Mrs. Chapman's UFO's

 About a month ago, Julia and I picked up a large donation of fabric from Mrs. Chapman. She heard that our guild makes quilts for Habitat for Humanity and she wanted her unused stash to be used for a good cause. Fast forward to last week when some guild friends came over to help me sort through our recent donations and to reassess our previous stash. 

In the middle of all the fabric, we found quite a few (more than a dozen?) unfinished projects. We each took a few that we thought we could finish. The rest will be offered to other guild members at the next meeting. Here are the projects I've been playing with...

There was a small pile of half-hexies that were pieced from a wide striped fabric. Rather than sewing them together into full hexagons, I had fun rearranging and combining them with solids from the stash. It was a good exercise in color and design. I found the perfect narrow stripe for the border in my own stash. This will be a sweet baby quilt someday.

There were just 10 half square triangles made from the same wide stripe. Now there is another placemat in the donation pile for Meals on Wheels.

This animal print top was almost complete. I pieced together the outer border from leftover fabric that looked like swiss cheese! It looked like she had done some fussy cutting for another project. Backing and binding fabric also came out of her stash, so this is waiting to be quilted, too.

My favorite UFO was a small pile of pieced butterflies. There were some spare parts and additional sandy fabric for the background, so it took no time at all to assemble the top. The fern border print came out of my deep stash.

The butterfly wings were cut from mirror images of the print. Isn't that nifty? If anyone knows the source of the pattern, please let me know. I didn't find it with a quick google image search.

I accidentally pieced in one of the butterflies upside down. Oops! 

I had so much fun quilting this little quilt. It took me a while to find a binding. This one is just OK. The backing was also deep stash. 

This one will go to the Adirondacks with us when we visit Julia at the Wild Center. They can hang it in their offices or sell it to raise funds.

Butterfly Wall Hanging

27" X 37"

Started by Mrs. Chapman at least 15 years ago

Completed by me 6/22/15

Bears in the Suburbs

 This poor quilt sat in the UFO pile for years and years. Six years, to be exact! When I finished the top a year ago, I posted this recap of the project. You can hop over there if you are interested.

I'm in quilting mode, getting a few quilts done for upcoming Habitat for Humanity home dedications. It was easier to get this done after I had an idea of which family it will live with.

 

I did an overall stipple through the blocks in a medium tan thread. I'm having some trouble with Superior So Fine threads breaking or skipping stitches. This may be due in part to low humidity. Who knew?

 

I wanted to play a little in the borders, so I treated each one to a different design.

 

Even though I used a lot of mauve from the 90's, I still like the overall effect. I love the stripe that pulls all the fun colors together. What's not to love about a bear's paw?

 

Bears in the Suburbs 

 Bears in the Farmhouse Quilt Along by Judy Laguidara

Started February 2009

Top completed January 13, 2014

Quilt completed March 24, 2015

72" X 87"

WIP Wednesday

 I started a new project and it is going to be awesome! I volunteered to be a pattern tester for Juliet at The Tartan Kiwi. She sent me a copy of her latest design for this handsome lion. Julia and I had fun choosing fabric, and we decided to go scrappy with his mane.

 I started cutting a little after 8am and finished the last seam at about 6pm. It's a big 24" block. This is not a beginner pattern. He's a lot of work, but well worth it! Look at those eyes! When I'm done with this post, I'm going over to The Tartan Kiwi to buy all of her safari animal patterns.

He reminds me of this Tanzanian boy!

In other WIP news...

I finished my Hawaiian applique pillow that has been waiting patiently for 6 months.

When I went looking for the next WIP to work on, I chose this stripey project. Read more about it here.

I also found the fabric for my new pajama bottoms that I bought over a year ago. The pattern has been cut out and they are ready to stitch together. It shouldn't take long, but I'm not good with apparel so I'm stalling. Maybe today?

I thought it was cool that Julia and I were using the same colors this week. I was cutting strips for a retreat project, and she was painting a birthday gift for her boyfriend. Coincidentally, the pattern I'll be working on is called Sunset.

And there was more snow overnight. Because we don't have enough?

Linking up...

Fun Stripes

 In an attempt to clean out some WIPs, I took out this stripey project that I started in August 2013. I made 4 blocks back then, and set it aside. Every time I look at my stripe stash, I think about this project. The time finally came to bust some stash!

The technique by Anita Grossman Solomon makes matching all those stripes super easy. You already know that I think she is a genius. This is more proof of that! With four identical striped squares, you make this large block with 2 X-centric and 2 concentric units. Please purchase her book Rotary Cutting Revolution for full instructions.

 

I had so much fun collecting interesting striped fabrics.

 

 Look at those perfect centers!

Some fabrics don't produce 4 identical squares from 1/4 yard. In this case below, I was able to cut 2 pairs of matching strips. The effect is still interesting.

 

The top now measures about 56" X 70" which is a nice lap size.

Add another to the to-be-quilted pile! I've got a little tendonitis in my wrist from all this quilting, so I might need to cut back a little. Finishes will not be coming as quickly in the coming weeks!

Craft Book Month

Craft Buds is hosting a blog hop and link up party for Craft Book Month. It's a fun way to see projects from favorite books. I'm jumping in to show you our projects from Anita Grossman Solomon's Rotary Cutting Revolution. It is a few years old, but I'm still being inspired by it.

My largest completed project from this book was a quilt for a friend made with Anita's Arrowhead blocks in April. I had great fun attacking my batik stash in search of the more manly designs.

The pretty pink blocks were my test blocks and certainly didn't fit the theme of the quilt, so they became a Spring table runner.

 

When my daughter Julia decided to make a quilt for her boyfriend, she chose the Old Italian block from the same book. 

 

 Her Army boy loves his new quilt! She gave it to him at his graduation from boot camp in July.

 Of course there are UFO's, too. When I bought the book a few years ago, I started collecting striped fabric to make Xcentric and Concentric blocks.

The stack had gotten too large to fit on the shelf, so it was time to start stitching! Don't tell Julia, but I bought another stripe yesterday. (She tried to cut me off!)  I have an idea for how it could be a fun border for this future quilt.

 

 When Anita visited our guild in August, she taught the Anita's Arrowhead block, so out came my batik stash again.

If you can't take a workshop with Anita in person, her Craftsy class is the next best thing. And you'll get an e-book version of Rotary Cutting Revolution with the class. That's a great deal!

 

Thanks for visiting. Have fun hopping around the Craft Buds party.

WIP Wednesday

 I was happy to make it back to my machine this week. I didn't finish anything, but I did start two new projects and picked up an old one.

With Anita Grossman Solomon in town, I made a pile of Anita's Arrowhead blocks. These won't all end up in the same quilt. That red and white block sticks out like a sore thumb.

When I'd had my fill of arrowheads, I started playing with stripes. I followed Anita's instructions for Xcentric and Concentric blocks.  (More about Anita in yesterday's post.)

I dug out an old WIP last weekend. I finished hand appliqueing the letters (V-Z), then assembled the top. I must have started this quilt about 10 years ago to have a hand work project for baseball games. Each letter is cut from a novelty print. A is for Alphabet, B is for Balls, C is for Crayons. I don't know what will become of this little quilt.

 

At the top of the to-do list, this nine patch top needs to be quilted for the Ninigret Quilters' show in October.

 

I might spend some time with Pete's quilt today and tomorrow while he is attending motorcycle riding class. He wants to get his motorcycle license before he ships out so he can buy a motorcycle as soon as possible. We figured that riding a motorcycle will be the least dangerous thing he'll have to do in the next few years. God, help me!

Spend some time today surfing the WIP Wednesday links. It's worth the trip!

Anita!

 I finally had the opportunity to meet my quilty idol, Anita Grossman Solomon. I'm sure I've mentioned more than a few times how much I love her books. And how I think she's a genius. She has a knack for seeing block construction in new ways.

At Aunt Carrie's, enjoying clam cakes, chowder, fish & chips, and key lime pie.

I was thrilled to spend two short days with Anita when she visited Ninigret Quilters last week. Julia couldn't wait to show Anita the Old Italian quilt she made for Fred. They were so cute together. Anita loved hearing Julia's Girl Scout camp stories over dinner.

I made a few Anita's Arrowhead blocks during the workshop on Wednesday, then went home and made more. And more. And more.  If you don't have the opportunity to take a class from Anita in person, I highly recommend her Craftsy class, Traditional Blocks Made Simple. As a bonus, you'll receive an e-book version of Rotary Cutting Revolution included with the class materials. No joke. It is revolutionary!

I needed a break after three days of arrowheads, so I busted out the striped stash.  

This is the result of just a few hours of work using Anita's technique for making Xcentric and Concentric blocks. Aren't they fun? I must make more!

Random fact: Bill and I both have sisters named Anita.

 

While I was sewing, Bill and Pete went on a canoeing adventure that started on this glassy pond. That was the easy bit. Off in the distance is the entrance to a small river that they hoped to paddle down, but it was blocked by many, many downed trees. They climbed over, snuck under, portaged around, and slowly worked their way downstream. Our 15-year old (now leaky) canoe is being retired.

 

Back to the machine. Will it be more arrowheads or more strips?