BQL for June

As I have mentioned before, I am a member of the “British Quilt List” monthly challenge and yesterday was the due date for the June quilt. As soon as I finished the rust piece, I immediately started working on this one and fortunately it didn’t take very long to make. The list moderator, Kandy Newton has once again done a wonderful job of designing a quilt that helps us to try different techniques…..this time it was tucks.

She gave two great pieces of advice. The first was to use high contrast fabrics and the second was to starch the fabrics before we started cutting!!!

I cant wait to see the next installment.

Another one finished

On Monday, I finished a quilt that will be given as a wedding present for one of Jenny’s good friends. I pieced the top during tax season….one of my “dont think….just sew” projects.

I really like how the rectangles float on the surface.

I debated for a long time about how to quilt it and ended up using my friend, Anita‘s, idea about printing out several photos of the quilt and practicing different quilting designs on paper. I finally decided to divide the quilt into areas and quilt each of those in a different pattern. All in all, I am fairly pleased with it. If you click on the photo, I think that you can see the quilting.

CAUGHT UP!!!!

I am a member of the Yahoo Group, “British Quilt List”, which I joined two years ago just before we were making a 2 month trip to England. Last year they had a bag making monthly challenge. I did the January bag and then decided that I really wasn’t interested in making 12 bags, so I dropped out.

This year, I joined the challenge again. The theme for the year is making calendar quilts….each is 12 inches square and follows instructions and themes set by the challenge moderator, Kandy Newton. (By the way, I got to spend a day with Kandy while in England and she is a wonderful quilter and a hoot to be around!!!).

Well, I made the January quilt (click here to see it) and had it posted to the BQL photos before the first week in January. Things went down hill from there!!!!!

So, this past two weeks I have been working to catch up on the challenges and here are my next three entries……

The February quilt was going to be based on a bed of Daffodils that were growing
just outside my window, but a freak Snow Storm (we dont often get snow) greatly
shortened their duration. This quilt will help me to remember their beauty.

The March quilt uses a photo that I took at Kew Gardens when visiting London two
years ago. My husband was visiting a researcher there and we arrived at the
research facility about 1-1/2 hours before the gardens opened. I had planned to
just walk slowly to the main entrance and wait for opening, but was told to go
on into the gardens from the research entrance. So, I got to spend over an hour
wandering the gardens before the hoards of school children arrived. It was
bliss.

The April purses use fabrics that I bought in India last year. I still have to
bind this one and add a bunch of embellishments, but those can be done in front
of the TV and at my leisure.

I have done a lot of FMQ, but never while in such a hurry, so I put my foot down
and let the needle fly. It was actually quite fun!!

I just got the instructions for the May challenge……a machine trapunto piece!!! Maybe I will get it finished in the next 30 days!!!

What I SHOULD have been doing yesterday!!!

Actually the title is not entirely correct…..I spent yesterday organizing my stash (see last post), when I should have been doing tax returns!!

However, at the end of the day, I spent about 30 minutes doing something that I have wanted to do for about a year. I took three of my needle felting pieces that I made over a year ago and framed them and got them ready to put into our Guild Show Boutique.

Until now I have HATED framing pieces because I didn’t feel that they had a professional appearance, especially on the back …but that has now changed.

I did some research and found a tool that allows you to put the brads in the back of the frame to hold the piece in properly. The tool is a Picture Frame Fitting Tool and is made by Logan products.

It works great and I think that it makes my pieces look a lot better.

Now for the pieces….here are the three that I framed this evening and I am happy with how they look…that is a first!!!

Finished Quilt (at least my part)

Firstly, I have just realized that I LOVE getting onto my blog at about 8:30 am and checking to see who has added to their posts. I love seeing the posts that were put on late in the evening when I was sleeping and then those from the early birds (like me) who post first thing in the morning. It is lovely to see our diversity!!!

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned a “commission” quilt that I was working on for my cousin. My mother (85 years old) had originally told my cousin that she would make this quilt for her, but I was asked to print the photos on the fabric. As I talked to my Mom, I realized that she was concerned about being able to finish it on time, so I offered to piece the top. When I finished the top, I called my Mom and asked her if she would like me to go ahead and quilt it for her. She said “yes Please” and then agreed to put the binding on. SO, I spent a Saturday and finished this quilt……

There is nothing particularly fancy about it, but I like the homey feel that it has and I hope that the quilt winner will enjoy the 50+ years of photos.

SO…..on to the post office to get it in the mail and off of my “To-Do” list.

Oh, one other comment…….I made this quilt (and the last one) solely from fabrics that were in my stash!!!!