Design Wall Monday

This is going to be a busy week, but I hope to get the borders added to the quilt that I put on the wall tonight. It's a UFO, of course, and it's called Twin Sisters, by Eleanor Burns from her Quilts Through the Seasons book. I've made a couple of these but this is the only one that is still in my possession. I think the fabric that I used was mostly from April Cornell's Sunshine line for Moda Fabrics and I know it's a few years old.

 I know exactly why I stopped working on this. I was disappointed in how it was turning out. I thought it was kind of dull and even if I added a narrow dark blue border and then the floral border, I just wasn't going to be thrilled with it. (The picture isn't the greatest, but I can't blame it all on my lack of photography skill. This quilt is pretty bland.) I'm probably still not going to be thrilled with it when it's done, but I will be thrilled with the fact that I will have finished another UFO.

Here's how I picked this project to work on. This evening I finished up my Weave It To Me quilt (my first DONE, DONE, and DONE of 2012), and I decided that I didn't want to start something new before heading off to retreat on Friday. That meant that if I was going to sew, it had to be on a UFO and it probably shouldn't require too much work. Since I've been working in blues and yellows lately and I have a pretty full light blue bobbin, I decided it was time to finish this puppy. I'm sure that if If don't like the end product, I can find someone who will.

Here's a few pictures of my Weave It To Me (front and back). I really like how this turned out, including the back. I don't usually piece my backs this way, but I had two large pieces of the floral that, pieced together, would be about 6 inches too small for a solid-fabric backing; so added a strip of the yellow fabric and it worked perfectly. I like how it compliments the front of the quilt.

In case you didn't see my post about the Missouri Star Quilt Company Iron Quilter contest results, be sure to take a few minutes and check it out. I'm thrilled to say that I won third place, but even more exciting is that there are LOTS of fabulous projects to see and put on your "to do" list. I think their site is down for repairs right now, but be sure to check back later. It's worth it!

If you need inspiration or just want to see some really talented quilters, check out the Design Wall Monday links at Judy L's Patchwork Times.

Accomplishments

Even though the last couple of weeks have been a little crazy (holidays. travel, etc.), I have managed to get some quilty things accomplished. For the past two weeks I've had my Weave It To Me on the design wall and I finally finished the top. It measures 64" x 88" and I really do like it. I can picture this in just three fabrics for say, Christmas or July 4th . I may have to consider making this as a wall hanging. What do you think?  :-)

I pulled out my Tumbler quilt from almost a year ago. I began this at the annual January retreat last January and have done very little since. Well, I started working on it again and had hoped to get a bit more done and possibly finish it at this year's retreat. This is by no means my oldest UFO, but it is a UFO and for some reason it has been calling my name to work on it. Well, here it is. I guess I need to find another UFO to take on the retreat - like that'll be a problem!  :-) Thanks Linda for your layout. It's perfect and doesn't make me have to bind all those side twists and turns!

This quilt is kind of big, about 82" x 102" and it has 577 different fabrics in it! It's laid out 25 across by 23 down and each block is a different fabric. I used a single off-white fabric for the half blocks that finish off each row and frame the top and bottom. And finally, I used another fabric (remenants from a 2008 project) for the outside border. I know exactly which project in which I had used this fabric and I had long strips that I just couldn't bring myself to throw away. You can see the project here. Well, it's found a home and is a perfect fit. I only have about 6" x 3" left over. Awesome!!

This makes three tops that have been finished this year and I already had a bunch to quilt from the last couple of years. Perhaps I should concentrate on some quilting rather than piecing for a little bit.

Design Wall Monday

I can't believe it's been a week since I posted! Weave It To Me is still up on the design wall, but with more completed.

I still have to sew the side "points" on and the final border and then this puppy is ready to quilt!

I haven't done any sewing since Tuesday because I was out of town. My sister Ann and I went to visit Mom at another sister's house in Middletown and we had a wonderful time! Now it's time to get back to work her at home. :-)

If you have a few minutes, you should check out the Summer Breeze challenge quilts at the Missouri Star Quilt Company blog. Here's a link to the site.  http://blog.missouriquiltco.com/the-iron-quilter/

There are some really neat projects. My quilt is #33, and if you've been reading my blog over the last month, you saw various stages of this quilt. The voting continues until Jan. 16th if you're interested. 

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

Go to Judy L's Patchwork Times.

Design Wall Monday

It's the first Design Wall Monday of 2012. I've always enjoyed Design Wall Monday, even when I didn't regularly participate. There is so much talent here! Thanks Judy for hosting this.

Here's what's on my wall today. The pattern is Weave It To Me  by Black Cat Creations and all of this fabric is from my stash. YEAH!! What a great way to start the new year.

I'm just about half way through piecing the top and I'm really liking it. I cut the fabric Saturday and spent a little time piecing Sunday. I'd love to finish the top today, but we'll see how that works. The pattern is a bit confusing at first, but once I got going, it was fine. I didn't particularly care for the way the pieces were labeled (I thought it was confusing) so I made myself a swatch cheat sheet and remarked them and I was ready to go. 

Other than the background white, this quilt uses fat quarters. Now, I have a couple of yellow stripe fabrics and because of the stripe spacing and me wanting to have them line up, I did have to use more than a fat quarter for those fabrics. Also, this quilt has reminded me that not all fat quarters are created equal. I understand that the 18" x 22" is an approximate, but when a fabric is 18" x 19.75", that's a problem for a quilt like this. I was really glad that most of the fabrics I picked to use were not fat quarters, but rather leftovers from another project. But I digress. Anyway, it's always a good idea to check a pattern to see how much "wiggle room" you have in regards to the fabric requirements. It would be heartbreaking to get to the end of this (or any) project and be short by just a couple of inches. 

I also made another Margarita Sunrise quilt top this past weekend. Click here to see the first one I made, and check out the latest one below.

This isn't quilted yet, but I hope to be able to do that soon. I'd like to have a faster turn around time for my quilts this year than I've had in the past, but we'll see.

I have a question for you all. What are your thoughts on black or grey design wall coverings? As I discussed in this post, I've been making some changes to my design wall and I still haven't covered the wings. I've been waiting to do that until I decide about how to cover the main wall. I've noticed that when taking pictures lately, the blocks often get washed out because of the white background. Of course I'm worried about when I use dark fabric in a quilt and that those would blend in too much if I use a dark background. (See the Margarita Sunrise above.) I just don't know. Thats why I thought maybe a grey would work. I'd appreciate any thoughts you might want to share. Thanks in advance!

Check out what other quilters have on their design walls today.
Go to Judy L's Patchwork Times.