String pieced log cabin blocks

My guild friends and I have been string piecing onto strips of batting lately

with my choir of Singer Featherweights.

Then I join them with a one inch strip.

Check out my tutorial here.

to come up with 15 inch log cabin blocks like this.

We've got 9 done and we're aiming for 36

but with the amount of scraps we all hoard

it will be no problem.

I'm linking up with The Needle and Thread Network.

Two quilts, many hands

I've got a double finish today--

two string quilts made from one all day sew-in this winter.

I asked my friends to contribute 6 inch blocks in greens, blues, and neutrals.

We made this 60 by 80 inch donation quilt

but I still had dozens of blocks left.

So I put together this one

and added a narrow interior border, getting it up to 57 inches square.

I used some spare blocks made on the diagonal]

to get that green backing up to size.

And now I have a pair of sibling quilts waiting for a new home.

I'm linking up with other Friday finishers at

 Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Crazy Mom Quilts and TGIFF.

Ripple Effect

Ripple Effect

42 by 42 inches

machine pieced and quilted

I finally finished this ripple quilt

made of large half square triangles

of  Kaffe and other bright scraps

and two Kona purples.

I strip-pieced the scraps and then cut them with 

a large HST die on the Go! cutter

The back is a two-tone ripple flannel

and I quilted straight lines in the purples

and squiggles in the scraps.

I quilted in a few ripples

because I didn't take enough care in basting,

so it's ripples all around!

This is going on the finished,

to-be-gifted pile.

I'm linking up with other Friday finishes

at Crazy Mom Quilts

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

and TGIFF.

Three kinds of emerging circles

I see a pattern emerging here.

I've been playing with a bag of hand dyed scraps my mother gave me.

Yesterday I was inspired by a quilt at my group string blog

and I started piecing arcs on a paper foundation

And I kept piecing

To get the beginnings of a Double Wedding Ring quilt.

It's all overlapping circles

just like these Cathedral Windows I've been hand stitching.

I'm also playing with little pieces of hand dyed fabrics,

this time in shades of pink and purple and blue

with unbleached muslin frames.

Those are the same ingredients for my Winding Ways blocks

although I cut these from yardage.

I don't have a big plan for any of these.

I'm just sewing and watching the circles emerge.

I'm linking up to WIP Wednesdays at 

The Needle and Thread Network 

and Freshly Pieced.

Monday design wall

A string donation quilt growing on my design wall. 

My guild members are contributing string blocks for this quilt, 

inspired by my bathroom floor.

I'm linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times.

A Friday finish and a sneak preview!

 

Transitions

50 by 60 inches

machine pieced and machine quilted

with blocks from

15 Minutes Play Quilt Bee members

 

I'd like to share a quilt that I began two years ago.

From Oct. 2010 to Sept. 2011, I was part of Victoria's 15 minute play bee.

Each month a player set a challenge in made fabric and we sent her blocks.

I had the last month and asked for 6 by 12 (or longer) blocks

moving from orange to blue in a made fabric fashion.

You can see the guidelines here.

They sat on my wall for a long time.

In the meantime, I worked on my freemotion skills.

I finally set them together without any sashing,

and machine quilted it.

 

I named it "Transitions" because of the transition from orange to blue in the blocks,

and because I intended this to be a quilt to give away.

I find I often give quilts to people at a transitional time in their lives.

 

 

The new owner of the quilt

recently painted her bedroom lime green, with splashes of yellow, and

decorated it with blue furniture.

So it seems Transitions has found exactly the right home,

two years after I chose the colours!

Here's another shot on my lawn, with Victoria's book open
to two of the other quilts made by bee members.

 

Thanks to my fellow bee members for their contributions:
Victoria, Margaret, LeeAnn, Glenda, Sujata, Shelly,
Charlotte, Mary, Helen, Beth, and Lynn.

 

 

Here's the back, with the lime green print that I had originally intended as sashing,

with wonky log cabin blocks inset.

I also had another finish this week,

but it's waiting for the big reveal.

The intended owner is still gestating,

but any day now!

 

I'm linking up with Amanda and Sarah and Pippa.

 

Tuesday strings

A friend + an afternoon + a box of string blocks

= scrappy string top.

This is the fourth -- and last--

of group string quilts I'm putting together

for a local charity.

 

I'm hooking up with The Needle and Thread Network.

Spreading around the quilty love

I made a flag for Boston,

following the template set out by the Vancouver Modern Guild.

My little flag has a string heart on one side

and three smaller hearts on the other side.

If you want to make one, the deadline to get them to Boston is still a few weeks away.

 

 

 

Not only did I find my rotary cutter in a bag of fabric,

I also bought two 12 by 16 interlocking cutting mats on sale this week.

I like the fact I can join them on the short end or long sides

and they'll fit into my quilting bag.

I've been gathering string blocks from my in-person quilting friends

to make several quilts for the emergency shelter in a local charity.

This is the "pink" quilt. I have enough blocks to make at least three more.

I've organized them into colour families: yellow, green/blue and black.

 

Watch for those soon!

 

I'm linking up with Amanda and Sarah today.

I'm in 15 minutes play!

I finally got my hands on Victoria Findlay Wolfe's new book,

15 Minutes of Play.

and I'm in it and into it.

Here's my Crazy Dresden quilt I made for a swap, right in the centre of this page.

It's machine pieced and quilted, and handbeaded,

made using light scraps and a sunny yellow dresden.

This book is full of lots of ideas to use up your scraps and free up your creativity.

It's working -- I got out some Kaffe prints and tried out Victoria's Lemoyne Star

and managed the Y seams -- although it does take practice.

Here's two blocks using Kaffe for the star.

and some string pieced triangle trees, also inspired by the book.

I was pleased to see four of the group quilts from our 15 minutes play bee

included in the book.

Mine is still a flimsy, but not for long.

Thanks Victoria, for a great book

and for inviting me to be a small part of it.

Where "old" fabric comes to life

I live in a city with several discount fabric stores, and not very many quilt shops.

I also like to touch fabric before I buy it, so I don't shop online often.
So sometimes, I'm buying what other quiltmakers might consider old fabric.

Yesterday I brought home two metres of this vintage-y looking cityscape print

called Posy Party, dated 2007.

I love the teal, the retro drawings, and most of all, the silky hand of the fabric.

Even the clerk cutting if for me remarked on how nice the fabric felt.

The best part? It is only $4 per metre.

I'm thinking I may make some of it into a summer skirt

and use the rest in quilting projects.

This Kaufman print from the Efferescent line reminded me

of Sherri Lynn's mood mod quilt

with its swirls of colour.

I know this will be great with the Kona solids I've been collecting.

I've made a bit of progress quilting this wonky star quilt,

but I'm still figuring out what to do in the white spaces.

Meanwhile, over at the String Thing Along,

our anything goes scrap string quilt is growing.

Come over and see what we're doing.

A quilt for an alert baby

My oldest child was one of those really alert babies who didn't want to miss a thing

 (which really means he didn't sleep much during his first year.)

And which also means I didn't have much time for myself.

Remembering those years, I made a quilt for an alert baby.

37.5 by 37.5 inches

This quilt top has lots going on for a not-sleepy baby:

narrow strings of many fabrics, finishing at 3/4 inch ,

including brights and black and whites,

a bright kelly green background,

and colourful dots in a black background.

And if that wide-awake baby doesn't have enough to look it,

that baby can learn the primary colours

and count the dots on the back.

Read the story behind this quilt over at the String Thing Along blog.

And my alert baby?

He's now thoughtful, intelligent 18-year-old man

about to graduate high school and start university.

And he still doesn't need much sleep!

I'm linking up to Design Wall Monday over at Patchwork Times.

Stars on the wall

I'm auditioning borders for my skinny string star.

I'm thinking this will be a medallion style quilt.

The centre star measures 18 inches.

Here it is with a wide green inner border and skinny white with black print.

Or I may have it float in a sea of green.

If you're visiting here from Judy's Design Wall Mondays,

I'm running a giveway here. There's still time to enter!

Stringing along

For the last few weeks, a bunch of us have been stringing along

over at the String Thing Along blog.

It's a group blog where quilters post their string quilts.

It's not a very formal quilt along, but a place to see what others are doing with their strings.

The only requirement is to finish a project by June 30 and post about your progress.

Come visit us soon, and read my story about a pair of sisters

who collaborate on string quilts for charity.

There's still time to enter my giveaway.

I'm cutting charms from my stash to tuck into the little pouches.

Hand quilting in progress

I was part of a quilting bee for Y's birthday quilt on the weekend.

I pieced together this queen-sized string quilt from blocks

contributed by her friends.

With all the varieties of non-quilting fabrics in there,

I was recommending machine quilting.

But Y's sense of community prevailed

and half a dozen of us got together for a few hours

to put in our handquilting stitches.

She's marked it in horizontal rows every three inches

and we got a quarter of it done

So in the end, Y was right

and I was wrong

and I'm saying it right here.

I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday to show the quilting world

that hand quilting is still alive and well!