The Sewing Room!

OK, I am sure that many of you have been wonderful WHERE I have been!  The last five months have been interesting...two moving trips from Virginia to Arizona, plus all the unpacking that has ensued....and now our daughter and son-in-law just moved into a new rental as well (in Tucson still, though) and we helped a little plus they are opening a new restaurant in town, which is now up and running, but both of them are working every day and I am watching our grandson after school....OK all that was a huge mouthful!  The bottom line is I just haven't been able to quilt YET!!!!  Unfortunately, THIS is what the sewing room looked like a few days ago....

It has actually improved somewhat since then...I'm getting there slowly but surely!  The big chest of drawers is full of fabric....

And this is a closet with a shelf piled high of MORE fabric.  You can see part of my collection of feedsack fabrics here....

And I am absolutely DETERMINED to finish getting this room squared away and start quilting again within the week!  I miss it!!!  Here are a few of the projects I have waiting for me....

This is a quilt top and backing that needs to be sandwiched and quilted...

 These are the squares I made the very first time I attempted to do a sampler quilt.  I didn't know what I was doing and they are NOT very good....BUT I still want to get it made into a top and backed and quilted after, what, 40 years!!!!!

And these are some squares that I worked on in Texas when I lived there years ago, and the rest were made in NC for a Bee Friends challenge we were doing.  They were purposefully made to "go together" but now I need to make about four more squares to finish it off, and get it made into a top as well...
And I won't even go into all the other projects that are partially done, or that I want to start.  I have to GET BUSY!!!!  Hopefully in a week you will have a really good progress report on the room.  Wish me luck!

Sawtooth Stars

I have never made a quilt with sawtooth stars, but my daughter chose a pattern using them when she was here in January, and I decided it was time to make her a quilt! 

She likes 40's ande 50's designs (notice the Route 66 green fabric!) and I chose some of the fabrics from my stash plus a couple I sequestered from Mom's stash as well.  More pieces will have to be purchased to finish this.  There will be 70 of the six and a half inch blocks that make up this quilt, and then she wants an Autumn leaf border.

Here is the beginning...8 stars done, and 62 more to go! :-)  I am going for greens and browns with cream and small touches of red.  These are colors she really likes, also.  I'll post more when I'm closer to getting this done.  I have a small break coming up....a trip across country!  Check out my main blog, A Colorful World to learn more.

Grandson's Dinosaur Quilt

Made this over the winter months for our nine-year-old grandson!  Machine pieced and machine quilted (a panel makes up the center rectangle) I used dino footprints, leaves and bones for the quilting patterns.

The label is an appliqued dino footprint.

Quilt Top Finish Last Fall

Yes, I have been away from my blog for quite a while but I HAVE been busy quilting!  Here is the War Between the States top I finally finished.

Close-ups of some of the squares....I hope to hand quilt this one!

The Challenge Continues....

 I now proceeded to piece my tablerunner...first though I needed to sign my artwork!

 Here is the pattern I used for the runner, modified a little to suit my perameters, since this runner is 18X50 and that is too long.  But I knew the design would work well with the idea I had....

 I cut out the strips I needed in various colors.  The Challenge is actually called the Color Box Challenge, and all these great colors from the inspiration fabric work well as strips!

 Once the runner is all sewn together, I sandwiched it with batting and a backing of the turquoise fabric.

 This is a closeup view of the runner top...there are red triangles on each end, also that you can't see.  Just a corner of one is visible in the picture above....

 Then I start shadow quilting the bird.  This is a view from the back.  I am using black thread, and it shows up great against the turquoise.  More to come.....

Challenge!

At Quilt Bee a couple of months ago we were all given a half a yard of this crazy, bright fabric and were challenged to make something no bigger than 18X30 using at least one piece of recognizable challenge fabric, and any other fabric we desire.

The gorgeous bright colors gave me the idea to make a table runner for my sister-in-law, who is a parrot and macaw lover, so I decided to place an appliqued parrot right in the center of the table runner on a black background, and then use fabrics of matching colors to make the rest of the runner.  I found a photograph online that I copied, to use as a pattern for the bird.  But, appliqueing something this complex on the machine was turning into a REAL challenge!

So, on to Plan B!  Back in the early summer I had purchased some fabric inks online.  I decided to cut the parrot out of white fabric and use Seam-a-Steam to attach it to my black center square.  Then, since I have always loved to paint, using the fabric inks on the bird was a breeze!!!  A LOT easier than trying to sew down all those individual sections of bird!  You use clear Aloe Vera gel as the fixer for the ink, and after you apply ink to each section, you heat set it with an iron.

This is my black square with the parrot cut out and attached in the center on-point.  I used red ink to color these areas of the bird and heat set them.  Then I went onto another area, heat set again.  At the end, details were added with a black ink marker with a fine point and used it as well for shading areas.... and again heat set.

  

This is the parrot when I finished!  I will now hand-applique the bird around the outside edges using an embroidery stitch. There will be updates on this project as it takes shape!  I also plan to make my sister and brother-in-law two placemats to match though they are not part of the challenge.

Been Away a While....

My Dad was very ill.  We almost lost him, but thankfully we did not.....  Then I was completely wrapped up in a 125th Anniversary Celebration of the Train Station where I work, and didn't have even a moment of my own!  Check it out at my blog A Colorful World! Mom & I missed Quilt Bee when Dad was sick, and really neither of us were in the mood to sew for a while after that.  Plus, then I was just so exhausted because of the Event! :-)  But, I am back in the swing of things now!

We had Quilt Bee yesterday and it was so much fun!  Two of the ladies did a demo on hand quilting, which I badly needed!  I have hand quilted in the past, but use a laborious in-and-out method.  I think I can handle trying the rocking method now, and want to.  Plus, I am so INSPIRED by all the talent in that room every time we go!  Have a lot to work on, and want to GET BUSY!!!!!

Two More Baby Quilts

I used these same fabrics in a previous log cabin baby quilt, but did a different arrangement.  This one is for my niece's baby.

I loved the fabric colors, and I placed a fussy cut bird at the center of each log cabin square.

The bird fabric made a great backing.

This quilt is for a friend's baby.  My friend chose the animal print fabric and I added the other choices.  I am photographing this one inside my place of employment for an added interesting look....this is the antique roasted peanut cart.  I work in the Suffolk Seaboard Station Railroad Museum.

Another view of this quilt on the peanut cart.

This shows the back of the quilt.