt is chosen as a finalist, it will travel to the Original Sewing and Quilting Expos next year.

It's fun to try challenges and this one was challenging for me because I knew what I wanted to do, but at one point it wasn't happening. I had to rework it several times before I thought it conveyed what I wanted it to. It is at the quilter's now, so hopefully she is working her magic on it and it will be how I envisioned. I can't wait to see what everyone does with this challenge. If you took this challenge, let me know.

Family Sewing Day...

I spent a Sunday in Earling recently sewing with family. My sister Deb finished her Jelly Roll Race quilt. This is her second quilt, and it's a beauty! She wants to try making a bag next.

My two nieces worked on their T-shirt quilts. They are both novice quilters and anxious to get these first quilts finished.

Not sure what my daughter was doing on the sewing machine, she worked on jewelry all day. My sis Sharon helped her daugher with pinning the T-shirt quilt.

Jessie's quilt, all laid out and ready to sew together.

Phylicia worked on a puff quilt. All ready to stuff!

Ashley's almost finished quilt. She has since finished the top and bottom borders and it's ready to layer. I didn't do much sewing, opting instead to help them and visit. That's important too!

 Phylicia is bottle feeding a baby kitten so she brought it along. My dad was the official cat whisperer! Mom worked on getting some backings ready for 3 quilts to be quilted. I will get pictures of her and her quilts once she gets them back!

Is it a mirage?

 I spent Saturday with some awesome quilters who wanted to make Mirages, my newest addition to the Circle and Spin series. I had given them directions to precut squares, so they were ready to cut some curves and start sewing. As you can see, they got a lot finished!

Jane's use of batiks was gorgeous...she has the best collection of batiks around. Karen was using bright prints on a mottled blue background for a eye-catching look.

Karen H

 I didn't get pictures of Karen S or Amanda's blocks, as they had used fabrics similar to mine, and didn't put their blocks up on the wall. They thought they could tell what it would look like. They got a lot finished as well.

Elsie

Elsie had some Laurel Burch fabrics in her stash and threw in some solids as well for a colorful look.

Deb

 Deb had 4 different fabrics on a green background, so we tried a pattern as we put the blocks up.

JoAnn

JoAnn just wants to make a wallhanging, so hers will finish quickly!

Trudy

 Trudy had been saving black prints for a long time. As you can see a few had some colorful bits thrown in too.

Mirages as a backdrop to class.

 I think we banished some worries about sewing curves! I can't wait to see them finished!

Update: Deb N. sent me a picture of her finished quilt in Dec.