Quilted Jonquil

Here’s a pic of twelve test blocks of my “Recycled Cabins” project. I am pleased with the balance of light/darks and the variation. These are 7″ finished blocks with 1″ logs. I’m not sure how big it will be when finished. I’ll see what layout I end up with and then see when it looks finished

Here’s a quilt I made from Judith Larzelere’s speed strip piecing workshop. It’s been finished for a while but thought it would be nice to have on my blog.

I like the label I did for this wallhanging but I need to improve my writing now that I look at it with fresh eyes!

I’m writing this mainly to get myself motivated to machine sew the binding on my Brooch quilt so it can be entered into the Quintessential Quilt 2007 show.  The show details are on the Circle in the Square Quilters guild website, www.circleinthesquare.org and clicking on the link on the lefthand side.  While I enjoy hand stitching the binding to the back I  don’t enjoy machine stitching it on the front.  Always seems like such a wrestling match!  And, if you look at my project list you’ll see I have several waiting for their binding.  Now if these quilts were gifts, they’d be done asap but if it can be put off, then cutting and piecing is more fun!!

Here are the bird panels by Susan Sargent that I’m working into a quilt. The large panels are aprox 15 1/2″ but not exactly square and the small panels are more like 5″ but again, not exactly square. I have several yards of two coordinating fabrics so we’ll see what happens.

I first heard the concept of “enders” or “leader/enders” from Teajuana Mahony (teaquilts.com) when she spoke to our quilt guild. Then I found Bonnie Hunter’s site (quiltville.blogspot.com) that also refers to this concept. I paid the same price for the fabric I use in my quilt as for the fabric that’s not in my quilt so using the scraps is getting most out of what I paid for. When you can sew the scraps together in place of sewing onto a scrap of fabric at the end of sewing you quilt pieces (chain sewing them on the the end, thus “enders” which become “leaders” when you start sewing again), the piecing is essentially free!! Teajuana recommends cutting your scraps into usable squares or strips at the same time you cut your quilt thus saving time later when you’d have to iron the scraps from being folded or squished. Can’t wait to have enough 4 patches to make something.

I started a few test log cabin blocks from the Goodwill shirts. I need to add more logs before I’ll I know if I’m happy with them. I think the darks need to be completely dark and the lights completely light for them to work but that sometimes makes them boring. A few medium darks/medium lights give it more spice but I don’t want to loose the light/dark side of the blocks. We shall see…..

I started an appliqué project and realize my eyesight isn’t what it used to be.  With a good strong light and not so tired eyes it’s still okay but otherwise I feel like I’m guessing where the needle is going.  I wear glasses and can’t just throw on some magnifiers……ah, well.  Life is good and decreasing eyesight is worth the price to hang around 

I’ve been collecting old shirts from the Goodwill for over a year now to make a log cabin quilt tentatively titled “Recycled Cabins”. Here are several stacks of fabric, with the seams cut away and the buttons salvaged. Boy are there a lot of buttons in my button box now!

And here’s a stack ready for cutting into 1 1/2″ strips.

Here is the contemporary quilt top made from the antique reproduction baby quilt. The sashing fabric is from my trip to Argentina. I love the way the three directional fabrics play. Do you see my humble?? Here’s the backing which used up all my scraps from the front.

And here’s the top in the reproduction fabrics (without the cute diamonds in the corner stones..not enough green left!) The back for this one is nothing fancy, just blocks of leftover pinks pieced together.