Love those finishes!

 While I was at Cut Up and Quilt on Saturday, Barb stopped in with three quilt finishes to show me. I was excited to see that she had finished her Lone Star quilt...she took the class in January.

Fly Away Home Sampler

 She also brought two finished samplers she has made during my classes over the past couple of years. They are beauties...these pix don't do them justice. We should've gone outside!

StarLuna Sampler

I didn't have school on Monday, so spent most of the day working on a new string piecing project. I love string piecing for lots of reasons, but the biggest one is that it's just fun!

 Monday and Tuesday nights were both Sampler Club nights (pictures coming) and I'm looking forward to meeting with my quilt group tonight and see what they have been up to. 

Hard-sewing quilters!

The Garden Window Sampler Club had an extra class this month and what a great surprise to have them all bring their finished quilt tops Monday night to show and tell! Judy's is above, I forgot to have her peek out so we could see whose quilt it was.

They all did a great job. This is their second sampler quilt, they have been quilting for about a year.

Marilyn had worked on Gathering Around during this club, and she brought her quilted quilt to show...I was fascinated by the quilting on this one. The use of the black/white thread made some interesting designs as the triangles wove in and out of the black.

Dorothy started a month later than the others, hence the extra class. I had given her the last block of her quilt last month so she worked on getting the setting triangles in place and started to sew together her diagonal rows.

Carolyn and Judy brought their Turning Cartwheels quilts to work on the on point setting as well. This was a new technique for them so it worked out well that they could bring them and learn how to do it.

Carolyn

Judy decided she didn't like the fabric she had cut for her setting triangles, so is going to rethink them, but sewed her rows together without them for the time being. How many times has this happened to you? Many times I get a fabric that I think will work perfectly and then it doesn't. We can't always foresee every nuance of color and how it will play with the others. 

Judy

All in all it was great fun an I look forward to helping  most of them start a new sampler next month! 

Getting close to the finish line

Marilyn

 I met last night with the Sampler Pick group...there are five quilters doing three different sampler quilts. Marilyn is working on Gathering Around, and had multiples of five different blocks. She did her last block last month, so started putting her borders on. She finished them last night so we got a picture of this gorgeous quilt. I don't always get to see the tops finished. She also showed me a picture of her last sampler quilted and on her bed. I need to get that picture too!

Judy A

 Three of the ladies are working on the Garden Window sampler and worked on their last block last night. This birdhouse is a paper piecing block meant as an introduction to that technique. They all did very well and had fun adding some birds to make it look inviting.

Judy A

I was excited to see that they had all been working on the attic window sashings for this quilt and some had the rows partially sewn together. I'm not sure if you can see the 3-D effect very well in these photos, but it definitely shows up in person.

Carolyn

Carolyn

 They had to make multiples of several of the blocks to make it twin size, so Christine decided to make a few different blocks instead. Now she has one too many, so will have to decide which one to leave out! She said she would make a pillow out of it. She has also stitched antennae on her butterflies, which looks really cute. She does have a little "unpicking" (as she calls it) to do as she set her half square triangle in at the wrong angle on her sashings. Luckily, she hadn't started sewing the squares together, so will just have to undo the one corner on the blocks. You can tell her 3-D window panes are going to pop when she gets that finished.

Christine

 Dorothy is working on the StarLuna sampler and worked on the Astra block last night. She has to make four of these, so didn't get them finished, but you can see how pretty it will be. The four blocks will be set into the center of the quilt.

Dorothy

We put it on the design wall placing the other 3 of 4  blocks in this quilt to the center for the picture. They will be on the outside edges in the final layout. She has one more block, Pentas, to make and took the pattern home so that she can make it this month and work on the setting triangles and start sewing it together next time.

Dorothy

 It's exciting to see these quilts coming together and I look forward to next month as I think the Garden Window people might have finishes too. It's getting harder to keep up with these quilters!

I meet with a group starting the new sampler, Hightlights, tonight. I can't wait to see their color choices and get them started on a new quilt.

StarLuna Sampler Club finale

 I met Monday night with one of the groups that is working on the StarLuna Sampler quilt. It was their last class, so they learned how to set their blocks on point, cut setting triangles and corner triangles, and sew it together in diagonal rows. Marilyn used fabrics from her stash for this beauty.

Lora V. loves prints and lots of color.  Most of them got several rows sewn together for a good start to their finished sampler quilt.

 Laura W. wasn't sure she liked her Friendship Ribbon blocks after she made them, but likes them better now that they are in their setting.

 Kelli said "I'm keeping this quilt...it's mine!" It will definitely be a happy one to snuggle under!

This club will move on to the newest sampler, Ribbon Quartz, in June.  There are openings in this club if you are interested!

Christine couldn't come to her Sunbonnet Sue Sampler Club last week, so she came Monday night and worked on her blocks. She has 2 more classes to go for a finshed quilt, but has started to add the sashings so it will go together quickly.

It's fun to see these quilters grow and get a little closer to finishing their quilts!

Catching up

Monday night I met with the Sampler 18 group. They are half way through their classes now. Last month they started their Friendship Stars, but had multiples of them to make so didn't finish in class.  They were mostly finished Monday night.

They worked on Astra Monday night, but have to make four for the center of the quilt, so they left with some homework!

Can you figure out which block goes with which set of blocks above?

Tuesday night I met with the Colorwheel Stash group. During the class we decided to meet again to continue working on art type projects using our squares and trying some different techniques with them. We had a great time. I took some art type projects I have done to show how you can use stitching and beading to enhance these types of quilts.

 Several people worked on getting a border they liked on their original project, others worked on new ideas. I played with yellow and blue 6 x 6 blocks, but for some reason...again no pictures. I was really upset with myself but I guess we were just having too much fun playing and discussing what we could do. Luckily we are meeting again next month, so we can see everyone's progress. I hope to have my sunrise/sunset quilt quilted by then. I have some ideas and am anxious to get started on that.

I meet with the beginning piecing class making More Peas in a Pod tonight. I WILL take pictures! 

Ooh lala...

Two new sampler clubs started this week. Most of Tuesday night's class got their blocks finished.

Lots of pretty blocks!

Monday's club did a great job too. They are pretty new to quilting, so are enjoying the process.

They got the Friendship Star finished, and will finish Shoo fly for homework.

I spent last evening getting packed up for my weekend retreat. I am so ready for a break and sewing and chatting with friends all weekend will be just the thing. I will post pictures from retreat in my next posting.

A new sampler class begins...

Monday night I started the classes for the newest Sampler, StarLuna. Laura brought her last sampler, Fly Away Home, to show me her progress. That sampler has a lot of piecing to put together the center, but is definitely worth it! I am excited to see it when she has the borders on!

We worked on the StarLuna block for our first class....3 of the 4 quilters finished their blocks! Lots of interesting colorways...

I'm heading to the hospital to see baby Owen tonight after work. I didn't end up working on his quilt last night after all. After cooking dinner, and cleaning up a bit, I played with arranging the stash assessment squares while I watched tv. I'm off on Sat. so I might wait until then. I do better quilting in the morning anyway and it won't take me long to finish it. 

StarLuna is finished!

I finished the quilting and binding on my StarLuna Sampler and it's ready to rehang at the store tonight. Quilting really brings a quilt to life, so I'm glad I brought it home and finished it. I will start this Sampler Club on Monday, Nov. 11.

I wasn't sure if the stripe would be too much on the binding, since I had used it as a border, but I really like it.

I know a lot of people worry about using stripes in quilts, but using them on borders and bindings is pretty much worry free.

I'm happy with the way the threads blend with the fabric and don't take away from the quilt itself. Or at least I hope it doesn't.

This floral made a perfect backing for this quilt and the striped binding looks great with it too.

I have a class with the beginners tonight to get their quilt tops ready to finish next week. I'm excited to see what they have accomplished since last week. At some point, I need to do a little prep work for my It's All in a Name class before Saturday, too....tomorrow's another day, right?