Design Wall Monday 12/30/13

I'm back! Life has gotten incredibly busy lately, and I haven't been sewing much. I took a little break from the craziness this weekend and did a tiny bit of sewing! Above is the small row of flying geese for the Quilty Fun Sew Along. I struggled with the technique a little, and I'm not crazy about the colors I chose, but that one is done. I ended up foundation piecing them. I have a couple more flying geese strips to make, but this is still progress!

For a long time now I've been wanting to make and donate a Quilt of Valor, so I designed something in EQ, and started cutting out pieces. These are some blue squares that will make star blocks. I'm going to try to get the entire quilt cut out of my stash and then I'll concentrate on piecing the blocks and putting it together. For now, I'll cut out blocks when I can spare some time.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone else is working on today!

Design Wall Monday 12/09/13

Well I'm still a week behind in the Quilt Along.  I finished the three basket blocks, and got the flying geese fabric cut, but I haven't sewn them yet. Maybe I'll actually get caught up one of these days! Now I'm off to see what this week's blocks will be.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what is on everyone's Design Walls today!

Design Wall Monday 12/02/13

I'm plugging away on the Quilty Fun Sew Along!  I got the Twinkly Winter Stars and the Courthouse Steps blocks done.  Still a little behind, I need to get the basket blocks done, and then there will be another set released today.

I forgot to include a link to the sew along last week.  All of the info and links are on this page.  You will need to have the Quilty Fun book for the measurements.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone else is working on today!

Design Wall Monday 11/25/13

I finally got Week 1 of my Quilt Along blocks (Apples) finished!  The lighting is bad, but I'm very happy with how it came out!  All of my tiny stars (Week 2 blocks) are cut out and the squares are marked.  I'll put those together tonight in class.  I had to make one (below) to see how they will look.  They are 3 1/2" at this point - very cute!

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone is working on today!

Design Wall 11/18/13

Here's what is on my Design Wall today.  I just got Lori Holt's new book "Quilty Fun", and she's having a quilt along to make a sampler quilt from the blocks in the book.  It started a couple of weeks ago, and I've been so busy, this is as far as I've gotten.  I cut out the fabric for the Apples block and the Twinkly Stars.  I plan to sew them up tonight in class.  And hopefully I'll be able to keep up from here on out.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone is working on today!

Design Wall Monday 11/04/13

I'm working on a new project!  Every year my Mom organizes a sewing day for my sister and I to celebrate our birthdays.  This year she chose a pattern from the Moda Bake Shop website called Lattice Bones.  It uses Jelly Roll (2 1/2") strips.  I was able to put 5 blocks together yesterday, and I'm set up to get the rest done fairly quickly.  I'm not sure if I'm going to use the same layout as the pattern.  I'll decide when I get them all finished and laid out.

Above is a candid shot I took on our sewing day.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what is on everyone's design walls today!

Design Wall Monday 10/28/13

I finally finished my latest Mystery Mondays project.  I've been behind since I went on vacation, but got it finished up today.  I am very happy to say I used all stash fabrics for this project.  The lighting is not great in this picture, but I think it came out pretty nice.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone else is working on today!

Design Wall Monday 10/14/13

Well not a lot of sewing happened this weekend.  I started sewing on Saturday, but after making several mistakes, I decided I should stop for a while.  So nothing to show on my front, but I saw my sister on Sunday and grabbed a picture of her Mystery Mondays project.  She just has the borders to go.  How fun!  I am inspired to get mine put together.  All of the parts are done, they just need to be joined.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what is on everyone's Design Walls today!

Design Wall Monday 10/07/13

Here are a couple of units for the Mystery Mondays project that I've been working on.  I love going through my stash and finding fabrics that will fit each unit.  I think I found some great ones for the acorns, and then I also was able to fussy cut the centers of the star blocks.  And they are small - they finish at 4" square.

Below are my sister's star blocks that I forgot to post last week! She's a little ahead of me!

I also worked on a couple of sailboat blocks (below).  On these, the choosing of fabrics and cutting took much longer than actually constructing the blocks.  They were fun to put together.  They finish at 9" square.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone else is working on today!

Design Wall Monday 09/23/13

Sorry I've been absent for so long - I was on a long vacation to the UK.  I had an amazing time, but I'm having a lot of trouble getting back into the groove of things!  Needless to say, I haven't been doing any sewing.  I had hoped to sew up a couple of blocks over the weekend, but it just didn't work out.  Lucky for us, my sister worked on her Mystery Mondays project and finished the acorn blocks!  Don't they look cute??  Hopefully I'll be able to work on these tonight in my quilting class.  It's the first class of the session, so I'm not sure how much time I'll have for personal sewing.  But I'll bring my fabrics just in case!

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone else is working on today!

Design Wall Monday 09/02/13

 

Above is how far we've gotten in the Mystery Mondays project.  Looking pretty good!  I took the picture of it tacked to my fence, but a breeze kept blowing so it doesn't look square, but it is!

Above is my sister's project.  I love how they are the same, but still really different.

Design Wall Monday 08/26/13

Above are the only little pieces that I sewed this week (aside from finishing my pillow earlier this week).  They are for the Mystery Mondays project.  Just a short clue this week.  I've been getting ready for a vacation, fixing my broken car, and generally catching up on things, which left little time for sewing.  But I'm happy that I've been able to keep caught up with this project.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone is working on today!

Star Pillow Finished

I finished up my Star pillow this week!  I need to move the pillow form around inside so it fills the edges better.  It is a 12" foundation pieced block in the center, with 2" borders all around to make a 16" pillow.  The back is two overlapping pieces so the pillow form can slide in - and I didn't need to add a zipper!

I'm linking up to Finish It Friday on Crazy Mom Quilts!

Design Wall Monday 08/19/13

Above is the latest project that I've been working on (for a while).  It is a paper foundation pieced block that I am turning into a pillow.  I decided to back the block with thin batting so the seam allowances wouldn't show through the white fabric.  I knew I wanted to use grey and yellow/gold, but I really struggled with the choosing the fabrics.  Too many choices in my stash.  I wanted the two yellow fabrics to have a little more contrast, so it would have a bit of a 3D effect in that area, but in the end, I think the values are too close together to achieve that look.  Oh well, I think it still came out pretty nice.

There was no Mystery Mondays clue last week, but there should be a new one today, so nothing to show on that front.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what is one everyone's Design Walls today!

Design Wall Monday 08/12/13



Above are the three latest blocks for the Mystery Mondays quilt along.  These were fun little 6" blocks.  All still coming out of my fabric stash - which accounts for the busy one in the lower left hand corner.  It has all the right colors, but I think the scale of the print is a little big for that block.  It was actually a scrap from one of the past Mystery Mondays projects, that I had used as my focus fabric.

Above are my sister's blocks.  Is it wrong that I want to raid her stash after seeing her blocks each week? 

Other than that, I'm still working on finishing up some class projects.  I'm making a pillow with a paper pieced block on the front, but it's a little bigger than the ones I've made in the past.  I find that sometimes the pillow ends up a little bigger than the pillow form, so the edges/corners are empty.  I think today I'll make a quick "practice" one out of muslin and play with the size a little.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone else has on their design walls today!

Design Wall Monday 08/05/13

The lighting is not great on this one - I had a lamp shining in the upper left.  Oh well.  I still need work on my picture taking skills!  Here is where I am on the Mystery Mondays project.  We added a checkerboard strip at the top and put the parts together that we've made so far.  There should be another clue today.  This is a fun one!

Above are my sister's blocks.  Looking good!

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone else is working on today!

Design Wall Monday 07/29/13

I finished the Mystery Mondays block for the week.  It is another pumpkin block, but in a bigger scale.  I can't wait to see what next week's block with be.

Here are my two blocks together.  Other than the pumpkin, and finishing the quilt top I posted yesterday, I didn't do much sewing this week.  I did choose fabrics for a pillow I'm about to make.  Haven't cut into them yet, though.  They are calling to me, so I'll probably have part, if not all, of it finished by next Monday.

And here are my sister's blocks.  So far we are both on track!

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone else is working on today!

Stash Busting 2013 - Week 30

This past week I finished putting the top together that I've been working on.  I have a hard time taking pictures of my bigger projects, so today I decided to take a cue from some of the other bloggers and took it outside pinned to my fence.  It worked out perfectly.  I took the picture from a few different angles, but in all it took less than 10 minutes.  I had to wait for the sun to move away from that part of the fence.  I think the colors are fairly true - they are maybe a little warmer in real life.

I'm approximating the yardage on this one.  I think it took about 4 yards total.  I used 2 charm packs along with yardage, so this is an estimate.

Fabric used this week: 4.00 yards

Fabric added this week: 0.50 yards

Fabric used this year: 11.50 yards
Fabric added this year: 20.25 yards

Be sure to check out Judy's blog to see how everyone else is doing with their stashes!

Design Wall Monday 07/22/13

After a bit of a dry spell, I did a bunch of sewing this weekend.  Above is the project that I've been working on recently.  I got a little road-blocked when I decided it needed an extra row.  I had used up my charm packs, and so I had to pull fabrics from my stash that were similar in color to the charm packs I used.  Sometimes too many choices make it harder to choose.  Above are all of the blocks laid out.  After I took the picture, I sewed them all together and put on the first narrow border of solid red.  At the last minute, I decided to wash my final border fabric, so I called it quits for the day on that project.  I wanted to finish the top, but I'm pretty pleased with how far I got.

Next I worked on the new Mystery Mondays project.  This week was the first "clue", which was a pumpkin block.  My sister is also going to do this project, and I didn't want to fall behind on the first week!  Below is my sister's block:

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone is working on today!

Design Wall Monday 07/01/13

So I've been working a few more of these blocks.  They are called Window Pane Disappearing Nine Patch (D9P) blocks.  First you start with making a nine-patch block with sashing strips to look like a tic-tac-toe block.  I used charm pack squares (5" squares) and 1 1/2" cut sashing strips (1" finished).

Next you cut the block in half horizontally and vertically.

Then you twist and turn the quarters to make a new block.  It looks like you did a lot of piecing, but it was actually very easy.  I've used up one charm pack already, which makes 4 blocks (16 quarters).  I have another pack of the same fabric to make more blocks.  Then I'll put them together to make a small quilt.

You can go here to see the video tutorial for this pattern.

This is what is on my Design Wall today.  Go to Judy L's blog to see what everyone else is working on today!

Design Wall Monday 06/24/13

I found a link to a really neat tutorial on Pinterest.  It is a variation on a Disappearing Nine Patch.  As soon as I saw it, I knew I just had to make one.  The sample was made with beautiful batiks and narrow black sashing, which is what I was also going to do, but then I saw a charm pack of pretty Christmas prints, and I changed my mind.  Hopefully this line will work out well.  I'm excited to be working on it.  I haven't been sewing much lately and it's fun to be motivated once again!

This block will be cut twice to make four smaller blocks.  You can watch the You Tube video to see how it's done.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone else is working on today!

Stash Report - Week 25, 2013

Oh boy.  It looks like I'm failing miserably at stash busting this year.  Oh well.  I've been really good in the past.  I bought a total of 7 yards of fabric this week!  But I have plans for all of it!  The Christmas fabric in the top picture are for a project that I've already started (see Design Wall Monday post tomorrow for more on that).  Two of the fabrics in lower picture are for a "mail sack" type bag that I'm going to make.  I'm going to be traveling, and I think this style of bag will work well.  Then there is a piece of London print fabric that was on sale and I thought I'd pick up.  Okay, I really don't have a plan for that piece at the moment!

Hopefully the Christmas quilt will be done soon so can count that out of my stash.  It's a pretty quick quilt that I'm really excited about.

I'm linking to Judy L's stash report today.  Now I'll go and see if everyone else has been as bad as me!

Fabric used this week: 0.00 yards
Fabric added this week: 7.00 yards

Fabric used this year: 7.50 yards
Fabric added this year: 19.75 yards

Design Wall Monday 06/17/13

A few more hexagon flowers are done.  I'll add these to the (short) pile I've made.  The one on the lower right has a couple of different fabrics in it.  I'm trying to use my scraps, but a lot of times the scraps are too small to make six hexagons.  So I experimented with mixing fabrics.  I think it looks pretty cute that way.  The one at the top uses a fabric I thought would be too busy for the small hexagon, but I like how that one turned out too!  I'm going to get a little bolder with my fabric choices now that I know these two worked.

Tonight is the last night for my quilting class until September.  I taught the wall hanging above this session.  It is just a quilt top, but I really want to hang this in my office, so now I'll work on layering it up and doing a little quilting.  I'll start with some stitch in the ditch to outline the shapes, and then maybe I'll try something a little more creative in the background spaces.

It really is square, but the corners folded in at the bottom when I took the picture.  It measures approximately 31" square.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone else is working on today!

Dear Jane - L3

I got another Dear Jane block finished this week.  It was a pretty straight forward paper pieced block.  It looks like I have 46 blocks finished now.  I think that puts me at about 20% done.  I have a few more blocks prepped, so hopefully I'll have a few more done soon!

Design Wall Monday 06/10/13

Still just hexagons on my Design Wall today.  I did finish a Dear Jane block during the week, but these are what I have out as my ongoing project.  They keep me motivated to make more.  I prepped a bunch of single hexagons that aren't shown.

My Monday night quilting class is winding down, only one more class after tonight's class, and then we are off for the summer.  We usually start the Fall session in the beginning of September, but it looks like we'll be traveling at that time, so I'll start it up about mid-month.  This usually means I end up taking a bit of a sewing break around this time of year.  Of course I shouldn't, because I need to have the projects and patterns finished before we travel.  We'll see.  I need to get inspired again.

I'm sure I'll get some good inspiration from Judy L's blog - hop over there to see what everyone else is working on today!

Dear Jane K13

I finished a Dear Jane block last night!  It had been all prepped and kitted up just waiting for a few spare moments.  This was a fairly easy one to piece and I like how it came together.

Now I really need to start doing some applique blocks.  I think I say that after every block!!

Design Wall Monday 06/03/13

I've been in a bit of a sewing slump lately.  Just haven't been feeling it.  I didn't sew at all over the long Memorial Day weekend.  And this past weekend all I did was prep a Dear Jane block.  I am continuing to work slowly on my hexagons while I watch tv at night.

I'm sure I'll get back into it soon!  Meanwhile, I'll keep plugging away at these small projects.

Be sure to check out what everyone else is working on today over at Judy L's blog!

Design Wall Monday 05/20/13

Today all I have to share on my Design Wall are a couple of hexagon flowers.  I haven't done much sewing lately, except for these hexies that I've been hand sewing in my down time.  I'm not really sure where I'm going with these, but I'll definitely do something with them eventually.  At least I don't feel like I'm completely wasting time while watching tv anymore!

I do have a quilt top that is nearly complete.  I bought some border fabric over the weekend (add two yards to the stash report!), but it's packed up to take to class so I couldn't take a picture of it.  Hopefully I'll have a picture of the completed top soon!

Meanwhile I'll be working on my hexies!

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone is working on today!

Blogger's Quilt Festival May 2013

Today I'm linking up with the Blogger's Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side.  The quilt I'm sharing is very special to me and my family.  Back in the 1970's, my Mom started quilting.  She decided to make a family quilt to present to my grandmother (her mother-in-law).  She got everyone in the family to make a block that represented themselves and my grandmother.  She gave each person a packet of fabric, including several purple fabrics (Grandma's favorite color).  My Mom and my aunt Shirley made some filler blocks to round out the setting.

The upper blocks of the quilt depict my Grandmother and Grandfather, Viola and Lee Parham, and their seven children.  My grandmother was originally from Australia, and my grandfather was from Indiana.  They settled in San Francisco, where they raised their family.

I love looking over the quilt and seeing the story in the blocks - those of my grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles, and cousins.  My sister and I each have a block in the quilt as well.  I was the youngest contributor at 8 years old!

The quilt was presented to my grandmother in the late 1970's, and it hung in her bedroom until she passed in 1981.  I recently took the opportunity to photograph each block, which I posted to Flickr, so everyone could see the quilt and blocks at any time.  Head on over there to see each one!

Thanks to Amy Ellis at Amy's Creative Side for allowing me to share this very special quilt.  It looks like this time around the quilts in the Blogger's Quilt Festival are split up into categories.  You can find this quilt posted on the Group Quilts page.

Be sure to check out all of the amazing quilts in the festival!