Decorated for Christmas

Got this one finished in time for the holidays, yay!  Again using a pattern found in Pam and Nicky Lintotts' Jelly Roll Quilts, I made up this version of Both Sides of the Pond in some green and red batiks with a liberal dose of Kona white.

Serious hat tip to Lori Kennedy of The Inbox Jaunt for her really cool christmas doodles from a couple years ago.

And with the addition of some grinchy flannel for the back (which you can just see peeking out the corner in the picture below...

...the house is now decorated for christmas!

Summer Retreat Quilt

A few times a year I meet some quilting friends at Le Retreat House in Gainesville and we all spend the weekend chatting and sewing.  It is relaxing and cathartic.  This summer I put together this top from two moda charm packs but I still haven't quilted it...

and my friend miz D made this one for her sister.  It actually took her several different retreats to piece it, but she got the binding on it this summer.

I didn't get pictures of any of the other quilts in progress, but we have another retreat coming up soon.

I also got the binding on this quilt which was very simple to make (from the pattern "Square Deal" found in Amy Smart's Fabulously Fast Quilts) and easy to quilt and it struck me funny to add a little text in the middle (visible on the back more than the front).

Civil War Scavenger

This quilt was made from a batch of blocks a friend wasn't interested in and is the penultimate quilt from my original stack of 22 tops that were ready when Terpsichore arrived. The colors were too dark and low contrast for her tastes. As soon as I saw them I knew what I wanted to do with them. I collected all the civil war reproduction fabrics from my stash and made as many variations on flying geese as I could stand and then layed it all out until I filled in a large rectangle. Adding a few borders and some applique for interest completed the top. I quilted with the back of the quilt face up so I could really see the stitching. I chalked in the vase outline and then added detail free hand. The vines were inspired by a quilt pictured in Quilting Makes the Quilt by Lee Cleland. Once they were all quilted in I went back through and just put as many jacobean flowers in the large spaces as I could cram in there. All the free spaces were then quilted with vines and leaves. There's even a little bird and a butterfly in it. It took me several attempts (putting the quilt on the machine, working for a few hours, taking it back off for a week or more) and lots of scrolling back and forth because I mostly worked freehand, but the net results were pretty good.

Thanks, Thorin, for designing my swirly leaf and tulip (the leaf can be seen at the top left corner of the picture at left)! It never ceases to amaze me how diverse a group of people prove to be very good at quilting!

The only quilt that remains from the original stack is a christmas quilt which will be going on the machine tonight.

More Tiny Triangles

Finally! I just found a copy of this book (I'd been prowling the used bookstores forever). I forget now where I first heard it mentioned, but Marsha McCloskey's feathered star blocks have intrigued me for some time. They aren't any different from any other kind of block except that hers are far more complicated than what you ordinarily see and her color choices are always really cool. So now I have the book and I'm going to do a little experimenting. Stay tuned.

Anyone that has a feathered star block to show off, post here. I want to see anything you've got. Single blocks, tops, finished quilts, whatever.

EDIT:

Carrie left me a comment on this post to share a feathered star block she's made. y'all go look at it at CARRIE'S FEATHER Its gorgeous.

The Perfect Blend

Since the first moment I saw this book I knew I had to find a way to create a quilt that blended my love of quilting with my love of coffee. I'm more the strong pot o' black coffee type than the froo froo latte with extra sprinkles and whipped cream type, but the idea came across really strong in Kerrie Hay's book even though she deals mostly with embroidery blocks.

I took my time and collected fabrics for nearly two years. My friend Rita sent me half a dozen fat quarters once that were absolutely splendid.

Eventually I started making blocks. I wanted the quilt to have a hidden picture feel to it so planning the blocks took quite a while. The project got shelved a couple years back when I started getting excited about entering shows and contests. I hauled it back out about six months ago and finished up all the blocks. Once they were assembled I looked at it for nearly a week before figuring out (with one of my daughters' help) how to border it. As an aside, I will NEVER do this wonky braid border again. It is lovely, but that much ironing just about drove me nuts.

The backing was nearly a no-brainer for me so the sandwich went together quickly. It sat around for a few months waiting to get quilted though. Somehow it seemed an ideal choice to be the quilt that christened the new quilting table. Wow. Remarkably less arm stress on the quilting now that the machine fits flush to the table. Why didn't I do that years ago?

This week I'm showing off the perfect blend. I call it Java Jive. I love jazz and big band music, and the Puppini Sisters did an excellent cover of this tune in their debut album, Betcha Bottom Dollar. Mixing up the different colors of coffee, using tossed coffee mugs as the main quilting motif, and "hiding" the large steaming mug in the quilt blocks all remind me of the "throw it all in there" mix you get with good jazz music.