Design Wall Monday

This is what's up on the wall this morning and I know that it may be a bit bright or bold for some of you, but I love it! 

This past weekend was our annual guild retreat and I had been hem and hawing around trying to figure out what I wanted to work on while I was there. I have lots of projects that I should be finishing up and I could have taken at least one of them, but something was holding me back from making a decision.

Well, the decision was made for me when on Thursday I went to the new quilt shop in Sandusky, M & E Quilt Shoppe. I know the two owners (they are former students) and we've been talking about me teaching some classes there. (YEAH!!) Anyway, while I was there, we picked out a couple of patterns and fabrics for me to make samples. Before I even walked in the door, they knew they wanted me to make something using the From Outside In line. I was excited that they picked that line. It is awesome!! But then we had to choose a pattern...

I've had the I Used To Be a Layer Cake pattern (by Nancy Altsman for Black Cat Creations) for a little while, but haven't made it yet and the shop has the pattern so I figured, why not? What is so cool about this pattern is that you can make a small Bargello quilt using a layer cake or a jelly roll and the pattern includes the instructions for three different versions. AWESOME!! If you want a larger quilt, simply make more small quilts and put them together. The pattern explains how to do that. 

Since the pattern calls for either a layer cake or jelly roll, I decided I wanted to try it using both methods so I am prepared to help students using both methods. (OK, I really just couldn't decide which version to make so I'm making two of them.) We picked out a jelly roll of the From Outside In and a layer cake from Wishes, by Sweetwater.

Knowing that it might be a bit challenging to organize at the retreat, I did some preliminary work at home. I decided to use the jelly roll first and pulled it apart and organized the strips in a pleasing order.

And then I cut the strips into 10" segments (I'm going to advise students to cut them a little longer if their strips allow for that because after trimming, you only have about 1/8" to spare and that is living life a little too dangerously for me). 

Next I sewed the 10" segments together to get four of these lovely strip sets. (While doing this, I changed the order of a few of the fabrics.) I made one of these strips at home and sewed the other three at the retreat. 

Once the strips are made, you sewn the two ends together to create a tube. (For those of you that have made a Bargello quilt, I know this is old news for you, bu this is my first one and I found the process intriguing.) Following the chart provided in the pattern, I then cut the tubes into varying widths and then started the process of creating the columns of the quilt. It took a bit to get myself acclimated to doing this, but once I did, it was ok. 

I decided that it probably wasn't a wise choice to take this project to the retreat because it really helps to have a design wall or to be able to lay everything out to avoid mixing up the strips, etc. Lesson learned! But, having said that, this experience allowed me to make notes on how to help students keep themselves organized and avoid a few of the issues I encountered.

So, here's what I had sewn at some point on Saturday.

I hope to be able to get some sewing time in later today and get this top finished soon because I'm looking forward to making version three using the Wishes layer cake! I'm using a dark chocolate brown for the accent strips.

This isn't on my wall, but this is the quilt that my brother Jerry quilted while he was at the retreat. I love this!! The picture does not do this justice and he still has to tie his thread tails and bind, but it is awesome in person. He also sewed together a couple of practice quilts so he can work on his machine quilting technique. He was VERY productive!

What's on your design wall? Why not share it with us at Judy L's Patchwork Times?

More Pictures

Here are some follow-up pictures of what projects were being worked on last weekend by the guests in my sewing room.

 

Connie was working on her version of Slide Show by Atkinson Designs.

 

 

  

She is well on her way to completing her blocks and constructing the quilt top. I love her fabrics! 

 

 

Jerry was quite productive. He practiced some free motion quilting and then constructed this cute project. Here it is naked (no borders).  :-)

 

 

And now, with borders.

 





 

I think Ann and Paula like their purses! They are sooooo cute, but I forget the name of the pattern.

 

 

Margaret spent some time playing with the layout of her log cabin blocks.

 

 

Don't you just love the bright colors she's using?

 





 

I can't wait for the next time everyone is here and completes their projects. I'm also looking forward to seeing the new projects they begin. I love having people over to sew. :-)

Found Pictures

I was looking at some pictures and realized that I hadn't posted a picture of Jerry and his finished Framed Rectangles quilt.

 

Jerry first worked on this way back in July while he and Connie were visiting, and he finished it on a subsequent trip, but I didn't have it quilted for quite a while. Of course even after it was quilted I didn't give it to him. Noooooo, instead I put it on one of the guest beds and waited until he came to visit, hoping he would forget it was his and just leave it there.

 

Here's Jerry with the quilt. (I think he did a nice job!)

 

 

I think he likes it.

 

 

As I was putting this on the bed, I found a spot in the quilting that I didn't finish a loop. I ddn't fix it and think an appropriate name for this quilt would be "The Missing Loop."

 

Design Wall Monday

Well, it's Monday and I have a lot to share - some of it's my stuff, but most of it isn't - but it's all up on the design wall or has been recently. I had every intention of posting a number of times over the last week or so, but I was sick and then quite busy. I spent a couple of days in bed and then struggled with laryngitis. Now I'm sure other people enjoyed that relative quiet time, but it was kind of a pain. I taught a two-day paper piecing workshop just as my voice was returning, but that kind of set me back a bit in terms of talking. (FYI - I'm almost 100% again. Sorry folk. The vacation is over.)

We've had a wonderful weekend here! Linda, Chris and Sam  came to town for a surprise birthday party for Jim S. and slept here. I was so glad we could accommodate them, even though the weekend went by so quickly and it seems like we didn't get to spend much time with them. It seems like it's been a very long time since we visited with them. We really must rectify that and plan a road trip!

I've had the pleasure of hosting my sister Ann and brother Jerry for a sewing/craft/just plain fun weekend and everyone has been very busy. Jerry's first quilt (talked about in this post) is quilted and bound! I love this, especially the binding! Thanks for letting me do the quilting and binding Jerry.  :-)

 

 

I love the back to this quilt also. Ok, I guess I just love everything about this quilt.

 

 

Jerry was also very busy and finished the top to his second quilt. Here's a picture before he added the pieced border. I don't know why I don't have a picture of it totally done. I'm taking a guess here, but I think Jerry learned the value of accurate 1/4" seams while working in this quilt. (Or at least that's what I heard as he was trimming each block.)

 

 

 

I taught a class Saturday and Ann and Jerry went with me. Jerry pieced the strips he needs for his next quilt. (I think he's hooked. What do you think?) Ann worked on cutting out some Snap Happy bags and she finished up eight (8) of them last night. That's right - 8!! Aren't these adorable?

 

 

When we returned home from the class Saturday, we had a houseful of people. Along with Linda, Chris and Sam, Jim, Sheryll and Hannah were here. Plus Pat and Ray from Michigan were here. We walked into a kitchen full of people singing and playing guitars and mandolins. How wonderful! I think we were home about 15 minutes when my friend Donna stopped over to work on a quilt project, but ended up just visiting. She fit right in with the group and I was so glad she just relaxed and enjoyed herself. All that was missing was Connie and Martha, who we had hoped would be able to jooin us for the weekend, but plans changed.  :-(

 

Donna came back yesterday to have me look at a border problem she was having and she ended up staying and finishing all of the borders for her Maple Leaf Log Cabin quilt top. YEAH!!

 

 

Donna also finished her Circle of Geese quilt top that she started last weekend at the paper piecing workshop. I really like her version.  :-)

 

 

I just love it when I see finished quilts from my patterns or classes! Thanks Jerry and Donna. You made my weekend. :-)

 

Now, I really did do some sewing. Besides Jerry's quilting and binding, I put my Kaffe Fassett fabric Summer Solstice back up on the wall and am down to the last 10 seams. This will be done very soon - maybe even today! Keep your fingers crossed.

 

 

 

Can you guess what this is?

 

 

The color is not great in the picture, but I am dying my gridded flannel for my design wall. I'm ready to stick this in the washer, cross my fingers and see how it turns out. WooHoo!! I'll post pictures of this later once it's up.









 

Check out what is on other quilters' design walls today.

Go to Judy L's Patchwork Times.

 







 

Design Wall Monday

I've had lots of projects up on the design wall lately but not all of them have been mine. Here's what up there now - Gateway to Paradise by Little Louise Designs. I really like this quilt done in batiks, but I also had this 20 strip pack of yellow and grey fabric and I decided that I needed to use it. It was perfect since this quilt calls for jelly rolls, bali pops, or similar pre-cut strips, but it only uses 20 strips. I'll make another quilt, probably using a bali pop, but I'll make it larger.

Here are a few other projects that have made their way on the wall during the last couple of weeks.

Jerry's first quilt before borders.

Auditioning borders

Connie's quilt after learning how to sew on a binding. (Oops, it's sideways.)

Connie and her beautifully pieced quilt. (Click here to see what Kare said about quilting Connie's quilt.)

Here's Claire's quilt.

And Jerry's Framed Rectangles quilt ready to sew into rows.

Also making their way to the wall, but of which I don't have pictures available right now, are Donna's Maple Leaf Log Cabin quilt, Ann's patio cushions, the chenille blanket I made for Lynn and my modified 1600 quilt. Whew.....the sewing room has been a busy place.

I did make some organization changes that I just LOVE. Check out my notions corner. I have to admit, though. This pictures makes me realize just how much of a ruler wh*re I really am.  :-(

Check out what other quilters have on their design walls today.

Go to Judy L's Patchwork Times.

Learning to Use the Chainsaw

I mentioned earlier that my brother was here to learn how to use and care for his chainsaw properly. Here's his blog posting about the experience. Enjoy!

http://knittingbrow.blogspot.com/2011/11/learning-to-use-chainsaw.html

It's always fun spending time with Jerry and when he leaves, I'm already thinking about when we can get together next. Maybe David could join us the next time!