Ravin' on Cassie

Yahoo!!!  Cassie did this watercolor scene for our guild challenge and won 1st place  for theme!  I was so excited for her. 
The challenge was "Circles of Creativity".  We were given a circle of fabric as our inspiration---color or subject matter--and had to use the circle on the front or back and explain how it inspired us. 
Cassie culled her stash and then her mom's to find the right fabrics and colors.  And boy, she did a wonderful job.  Appliqueing the circle with the koi on it in the light area of water and the other circle with the butterfly above  was a great idea.  I love the tree and the tiny blossoms she used to complete the scene.  Balance, light source, drama in the black border, and movement .......she got all the elements in this small piece.  Her first watercolor and it's a winner. 
I may have inspired her, but she motivates me a lot. 
I know she reads this blog, so leave a comment to congratulate her.   Great job, Cassie.
Our quilt show is this weekend....long day today.  Came home with lots of goodies, including a great tote, books, magazines (at 25 cents--who could resist?), and THREAD!  More details and photos in a couple days.  Happy stitching.

Taking in the quilts

A huge stack of quilts, about 65 entries, are layered on the guest bed so far....that means 100 entries to go!  So tomorrow will be a long day.
  And a sewing lesson with Emily this morning.  She completed a pillowcase for the Shriner's Hospital and began a tote bag for herself.  Her "fun work" for the week is to begin her journal including a page for her ideas of things to make, and a page of her favorite colors. 

I am still refining the color wash.  I walk in and move a couple of pieces, change this or that, take a photo and..... then the phone or the doorbell rings.  Point being, I have not gotten much done on this.  Some areas look better and others still need help....lower left and upper right corners for sure.  But that is part of the design process, and I'll just keep at it till it says done.

When Carol dropped off her quilts, she gave me a great tip.  Make a pillowcase to go with the quilts you give to others from the leftover  fabric from the backing.  That way they have a pillow case to use, the quilt is "wrapped" to give in the pillow case, and the quilt can always be rolled and stored  in it when not being used!  Just love the triple benefit in this one.   Happy stitching.

Answering questions....

The first emailed question was about quilting the french braid quilt.   My quilt was done in batiks and  the runs were staggered when set together.  Each panel was about 9 inches wide, so it  had to be quilted down.  I did not want to use straight lines because the pattern is so angular.   As usual, I probably overdid it, but I used free motion to quilt a vine with curls and leaves.  There's a closer detail photo on the Free Motion Quilting page--scroll to the bottom.  Two reasons:  the curves and twirls create a lot of texture on the quilt once it is washed--I love the look of denser quilting on batiks, and the second....I like stitching curves.   I used meandering loops in the narrow strips between the black bands. 
 I have plans for a second braid quilt done just in florals---on florals curvy/wavy lines would be fine, because the pattern of the fabric will hide most of the quilting anyway. 
On the AK quilt, I saw a Moose, I also used a blended braid border.   I free motion quilted in large loops and swirls the border--confession time--to take in some fullness and stretching.  All braids have bias edges, and each time you touch it, it can stretch even when stay stitched.   

Second question  was about the jewel box quilt.  I went back and looked ......oops!   I started a tutorial  on the block construction and then apparently got side tracked and never gave details on finishing.  The finished quilt in shown on the Scrap Quilts page at the bottom.  Priceless Gems finished at 55 inches by 70 inches with a 4 1/2 inch border.  I used black for the background  and inner border strip and it required  2 3/4 yards.  All the other fabrics were scraps, so I do not have an exact amount used, but I would estimate about 2 yards for the rest of the fabric needed. The final border was whatever I had left of the black and 2 1/2 inch strips that were sewn into a piano key type pattern.  
Thanks, Jan, for the questions and catching my unfinished details.

Oops...more fabric!

I thought I was de-stashing with the bow tie blocks.....I came home yesterday with 10 more yards of fabric!  Not purchased by me, but rather "donated" by a beautiful friend who is moving.  Thank you, Lynn, for your generosity and thinking of me and all my projects. 
It is very soft flannel and I rolled it onto  mini-bolts.  I have 2 projects in mind for it.  The first is to back the bow tie quilt, and second is for pillowcases for the Shriner's Children Hospital.  (The photo also shows one I made for Remy with the Clemson orange border.)
An added bonus:  Emily will get to practice her seams on the machine Lynn gave her and learn how to finish them off when she sews some of the pillowcases, too, next week.   Lynn's gifts get multiplied and spread to many other people.  That's what I call passing it on.

Basic recipe for the pillowcase:
Body is cut across the width of fabric at 25 inches.
Border is cut across the width of fabric at 11 inches.
Inset band is optional:  cut width of fabric at 1 inch, or 1 1/2 inches.  Or add ribbon or rick rack trim at the top stitching stage below. 

Border is folded in half and pressed to form 5 1/2 inch wide band.  Do the same for the inset band.
Lay body face up and match the raw edges of the inset band and the border piece to the top raw edge of the body piece. 
Stitch edge to edge using 1/2 inch seam.  Finish raw edges with a wide zig-zag stitch (or serge off the edge).
Press the inset strip and border away from the body.  Top stitch if desired along the seam.
Fold right sides together, matching the seam.  Stitch the side seam using 1/2 inch seam.  Then stitch  across the bottom.  Finish off the raw edges with a zig-zag stitch. 
Turn right side out and press. 

Quilt take-in day is tomorrow for the quilt show.  It is always fun to see all the entries ahead of time....but it is also a lot of work.   Thank goodness that Russ likes to help!
 I probably won't get back to the colorwash design for a couple of days :(    I need to de-stash a few more strips in different values anyway.  And the suggestion  from Cheryl to use some more red/rust in the lower corner is a good one, so I need to find some more of those colors.  Thanks for the suggestions. 
Fall into Fall Quilter Blog Giveaway starts October 1.  Click on the scarecrow pic to find out the details.
Happy stitching.

De-Stashing....

What do you do with a box of 3 1/2" squares?

You make something quick and easy. 

That means 5 squares and 3 seams = a 3 -D Bow Tie  block! 

One evening stitching  produced about 20 blocks.  You need 2 squares for the background and 3 squares for the bow tie.  On a few of my blocks, I actually used a co-ordinating print for the "knot" of the tie because I only had 2 matching squares.   You can use any size squares you want or have.  Larger squares to begin will end up a larger block.  Very quick and scappy and will be a great quilt for charity.

I set a few together-- on the design wall-- in a ring formation.    I need to "de-stash" some more lights for the background by cutting them into 3 1/2" squares. 

Rather than re-invent the wheel or tutorial,  here's a tutorial at Stash Manicure.

Off to de-stash and finish laundry....happy stitching.

Colorwash.... on the design wall

This is not exactly what I had in my head, but I needed to view a photo to decide whether to continue or not.  Carolina Byways quilt was posted on about.com.  I love the name and the design, but wasn't crazy about the technique she used to make the blocks.  So I thought I would challenge myself to use up a lot of stray 2 1/2" strips for this.  I am working on a horizontal layout for the strips that are randomly cut....on the diagonal at about 5 inches. The diagonal cuts give me the mountain peaks and angled sides. 
Then I am filling in with "bricks" cut at 2 1/2 by 3 inches....these will give me the ability to take up or add in where needed to make things fit.   This photo shows just the shape and general spacing that I am trying to create.  I like the effect of the grayed peaks at the top, like mountains in the distance.  I see a good bit of refining is needed there, and I may need to add one more in the upper right corner.  
Of course, this could end up a sewing nightmare and not the way I envision it.....that would make it a pile of scraps!   For now, I think I will stick with it and see.

Ladelle's Hydrangea

I am in a very pensive mood today because I lost a dear friend over the weekend.  I cherish the times of laughing till we cried,  phone calls for a hint to solve the day's puzzle, lunches at the diner,  her listening and propping me up through times of  misery, and the years of working together.  She was strong and giving, and always  loyal.    Years ago her husband, Carl, gave me several cuttings from the lovely blue hydrangea by their back door.  I rooted a piece of it 5 years ago when we moved, and now I will root another cutting to establish it in the memory garden for Ladelle.  I'll miss you, Ladelle, but hold your spirit near.