Shakespeare in the Park

Well here is my finished version of Shakespeare in the Park.  If nothing else I have learned how to spell William Shakespeare's name without looking it up.  If there is a story behind the name I haven't run across it. 
On Saturday I started with just one corner of it being put together.

By Sunday evening I had the whole top together.

I am happy with the way it turned out. Even though this picture does not do it justice. For one thing this picture does not show any of the border. Apparently, I need to take a few more pictures.  This is one quilt where I didn't make any changes to the pattern.  Unless, you count the method I used to cut it out. And yes, my method was much easier.  It is larger than I was hoping for. I was wanting this to be a throw quilt. So why when I read the measurements it didn't seem this big I don't know.  It's not quite wide enough for my queen size bed. But it certainly is long enough.  This is going into the "needs to be quilted" pile.  There are a few other quilts I need to get to first.

Happy sewing,

Julie

I made a little progress on my Shakespeare in the Park quilt top this weekend.  I didn't realize how much more cutting I needed to do.  There were all of the setting triangles and squares still to cut.  So that was how I spent a couple of hours Saturday morning.

According to the pattern directions I was supposed to cut parallelograms and then sub-cut them into triangles. Not going to happen.  In the first place they were to be cut 4 7/8" wide.  I don't like 7/8" of anything.  And since I am doing this scrappy I needed twenty fabrics to get two of each.  Anyway, I cut the first one per the directions so I would have a sample and then I cut the rest my way.

Yes, Judy Martins's parallelogram made great triangles.  But it was a whole lot more work than cutting a 4 3/4" strip and using the Companion Angle ruler.

The 4 3/4" still isn't a great size to cut and have leftovers.  But it's easier to see that mark on a ruler than the 7/8" mark.
After cutting all of the setting pieces that left me laying it all out.  What became very apparent was that this wasn't going to lay out on my bed.  So it ended up on the living room floor. Thank goodness, or I would have been sleeping on the floor. :) The last thing I want to do is lay this out again.

That is a Cabbage Patch doll in a high chair on the left.

I know two pictures aren't necessary but looking at it from both directions helps me to confirm that the blocks are set right and that it made the pattern it was supposed to make.

Sadly, these two rows were all I was able to get put together.  And yes, the rest of it is still spread out on the living room floor.  Guess what I'll be working on when I get home.

Happy sewing,

Julie

An Easter Finish

Here is my Easter quilt project all finished.  Too bad it was a few days after Easter.  That's okay there will be other Easter's.

I decided to just add a narrow border of the green polka dot and then bind it in the same.  I really like how it turned out.  The only thing about not knowing how I was going to finish it was that I would have put the green "egg" in a different place and not have it so close to the corner of the border.  I know I put it where it is so it wouldn't be lined up with the green egg in the basket.

There was just enough of this candy looking fabric to back it with.  The rest will make it's way into a scrap quilt no doubt.

Here is a close up of the cross hatch stitching on one of the baskets.  I may go back in and do it on the bases.  And, then again, maybe not.  It does show up better in the pictures on the purple than on the blue basket.  The rest of the quilting is just stitch in the ditch.  If the plan was to use this for anything but a table topper or doll blanket I think it would need to have some meandering in the white areas too.

My intent was to get two of these rabbits made for the girls.  Sadly,  only got the one got finished.  So maybe that will be something for next year.  There is no pattern for this wonky rabbit.  I just drew it on a paper bag.  Trust me, those are some skinny legs to try to put stuffing into.  And yes, those legs are off center.  It's supposed to be wonky after all.

I'll give credit again to Lori Holt of Bee In My Bonnet .  She has come up with some incredible patterns.  Even if I do feel the need to change them all.  :)

Happy sewing,

Julie

I have had a very busy but non-productive day.  I really dislike days like this.  One of those days where I am just spinning my wheels trying to get something done.  Every time I think I'm finally getting somewhere it magically gets another step further away.  So ENOUGH!  I'm going to take a few minutes to write this post and then see if the clock says 5:00 yet.

All of the blocks for my Shakespeare in the Park are complete.  Yahoo, that to me means I can take a side step and work on something else.

Saturday I just couldn't wait and I started on the basket block that Lori Holt designed.  She will be doing a sew-a-long starting pretty soon but why wait for that.  Her basket was designed to look like a sewing basket with yarn in it.  But with Easter coming up I saw it as a basket of eggs.

This is the first basket I made.

And here is basket number two.

And here is where I sashed and sewed them together.

And now I am stumped.  I wish someone would tell me what to do with them.  Apart they measure around 11 x 15?  Together with the 1" sashing that makes them about 15 x 23?  I can't remember exactly.  My thought was that I would put a narrow round of white around them and a narrow green border then another white border??????????  They are too small on their own for anything.  I don't want them exactly like everyone else's that does the sew-a-long so I'm not planning to put the (x) blocks around them.  I'm just at a stand still until I make a decision.  I'm actually leaning toward MAYBE doing some applique on the basket.  It seems a bit large to me.  But that may be too busy???  I do think they turned out great with all the polka dot eggs.  But now what?  Guess I should have waited for the sew-a-long.  To find out about that you can visit Lori Holt's blog Bee in My Bonnet .
She has great patterns, books and fabric.

Enough procrastinating.  I still have 15 minutes to get some work done.

Julie

Not again!

Early morning sewing is really bad for me some days.  This morning I was working on finishing up the last eight snails trail blocks and saw that I had made yet another error. I was putting on the last round of neutral and saw that they were sewn in the wrong position.

This is the way the block is supposed to look.  But I found that I had sewn the light sections on the wrong sides so it was going to not make the swirl pattern.  Thank goodness I discovered that before I put on the last of the blue.  So with the front of the block facing away from me I started ripping out the seams.  Again, I'd like to thank my lucky stars that I didn't rip them all out at once, normally I would. It was almost time to start getting ready for work so I thought just do this one and you'll have one done.  When I went to sew the neutral on in the right place it was going on in the SAME place.  I had ripped out what was already okay.  Out of the eight blocks I'm doing right now only one of them was done wrong.  Whew, I about blew that.  I think if I had ripped all eight of them out and then figured that out this would have ended up in a tote as another unfinished project.  As of right now, I have the final blue pieces to put on these eight blocks.  I also need to cut the setting triangles.  Then I'll be ready to put it together.

I'll be glad when this top is in the done pile.  

Julie

A Winner

No, I don't always win things.  But yes, I do sign up to win.  And you can't win if you don't play. So they say.
Anyway, a couple of weeks ago Pam Buda at Heartspun Quilts was having a give away that I signed up for.  The first few winners were getting some of her scraps and the others were able to choose two of the patterns she designed.  I was lucky enough to win two of her patterns. (Yes, what I really wanted was the scraps. But I'm thrilled with the patterns.)

These are the two I selected.  I have always wanted to make this type of house quilt and she says this pattern is a simple one.  Making the roof has scared me away thus far.  The Suffragette pattern on the right intrigued me.  I haven't figured out from looking at the picture how it is put together so I picked that one so I could find out.  That and the fact that it is red/white/blue helped in my decision I'm sure.

I stumbled on Pam Buda's blog when I was looking for a hexie tutorial.  She has a good one.  You can find the first of her steps for hexies here.  She is also getting ready to start a mystery quilt.  The fabric requirements are here.  This is one I might try doing myself.

Anyway, it is a good blog to follow.  So check it out when you've got the time.

Julie

Spam Comments

Great, I've been hit by a spam messenger. Guess playing around with my settings the other day wasn't a good idea.  Looks like I'll be playing around with them some more.
Just remember if you read something strange in my comments that it sometimes takes a while for me to find the weird ones to get them off of here. 
I do like comments.  I just prefer they have something to do with my quilts or posts.

Julie

It was a busy weekend. And lucky for me I was able to extend it by one day.  On Saturday Jennifer and I had one of our sewing days in Perry.  This time I just wanted to take my current project and the orange quilt so I would have it in case I wanted to work on a back for it.

That still ended up being these four totes, the bag, my sewing machine and various other items.  And no, I did not work on the back for the orange quilt. But I did get some more of the six" stars done in the alternate color pattern.

I spent Monday (my vacation day) finishing up the remainder of the 6" stars and the 12" stars shown on the right side.  So all that is left to make are 18 of the snails trail blocks.  And then I can start putting it together.

Jennifer wanted me to make cinnamon rolls to take along.  So Friday night I made the batch without pecans and Saturday morning I made the second batch with pecans.  They were good.  But I don't know that they were good enough to stress over getting them made before 9:00 in the morning. 

I had two great days of non-stop sewing.  And a long day of work in between.  So, all-in-all it was a great weekend.

Julie

Baptist Fan Quilting

As of this moment I don't even know why I'm trying to post on my blog.  For some reason all of my photos have disappeared.  Wonder what's up with that.  Hopefully, this little problem will go away on its own.  And that later I'll read this post and wonder what I was talking about.  Hopefully.

Anyway,  here is my finished Heart Quilt.  I love the way it turned out, especially the Baptist Fan quilting.  This was my practice piece for making a template, drawing the fans, then quilting them.  Whoo hoo it turned out okay.

Mini Heart Quilt with Baptist Fan Quilting

So far, so good. I can see the picture right now. Wonder if it will post to the blog?  

Back of quilt.

Close up.

In the close up it is apparent what the problem is with this little quilt.  The reds bled! Darn it!  I am so terribly disappointed.  I always pre-wash all of my fabrics before they go into my sewing room.  So I was pretty confident that they would be okay.  Nope, not to be.  And it wasn't just one of them either.  So when someone tells you that these new "quilt shop" fabrics are better than ever - be skeptical.  Because yes, it was some of the quilt shop fabric that did this dirty deed.  Oh, well.  My last post on this was that the border was wonky so I was going to use it as a practice piece.  It certainly worked well for that.  Now I'm confident that I can do the Baptist Fan quilting on something else.

I'll share again that the quilt pattern came from the Temecula Quilt Company and I found the terrific Baptist Fan tutorial here at Victoria Findlay Wolfe's blog.  Her tutorial is great.

Happy sewing,

Julie

Of course, the lack of pictures was my fault. Yesterday I had changed my settings in Picasa Web Album and it blocked everyone from seeing my pictures.  Fixed it.

Thank Goodness I'm A Morning Person

Thank goodness I'm a morning person.  The older I get the earlier I wake up.  I've heard that comes with age.  This getting old is for the birds.  This morning it was 4:15.  That gave me an extra hour and 45 minutes to do something.  So of course I sewed.

I finished up the 12" star in a star blocks with the neutral centers.
 

There was also some more cutting done.  I have the different sizes for the snails trail blocks pinned to my design wall.  It's more of a clutter wall then anything else.  I can see at least three things in the picture above that have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with this quilt. And I'm not really sure that cutting at 4:15 in the morning is something I should be doing.

This picture is actually my sewing table.  And yes all of those stacks stay right where they are when I'm sewing and cutting.  Every once in a while I'll drag a few pieces off a stack and then have to figure out which one they came from.  There are 2", 3", 3 1/2", 3 7/8" and 3 1/2 x 6 1/2".  Oh, and that is times two for the neutral and blues.  This quilt has a lot of different sizes.  So when I cut something I start with the largest size which is 6 7/8 and work my way down and just add to each stack.  It is controlled chaos :)

Well the clock has struck 8:00 and then some so it's time to start my workday.

Happy sewing,

Julie

Sewing Along

Still working on my Shakespeare in the Park.  I'm sure I'll be on it for a while.  Lots of measuring, cutting and sewing.

I now have just the these three 12" blocks done.  Also the 24 stars that are 6" with the neutral in the center.  Still need 24 with blue centers and a lot of the 12" blocks.  I'm glad the picture shows the circular motion in the blocks on the left.  Because just looking at them on my table it isn't quite as apparent.

I've also been enjoying having some Canadian Geese out my office window. They were here last year and I'm assuming it is the same group that is back again.  Not a great picture with the reflection.
Right now all of that grass is covered in yucky white stuff. Snow.  Wonder what that thing is laying in the road?

Happy sewing,

Julie

Oops

One thing that was not very apparent to me when I was sewing yesterday was that I had put neutral corners on these star blocks.  Oops.  For this set they needed to be the blue corners.

Those corners are wrong.

So after a lot of unsewing and resewing.  I finally got 10 star blocks done.  That should teach me to be a little more careful when I'm sewing at 5:00 in the morning.  But I have no doubt that this or something very much like it will occur again. 

I love these blocks:)

Julie

New Project

Well instead of finishing something I've again started on a new project.   Piecing a new top.  It busies my mind and my hands.  It makes me use my creative side.  It makes me happy.  Guess I try to justify it to myself more than anyone else.

For several years I have wanted to make Shakespeare in the Park. And I guess now is the time.

I don't really care for the directions in the book so I found a 6" star block that I have already made to give me the measurements for the inner star.  I'll have to work a little harder to figure the outer part.  If you biggie size the picture you can see how the larger blocks are a star in a star.  This pattern is in Judy Martin's book - The Creative Pattern book.  What I don't like about the directions is that you have to cut EVERYTHING out at one time.  You can't tell what is for the star blocks and what is for the alternate blocks from the cutting directions.  So I pulled out my sticky notes, my hi-liters, crossed my fingers and started figuring out what I needed.  The fabrics are from my precut bins.  There is a whole lot more mess than this though. And I need a lot more fabric than what is precut.

This is as far as I have made it.  From the picture they look a lot like flying geese and I guess they are.  But there is a little more work than that.  I'll need 24 with this light background and 24 that have a blue background.  And then of course make some of them into the larger star in a star. 

I did finish the little red and white heart quilt.  It turned out great.  And then I washed it.  And then it wasn't so great anymore.  Even though I had pre-washed all of my fabrics some of the reds still bled.  I have bought some stuff to soak it in and hope that works.

Julie

Oh, my!

One thing I like to do on the internet is to Google something quilty I want to look at.  For instance I might Google Shoo Fly quilts.  Then Google takes me to a list to choose from.  One thing that comes up in the list is "images of Shoo Fly quilts".  And there are literally hundreds of pictures that come from various places in the internet.  You can click on the picture and it will take you to the blog or site where the picture is found.  It is a good way to get some inspiration for a block or pattern I'm thinking about working on.

This morning I Googled Baptist Fan quilting tutorials.  I am still looking for a simple way to do freehand Baptist Fan quilting.  Imagine my surprise, or horror rather, when one of my own images came up.  This is the first time it has ever happened.  There was a feeling of awe at knowing how large and yet how small the internet is.  But the horror came when of all the pictures I have posted on my blog - the picture that came up was this one:

Practice Quilting

My scrap sample of my own Baptist Fan quilting.  Yes, this exact picture.  the one that starts in ecru thread and ends with red.  The one that has a hole in the fabric on the left hand side.  The one that has other practice quilting under the Baptist Fan practice.  And now by posting another picture it may come up yet again.  The picture above has an added caption that reads "practice quilting".  Wish the first one had said that.

Anyway.  Yippee one of my images came up in a Google search.  Oh, my.  Did it have to be that one.

You can bet that my practice pieces will be much prettier in the future.

Happy sewing,

Julie

Design Wall Monday

This weekend I worked at finishing up my Heart Table Topper. You can find this pattern at the Temecula Quilt Company .  This was a fun "little" quilt to make.  But by the time my border didn't fit quite right I was not liking it quite so much.

Overall it looks just fine.  But if you were to call out the quilt police and inspect it you would find that I used the chop and fit method for my border.  The worst of it being in the upper right hand side.  So I have decided to use it as my first actual piece for my Baptist Fan quilting.

This is my practice piece for Baptist Fan quilting.  Happy little monkeys.  This is a scrap sandwich I've been using for more than a year.  When I start quilting something I pull this out and take a few stitches to make sure my tension is right.  So it was what I went to when I wanted to try out a freehand Baptist Fan design.  I think it turned out great.  The only part I question is the very center where I ended at.  After starting with ecru thread it finally dawned on me to change to red so I could actually see what I was doing.  There is a terrific tutorial on Bonnie Hunter's blog on how to do Freehand Baptist Fans while hand quilting.  So I just used that with my sewing machine quilting.  I started like Bonnie suggested by drawing it out on paper. That really helped.  Anyway, I'm looking forward to giving it a try on something besides my my little monkeys.

So this is pinned and ready to be quilted (used as a guinea pig).  Now to get the courage to start.  And if needed, the patience to rip out.  Naaaahhhh

I'm linking up today with Judy over at Patchwork Times.  So head over there to see lots of great projects people are working on.

Julie

Too Many Quilts to Quilt

Last night I took the unquilted tops off of the quilt rack in my living room.  Every once in a while I like to move a different one to the front.  And this was the time to change from Christmassy to something else.  The problem is they are still on my couch.  They need to be moved back to the rack but I'm trying to get inspired.  And this is not the first time I have laid them out looking for some inspiration.  However, there are now more than there were before.

There are six tops laying there that need quilted.  (In my defense, I can count. The one with white squares laying over the end under the yellow and black is an actual finished quilt.) And there are more in the sewing room.  One of these days I'm actually going to have to figure out how many there really are.  I'm afraid it will shock me.  And I don't know how many tops are just on the fringe of being done.  I used to be so proud of not having unfinished quilt projects. Phooey.  That's obviously not the case anymore.  And at least two of them have been given as gifts with the promise that they will someday be an actual quilt.

Maybe someday they will all be real quilts.  Someday.  Oh, by the way, there are still three more tops on the quilt rack.

Julie

Another busy weekend.  Grace had her birthday party on Saturday the 22nd.  It was a fun filled, long day.  Okay maybe just long for the adults.  It was spa day for the girls.  They started with decorating a handbag with bright jewels and baubles. Then on to a foot bath and facial (made of yogurt, blueberries and honey).  Then came the nail painting - fingernails and toenails.  After all of that was the pink, green and purple hair extensions.  And along with all of that was sugar.  Lots of sugar which included a chocolate fountain.  And the birthday cake.  I know I would want my spa day to be filled with quiet and relaxation.  That was not to be found with 13 little girls running amok.  But they had a ton of fun.

Grace's friend Leah.

After all of the primping the girls got their pictures taken.  After Victoria gets them developed all of the girls will have one more memory of their spa day.  I missed getting a picture of Grace, of course.

After a long day at the spa (church basement).  The family loaded up and headed to Topeka for a little relaxation for the adults.  It was Mexican food at On The Border.  Yum.

Grace with the birthday sombrero on. And a little leftover brownie on her lip.

Saturday was a busy, busy day.  Whew.

This is the fabric postcard I made for Grace's sixth birthday.  I was trying to make something that would go with her spa day party.  And the last I had heard the girls were going to decorate flip flops not bags.  Oh, well.  It turned out alright.  Just as long as you don't look too close.

One more postcard done.  Another 12 months until I have to think about the next one for her seventh birthday.

My Saturday in a nut shell.  I worked all day on Sunday but did get up early enough to do a little sewing.  I've made some progress on the borders for the mini-heart quilt.  I'll complain that they are a tad too long another time.

Enough of my weekend. Time to get back to work.

Happy sewing,

Julie

This is going to be a valentine for me.  I like making things from little blocks so this is right up my alley. This is a free pattern from the Temecula Quilt Company  and can be found on their blog by using the link.

At this point it measures approximately 19" wide.  The heart blocks measure 5" square.  And start from 1 1/4" squares.  I'll need 44 heart blocks for the border.

This has been very easy to put together.  I've just been using my 2" and 3 1/2" pre-cut strips to cut the little squares and rectangles from.  So there hasn't been any real cutting until I got to the setting squares and triangles.  The side triangles called for a 7 1/2" square cut on the diagonal and that was the most cutting I've done.

Have a great day.

Julie

I have the center done on my Celtic Solstice.  But no picture today to prove it.  In the middle of putting that together I decided that my granddaughter Allison needed her first doll quilt from Grandma for her first birthday.

So this is what I put together for her. I don't know the name of this block.  I call it a pinwheel variation.  These blocks are 4" each.  And no, I don't believe I'll be making enough of them for a big quilt.  Sixteen was probably enough for me.

Here is a closer picture.  The yellow is a little darker than the top picture and a little lighter than the bottom.  Somewhere in between.  And no, don't look at my binding corners.  I don't think I will ever get good at making a corner.  And yes I have tried.  And yes, they probably are better than my first efforts.  But they are no where as good as my sister Cathy can do.  Anyway, I just did some simple quilt in the ditch on this.  The blocks are so small and after all it's just a doll quilt.  So hopefully it will get thrown around and used a lot.

I have spent quite a bit of time trying to decide what to do for Allison on her birthday that is something special.  For Grace I do a quilted postcard each year.  You can see one of the postcards here.  I didn't want the same for Allison.  So this is what I came up with.  If you can't read the card - it says:  "I want to give you a bouquet of flowers for your birthday.  Here is your first one.  Save this one and some day you will have a whole bunch."  Silly, I know.  But the plan is that when she turns 16 or 18 she and I can make a quilt out of the blocks I have given her for her birthdays.  And as shown, each of hers will have some kind of 12" flower block.

Allison and her birthday muffin.

Well off to start on something else.

Happy sewing,

Julie

I did start Bonnie Hunter's latest mystery Celtic Solstice. Again, I went with a little different color way. This was actually started before the big reveal. But there is still a long way to go with it.

These are the "Birthday Girl" blocks.  I really like how they look together and may have to make some of these for a quilt all their own.

Here they are with the "54-40 or Fight" blocks.  I'm happy that there is enough color contrast that the circular pattern shows up.

Here is a closer view of some of the fabrics.

I am still quite a ways from being able to put these into a top.  But they are well on their way.  And I'm pleased with the look of it.

Happy quilting,

Julie