More Sample Sewing

The last few months I've been busy with sample making and pattern testing. I shared some pictures of quilts I recently made for Myra Barnes (Busy Hands Quilts) and today I'll share the last two quilts I made for Tammy Silvers (Tamarinis)

I'll tell you right off that these pictures are not good and they do not do these quilts justice.  Sorry Tammy! I actually had them packed and ready to send to her when I realized that I had not taken any pictures. I unpacked the box, threw them up on the design wall, took these two pictures, and got them packed up again just in time for the mail carrier. Whew! It was close, but I made it.

This is Fizz and it is much easier than it looks. Tammy used the Studio 180 Tucker Trimmer, but I did not. Either way, this is a pretty quick quilt to make and I love the modern vibe it gives. This quilt measures 51" x 68".

While trimming the triangle units, you will have what are normally "waste" units. But, in her infinite ability to "waste not, want not," Tammy created a bonus quilt that is just as fun as the "real" quilt. This measures 42" x 48". 

Not bad, huh? One pattern, one set of fabric, and two quilts. 

I'll be back tomorrow with my block for the Monthly Color Challenge hosted by Jen of Patterns by Jen. 

I'll share a secret... I followed Tammy's example and did a little more than the basics. Be sure to come check it out tomorrow. :-)

Whew! It's Been a Long Time

It sure has been a long time since I've posted. I thought about posting many times over the past two months or so, but I could just never find the time. Well, today's the day that I decided to make some time.

I've been busy creating beautiful quilts (some for myself, but more for designer samples), filling a long-term sub- teaching assignment, and just plain trying to play catch up. Jack and I had a wonderful time last month at the AQS show in Paducah. We traveled with six friends and had a magnificent time with them. This was our first time going to the show and I'm pretty sure that it won't be the last. The quilts were amazing!

As I said earlier, I've been sewing samples for a couple of designers. I'll share a few pictures today and try to share more over the next week or so.

As you probably know, I sew quilt samples and test patterns from Myra Barnes of Busy Hands Quilts.  I enjoy creating with her patterns and was honored to sew to a couple of quilts for her recently. Myra sent these fabrics for Waterfall, which is quite easy to make. (This is the third one I've sewn for her.)  

The resulting quilt was spectacular, even though my picture is not!

While is looks the same, Waterfall II is made using just once color family. These are the fabrics Myra sent for that quilt.

These were all used in the Waterfall quilt shown above; but this time the fabrics are all blue. Again, a stunning quilt resulted.  

I just received fabric from Myra to create another Waterfall II quilt and I can't wait to share that with you. It is going to be gorgeous. 

Besides sewing for Myra, I've been sewing for Tammy Silvers of Tamarinis. Here is her Juxtaposition quilt made using Kaffe Fassett fabrics. 

This is one of my favorite patterns to use when I need a quick and easy-to-make quilt. I've made it twice before and it always looks great, no matter if you choose the three fabric version or the more scrappy one that is made using pre-cuts. Here are a couple of pictures of two quilts made using the three fabric method. These were taken before the quilts were trimmed, quilted, and bound. 

I'll update with more pictures soon. In the meantime, I hope you have the opportunity to take the advice that I found on a candy wrapper. :-)

A New Project

I love it when a leader/ender project becomes the focus/main project!

I've been doing a lot of secret sewing projects and as usual, I can't share them just yet. But, I can share the latest leader/ender project that has just moved to the main feature project.  

This is my version of Krista Moser's Rock'n Roller Coaster, using Tammy Silvers' Kismet fabric.

This is a very special project for me. I was honored to meet and spend three days with both of these awesome ladies back in September during the much-revised Ohio's Amish Country Quilt Festival. I knew that I wanted to create something special from that time together and this is the result. 

As many of you know, I test patterns for Tammy and love doing that. (We've had lots of communication over the past couple of years, but we'd never met in person, so meeting her was really fun!) What you may not know is that Tammy designs fabric too. I've been eyeing her Kismet line and was thrilled when she gave me a set of 2 1/2" strips. WooHoo!

That made my fabric choice for my special project easy. Whew! Now I just needed to decide on a pattern. Low and behold, Krista's Rock'n Roller Coaster pattern uses 2 1/2" strips. Decision made!

I typically have a patriotic quilt as a leader/ender project, but I decided that I wanted to take a break from that and start this quilt. It's quite easy, and the hardest part was deciding which strips I wanted to use because the quilt only uses 15 print strips. I have lots left over and am looking forward to using them for another project too - one that I've designed.  :-)

Of course moving the leader/ender project to the main project means that I need to start a new leader/ender project. Truth be told, I have some that I could have and maybe should have started up again, but I decided to start work on my Ava's Garden quilt, which is designed by Myra Barnes of Busy Hands Quilts. I am honored to test and sew for her too, and I decided that it would be cool to include one of her projects in this mix of things. (Of course I am working on a secret sewing project for her right now, but I wanted something that will be mine to keep.) 

I have always liked the Churn Dash block and the fact that these are made from 10" squares is great because I just happened to have a Berry Sweet by Elyse DeNeige 10 Karat Crystals pack sitting around my sewing area. I even had the yellow background fabric. Sweet!

I love the picture above. I think it shows how I feel about myself as a quilter - a nice healthy mix of traditional and modern. :-)

Stayed tuned for updates of this and those secret sewing projects I mentioned earlier. :-) 

Design Wall Monday

I've been able to get a bit of sewing done and that always makes me feel good. Besides some secret sewing, I actually took something from the "To Be Quilted" tub (AKA - Tub of Shame) and made the time to quilt it.

This is To The Point, a Tamarinis pattern. 

I pieced this quite some time ago (back in Dec. or January) but wasn't sure how I wanted to quilt it. Actually, about half way through piecing the diamonds, I realized that I didn't give any thought to the shadowing that would happen with the darker print fabrics. I decided that it was too late to turn back, so I just went ahead and finished the top. The quilting dilemma was really a question of whether or not I could do anything to help hide the shadowing. I couldn't decide what to do, so this top got set aside for another day. 

That day happened last week when I finally decided that I was just going to quilt the heck out of it with smallish meandering in the background (it's not plain white, but rather a white multi-color confetti) and an outline stitch close to the diamonds. This did not solve the shadowing issue, but the quilt is quilted and I'm happy.

I have no yardage of any of the print fabrics, so the next question is what to do about binding. I posed that questions to a group of people and was kind of surprised that many suggested using the background fabric. Their logic is that by using that, it would not distract from the diamonds. I have to admit that I'm not a huge fan of light binding, but I get what they are saying. There were a variety of other ideas - bright red, black, or anything dark. My husband suggested a fabric close to one of the light diamond fabrics. I'm still mulling this over and will check my stash. That will most likely be what makes the decision for me. :-) I'll post pictures when I've made my choice. I want to get this bound before Thursday, as I'll be meeting Tammy Silvers and would like to show her this quilt.

I recently shared my fabric choices and the beginnings of my Perpetual quilt. I will not have it completed by this weekend as I had hoped, but I do like what I have so far. All of the block quadrants are made and I just have to sew those together to complete the blocks, and then sew the blocks together. 

The pattern includes instructions for a bed runner, lap quilt, and bed quilt. I'm making the bed quilt, but I played around with some of the blocks so I could see what the runner would look like. I love this! This is made from just one of the two blocks. I REALLY like this and think I may have to see if I have enough extra fabric to make one.

Here is a very small version of the bed quilt. I know that I am going to love this quilt so it will not be put aside. That secondary design is pretty cool. 

I have some finishes to share - personal and secret sewing, but I'll wait until later this week. 

What are you working on today?

Check out the eye candy at 

Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

and 

Beth's Monday Making

Playing with Fabric - Lots of Pictures

I've been a little lax in my blogging lately, and I hope that one thing that comes out of this stay at home order is that I get back on track with regular postings.
Like many of you, I've been sewing masks, working on UFOs, and basically just playing with my fabric and creating new quilts and other projects. What I have not done, and should do, is clean up my sewing area. I'll do that eventually, but not quite yet. 

For a little while at the beginning of this whole virus mess, I found myself spending a lot of time on the internet. I have made the conscious decision to step back, plan regular computer times for news updates, and use the other time to do things that are productive. 

So, to that end I decided to join a few classes and quilt alongs, learn some new techniques, and really learn to use the new ruler I bought.  

The first thing I did was take Tammy Silvers' Scrap Bracelet class. I pattern test for Tammy and will have the opportunity to meet her face to face in September when she teaches at the Ohio's Amish Country Quilt Festival. I'm really looking forward to that!

I was starting to clean up my sewing area when I happened upon 12 -  2 1/2" strips that were left over from a project I made a while back. I didn't put these away because I just knew that I would make something to coordinate with the original project. (As we can see, that did not happen!) The bracelet pattern calls for 12 strips of fabric, and they can be of varying widths and lengths. I took the fact that 12 strips are called for in the pattern and that is exactly what I have, as a sign that I needed to learn to make these bracelets. (12 strips makes many more than one bracelet, and that's what I wanted to do.)  

The class was fun and productive. I learned a lot and completely finished two bracelets. I have completed six others since the class ended, but I didn't take pictures of those. FYI - my fabrics are all from a specific collection. That is not a requirement. These were leftovers and therefore, scraps to me. I have true scraps ready to use to make more of these. As you can see, I have some fun buttons to use too.  :-) 

Tammy has hosted a couple of free Facebook Live classes that have been very informative and fun - learning how to create fabric gradations from your stash and auditioning fabrics. (You can see those videos by clicking the link above, or by going to Tammy's Facebook page and clicking on her videos.) This coming Saturday (4/11), Tammy is offering an online class for her Peaks and Valley quilt, which is a wonderful way to put into practice what I learned about gradations and auditioning fabrics. The quilt is an awesome baby quilt, but I'm making mine larger, of course.  :-) 

I joined Gudrun Erla's Elvira Quarantine Quilt Along and had a fun time with that too. There were so many people joining along that day, it was crazy! The pattern has multiple size options and is fat quarter friendly. While Gudrun uses the Stripology ruler, she also provided information on how to make this quilt with a variety of other rulers. I can't believe that there was anyone who didn't have their questions answered, and didn't learn how to make this project using the tools they had on hand. (The pattern includes all the same information.) Like Tammy, Gudrun has all of the videos available on her GE Designs Facebook page. 

While many people finished their quilts in one day, I had to take a break and do some other things. Instead, my quilt top was done the next day. I made the lap size, which measures 63" x 84". I have not quilted this yet, but hope to soon. I used a set of Fusion Illusion fat quarters that I won a few years back from Blank Quilting. I am very happy with this quilt! 

Gudrun just posted another QAL Friday - her Strip to Shore quilt. It is nice and I have fabric and the pattern to make this. But, I have a few other things to work on first. :-)  

I bought a new ruler recently (Creative Grids 2 Peaks in 1), and decided that I wanted to learn how to use it. To that end, I have completed a table runner and wall hanging using patterns from Sassafras Lane Designs. 

Fleet Street - 16" x 64" - This is bright, colorful, and fun. I think it's perfect for Easter/Spring and I love it!

I quilted this with very basic straight lines and like the results.

Tall Tree Lane - 20" x 54" - I used a gradation fabric for the tree and really love how it looks. I like that I have one Christmas project done so early. :-) 

For the quilting, I sewed some straight lines in the tree, using the ruler as a guide. I then dropped my feed dogs and quilted swirls in the background. That was fun! 

And finally, to use the ruler one more time, I made Wing and a Prayer's Christmas Cactus Table Topper. 

I liked the block (24" x 24") and decided that since I have the fabric, I might as well make more blocks and make a quilt. You know, get another Christmas project complete. I sewed four additional blocks, played around with sashing and border ideas and will have an 86" x 86" quilt top sewn by the end of today. (I just have to add the final border.) I'll post pictures of that tomorrow. I decided to make four blocks for the quilt and keep one block for the table topper. I can put that on the dresser or night stand. 

I think I have mastered the ruler!  lol

I've been playing around with some other designing too. I worked out these two versions of a table runner. I've sewn the tops, but have not quilted them yet.

I'll get to quilting those soon, but for now I have a few other secret sewing projects on which I'm working. I'll share those as soon as I am allowed.

Enough computer time - I'm heading to the sewing machine. 

Be safe!

Progress

I've made some progress using the fabrics I showed in my last post. 

This is a pattern test for Tammy Silvers and I am really liking the results. I'll be away from home for a couple of days, which means no sewing for me; but I should have the top put together this weekend. I can't wait to share it with you!

Yummy Fabrics :-)

I'm starting a new pattern test for Tammy Silvers and love the fabrics I'll be using.

You can see a smidgen of the pattern below, but I'll be able to show the whole thing very soon. 

I'm off to make some pretty awesome stars. I'll be back soon with more pictures. :-) 

A Finish and Design Wall Monday

Do you remember these fabrics that I was using for some secret sewing?

I used them to test Tammy Silvers' (Tamarinis) Where My Heart Is pattern.

I finished the top and am very happy with the results. (Someone asked me about the center fabric, but I didn't have the information with me to check. It is Woodland Daisy, a Michael Miller Fabric. 

I had commitments that took me away from home (and my sewing machine), so I couldn't work on this for over a week. I was chomping at the bit because I already knew exactly how I was going to do the quilting and I really wanted to get this done. 

The quilting is very simple and although the pattern suggests that the binding be the dark green, I opted for the orange Dot Grunge. 

The pattern includes instructions for three size options:

Wall Hanging - 22" x 39" 

Large Wall Hanging - 44" x 46" 

Lap Quilt - 44" x 61". 

I made the small wall hanging, but I think I'm not going to use it as a wall hanging, but as a table runner instead. It's a great size, so it can be used as either one!   

As with all of Tammy's patterns, this is well-written and includes really good cutting instructions and awesome diagrams. This will be available in Tammy's shop very soon. I'll let you know when that happens. :-) 

Here's what's on the design wall today!

This is the beginning of my version of Bonnie Hunter's Idaho Square Dance. A couple of friends and I went to Bedford, PA to take a class with Bonnie last year (Aug., 2018) and we had a very productive time. Check out this video that Bonnie made of the workshop. :-)  

I have had all of my log cabin blocks completed for quite some time, but I got sidetracked and put away from Idaho Square Dance blocks. I needed to do something for a demo at Chestnut Ridge Sewing recently and decided these blocks would be perfect. 

I have most, if not all, of the units just about ready to complete the blocks so I decided to put this on the design wall and get busy. I do have other projects that need completed, but this will be my leader/ender project and that means that the blocks will completed in no time at all. 

Bonnie just announced the colors for her new mystery quilt and I really feel like I should make some headway on this quilt before I even consider starting that one.  :-)

What are you creating today?

Check out some quilters eye candy at 

Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

and

Beth's Monday Making

Secret Sewing

It's been a very busy month for me, but I did get some sewing done. Unfortunately, I can't share most of it with you just yet.

I've used these fabrics for a pattern test for Tammy Silvers of Tamarinis. 

I fell in love with these fabrics and new that they would be perfect for the wall hanging pattern.

Here are a couple of "in progress" photos that I can share.
There are four of these Flying Geese units.  

There are also some Fan units.

I've finished the wall hanging top and Tammy will be releasing the pattern soon. That means that I will be able to share the finished project as soon as I get it quilted and bound.

I'm finishing up a table runner and pattern for a shop and will be able to share that soon too. Stay tuned... 

Secret Sewing Reveal - Prism

I love being able to show off my secret sewing projects. 

Remember these fabrics? 

I had them all nicely labeled and ready to sew in this picture. (I pulled all of these from my stash and I was really happy to be able to do that!)

These fabrics are now this awesome 42" x 52" quilt called Prism, by Tammy Silvers of Tamarinis

I am really happy with how this quilt looks! Amazingly, no templates or paper piecing was used to make this. Instead, it's a technique that Tammy calls guided improv, and it's wonderful!

This pattern is very well-written and easy to follow. Like most other quilt projects, labelling is the key to success here; and once you get the hang of the guided improv technique (it doesn't take long), this project goes together very quickly. Besides well-written instructions, the pattern includes really good diagrams and charts to make peicing this a pleasure.  

Here's a picture of the original quilt. Isn't it amazing how using different fabrics can result in very different looking quilts? I love that the pattern includes a coloring page so you can audition your fabric choices. :-)

Tammy's quilt was made using her beautiful Island Batik's Icicle line, and I think it has such a wonderful soothing feel to it. You've got to check out Tammy's website to see this line used in some other quilts. They are stunning!

This picture makes me think of radio waves, but could just be the Ham Radio Operator in me.  :-)

I wasn't totally sure about the fabric gradation effect when I pulled fabrics for this, but I'm very happy with the results.

Because the piecing was guided improv, I decided to do the same with the quilting. I dropped my feed dogs and used the long, sharp diamonds as my guide. I'm happy with the results.

I used my left over fabrics to piece the back because I didn't want to put any of these fabrics back into my stash; plus, I didn't want to buy backing fabric. When I pulled the fabrics, I knew that I would have very little excess of the diamond fabric, but I was happy to have a piece that I could use for the center of the backing. 

I think the quilting looks fun on the back too!

My husband has claimed this quilt and it hangs near his favorite reading spot in our "fireplace room."  It's nice and cozy in the room and I love seeing the quilt on the wall. 

I forgot to mention that I sewed the binding on with a small flange of the yellow diamond fabric and love how that looks too. 

This pattern is now available on the Tamarinis website. Trust me; you will love making this quilt!

I have a couple of other secret sewing projects that I'll share in the next few days, so check back often.