Some Slow Stitching

Sorry it has been a bit quiet around here...this has been a rough week for me.  By the time I get finished each day quilting on client quilts, there just hasn't been much energy left to sew on my own projects.  I really want to whine but I am the one who wrote my schedule!

Needless to say, I have been hitting the sofa in the evening and putting my feet up.  But in the little time that I have stayed awake, I have managed to finish up another english paper pieced hexagon star.

 Each block is fairly large - measuring 12" point to point.

With only 7 blocks finished to date, I still have a ways to go.  But it has been a nice project to have on hand when I need some nice hand stitching to relax with.

I hope to get back in my sewing room real soon!

If you are interested in more ways to follow me, you can find me on Craftsy, Facebook, Pinterest, Bloglovin', Feedly, Instagram, Google +, or get my blog sent right to your email inbox by entering your email address on the right sidebar! 

 

Linking up:

Sew Fresh Quilts

My Quilt Infatuation

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Fabric Frenzy Friday

SewCanShe

Oh Scrap! : RSC15 Purple

I have still been plugging away at making the blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge with So Scrappy.  The color for April was purple.  This is the last week for the color so I thought I had better share my blocks.

 My plan is to make 4 blocks each month until I have enough for a quilt top. The finished block is about 8" so it will most likely take me all year.

 Here is what I have so far.  It has been fun to dig in my 2.5" squares each month and create the blocks.  So far, I haven't had to cut anything except the triangles of black and white fabrics.  And many of these pieces are coming out of the scrap bin too!

Now it is time to link up and share what scrappy projects you have worked on this week.  Here are the details for linking up:

• This linky party is for any scrappy project - It can be in-process or a finished piece.
• You can link up your blog post (not your homepage please) or Instagram photo from the past week that features your use of scraps.
• If you are linking to a blog post, I ask that you link back to my blog somewhere in your post. So if you are writing about scraps, just get into the habit of including a link as there will be a linky party available every week!
• If you are using Instagram, please use the hashtag #ohscrap.
• This is a party so remember to socialize and comment on the posts of others.
• Following my blog is not necessary but it sure would be great if you do!

<a href="http://quiltingismorefunthanhousework.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg54Z8EyMCoCg0j1sBoz_APBotiRQveh32vQoL2dCSO4nQFAi8du60IuUCQp3Hb18vGD8IrM0W6_vmuufImGcr4Pf2Ve2dNIWd5LbQJfyDTRjtcekT6coT7c2nSCOG_9dvjiKGVAnuTN70/s1600/Oh+Scrap+Button.jpg" alt="Quilting is more fun than Housework" width="125" height="125" /></a>

So if you love scrappy projects, feel free to grab my button for your sidebar or posts and get ready to share all your wonderful projects from scraps.  And if you have a great idea for using scraps and would like to be featured, feel free to contact me!

 

An InLinkz Link-up

If you are interested in more ways to follow me, you can find me on Craftsy, Facebook, Pinterest, Bloglovin', Feedly, Instagram, Google +, or get my blog sent right to your email inbox by entering your email address on the right sidebar!

Linking up:

Patchwork Times

Freemotion by the River

RSC15 

Love Laugh Quilt

Fun Quilts to Share

Being a longarm quilter, I get to see some awesome quilts and I thought I would share a few recent client quilts that really caught my eye.

A beautiful Gypsy Wife quilt - So much scrappy goodness!  I love that I get to be a part of a quilt like this that I will probably never sew myself.

 I quilted horizontal lines at irregular width around various blocks where I did some custom detail.

I fell in love with this variation of a drunkard's path block.   I did add this pattern to my own quilty bucket list after working on this one.  What is one more project!

 I just echo stitched and added in some swirls.  My quilt will not be this large, I am not a fan of sewing curves so I cannot imagine me sticking with these blocks for long.  But I sure love the look of it!

And there was this beauty.  This is just one corner of the quilt as it was too big to photograph. The applique on this one was done beautifully and the piecing was perfect.

 

 Lots of detail quilting on this one.  It was made entirely from batiks and the colors just glowed!

So as you can see, I have been spending long hours at my machine lately.  I still have a number of other big quilts to work through so I will be sharing more in the future.

  I have the Best. Job. Ever.

If you are interested in more ways to follow me, you can find me on Craftsy, Facebook, Pinterest, Bloglovin', Feedly, Instagram, Google +, or get my blog sent right to your email inbox by entering your email address on the right sidebar! 

 

Linking up:

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Fabric Frenzy Friday

Richard and Tanya Quilts
TGIFF

Crazy Mom Quilts

Bucket List Quilt - Park Bench

Now that I have finished my Pineapple quilt and crossed it off my quilty bucket list, it is time to get started on the next one.  As I looked over my extensive list, one jumped out at me and I knew it would be next!

I fell in love with Julie Herman's (of Jaybird Quilts) Park Bench Quilt when it came out last year.  I kept putting the kit in my shopping cart but the funds were never quite there to actually be able to purchase it.  Then at around the holidays, I spied the kit on Craftsy at a ridiculously cheap price and snatched it up.  It has been waiting on the shelf patiently for me to start on it.

I think the time has come!

The kit contains the pattern and all the fabric to make the top.  The fabric is the Botanics collection by Carolyn Freidlander (who I also love!)  The pattern is set up as a block of the month so I thought I would set the goal to make a block each month and share my progress along the way.

I am going to start with the Picnic block and have pulled my fabric and hope to start cutting soon!

I fear with this quilt in the works I am going to have a hard time focusing on finishing all the other quilts in progress around my sewing room!

Too bad the Park Bench kit is no longer available on Craftsy but if you are a fan of Jaybird Quilts, I see they have her Gravity kit now.  Along with Elizabeth's Hartman's Pointy Quilt. Both of which just might be in my shopping cart right now....

If you are interested in more ways to follow me, you can find me on Craftsy, Facebook, Pinterest, Bloglovin', Feedly, Instagram, Google +, or get my blog sent right to your email inbox by entering your email address on the right sidebar!

This post contains affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, I may make a small commission, which I appreciate so much!

Scrap-A-Palooza! Quilt #15 Part Three

It always feels so good when a project comes together quickly!

In my last post on this month's Scrap-A-Palooza quilt, I shared the rainbow blocks I made.  These 9 patches will make 9" blocks so they are big and bold!

This week, I played with them on my design wall.

First, there was this layout...

I placed the blocks randomly.

And then this one...

I set the colors diagonally across the quilt.

But I finally settled on this layout.  I really like the look of the colors set in a column!

Once I had the layout, it was hardly any effort at all to add a 1.5" sashing between the blocks and put a 3.5" border around the whole top!  I went with Kona Snow - probably becasue it was sitting there on the corner of my ironing board!  

I love the big 9" blocks of color I added in place of some of the 9 patches.

 And because it has started raining here and will continue for days, I had to use this photo of the quilt top on my kitchen floor.  There will be no outdoor photos for a while!

Now to dig around for a backing.  I am sure there are going to be lots of options as this fun quilt has so many colors.

And as I was putting away my scraps, I noticed I didn't have to squish down the fabric to get the drawers to close...Now that is progress!

Hope to have this one quilted by the end of the month!

 

If you are interested in more ways to follow me, you can find me on Craftsy, Facebook, Pinterest, Bloglovin', Feedly, Instagram, Google +, or get my blog sent right to your email inbox by entering your email address on the right sidebar!

Linking up:

Blossom Heart Quilts
QuiltStory

Sew Fresh Quilts

Freshly Pieced  

My Quilt Infatuation
Love Laugh Quilt

Oh Scrap! : The Caffeinated Quilter

I had originally planned to share my method for piecing batting scraps today but as I was reading through blogs yesterday I squealed with delight when I saw a quilt inspired by one of my Scrap-A-Palooza quilts.  I knew I had to share it with you.

Isn't this just the happiest quilt!  It was made by Emily over at The Caffeinated Quilter. It was inspired by my third Scrap-A-Palooza quilt.  You will want to hop over and read more about her quilt.  She did a beautiful job quilting it!

And you can see this quilt in person if you are in the Dallas/Fort Worth area  Emily will have it with her at a craft fair charity booth next weekend.  If you get a chance to go, I hope you say “hi!” from me.  Here’s a link to the show with more information. 

And don't worry, I will still share my technique for piecing batting - it just got moved to early May.  I know we all have batting scraps!

So what have you been up to?  Now it is time to share what scrappy projects you have made!

Here are the details for linking up:

• This linky party is for any scrappy project - It can be in-process or a finished piece.
• You can link up your blog post (not your homepage please) or Instagram photo from the past week that features your use of scraps.
• If you are linking to a blog post, I ask that you link back to my blog somewhere in your post. So if you are writing about scraps, just get into the habit of including a link as there will be a linky party available every week!
• If you are using Instagram, please use the hashtag #ohscrap.
• This is a party so remember to socialize and comment on the posts of others.
• Following my blog is not necessary but it sure would be great if you do!

<a href="http://quiltingismorefunthanhousework.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg54Z8EyMCoCg0j1sBoz_APBotiRQveh32vQoL2dCSO4nQFAi8du60IuUCQp3Hb18vGD8IrM0W6_vmuufImGcr4Pf2Ve2dNIWd5LbQJfyDTRjtcekT6coT7c2nSCOG_9dvjiKGVAnuTN70/s1600/Oh+Scrap+Button.jpg" alt="Quilting is more fun than Housework" width="125" height="125" /></a>

So if you love scrappy projects, feel free to grab my button for your sidebar or posts and get ready to share all your wonderful projects from scraps.  And if you have a great idea for using scraps and would like to be featured, feel free to contact me!

An InLinkz Link-up

If you are interested in more ways to follow me, you can find me on Craftsy, Facebook, Pinterest, Bloglovin', Feedly, Instagram, Google +, or get my blog sent right to your email inbox by entering your email address on the right side.

Quilts are for Giving

As I have shared before, once a month I sew with a great group of ladies and we make a donation quilt.  This month, I gave them a quick lesson on an easy technique for hand sewing circles.  Here is a great tutorial that explains quite well the method I have always used.

Each quilter was asked to bring a 4.5" strip of a tone-on-tone fabric in a rainbow color.  From the end of the strip, we cut a square and made a 3 1/4" finished circle.  This was appliqued onto a white 4.5" square.

By the end of the afternoon, the whole quilt top was assembled and I recently finished up the quilting on it.  A simple serpentine stitch in white worked perfectly!

As I am the quilter sponsoring this month, I will be sending this quilt off to an organization that gives kids in crisis a quilt.  I hope this happy quilt will brighten a hard situation.

 It is amazing what 8 ladies can achieve in a couple of hours.  And everyone's fabrics always works so well together!

 A soft lavender print worked perfectly for the backing.  I even used the scraps for the binding.

In February, the same group learned to do paper piecing using this star pattern from Quiet Play on Craftsy.  I love Kristy's patterns and have purchased a number of them.  This one is one she provides for free.

Once again, the group just brought their bright colored larger scraps and we created this quilt.  This one is being donated to a treatment center here in Eugene.

A fun colorful border tied everything together nicely.  Simple swirl quilting in white worked wonderfully with the stars.

 I really am proud to be a part of this great group.  In just 3 years, we have made and donated over 24 quilts, 2 large runners and about 12 bags, all going to support various local organizations.

Here are a few other posts sharing quilts we have made.

Project Quilt

Hearts

A Scrappy Trip

The Houses that Love Built

Patchwork Hearts

If you have a group of friends who love to sew, forming a group to make donation quilts is so rewarding.  You can share ideas, learn new techniques and find a wonderful home for some of your unwanted stash.  It is a day I look forward to each month!

If you are interested in more ways to follow me, you can find me on Craftsy, Facebook, Pinterest, Bloglovin', Feedly, Instagram, Google +, or get my blog sent right to your email inbox by entering your email address on the right sidebar! 

 

Linking up:

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Fabric Frenzy Friday

Richard and Tanya Quilts
TGIFF

Crazy Mom Quilts

Scrap-A-Palooza! Quilt #15 Part Two

I have been making quite a bit of progress on my 9-patch Scrap-A-Palooza quilt.  This one is going to be a lot of fun when it is finished!

 In my previous post on this quilt, I shared my decision to use these 5 colors in this quilt.  Any time I start a new scrap quilt, I first take a good look at the scraps I am using and determine what size I want to cut my pieces.  I found my scraps in these bins to be either thin strings or relatively large pieces.  So I decided to make my 9-patches from 3 1/2" squares.  This size square will make a 9" finished block.  I decided to make 6 blocks from each of the 5 colors.

(If your scraps are smaller, you might opt to cut 2 1/2" squares.)

As I was cutting my small squares, I decided to play with scale a bit and rather than cut squares for a 9 patch, I would just include some larger 9 1/2" squares.  It is sometimes a shame to cut up large scraps into a bunch of small pieces.  This will make sewing up the top a lot faster!

In no time at all, I had all the squares cut for my entire quilt. 

 (From each color, I cut 36 - 3 1/2" squares and 2 - 9 1/2" square.)

 For each nine patch, I simply decided on a layout I liked...

...and sewed it up.  I wanted this quilt to be about blocks of color so I tried to keep a lot of other colors out of the fabrics.  But you can sew your blocks however you wish.

 I used these blocks as a leaders/enders project while I worked on another quilt.  I easily finished up all 20 blocks in one evening.

Currently my design walls are filled with other projects so you will just have to wait to see how I will be laying out these blocks.  Hopefully I will have something to share in about a week.

 

  Until then, I hope you decide to pull out some scraps and sew along!

If you are interested in more ways to follow me, you can find me on Craftsy, Facebook, Pinterest, Bloglovin', Feedly, Instagram, Google +, or get my blog sent right to your email inbox by entering your email address on the right sidebar!

Linking up:

Blossom Heart Quilts
QuiltStory

Sew Fresh Quilts

Freshly Pieced  

My Quilt Infatuation
A Quilting Chick 
She Can Quilt
Love Laugh Quilt

Oh Scrap! : Em's Scrapbag

It wasn't that long ago that I started following Emily and her blog Em's Scrapbag.  Now I am a faithful follower and am continually amazed at all the beautiful scrap quilts she creates. 

One of the things I noticed about Emily's quilts right away is her use of low volume scraps in the backgrounds of her quilts.  I have never been one for using a lot of lights in my quilts and feel I lack the ability to use them as successfully as Emily.  So her quilts fascinate me and I find myself always enlarging them so I can study and learn.

When I asked Emily if she wanted to be featured on Oh Scrap, I was over the moon that she accepted and was willing to talk about the use of low volume prints in her projects.  She has graciously put together a post sharing some of her finished quilts - believe me, you won't want to miss them!

Her hand pieced Hexi Star blocks are a current favorite of mine.  I think this quilt will be amazing when it is finished.  You can see her progress post here.

Now I am inspired by Emily to turn down the volume on a future Scrap-A-Palooza quilt.  I have added another bin under my cutting table to capture low volume scraps and I am ready to give it a try!

How about you - do you use low volume prints in your scrappy projects? 

Please share what scrappy projects you are working on!

Here are the details for linking up:

• This linky party is for any scrappy project - It can be in-process or a finished piece.
• You can link up your blog post (not your homepage please) or Instagram photo from the past week that features your use of scraps.
• If you are linking to a blog post, I ask that you link back to my blog somewhere in your post. So if you are writing about scraps, just get into the habit of including a link as there will be a linky party available every week!
• If you are using Instagram, please use the hashtag #ohscrap.
• This is a party so remember to socialize and comment on the posts of others.
• Following my blog is not necessary but it sure would be great if you do!

<a href="http://quiltingismorefunthanhousework.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg54Z8EyMCoCg0j1sBoz_APBotiRQveh32vQoL2dCSO4nQFAi8du60IuUCQp3Hb18vGD8IrM0W6_vmuufImGcr4Pf2Ve2dNIWd5LbQJfyDTRjtcekT6coT7c2nSCOG_9dvjiKGVAnuTN70/s1600/Oh+Scrap+Button.jpg" alt="Quilting is more fun than Housework" width="125" height="125" /></a>

So if you love scrappy projects, feel free to grab my button for your sidebar or posts and get ready to share all your wonderful projects from scraps.  And if you have a great idea for using scraps and would like to be featured, feel free to contact me!

An InLinkz Link-up

If you are interested in more ways to follow me, you can find me on Craftsy, Facebook, Pinterest, Bloglovin', Feedly, Instagram, Google +, or get my blog sent right to your email inbox by entering your email address on the right side.

Friday Finish!

Back in December, I put together a list of goals to achieve in 2015.  One of those goals was to start working on my quilty bucket list.  The list is long and if I don't start work on these little masterpieces, they all won't get done.  

So in January I continued work on a pineapple quilt that I started back in 2007.

 I have had 30 of the blocks finished for quite some time.  They were a lot of work as each strip finishes at 3/4" wide.  These blocks finish out at 8".

Here is a nice view of the back of a block.  These were not paper-pieced - I carefully pieced these using the pineapple ruler.

Once I sewed the last corner piece on these blocks, I was so burnt out on the project it has taken me over 5 years to get them back out to finish.

 Having only 30 blocks, I knew I was going to have to get creative on the layout.  They danced about on my design wall for quite some time before I settled on a layout.

Once I started sewing them up, I quickly fell in love again with the project.

When I started this project, I was inspired by a few of my pendleton blankets.  I wanted a quilt with a lodge feel in nice warm colors.

In no time at all, I had a finished quilt top.

So many of the fabrics in this quilt have memories from older projects.  I am glad this quilt will be staying with me.

Once the top was finished, I loaded it up on my frame and quilted it.  I don't often bump my client quilts but this one wanted to be quilted right away!  A stacked swirl design was done in the black background and some simple line work was quilted in the blocks.  I didn't want any of the quilting to distract from the piecing.

 I did have to shop for a backing for this one.  Nothing in my stash seemed quite right.  Luckily, I found the perfect piece at my favorite quilt shop.  Hurray, it was even on sale!

Now that I have one of my bucket list quilts finished, it is time to get started on the next one.  Not sure what it will be but I will certainly share it with you once I decide!  

If you are interested in more ways to follow me, you can find me on Craftsy, Facebook, Pinterest, Bloglovin', Feedly, Instagram, Google +, or get my blog sent right to your email inbox by entering your email address on the right sidebar! 

 

Linking up:

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Fabric Frenzy Friday

Richard and Tanya Quilts
TGIFF

Crazy Mom Quilts