More finishes from classes

I always enjoy getting pictures from quilters of the finished projects from my classes.

 Yuko finished last Saturday's project, Rock Candy, already, and it's quilted and bound! So pretty!

Kathy B. finished her free pieced letters project and practiced some free motion quilting on it, so she calls it her learning quilt! She made her grandchildren's names for the quilt.

I finished working on sorting the colorwheel squares last night so they are ready for class tomorrow. Tonight I'm riding up to my hometown with my daughter to visit my parents. Hopefully some other family members will be able to come over and visit too.

Rock Candy...very tasty!

 I had a great time teaching a group of ladies how to use the Sidekick Ruler to make the Rock Candy tabletopper yesterday. They all chose charm packs for this project, so  part of the challenge of this project was placing the scrappy diamonds in a pleasing arrangement. We spent a lot of time playing on the design walls.

Barb wanted to make something for Valentines Day as she likes to change out her toppers by season. We loved the contrast between the pinks and reds with the white background.

 Kathy B. chose deep jewel tone batiks for hers and they shine! It looks like stained glass.

 Kathy S. chose batiks that blended somewhat and came up with great layout (after much playing!) to accent those blending colors. Hers has a shimmering quality to it.

Yuko chose a bright, modern charm pack. Notice the pattern she made using the doubles she found in her assortment of patterns.

Even though this was the first time for them to use diamonds in a project, they caught on to the tricks of sewing them together quickly. It's always fun to work on a project that you can finish in a day too. That doesn't happen very often when we are piecing quilts.

I want to finish the blocks for the new mystery today as well as get some more of the quilting done on the tessellation quilt. Since it's going to be almost 50 outside today (yes, I still live in IA...) I'd love to get a walk or bike ride in too. Wish me luck!

After Christmas....

 It's been a busy few days since Christmas. I went shopping the day after Christmas with my mom and sisters. I didn't buy much, mainly went for the chit chat and lunch! They found the bargains they were looking for, so it was successful. 

 I had finished the quilting on the two smaller quilts on Tuesday, so I took them along to bind on Friday when I went to sew with the Tuesday ladies (they switched days last week!) 

I had some concerns about the white border, so auditioned a few bindings with it so I could decide if I should keep it or not. I liked this tye-dyed fabric for the binding, so it stayed! 

 The black and white is the backing fabric I used for the blended colorplay quilt...

 and this deep blue print is what I used on Rock Candy. I decided on the background green for the binding on it.

I'm glad I went with the multicolored binding, it seems to bring out the colors in the quilt as well as giving it a finished look.

 After I finished these I cut out a new mystery quilt that I want to start work on soon. I have been working on the cutting of a new tessellation quilt as well this week, and started sewing it together yesterday. I love tessellation quilts and this one is shaping up to be pretty interesting. I'm using lots of bright colors, so I dug through the stash for some of the fabric, but had to buy some new as well. I really enjoy these days off that I can sew all day! Are you getting any sewing done in the aftermath of Christmas?

Anybody for a little Rock Candy?

 I finished my Christmas shopping on Saturday, so I spent Sunday sewing. I had cut a bunch of 3 1/2" diamonds during my demo on the Sidekick Ruler a few weeks ago, so I played with them for awhile. I had used some fabrics from my stash, and wanted to try a different pattern of color.

 Once I figured out how I wanted to place the colors, it went quickly!

I decided to make this one square, so I had to figure out what size to cut the triangles to make it work.

 I added a border to the remaining 2 sides to make it square. Now I have a model of 3 of the 4 sizes you can make Rock Candy using the Sidekick Ruler. I'm not sure I will make one using the 1 1/2" size. It's tempting, but I want to move on to new projects so I'm not sure if I will.

 I also finished sewing the colorplay quilt together.I want to put a border on it, and don't have anything that will work, so I may have to go shopping later. Oh darn!

Rock Candy, part two

Here is Rock Candy 2, the larger version, as I began to quilt it. I used hte meander pattern on this one too, as I just wanted nice, overall quilting.

I took the picture below when I was about half way....it worried me throughout that it would come out uneven. I kept pinning the sides as I went to hold them into place, but when its stretched across the machine it could become distorted. I thought about basting it to the batting first and then loading it, but I wasn't sure if that would quilt well once I got it on the frame, so I didn't do it.

It turned out well, except for some slight bowing on two of the sides, which wasn't that noticeable to the eye, but once I started trimming it with a ruler I could see it. I attached the binding last night and plan to block it tonight. Wish me luck!

Rock Candy

I got three little quilts ready to quilt yesterday...the two Rock Candy toppers and the Colorwheel Stash quilt. It didn't take long to quilt this one, but I was worried about the shape distorting  so sewed straight of grain leaders on both Rock Candy quilts to help hold them steady during the quilting process.I also pinned and stitched down the edges as I went. I used a meander pattern for the quilting.

The backing for this one is a multicolored zigzag print from the Wrens and Friends fabric line that I used to make the topper. I used it for the binding and love the slanted stripes!

I had an easier time quilting the larger Rock Candy as far as getting it to lay flat and straight on the machine, but a couple of the sides bow in a bit, so I may have to block it. Not sure how to accomplish that with a six sided project. Any ideas?