Design Wall, April 21, 2014

In an effort to use stash, I have been cutting quilt kits for myself. I was doing just dandy until this quilt. Here's a link to the pattern. The larger pieces are 6.5 x 15.5 unfinished. The yellow is 2.5 x 15.5 and 2.5 x 7.5. The sashing is the dilemma! I need 2.25 yards and I don't have enough of anything in the stash to work. I thought the green would be good but then I lit on the purple. After viewing these photos, tho, I am back to the green.

Now here is the problem: I do not  have enough of this COLOR to do the sashing. This is a dark green-blue on the color wheel and you can believe me when I say that I pulled every EVERY green I have to see if I can make it scrappy. I am not adverse to using different fabrics, even prints, as long as it is the same blue-green value.

And so, I do believe I will have to stop at the store and pick up the needed color. That purple is nice but there is already so much purple and pink. I do believe the green is the one.

For more inspiration visit Judy L.

Birthday Present

Yes, another year older. The birthday came and went quietly, but I DID buy myself a present. A quick trip to the LQS for a SewLine pencil resulted in a quilt kit along with the pencil. I know, I know. I am weak.

This will be a twin size quilt, just the right size for napping on the sofa. Happy birthday to me!

Cutting Fabric

Normally, I do not like to cut into fabric. Strange thing for a quilter to say, isn't it? It's always been this way. Way back when I used to do a lot of garment sewing, I would procrastinate on cutting out the pieces. Cutting out quilt pieces, I have found, is no different. So when I DO get into a mood to cut I cut out a lot of fabric.

So can you guess what I've been doing? Yes, cutting fabric. It started with a Mystery Quilt at the LQS. I finally decided on the fabrics and then cut the pieces according to the first clue. Now need to wait until the end of the month for the 'class'. But cutting those quilt pieces got me in the mood to cut more. So I did.

I now have all of this cut and waiting to sew:

• Quilt of Valor - Flag of Valor
• Quilt of Valor - American Glory
• Purple Safari
• Tulips at Midnight 
• Double 4 Patch
• Buckeye Beauty
• Mystery Quilt
• an apron
• a new bathrobe

That's enough to keep a girl out of trouble for a while. You'll know where to find me!

Fabric Purchases

Do you remember this post about the three gift certificates I had? Well, two of them have been used. Yes, indeedy, I went shopping. Wanna know what I got? Well, fabric of course!

My friend, MagicLady, and I went on a Saturday afternoon to two different shops in two different towns. The first shop was a new one and I ran amuck. These fabrics came home with me.

Isn't that yummy? The top two are batiks. All but $6.00 of the gift card was used up. At the second shop, I found two portions of a panel by Moda (Red, White & Bold by Sandy Gervais) on the clearance table. I thought they would make good pillowcases/presentation cases for QOV.

These portions were actually the top and bottom sections of a panel like this one:

I need to double check on the required size of the cases. It would be nice if 2 cases could be made from these but if not, then there will be one really nice one with scraps. I did not have a gift card for these. *shrug*.

The next stop was online at Connecting Threads. By adding some money to the gift coupon this kit jumped into the virtual shopping cart.

I significantly added to the stash in the last several weeks. There is still one more certificate to go and that will get used next week when the shop is having their anniversary sale.

Quilt Kits

The Thanksgiving holiday came and went so fast!

CarGuy and I had an intimate dinner for two with the requisite turkey and dressing. We toasted each other with wine while indulging in our one Thanksgiving tradition: listening to Arlo Gutherie's Alice's Restaurant. (The link will take you to a new verision on YouTube.) TheKid did not come off the mountain because of a fast moving snow storm that subsequently dumped 45" of snow in the Rocky Mountains.

CarGuy helped clean up the dinner debris and followed the lead of guys everywhere after a big meal and fell asleep in the recliner. I ended up in the sewing room.

For three and a half days I cut quilt pieces. There are now quilt kits for three different QOV quilts and one commissioned king size quilt. I use the Iris Scrapbook Case, one for each quilt. There are seven Moda Red, White and Bold charm packs in the top case which will result in two quilts. The folded fabrics on the top will be for borders and bindings. The middle case has a jelly roll of the Moda Red, White and Bold and the bottom case is the commission quilt.

Precutting like this is such a timesaver.

The D9P you see on the design wall was made by the members of The Material Girls. I taught them how to make a D9P in exchange for the blocks to make up for a QOV . One of the members is a long arm quilter and will be quilting the resulting quilt which will then be given to Alycia when bound, as will the other three QOV. There were thirteen(?huh?) blocks, so with the addition of eight more and a couple of borders it will make a quilt that will meet the minimum size requirements.

Gramps' rocking chair is great to sit in and hand stitch. And hold the quilt kits at the ready.