Spinning and spinning

One of my evening Sampler Clubs are learning how to piece circles making the Circle and Spin or Circle and Spin to the Moon quilts. They had lots of blocks finished when we met last time. Love all those colors!

They are doing a great job and found out that doing circles this way isn't that hard at all!

I will be teaching this again on Nov. 12 at Log Cabin Quilting in Exira. If you live in the area and want to try it, give Robin or me a call!

Two of the quilters from the last class of beginners are making the Double Four Patch quilt. These will be gorgeous when finished!

I have been working on my entry for the Quilting the Blues 2016 Challenge, so I can't really post my progress, but I took a picture of the 16 fat quarters that I received to use in the challenge. You can add 3 of your own fabrics to the mix. There are size requirements as well as other rules for this challenge, but if your quilt is chosen as a finalist, it will travel to the Original Sewing and Quilting Expos next year.

It's fun to try challenges and this one was challenging for me because I knew what I wanted to do, but at one point it wasn't happening. I had to rework it several times before I thought it conveyed what I wanted it to. It is at the quilter's now, so hopefully she is working her magic on it and it will be how I envisioned. I can't wait to see what everyone does with this challenge. If you took this challenge, let me know.

Family Sewing Day...

I spent a Sunday in Earling recently sewing with family. My sister Deb finished her Jelly Roll Race quilt. This is her second quilt, and it's a beauty! She wants to try making a bag next.

My two nieces worked on their T-shirt quilts. They are both novice quilters and anxious to get these first quilts finished.

Not sure what my daughter was doing on the sewing machine, she worked on jewelry all day. My sis Sharon helped her daugher with pinning the T-shirt quilt.

Jessie's quilt, all laid out and ready to sew together.

Phylicia worked on a puff quilt. All ready to stuff!

Ashley's almost finished quilt. She has since finished the top and bottom borders and it's ready to layer. I didn't do much sewing, opting instead to help them and visit. That's important too!

 Phylicia is bottle feeding a baby kitten so she brought it along. My dad was the official cat whisperer! Mom worked on getting some backings ready for 3 quilts to be quilted. I will get pictures of her and her quilts once she gets them back!

Is it a mirage?

 I spent Saturday with some awesome quilters who wanted to make Mirages, my newest addition to the Circle and Spin series. I had given them directions to precut squares, so they were ready to cut some curves and start sewing. As you can see, they got a lot finished!

Jane's use of batiks was gorgeous...she has the best collection of batiks around. Karen was using bright prints on a mottled blue background for a eye-catching look.

Karen H

 I didn't get pictures of Karen S or Amanda's blocks, as they had used fabrics similar to mine, and didn't put their blocks up on the wall. They thought they could tell what it would look like. They got a lot finished as well.

Elsie

Elsie had some Laurel Burch fabrics in her stash and threw in some solids as well for a colorful look.

Deb

 Deb had 4 different fabrics on a green background, so we tried a pattern as we put the blocks up.

JoAnn

JoAnn just wants to make a wallhanging, so hers will finish quickly!

Trudy

 Trudy had been saving black prints for a long time. As you can see a few had some colorful bits thrown in too.

Mirages as a backdrop to class.

 I think we banished some worries about sewing curves! I can't wait to see them finished!

Update: Deb N. sent me a picture of her finished quilt in Dec. 

Original Sewing and Quilt Expo in Fredericksburg

 Last year I entered the Be Creative! Quilt Challenge sponsored by McCalls magazines. It was a fun challenge using Lotta Jansdotter fabrics. I placed in the top ten, so my quilt has been traveling wtih the Original Sewing and Quilt Expos this year. I got to see it when the show was in Des Moines in May.

 The show is in Fredericksburg, VA this weekend, so if you happen to go to this show, please take a picture of yourself with Shortcut and send it to me...quiltinjeanie@yahoo.com ...I'd love to see it.

 The show will travel on to Schaumberg, IL in Oct. and Minneapolis, MN in Nov. Then Shortcut will come home.

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!

Log Cabin Star class

I started my fall classes yesterday at Cut Up and Quilt with the Log Cabin Star Tabletopper by Marci Baker and Sara Nephew.  I was excited to see the fabric choices each quilter had chosen and I wasn't disappointed. Elsie chose batiks in warm and cool colors for her star. We worked on getting all of the logs cut precisely and a diamond  and one of each of the two triangles pieced so that they could take it home and have models of what needs to be done to finish the quilt.   

Elsie's Log Cabin Star

Denise decided to strip piece hers once she got her fall themed pieces cut, so she had all of her diamonds to this stage. We laid out the dark that will be next to the diamonds once the triangles are completed to get an idea of how it will look. 

Denise's Log Cabin Star

 Stacy chose soft batiks for her version. Love them  She was almost finished with her 2nd triangle.

Stacy's Log Cabin Star

 Dianne chose fall themed fabrics too ( all from her stash!) and was well on her way to finishing the diamonds using strip piecing techniques. She also got one of her triangles put together and started the 2nd. She is going to use yellows in place of the 2 oranges on the mirror image triangle, so that should add a bit of interest.

Dianne's Log Cabin Star

 Christine used fabrics from her stash as well for this vintage look. We talked about the fact that once the diamonds and triangles were finished, they could be reversed for a different look. So we played with Christine's blocks to get the idea of how that could work.  I forgot to take a picture of that, however. But these pictures show the triangles in their placement in the quilt, and how they are sewn to the diamond in the placement she chose to begin with. .

Christine's Log Cabin Star

It was a great class and they worked really hard to get as much finished as they did. They promised to send pictures of their finished tops to me so I can enjoy them. It's always fun to see the finished projects. This pattern is available at Cut Up and Quilt.

I have thoughts spinning in my head for a new project I'm dying to start, as well as a mystery project I need to get back to, but I need to focus on painting today. I got a little painting done last night after class and am going to head out soon to paint some more. I have a new Sampler Club beginning Tuesday night making the Circle and Spin quilt plus a Sampler 23 Club tomorrow night. I don't have time to get in trouble this week!

My Log Cabin Star

Skylines Cityscape panel hung

 It was hard to choose where to hang the Skylines Cityscape  panel. Even though the library is huge, there aren't many walls so there weren't a lot of places to hang it. I didn't want to hide it in a corner so this is where I put it. 

I had a different print hanging here, and took it down. It will have to find a new home, maybe on the opposite wall where the tree is. It's not big enough for the space so I am going to look for a few other things to go with it so I can hang it there. 

Space to the left of bookcase and tree. would work for the other pic, just too big a space for one picture.
 Here's the post from when I hung the tree on the wall.

 This is my desk at school...yea, I have the best room in the building! The only way to get behind it is to walk around it, past those green chairs and right past the print.

 I had to hang it a bit higher than I would've liked as my light switches are there, but I think it works. I can always change it if I decide it doesn't!

Have a busy weekend planned...lots of painting left to do. I want to get the the second coat of primer on the west and north sides this weekend. If I have time I will start the east side. I've done nothing to it yet and am worried it won't get finished this fall. I'm also going to visit my parents tomorrow and see what they've been up to. Have a great Labor Day weekend!