Five Shadows

First off, here is my Block of the Month (BOM) for Three Creative Studios. It’s called Amish  Star.

Next are some blocks I’m working on for a quilt for my middle daughter. She chose the pattern – Goose Tracks and asked that the quilt be very blended. Blended, meaning that you can’t tell where one block ends and another starts. She also chose the fabrics – Ginger Blossom collection which are mostly large scale prints, and she added some smaller scale coordinating fabrics. This will be a very hot pink quilt once completed!  The Goose Tracks block have 29 pieces in each 10″ block. We decided to alter some of the corners, making some of the construction easier. Here are two blocks leaving out the pieced corners and two Goose Tracks Blocks with the pieced corners. The alter blocks will have one – three pieced corners.  We think it will blend very well this way!

And this last set of blocks is for a charity quilt. Chevron pattern in brights.

My two youngest girls both just started quilts. But I forgot to take pictures! Next time!

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!

I’ve been busy flying on my Magic Carpet around the world in Blog Land! I’ve met so many wonderful people and am admiring their creativeness! This all through One World One Heart hosted by Lisa of A Whimsical Bohemian. Check it out! And you can join in through Feb 8th!

I finished this tote today.

It is going to a friend I will visit with later this evening. Shanette, director of Kibbutz El-Shammah, is here in the USA visiting from South Africa! Friends and I have made several quilts for the staff of the Kibbutz, and I wanted to give her a little something at our visit tonight. If I find an updated link to the Kibbutz – I’ll update this post.

Last week I finished this pillow – another one for my daughter. This is a Pink Chalk Studio Pattern – free download. (Thank you Kathy!)

Next up is a braided table runner. I really need to clean the kitchen so you can see how great it looks on the counter! My DH remodeled the kitchen two summers ago. We did a good job of taking the during pictures – but not good at posting or showing the completed job! Must put that on the ‘to do list’!

And here is my Block of the Month (BOM) hosted by 3 Creative Studios. Pop on over if you are interested in joining in! Plus they have lots of other goodness offered on their website! Check ‘em out!

As posted earlier, I’ve joined the group One Project a Month (OPAM) as incentive to myself to create and blog about it. I have two new projects to show so far for January.

This is called Wonky Half Log Cabin Pillow, from a tutorial on Jacquie Gering’s blog,  Tallgrass Prairie Studio.  (Jadquie has lots of tutorials available, and I must say, this one was very well written! It’s the only one I’ve used so far.) I love this design! I made a quilt similar to this years ago and donated it to an auction. Years ago as in before my blog existed! This pillow is for my daughter. I have a Chevron quilt in progress for her, and used the left over strips for the pillow.

This is the front cover to a little tote that opens like a book. I made this as a gift for the OWOH project that starts January 25. Come back to my blog on the Jan 25 – Feb 15 for a chance to win it! The design could also be altered to create a journal cover – I’m thinking of future projects here.

I can’t count this one for OPAM, because I finished in back in July. That was when I planned on being busy making Christmas gifts for 2009 – my personal Christmas-In-July-Sewing-Event! But this is the only one I completed! LOL I still plan to send it to my MIL as a thank-you for the Christmas gifts she sent our family. I think the snowmen can be displayed throughout the winter season.  It is small, 8″ across, and I think could be used as a candle mat, coffee mat or just a decoration. And if it gets used as a pot holder – I’m OK with that too!

There is a link on the side bar to OPAM if you are interested in seeing what the other 199 ladies are working on this year!  And do check out Lisa’s OWOH Event to join in the blog hopping to see what hundreds of other creative people are up to and consider joining too! All the rules are posted on the event page.

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!

is having a giveaway this week! Go check out Judi’s blog for details. She does lovely longarm quilting, designs patterns, and has an online store. She has Hello Betty Retro line of fabric and one of her new patterns, Flower Patch, in her current giveaway!

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!!

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!

In traveling around in blog land, I’ve noticed that many ladies are digging out their unfinished works-in-progress WIP and making a last rush towards completing them before the New Year. I’ve been doing the same thing! But first, I have the yo-yo flowers finally all stitched in place on my Mom’s quilt.

This is a twin size quilt with the vine and flowers placed so they will be centered on the made bed. The vine circle looks small to me in the picture, but it does look nice on the bed. I just love the yo-yos! Can you see in the quilt where I left out the nine patch to leave a white back ground for the flower bunches? Once I completed the five planned yo-yo bunches, I decided to add the little bunches to the top and bottom of the vine circle.

And here is a picture of the “his” quilt for my Father, with out flowers. I used coordinating fabric for both quilts so they match, but aimed to make them ‘his’ and ‘hers’ quilts.

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!