Another finish on the books!!

Although I haven’t posted about the quilting on this quilt, I CAN’T WAIT to show it to you!!

This quilt was SO much fun to make, and I am excited about the end result.

I will show you the quilting on Friday, but I moved between straight and curvy lines in the center…..

…. and played with ovals in the border…..

The back was made from fabrics found on the shelf…..

It is the fourth finished scrap quilt for this year and there is a fifth that needs to be quilted.

I want to keep going with scraps, but I could use a break…..

……. so what else can I do but start another project?!

Stay tuned this week as I start the planning and preparations for a quilt based on this carpet…..

It is from the Holiday Inn Express next to the George Brown Convention Center in Houston…..aka the Holiday Inn next to the International Quilt Festival!!

I CAN’T WAIT!!

So I did this thing!!

This year has been good for organizing my work life, and I ended up with unexpected free time during September and October.

What should I do??

Of course, making quilts is one option and I am finding plenty of time to do that….

BUT…..

How about I do something to improve myself…..learn something new…..stretch myself?

Enter Lyric Kinard of “Academy for Virtual Teaching”!!

She runs a “Master Class for Virtual Teaching” two times a year, and since I had the time, I decided to take advantage of it.

I have spent time with Lyric previously. Back in 2012, I attended a two-day “Surface Design Sampler Platter” workshop where I learned to make block prints from erasers…..

…. screen print fabrics…..

….and lots of beading designs…..

But I have digressed!!

For a long time, I have wanted to develop a really good online course. I have my “Keeping It Straight” course, which gives all of the needed information but isn’t particularly professional.

I want to remedy that!!

So, as part of this class, I am developing a Scrapping Adventure course. I am basing it on the talk that I gave for the Scrap Summit but adding a lot of additional information.

AND, over the next weeks, I am going to be asking you for advice…..

What would you want to learn from a course like this?
How many sessions would you be willing to work thru?
What is your favorite scrapping strategy?

But for today, please tell me what you think about this “Beauty Shot”……

Would this tempt you into taking a class?

What do you like about it…..or what bugs you about it?

Hit me with both barrels….I can take it!!

Thanks for taking the time to send me your thoughts!!

Bordering the Stair-Steps

Yesterday I finished the inside section of the “Stair-Step” quilt…..

Now it was time to add some borders!!

My first thought was to use a narrow white border and a wider black outside border…

BUT…..

…..somehow that just didn’t sound right!!

So, I decided to flip that around and start with a black inner border, maybe with a dark grey outside…..

NOPE….that is TOO dark.

How about a white one…..

That one was too bland!!

Okay, let’s split the difference and try a light grey…..

I am still NOT impressed!!!

Okay….what if I skip the solids and try for a BRIGHT print……

NOW you are talking……

I have NO idea where this fabric came from, but it is the PERFECT border for such a bright quilt!

I can’t wait to get started on the quilting!!

Finishing the “Stair Step” top

When we left on Thursday, all of the rows were ready to be pieced together…..

Since I had ensured that the seam allowances were going in opposite directions, it didn’t take long to get it together……

As I congratulated myself on a job well done, I noticed a break in the stair step. Can you see it?

I had managed to turn two strips the wrong direction. SIGH!!

After a bit of un-sewing and re-sewing, I was back in business….

But now the size didn’t look right. It wasn’t long enough to compliment the width.
Since I had a bunch of squares left on my strip, I added three more rows….,

only ending up with this many squares left over…..

All in all, it was a fun and easy top to piece.

Now it is time to pick out some borders….. What would you do??

Come back tomorrow for my choices!!

Can I find an easier way??

When I left you on Sunday, I was in the process of piecing my “Stairstep” Scrap quilt. After struggling to piece each row separately, I pieced one LONG string of 2.5-inch squares…..

The NEXT Scrap Quilt

The idea was to count the number of squares needed, peel them off my long strip, and then put them onto the design wall “en-masse,” with the seam allowances going in the correct direction!! It looked something like this…..

It didn’t take long to piece together all of the rows for the left section……