Beyond the Stars quilting

 I've been working on quilting the Beyond the Stars Sampler 15 this week, along with doing some fabric sorting and other cleaning. The room the quilt frame is in can be a dumping ground for the leftovers from projects since I store my fabric in that room, too. When I'm working on a project, I save most scraps because you never know if you'll need every bit you have until you're finished. I've been going through those scraps and organizing them into usuable, unusable and won't use. Some pieces are big enough for a pillowcase, so I have a pile of them to make now. 

Question of the day: Would Conrad use a hammock if I made him one? 

Two are finished. What did I think I was going to make out of that Duck Dynasty fabric anyway?

I'm updating this with a picture of the finished quilting. 

Sunbonnet Sue Sampler 1

I designed this very basic sampler to using traditional blocks to teach quilters how to move on from Beginning Quilting and learn new techniques, including half square triangles and blocked sashing. 

As you can tell from the fabrics, this is about 15 years old, give or take a year or two. The students also made Sunbonnet Sue using fusible webbing and then handstitched around the pieces. 

This is probably the oldest one of my quilts that was not quilted until recently. After several years of using it,  I made a different, brighter version of this quilt as I had grown tired of the fabrics. Now where is that picture....

Finished!

Bright and cheery

I designed and made the My Little Pretties Sampler quilt a long tme ago, but never quilted it as I didn't have time. Plus it hung on the wall in the classroom so nicely unquilted. I recently asked my friend Cindy to quilt it for me and she did! I love what she did! 

Cindy does free motion quilting and said she was trying out a new design idea. She quilted in yellow and I really like that color choice. I used this pink/orange stripey fabric that I got not long ago because I knew it would go with something! And it does.

 Here's a close up of that gorgeous quilting.

My associate checked it out for softness...

Not a lot of sewing going on here lately

I have finished the painting on my garage and it looks so much better. It has left me with not much to show project wise, though. I have been slowly working on a scrappy mystery quilt (very slowly), but can't post that yet, so I haven't been posting much. I'm getting back in the swing now, hopefully!

I have two 24" metal quilt blocks. One I won in the Red and White Challenge on QuiltShopGal's blog (it's red!), and the other my friend, Pat, gave me. One will go on the peak on the front, which faces the front. The other will go on the side that faces the house. I put the one that Pat gave me on an existing nail on the side that faces the house  to see if I like it there. I can see this one when I'm in my sewing/TV/computer room, so I think I'd like the one from Pat here to remind me of her kindness. I think it is positioned pretty well between the windows, what do you think? Up? Down? Perfect? I will post pictures of the other one when I get it hung.

Some pictures from monthly classes. They are going well, and always lots of fun!

You might remember the start to Elsie's Log Cabin Star...she finshed it a few weeks ago and took it to the local shop for their show and tell. I can't wait to see it in person!

I'm trying to get caught up on sewing and other quilty stuff now, so I plan to get back to a better blogging routine! Thanks for sticking with me!

A Sampler is like a box of chocolates....each block is a new adventure.

The Ribbon Quartz Sampler group met Monday night to work on their 4th set of blocks. We enjoyed looking at their six finished ones before class. They worked on a block during class and will make another one before next time. This is a small group of three, with one missing that night. They are doing a great job!

The Sunbonnet Sue Sampler group met Tuesday night. They are just finished with beginning quilting and really enjoying the design aspects of  half square triangles. They cut worked on the Churn Dash and Grecian Square blocks that night and will have them finished before next month.

These groups meet every month and make one or two blocks. I teach these classes so that people can learn new skills, but they are also fun because of the group dynamics. It's fun for me to watch them develop into more confident quilters.

I basically got nothing quilty done this week except printing some patterns. (If that leads you to believe I might've cleaned or done dishes...sorry, that didn't happen either!) 

I'm teaching the Modern Cathedral Windows Pillow class tomorrow at Cut Up and Quilt. I love this technique and do a demo on the traditional hand pieced version during the class as well. I might not want to make the traditional version but I like knowing how it was done. What a lot of work! Those quilters had so much patience.

Do you enjoy taking classes? What was the last class you took?

Class magic..

The Sampler Pick group met Wed. night for the last session of this club. It's fun to see these quilts come together as they near the end of the sessions. Kelli had put her frames around most of her blocks...they all look so awesome! She was still working on framing #5 and worked on #6 that night.

Lora's blocks popped with the blue setting triangles and squares.

Lisa brought a quilt to share with us that she made and quilted herself. She is a new quilter just completing Beginning Quilting about 6 months ago.

Her last block involved making 4 of these to make one block, which are somewhat difficult. The small hst finish at 2". I think she did a great job, don't you?

Dorothy worked on the pieced ribbon border that goes around this quilt. It's going to be a beauty.

George didn't put his blocks on the wall, I should've noticed that, but didn't. Hopefully he will bring in the finished top when he gets there.

Debbie from the Sunbonnet Sue club came too, she couldn't come to her class last week. She got her Friendship Star finished and her homework....the Shoo Fly block. I told her the others would be jealous as they got started on the second block but no one finished it.

I will begin a new Sampler Pick Club next month. They always meet on the third Wed. of the month, so if you are interested in picking one of my sampler designs and working on it during these monthly sessions, just let me know. We can meet and look through the 19 designs and pick which one is best for you. Many of them feature new techniques to learn, as well as honing other skills.

I went to Cut Up and Quilt for their monthy CUAQ Therapy yesterday. It was fun. If you have Facebook, you can check out the pictures of everyone's show and tell projects  here. It's always fun to go, find out new products and enjoy the mini quilt show. Sometimes I see student's finishes from my classes too, which I always enjoy.

I also went to a planning meeting about the CB quilt show. Things are coming along nicely, we just need people to start sending us their entries so we can see what we have as far as number of quilts.

I want to get some more quilted on the new quilt today. I have quilted a few rows every day this week and am about half finished. This panto is gorgeous and my favorite but it takes a lot of back control to get it right. So I can't work for long periods of time on it. I've been toying with names for it. right now... "Scattered Thoughts" is my favorite, but we'll see. That's another part of the process, and can be challenging sometimes. I need to write the pattern too. The list just goes on and on. Some days I just have to look at the priorities and go from there. I go back to school next Wed, so I have lots I want to complete before then.

What are you up to today?

Friday Photos

 It's been a busy week of sewing and teaching....here are some design wall pictures from the two Sampler Clubs that met this week.

Happy Friday!