Classes and holidays...

 I had two sampler clubs meet last week. The newest one, Simply Posies met on Monday night...Laura's quilt is almost finished. She is adding one large border yet. She didn't end up using the last pieced border on the quilt, so I have a feeling it will end up somewhere...maybe on the back? The border she is adding is a wide asian print that coordinates with the Posies black fabric in the center.

 Karen is working on her first pieced border...she hasn't had much time to quilt lately. Several people had to miss that night, plus the camera fairy forgot to take pictures of the others that were there. Bad fairy.

My Simply Posies Sampler 21 quilt

Larkspur Sampler 22

 I've been working on my new sampler design, Larkspur, so I showed them a preview...it's getting finished in the next few days I hope.  It's in rows in this picture. I designed most of the blocks in this quilt as well as the layout, so I'm really excited about it.

Marta

 I also met with the My Little Pretties Sampler Club on Wednesday. They are making great progress! They worked on the Grandmother's Quilt block. Marta finished hers, it's the upper right block. The others were close to finished. I love how these quilts are turning out. We went over the directions for the alternate block, so I expect to see some almost finished layouts when next we meet for their last class on this quilt next month.

Billie Jo

 I spent some time shopping with my sister, Nancy and her husband, Dale yesterday. They are here for a holiday visit from Canada. They are heading up to my hometown later today to stay with my folks, so I will see them again on Christmas. We are also planning our annual sewing day for next Sunday. Lots of family time coming up and no work for 2 weeks.

Sheryl

Lots of this and that

Diane H

 I'm not sure where this week went, but it flew by. I sewed with friends a couple of days this week...that's always fun. I started the My Little Pretties Sampler Club Wednesday night. Their first block was A Dandy and it really lived up to its name.  As you can see, they all have interesting fabrics and they all got their blocks finished. That's always nice. I went easy on them...no homework this time!

Laural

Cheryl B

Marta

Billie

 It's so much fun to begin a sampler, touch and see all the new fabrics...there's an excitement there that only compares to finishing a quilt.

 Dianne finished her Simply Posies center block during Tuesday sewing.  It's very colorful and pretty. Her group meets Tuesday night, so we'll see the others then.

 Jo, a friend from Florida, sent me a picture of her finished Red, White and True quilt top. She changed the layout a bit, which I love. If you have been working on this quilt, please share your pictures with me...I love to see them. The free patterns are still available on Craftsy for a limited time if you still want to make it.

 You might remember that I started quilting this Circle and Spin to the Moon before I went on retreat. I have been doing so much other sewing since then that I haven't had time to get back to it, so I spent Friday in my quilting room and it's quilted.

 I really love this quilt and am anxious to get it finished. I used a gray/black thread and the Leafage panto. It's one of my favorite pantos for overall effect.

 I'm using the backing fabric below for the binding and it's ready to go. I will probably wait until I go to the store tomorrow for class to sew it on. I like sewing bindings on these larger quilts there as the tables are bigger than any I have at home.

I got the newest quilt in the Circle and Spin series finished the other day, so spent some time yesterday sewing the backing together and prepping the top for quilting. You will notice that this batik is the same design as the other one, just different colors.I haven't decided what I will bind this one with yet. I am going to get it loaded this morning and hopefully get a start on quilting it. I'm really excited about this quilt and will post some pictures when it's finished.

Class highlights and a Happy Village

Jane

This week has flown by and I've been busy sewing and meeting with sampler clubs. Monday night's group is one of two that are working on the newest sampler, Simply Posies. Jane is using 30s repro fabrics for hers and decided to make one large posy. She had some multicolored strips left from another project, so is using them for the narrow border around the center. Her center has a pretty nine patch that ties in perfectly.

Laura W

 Laura is using two fabrics for the posies. Her fabrics have an asian feel with the gold overlay. She hasn't added her narrow border yet...she is planning something interesting for that too.

Deb M had her squares cut when she came, so got most of them added to make panels.

 Tuesday night was a work night for the group making the To The Point sampler. They didn't have experience using setting triangles and corners, so we spent most of the time cutting them and starting to sew the panels together. Two of the quilters worked on blocks they still needed to finish (oops, forgot to take pix of those!). They were doing well by class end and excited about seeing their quilts come together.

Nancy B sewing her triangles to the blocks.

Debbie McQ has some beautiful batik blocks!

Martha is using a white fabric for her setting triangles so that her backgrounds show up better.

 I took a day off from sewing yesterday to clean and mow, but I have plans to do some more quilting today on the Happy Village quilt. I need to get it finished this week.

 I worked on it a few weeks ago, but then got caught up in retreat sewing and other things that I haven't gotten back to it. Since I want to teach the technique in Oct. I need to get it finished and to the shop.The quilting wasn't as difficult as I thought it might be as you are basically tracing around each piece. My biggest problem was being able to see around the presser foot, so I found a plastic foot that I think will help with that.

As I was quilting, I decided that there was a blank space on the far left under the black, zigzaggy roof, so I added a new house. It really is hard to know where to stop, but I think it looks better now.

Off to quilt! Are you quilting too?

Red, White and True progress and other pretties

Pat F

 I had Sampler Clubs Monday and Tuesday nights, and got to see the progress on a few of the local  Red, White and True quilts.Aren't they gorgeous?

Karen

Karen has been posting about hers on her blog, Hazel Dell Quilts. It's even prettier in person.

Gretchen

Gretchen chose more muted reds and blues which gives it an antique look. I can't wait to see more! The final sewing directions will be posted on Monday, along with an really big giveaway...you won't want to miss it.

Rachel S and Jo M. downloaded  pictures of their Red, White and True quilts to the Flickr page...stop over and take a look!

Susan at Hanging by a Needle and Thread changed the layout a bit and it's so cute! Variations make life interesting.

 I finished quilting my daughter's duvet turned quilt Monday, so I took it with me to the store on Tuesday so that I could square the edges on their large table. I hadn't really squared it before I quilted it, as it was pretty straight after cutting it apart. She thought she wanted a neutral binding, but I had this blue striped fabric from my mom's stash (circa 1994) that I liked with it and my daughter agreed.

 I got the binding sewed on one side, still need to finish it.

 It really is pretty, I can see why she wants to keep using it as a quilt.

 Dianne brought her Highlights Sampler 20 to show off. She has one more border to add and the top will be finished.

 Betty brought the Lone Star quilt she started in class last spring. She had our friend, Cindy, do some custom quilting on it and it is gorgeous!

 Laura has the center block finished on her Simply Posies Sampler 21. It's always so much fun to see everyone's progress on my class projects.

I loaded the black/gray Circle and Spin quilt yesterday and quilted one pass. I'm using a black/gray variegated thread and the Leafage panto. I had plans to cut out a new design, but I started tweaking it and ended up on the computer most of the day fiddling with it and another design. So I never did get any cutting done, except for mowing the grass. Maybe today I will get it figured out...

Kid's Summer Camp and sampler pix

 I had so much fun Wednesday helping these budding sewists make their first skirt! They had the choice of making the longer, straight version or the short sassy version.As you can see, they did a great job!

The three girls on the left (above) are friends and helped each other as they were sharing a pattern (wrong size purchased by two). Miss E (zigzag skirt) was visiting from California and her Grandma signed her up for the class.

 I forgot to ask if any of these were going to fair this year, but they would definitely wow the judges! It's always so much fun to see what fabrics they pick out.

 This cutie has taken kid's camps in the past...not sure if you can see the doggie faces on her skirt or not, but it's a cute print.

 These two sisters have taken classes before. It's always fun to see them.

That evening we had an extra class for the Sunbonnet Sue Sampler quilters...they worked on getting their borders finished. Two of the four were able to come. Diane H has one more border to go...she spent some time auditioning her fabrics for that first border. We liked how choosing the cornerstone fabric was going to change the look of the setting design. It's always so much fun to play with color, isn't it? I can't wait to see it finished!

 Marta is making two, one for her and one for a friend. She finished her friend's quilt that night. I am anxious to see her top finished too. She cut the borders for it, so it won't take her long to sew them on.

Jane has a good start on her center Posie for the Simply Posies Sampler 21 that began Monday night. She is making her four flowers all the same fabric.

I have to confess that I had didn't take any pictures during Tuesday night's To The Point Sampler class because they were so busy learning paper piecing techniques to make their block, that I just forgot. They will be meeting one more time for an extra class to learn how to set their blocks on point next month, so I will get some taken then.

I plan to start a new project today so hopefully I will have pictures to share soon! Are you sewing today?

Bits and Pieces of a lot of things

It's always fun to see the sampler quilts progress from month to month. The Highlights sampler is nearing the end and so the first group's blocks are really shaping up. Laura was worried that hers were too busy because of her repeating block, but I reminded her that they all had a border around them that spreads them out, so once we did the layout with some of them in place, it took on a different look. She liked it much better. 

Laura

Jane has been working on two quilts at the same time; one with a yellow background for her grandson and one with a green background. She decided she had enough blocks finished to put together the yellow one, so she brought it to class last week. You can see she made her Eccentric Stars out of different fabrics. I love it this way too. 

Jane

 Here are the green ones and last week's block. So pretty.

She also made these adorable camper pincushions for a friend and brought them to show us.

Jane

Diana

Diana is working with three fabrics and her background on this quilt. I love her placement of the fussy cut flowers. That is her border fabric, I think. It's great when people add their own ideas to your design. 

 The To The Point sampler group worked on this leaf block last week. We all think it looks more like a tree. That is mine from the quilt below.

 We talked about how different the blocks look when set on point and put some on the wall to see. I forgot to take a pic of them straight. Some blocks are more interesting on point.

Dianne has been working on her Beads, Buttons and Baubles quilt the past two Tuesdays. It's looking good and with all of those bug fabrics, I think she should name it Beetles, Bugs and More Bugs!

Dianne

I have been working on a lot of class stuff, but not sewing the past few days. I'm working on the Simply Posies Sampler 21 pattern, which is going very well. It's sort of the sampler that's not a traditional sampler, but I love it! I wish I could've gotten it quilted before I hung it at the store Wednesday, but it's actually easier to display the larger quilts in the classroom as a flimsy, so I guess it's ok. I may get it done yet this summer!

Simply Posies Sampler 21

I've also been working on the weekly sewing, posts and patterns that go along with the Red, White and True Quilt Along. (You can find all of the info on the quilt along on the link above.) I'm really getting excited about it and anxious to cut out my second quilt and sew along with everyone.Have you picked out your fabrics? There is a Flickr group you can post pictures to so we can all admire them! I will be posting the cutting directions on Mon. June 22, so have those fabrics pressed and ready to cut! Are you joining us?

I am going to load Red, White and True on the frame today and try to get it quilted. It's smaller and shouldn't take too long. Wish me luck!