Five Shadows

Here are three more totes I’ve created for my quilting friends. That makes 4 down and 4 to go! The first is for my friend Mary. The picture is of Mary with her sister in a red Radio Flyer Wagon from their childhood. Mary loves to travel so that is the theme I aimed for on the journal tote cover. I used two small pieces of fabric printed with maps that I had saved in my scrap pile. I hope Mary has fun on her travels!

Next is a bird house theme for my friend who has her kitchen decorated with birds and birdhouses. I picked up the little bird on the birdbath during a shop hop last summer in Ohio.

This girly version is for a friend who is all things pink, purple and feminine. She recently moved to SC and I hope  this friendship theme suits her.

These three totes make three finishes for OPAM so far for February. I have a quilt that is almost complete. I’m working on hand stitching down the binding. Here is a snick peek. I’ll show the whole quilt once it’s complete!

This weekend I’m off to a quilting retreat! I’ll be teaching a few projects using strip quilting. And a friend will be teaching the above quilt and another version of it. I hope to take pictures to show all the goodness of the weekend - - but I’ll warn you that I usually forget to take pictures while I’m busy sewing!

While cleaning out my sewing area - not hardly a studio! But one can dream!  - I found several forgotten unfinished projects. Some dating back at least 12 years! That was my big stitching phase. Big stitching is where you quilt using Chenille needles and floss or Perle Cotton. The stitches are big - 1/4″ or less in length. I’ve decided that I must finish up these quilts!

Yesterday I completed the big stitching on the quilt below, a Fons and Porter pattern. The picture is of the quilt as I found it, can you see the threads hanging in their uncompleted stage? I use a 22″ round frame on a stand. The quilt has to be shifted to complete the quilting as the flags are larger than the 22 inches. It is now stitched and binding is attached, waiting to be stitched down on the back. This quilt is lap size. The rest are wall hanging size - I think there are five more to complete. The plan is to complete these quilts in the beginning of 2010.  I feel a New Year’s Resolution coming on!

Have you heard the news? Terry and Sue over at 2 Creative Studios have just expanded by adding Vicki to the team and they are now 3 Creative Studios! All the more goodness to prompt us on to be all the more creative!

I’m taking part in their Block of the Month (BOM) and here is my third block. Go to their website if you would like to join the BOM, or to check out their on-line classes, or their free projects, and the new quilt challenge they are hosting starting in January 2010!!

and not one picture to show!

The once-a-month quilting group I attend just finished up 12 baby quilts. We meet at a church free of charge. The only request is that we make a few baby quilts for charity for the church to donate as they see fit. This time we did whole cloth, panels, & pieced tops. Then we did the pillow top method with tying the quilts instead of binding them. We had a great time working together on these projects!

Oh my goodness!

My studio is a shared space set up in a room we call our “Library.” We have our computer desk with two chairs, filing cabinets, two large book cases (oak! built by my husband!) a love set, an antique tool chest that serves as a coffee table, and two built-in closets across one end of the room. To this mix, I added an antique desk (given to my son from his Great Grandparents - it will move with him one day) which my sewing machine sits on, a 25″ x 60″ cabinet that stores my quilting goodies and counter top that serves as my cutting area. AND until just recently - boxes and boxes of fabric! Ladies, I kid you not, when I say looking through those boxes had become a PAIN whenever I wanted to locate fabric!!!

Here is the last project I created from my stash - after several hours of frustration, I might add!

The black is the background it was photographed on. This is my new Fall Table        Runner. So, after digging out this fabric and taking it to my Thursday Night quilting group to assemble, I came home to a sewing area where I could not even reach my sewing machine, or cutting table for that matter! And there are NO pictures of the mess, because I’m too ashamed to show you! It was time to do something! I went to a used furniture store and found two wood look bookshelves. All the boxes have been empty by color onto the shelves and they are looking pretty nice! I have been sewing again because I can once again reach my sewing machine! But! I’m still cutting fabric on my kitchen counter because my cutting area is still piled high with mess! That will be the next area to organize and clean.

And now for more quilts completed! This was a UFO I dug out in January and completed the top. It has been back from the long-arm quilter for a while and now is completed with binding. The pattern is called Union Star. I used all reproduction fabrics.

This next quilt is a Buggy Barn pattern. I have a thing for hearts, stars, and baskets. So this pattern was a fun find with the hearts and stars. It’s all quilted and bound and ready for my living room.

All this cleaning has not only made me a more happy quilter - I don’t work well in a mess - it has also unearthed some UFOs I had totally forgotten about! But with the Christmas Season upon us, I think I’ll just have to move them on to next year’s to do list!

Blessings All!

Two Creative Studios is hosting a Block of the Month and October is the second month.

Here is the block I made with this month’s pattern.

It’s not too late to join the fun!

Terri Stegmiller of Stegart blog and Sue Bleiwess at  Two Creative Studios are hosting a block of the month (BOM) over on their website. On their Two Creative Studios website you can find a TCS ning group to join if you want to play along. (Click on Free Projects and then Block of the Month) I’m playing and here is my first block. Oh! And Terri and Sue are offering prizes too!

I used Sweethearts fabrics by Benartex. The fabrics are leftover from a quilt I made this Spring for my friend Ria, who lives in South Africa. You can see a picture of Ria’s quilt top here.

This little quiltie will be added to a butterfly theme canvas bag as a pocket. I used Lumiere paint by Jacquard in turquoise and plum. This is for a friend who loves purples and all things glitter. So I decided to try the Lumiere paint as a base, then stenciled the butterfly and leaves, coloring them in with fabric markers. I added a turquoise selvage edge, several ribbons and a button. In the upper left corner, can you read the word ‘charmed’ on the selvage? That word suits my friend!

This Altered Canvas bag swap should be winding down about now - bags are due back to their owners in September. But I have not seen the 11 bags I’m to work on! Looking over my past posts, I think I have only received and worked on 8 bags! Yikes! I wonder who is holding them up? I have three more bags to work on….

The quilt tops I pieced for my parents should be returning to me soon from the longarm quilter. I’ve been making flower yo-yos with this nifty little gadget. I appliqued a vine on the quilt for my Mom and will add leaves, traditional yo-yos, and the flower ones as well. This is one of those acts of love - as yo-yos are not really my style, but something my Mom will most definitely love.

I did see a really cool use of yo-yos on Calamity Kim’s website. Check out her purse! Hmm! Maybe yo-yos are my style after all!

Here are fabrics for my next quilt. Fairies! I purchased the fairy fabric from Engine House Quilt Shop. And the blues and greens come from Pieced Together Quilt Shop. Both are lovely shops here in Indiana. Fun owners!

I sent this little 12″ square quiltie off in the mail yesterday to meet the deadline for Lenna’s Fabric Technique Swap. The idea behind the swap was to try out some new-to-you techniques. I had planned a go at needle felting, but then my last issue to Belle Armoire arrived in the mail. I used Roberta Morgan’s technique for using alcohol inks on fabric - pages 40-43. Great article and a fun, simple technique! I also did hand stamping, foil, beading, and free motion quilting.