Garden Window Sampler Finish

I'm not sure what I've been doing the past few weeks. Seems like I stay busy, but my house isn't spotless and my sewing isn't all caught up. Do you feel like that too? I think I get more done when I have a schedule of classes to teach and some 'at home time'. I have been working on my Etsy Shop, however. I've been trying to get it up and running since Craftsy closed. It would seem like it wouldn't take that long to list patterns, but finding multiple pictures, making sure the pattern is updated and in the right format...it all takes time. I don't have all my designs there yet, but a good portion of the newer ones are there now, including the Circle and Spin series quilts. 

 

I have been doing some gardening. Have some tomato plants getting used to being outside. They are ready to plant, but we have had a few cool nights with frost warnings (can you believe that?) so I have only planted the Early Girl so far. I don't do any canning anymore, but like to have them to eat and share.

I bound an oldy but goody yesterday. Garden Window Sampler #3 is one of the first quilts I designed after I started teaching classes and I've taught it many times. It introduced the 3D sashing that students learned to make as well as an easy paper-pieced birdhouse.  I used to hang quilts on the walls of the classroom when I taught at Hancock Fabrics, so it was better if they weren't quilted. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.) My friend Cindy quilted it recently so it was almost to the finish line. 

I love the springiness of this quilt and it was fun taking it outside for pix on the grass. 

More stash blocks

I made a few more orange stash blocks the other day. After playing around with a couple of different settings, I can see that I need to make more red and more purple for sure. Funny I don't have as many different squares cut of those colors as I must not use them as much. These were cut several years ago, so I might have to look through more current stash and cut a few more, even though the purpose was to use up the ones I had already cut.

Not sure how I will set them yet, but after making these 2, I have 24.

I also made a few more masks for my family this weekend too. 

Neon and Neutral

Neon and Neutral 

As you might have noticed, I've spent some time recently playing with lights/darks using a range of gray - black in my scrappy stash blocks. I started collecting those so that I could make this Neon and Neutral quilt.

The idea of using a varying amount of grays- black fabrics intrigued me. I made half square triangles in lighter/darker combos. Some of the medium tones were used as both a light and a dark. It's all about the contrast. I wanted to frame them in bright colors, hence the name. I was excited about the patterns that could be made using them that would still show up even though they had been framed.

Neon and Neutral jk

I made this version first and liked it but made the 2nd one with more pop colors.  This shows another design that can be made. The Neon and Neutral pattern is now available as a digital download in my Etsy store. This one still hasn't been quilted...shhhh don't tell anyone.

Happy Friday!

Silent Sunday

Scrappy yellow goodness

Fabric lettuce.

Did you start the year off with a stash challenge?
There are several stash challenges going on right now. Some of my friends are doing them and I decided to play along, but using a block I designed for the challenge. I have about a million 2.5" squares, so I colorized some of them first. (I might make some color/scrappy ones later but wanted to start with colorized blocks.  I had used some blacks and grays in a different scrappy style quilt, so I thought using them for the stars would make a nice contrast to the other colors and hopefully show up with most colors.

It might bother some quilters that the background in the star points doesn't match the rest of the block, color wise. We all like a different level of scrappy.

I found a few baggies of squares that I had used as leaders and enders, so I have a bunch of them that are already sewn into pairs and sets of 4. That is making the last few blocks quicker to sew. I think I might have more somewhere, as I was taking them with me when I went to sew with friends. Plus I know I have some other colorized blocks I made as a start to a different project and they are hiding somewhere. I know what the plastic tub looked like....

Here are a few blue blocks that I made last week.  I have about 20 blocks done so far in assorted colors.

Bright and cheery

I designed and made the My Little Pretties Sampler quilt a long tme ago, but never quilted it as I didn't have time. Plus it hung on the wall in the classroom so nicely unquilted. I recently asked my friend Cindy to quilt it for me and she did! I love what she did! 

Cindy does free motion quilting and said she was trying out a new design idea. She quilted in yellow and I really like that color choice. I used this pink/orange stripey fabric that I got not long ago because I knew it would go with something! And it does.

 Here's a close up of that gorgeous quilting.

My associate checked it out for softness...

One pattern, 3 finishes

I've been trying to finish quilts that I made but never completely finished. Sometimes when making quilts for classes it was easier to hang them without being quilted, plus I didn't always have time to get it done, so they waiting their turn to be finished.

This quilt is a variation of the Lotus Quilt by Jaybird Quilts. I originally made it out of reds, golds, and black and really liked it, but as I worked on it I could see that there could be flowers there instead of the more triangular design of the original. So I dug out some fabrics and tried it. I really liked it, but it was never finished as I'm sure I got busy on the next project and put it away.

Can you see the flowers?

I haven't been machine quilting very much the past year as I had some problems with my machine. I took it in to have it repaired and it seems to be working better now. I loaded the Lotus variation a few months ago and quilted it and recently bound it.

Finishing this one reminded me that I made another one using the Lotus pattern when my great-nephew Owen was born using bright graphic fabrics. I never did ask his mom if it kept him away at night...

The brown blur in that picture is his 2 yr. old brother running around him.