Show time Part 1

    I love the  local quilt  shows.  I get to see what  quilters are working on, what they are inspired by, and get a little insight  into their lives.  Our show this weekend showed the favorite influence of the scrap queen, Bonnie Hunter, who has taken our quilting world by storm.  Here are a few quilts I spotted right off that scream her influence..   Note:  Photos and comments are mine.  The quilts are made by others.

Betty's Orca Bay Mystery Quilt

   Betty is 75 and worked long and hard to finish this one up.   I salute anyone who finishes this one up.  Amazing job.

Shelia's braid quilt

   Shelia did the most vibrant and cheerful braid.  And I love braids!   The variety of yellow fabrics just makes this quilt sing.

Tony's shirt quilt

     Tony actually cleaned out his closet to make this quilt....and it turned out so fabulous.  See all those strings!

Pat's challenge

  Pat created a red and white quilt for her entry for the triangle challenge.  The photo just can't do this one justice.  For me, there is nothing like a beautiful red and white quilt.

Joan's jacket

     This red and white entry caught me eye.  And just in time for the cooler weather that pushed into the area.   I love the reverse play of colors in her design....just so striking.   See Joan's other jackets and patterns at Figure Flattering Quiltwear.

Suzanne's Texas quilt

   For all the Texas fans and followers....look at this one.   Suzanne put it all together in this one...applique, redwork, and hand quilting.  She used a tessellated quilting design  of the state of Texas for the hand quilting.  She has such an amazing eye for complete detail.  

Susan's Olympic pinwheels

    Huge!  I could not get back far enough to photograph the entire thing.  Susan said she had 13 lengths of binding on this one....so do the math to figure out the size.  This was her challenge entry and won for best theme.  I think it is amazing because Susan does not usually do scrappy, yet this one shows she is getting out of her box.   It's a great pattern to break free and include it all.  Super job.

  That's enough for today.  I have a few more to share tomorrow.  Happy stitching.

    

I'm thinking bigger....

   Faceted Jewels.......48 blocks done.....but I am thinking I will make it a bit bigger.   Yet I know one thing, I love the colors!!!  
   I had a couple more emails about the pattern......none used.  I created my diagram, colored it in, and sorted fabrics by color family.  That was probably the most time consuming thing.  I broke my blues into 3 groups....dark blues like navy, medium tone blue, and the lightest blue.  The red fabrics were further divided into dark blueish red and orangy reds.  And I broke out a group of turquoise, or blue green, too.  If your fabric stash has more green, for example, you might consider a dark green group, and a light group, or blue greens and yellow greens.
    Your color palette will differ from mine because we all choose and see color differently.  That is what makes this type of  quilt exciting to work on and view. I see a lot of possibilities for variations according to how the fabrics are sorted and put back together.  Even one done in all blues and greens, or purple and blue.........think on it.  Make it your own.

   It was much cooler this morning and should really cool off this weekend.  I've pulled everything together for the demo at the quilt show tomorrow.   So I hope to have some inspiration to share next week.
Have a great weekend and happy stitching.  

A Welcome detour

  I am up to 30 of the string blocks.   Along the way---between colored blocks---I used white, beige, and cream strings  to cover  some smaller pieces of the foundation.   I figured they would be a good background for a small piece.   Then my package arrived from Connecting Threads with the wire stand table top display! Time for a detour......

    I decided on a pineapple for the applique.  I know this doesn't look like much, but it is how I began.  Using the gold, to orange and some brown strings, I did a wonky style braid.  I began with a small almost square piece at the top and added a string to one side and then to the other----until I had a large enough hunk of wonkiness to work with.

Pineapple fused onto string background 

   I had a pattern from a magazine article---it looked more like an egg to me--- that I used for the pineapple.  This I  traced onto fusible interfacing.  This technique is one that Eleanor Burns uses----
    Draw pattern onto the smooth (non-fusible side) of the interfacing.   Place fusible (bumpy side) side down on the right side of fabric and pin together.  Stitch on the drawn line of the fusible...all the way around.  Trim the excess fabric and interfacing away--close to the seam line.  Then slit the interfacing in the center and turn fabric right side out.  Use a dull or round end of chop stick ( or other "poker")  to smooth the seam line edge.  Be careful not to poke through the interfacing.  I do a lot of "finger pressing" here to make it work.  Once it is flattened / smooth / shaped, then the applique can be fused onto the background for stitching.

 Fused  leaves added

   I like this technique for larger applique pieces, or when I want the applique to appear raised and not flat.  I chose to use it here because of all the bias edges created by the braid technique.   A buttonhole stitch was used around all the applique.   For the top knot of leaves, I just fused them in the normal way and then stitched them too.












  Finished size was a consideration....so only 2 sides got a border.  The pineapple was not perfectly centered, so I just used that as a reason for the 2 sided border.

  No swirls!  I quilted teardrops  for the background.   I like the feathered effect they create.    In the border I did parallel straight lines.










  I added a narrow tube sleeve at the top and Welcome is done.
    Finished size is 12 1/2 inches by 14 inches.



  Our local guild has a quilt show this weekend....so today  I am baking some pumpkin bread for the hostess break room.  Then maybe a few more string blocks....happy stitching.

A Winter View

   When I first saw this pattern in a magazine several years ago, I was struck by the  strong graphic effect of the trees against the white.  It is not my usual style of quilt, but the cardinals were the deciding element for me.    I claimed the cardinal as my symbol of hope a few years ago, and  put one on every quilt I make.

  Originally I had planned to add some applique in the outer border.  I thought twigs and berries.  But when I laid the first part of the applique on the quilt,  I quickly changed my thought.  I felt the applique only drew attention away and changed the graphic effect.   Instead I added a couple more cardinals to the branches.

  The actual construction was simple enough....it was getting the tree branch angles sections lined up that drove me crazy at first.  I had to trim down a couple of them, making the branch section a tiny bit narrower than intended.  I just added a narrow filler strip of white on the ends to get the correct width for the row.  And you would never have known, would you.

   And swirls----swirling snow, wintery winds---soften the stark white background.  Some swirls for free motion quilting that is not too dense, yet creates movement and texture.   Actually, the white background is a mix of several white on white fabrics.  I finally used up my stash of those and had to finish off with solid white.
 









   In 2010, we had a huge snow storm.  The bright red cardinals are always so stunning to see perched on the branches of our wild cherry tree.    So I am calling this quilt, A Winter View.












 
       And that's the saga of my  tree quilt.   I heard from several of you who are planning or working on this one.   So before the snow flies and the cold winds blow, get going!  I look forward to seeing them.

Update note:   This pattern is from 2009, I believe.  It is available in a newly released book called Quilting in Black and White.  

   I am finishing up a slight detour from the strings....yet it includes a few strings too.  I needed a little table topper for the season change.
Happy stitching.

Update on colorful strings

   A few more blocks added to the string collection.  A comment from Janet at Rogue Quilter    on these blocks gave me a working name for this quilt......Faceted Jewels.   I think it's a perfect fit.... thank you, Janet.
   I have the rest of the planned blocks marked with the colors.    I think the strings have been multiplying again and I am sure I will need to make this one bigger.  Since the blocks go together quickly, that's not a bad thing after all.
  So this is my NewFO for the September linky Party  at  Cat Patches.

   And a finish....well, almost finished.  The sleeve needs to be tacked down.  Here's a quick look at the trees and cardinals quilt.  It is not named yet....but the quilting turned out really great on this.  I love the texture it created.  i will be getting some more photos to share.  Till then, happy quilting.
   

Glad I have a "map"

    I thought I would put a few string blocks on the design wall to see how they looked.  I was sure glad I made up a sketch as a map for the layout!   It is very easy to get lost when putting these up because there are so many possibilities for their placement.
But it is so much fun seeing it come alive.
   During my cleaning time, I discovered about 5 more yards of the stained fabric that I am using for a base!  Help....I may have to do another one of these to use it up.
   Happy stitching.

   

Bonus FMQ from photos

   Can you believe September  has flown by?   So I better get this bonus tutorial by Susan Brubaker Knapp posted for the  Free Motion Challenge.   This is good info, but sure to check it out.   Last week I took photos  outside for the first part of the challenge.  This morning I got down to work and put the needle to one.
    I used a regular lead pencil to trace the design onto fabric.   I had a question about the   Sewline pencil    last week that I some times use.  It is designed  for marking fabric and can be erased or washed out.   I do love it for  marking diagonals for HSTs and applique.  Today I could not find it---too much cleaning and it got misplaced---so I just used a regular pencil.  
     I don't mark a lot of quilting lines usually, but I will try to remove obvious marks.  I am not a perfectionist, nor do I quilt for show entries....so what is a stray mark or two on a quilt that is to be used?

  I stitched the design....missing a few marks along the way.  Then I decided to fill in a bit of the extra space with overlapping leaves from another photo inspiration.
  So what did I learn from this?  First take photos....lots of them.  Second:   Look for the designs or repeated patterns for inspiration.   Third: enjoy the freedom..... Mix it up when stitching.  
   
One final note---the light I ordered for the machine is the Ecolux 6 light LED .  It is a very tiny strip of 6 LEDs that mounts under the neck extension of the machine.  I tried it today for the first time and noticed a huge difference.  I am still dealing with some shadows, but it is so much better.