Old Red Barn Quilt Along Round 1 Finish

I’ve finally finished my Round 1 quilts in the Old Red Barn Quilt Along. The Quilt Along is on Round 4 now and I may jump back in to join them (though I may wait until after the holidays).

These pictures are just one of the lap sized quilts I made. I cut first and read directions later. I didn’t realize it would make a bed-sized quilt. I had no desire to quilt another bed-sized quilt nor did I need one in the fabulous fabrics I picked. (I live with boys, you see. I’m still under orders to make a wild animal quilt. The Amy Schimler chickens and Heather Ross fish weren’t going to cut it for the boy in question, however they did help me name the quilt “Surf and Turf”.) So I made two lap sized quilts. The second one is for sale in the gallery where I work. I love the fabrics. I picked every one of the top fabrics from my stash. It just goes to show that you can never have too much fabric. If you love it, you’ll find the perfect quilt for it!

Building Blocks

A few things I’ve been working on.

My October Stash Busting Bee block for Vintage Fern.

A quilt top assembled from a Quilt Block Exchange.

I’ve been making these scrap log cabins, some are monochromatic and some are wild. I was thinking it would end up as two quilts but I tried to see what integrating them would look like. It’s not bad (if I make one more, that is).

Happy Halloween. Boo!

Where have I been?

Absentminded mostly. Juggling lots of things, large and small and neglecting my blog. Anyway, to catch up…

The ladies quilting weekend was once again heavenly. We had a full house, amazing gals, food, wine and sewing morning til night. These are some of my acquisitions from the trip.

I quilted my two tops from the Old Red Barn first quilt-a-long. I’ll post pictures when I finish the bindings in a few days. I also completed two tops from existing blocks for charity quilts. It was nice to get these WIPs moving forward.

Here’s some eye candy from our spectacular fall day yesterday. Beautiful leaves and plenty of wood for the winter. It’s all good.

Playing with Red, White and Black

I got a late start on Becca’s September Stash Busting Bee blocks so I made some extra ones as atonement. Her focus fabric was the retro kitchen print and she loves wonky log cabins. She also sent some of the large red checks. I found some nice coordinates from the shirting fabrics that I received. I’ve also been playing with Metro Market and Mingle which was perfect. I made the requested 10.5″ block and four 5.5″ blocks.

Here’s my Metro Market and Mingle project… placemats, ready to be quilted.

And just because I can’t resist a wonky log cabin or a cute chicken print…

maybe it will be a trivet for a placemat set. Isn’t it cool how the chicken on the left seems to have his backside completed by the swirls in the black print? Totally random, I swear.

Quilters Connecting Quilt

Thanks again Amy, for hosting the Bloggers Quilt Festival!

I’m writing about my Scrappy Squares quilt because it made me feel connected to the online quilting world. I saw this quilt on Flickr and fell in love. It was a match made in heaven because I have a hard time throwing away even the smallest pieces of fabric. Thus my first scrap quilt was born. I made up the pattern myself and it had a few kinks along the way.

Next, Liza from Quiltifications decided to make it in black and white along with her friend Beth doing a brown and teal colorway. Their two quilts are here. Liza worked up the design in EQ and eliminated the annoying y-seam problem that I created for myself.

Then Lisa emailed me and asked about the pattern. Liza was kind enough to pass it on and Lisa made another terrific quilt.

I am so encouraged and inspired by the online quilting community. I’m continually amazed by the support and talent of the people out there. It’s nice when we can connect a little bit more. Thanks to all of you. Now off to the festival for me!

It’s A Piece of Cake

This is my cake from the “Idiom” challenge for my quilt guild show. I sent the image of my cake painting to Spoonflower to have it transferred onto fabric. Then I appliqued on top of it and set it into the still life. It was fun to play with the patterns and shapes. I like working in this smaller, narrative-type format.

The guild show was a success, the quilts were fabulous and attendance was up. And late Sunday afternoon, I got a very pleasant surprise…. my Blooming Nine Patch was awarded Second Place in Viewer’s Choice for large quilts! I now have a very impressive ribbon to hang in my sewing room. Pretty cool.

And lastly, my quilters getaway weekend is in 9 days!! WooHoo!!

Whirlwind!

Two new work schedules, two new school schedules (and the accompanying struggles and trauma), one quilt guild show and one gallery opening. It will all slow down by the first weekend in October but it’s been c-r-a-z-y.

I’ll be showing the Blooming Nine Patch and Scrappy Squares quilt in my guild show and I’m working frantically to finish my challenge quilt. The theme this time was to illustrate an idiom (i.e. tying the knot, time flies). My choice was to illustrate “It’s a Piece of Cake”. I’m not going to post a progress picture but I’ll give you a hint…. look at my blog header and notice the second picture from the left. ‘Nuf said.

I got the “mini quilt” bug by participating in the Good Ol’ Summertime Mini Quilt Swap. I’ve been wanting to try art quilts for a long time. There’s one I’ve been envisioning for years now. It’s really fun to see what you can do with your stash this way. It reminds me of the painting I used to do except this time my medium is fabric. I finished a mini art quilt to hang in the gallery space that I’ve been helping to redesign and renovate. Here’s the quilt I call “Still Life with Arm Chair”. I can’t wait until after the show is over so I can start on another one.

What’s Happening?

These little keets (baby guinea fowl, about two days old here), were hatched out by one of our ducks if you can believe. Mama duck decided to sit on a clutch of the guinea hens eggs and here we are. A fifth keet was hatched a day later. It’s a cruel joke that they turn into one of the ugliest birds on Earth, not to mention unpleasant and loud. Why do we have them you ask? Well they do eat a lot of bugs, ticks especially, and for some still unknown reason my husband loves them, grrr. Thank goodness these have found a good home elsewhere.

I’ve finished my quilt for the Good ‘Ol Summertime Mini Quilt Swap. I hope my swap partner likes it. I can’t reveal who it’s going to but I will say that I had a hard time telling what her tastes were because her blog was in another language. The Google blog translator was less than illuminating.

I think I like working in this small size (about 15″ square). I’ve got a few other ideas sketched out and am anxious to get some decent sewing time. It’s a huge relief that our heat wave has finally broken and the sewing room is really calling to me.

More Summer Progress

Peach jam…

August Stash Busting Bee block …

Progress on the Good Ol’ Summertime Mini Quilt Swap …

Pictures of Summer Whizzing By

The last two Quilt Block Exchange blocks for July. Stars and stripes boy-themed blocks…

Goodies to eat…. homemade pickles and hummus with feta and kalamata olives (yum!!!). This recipe was my starting point for the hummus but of course I’ve changed it. More garlic and lemon, some cumin and cayenne, plus, of course, the feta and olives. It’s ridiculously easy and so good that I never need to buy hummus again. Now if I could just keep the pita chips stocked.

Boys outside playing with campfires and running wild in the grass….

We’re trying desparately to keep on top of the zucchini, cucumber, beans and peaches that are coming in fast. It hasn’t been a great year for tomatoes but when they come it will be sauce galore. Hope you’re enjoying some summer yourself.