Pickle Dish, Starstruck, Aloha

I've finished up the backings for quilt tops from last year. They are now awaiting a call from my LAQ... When I have some finished quilts to bind, I'll bring over that many more for her to complete. I also have a FULL bag of runners and small quilts for me to quilt...I hope to do that in August and September.

For now, I've been working on some NEW quilt tops and I thought I'd share them since 2 of them I just finished...

The first is a Pickle Dish quilt. The pattern is from the book Kaffe Fassett's Quilt Romance. I like the way these are made into a square block that makes it easier to put together. Here's the top so far:

and a closer view of some of the blocks:

Cool, huh? Almost everything is from my stash...I did have to add some additional white fabric, but all of the colored fans are stash.

Next, here's some of the "Starstruck" blocks. I think that's what I'm calling it - maybe not:

You see the Pickle Dish at the top as I was working on both blocks at the same time. These are the bottom blocks...and they are so much easier that the Pickle Dish! The Pickle Dish is paper pieced and I  learned a couple of things from it. The Star burst (huh maybe that's better?) blocks are just cut using a 15 degree ruler and are very easy... I did a pieced white/pattern/white blade with a pure white blade...cool, huh? I also bought some red/white/blue fabric to do a patriot version. The thing I need to figure out is...when I made these, I cut from the bottom of the ruler and it all came together in the middle...to the point where I trimmed it out and am going to applique a middle back on - too many seams! So, for the red/white/blue version, I'm going to start at either 1 inch or 2 inch line and see what happens.

I went to a couple of shops during a shop hop - didn't do the entire thing as it was 30-40 shops from LA to Palm Springs to Chula Vista. It was too hot and I wasn't in the mood to run for two weeks, so I did a couple of the local shops that I like. One shop, Cozy Quilt Shop in El Cajon, is well known for a few different things... I bought this kit from them:

 The pattern was free with the purchase of the book "Layer 'em Up" by Sharyn Craig. I bought the kit also, so I got a 2nd copy of the pattern for free... The entire top took just a few hours ... it was very, very fast - which is what Cozy specializes in. I'm making this for a Christmas gift for a coworker...I'm going to buttonhole stitch the letters down and then do some very basic quilting to finish this by myself... The kit was great as it had the blocks precut and TONS of fabric for the letters and center - I bet I could make another center panel from the left overs!...

So, that's what I've been working on lately. Of course, I have more potential projects than time - but these have been fun to work on over the past couple of months.

BTW, if you read Quilter's Newsletter Monthly magazine, my LAQ has a quilt showcased as a ribbon winner at Denver International quilt show. She has the samurai quilt...it's so very impressive in person!

 

4 ready to go...one left!

I finished making backs for 2 more tops. I have one last top without a back... AND with my using a top as a back...I'm 1/2 way there...I figure if I square up the quilt that is on point, and then insert 3 vertical panels and one horizontal panel...I'll have a back!

I have a whole stack of runners and small quilts that are ready to be quilted by me... I have 2 tops that will need backs and batting...and then every top I have will really be part of a kit...ready for quilting. YEAH!!!

I am working on a challenge quilt...and bought fabric for another experiment. My challenge quilt is a pickle dish from the book Kaffe Fassett's Quilt Romance. It's paper pieced but with a twist in that you end up with blocks to sew together which is awesome! I'm using fabric that look almost solid...in rainbow colors.

I bought fabric to make another quilt that hsd Dresden fans...that are turned into blocks and sewn together...instead of having to applique the circles.  I've got  some neat fabrics that should make some cool designs...

And both blocks/quilts have lots and lots of WHITE for the background...which should be fun too!  Pictures coming soon!

Two more down...two more going soon

I went through the remaining tops and noticed that one could make a decent back for the other if it was bigger... So I increased the number of blocks and rows by one in each direction and then added on a border...and I have another quilt sandwich to have quilted! I have two more tops that I can do the same thing to...I just have to add in some borders to one to make it bigger as a backing...

After that I'll have two more complete tops to make backs for and then I'm up to date with the big quilts that need to go out for quilting. I then can start on the stack of smaller quilts and runners that I think I can quilt on my own...and that's a big pile too!

Pictures will come at some point. Just nothing too thrilling at this point to post!

Status update...

I forgot to post my progress from last holiday weekend.  I started on backings...but then switched to the quilt I needed to get done...and then late Monday, needed to get one more backing done.

So, on Wednesday, I dropped off 4 quilts to be quilted!!! YEAH!!!

Two are for gifts, one is a top I pieced a few years ago...and the 4th was similar to one I made as a gift so I figured it could be quilted the same. I should have them back early August at the latest...which is awesome. I love to bind and that part will go very quick. I hope to get the rest of the backings and battings done in the next week or two so that I can pick up completed quilts...and drop off more!

The one baby quilt I made I showed to the future Grandpa and it met with approval so I'm very glad about that!

Works in Progress

I pulled out all of the tops I have made and made a list of them. There's almost an even dozen. On this holiday weekend, my goal is to have backs and battings made for most or all of them and then take them to the quilter...except for one little quilt and a table runner. I also have 4 or so table runners. All of these I plan to quilt myself...either with some straight lines or some free motion. I've been practicing a little bit and need to spend more time...

I've also got a couple of quilts to piece...one a baby quilt I want to get complete before September.

I've been bad at blogging over the past 6 months or so, and I hope to do a lot of work and posting from this point forward.

I'm also piecing a pickle dish quilt that is a hard pattern to piece. It's nice to have something a little more challenging...except when stressed out and then I've been finishing very small projects!

The quilt tops came out as I need to reorganize my space too...lots of work to do so I better get to it!

So cool...

Have you heard of Sweetwater? they are here:
http://sweetwater.typepad.com/makelifesweet/
and they make labels and fabrics and patterns and all kinds of great things. Well, they announced earlier this week a new fabric line and I need to get me some... A year ago, they asked for you to comment and leave addresses. Yep, I submitted my current address and a couple of others - including my childhood home address. Well, I can find my current street name on the samples on their website! I'll have to get the fabric now!!!

Cindy Lou Who

Top finished! I love it! I wasn't sure what I wanted to do... I had put some 9-patches around the outside, but that was just not right. So I went with the initial thought of a small green border and a wider red print border. I love the way it turned out.... and here it is.

It's 47.5 square so that should be a good size!

I made some wide mouth zippered bags too that turned out great. I used them last weekend and want to make some more by the end of the month. They are really cool the way they nest within each other.

That's about it - progress has been slow here.