2013 Quilting

 

Was looking at pictures over the last year...didn't quilt as much as I would have liked but got a few things going.

 

 

A UFO of charm packs with grey.

 

This is finished and bound and kept me warm on the sofa during football. A Christmas Turning 20.

 

Lisa shows off her fine long-arming skills, on my jelly roll twist Christmas quilt that is bound and in use!

 

This will be a fall table topper when it is quilted, still needs the print border.

 

This was a Christmas fabric swap I did with my friends, the Barefoot Quilters. I received the blue Grinch fabric and made this piece for Colleen. "Maybe Christmas, doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps... means a little bit more!"

 

A quick kit table runner.

 

Civil War braid will be the backdrop to some wool applique, I think.

 

Father's Day sewing, a new apron for my husband.

On retreat in April, scrappy trip around the world, a Bonnie Hunter Pattern.

Love my modern Christmas Trees!

 

Fall table runner.

 

A throw down challenge....ridiculously small blocks....remains a UFO.

 

Playing with applique on the machine.

 

A little more progress on the throw down.

 

A Turning Twenty at the Fall retreat out of Laurel Burch cat fabric for a cat enthusiast friend who lost her mother in October.

 

Another top stitched at the Fall retreat, added the borders below for a finish!

 

A closer view of the Grinch!

 

Hoping to spend more time at my machine this year!

A Little of This and a Little of That



 

The problem with taking down the Christmas decorations, is what to put in the space that is left when "festive" is removed! I found these great prints that combines January snowflakes and February hearts into one table runner, the "10 Minute" variety. I am pleased with this bit of décor.

 

 

Work continues on the Owl Quilt, and I slipped in some chain piecing of Celtic Sunrise Clue 4. At the least I have all of the clue cut and now half sewn. 

We are tucked into the dining room today so we can support each other...haha. I am not sure who is supervising who!

Now I need to remember that little twist trick that makes the center lie flat. But that can wait until tomorrow.

Hoot, Hoot!

 

Whenever my Step-daughter is with us for a stretch, we usually get into some sewing project. We hatched an idea for a raffle quilt for her school trip and went on the hunt for some owl fabric and coordinating prints for a Disappearing Nine Patch pattern that is popular on internet quilting sites. (Not sure who originally came up with this nifty idea.)

 

 We found some owls that we liked and got to cutting..

Sewing away...

Next the magical cuts...

 Here's our block...I like the color pops!

Schizo Saturday

Working on UFO's, several at a time...may have something to do with why I have so many. No matter, doesn't make me a bad person right? Just offensive to the quilt police!

Been fiddling with this OBW- the longest part of the process for me. Moving half hexes. Take a picture. Move again. Determined to get the thing sewed together sometime soon, but I can see I am not there yet.

These are cut from a mod witch fabric...if you look closely you can see them. I think it will be called Hexed Witches.

Meanwhile, I am sewing triangles for this UFO whilst I study the movement of the witches.

Makes for an interesting, somewhat schizophrenic sewing day!

Valentine Quilt Top Finished!

We added some borders and some hearts I had made awhile ago...and we had a nifty Valentine quilt top finished! Not bad for a first quilt for a ten year old! It's such a cool thing to see a budding new stitcher so enthusiastic!

From OBX Guild...

Remember that Monday night, 7 February is the Outer Banks Quilt Guild Meeting.

The meeting will be held at the Colington United Methodist Church on the curve on Colington Rd.

7 pm start time.

If you bring 1 1/4 yds of fabric – preferably batik, you can make your own grocery sack with no sewing. (you need a piece of fabric that is square or close to square).

Quilt Talk Radio:

    http://www.wsradio.com/internet-talk-radio.cfm/shows/Quilting-with-Rosie-Radio.html

    http://www.quiltershome.com/ – Pat Sloan

Hotdog Pillowcase how-tos:

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7moryq_ZRFY&feature=related

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrYWCma9wgM&feature=related

February 24-27, 2011

Hampton, VA - " Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival XXII" Hampton Roads Convention Center. A compilation of quilting, fiber arts, and wearable arts. It's the perfect place for quilt enthusiasts and textile artists to meet, shop,learn and explore their art.

UFO's and PIGS!

Judy's 2011 UFO Challenge and The Quilting Board's UFO Challenge of the Month 2011  and Jill's Year of PIGS have me inspired to make a dent in my project stash. I have been thinking alot about this  unfinished business, mostly because there seems to be a negative theme associated with having unfinished projects.

I admit there are many different types of quilters..some work one project at a time, have only the fabric for that project and complete it before conceiving their next work. Others, like me, have alot of irons in the fire...projects of varying age and completion. Often in quilting groups, the "virtuous" one projecters cast a wet blanket on us multitaskers. The question I ponder is...Does it really mean anything??

We humans make meaning out of everything...we measure our worth in so many meaningless ways and then carry that load with us. We are too slow, too fast, too curvy, too linear....the list goes on. Who decides what it means? Some external authority? the quilt police? the nun in our head?

I have thought about why I can sew some things start to finish, with no "unfinished:" state in between. Why some projects I leave and come back to? Why, Why , Why...I have even asked my husband.

In the end, I have decided to finish some of my PIGS-UFOs, AND that it doesn't mean anything that I have them or finish them. I am not going to feel guilty about my unique creative process and it's circuitous route to completion.

For me, the purpose of the passion, is in the process...
the fun of shopping for fabric,
the artistic part of planning a project,
the Zen of chain piecing and the whirr of my sewing machine motor,
the joy of sharing the love of sewing with my daughters,
the bonds of friendship forged in a room full of friends all creating at the same time,
the satisfaction of seeing someone wrapped warmly in one of my quilts,
the quiet hours I sit immersed in my own thoughts, in front of the machine, gazing out the window watching kids and dogs and snow or lightening or husband in the yard while I figure out my life...
These things are the joy of quilting....and sometimes, like today I finish something.