Another top finished.

I participated in a Windmill block swap with nine friends a couple of years ago. We each ended up with 20 blocks. I put tilted borders on the blocks to give them a little spin. Then I put it away for a bit....ok, a year...

I finally got them sewn together last summer and added a teal border. Then it aged a little longer....until Tuesday. A local group is making twin size quilts for a children's shelter here in town, so I decided I would finish this quilt and donate it to them. It just needed one more border to make it twin size, so it is ready to quilt. Now to find a back!

I had taken this partially finished tea cup swap block project with me on Tuesday too. I found it when I was cleaning out the quilting room the other day. I had some of the fabrics left too, so I put it all in a bag and took it with (it's on the "let's get it finished" list.) One of the other ladies ran out of fabric for her project so I asked her if she wanted it. She took it and started to work on it. She even got some more fabric to go with the leftover fabrics so that she could make a piano key border. She was still working on it when it was time to go, so more on this project later....

I spent yesterday getting a couple of quilt tops pressed and the backs ready so that I can quilt them.  Then I worked on a new string piecing project. I got seven blocks finished...string piecing is so much fun!

Potato Chip quilt finished!

 I got the Potato Chip quilt bound yesterday so it is officially finished!

I then put this teal border on the Windmill quilt. I hung this on the design wall, but I should've had friends hold it up too, as it is not up there very straight. I think it's finished. I made the binding out of an orangey-peachy colored fabric yesterday, so it'll be ready when I get it quilted. Since the blocks were made by friends, I will keep this one, so I don't want it to get too big as I will probably use as a throw. Even so, I keep thinking of adding another border. Maybe I am just so used to borders, that it looks unfinished without one. It's about 57" x 70.5" now. I think I will try to get people to sign one of their blocks. Or make a label with siggys. What do you think?

I also worked on the traditional Cathedral Windows blocks a bit yesterday. No pix yet.

Today's plan includes starting the quilting on the  Funky Rock Stars  quilt that I loaded on Monday. I should make some good progress on it since it is a throw. Are you sewing today?

Windmills spinning a bit tilted...

 The Windmill Swap quilt blocks are sewn together.  Still deciding about the border. If I do a border, it will probably be smallish. A pinwheel is supposed to show up where the blocks intersect (white parts on mine) but you lose that with the tilt. There isn't that much tilt to the blocks, but it still breaks it up.

One of the reasons I tilted them is because when you do a swap, there is a good chance that the blocks won't all be the same size, so putting some type of border around them and resquaring the blocks helps even them out. Plus it adds a little more pizzazz!

Going to a quilt bed turning today at the Harrison County Fair today...should be fun.

Another way.....and a cottage finish!

 I sewed with my friend, Debbie,  yesterday, so spent some time cutting and pressing squares to make some Cathedral Window blocks the traditional way. I wanted to try that method too, so I can show the difference when I teach it. It took a long time to press them. I think I will machine stitch them together and then hand stitch down the curves. I haven't decided for sure yet. Since I want to get them finished in the near future...and we all saw how the hand sewn hexie project is coming along, I think I should probably use my machine. They are still cut and pressed the traditional way...

I also sewed my Windmill blocks together from the swap last summer. I had decided to tilt my blocks to give them an extra spin, and that's as far as I got. They have been aging nicely, so went together just fine. I'm not sure if I should put a border on or finish as is. I will take a pic later!

Debbie showed me her finished Cottage quilt. She is part of the group of friends that I meet with and do swaps, and round robins with. I was one of her swap partners on this swap, so lots of my blocks are in her quilt. Here is my finished Cottage quilt.

Have lots to do today, so better get busy!

A new toy to play with....

 I was given the chance to try out My Memories Digital Scrapbooking Suite. I haven't done much scrapbooking as it is fun, but as time consuming as quilting. But I saw an opportunity to put my quilting pictures in attractive settings and I couldn't resist a chance to do some digital picture playing.

I decided to start with some of the pictures from the Windmill Swap. You have many different settings to choose from. There are also free downloads online at My Memories. I started a book for my photos. This book came with lots of pages that you could use to display your pictures. I just let the program put the pictures in the album, just to try it. 

 You can also add your own captions and commentary. Love this digital scrapbooking!

I have only scratched the surface with this software. I will be exploring it more (and sharing) in the next few weeks, and will host a giveaway for My Memories software soon!

Sampler class and show and tell...

I taught Sampler #13 last night. Class went well and everyone got lots done on their blocks.

Dianne brought her Windmill Swap quilt top to show....they are all going to look so different with the settings people are using.

Dianne and Eileen have made some progress on their St. Marks diamonds.

I love show and tell!

A rainy Sunday layout...

I have been playing around with the layout for the Windmill quilt. The blocks aren't going to tilt dramatically, but it will be more noticeable after they are sewn together.

It's a rainy start to Sunday here, a good day to play catch-up. I want to work on a round robin block that should've been done over a week ago...

I would also like to get caught up on the Red Letter Quiltalong...she posted X today, and I need to do U, V, & W first....

There is also some cleaning....notice that it is last on the list?

Feels like chili weather, so I am off to get some started in the crock pot!

Still on a bender!

 I like to make some of the blocks tilt to the left and some tilt to the right. (see previous post) The blocks don't have to be exactly the same. If some tilt more than others, it will just add to the charm.

 You do need to be careful to leave at least 1/2" between the seam and the border for seam allowance at the narrow end. Otherwise you may not have any border left! This one is going to be close!

You can see how they will look as they come together. These won't tilt a lot because I used a small border. If you want them to tilt more, just add a wider border and you will have more room to "tilt".

I am teaching the St. Marks Quilt today...should be a great day and I should have some great pix to share!

Swap blocks go on a bender....

I wanted to add a little twist to my swap blocks, so I added a different 2" border to each one. I used some of the fabrics I had used in the blocks I made. This made the blocks about 15 1/2".

I decided I could recut them 14". I have a 15" square up ruler, but I was afraid I might mess up the cutting so I cut a 14" square of cardboard. That helped me center it on the square, and see that I was staying in the area I needed to be in.

Then I laid the ruler on top of it, lining it up with 2 sides of the cardboard, to get a good cut.

Then I used the ruler to square up the last 2 sides.

Now my block has a little tilt to it. 

Swap day!

 A friend decided she wanted to make a scrappy Windmill Quilt, so she convinced 9 of us to join her in a swap! We each made 20 blocks, so we would each end up with 20. These are the ones I made. This block is also called the Double Pinwheel block...you can see the white pinwheels show up where the background comes together as you put the blocks together.

 We wanted everyone to have a set that would be 20 different blocks, so you could make 2 sets of 10 the same if you wanted to, since you were giving everyone 2 blocks. The result was a lot of gorgeous blocks! Most of us made ours using fabrics left from other projects.

 We met yesterday to swap them and took turns passing our own out to each other. This gave us a chance to see what each person had made!

 Diana has been talking about barn blocks, so Jane made her a special Windmill with a barn in the center!

 It was fun, because everyone was in anticipation to see what each person would give them! Our rule for color was that they should have a white background and bright colors used.

 The great thing was that everyone finished them on time! One lady was out of town, so couldn't come for the swap.

 After we swapped, those that could stay started working on layouts for their blocks. You can see Diana's special block in the center of this layout.

 We had a great time. Dianne is sashing hers, but I didn't get a pic of the progress she or anyone else made yesterday, but I will when they bring them back!

What's really fun is that all the quilts will be unique, since we used so many different fabric choices!

 Several people are going to put their blocks on point, so we figured out what they would need for setting triangles.

 Betty made extra, so had to choose which ones to take out for this setting...that was hard too!

Kim got her blocks sewn into rows, and was going to go home and look through her stash to see if she had something she could use for the setting triangles.

I didn't get any pix of the blocks I received, but did start working on them. I will take some pictures later and show you my progress as I get them made into a quilt.

I hope to get back to my Red Letter Quiltalong blocks this week, though I do have classes Monday and Tuesday night. I also want to work on quilting something....doesn't really matter at this point what....I have a long list of quilts waiting.

Happy Sunday!