Ready for a Summer Fling!

 Or they will be once they finish their Summer Fling scrappy quilts.It started out as a gloomy, rainy day, but these quilters got to work quickly and started turning out scrappy hexies! That put some bloom in the room!

 I had sewn some selvages together just for fun and cut those while they sewed to show how they could be used as well. I made other class model blocks to cut and show for class, so I will be making another version of this using all of those.

Selvages used...so cute!

I also cut some more non-piecied blocks, but used busier prints than last time (I found some strips that were just right!). I think I like this too. I am mixing some of the black/tan blocks in that I made using leftover jelly roll strips too. I really need to clean, but now I just want to sew these together!

 It would actually go together much quicker using a jelly roll, as the strips would be wider and already cut. Plus you could use a fabric collection that suited the person you were making it for.

My design consultant, Smokey

I do love scrappy quilts, how about you?

Original Summer Fling 

Rainy, quilty afternoon....

 Yesterday I hosted a UFO Saturday...it was the perfect day to stay inside and sew. Brenda brought her Lone Star to work on. She had the two halves made and partially sewn together. She was having trouble sewing the two sections together so we figured out what the problem was and she got it sewn. Next she cut out her corner squares and side triangles...they are large, so it's nice to have more space in the classroom to do that! Then she started sewing them in.

 Jane spent some time arranging her Honeycomb Waffle half blocks until she had it the way she wanted. She made some blocks with some color mixed in with her gray/black filler blocks, which add an interesting touch. Jane loves colorful batiks, can you tell?

Dianne worked on her Beads, Buttons and Baubles quilt. She did a lot of cutting and prepping so will soon be ready to put the rest of her blocks together. 

 Brenda finished her Lone Star center....wowser! I love these huge stars and they look gorgeous in all color combos. I have two people interested in taking this class, so if you live in the area and are interested, let me know....I will schedule around the interested quilter's schedules if possible. I also have a quilter who wants me to teach the Honeycomb Waffle, Too class again. I love teaching this class, so if you are interested too, let me know!

 Jane got her rows sewn together vertically, so is probably sewing them together this morning. She was undecided when we left yesterday about her top and bottom setting triangles. She had cut some black ones, bu thought they might be too dark. She will have to decide soon!

I had sewn together some more strips the other night in anticipation of my Summer Fling Stringpiecing Workshop next Sat. at Cut Up and Quilt, so I cut them out in between helping the others. I will probably have enough for a small quilt or if I don't I will have to make more so I don't waste them....this happens to me a lot, ok?

I had some black/tan leftover jelly roll strips so I sewed them together as well. Not sure how they will look mixed in with the more colorful ones, but hopefully I can use them together. Then I cut some solid blocks out of the pink polka dot fabric I used on the back of one of my Peas in a Pod quilts. I still have some solid colored blocks left from the original quilt, too. 

It was a fun day of sewing, chatting and sharing ideas. I think we planned several more quilts while they worked on these! Isn't that always the way it goes?

Spring Break!

I haven't had any classes this week, so I've been playing catch up both here and at work. Still lots to be done, but I'm on Spring Break for a few days, so that will help!

Summer Fling stringieced quilt

 I took the Summer Fling stringpieced quilt to Cut Up and Quilt on Monday so they could hang it on display for the class in May. I had so much fun making this quilt out of lots of bits and pieces from past quilts. It's almost like taking a walk down memory lane as you remember the project you originally bought the fabric for. I even used a few pieces I didn't like as much, as they add contrast and interest.

I had a nice chat with Becky while we hung the quilt...it's always fun to go in and see what's new and what they have been working on.

I worked on paperwork Tuesday night (not very interesting, but needed) and spent last night watching Dovekeepers. What a great miniseries!

I have more paperwork to catch up on this morning, and need to start going through quilts and planning for a presentation/trunk show I'm doing next week. I've been planning it in my head for several weeks. It's hard to know how many quilts to take, so that's the first order of business. Then decide the order they need to be in. Lots to do so I'd better go! Happy Thursday!

A scrapilicious finish!

 I spent Sunday finishing the Summer Fling stringpieced  quilt, with a little help from my friends...

 They do love to quilt!

I had some problems with top thread breakage throughout the quilting of this quilt, so I was really happy to get it off the frame. I changed the needle twice and tried slowing down (it's an easy, flowy panto, so it's easy to go too fast), which didn't seem to make any difference. That leaves the thread and batting.  I used a new spool of variegated thread, so maybe it's to blame. I had two pieces of the same cotton batting, and used some of it for another quilt recently and had no problems. So I'm still not sure what happened. It's really frustrating, though!

 The color isn't as true on these last 2 pics as I took them in the kitchen and not outside, but you can see the binding and label up close. It is sewn on now.

Scrapilicous weekend sewing

Summer Fling

What do you do with your leftover fabrics from projects? I love scrappy projects anyway and sometimes it's just fun to cut them up and start string piecing. I started this one a couple of weeks ago and made some real progress over the weekend. I started by sewing lots of strings/strips together. I also sorted out some larger pieces to make solid blocks for balance. I was afraid the hexie pattern would be lost if I used only string pieced blocks. I took a few pictures as I worked...

I found this silly tree fabric while shopping and thought it would be perfect for the backing. For me, this fabric is an optical illusion...when I first saw it I thought it was just random blue striped shapes as there was so much green. Then I realized it was trees. hmmmmm....what do you see?

I had used this pink polka dot fabric as the backing on a Peas in a Pod quilt a few years ago, and I think it will be perfect for the binding.

I worked on quilting it  yesterday and plan to finish it sometime this week.

I'm meeting with a Sampler Club tonight...they are starting new quilts. That's always fun and exciting to see what fabrics they have chosen. I"ll keep you posted!