Scrappy liberated stars

I've been back to my box of two inch squares to make this scrappy stars quilt for a favourite teacher. I'm using busy calicos and other "uglies" which made it over to me from mom's stash, and I'm aiming for muted colours so the stars pop. Here's a close-up of a star, using the liberated method a la Gwen Marston.
This is meant to be a throw size, with some words around the border, and backed with flannelette so she can cuddle with it after a hard day of school. The squares are finishing at 9.5 inches.

I've layered and pinned my To Be quilt, and I'll be quilting freehand fans on it this weekend.

The B's have it

Here's more progress on the to be quilt. I'm thinking about borders now, or maybe I'm done. I can't decide.

more bees

These are all the b's and be's and bees on my wall.
This is what's sewn together so far. It's fun making letters, a bit more tedious getting them all to fit together.

A quilted river

Here's one of my schoolroom quilters (my 11-year-old son) with the nearly finished river quilt. Each student hand pieced strings representing a river and shoreline onto a square of warm and natural, and then the young artists figured how to make the river flow from square to square. I sewed it together and put on a backing. Later the students will tie it in each square. I'm proud of how well these quilters did, and they're proud of themselves too.

more letters and more lettered fabric

Greenmare at Mare's Nest sent me some word fabric last week, and I've started making letters with it. Thanks so much for sharing! I tried it as the main fabric in the word "guide" and the background in the word "soothe" in the bottom pix.

Here's the words I've got so far, and I have plans for another dozen. I'm having some issues around contrast with "soothe" and "calm", partly because the letter fabric is quite busy. Many letter fabrics don't read as solids, so that will be a challenge as I move forward.

I'm overrun with letters and words

I've been sewing letters and words like a woman possessed...by letters and words. Yesterday I added some verbs to my word quilt made from word fabric. Here's what's on my desigh wall: my word project and my 2 B project. I've hit a wall with the bees and b's and be's. I think I've made enough, but now I don't know what to do with them.
I've used white and black backgrounds for the letters, plus pink floral for the bumble bees. The next challenge will be to pull it all together somehow. Or maybe I just keep making letters.

Be and bee and b

I've been making variations on "B" over the weekend for Tonya's summer class. She suggested putting a bumble bee or two in the quilt, so here's my first attempt.

The purpose of this class is to aim for repetition and variety within the repetition. I seem to be stuck in only a couple of ways in making the letters, so I'm working on that.

My B quilt

I've decided to be existential in my free piecing for Tonya's summer class and ask the question:

I'm going to play with variations of this: Two Bs, two bees, too B, to bee. My husband's name also starts with B, so it has another layer of meaning.

Quilting the river

This is a river quilt that my son's grade 4, 5 and 6 class are making with my help. I've been quilting with some of these kids since they were in grade 1, so they're getting quite good. Not one complains about having to sew, although they do need gentle reminders to keep their stitches smaller. Many toe catchers here, but since this is a wall quilt, it won't matter too much.

We string pieced by hand on 10-inch square foundations of warm and natural batting. Each child had a strip of two-inch blue water fabric they had to place somewhere in the quilt, and then they pieced other fabrics representing the shoreline, plants, grass, rocks, and sky around it. The biggest challenge was putting it together so the river flowed from square to square. I've posted a 3 by 9 (more or less) version of the quilt, but in the end my young quilt artists decided on a a square version of 5 by 5 squares. Right now I'm in the process of sewing it together and backing it, then I'll take it back to school and we'll tie it with cotton yarn.
I've had fun quilting with these children as my sons travelled through their elementary school years. I think this is the sixth quilt I've made with students, and I've learned much more than they have. The biggest lesson all quilters could learn from my junior quilters: don't be afraid. These children try new techniques fearlessly, put together fabric combinations without that inner critic, and don't believe for a moment they can't make a quilt.

Here is our quilt from last year, with about 18 of the same students that I have this year. You'll have to click on the photo to enlarge it, since I didn't get a very close shot. I taught them how to handquilt, and they were fearless about using contrasting thread that showed up their stitches. Some have biggish stitches, but others are as good as adults. I quilted the three squares with the words and dates, and a couple of parents made some of the stars, but all the rest are by students. Aren't they great! I hung it in a local show, and they were thrilled their work was on display.

Once the river quilt is finished, it is going in a couple of shows as well to inspire young quilters, and the older ones who might be mentoring them.

Black and white and re(a)d all over

Here's what I'm calling my newspaper quilt. I've worked for newspapers most of my working life, so hence the pun in the title.

I got inspired to make these wacky baskets from Sara so I got out my stash of reds and blacks and started cutting them. I used the same bias check for all the handles, more because I had yards of it already cut (another inherited item from Mom's stash) than as a unifying element, although it does work that way. I've got 16 made, measuring about 7 by 7.5, and now I don't know what to do with them. And should I leave the pink floral print in, or make another set of pure black and red ones? I could make some words to go around it, or just leave it.