New Projects

I started two new BOMs this week.  Am I crazy or what?  After all, I'm still in the middle of the Alaska quilt, but I joined these BOMs - one I signed up for months ago and it just started, the other I just signed up for last month.  I finished the first block for 'Autumn Joy' - It's an adorable bunny block.

I added some eyes for the bunny with french knots but I did that after I took the picture.  I can't wait for block two! 

The other BOM is the Woodland Creatures Quilt, and I am working on the first block now, which is the squirrel block, which is fine with me - I love squirrels!  Picture to follow when I get it done.  These are huge blocks too - 18 1/2" squares of fabric! It's going to be a massive quilt, which is okay - It is kind of a baltimore album kind of quilt with animals on it, so huge is appropriate.  Of course, I made a mistake and put my fusible on the wrong side of one of the fabrics, so I have more work to do before I can put the block together... Maybe tomorrow or Friday??

A finish!!!

Challenge quilt is FINISHED!  I think...

Now I have to work on the two BOMs I signed up for - both started this month.  Hopefully I have nothing else on my plate now except those two, and my Alaska quilt, so basically 3 BOMs.

Of course I'm not even going to think about all the tops that are languishing needing quilting... sigh.

New Goal

I have to set a new goal for myself this month, so my initial goal is to finish my challenge quilt for the guild challenge.  We had to blindly pick two paint chips and make a two color quilt using the colors on the paint chips.  We were allowed to add one other color, and a background color as well.  My paint chips were purple and violet (oh boy - what a combination - basically purple and purple).  We could use multiple values of those colors, of course.  I chose to add indigo to the mix, and for my 'background' color, I chose peach, which I put in the foreground instead of the background.

Here is what I have so far:

I am adding some peach colored yoyo's to the corners to embellish among the appliques.  The yoyos have beading to make them more 'flower like' - I hope it all comes out okay - and of course those kimonos have to be sewn onto the quilt - right now they are just pinned. 

I have until April 10th to finish this one up, because that is the reveal date for the challenge.  I hope it goes over well - I've had a lot of fun making and quilting this one.

The initial posting for the online '2013 finishes' challenge is at this site.  The reveal for the paint chip challenge is not online - it's at my monthly guild meeting.  Wish me luck - the quilts get voted on by the entire guild membership.

The Man Quilt - Finished!

The quilt is finished - all except the label.  The label will be hand lettered in the bottom left corner of the quilt, in the light grey square there.  No applique required.  I will 'make' the label tomorrow night when I deliver the quilt and find out what the consignor wants to call it.  So far, the only name I have for it, the working title, is just The Man Quilt.  She might want to name it after the recipient, so have her own ideas on a name.  We shall see.  Here it is - photos taken on a real design wall, so the quilt is hung properly for these photos.

I tried to keep the quilting very modern, graphic, and masculine, so while I did quilt around the appliques, the rest is just jagged spikes, with some sitd too.

I hope he likes it!  I had a ball making it... and I'm SO glad it will be delivered on time.  I DO have a problem with procrastination.

I posted this quilt at sew bittersweet designs in their 'March finishes' section, since this is my March finish.

Now I have to finish my challenge quilt for my guild which is in the embellishment stage.  Needs to be done by the second week in April, so I have a little more time, but that will be my April UFO to finish up.

The Man Quilt 3

Work on the Man Quilt continues as time runs out.  Yesterday I pieced the back and today I pinned the quilt, getting it ready for quilting.

This is the back of the quilt, all ready for signatures and such.  I just have to do the quilting.

I will be quilting from the back to start with - going around the applique letters and the bears.  Once that is done, I will be doing the rest of the quilting from the front, probably something structural to go with the design on the front... Not sure exactly what yet - but it will be architectural in feel I think, to go with  the whole 'man quilt' vibe of the thing.

I am hoping to get started on the quilting on Friday or Monday, with the intention of having the quilt all finished before March 31st.  It is needed for a birthday party in April, and I have to have it all bound and ready for signatures before the 'commissioner' leaves for the event.

So far she likes the pictures she's seen of it, and I hope she continues to feel the same way when it is quilted and ready to go.

On a rather sad but amusing note, I had to have one of my kitties shaved this week.  She is very old and can't groom herself like she used to.  She had terrible mattes that were causing her distress, irritating her skin and she just didn't smell good either.  So we took her to the vet, who rather than just shave the mattes, said he had to shave all of her except her head and her 'booties' - he said it was just all connected and even her tail had mattes.  Poor kitty.  She looks so pathetic and sad all the time and is constantly coming for attention - more than usual.  I think she might be cold, I can't tell, but she HAS to be feeling better what with the lumpy bumpy mattes gone and her skin able to breathe and heal up again.  Here she is in all her shaved glory, poor baby:

She really is a beautiful cat with long ultra-soft white fur and beautiful grey spots... but now she looks so... well... I don't know whether to laugh or cry.  And I know she doesn't like it so we try not to laugh at her.  I know it will grow back, but still... until it does, she will look like a drowned rat I'm afraid.

I wish she was a little tamer and would let us brush her... then taking care of her fur would be easier... but we love her anyway!

The Man Quilt II

I have been working on this quilt now for a couple of weeks - on and off.  I finally have the components of the back of the quilt made... lots of piano key borders, and two panels.  One panels is to commemorate the recipient's 60th birthday, with places for guests at his party to sign and be creative.  The second panel is a pair of teddy bears, because he is a collector.  Here are the panels, without any borders yet:

This is the signature block, ready for adding borders and connecting to the bear block.

Here is the bear block.  Hard to see some of their facial details, but one bear has his eyes closed - all embellished with hand embroidery.   (Ignore the wet spots in the corners, I accidentally dripped water on the corner when it was folded up.)


Finally got the edge stitching done on all those letters in the signature block and on the bears too.  So now all there is is borders and putting the back together, and then quilting.


I am debating how to quilt it.  I know I will do it on my Bernina, not on the longarm, as there isn't enough backing fabric for the longarm.  I am still trying to figure though how to quilt it - all from the back?  or just quilt around the appliques, then quilt from the front for the rest of it, skipping inside the appliques???  I'm just so ambivalent.  I hope I get it it resolved quickly as I"m running out of time to finish up the quilt.  It is already mid-March and I'm not done yet... yikes!!!

The Man Quilt

So I got a commission to make a quilt for a gentleman's 60th birthday.  One side needs a place for a testament to his 60 years, and enough open area for attendees at his birthday party to sign the quilt, and a couple of appliqued teddy bears, as he is a collector.  I have worked out a basic design for that side of the quilt, but haven't started the actual computation of sizes for the areas.  I'm working on that now.

The other side of the quilt, I decided, needed a particularly masculine and modern vibe.  So this is what I came up with.  It is based on a quilt I saw online which used some wonderful fabrics from a line called Curious Nature designed by David Butler.  I looked up the line on Google and found some very cool fabrics most of which had a decidedly masculine look to them - hard to find at the LQS!  I ordered the fabrics and here is the finished product of side 1 of The Man Quilt:

I paired the fabrics... which are all steel blue, black, dark grey and moss green... with a pale grey tweedy looking fabric.  Then I made 9" squares and sewed half-square triangles.  It took 48 squares to make the quilt.  Then I laid it out in an off-center barn-raising pattern.  I am very happy with how it came out.

I am eagerly looking forward to making the other side of the quilt, which will have to be oversized for quilting purposes, as this side is complete as is, there will be no borders on it - I want it to retain that 'modern quilt' vibe. 

I hope the recipient will like it.