Shades of grade school – I’m coloring and I love it 
so what will I decide – scrappy or detailed?
I like both – but the one on the right will be easier because any color can go any place I want it. I think I will play with these some more but that’s it for tonight – now I really must buckle down and get some quilting done on the frame.
Is there a name for the color scheme on the left – color graduates? anyone know if there is an actual name for flowing from one color to another in the same color grouping until you use them all up? I made up these worksheets from the pattern that I got from Linda Franz’s Inklingo site.
I had fun this morning coloring my first worksheet for the Joseph’s Coat quilt. As I had said I want to go through my selections of mostly fat quarters of batiks and have a multi-color quilt – here is what my first example looks like. I will be tweaking this a bit, I have to look through my stash and see what colors I have the most of and what the least of, I need to try to blend these a little better than this first attempt. You can’t tell from this photo but the lower left that is brown colors is actually about 4 or 5 different shades of color and then the pinks/red are about 3 or 4 shades. I think the fabric will of course stand out in different shades better than the color pencils do.
I might decide to do it totally different and do a scrappy version instead with colors mixed up all over the place, I will do a worksheet like that too so I can see which way I like best – and maybe which will be easiest to do!! 
I got the Pave Your Way quilt pin basted this morning – I do this by first pressing my backing fabric and using T-pins I pin it to the floor this keeps the backing stretched out and no wrinkles. I then smooth my batting over it and then the top. I use Quilters Dream batting and it sticks to the fabric really well so I have no problems with wrinkles.
Then I go ahead and trim the edges, leaving about 2 to 3 inches all around.
Now it is in the hoop and ready to get started.
I am using King Tut variegated #921 thread I had part of a left over spool which will probably do the whole thing as this quilt is barely 50 x 50 but I do have one spool of the same color not started if I need it.
I had to get a start on the quilt, but I only worked for a little bit and now this afternoon now that I am home from exercise and it is 100 degrees out here again I am staying in for the rest of the day and will get some quilting on the big frame done. It was 105 in town so I’m lucky I guess!
(I wrote this last night and scheduled it for morning)
Back up into the hundreds again today, I can’t keep up with the watering. We have had one rain that I can remember since the beginning of June other than a few sprinkle showers (the kind that stops before it hardly starts). I have flower plants that are dying much earlier than they normally do – even the ones that are supposed to be good in droughts like the Black Eyed Susan’s and Purple Cone-flowers. I try to mainly water early in the morning or late in the evening. I now have 4 soaker hoses scattered throughout the many flower beds and tonight I put one hose on a trickle by my dogwood tree for an hour or so and then the sprayer that gets a big area on to another area but turned down so it was mainly getting flowers not the yard. If the flowers that I sprayed tonight do not look good tomorrow I will give up on them – they are normally sturdy plants and should come back next year – the kind you can’t kill if you try 
Today I did not get done with everything I said I was going to do on my post this morning. I did not quilt 
I really should have and at 10 PM I do not feel like it now, I’m almost ready to go to bed.
I did sew the backing together for both “Pave the Way” and the “Wedding Signature” quilt. Tomorrow I will get the small quilt basted – most likely with pins. This one is ready for the living room floor tomorrow to get pinned.
This is the backing for the wedding quilt, I didn’t have a piece wide enough for it either and I got that taken care of today.
I went through all of my batiks looking for pieces that will be put into the Joseph’s Coat quilt that I will be hand piecing soon. I think this will give me enough for a queen size combined with the light color background. I broke down and ordered some light color batik for the background from the Fabric Shack – I was going to use a white that I had but I would rather not mix two different types of fabric for this quilt – the the light batik will work better when using other batiks.
I did get some worksheets done up so I can decide on color placement for the Joseph’s Coat, I had to cut and paste a bit and make copies but it worked – I have about 10 copies now to use and decide color – this will be a queen size at least;
My friend Regina (no blog)I told you all last week o r so had won one of the $100 prizes in the candy bar boxes from the Fat Quarter Shop – well she got her winnings in the mail today – she sent me photos from her phone so they are not real clear but here is what she got. If I remember what she said right all of her goodies was packed into a tote bag and some small things were in it as well. Just look at all of this and drool right along with me, sampler box of 2 1/2 inch squares, that big big bundle of fat quarters, a jelly roll – can’t tell if that other one is a honey bun or if it is two jelly rolls, and is that some candy bars in the back? If she gets on here she will have to leave us a comment and tell us what all she got.
Congratulations Regina – what a great bundle of prizes!!
“Pave the Way” is finished. Well I was hand piecing this baby quilt / table topper so that I would be slowed down somewhat and not have another quilt to quilt for awhile – that didn’t work – I finished it this morning!!
I started it on June 23 and did not work on it every day but it is done – finished at just under 46 inches square. I guess I should have planned on using scraps with it and mixed it in with these fabrics and made a queen size instead!! I really do not wish to purchase 3 more boxes of candy bars and continue on making it into a queen! I did change this a little bit from the original version with the link in the next paragraph but it is close to it but now different and mine 
I am very much in the believe that borders are not necessary on patchwork quilts. Put a narrow binding of white on this quilt and it will look complete. A lot of patchwork in years gone by have no borders on them. The reason I mention this is because I have had several people tell me I needed to add one or two borders. The place I originally saw this pattern was here I couldn’t remember where I had seen it and someone sent me that link. The pieces are larger I think than what I used and yes she has a border of white around it like the white in the squares and has rows of white in between the patches. I could do that but I do not think I have enough of the white to do it. I might check and see if I do but if I do it would be a narrow border I would want it the same size as the white blocks if I do add one.
It could be a baby quilt or a table topper –
I think I will wait to get it ready for hand quilting a couple days and work some more on the nieces signature quilt – just about done with it. I need to get busy this next week and finish up the quilt on the frame so I will have room for the Signature Quilt and get started quilting it.
Thanks so much once again on the Going In Circles quilt. Yes I do not care if you make one like it – I really doubt you would make one exactly the same anyway. I have my patchwork going every which way in direction. You can make your corners different instead of patchwork you could just continue around the edges with vine and circles or flowers, my edges are going to be wavy – yours could be straight. If you wish to enter your quilt into a show or whatever I wouldn’t mind if you credit me as having been “inspired by” but that isn’t necessary.
I get a lot of my ideas from the Moda Bake Shop, if you haven’t checked them out run on over and visit them. I also get tons of ideas from many, many blogs. I always try to change them up just a little bit to make them mine, but some I follow exactly as seen.
Last week when I was showing my design wall off and on with the patchwork quilt on it I got some comments about what others use for this purpose and we have a range of the floor being used to flannel sheets on the floor or walls. We all work with what is best for us for the space we have available.
I would love to have a wall large enough to put a permanent design wall in place – but I don’t so I make due with what I have. I just do not have empty wall space – I have built in bookshelves, windows in odd spaces it seems with little wall space left over and art work and photos on any space left over. I really and truly have no wall available that is not in an awkward space or inconvenient space to put one.
So what I have is a design wall like this – this is a portable design wall that comes in a bag. I got mine from Connecting Threads.
this is what it is like standing up – this one is 72 x 72 inches. Click on the numbers and it will lead you to the write up about it.
It is a portable design wall and maybe that should have told me right then and there that it wasn’t necessarily stable? I like the surface to work on but the legs that stand it up are very flimsy – a person can walk past it too closely and it will tip over. I have had several people tell me that they had gotten one too and have the same problem with it.
I solve that problem in my house by leaning it up by the door/wall in the kitchen/dining area that no one uses or at times if I know my husband is not going to be home for much more than sleeping (at times that happens when he is putting in long hours) I hang it off of three hooks that are right above the wide closet in the sewing room. That closet though is on my husbands side of the room that we use for sewing/computers – we share the room. If I use that space his chair is very near it and fabric will fall off of it unless it is pinned on so normally I just use the kitchen and walk back and forth giving me more exercise.
If you have any other option go for it – I like the wall but I do not like the legs. If you have space to lean it against or hang it then this might be right for you – but if you have to use it on the legs provided I wouldn’t recommend it. I do like that when I am done with it that I can take it apart easily and put it back in the bag. Some people recommend using insulation board and covering with flannel. That sounds good but if you have limited storage space that doesn’t work out.
Thank you all for your tips on needles and machine quilting. I am off today to pick up some new sewing machine needles as I want to try a few out and see which will work best for me for this project.
I have been reading a couple blogs today and reading through all of the comments – someone got blasted for buying fabric at JoAnne Fabrics – evidential this quilter who left the comment thinks you have to support your local quilt shop and only buy from your local quilt shop. I hate it when quilters feel that way. To begin with there are a lot of us who do not have a local quilt shop – for some of us – me included– you have to drive about 85 miles in any direction (or more – one way) to get to a “local quilt shop”. I don’t know about you but to me that is not a local quilt shop!!
If you do have a local quilt shop they might not carry fabric that you like – they might not have enough incentive’s for you to spend your money in their shop – they might not be friendly (believe me I have stopped in plenty of quilt shops on our travels and I have run across shops who do not have a friendly person working in their shop!!).
If I do drive 85 miles one way for fabric at the shop that I like — Mama’s Log House near Fort Smith, AR I have occasionally found that I couldn’t find what I was looking for and she is only open two days a week – Wednesdays and Saturday. My favorite quilt shop is 735 miles from me LOL Millhouse Quilts in Waunakee, Wisconsin and I only go there when I am visiting my daughter who lives about 10 miles from the shop – they have so much I love it – but you know if I lived there I would still shop for bargains on line.
That doesn’t leave a lot of options for us quilters that live in the country – and believe me there are a lot of us that do – do you want to spend a good part of a day running around adding up the cost of gas and lunch (minimum of $25 at least!) only to find that the shop doesn’t have what you want or do you sit back like I do in front of the computer and go shopping and have your package delivered to your door?
So this leads me to my list of on-line shops that I like – I wonder if generally most of us shop in the same places? I know from shopping on line and from shopping at quilt fabric stores that the quality is the same whether you want to believe it or not – everything I have ordered from these shops feels exactly the same as what you get in a fabric store (other than Connecting Threads which is a lower in quality but still good stuff).
Fat Quarter Shop
Hancocks of Paducah
Canton Village Quilt Works
Twiddletails
Green Fairy
Fabric Worm
Pink Chalk
Connecting Threads
Fabric Shack
Keepsake Quilting (I couldn’t get the page to come up for the address – sorry)
Sew Batik
Pacific Rim Quilt Co.
I know I must be leaving some off of this list but these are the main companies I have ordered from, yes occasionally I have had one or two that were slower than others and occasionally the order has been messed up – but over all of ordering off line for the past 8 years or so I have had very good luck. I really do not remember a time that I could not use the fabric I ordered!
So do you have a favorite shop that I do not have listed? I need to start a new side bar on my blog and list on-line quilt shops. I will work on that this week. Let me hear from you if you have a shop you want me to list to share.
I do have a couple photos to share. I went around the circles on that first baby quilt block that I showed you this morning with brown embroidery thread and I like how it makes the circles show up better. Can’t say it is the neatest blanket stitch – I’m not that much into embroidery – but it will do.
Overall standing back away from the quilt on the wall I think the circles show up better now.
Now it is time for me to get back to my laundry!
It really does seem like Christmas has come early! I got in on a lot of Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales and the goodies are coming in! But first lets start with the fabric that I won from SewCalGirls Christmas Festival. The fabric arrived! The fabric that I won was from Fabric Worm – I received 22 fat quarters from the Innocent Crush line.
Twiddle Tails was having a sale after Thanksgiving and I got some of her fabric that was on clearance, I got 7 half yard cuts of some delightful fabric.
I believe I told you all that I had also ordered from Connecting Threads on Cyber Monday. Overall I was pleased with what I got but there was some that arrived a bit different than I thought it was going to be. Also some of the fabric has really wide salvages but the usable area of the fat quarters were still the same as others 18 x 22. What was mainly not what I expected is some colors were a bit different than they looked on screen. Still very much usable but not what I expected.
This is the Antoinette Fat Quarter Sampler 20 pieces and they were about what I thought they would be – that piece off to the side is extra. I think when their machine cuts the fabric maybe it is stacked up and not all even? this was under the piece that it matches that is next to it folded in the photo below – this piece measured 8 x 22 so it was an extra piece included. They might not even know the machine is doing this? I had 20 fat quarters in this stack plus this piece.
I had expected these 8 fat quarters to be redder and thought the prints were tinier not so focused. The fat quarters on the left are much browner than I expected. I thought I would be able to use these in my Red/Green applique but only 2 or 3 will go for that project now.
This is the New England Fall collection, here I thought I would get more prints than I got but it turned out to be more solids. I do like the colors though. Quite a few of these will be used in my nieces signature quilt – she wanted fall colors and while I have some fall colors I wanted more variety. That will be one of next years projects.
Charm packages – 24 to a pack and 97 cents for each pack – I got 3 packages of the same one. They will be good for more baby quilts.
These are called “After Hours” their version of Jelly Rolls. Red/Blacks/Gray with some white in some of the prints. I think it was about 19 strips per roll – they don’t come nicely rolled though as you get in the shops but folded in half and half again in a plastic bag – but for the price I think it is acceptable not to be nicely rolled 
I got 3 rolls for only $9.51 I forgot to take a photo of the Sweet Pea jelly rolls – I got 2 of them.
No I wouldn’t make heirloom quilts from their fabric but for every day quilts – couch size – baby size – this fabric is working out fine.
Yes I got a lot – but I do not plan on doing this every day – or even every other month. And I really did not spend all that much – such good sales!!! All of the above pictured is under $100.00 on sale – true value though is over $200.00 I think with the economy the way it is I need to plan on doing after Thanksgiving sales every year to replenish the shelves. My shelves are over loaded right now and I will have to do some rearranging and get busy making quilts!!
Checking out the clearance & sales on the online quilt shops I do believe is the way to go unless you really, really have to get something that is not on sale. You can really find a lot of good fabric at good deals in on line shops.
Finished!! I had finished my hand quilting yesterday morning and when I got home I decided to get right to it and sew my binding on. I accomplished the machine sewing part and then sat down in the evening to watch some tv and do the hand stitching. I use a tiny whip stitch with very closely matching thread for my binding. I know a lot of you use a blind stitch but this works for me and when using thread color to match you really hardly see it unless you are inspecting it 
and this stitch goes much faster!
I am so pleased with the fabric that I got from Connecting Threads that I used for this quilt. No bleeding at all!! Here are the two color catchers that I put in the washing machine with the quilt. No pink dye, no blue ect. The color came out looking the same color as it did when I tossed it in the machine.
Here is the quilt finished. It is 40 1/2 inches square – what I refer to as a baby quilt, naptime quilt, play mat – a nice small size that gets done rather fast (I do believe it took me about a month of on and off again work on this quilt to machine piece and hand quilt). I am calling this quilt “Crayon Box” as with the colors that is what it reminds me of. I strayed from the Schnibbles pattern a little – I added the black sashing as I thought it would make the colors pop more and be the right thing to separate the border a little from the inside of the quilt. I added the appliqued circles in the corners as I didn’t like them plain (the pattern featured a fabric in pastel flowered prints with plain corners which suited that selection) and adding the black binding seemed the perfect way to finish it. The binding is a little wider than I normally do – but again it seemed like what this quilt called for.
A close up:
And another:
I like the puckered up look that cotton batting has when it is washed. Yes shrinkage – that is what gives it the used, soft feel. I think it shrunk about 2 inches which is normal. I love the look it gives quilts. Nothing flat about it.
This is the back:
This was an experiment quilt in that I was using the low price fabric from Connecting Threads which I had not used before and I was using “heat press”tape using three pieces of left over Quilters Dream request loft batting. My review: the fabric had a very nice feel to it and pieced and quilted easily. The heat press tape for the batting was ok, the needle went through it really well when I did a test on just the batting and tape but when you add the quilt top and the backing it didn’t needle through quite as easily. My stitches were larger in those areas – so if you count your stitches it might bother you, if you don’t mind uneven stitches then you might like it. I think it would work really well when machine quilting –you wouldn’t even notice it I bet. After washing I was just as pleased with the fabric as I was when I was piecing it.
This is the heat press tape – I found it at Nancy’s Notions:
Finally I got done with the Irish Chain blocks that I have talked about making for the past week or more. I am so glad I looked at the directions once again as for some reason I thought it said to make 11 half chains and 1 full block – I would have been one short – I needed 12 half blocks. Glad to be caught up on this quilt now. One more month left and then put the whole thing together. EDITED: at 6:16 PM, Lena Karen just came to read my blog and noticed that on the 4th half chain I have a four patch turned wrong – thank you so much for noticing I would have hated to have the quilt part way put together and have to take it apart – off to fix it now before I forget!! EDITED Again: oh my god – I must have been getting tired making these – I just noticed another 4 patch turned the wrong way!! The full block – I must dig that one out too – that will teach me to rush!
I’m sure a lot of you who look at blogs have been seeing the new craze out there – Mug Rugs! They sure are cute. If you look at this link on flickr you will see pages and pages of mug rugs. So many cute ideas. I decided to make both of my girls a mug rug that they can take to their offices to set their mug of coffee or cider or chocolate on.
I picked out two mugs and then brought them home and started to pull fabric to match to the mugs and try to come up with ideas. I saw several ideas on LeKaQuilt – this blog is from Lena Karen in Norway so if you want to read it you need to use google translator. If you don’t want to translate just look at the photos. Very pretty and she gave me some ideas.
Here is one of the mugs and the fabric I pulled to use. For some reason the dark fabric which is more black than gray looks gray in this photo.
The other mug and fabric:
These are not Christmas gifts for the girls they are “just because I love you” gifts. I’ll take a photo when I finish them to show before I send one off to Jessica and hopefully have one done to take to Melanie on Thanksgiving as we are going to her house that day and I would like to have it finished for her then. Jessica’s will have to be put in the mail as she lives in Wisconsin a distant from us!
If you join the American Quilters Society – AQS on Facebook you have the chance to be selected as Blog of the Week. I was told Friday that my blog was selected as blog of the week – how cool is that! Thank you AQS.
I managed to get a quick and easy triangle done for “Insanity Revisited” last night while watching the news – I did this one reverse applique. I am going to keep at it and try to get this quilt done by the end of the year! The top that is–the quilting will wait a year or so!
I got 3 triangles done this week! I’m on track for my goal of 3 a week at minimum.
Quilting is coming along nicely on the “Going In Circles” quilt also. I have no goal for this other than finishing it within a year of putting it on the quilting frame – I think that way I won’t be disappointed if it takes me longer than six months. Part of the first border is finished and up to the sashing.
It is a little far to reach to do the sashing – this was just me doing a little bit of it so I could see what I was thinking and if it would work out. It did so the rest will wait until I give the frame another crank down. On the aqua sashing I am going to put two or three lines of quilting closely together on the waving line. I don’t know if you get what I mean but that is ok a photo will show it next week I’m sure.
Everyone have a great weekend!
