Shirley Anne’s Heart

DEAR JANE

So far I have made six blocks for my Dear Jane Quilt…..but when you consider that I am making TWO DEAR JANE QUILTS at once I have made twelve blocks.  The RED AND WHITE Dear Jane represents my PRACTICE blocks.  I make the red and white blocks first before I make the REAL blocks in the civil war repro fabrics.  The IRONY of it all is that my RED AND WHITE BLOCKS always turn out to look better than the real deal.  I can’t really figure out why either……..maybe I will get better with time.  This is my first attempt at needle turn applique and I am woefully “UNSKILLED” at this….I can’t believe I am even putting pictures up! 

First is A-7 Dad’s Plaids

And second is E-1 Aunt Exie’s Phlox.  I love the names of the blocks.

Quilter’s Corners Quilt

To cheer myself up and convince myself that I am not a total QUILTING DORK - I made the July Block of the Quilter’s Corners Block of the Month Quilt.  Whew, that made me feel better!

And since I needed A LOT of CHEERING UP after those Dear Jane blocks, I made my second July BOM a different way…..

 I don’t like to follow directions so I just had to make my second block MY OWN WAY….LOL.

AUGUST LOG CABIN ONLINE EXCHANGE BLOCKS

And since I needed to be SERIOUSLY cheered up after making those DEAR JANE blocks I made my 12 AUGUST blocks for the online decentralized log cabin block online swap exchange. 

I felt much better!

HEAT BUDDIES - HEAT SWEET

Yesterday I made my mother’s birthday present - it took me ALL DAY.  I used her favorite color - orange - and I think she will like it.  I used 8 layers of fabric and stuffed it with rice and cinnamon.  So all she has to do is stick it in the microwave - and voila - a Heat Sweet!

The 8 layers include 4 layers of 100% cotton - 2 layers of cotton batting and 2 layers of cotton t-shirt material.  That should be ample protection from HOT RICE! 

Her second HEAT SWEET HEAT BUDDY is LARGER - and it is pieced and channel quilted - it is actually a quilt disguised as a HEAT BUDDY ( the quilting is probably why it took me all day to make these two!) 

 I had to make TWO because I figured she might want to share with my daddy.

The back is exactly like the front.

OH DEAR - my mother reads my blog - so there goes the birthday surprise.  Oh well, she is a good actress, she can just PRETEND to be surprised on her birthday July 30!

Tags: Dear Jane Quilt, Decentralized LOG CABIN, Heat Buddy, Quilt Block Exchange, Quilted Pillow, Quilts Completed in 2008, Quilts in Progress by drsao
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FABRIC STASHBUSTERS

Some of us have accumulated a wealth of fabric - known in the quilty world as our stash.  STASHBUSTER GROUPS are abundant in the online world of quilters trying to control their artistic impulses (aka buying fabric habit.)  Here is a new way to use up that collection…..invite in three wannabe fashion designers and have a DESIGNER PARTY FOR WEBKINZ RUNWAY FASHIONS.

First meet Kenzie and her WEBKINZ Frog - Freckles, dressed in an Asian print sundress with HOT PINK straps! 

Sarah designed a wonderful multi-piece fashion statement for her WEBKINZ puppy - PRINCESS and her WEBKINZ Kitty - Meredith (all in hot pink batiks.)   Leanna made a sleeping bag for her WEBKINZ Lion - Rory - and a wonderful designer sundress for her WEBKINZ Monkey - Bonnie.  Most of the MODELS ended up wearing HOT PINK - must be the WEBKINZ design fav.

TA DA - Stashbusting can be LOTS OF FUN!  Oreo CHIPPIE Cookie was delighted to find that a fabric container had been emptied…….and as cats often do, she had to check it out!

QUILTY SHOW AND TELL - QUILTER’S CORNER - BIRTH OF A SAMPLER CLASS

I was doing the happy dance while sharing my finished Birth of a Sampler Flimsy during class at QUILTER’S CORNER.  Here it is being held by Susan (she chose the Vintage Holiday fabric for me) and the quilt designer and teacher of the class, Sherry Whitford.  I am SO HAPPY TO SAY that this quilt - complete with 10 yards of fabric for the back - is ready for the LONG ARM process!

And my sincere APOLOGIES go to Nancy (fellow class mate and fabric consultant at QUILTER’S CORNER) for cutting her head off in this photo….sigh.  Her BIRTH OF A SAMPLER FLIMSY is so beautiful that I really just had to include it here - even with headless Nancy!

SWEETHEART QUILT

While I was at QUILTER’S CORNER I took a picture of the second quilt designed by Susan in the COZY QUILT SERIES.  I made the shop sample and I was so excited to see it hanging on the wall - it is available as a kit at the shop!  This is the SWEETHEART QUILT!

BEACH RETREAT QUILT

The first quilt that Susan designed for the COZY QUILT SERIES was BEACH RETREAT - and since I tested this pattern (and made a quilt just like this one) I just had to take a picture of it in the shop.  BEACH RETREAT is also availabe as a kit at QUILTER’S CORNER.

Shirley Anne’s Cotton Candy Snowball Quilt

I am so excited — this week I finished this quilt top (that I started in September 07 - but better late than never!)  This is the first scrappy quilt that I made entirely from STASH that I had on hand - no new fabric was purchased in the process of making this quilt.

I combined the snowball block with the nine-patch - and voila.  I really like the soft pinks, blues and yellows - and it reminded me of COTTON CANDY - hence the name (oh yes, my name is Shirley Anne.) 

I took a close up picture of the border.  I saved the corners from the SNOWBALL BLOCKS and put four together to make MINI SNOWBALL BLOCKS.  I alternated the mini-snowball block with pink fabric blocks (with the exception of two snowball blocks sewn together in the center on the sides ) to make the border.  It was REALLY satisfying to be able to use these little corners that I used to throw into the scrap heap for ZANGIE CREATIONS.

Now in the tradition of making a quilt TOTALLY FROM STASH - I made the back of Shirley Anne’s Cotton Candy Snowball Quilt from 15 1/2″ square blocks with an outside border.  TA DA……I finished that today too.  It is a good feeling to get another UFO off my list (well almost - it still needs to get quilted and the binding put on - but somehow I FEEL like I have finished it at this point!)

Tags: Beach Retreat Quilt, Birth of a Sampler Quilt, Cats and Dogs Furry People, Furry People, SAO's Grandangels, Shirley Anne's Cotton Candy Snowball Quilt, Sweetheart Quilt by drsao
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I am happy to say that I have finished my Thimbleberry’s Club assignment for this month!  It is nice to have a SMALL ASSIGNMENT - I love marking these things off my TO DO LIST!

Today I spent the entire day with the VIRGINIA SCRAPPERS having a wonderful time sewing!  I met some new friends and missed some old friends (SHEDDY AND CARMEN.)

Look at this “antique” Birthing Quilt that Peggy brought.  Isn’t it wonderful!  It is so intricate and it looks like the original quilter made it PILLOWCASE STYLE.  (I had a lovely picture of Peggy too - but somehow my program has decided to cut her head off……….oh how I wish that I had a techie brain - I would fix it!) 

At least I only cut off the top of Nancy’s head - she made this very cute purse and matching billfold….the billfold has lots of very cool compartments……I loved it!  Nancy also made this wonderful wall hanging - all today!

Patsy was working on putting the finishing touches (ala binding) on her Circles and Melons quilt.  I LOVE THE FABRICS that she used.  I have never done any circular piecing and HOPEFULLY  I can get into her class July 12!

I actually took a picture of the entire REDWORK QUILT OF ANTIQUE SEWING MACHINES but it came out blurry - too bad!  But I did get a corner of it (THANKFULLY) with Linda’s smiling face…..aren’t quilters just some of the happiest folks around!  Linda embroidered these sewing machine blocks BY HAND!  Such an inspiration!

And last but not least - here is the HELLO KITTY QUEEN - look at that cute little green Hello Kitty sewing machine!  She added the Hello Kitty Stickers too!

It was a good day for Susan (at the Quilter’s Corners) today - two more people at our table signed up for the EGG MONEY QUILT CLASS starting July 20….it is going to be lots of fun! (There is nothing like word of mouth advertising!) 

Today I finished the binding on my ALL THE RAGE QUILT for my grandangel Harry.  Since binding is my least favorite part of quilting, it is more fun to do it with friends.

I also spent some time working on my Grandmother’s Flower Garden Quilt.  The hexagons look a bit off color - that is because the papers are still there - showing through.  I have been using old business cards and magazine subscriptions cards to cut the hexagons….it is now kind of fun to do the English paper piecing task - more fun than just sewing around plain old card stock.  It was a good day!

Tags: All The Rage Quilt, Future Quilt Inspiration, Grandmother's Flower Garden, Quilts Completed in 2008, Thimbleberries, Virginia Scrappers by drsao
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I just finished testing a pattern for the second quilt in the COZY QUILT SERIES designed by Susan at The QUILTER’S CORNER.  (The first one was the BEACH RETREAT - the beautiful blue and yellow one that I wrote about previously.) 

This one is called the SWEETHEART QUILT and it is a combination of appliqued hearts and pieced blocks in luscious pinks, yellows, and greens from the April Cornell for MODA line.  It will be available in kit form at QUILTER’S CORNER soon….and they are starting an online store this month too!  It was so much fun to make - and it only took five days!

I was so happy that the cutting was complete - and I had my strips hanging from my wall coat rack - I just had to take a picture - or two !  It looks like I am drying pasta strips (but alas quilting has taken away from my culinary activities - and those talents were NEVER that well developed even BEFORE I started quilting  LOL!)

I had to develop a new way to STORE my pieces that I had sorted into blocks - my neatly stacked blocks kept getting UNSTACKED!  Our three cats kept SITTING on the stacks of blocks…..I sometimes wonder why cats LOVE to sit on whatever work one is doing!  They just LOVE to be right in the middle of things.  Our little cat CUDDLES TINKERBELLE actually got some fur from her tail sewn into one of my blocks because she just leaped up to say hi at an inopportune time!  Cuddles even has to help me when I am changing purses!

To solve my block stacking problem -  I made a little BLOCK HOUSE! It worked great!

The first blocks are complete!

Everything in this pattern is so precise that everything just FITS TOGETHER like a puzzle - no tugging or stretching to match corners!!!  Don’t I just LOVE IT when that happens.  Here is the quilt without borders.

And here is a close up with the small green and the larger pink print borders on.

I dropped it off at the QUILTER’S CORNER today and I felt somewhat like a surrogate mother who had carried a baby for nine months and then gave it to a new mother!  (That is possibly a bit over-dramatic.)  LOL :)  Some quilts you just grow attached to.  Maybe I will have to make another one - Grandangel Sarah says she REALLY WANTS ONE LIKE THIS!!!

A NEW ADDITION TO MY QUILTS COMPLETED IN 2008 LIST!!!!

I finished the Hawaiian OHANA Log Cabin Quilt at the Sit N Stitch, Friday, at the QUILTER’S CORNER.  Valerie at A NEEDLE RUNS THROUGH IT did a fabulous job on the quilting - HAWAIIAN FLOWERS pattern - and the back of the quilt I did in a Hawaiian sandy colored HIBISCUS pattern……thanks to Susan at the QC for selecting the fabrics (only she knows what this quilt could have looked like - because she saw the fabrics that I picked out before she very subtly introduced “other choices” to me!!!)

I have it folded to show the borders, the back and the binding.  Another UFO bites the dust!

Now I will tell you the measure of a TRULY OUTSTANDING QUILT TEACHER!  Sherry Whitford (she is teaching the NINE-MONTH class on the BIRTH OF A SAMPLER QUILT at the QUILTER’S CORNER) e-mailed me LATE Saturday night in response to a frantic plea from me.  It appears that I couldn’t figure out how to make bias vines for my next border on my quilt (even though she had included VERY NICE COLOR PHOTOS in her instructions!)

Sherry went to all of the trouble to DRAW me step-by-step diagrams - and at 1:30 AM this morning I had my MASTERPIECE.  I am so happy with this!

I had some really cool TOOLS! The little bias tape maker helped me thread my strip of bias fabric right under my iron - and I got some fusible webbing strips that I ironed onto the wrong side of my bias strips (all of my tools are from the QUILTER’S CORNER.)   

You can see that I have ironed WONDER UNDER fusible web onto the wrong side of some fabric strips that I am using for leaves.

I am really excited about this because this is something NEW that I learned and LEARNING SOMETHING NEW is on my LIST OF FAVORITE THINGS!

The border is on - I really like it.  I am going to learn another NEW thing in the near future (because I am going to add flowers on the vines after it is quilted - and so I have to learn to make YO YO flowers!)  I am glad that I had such a GREAT TEACHER who helped me in the “MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT”  so that I could accomplish this vine and leaves border!

THANKS SHERRY WHITFORD!

THIMBLEBERRIES

This month, our Thimbleberries LAKESIDE Quilt assignment was not humongous - but I learned something new - I made four BEAR CLAW BLOCKS.  Here they are!

I don’t know how I could have done this without my QUILT IN A DAY ruler that I used to square up the half/square triangle blocks.  The ruler made it so easy and my points all came out just the way they were supposed to!

 I had a great time at our THIMBLEBERRIES CLUB meeting today at QC.  It is fun to see what everyone else has been making - in addition to our assignment.  Our “refreshments’ are always TO DIE FOR!

GRANDANGEL FUN

Exciting things have been happening in the LAND OF THE GRANDANGELS.  Leanna’s sixth grade team had a picnic - and we sat on a blanket and watched them eat (the poor things have LUNCH at 10:30 am because they start so early - so we were only hungry enough to WATCH!)  CONGRATS TO LEANNA 12 FOR BEING STUDENT OF THE MONTH!  HIP HIP HOORAY!