More stash blocks

I made a few more orange stash blocks the other day. After playing around with a couple of different settings, I can see that I need to make more red and more purple for sure. Funny I don't have as many different squares cut of those colors as I must not use them as much. These were cut several years ago, so I might have to look through more current stash and cut a few more, even though the purpose was to use up the ones I had already cut.

Not sure how I will set them yet, but after making these 2, I have 24.

I also made a few more masks for my family this weekend too. 

Eye candy and Colorwheel group

Marilyn came to last Saturday's Modern Cathedral Window Pillow class and brought some Circle and Spin show and tell with her. She was going to make a queen size quilt originally, but decided  she didn't like all of the colors in the same quilt, so made two throw size tops instead. They both turned out so pretty...these pictures don't really do them justice. I love it when people bring quilts from classes back to show me how they turned out!

 The Colorwheel Stash group met Tuesday night. I finally got the border on my Sunrise/Sunset quilt. This quilt is finished! It's funny because I'm still not sure I'm totally happy with this one...and I'm not sure why. Do you ever feel that way about your quilts? It's finished now, for better or for worse!

 Dorothy laid hers out on the tables and pinned and basted it so she can try machine quilting it. She hasn't done much quilting, but wants to give it a try. We talked about several different ideas she had about what she wants to do.

 Dianne was busy sewing down her shiny trims. She hoped to find some yellow/orange trim for the corresponding corner, but hasn't had any luck, so she came up with another idea for that spot.

I found the fabric I'm going to use for my setting squares and triangles on the new sampler, so I hope to get those cut out and made tonight. I'm excited to get it sewn together now!

Colorwheel Stash Group exploding with color!

The Colorwheel Stash Group met last week and had a great time seeing what each person had done to their quilt in the weeks since the last time. Lora quilted hers diagonally on her home machine. She then started adding beads to it. She is hanging it and using it to display pictures, so wanted the beads mostly around the edges.

Dorothy got her center finished and worked on getting her border sewn on.

She decided on white, which really showed off the colors.

Kelli put a ruched border on hers. We were intrigued by this idea, but loved it. She is not sure if she will use traditional binding or try something else.

She also quilted it with her home machine, trying out some stars and squiggly lines.

Dianne worked on her beading again, she is placing groups of beads and also decided to  use this trim as well.

She has it in several colors.

These are some closeups of some of the various beading techniques they are using. I find that everyone has their own ideas of what fits where when they are beading or adding other textures to quilts. It's a very personal venture, so it's interesting to see what they did.This was Kelli and Lora's first beading attempt and I think they really got into it. Dianne loves it and couldn't wait to get started last time on her beading!

We've been meeting since the class to keep exploring what we can do with these squares as well as try different techniques. We all know about my attempt at thread art...so I showed them what I had done. I think they found it interesting. I auditioned a few fabrics for the binding, and made it, just need to get it sewn on now.

I also finished sewing my 6 x  6 blocks. Now to figure out exactly  what I'm going to do with them!

Do I really need fabric?

Last Saturday I went shopping with a friend. We did a shop hop of our own around Omaha. I was mainly just looking, but I have an idea for the 6 x 6 colorwheel blocks that might involve black, gray, white or some combination of them. So I was checking out the neutrals I came across. I found a couple of interesting prints that might work with the idea I have.

One I found is a dotted hombre that goes from light gray to charcoal...I love it!  The other one has black to white dots...very interesting.

It was a fun day. We ate lunch at a new-to-us mexican restaurant and just browsed fabrics all day. I hadn't been to some of these shops for a long time, so it was fun to see what was new. It's inspiring too!

I'm not sure why I have this need to make things with fabric, but I definitely need it! The challenge of getting the fabric, planning what you are going to make and then seeing how it looks when finished.  How about you? What keeps you quilting?

Today I'm off to teach people how to make a fun quilt with circular shapes the easy way! We have a bit of snow on the ground and the forecast is for more snow later, so I hope it doesn't pile up too much!

A sampler finish and new Country Farm blocks

I love it when people bring their finished quilts from classes to show me. Barb put a lot of work into making the woven border as well as all of the blocks on this quilt and we all agreed that it is stunning! Next stop...the quilter!

Dianne has been working on her Miss Tess quilt and it is looking good too! They are both part of the Starluna Sampler club meeting on the 4th Tuesday every month. Another fun part of sampler clubs is show and tell! Everyone gets a chance to show off what they have been working on during the past month. I think it also gives them incentive to get their quilts finished, knowing that they can come and show them off!

They worked on making the Country Farm block Tuesday night. Many of them got the blocks finished or very close! Here they are with last month's block. 

 One quilter was gone and one picked up her pieces before we could get a picture! 

Tonight the beginning piecing class meets to work on attaching their borders. It's always fun to get them finished!

Thread art or just a mess?

I have been thinking about how I wanted to quilt the colorwheel sunset quilt. I wanted to try some free motion quilting on it, rather than a panto. My machine isn't really set up for free motion quilting. I don't have front controls or a stitch regulator, so I don't attempt much free motion. Plus I have a range of about 7", so that limits the area being worked on.  I have done organic wavy lines across a top a few times. And have done a little echo quilting.

I wanted to show rays coming from the yellows, so I started sewing some jagged lines in and back out from the top edge. I knew if I wanted lines to come from the center I would have to overlap them somewhat.

I used tape to mark the edge of where I could go in one pass, since I didn't want any weird jags when I hit my "edge" or the end of my range for that row.

I continued the rays, but tried to put more of a curve on them to soften the look. I used a variegated gold thread. I had plans to switch to a rosey variegated when I got closer to the darker fabric on the bottom, but I forgot.

I just wanted an organic wavy line across the bottom portion, but I wanted some overlap between the rays and the organic ground part. Not sure if you can really see it  in the above picture.

Originally I wanted to blend this yellow/orange corner better with the reds  by using a darker thread, but I forgot to switch and after I had used the gold over parts of it, I decided I liked how it looked on the darker fabrics.

I will take a better picture after I have it trimmed, but overall I am happy with it. I'm not sure it's what I had envisioned, but it is pretty in it's own way.

I used a solid gold on the back. I had some other class related things to do yesterday, so didn't work on it anymore. I laid it out on my table so it could lay flat and rest from all that quilting.

 Both cats thought it looked comfy....

I have a busy week of classes this week. I am starting the Against the Tide Mystery class on Wed. at CUAQ. I'm doing this one at two locations since a mystery isn't very mysterious after it's been shown! Plus it's nice to have a choice for people to come during the evening or a Sat. morning. The times and dates for both locations are on the upcoming classes page if you are interested in doing this mystery!