Quilting on Main Street

Winner's Bouquet - One Pattern, Two Looks

2012-01-26T08:05:00.000-05:00

The last quilt I made using Fig Tree fabrics was Cider Mill. The fabric was from a line called Patisserie and the pattern is Winner's Bouquet by Terry Atkinson.

Here's a close-up of the block.

Fran Rolfsen (no blog) recently saw my post of Dec. 26, 2010, writtern when I completed Cider Mill, recgonized the pattern she used for her quilt, and sent me a photo. I asked her permission to show you Fran's quilt because it is such a good example of how fabric and color selection makes such an impact on the final look of a quilt. You are seeing a quilt made from the exact same pattern, with the same block size, but the choice of fabric resulted in a very different look.

Isn't Fran's quilt gorgeous! She had this to say about it:

I made mine all in batiks, which started out dark in the upper left corner and gradually worked outward and downward to be lighter and lighter and also went through different color families. Old story: it was supposed to be a wall quilt, but I kept finding more and more gorgeous batiks and so . . . ended up being king-sized! The pictures can't show the whole quilt but I was proud it turned out so well. The background is Hoffman's 1895 "buttercream."

I just love the change of color over the surface of the quilt. Must use that myself one of these days. Fran, thank you so much for sharing your quilt with us.

Five Blocks Finished

2012-01-23T08:38:00.000-05:00

We had our first snow of the season on Saturday (I don't count that freakish storm back in October); a perfect day to stay home and sew. Only I had to go out and do a few necessary errands. But I was able to get five blocks done.

Changes, my current project, is made up of 25 blocks with sashing. I'm working on my blocks in sets of five. So far, so good.

While I was out on Saturday, I swung by Lowe's to pick up some materials to make myself a design wall - FINALLY. Wish me luck!

Three More Dresses ... and Friday Find

2012-01-20T08:10:00.000-05:00

While on vacation, I finished three more dress blocks for the Pretty Dresses wall hanging. I need nine blocks (I think) so I am well on my way.

On a Christmas shopping trip to NYC, I found this food storage container at Pearl River Mart. The store is located in Soho and sells all sorts of Chinese imports, most very reasonably priced. They call this item a "lunch box."

It is about 7 inches long, 5 inches wide and 3 inches deep, and I'm finding it very handy for holding my applique supplies. The lid is held in place with clips to each side. Under the lid is an upper tray about an inch deep, perfect for flatter items.

Under the tray is a deeper space that holds spools of thread and my travel pincushion.

This little item costs less than $6. They also have bigger stacked versions, inlcuding colorful melamine versions they call tiffin lunch boxes. Sewists and quilters could put them to good use too.

Starting Fig Harvest

2012-01-19T08:08:00.001-05:00

With the School Colors quilt out of the way, I am free to start my Fig Tree project. (My original post about my intentions is here.) For my first project, I'm using a pattern called Changes, designed by Kelly Guy of Cotton Charm Quilts and the Charming Chatter blog.

Changes is a layer cake pattern, so if you've been looking for something to do with a layer cake, here's an idea. But I will be making my version from fat quarters becauset that's what I have on hand. This quilt design requires a lot of flying geese blocks so I will be using my Fit to be Geese ruler too. The ruler is such a valuable aid to achieving more accurate blocks.

Kelly made her original Changes out of a Fig Tree line called Buttercup. I'm using a fabric selected from the Buttercup line for my outer border but I drew fabrics from three lines, Buttercup, Fresh Cottons, and Strawberry Fields, for the blocks. I'll be using Kona Snow, a softer white, for the background.

Time to cut!

School Colors Flimsy

2012-01-17T08:03:00.001-05:00

I got all the pieces together into a throw-size quilt (53" by 70"). That piece in the center, the blue and gold "P," was cut from a t-shirt. It is certainly a lot of blue and gold. Of course, it will look even better when quilted.

School Quilt

2012-01-16T07:55:00.000-05:00

I spent a lot of time over the weekend in my sewing room and have the quilt for the school auction nearly finished (the top, that is). The photo above is of one of the panels. I'm using hourglass blocks, about a gazillion of them as they finish at 3.25", with a piece cut from a school t-shirt in the center.

I think this plan will work out well for this quilt, though it is not my usual style. I don't usually favor such sharp color contrast but most schools have two high contrast colors for their school colors: you know, blue and gold, red and black, green and white. I already have an idea for next year's auction quilt, which I think will incorporate some white background.

Virtue and Vice Tour

2012-01-12T18:32:00.000-05:00

I returned last night from a trip; here are a few of the places I've been:

Hiking in Saguaro National Park, Tucson, AZ

No, not Paris; the Paris Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas

View of the Grand Canyon from the South Rim

On Jan. 2, I flew to Tucson to spend a few days at Canyon Ranch with my mother. We had a fantastic time and it was so relaxing. I exercised like crazy, ate fabulous, healthy food, and had three massages. One of the highlights was a hike in Saguaro National Park.

From Tucson, I flew to Las Vegas, where I stayed "on the strip" at the Paris Hotel. Everything in Las Vegas is a spectacle and the Paris Hotel has a replica Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe on the premises. I ate very well in Las Vegas! (One does not go to Vegas to be a good girl!). But the highlight was a day trip to the Grand Canyon with Grand Adventures Tours. It was fabulous! I cannot describe the impact of seeing the Grand Canyon in person, though I took over 100 photos in an attempt to preserve the memory.

Now I'm home, the laundry is finished, I have a few Christmas decorations to put away, then it's back to quilting.

My Plans For 2012

2012-01-09T08:28:00.000-05:00

This year, I am not doing my usual to-do list of planned projects and goals. Instead, I'm adopting a theme for my quilting and the theme is Project Fig Harvest. I've challenged myself to "harvest" my stash of Fig Tree fabrics and patterns by focusing on projects that will use them. This is less about stash reduction, more about using fabric that I like instead of putting it aside for I-don't-know-what-occasion.

I've mentioned before that I have quite a lot of Fig Tree fabric in my stash..

...and patterns too.

During the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when I wasn't doing much quilting, I was giving this some thought and I have a couple of projects mentally planned out. I even have an idea for a scrap quilt to use up the bits left over from the main quilts.

But 2012 won't be all Fig Tree all the time. I need to finish this year's school auction quilt before I start a new project and I want to make at least one more Christmasy quilt as well as put my Etchings fat quarters to work in something. Sometimes, I can't stop myself from making to-do lists!

Project Runway - Dress #3

2012-01-05T08:23:00.000-05:00

My latest creation:

The fabric for the dress in this block is a little thinner than usual quilting cotton fabric. It is closer to voile. As a result, you can see the dress form through the dress (at least, I can see it). But once I have all the blocks finished, I will be cutting out the backing from behind the dresses so I have less bulk to quilt through.

It is great fun to pick out the fabric for these dresses! It takes me back to my childhood, when I loved playing with dolls. I am the classic tailored type now; I rarely wear a dress and when I do, it is nothing like this. Though I did have a brief Laura Ashley phase in the 80's. For proof, see my wedding dress.

Me and my dad just prior to my wedding.

Slicing and Dicing

2012-01-03T08:21:00.000-05:00

The quilt I'm making for the 2012 school auction is made up almost entirely of quarter square triangle blocks, also known as hour glass blocks. I need to make about 400 of the hour glass blocks. Luckily, I have some good tools!

I started with teh Easy Angle ruler. Thelma of Cupcakes 'n Daisies blogged about this ruler, recommending it for making half-square triangle blocks. What do you know, but I found it among my (rather extensive collection of) rulers. I don't recall using it before but I think I saw it demonstrated at a quilt show and bought it then.

Anyway, I decided this project would be the perfect time to try it out and I was not mistaken. It is very easy to use. I sandwiched one blue fabric with a gold fabric, right sides together, using a bit of spray starch. I cut the strips then used the Easy Angle ruler to cut the strips into triangles. The pairs stayed together fairly well and were easy to feed through the sewing machine, chain-style.

The next step was to cut each resulting block in half, diagonally, and re-sew pairs together to yield the hour glass blocks. I deliberately made them a little oversize so I could cut them down to the perfect size. All this cutting is tedious but I find it is the only way for me to get the required accuracy.

For this cutting, I used my Bias Square ruler (shown here on a dinner napkin so you can see the markings). This ruler has markings every 1/8th inch, plus the diagonal line marked. It made it easy to trim the blocks down to size. As you can see in the first photo above, I was basically shaving them down to the correct size and squaring them up.

So, this is what I have now. About 400 blocks, arranged by color combination, and ready to be sewn together in rows.

Still a lot of sewing to be done, but I am finished with the cutting.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T01:00:00.002-05:00

Now would be a good time to replace the blade in your rotary cutter and the needle in your sewing machine if you have not done so recently. I am still trying to get in the habit of starting each project with a new blade and a new needle.

I hope 2012 is a good year for all of us!

Project Runway - Dress #2

2011-12-30T08:58:00.001-05:00

I finished the second block for my Pretty Dresses quilt.

The pink rosebud print is one of my all-time favorites. It is part of the Paris Flea Market line by 3 Sisters for Moda and is about five years old. I still have a little bit of that line hoarded away in my stash.

Portable Project

2011-12-28T15:58:00.000-05:00

I 'm working on two projects now: one is the school auction quilt for 2012 and the other is my portable project. A little visit to my mother-in-law was the perfect time for some handwork, and voila, here is dress #1.

I'm using this group of fabric from my stash

to make this pattern, called Pretty Dresses. I'm using the needle-turn applique method, which is not as difficult as I thought it might be (at least for this shape).

I'll be doing some traveling in January so my next step is to prep the rest of the blocks so they are ready to go when I'm on the go!

Where Did The Time Go?

2011-12-24T16:33:00.000-05:00

I did not fall off the face of the earth nor did I slide down a rabbit hole! I've been finishing up year-end projects at work, decorating for Christmas, wrapping presents, going to holiday parties...and not quilting. I had grand plans to make another Christmas themed quilt during the month of December; did not happen!

While I've missed quilting, I have been doing some fun things. Miss Main Street and I spent a day Christmas shopping in NYC. I recomend the Christmas Shops at Union Square Park. However, they close at 5:00 pm today so you will have to wait until next year. I definitely plan to go back in 2012.

As of now, all Christmas preparations have been made, the gifts are wrapped and the dough for tomorrow morning's cinnamon buns is rising. And I got some cutting done. This is my next project. The basket contains approximately 400 quarter-square-triangle blocks in the making. You can call me crazy!

I'll be back to show off progress on this quilt but for now, I wish you a Very Merry Christmas!

Have a wonderful day!

Cathy at Quilting On Main Street

More Decking The Halls

2011-12-12T22:52:00.000-05:00

I've got most of my Christmas quilts out as part of my holiday decorating. This is Holiday Spirit. I think the pattern I used was a Miss Rosie's Quilt Company pattern but I don't remember the name and can't find the pattern now.

This log cabin was one of early efforts.

And here is Christmas Ribbons, my most recent Christmas quilt.

I have two wooden curtain rods hanging on the wall on the landing area at the top of the stairs leading to the second floor bedrooms. Usually, these rods hold a collection of mostly pastel bed quilts. My goal is to gradually make enough red, white, and green Christmasy quilts to fill this display at holiday time.

I figure if I can add one or two a year, I'll get there in another couple of years.

Decking the Halls

2011-12-09T14:49:00.000-05:00

I picked up my Wooly Wreath from the framer today and hung it up in our living room.

The local framer I had been using closed a couple of years ago so I had this framed at Michael's. I'm very pleased with the work they did. It looks great hanging on the wall.

Hand applique using wool was a new-to-me technique this year. I enjoyed it and am very happy with the end result of my project. I will probably do another little wool something but piecing quilts is still #1 in my craft repertoire.

If you are a new reader and want to know more about this project, I blogged about it here and here.

Button Wreath

2011-12-07T08:37:00.001-05:00

I've shown this wreath on my blog before but thought I'd show it again as it is the season.

It is about 10" in diameter and completely covered with vintage white buttons. I made it by sewing the buttons to white ribbon (3/8" wide) then wrapping the ribbon around a styrofoam wreath form. I used a few sharp straight pins to secure the button covered ribbon in place (the pins are hidden under the buttons), then tied a ribbon at the top to serve as a hanger.

I keep this wreath up year 'round, hanging from the handle of the door leading to our third floor/attic.

I've seen some smaller versions made as Christmas tree decorations. You could also try glue-gunning the buttons onto the wreath form. Ebay is a good source for buttons in bulk.

How are you decorating for Christmas?

Theme Song For Today

2011-12-04T12:28:00.000-05:00

A Song for Early December
(Sung to the tune of "Let It Snow")

Oh the shopping outside is frightful
But the fabric is so delightful!
And until this Log Cabin is built -
Let me quilt! Let me quilt! Let me quilt!

My frog stitch is loudly ripping
But I've plenty of florals for stripping,
Just don't make me cut up my kilt!
Let me quilt! Let me quilt! Let me quilt!

When I finally bind the edge
How I'll hate going back to my chores,
But if you'll take a cooking pledge
I can embellish some more!

My machine is slowly dying
and my 505 Spray is drying
But my Log Cabin's been rebuilt...
Let me quilt! Let me quilt! Let me quilt!

(Sourced from EQuilter's newsletter.)

My New Portable Project

2011-12-01T08:18:00.001-05:00

Remember this pile of fabric?

It is the process of becoming this...

...and will eventually become something like this.

My new portable project is Pretty Dresses, from the book Quilting With My Sister, by Barbara Brandeburg and Teri Christopherson. The directions are written for fusible applique but I am trying my hand at needle turn applique. So far, I have most of the dress forms finished and will begin adding the dresses. I have the dress fabrics selected and several different pieces set aside for possible border selections.

I will be traveling in January and think this will be a good take-along project.

Christmas Quilt Show 2011

2011-11-28T21:49:00.000-05:00

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it is time to decorate for Christmas. And Christmas decorating means Christmas quilts in this house! SewCalGal is having a Christmas Quilt Show so I decided to show off one of mine.

I call this quilt Christmas Ribbons. I used a pattern called Ruby's Ribbon Box. The pattern calls for a layer cake but I used scraps and leftovers for my version.

It is all red and green Christmas prints, with a little black thrown in for good measure.

Go visit SewCalGal; her links will take you to other quilts in the show.

Long Weekend Spent Sewing

2011-11-28T08:32:00.000-05:00

I spent quite some time in my sewing room over the long weekend. I made some pillowcases, using fabric from the recent Christmas line from Me And My Sister. The line includes a turquoise-blue color that is perfect in Miss Main Street's bedroom.

Reggie, our Pembroke Welsh Corgi, approves. (Please disregard the demonic looking eyes.)

I also made another pair of boxers for Miss Main Street, using fabric printed with the Eiffel Tower. When I finished the sewing, I went to Target to get a white cami or tank top to go with them, figuring I would not be able to match the turquoise or red color. Happily, I found this exact match red cami on sale for only $4 - what a bargain. (So I got a white one too!) This will be a little Christmas present for Miss, to go with the big present she already knows about (going on her school's trip to India).

I cleaned and re-organized the sewing space and figured out some upcoming projects. More real quilting later this week.

Cyber Deals For Quilters

2011-11-25T10:19:00.000-05:00

Quilting book junkies, today is your day! Martingale is having a sale at their website, with all books and other items 50% off, plus free shipping if you purchase three or more books. The deals are here.

And if you need fabric (ha ha), the Fat Quarter Shop is having a Black Friday Blowout Sale, here.

Happy shopping!

Four Day Weekend! Yippee!

2011-11-23T19:35:00.001-05:00

Best wishes for a happy Thanksgiving!

That's me in the apron!

Ha, ha, I'd rather be sewing.

Next Up

2011-11-21T08:30:00.001-05:00

I had big plans for this past weekend, plans that included lots of time in the sewing room. It was not to be! Nothing bad happened, just real life got in the way. On a positive note, I did get some Christmas shopping done.

And I got my materials gathered for what will be my next project. I'll be using the fabrics in this picture, all from stash.

More on this when I'm a little further along and have something interesting to show.

Patchwork Among Friends - The Winner

2011-11-18T09:07:00.000-05:00

The winner of a copy of Patchwork Among Friends is commentor #7, Sue!

Your comments about the quilt patterns that you are smitten with right now are very interesting. Clearly, the Swoon pattern is aptly named. A number of bloggers have shown their own versions; it is defintely a design to fall in love with. Among the other mentions were Dresden plates (which I'm also very attracted to right now), anything scrappy, redwork, and the work of Kim Diehl.

Your comments came at a good time. I've spent the past few evenings straightening up my sewing space, reviewing my stored patterns and quilting magazines, and basically lining up my next few projects. I have some interesting projects (well, interesting to me) lined up. But more about that in a later post.