Quilt in A Box

For the last two years, my splinter group in Cobblestone Quilters Guild , Indigo Quilters, has been working on a quilt in a box project.

What is a quilt in a box you ask?  It is a type of block exchange where you get a little more control of the type of quilt you end up with.  I have been involved in several block exchanges were everyone makes you a specific block out of their fabric.  Unfortunately these have remained "orphan" blocks because the fabric just didn't play well together and there were not enough blocks that an odd block or two will fade into the background.

In a quilt in a box - you provide the fabric:  the focus and a background to be used in every block and a variety of coordinating fabric to be used.  Each person working on the project picks a block to make and they make that same block for everyone else in the group out of each persons fabric.  So at the end you end up with a sampler quilt that goes together. The boxes were exchanged at our monthly meetings and we did not get to see inside our box again until the very end.

My focus fabric is the black, white and gold floral print in the block below and the background fabric is the white with light grey print.  The block I made for myself and eleven other is called Nosegay and is a combination of paper piecing and traditional piecing.

The black and gold are additional fabric I had in my box.

One of the blocks made by another quilter is this star block.  I need to get names of each block and who made them to put on my label when the quilt is finished.

Another block is this quarter circle applique block:

We started this project in September 2012 and finished this past September.  I am planing to quilt each block separately (as I machine quilt much better on a smaller project) and set the blocks on point.  The black border in the pictures is actually the beginning of the sashing I am using.  The outer border is a black and white paisley print and I intend to use it as a guide for my quilting design.  I am planning on using gold thread for the quilting.  

The fun part of this project (besides a quilt out of fabric you like) is seeing how different your block looks out of different fabric.  This is a Nosegay block I made back in March.

One word of warning if you do this project - make sure you like the block you are making and that it is well with in your skill level to do quickly - it seemed like I had just finished one box when the next was due!

How Do You Eat A Tree (or Conquer a Long To Do List)

Last week we had a Pileated Woodpecker visit our "bird" tree.  We think this tree was struck by lightening a few years ago and is slowly decaying.  This guy decided he need to hurry the process along and spent most of the afternoon "eating" the tree.

Like most artists I always have more ideas and projects than I will ever get done. Add in teaching (last class of the year today!), working on publishing my first patterns, and of course handmade Christmas gifts (that should have been done and mailed by now) and the to do list is of epic proportions.

I have decided I will approach my to do list like this little guy - one bite at a time until it is done

Think Pink

I recently traveled home to visit family and took with me this small quilt to donate to the Susan G Komen Southeastern Colorado organization which my sister started working as the executive director of earlier this year.

Our mother had breast cancer so this is a charity near and dear to my heart.  If you are above the age of forty make sure you get your annual mammogram as early detection is key.

I called it Ribbons of Love.

 
The fabric is hand painted and I machine appliqued the small ribbons.  I played with two relatively new books on machine quilting to do the feathered heart and the corners.  The feathers were from   Sue Nickels – Fabulous Feathers & Fillers and the corners from  Karen McTavish – Custom Curves.

As usually I was under a tight deadline and actually finished the binding out in Colorado.

A Tale of Two Needles and Two Bridesmaid Dresses

So, it's been a while since my last post.  I have been working on many projects - unfortunately some are presents yet to be given and some are experiments and are not ready for prime time.

Along with these soon to be seen projects I was knitting a new pair of socks.  My first use of self-stripping yarn and a single Addi Turbo circular needle in new toe up design.

Epic fail.

I kept trying to convince myself they really did fit but after turning the heel, I had to face facts - these are terrible socks. The pattern has a too pointy toe for my wide feet, the heel is also too pointy and worst of all - they are too big. I did not realize that US size 1 needles actual come in two sizes.  The Addi Turbo size 1 needle is 2.5 mm and the Cover bamboo size 1 double pointed needles (that I have used successfully before) are 2.25 mm.  A difference of .25 mm and yes, gauge does matter. So this sock is history!

BAD SOCK!

I am starting again - with the circular needles for the toe and first few rounds (I did like that part of using the circular needles vs the double pointed) and then I am switching to the bamboo needles (which I like the feel of better).  I am going to use the slip heel basic sock pattern from Socks for the Toe Up by Wendy D. Johnson that I have made before and get my sock Mojo back.

Along with this not so successful knitting project for most of the month of July I was making bridesmaid dresses for my daughter and her friend for a wedding held the first weekend in August.   Multiple layers, lots of gathering, pattern pieces that didn't fit together very well and not one but two dress to make!  They were finished the Thursday before the wedding and the girls looked very pretty.

It has taken a few weeks to get my studio straightened and back to work on my own projects.  Hopefully the hot, humid weather of summer in Charleston is coming to an end and I will be more inspired to work.

Be Still

At last months NC Quilt Symposium I worked on a second painted piece in my class by Hollis Chatelain based upon a photo I took last fall in the NC mountains.

We spent several hiking days in the Blowing Rock area and I took tons of photos. This is one of my favorites.  I call it Be Still because you can only catch these moments if you are still and look for the little things along the trail.

I was ran out of time in the class and had to bring dye home to finish the background - and it wasn't quite the same color blue so it has a bit of a mottled effect.

I added some watercolor pencil work in the thistle.

After that I did a bit of thread sketching both on the thistle and the butterfly.

Then I layered it for quilting using wool batting.  I did an non-square edge treatment to help get rid of some of the blue that just didn't work and started quilting.

I learned lots in the class and I think this is the first class in a long time in which I came home and actually finished the projects started in class!  Can't wait to do some more dye painting.

An Old Plant and a New Quilt

When I was growing up, my grandparents lived in Florida in a magical place - on a lake, in the middle of an orange grove and with lots of places to explore.  My grandfather was a builder and every time they ran out of room - he would build another building.  There was a main house, two cottages, a barn and a bomb shelter built during the height of the cold war.  At the entrance to the main house was a court yard growing all sorts of plants that a Colorado girl like me had only seen inside at home.  Grandmother grew enormous Crotons and Dieffanbacias as well as others that I don't know the names of.

Years ago (more that 30!)  we potted up a few of the Crotons and the Dieffanbacias and I still have some.  They have suffered some through the years - with moves and dry climates - and there was at least once when my Croton was nothing but a stick. Everyone said it was a lost cause but with a little TLC it recovered and now is beautiful.  I think being able to live on the screened in porch in the SC humidity for six months of the year has really helped it flourish.

In May, I attended the NC Quilt Symposium and took a class with Hollis Chatelain.  I have been wanted to take a class from her for ever.  It was wonderful.  We needed to bring a few drawings to use for our painting and I decided that Grandma's Croton was one of them.

When I returned home and rinsed out the extra dye this is what the piece looked like:

I like uneven edges so created a couple of shadow leaves in the background and did an envelope finish.  I used wool batting for the first time and am in love.  I really like how it quilted and how it does not have a memory like cotton.

Next, I quilted the shadow leaves:

Then I quilted the main leaves using a red thread and a variegated yellow/orange.

I was very please how the pieced turned out and now have a croton that will survive even if the plant does not.

I am linking up to Nina Marie Sayre's Off the Wall Friday.  Next week I hope to get back on my Marsh quilt after a long hiatus.

  

Color Affection Continues

I am making progress on my Color Affection - I had wanted to take pictures after I finished the second color but was so excited to see what the third color would look like - I kept knitting and forgot to get the picture!

I am please with the colors and now that my "garden" is back on the porch maybe I will make better progress on this piece.  I also have a pair of socks that I can't wait to start.