Pineapple Blossom and Raspberry Variation

Remember, you've got until the 4th of April to post a comment on my blog for a chance to win the free pattern from Julie Herman. Plus, don't forget to go over to the Quilty Pleasures Blog to post for a chance at some free fabric. ;)

Here's an indoor shot of my Raspberry Dessert variation - the library shelves make excellent quilt hangers:

And here's the current state of that pineapple blossom quilt I started at Bonnie Hunter's class in Jackson TN. I decided to make it 3x3 (or six by six, depending on how you count the blocks) before I added the border, so this last week, I've made and added on 12 more twelve inch blocks.

Tomorrow after work, I'm going to head to Home Depot and Walmart to check out their seeds and seedlings. It's almost April, and time to start thinking Garden! Tomatoes! Banana Peppers! SnowPeas! Hey, have any of you ever grown cantaloupe in a container garden?

Raspberry Desserts and Giveaways!

Well, here it is, the reveal date for the second Quiltmaker Scrap Squad project. I'm glad I was picked to be on this team, it's been lots of fun so far. For the last two months, we've been working on a pattern by Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts. This one is called Raspberry Desserts (she did it in pinks and creams) but if you'll click around the other scrap squad blogs, you can see that it looks great both color controlled and scrappy! She also has some wonderful patterns on her site that look great in scrappy, look around while you're there.

I decided to do mine with a dark background, rows of blocks with jewel tone colors bordering scrappy insides. Then I used the same fabrics in the scrappy braided border:

Mine's not quilted yet - and before I send it off to my longarmer, I may add another braided border all the way around. I used my Accuquilt GO! to cut the chisel shapes that became the braid, and it was SO easy to cut the right and left shapes. And addictive, almost hypnotic, to keep sewing the braid, chaining them through the machine.

I also changed the setting of the Julie's blocks - instead of putting them on point with setting triangles, I set them square. I think it would have been neat to do them with smaller strips too, really scrappy against white, maybe I'll try that someday.

Now for the Giveaways!

Julie has given the eight of us on the scrap squad each a pattern to give away FREE. So comment on my blog between now and April 4 (that gives you a week to comment) then I'll use a random number generator to pick one of you to receive the pattern. Make sure your response is set so I can reply to your comment if you win! Then go hop around the scrap squad blogs and comment on theirs too (links on my sidebar) for MORE chances to win a free pattern.

AND it doesn't stop there!

Quilty Pleasures blog, over at quiltmaker.com, is having a fabric giveaway. Yup, FABRIC! Run over there and follow the instructions to be entered for that too!

Pineapple Blossom Progress

There, I've sewn together the first twenty-four blocks, but you can only see a few here. I love the way the orange/yellow/pink batik looks in the large segments. Almost like a sunrise. I started this last Saturday, in Bonnie Hunter's class, and it came along really fast. It's been a long time since I made a quilt with only three fabrics. Working with the batiks and white was a treat too, there was no right or wrong side, no almost invisible white-on-white print to search for either!

Toby decided that the hanging quilt-center was put up for HIM to play behind. See the bump at the bottom left corner? That bump's name is Toby.

I'll add a two-inch border of that aqua-turquoise. I also have finished part of 24 pinwheels from the bonus triangles, they'll go in a thick white border surrounding the whole quilt. I haven't decided if I want to put the pinwheels on point, or make them wonky or... space them evenly or... ? Any suggestions? When I put four of the bonus triangles together to make a pinwheel, the block finishes at 7 inches.

Meeting Bonnie Hunter in Jackson, TN

I had the great honor of joining the Jackson TN Peace by Piece quilt guild as they hosted Bonnie Hunter. Her lecture and trunk show was fantabulous! Even though I'd already heard of the Scrap User's system, it was a treat to see Bonnie in person as she worked the crowd. She had them rapt—actively listening, laughing, nodding to her words, and responding to her questions.

That quilt on the wall behind her is such a clever idea. It shows the sizes of light and dark strips and squares she cuts most of her scraps into, and UNDER the different sized strips, she made some sample blocks from those units. It's a great visual aid to her trunk show and lecture!

I think the picture above is the 'quilt holder' pose ... Bonnie's both sweet and funny in person. :)

Even though I only had met one person in the class before (Patty, on the left) everyone at the Jackson guild was very friendly and hospitable. I appreciate their letting me join them!

Here's the eight pineapple blossom blocks I finished, spread out on the bed in my hotel room. I'm making 24 twelve-inch blocks, then I'll decide if I want to make more, and what I want to do with the border. And yes, I did more than eight total, but these were completely finished ... the rest are in different stages of being done.

Scrap Squad Teaser and Block of the Month

Still can't show you the Quiltmaker magazine pattern I'm working on, but just to tease you, here's some MORE of the fabrics I'm using.

These past two nights, I've also been working on the website for my guild. I put up a block almost every month, and the next series of blocks is starting TODAY. Here's block one. First the EQ drawing of what I designed:

And then here's the actual block, made out of fabric:

If you want to play around with us, it's all free, online at the Uncommon Threads guild website, just scroll down to see the block of the month links. The January page has some sample layouts and color options, and the March page starts you with cutting directions and instructions on the first block. Wouldn't you like to join us?

How to Quilt it?

I finished reading my book for the evening (a Sharon Sala young adult offering was what I was copyediting,and very good it was too, I didn't want the story to end.) Then I decided to do some quilting.

So I pulled out my block of the month wallhanging that I did with the twelve stars from 2011. Added a one inch border to the edges, with four little pastel corner squares. Cut me some white for backing, a square of bamboo/cotton batting, and got it all sandwiched and pinned together. Then I froze:

How on earth should I quilt the thing? It's only 26 inches square, so I'll do it myself on my domestic machine instead of sending it out; but I'm petrified to set needle to cloth! I could put the walking foot on and quilt in the ditch easy enough, but somehow I don't think this one is calling for straight lines. Help! What's easy enough that a beginning machine quilter could tackle it without messing it up? Suggestions?

Storywonk

Have you ever thought you could write a novel that’s just as good as the ones you’re reading? Or better? Then you tried to write and got bogged down at getting it all down into your word processor. Your romance went flat or your characters dull. You want to pick up some writing tips and skills, but who has time for classes in this busy world? Here’s a solution:

Go to www.storywonk.com and check out their seminars, classes and workshops. Minimal fees, and you can enjoy them in the comfort of your own home, in your jammies, if you want. Most events are scheduled on Sunday afternoons, if you have plans, you can download them later. The classes have assignments, whereas the seminars are one afternoon only.

Why am I frontin’ for Storywonk? Well, for one, I like Lani’s books. I glommed onto her after reading Dogs and Goddesses, a book she’d collaborated on with Jenny Crusie and Anne Stuart, another couple of my favorite NYT bestselling authors. Then I picked up some of Lani’s own books and enjoyed them too, especially one titled The Fortune Quilt. I started following her blog online; always real, sometimes evocative, sometimes amusing, generally entertaining. AND, she’s having a contest. Out of all the people who repost about Storywonk, she’ll pick a few for a chance to attend a free seminar. That’s what I’m aiming for. Free.

Maybe go enter the contest yourself. Take a look at some of the topics and educational opps that Storywonk’s offering. Maybe you’ll be the next NYT bestselling author I follow on facebook.

Braid-Making

I've been braid making tonight! I think I'm about half done with the lengths I'll need.

This is the kind of project I'd never have done without the Accuquilt. Cutting all those right and left tilting wedges by hand? eww. But the cutter makes it so fast to cut hundreds of them. And sewing them together goes fast and accurate too, since all the little dogear corners are already cut off for you.

I can't show you the quilt these are going to border yet, we have to keep it a secret until the day before Quiltmaker magazine subscriptions are supposed to come out. But I'll have a dark navy skinny border between this and the quilt center, then more dark final border on the outside. So even though this looks like a really scrappy hodgepodge of fabrics, surrounding it with navy will tame it down some. And even though you see some fabrics directly across from each other in the pic, they won't be on the final quilt. I'm planning to have the top braid pointing right, the side braid pointing south, the bottom braid pointing left, and the other side braid pointing up. Does that make sense?

Books and Potholders and Quilting

Been busy! Have you?
First, I got a PACKAGE today - a book from one of my favorite authors, Sharon Sala. Doesn't Toby look like he's telling Libby, "Another book? Where's Jane going to put all these?" Anyway, Sharon sent me that pink one on the end, and it's autographed, too!

I've been adding some of my favorite authors to my facebook friends because it's cool to see updates from them and learn about the day to day lives of these famous folks. I told Sharon I was looking to order Blown Away because I couldn't find it in the stores. I'd already bought Torn Apart and Swept Aside (the aqua and the yellow books, second and third in the series) and told her I didn't want to read them until I'd read the first. She very kindly offered to mail me the pink one, Blown Away. I'm already 150+ pages into it, until I made myself stop so I wouldn't gulp it all down in a day.

Sharon writes really good romantic suspense. At least these three are, some of what she's written could be romantic comedy. Both Whippoorwill and Amen Trail by her made me laugh out loud. :) If you haven't ever read anything by her, give her a try.

In other news, I'm also making a couple of Valentine themed potholders for gifts. Super simple project. I'll put a couple thicknesses of terry or flannel inside, and some of that silver ironing-board cover for a backing so they'll be heat proof.

The eight of us on the Quiltmaker Magazine Scrap Squad already have our next pattern to make, and I'm busy cutting strips and squares from all my scraps. Here's a few of the fabrics I'm using. That navy blue is the only thing I purchased, for background. The rest will all be from stuff I already have. I really like the design we're making this time. Sorry I can't show you more of it, but it's a secret until the magazine comes out. Stay tuned!

Scrap Squad goes LIVE!

Some of you may have noticed this logo on my left sidebar:

In mid-November, Quiltmaker Magazine had a little blurb about an application process for being part of their new Scrap Squad. Not thinking I'd get selected, I sent in my application letter and pictures of three sample scrappy quilts. Time passed, and I almost forgot about it in the busy-ness of the holidays. Wow, was I surprised when I got an email back saying I was in! After completing the paperwork, they sent me my first pattern to make.

Our intrepid group consists of eight talented quilters, who are ready to deplete some stash. The first assignment is a pattern called Rhapsody in Bloom, which is a pattern designed by a teenage guy. Since I was still surrounded by the scraps of flannel left over from completing those two flannel rag quilts you saw earlier in this blog, I decided the bits needed to be used up. To add a little contrast, I also put 4 flannel fat quarters in the mix. Here's the completed top, so you can see the whole design:

I decided to make 4 of the twelve inch blocks in the pattern, then made several more units to extend the pattern flow out to the sides. Since the units were 4½ inches unfinished, I was also able to cut some 4½ inch squares to give the center design blocks almost a medallion or Around the World feel. Here it is all arranged prettily in a library staff room chair:

While doing this project, what have I decided? I don't like doing little triangular pieces in flannel with quarter-inch seams. The flannel is a looser weave than the quilter's cottons or batiks I normally use, and I'm afraid some of my seams are awfully narrow. If I ever do another flannel quilt, I'll change the pattern pieces to have wider seams. Anybody else have any tricks for working with flannel?

One More Day!

One more day until the great Scrap Squad reveal!

Here's a couple more teaser pictures to get you excited. First the label I made for the back of the quilt:

I like to sew the tag to the backing, then layer and quilt it. That means the tag is there to STAY. :) For this one I used pigma pens to write on a scrap of white flannel. That gave it a sort of fuzzy looking appearance, but at least it matches the rest of the quilt!

And here's a picture of the quilt arranged on the library table, with a bunch of winter and snow books on top:

Don't forget, come back to this space tomorrow night for the great Scrap Squad pattern reveal!

Scrap Squad, Snow, and BOM

As I mentioned at the end of the last post, I've been selected as one of Quiltmaker Magazine's Scrap Squad. It's nice to make a little money with my quilting and not have to sell the quilt! We can't reveal the quilt designs we're given to make until after the issue of the magazine comes out, but we CAN give you a sneak preview teaser. Here's Toby to present it:

Toby agrees with keeping things quiet. Or maybe he just wants ME to be quiet so he can sleep on the nice, freshly ironed block segments. I'm doing this first quilt for Scrap Squad with leftover flannel bits from my Christmas flannel rag quilts, with the addition of some blue FQ's I won at a retreat auction.

And we had SNOW! In Memphis, that's amazing. Can you see the glowing red stop sign? It was pretty falling, but I'm glad it's all melted now:

The 3 inches we got were more than I wanted to drive to work through the next morning. But did the library close? No. It made for some slick and slushy travelling.

And speaking of travelling, my quilt-guild friend is touring Turkey this winter with her husband, and they're posting some fantastic pictures and a little Turkish history on the blog. Such vibrant blue skies! Such intricate tile work on the ceilings, floors, walls. For some real quilt inspiration, check this out:

Jeanie Goes Cold Turkey

I also finally got the new block of the month up for my quilt guild. We're doing twelve 16 inch blocks, and they'll all be tied together with a diagonal line of ... well, go see. Here's the address for the 2011 Sweet Sixteen Intro.

It's not just for my guild members, so feel free to join us if you want. :) Really, don't you have enough fabric where you could join something like this and not have to buy a thing? I sure do.

The work part for me was not drawing the quilt in EQ, or designing twelve blocks, but in taking last year's block of the month selection off of the website index page, making teeny thumbnails of the pix, and re-linking all the pages from within the BOM archives section. So I'll leave you with a couple of nail clippings from last year:

Christmas Gifts 2010

Now that the suspense is over, I can unveil some of what I made and gave for Christmas this year.

First, here's my big brother Bob holding up a rag quilt. Now that I have the Accuquilt rag quilt die for my cutter, it's so simple to cut and make these quilts. And since they're quilt as you go, I don't have to send them out.


Here's Fred playing like he's sleeping under the one I made him for his recliner:


My sister-in-law Paula also got gifts made with the Accuquilt cutter - the triangle-in-square die cutter made it simple to cut the bits for these three pillows:


Mom got a red and white table runner. These arrowhead blocks were from Quiltmaker's last issue (scroll down to see some of the blocks in progress, in a previous post.) The blocks went together very quickly. Here they are on her coffee table with some candles on top:


And here is the whole runner, on my design wall:



In other news, I'm now a member of Quiltmaker's Scrap Squad for 2011! I never thought when I sent in my application that they'd accept me. But now I have my first assignment from them, I've already picked fabric from my stash for it, and I plan to start cutting tomorrow. Can't tell you much about the project we're doing yet, but I hope to use up a lot of the blue and khaki flannel left over from my two rag quilts above.

Inside Medallion

I was trying to tie it all together for a spring theme, and I think that'll do. ;)


I did the grass and stems using liberated quilting, Tonya Style, just like the letters and wonky houses I've made using her technique. I sewed green triangles to white triangles, then cut the resulting rectangles into wonky wedges. Then I sewed those wedges together, trying not to put any two blades of similar height grass close to each other, and alternating pale green with medium green. I trimmed the bottom and top flat and parallel, then machine appliqued the pinwheels onto the stems.

I ended up removing some of the background fabric on the pinwheels because the bottom fabric was white, and made the pinwheels look as if they were floating above the stems, not the effect I wanted. I also wanted them far enough away from the star blocks where they didn't touch.

This is currently 24 x 24, a nice small size for a wall hanging. Should I border it or leave it borderless? I have enough of the white background left where I could put a 1 inch white border on, then maybe bind it in scrappy strips?

Design debates

Here's my latest block of the month arrangement:



I'm not sure how I wlll put these three little pinwheels in the center yet. I could cut a 12½ square of background fabric and turn the edges under and applique them down, adding stems and some spikey leaves at the base... or I could cut some background triangles for the upper right and left corners, and try to piece them in, separating the pinwheels with little one-inch strips. Then I'd piece some blades for the bottom... I can't decide. Any advice?

3 inch Pinwheels

There's the link for the pdf pattern to paper piece the little pinwheels,if anyone wants any three inch blocks - wouldn't they make cute ornaments if you did them in green or red?

Finally a Post

*blushing* Yes, I've been a bad blogger.

But only because I've been so busy! They've been sending me lots of books to copyedit lately, and I love the extra money. I used some of it to buy myself an AccuQuilt Go! cutter. I've been cutting bunches (over 200) rag quilt squares, and this weekend I'll start sewing some of them together. For those of you who don't quilt, here's what it looks like:
One of the things I've been busy with is keeping up with the block of the month for my guild. Since I'm the coordinator, I don't have much choice! I have to stay a month ahead of everyone else, so I can get take pictures, write directions, get the web page made. Here's the ten months we've done so far:


People will have the option of doing these in both 12 inch and 6 inch sizes, there's instructions for both, and in whatever colorway they choose. Visit my guild's website if you want to see some of the instructions for the blocks:

Uncommon Threads Quilt Guild

I also just had to try the Arrowhead block in the last issue of Quiltmaker - I wanted to play with it in only two colors, instead of scrappy. It's an exceptionally easy block to make, and makes a graphic statement in only two colors. Here's the first four blocks:


But will it be TOO graphic in only red/white? So many options. I could do some more blocks in green/white and make it in Christmas colors. I could do some in pink/white and do a Valentine's quilt. OR I could make some in blue/white and make a patriotic version. Opinions?

And finally, I'm participating in NaNoWriMo this month.

By beoming a participant, I'm pledging to write 50,000 words in November. We can do any subject we choose, any genre. Some of the novels written during National Novel Writing Month have gone on to become best sellers . . . not that I expect my first attempt to do that! So far, I'm keeping up, and even have my word count ahead of the minimum daily amount. Wish me luck!

Banana Pepper Pickles

Here's my very first try at home canning/pickling.


The first little jar is banana pepper rings only.
The second and third jars are a combo of sweet banana peppers, garlic and Vidalia onion slices.
The fourth jar is like 2 and 3 but with red onion slices added. The red onion was HUGE, and much stronger than the mild Vidalia onion. I cried when I was slicing the red onion. :(

And that's NOT dirt or bugs in there, it's allspice berries, a peppercorn or two, and dill seed. In all my googling for recipes, most of the instructions mentioned that you shouldn't use powdered spices when canning, so that's why I added the whole berry and seed. Next time, I might make a little cloth bag and take all the spices out before I fill the jars. ;)

The first four jars have just a pinch of something called "Pickle Crisp" added, that's supposed to keep them crunchy.

The last jar, on the right, is mixed red and Vidalia onions with a slice or two of garlic clove, but no banana pepper. Instead of packing the veggies tightly in the jars raw, like I did the first four, I put all the onions I had left in the hot vinegar/salt/spice/sugar mix and brought it back up to a simmer, cooked them for a couple of minutes. Then I packed the hot rings in the jar. I poured in juice to almost fill the jar, and had enough left to fill the jar behind the small one, but it's pink from the red onion. This last jar didn't get any "Pickle Crisp" since I figured they'd be soft from cooking anyway. I was hoping also that the short cook time would make that red onion a little less strong.

I haven't tasted them yet - I'm going to wait a day before I try them, let the raw veggies soak up the vinegar and spices. It was less trouble than I thought it'd be, once I'd bought everything I needed, so I'll definitely do it again if they taste good.

These jars actually all sealed just from the boiling vinegar being poured over the veggies, all of the tops are locked down. I'm still going to play it safe and keep them in the fridge, though, because I didn't use a hot water bath on them.

July Garden Sow and Tell

Been picking a lot, but not posting much! Here's the state of the stuff on my kitchen counter a couple of days ago. I took about 6 of the bigger ones to Mom because they really enjoyed the ones I took over on Father's Day.


I have banana peppers and MORE banana peppers.


I guess two pepper plants are too much for me! I've bought some vinegar, kosher salt, and a little jar of something called 'Pickle Crisp' and I plan to pick some of these on July 4th and attempt a refrigerator pickle, with banana pepper rings plus some rings of the Vidalia onions I bought. I plan on making one jar with some red onion rings or wedges, just to see what happens. Think the red onions will turn the yellow pepper rings orange?

Charity Quilts

My guild just had a challenge to complete quilts for a hospice near us. I'm proud to say that we met and even exceeded the challenge, donating over 55 quilts to the hospice. Here's a few of them:


You'll see a nice mix in the pictures, everything from big block quilts to nickle square quilts, crumb quilts and heartstring quilts. We had a workshop on the quilt-as-you-go circle quilts you see there, they were a lot of fun to do. Here's more quilts:

Jewel Box quilt top together!

Well, I can't believe it, but I've finally finished the top to my Jewel Box quilt. I'm debating on adding a one-inch border of that navy blue, or I may just save that matching navy fabric and do a binding with it instead.

I went to a quilt retreat this weekend, and after making some fold-and-roll totebags, I worked on this Jewel Box. I've had it two-thirds done since July of 2008.


It's king sized - 108 inches square, to fit my waterbed. There are more than 3700 pieces in it, squares and triangles. I don't know how many fabrics there are, but a LOT. :D All the navy blue is the same, but there are about 6 different tone-on-tones for the white. Countless different fabrics in the bright squares and triangles. There are some duplicates, but not too many!

You're never quite sure if what you draw in EQ will look the same when it's translated to fabric, but I think this time, it's very close. Here's the original design I did on EQ of what I wanted it to look like:



Back in May of 2008, all those little squares looked like this. If you're interested in how I went from the EQ design to construction of the quilt, here's my instructions, with graphics. For those of you who like to count, there's 2592 squares in this quilt, 1160 triangles, 36 rectangles (in blue, to piece the border) for a grand total of 3788 pieces.