Where's Smokey?

 I've spent a good share of the past few days sewing or working on something class related. I pinned 2 sections of this quilt together and then got up to get something. I sat back down and grabbed my pinned rows and realized there was a lump in my fabric...a very large lump. Hmmmm, who could that be?

Smokey loves to sit on the "arm" of my sewing table, plus she has always loved to be under blankets. So I guess it was the perfect spot for a Saturday afternoon nap.

I've also been watching Ugly Betty on Netflix while I sew. My daughters always raved about this show, but I had never watched it. I'm am quickly becoming a fan! It's a quirky, but fun show that grows on me the more I watch it.

Happy Sunday!

The Asian Trio and the 3D Cubes, continued....

 I finished quilting the asian trio and the cubes quilt yesterday. This is a better picture of how I joined them to quilt them at the same time. I had the face panels, but purchased the other fabrics on a trip to visit my daughter in Seattle. I wanted to make something to hang on a wall together, but not in one piece.

I planned on hand quilting it and adding beading, but that hasn't happened in the 5 years since I started it, so I decided to finish it with all over quilting. I might still add some beads.

 The little 3D cube quilt was a model (in strips) for a class I taught.

 Here is the back. I like using up pieces of fabric and batting for backs when I can. The plaid is on the back of the cubes and the batik is on the back of the asian trio.

It was pretty easy to cut these apart, though I was checking twice to make sure they were straight. It would be very noticable if they were off and sometimes there is a little distortion from the quilting.

 These pieces are ready to bind. I need to find some black around here...I know I have some somewhere...

 If I would've had more of the fabric I used around the edges, I would've bound with that. But I used it all on of it on this, so I decided on a yellow binding to bring out the brighter colors. I added a sleeve on the back while I bound it and it is ready to hang!

I spent the rest of yesterday sewing string blocks and have them sewn into rows, so I will have a quilt soon! I have to do some pattern writing this morning, so maybe I'll sew after that.

A little cube quilt and a trio.....

I made this little trio of asian quilts about 5 years ago. I made three separate pieces, the idea being that I would hang them together, but they wouldn't be joined. I planned on hand quilting them and embellishing them with beads. As you can see, that hasn't happened, so they were next on the 'finish it or dump it' pile. I sewed them together with strips in between so that it would be easier to load on the quilt machine. They really aren't very big. Then I sewed the little 3D Tumbling Blocks quilt that I finished the other day to it with a strip in between. I didn't have a backing fabric big enough for both that I liked, so I pieced two backs together too.

By now you're thinking, what is she doing again? I forgot to take a picture of the 2 quilts sewn together...the trio was smaller so I had to add a piece on the end so they were the same length. I figured if I connected them I could quilt both at the same time. (Of course, doing all that piecing together might've taken some time too....)

Here they are as I'm loading them, you can see the asian trio is to the left, the tumbling blocks to the right.

I was trying to use up smaller pieces of batting that were left over too, so ended up using 2 different pieces, the one on the left is cotton, the one on the right is poly.

It's almost finished, the dark green with leaves is the dummy fabric I put on the end. This is working well as far as quilting it goes, I just feel sad that I am quilting right over those faces. I still might try to do some hand work on them, but finished is better than it sitting around gathering dust, right?

LIttle Hexie quilt finished!

 It's always a good feeling to finish a project. I had loaded my little hexie quilt the other night and it didn't take that long to quilt it yesterday. I tried  Glide thread for the first time. It was recommended to me,so I bought a spool of white. I hadn't tried it because I was afraid it might not work well on my machine. I didn't want to mess up a quilt!

 So I got brave and tried it on this one. (smaller quilt, not as far to unsew if I have to...) It worked really well. I didn't have any problems with tension, or breakage so I will definitely use it again.

 I used one of my favorite pantos...this one really comes out nice.

 I had a splashy tie dye type fabric that was the right size for the back.

 After I got it trimmed I finished with a binding the same fabric as the border. It's such a happy little quilt, I love it!

 I hope you are having a wonderful 4th of July! My daughters are coming over later for a cookout and fireworks.

  

Sewing Tuesday!

 You probably wonder how yesterday was any different than any other day since I tend to sew most days, but it was more fun because I got to sew with friends.  I am starting a new free pieced letter project, so I worked on these letters all day. When I put them on the design wall to take the pictures, one of the gals said "What does it say?"  I told her...nothing yet! I was able to make a couple of words out of the letters so far. I'm using some batik scraps on a white background.

 Gretchen worked on a new Modern Cathedral Windows Pillow for her grandson....see his name embroidered in the center square? It is so pretty!

 Diana worked on her Wonky Stars blocks again. She is getting a lot finished.

 Brenda worked on another one of these cute bags. She has made over a dozen of them so far. I love this camping fabric and the coordinates.

 I wanted to get some of the camping fabric to make my camping-aholic sisters each a pillowcase, but I didn't and now Brenda told me that the fabric is gone from our local quilt shop.

 Becky and Betty worked on this string pieced quilt last week, and brought it to show us that it was all finished! They are giving it to Becky's brother.

Dianne finished her Snake Dance Mystery quilt today. She auditioned several fabrics for the border, and decided on the darker orange that was in the quilt. She made it twin size. It's fun to see people working on my designs!

Not sure what today will bring, but I need to get outside and work for a bit. Then I will probably sew some more!

Another little project ...

I worked on finishing this class model on Saturday. I had sewn some leftover 3D Tumbling Blocks together into rows so that I could demonstrate how to sew the rows together during the classes I taught last year from the ABC 3D Tumbling Blocks and More book.  It was one of the projects I decided to finish putting together in my quest to have a few less bags of "stuff", class model props, etc.... If I teach the class again, I can always make some new models.

After I finished sewing the rows together, I added a navy border to complete the dark border around the blocks. (I had cut it originally to aid in showing the rows in class.) It was all put away in a tub so it would be together. I knew I would finish it at some point. I auditioned several different fabrics that I had on hand for a final border, and none of them really added to the quilt. I'm considering finishing it as is. It's about 26" x 35" right now, which would fit perfectly in the quilt rack my dad made that I have on the wall.

Here is the Tumbling Blocks quilt...it still needs to be quilted. (did you hear that big sigh?) I taught the quilt class several times, but hung the quilt top so people could see what it looked like. I don't always have time to quilt everything before I teach the class.

I finished quilting the new quilt yesterday and I love how it turned out. I'm using a new batting, and so far I like how it quilts up. I am going to quilt the little hexie ufo next. I loaded it today. I want to try out a new thread (new for me) so I will practice on it just in case there are problems.

I'm looking forward to sewing with friends today. Hopefully I will have some pictures to share tomorrow.

Sewing, planning, fun!

 Three years ago, some of us were talking about quilting retreats and how much fun it would be to go on one. Eventually, we decided to plan our own, so we started looking for places to go. We wanted to work on our own projects, so didn't want a class type setup. We ended up going to a retreat place in someone's home the first time. It was fun and we loved sewing together, so we started planning retreat #2. It was winter, so we didn't want to go as far, so we found a bed and breakfast place about an hour away. We could rent the whole house, make our own meals and sew all night long if we wanted.

 We are now planning retreat #7 in Aug. We made plans to get together to meet and plan our meals last Saturday. Eventually, we decided to spend the day sewing and planning. It was great fun. I worked on putting binding on two quilts, the Twister and the new sampler,  then worked on another small project that I forgot to photograph.

 Dianne worked on another Modern Cathedral Window pillow, she is hooked on these!

 Cindy and Rose worked on their Sampler quilts so that they will be ready for a new one! Pat left before I  took the pix, but she worked on the borders on a new quilt. We got our meals planned and some sewing done too! It was a great day!

I spent some time working on a new string piecing project on Friday. I guess I am a really good sewist if I can sew with a friend on my table....

 String piecing is a messy job, but someone has to do it!