Great Weekend!

I had a great looooooong weekend. Spent some time doing some prep for classes, a little sewing and lots of celebrating! Easter Sunday usually includes my Dad's birthday cake too, as his birthday is April 9. So we had a great family day with all that could come and celebrate Easter and the birthday. One of his great grandchildren was waiting patiently to "help" grandpa eat his cake!

My Dad was a farmer his whole life, grew up on a farm and raised us on the farm. He always drove Farmall tractors, so when I saw this fabric I had to get it. You see John Deere fabric everywhere, but not Farmall. I made this pillowcase for his birthday and added some of his favorite caramels. 

My newest great-nephew came for the celebration too, so I gave him his new quilt. I've had it finished for awhile, just haven't seen him since it was finished. He is a sweetie and seemed to love his quilt!

 I spent some time yesterday getting ready for my trunk show for the Omaha Modern Quilt Guild's meeting tonight. It was difficult to decide what to take and what not to take, so hopefully I have chosen well. It's really hard to know just how much time it will take to show with some talking in between, so we'll see how well I planned tonight.  Happy Tuesday...it's back to work for me today.

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.

Lone Stars bursting with color!

Becky

 I met with the quilters for the second session of the Lone Star quilt today. I was excited to see how far they had gotten since the first class 2 weeks ago.  Becky had her center all sewn together, and got her set in corners all sewn in during class. She chose vibrant batiks for the center and another batik with blues and pinks for the background.

Becky.

 Pat also chose batiks in her favorite colors of browns and teals. She cut and got two of her set in sections sewn in.

Pat F

 Betty used eleven shades of blue. So rich and beautiful. She had  most of her set in sections sewn in when she got there, finished that and then worked on her first border. I had used the background so that the star would look like it was floating.

Betty

Dianne

 Dianne used bright solids and prints to make this sparkling version. If you notice, her colors rotate from red to purple and back to red.

 Cheri used blacks, grays and yellow for this beauty...someone asked her who was getting this quilt and she said ME! We all smiled.

Cheri

Julie had gotten most of her strip sets sewn together during the first class, but then was worried about cutting it alone, so worked on cutting the strips and sewing diamonds together during this second class. She used 1930's reproduction prints for a soft, antique look. She finished four diamonds today! 

Julie

It was a very productive morning and these Lone Stars are well on their way to being finished quilts! I can't wait to finish my working model now!

This and that from class

Cindy's Beyond the Stars Sampler

 I started the week off with two sampler clubs Monday and Tuesday nights. It's always fun when quilters bring in finished tops from my classes to show off! Cindy made another version of the Beyond the Stars Sampler recently using her stash of frog fabrics. There are frogs in some of the centers of her blocks. She says this quilt is HERS!

Dianne's Lone Star

 Dianne is part of a group of quilters that meet on Tuesdays to sew and this is what I saw when I walked in to class Tues. night....she is ready for her set in corners! Those Lone Stars do make a splash!

Marilyn's Row by Row

 Monday night's Sampler Pick quilters are all working on different samplers and coincidentally, three of them had repeating blocks.  Marilyn got one of her three Lady of the Lake blocks finished.

Christine

 Two are working on the Carpenter Wheel Spin and have to make eight of these Half and Half blocks. Even though the block looks simple, we worked on some tips for matching up those HST to make straight lines.

Judy

Dorothy worked on cutting two blocks at once and didn't get either finished, but will have them finished by next time!

It's challenging for me to keep up with several different quilts being made at the same time, but it keeps things hopping and the students learn a lot from each other during these classes as they see what the others are working on.

Tuesday night's Highlights class went well. They worked on the Eccentric Star blocks, which is the alternate block for this quilt, so they have to make eight, They all got a good start but no one finished. That's ok as they have several months to get them done.

I quilted a couple more passes last night on Summer Fling, and am getting closer to the end. I'll try to work on it a bit tonight too. 

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!

What... Friday already?

It's been a busy week around here. I've been working on a new quilt plus getting paperwork and other necessary jobs done for the Circle and Spin Plus class. I have taught the Circle and Spin technique many times, it's always been a class favorite. But a year or so ago I made a new version of it for my daughter ( all of my daughters have a Circle and Spin quilt!). She loves blues and purples and batiks, so I started beefing up my stash, but I had long been wanting to try some smaller circles and decided to make some hot spots using reds/oranges/golds. I wasn't sure if she would like it, so I let her decide before I sewed it together. She did and a new version was born! I haven't ever taught this version, so I will be teaching it in May. (Warning: if I make you a quilt, I may borrow it back to use as a class model.)

I met with the Sunbonnet Sue Sampler Club Wednesday night. Two of the members couldn't come, but Marta and Avis did a great job making their Lover's Knot blocks. Marta wants to incorporate some corals with her teals, so this was a start in that direction.

Avis used her border fabric with yellow to make her pretty block.

It's fun to see these quilts start to become a reality!

I don't have a class tomorrow, so I plan to spend National Quilting Day finishing the string pieced quilt I've been working on. I just need to add a border or two and quilt it. Sounds simple enough, right? How are you celebrating quilting tomorrow?