It's Here!

The box of fabric from Quiltmaker finally arrived today. Sorry I can't show you what's inside the box just yet.  Take if from me, it's pretty.

Now wish me luck on getting this quilt done within their timeline.  Quiltmaker is giving us until August 23rd to get the quilt done and back to them.  Well, I have news for them.  Mine is going in the mail by the 15th of August because after that I'll be away from my sewing machine for a week.  And the 15th is just 17 short days away.  I feel a vacation day or two coming on.

I can't tell you how hard it is to sit here at my desk and not touch that fabric.  It is sitting next to me where I can stare ( I mean occasionally glance) at it though.  Five o'clock where are you?

The pattern we were given is printed in black and white since each of the eight people making a quilt will have different fabric.  Quiltmaker did a terrific thing.  They cut a small square of each fabric and pasted it to the corresponding fabric number on the pattern.  So trying to figure out where they want each fabric is no longer an issue.  Thank goodness.

My next post will probably be of 3" churn dash blocks that I'll be using as my leader enders while I'm making this top.  I'm hoping to get a few more of those in the done pile.

Happy sewing,

Julie

First Step for Quiltmaker Sample Quilt

Today I'll take the first step in the process of making the sample quilt for Quiltmaker.  No, I don't have the fabric yet.  It will probably be a few more days before that shows up.  I'm hoping it's here by Saturday so I'll have the weekend to work on it.  I do know what the pattern is and it is a simple one.  Good!  I'm only going to have a couple of weeks to get the quilt done.  From start to finish.  And for me the hardest part is going to be the quilting.  And Quiltmaker wants the quilting their way.  Oh, no!  It's a pattern that I haven't ever done before so I just need to start practicing.

Today I read through the pattern (yes, this time I read all the way through the pattern) and figured out what size strips there were going to be.  So now I know how wide my quilting motif should be.  So I drew some lines the width I'll need on paper and made copies.  And I'll just take my trusty pencil and practice on paper for a while.  Then I'm sure I'll make a sample or two or many, many more before I try it out on the actual quilt.

My first try and I'm terrible.  This is truly going to take a lot of practice and maybe in the meantime I'll see if there is a template for this somewhere that I can get.

Wish me luck,

Julie

Churn Dash Blocks

It's always best, in my opinion, to start a blog post with pictures. So here is a picture of some blocks from my latest project.  The Churn Dash pattern has always been one of my favorites.

The smaller blocks measure 3"  and the larger ones are 6".   The background fabric is Kona "Snow".  I have looked several times for some light background fabric to make some new couch pillows. Nothing I've seen seemed to fit what I had going on in my mind.  So with my 50% off coupon I headed to Joann's to get this Kona.  So far I'm liking how it is turning out.  I got these blocks made on Saturday.  I was at a sewing group with my mom and my sister Cathy. It was the first time for this particular group to get together and it went very well.  Thanks Cathy for hosting it.

Anyway, those are the blocks I got done yesterday.  This morning I made a few more and was able to lay this out.

I like it already.  Since there are two pillows I'm planning to make each of the covers a little different.  They will both consist of the churn dash blocks.  They just won't be configured the same.
For the most part I am using fabrics that I already have cut into the 1 1/2" and 2 1/2" strips that I need.

On a previous post I said that I had applied to Quiltmaker to be a sample sewer.  Well, they sent me an email saying I have been selected.  And that if I had any questions to please let them know.  I have a thousand questions.  But when I run them through my mind it seems that instead of questions what they are is me second guessing myself.  So a little while ago I sent them an email confirming that I will participate.   So be on the lookout for the project I make.  No doubt I'll be posting about it on here.

Happy Sunday,

Julie

Mini Quilt 11"

This little beauty can be put on the finished list.  Is it terrible of me to get so excited over finishing an 11" quilt?  No, probably not.  Especially since there were so many pieces involved.  I'm glad I made the decision to go with no borders and to hang it on this spice rack.  That's exactly where it belongs.  It couldn't have fit better if I had planned it that way.

A little history on the spice rack and items on the shelf.  My sister Joyce and I were in an antique/collectibles/junk/etc. shop in Lakeside, Arizona one summer and found this spice rack.  That was during the stage that everything that had fruit on it was something I wanted.  Well Joyce being the good sister she is bought this for me and here it is.  The spice cans on the top are ones that my mother gave me.  Yes, they still have some of each of the spices in them.  The little flippable calendar is one just like my grandfather had.  He faithfully changed the date on it everyday.  I soon figured out that I was not going to do that so ended up setting it on my birth date.  The black handled thing laying up there is a magnifying glass. Mother gave it to me and I think I remember her saying it was granddad's.  And there you have it.   Three generations of memories in one small space.

11" Mini Quilt

Just another view without the orange wall behind it.

And last but not least, our little softball players.  They lost in the first game of the tournament but had a good season overall.  So no more evenings sitting on the bleachers this summer.  I'm not really sure that's a bad thing.  I know I'll miss that hour of playing with Allison.  I'll have to figure something else out that the girls and I can do.

Have a great day!

Julie

Two blog posts in one day.  Whatever can be the matter with me. 

After posting this morning I spent a few minutes perusing the blogs I normally, well, peruse.  One of those blogs is Quiltmaker's Quilty Pleasures.  In the post today they said they are looking for a few quilters to sew up some small quilts for them.  Sounds like something I would like to do.  So I've sent in my "application" and will see if I'm one of the selected few.  I would be interested to know exactly how many people apply.  Hopefully, that is one of the things they say when they post the selection next Friday.  Anyway, be on the lookout to see if I'm one of the chosen.  And of course I'll post it here whatever the decision.

One of the requirements was to submit a picture of a recent quilt.  Well, I'm at work.  I don't have pictures of all of my quilts available.  But I did submit two different quilts.

This is one of the pictures I put in my email.  Nope, not my favorite quilt.  But it is mine, it's a good quilt, and most of all, it is completely done.

I sent them another picture too.  However, it is of a quilt that I have never shown the whole quilt on here.  So I asked that they not publish the picture.  Someday I will finish the quilting and show it off.  But alas, that day is not here yet.  Hopefully by adding that picture I didn't keep myself from being in the running. 

One thing I do know for sure - I need to take better pictures.  I'll work on that.

Keeping my fingers crossed.  I think anyway.

Julie

Friday, Friday, Friday.  Time for the Friday happy dance again.

Here are some pictures of the mini mystery quilt.

 The large quilt measures 29 1/2" x 29 1/2" with borders.  The mini quilt measures 11" x 11" without the borders. And yes, again I'll say that each of these little quilts has 245 pieces in the block.

I am considering leaving the mini quilt without borders so I can hang it from this spice rack.  It will just fit after the binding is put on.

This is what is currently on the spice rack.  I am sooo over the color of my kitchen. It is certainly time that it gets a new paint job. 

I'll just add one more picture of this little jewel. Maybe having the rotary cutter next to it will emphasize exactly how small this is.  No, I am not thinking about making a lot more of these blocks to end up with a larger quilt.  If you look closely you can see that my pinwheels are not perfect.  I am grateful that there were not more of them in the quilt.  More than one of these had to be ripped out and resewn because they didn't match in the middle.  And some of them still don't.

The credit for this pattern goes to Pam Buda at Heartspun Quilts.  She does terrific work.  I'm sure I'll make more of her patterns in the future.

Happy Friday,

Julie

On the wall today.

I was able to get some time in with my sewing machine over the weekend.  The blocks for the sew-along at Heartspun Quilts were finished and this is how my larger top turned out.

This top measures 21 1/2" without the borders and 29 1/2" with the borders.  I must say it was a little difficult for me to decide to put the borders on here and not just make more of these tops and call them blocks.  Putting those together would make a wonderful quilt.  I'll have to think on it for a while. However, thinking about the 245 pieces that went into making this little jewel may have made that an easier decision for me.

Here is a close up of one corner so the fabrics can be seen a little better.

Hard to tell from this picture that all of those 3" blocks were going to turn into such a great pattern.  Yes, the little blocks also made the same thing.  But far be it from me to figure out why there is not one picture on my camera of that 11" mini quilt.  Maybe tomorrow. For those who may have seen my previous post about this mystery quilt - I did remake the center block for the larger top.  I'm much happier with the darker fabric.  And that blue fabric has some cheddar flowers in it to go with the cheddar center and border.

I'm sharing this today on Judy Laquidara's blog at Patchwork Times.  Be sure to check out all of the terrific design walls that are posted over there.

Have a great Monday.

Julie

I'm Back

Wow, with as little sewing as I've been getting done there hasn't been much of anything to show on here.

I did start working on some blocks.  Pam Buda at Heartspun Quilts has been doing a sew along.  And I finally started to play along last Saturday.  This is how many of the 10 steps I have done so far.

The larger blocks measure 3 1/2" unfinished and the smaller are 2" unfinished. These will end up making two different mini quilts.  And one of those will really be mini.  I am following the same color scheme that she gives in her patterns.  I just haven't had the mind to go through the thought process of picking out my own colors. But I have tried to use some different fabrics in the two different sizes.  I am not really liking the lighter blue/gold blocks but I'll wait to see how they look in the final layout before remaking them.  One of them may get made again anyway, just so they won't be just alike.

I have been getting some of granddaughter time in.

Allison likes to play with the camera feature on my phone.  This is a selfie she took  at a ballgame the other night.

Last Friday I got to take Grace to her swimming lesson. 

She was bargaining with the instructor about how many times she could jump off the diving board.  He won, that round.  But he didn't win all of them.  Six years old girls can be quite persuasive.
And no, I don't have a picture of her actually diving.  Just the pictures as she is preparing.  I apparently wasn't thinking that sequence all the way through.

Lucky me.  I've been off work since 12:00 and don't have to be back until Monday.  There are too many things on my list that need to be done.  But I'll bet I get the blocks finished for the mini quilts first.

Have a great 4th of July.  We are blessed to live in a country that has so many great things to offer.

Julie