NEW PROJECT!!!

Yesterday I received a package from “Quilting Is My Therapy” and THAT is always a good thing!!

This time it contained the next installment of Angela Walters’ Free Motion Quilting challenges ….”Free Motion Fillers”.

You don’t have to purchase the fabric to do the challenge, but I love working on pieces that she has designed so I always buy the whole shebang!!

The panel is amazing…..

….as are the “Glide” threads that go along with it……

The challenge starts on June 21st and I am anxiously awaiting the first lesson.

Those of you who read this blog regularly know that I do a lot of FMQ and feel comfortable with most designs so you might wonder exactly WHY I am doing yet another challenge.

I don’t think that you can ever learn too much, so signing up for another FMQ challenge will simply help me to improve my skills further, and improving is always a good thing!!

It’s not too late to join the challenge. Check out her website for more information.

I can’t wait to share the things that I will learn!!

It’s FINISHED!!

Yes, this week I can finally say that the Sawtooth Star Challenge is finished!!!

I am happy with the final quilt…..

Early on, I wondered if I would be able to come up with 12 different designs for this block, but at the end, I had another 10 or so left. It was truly addicting to play with the designs!!

I am also happy that each one of the blocks contains one element that is the same. Every Star point was quilted with a “dot-to-dot” design that helps to tie ALL of the blocks together…..

IF I was going to quilt the entire quilt with just one design, it would probably be this one…..

I really like how the diagonal lines in the corners frame the block!!

I would DEFINITELY use a different color thread in the center block!! I put too much work into them for it not to show!! I have made this mistake so many times before, you would think that I would think about it when I am picking thread colors!!!

I have received photos of two other challenge quilts….

This is Jodie’s finished quilt…..

I LOVE the mixture of black and white with pops of colors!! She did a great job on her quilting and said that she learned a lot from working thru it.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

This quilt is from Pat…..

Isn’t that center square fabric amazing!!!

She has just started the quilting process but is off to a great start…..

I can’t wait to see the finished quilt!!!

Thanks to all who participated in the challenge, whether it was just watching the videos or physically making the quilt.

I loved presenting it because it pushed me to learn something new and to utz me out of my comfort zone, and probably most important, IT GAVE ME A DEADLINE TO WORK TO!!!

What will the next challenge be? That all depends on what I want to learn next. As Richard Feynman said “If you want to master something…..teach it!!”

If you have suggestions for future projects, please let me know!!

AND, if you are wondering exactly what this is all about, check out the Challenge page on my website…..

Twelve Ways to Quilt a Sawtooth Star

Bordering on Insanity….

One of the challenges early in my quilting career came in 1996 in the form of a guild challenge.

At the time, border challenges were all the rage….you know, the ones where you started with the first block and then passed it on to the next person who added a border and then passed it to the next person who added a border….and so on!!

Our guild suggested a border challenge, except we would only work on OUR quilt. BUT, each border had to be a certain size and have certain characteristics.

Sounds intriguing, doesn’t it!!!

I had a Southwest influence in mind for my quilt and this was my center block…..

If I remember, I added the brown border to make it conform to the proper size.

Next we were to add a small border of squares and then a larger border that I honestly don’t remember the parameters for…..

Then came a larger border with triangles…..

….followed by a tiny border of squares and rectangles. I chose for mine to be on-point…..

Next, there was an “open” design large border where we could do whatever we wanted. Many people chose to add applique but I went with lots of smaller borders and designs that mimicked the inside block…..

The final border had to be POINTS, and I was inspired by the Delectable Mountain pattern…..

This was the final quilt…..

….and I LOVED IT!!!

My one memory of making this quilt was sitting outside with my husband while I struggled to get all of the sizes correct for the next to the last border. Remember that this was pre-“Electric Quilt” so I was using graph paper and when I changed any size in the interior borders, it meant that MANY others had to change as well!! As I was drawing and erasing, my grumbling became louder and louder. Michael finally turned to me and said “I thought that quilting was supposed to be fun”. I immediately retorted….” I AM HAVING FUN…..LEAVE ME ALONE!!”

As I got ready to make the label, I decided to keep up the fun and make it a “Crazy Quilt” label….

…and to name the quilt “Bordering On Insanity!!!

It is a great memory of a REALLY fun challenge!!!

It’s May for the BQL

As I have been posting for the past few weeks, I was once involved in a Yahoo group called the “British Quilt List”. Back in 2009, they ran a challenge to complete a 12-inch square quilt each month, following a prescribed format.

The quilts were all designed by Kandy, and she commented on the last quilt by saying this….

“It was me that thought up all the designs for this year of challenges. It was tricky trying to find 12 different things & stay a step or two ahead! I loved seeing how different people’s interpretations were. Some of my ‘months’ mini quilts I still love, a couple I could easily throw in the bin“

Unfortunately, the quilt for May was not my favorite although I haven’t quite gone to the extreme of throwing it away……

I don’t remember the exact parameters of the challenge, but we were supposed to start with the word “MAY” and then go from there!!

One interesting thing that I see in this quilt is that I did a great “paisley meander” in the quilting design but I don’t remember knowing HOW to do that particular design!!!

So, I guess that I did learn something from this challenge even though I didn’t remember it 10 years later!!!

Like I said….I always learn something from each challenge!!!!

Mystery Stars

Over the last few weeks, I have been talking about challenges and mystery quilts and now I am up to my very first Mystery quilt!! As a matter of fact, back in 1993, I had never even HEARD of a mystery quilt!!

This was the brainchild of guild member Shirley and she proposed that we have small bees with just a few people in them and that we would do a step in the mystery each month. The idea was that we would work together and help each other as we went.

I remember this amazing group!! We started out with just four members…..Judy, Jessica, Estelle, and myself. Judy and I are still great friends and, although I don’t see Jessica much, I hear from her often on Facebook.

SO….the first benefit of this Mystery quilt was the chance to meet new friends!!

As the mystery continued, we found that we were making stars….

…and the quilt quickly grew!!

This was the final product and I REALLY wish that I had a better photo of it!!…..

This quilt became the FAVORITE quilt for our family. When someone was sick, this was the quilt that picked to comfort them. It was thrown-up on, cereal was dumped on it, it was used as a pallet, and most importantly, it kept my family warm!!!

However, back in 1993, I didn’t have the money to buy quilt-quality fabrics so it was made from everything that I had lying around, and the result was this…..