Monday, March 31, 2014

Sparkle on a rainy day

This month's Schnibble was Hook.  

I used a charm pack of Moda Wishes to make a smaller version ( 26" by 29") then the pattern called for.

I had fun again with the circular quilting.  I put hanging corners on 3 of the corners (quilt label on the 4th) so that it can be hung as shown here with the wide dimension long or can be hung with the narrow dimension long.  (Make sense?)

It was a wet and rainy weekend so I ran outside to get a shot between showers.  There are these twigs that fit perfectly to hold up the quilt!

My backyard is mainly wooded which provides great privacy in the summer.  This time of year, you can see the house in the back if you look carefully through the trees.



Schnibble parade tomorrow at Sinta's and Sherri's blogs.  I am interested to see what the April challenge is all about.




Happy Stitching!

Friday, March 28, 2014

Sparkle


I like going in circles.

Did circular quilting again on this month's Schnibble.   The pattern is called Hook but my Schnibble is called Sparkle!

I did it smaller that the pattern called for and it is 26" by 29".  I am thinking about a red binding or a solid blue.

I just finished reading Sue Monk's The Invention of Wings.  It is a wonderful book set in Charleston prior to the start of the Civil War.  One of the key characters is a quilter.

Happy Stitching!

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Dr Who quilt top assembled


Now all basted and ready for quilting.

Loving the back side of the quilt flimsy - you can see all the paper piecing mess  magic.



These blocks came from the Dr Who paper piecing quilt along.

Assembling this quilt top was my ALYOF goal for March - I'll be linking up here!   (Here is my original blog post.)

The Dalek block is my favorite.  I had gotten reasonably good by that block in my paper piecing accuracy. 




Happy Stitching!

Monday, March 24, 2014

Dr Who Quotes

Dr Who quilt top is all assembled - isn't this a fun picture of the back side, showing all that paper piecing pieces?



I want to add some quotes to the quilt so practiced doing this with my FMQ skills.   I wrote on the fabric in pencil and found that I needed to write bigger otherwise I would overrun the text.  

The first one was my best one - hello sweetie.



then Allons-y and Geronimo.  Geronimo was completely freehand, complete with spelling error!



Finally, timey wimey wibbly wobbly




I think this technique will work as long as I accept it will be far from perfect. 

Happy Stitching!

Friday, March 21, 2014

World Down syndrome day


Today, March 21 is World Down Syndrome day.  There is significance to the date chosen - 21st day of the 3rd month which represents the trisomy of the 21st chromosome which causes Down syndrome.

In 2011, the UN General Assembly designated March 21 as World Down syndrome day to be observed to raise public awareness of Down syndrome. 

I am the proud mom of 3 kids and my middle child - my lovely 18 year old daughter - has Down syndrome.

She is a delightful young lady.  She is in high school and takes both ballet and violin lessons.  She is a major league fan of Celtic Woman and has personally met these lovely ladies more than once.  

As the middle child, I often call her Switzerland because she will keep the peace between her older brother and her young sister.  (Although, to be fair, there are other times when she was the cause of the trouble!)

Every Friday night is movie night.  Off to the bonus room we go - she watches a Celtic Women dvd and I quilt.   We love our movie nights!


Love you my CW buddy!

Happy Stitching!

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Boxy bag


The fabric is Sweetwater Hometown.  I lined it with blue solid.


I flipped it right side out before boxing the corners.  Looks like an interesting shape that way.

The tutorial was here on Pinkxstitches blog.  I did forget to leave a seam open in the bottom of the lining for turning.  Easy to fix but for a bit there I was thinking there was some kind of magic in the pattern on how this would get right side out!

A definite fun bag to make and there are more of these in my future - assembly line style!

Happy Stitching!

Monday, March 17, 2014

Hook Flimsy

Finished the assembly of my Hook flimsy as part of the monthly Schnibble project from Sinta and Sherri.


I went with 8 blocks instead of the larger sized 23.  The goal was to make this from one charm pack (instead of 2).   Several false starts along the way as I tripped my way around using the ruler.

I'm thinking of a straight line quilting to give it lots of texture.

Thinking about Sparkle for a name. I used a single Wishes charm pack putting aside all of the white patterned pieces.


Got enough scraps left to make a small mug rug or table topper.  I'll assemble as a leader and ender.

Happy Stitching!

Friday, March 14, 2014

Ta Da


My final block assembly for my wallhanging from Melissa's Start Bright quilt-a-long.

Melissa put together a fantastic quilt a long.  She included instructions for making just one block to multiple sized quilts.  I choose to make a single block from scraps I had from Moda Scumptious.  I can easily see making a full size quilt with her pattern.

I am thinking about how best to quilt.

Tomorrow is National Quilting Day - find some time to Quilt and celebrate all the beautiful work you can find on all these blogs.  I so much enjoy all the blogging friends I've made.




Happy Stitching!

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Progress on Dr who quilt

Paper backing all removed, blocks trimmed and sewn together for the body of my Dr Who wall hanging.

The text in just there via a photo editor.  I am trying to work out the quotes I will use - my daughter has that assignment - and the placement.



  I still need to attach the side and the top.


These block came from the Dr Who paper piecing quilt along.

Happy Stitching!

Monday, March 10, 2014

Trial block

Image from Miss Rosie's
This month's Scnibble is Hook.  (image from here).  Those spinners are a lot of fun to make.  They look a bit intimidating but - as always - instructions are clear.  Carrie also posted some extra photos on her blog which was a tremendous help.

I used two charms from my scrap bin and made a sample block (adding a bit more to each end so perhaps I can use it in a project.)






I've a charm pack of Wishes that I think would look really good in for this quilt.



Also completed the next step in Melissa's Start Bright quilt-a-long -  these are the block corners.   I'm using Moda Scrumptious fabric.  Next step is block assembly.  I've laid things out and it looks great!  Time to start stitching it together.




Happy Stitching!

Friday, March 7, 2014

Dream Big

Dream Big.


This quilt sat in my almost done pile for about 6 months.  I assembled it in August, finishing the quilt top while we were at the beach.


It went promptly off to my LAQ quilter it in September who did an all over quilt pattern called Double Bubble.


And then it sat in my sewing room waiting until I put the binding on it this weekend here in March.



Isn't it fun?    I've decided to call the quilt Dream Big.  It was made with Moda Sweetwater Noteworthy and has the fun text fabric about planning for the future.   It is being sent off to the daughter of a family friend who is going through a bit of a rough patch right now.   I hope the quilt hug helps her.

For the label, I was able to use a Sweetwater label.  Fun stuff.

Happy Stitching!

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Doctor Who


I am so excited to assemble my Doctor Who quilt top.  With these letters - each finish at 8 1/2 high by 6 1/2 wide - and my blocks below, I have what I hope will be a very fun quilt top to assemble.   Here is one version of a possible layout.


One thing I want to add in the borders of the quilt is some hand embroidered quotes.  Need some help on this one - do I do this to the quilt top flimsy?  or once it is quilted?

Assembling this quilt top will be my ALYOF goal for March - I'll be linking up here!







Happy Stitching!

Monday, March 3, 2014

My Street

I finally got the binding on a mini quilt (about 12 inches by 24 inches).   I call this My Street.  Although you can't see it in the photo, the street name I grew up on and my current street name are actually in one of the mini charm squares!   (Sweetwater had accepted street addresses as blog comments and they ended up in the fabric!!)


This is my own design.  I was thinking of writing up the pattern if anyone is interested.

(Not the best photo - we went from 70 degrees and sunny on Sunday to sleet / freezing rain and 29 degrees today!)

Also completed the next step in Melissa's Start Bright quilt-a-long -  this is the side.   I'm using Moda Scrumptious fabric (so pretty.)   This is a great pattern.







Happy Stitching!