Design Wall Monday

Even though the sewing machine has been pretty quiet lately I'm still being pretty productive. I finished Ronan's quilt, which by the way has been initiated, if you know what I mean what can happen when you change a baby boy's diaper and you aren't quite fast enough to get the new diaper in place.  :-)

I finished both bindings that just needed the hand stitching. The puzzle quilt can be seen here, and below is one quarter of the pink and white star quilt that Lynn started a number of years ago and is finally done. I'll take a better picture later.

And I decided to pull out the Carolina Crossroads UFO that Nikki has been wanting me to finish for her. That's what is on the design wall.

I started this quilt back in late 2007 - early 2008 when Bonnie Hunter offered it as a mystery quilt. I followed along with the mystery and was even keeping up until it came time for the borders. I wanted something different than the original design, but I just didn't know what. Of course, I couldn't decide and then other quilts "got in the way" and this was set aside.

A couple of years ago, Nikki saw the top and asked if she could have it when it was done. I finally told her that she could have it, but that I had no idea of when it would be done. She said she'd be patient. (Yeah, right!) Anyway, this resurfaced a couple of weeks ago when my friend Kare told me that she had signed the two of us up for a class with Bonnie Hunter at Quilt Beginnings in Columbus. (I have great friends, don't I?)

Kare wants to take one of Bonnie's quilts that she has made with us when we go and that got her started on a search of projects. I decided to do the same. I've made a fair number of different quilts using Bonnie's patterns or variations of her patterns - Pineapple Blossom, Four Patch and Furrows, Fourth of July, Double Delight, Patches and Pinwheels, and Strip Twist - to name of few. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, most of these have been gifted already and I have no way of taking them with me, and I just realized that I don't have pictures of some of these quilts on this coputer. I'm pretty sure I took pictures. I just have to figure out where I put them.

Of course, the quilts I mentioned here are the ones I have finished. Besides the Carolina Crossroads shown above, I have two Double Delights that are UFOs and I'm really not sure what else. Sad, isn't it?

Anyway, to get back to the borders of the Carolina Crossroads....When I put this quilt away, I put it with some fabrics that I thought I might use in the border. After discussion with my brother Jerry and Nikki, here are the fabrics we decided to use.

I have to piece the borders and then add them to the quilt, but I'm doubting that the whole thing will be completed before the worshop with Bonnie, which is May 21st. It doesn't really matter. I'm excited that we figured out what to do and that I can soon cross this off my UFO list.

I finally got a decent picture of the Amazon Star quilt top this morning. As you can see below, it's big (104" x 104") and the guys had to hold it from the balcony so I could get a picture of the entire thing.

If you have a few minutes and want to read how a young person pays tribute to a special teacher, follow this link. http://blog.scholarshippoints.com/scholarship-contests/she-gave-us-a-life-lesson-more-valuable-than-any-chemical-equation-zoe-pendleton/

The granddaughter of my friend Vaughn wrote the essay as a scholarship entry and I encourage you to read and then vote for Zoe. I think this essay is well-written and speaks volumes of not only the teacher's quality, but of Zoe's ability to recognize  and thank someone who has played an important role in her life.  Good luck with the scholorship and school, Zoe!!

What is on your design wall? Check out what other quilters have on their design walls.
Go to Judy L's Patchwork Times.

Design Wall Monday

As expected, not a lot of quiting was done here this past week.

Ronan's quilt from this post is quilted and ready for binding. That's what's on my wall today. I have the binding strips cut, but not pieced together yet. My goal is to get that done today, attach it to the quilt and start the hand-stitching tonight. We'll see how that works.  :-)

I did get some handwork done. The binding is completely done on this quilt. (You saw a glimpse of this quilt here.) This is a very old UFO (at least six years), and it feels great to have it done.

I had finished the top a long time ago and even pieced the back. Thinking I was going to quilt this on my home machine, I didn't worry too much about the fact that the back wasn't too much larger than the front, or the fact that the back was pieced and there was a definite need to layer this acurately to center the front and back. Well, after it had been sitting in my "To Be Quilted" tub for a year or two, I took it to my friend Kare's house soon after she got her HQ 16 because she was going to teach me to quilt. This was definely NOT the quilt on which to learn so it sat there for at least three years. Seriously, there was probably one 1 -1 1/2 inches of excess backing on all sides. That was it! I certainly know better now. 

I finally bit the bullet and quilted this thing in mid-March while Kare was gone. I used a varigated thread on top and bottom and quilted random swirls over the entire thing. I know the thread was from Superior Threads, but I forget the name or number and the spool is at Kare's. :-( 

Here's a close up of the quilting.

And the back. Bad picture, but you get the idea.

I really like the results and am so glad it's done!

I recently had someone ask me why I make so many quilts. I tried to explain, but finally decided that a picture is worth a thousand words. What better explanation than seeing two young girls enjoying the fruits of my labor while Uncle Jerry reads to them!

The kids will be here for another week, and I'm so happy! I look forward to many more photo ops that include quilts.  :-)

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

Go to Judy L's Patchwork Times.

A New Quilt

While I was at Tennessee Quilts, for the Judy Niemeyer workshops, I won a door prize. I won a pattern by Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree Quilts called Paper Roses.

I like the pinwheel look of this and decided that I would make it "some day." Well, the next day, Denise, Mary and I went shopping at the Sewing Bee Quilt Shop and I found a charm pack that I thought was just adorable. It's called Ten Little Things by Moda and I figured it would work for the above pattern to make a baby quilt. Afterall, I had a new grandchild on the way and I didn't know the gender. 

Well, to make a long story short, "some day" came sooner than later and I just finished to quilt top.

I think this will be ok for a little boy, don't you? I will probably have Nikki and Zach make that decision and then try to get it quilted right away. I really didn't want Ronan to have to wait for his quilt, like Sadie did.