Monday, October 7, 2013

Quilt Along - Fall

After checking out Lori's quilt along at http://humblequilts.blogspot.com/  just had to try it. I dug through my pre-traded 9-patches. I found one particular one that was uglier than the rest. She challenged us to use scraps. Since the block was green and orange kinda like fall colors, I looked through my triangle stash and pulled out the ones that looked like they would go. I thought Purple would look great next to the 9-patch. I actually sewed the purple strip on first and then decided it needed the lighter green strip.    



 I finished this yesterday.

Tanya

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Finishing up loose ends...

After making the flying Geese quilt in the previous post I decided to see how many small or Doll quilts I had.  I found a Pink ad Green Basket quilt I made about 4 years ago, There was a tiny twister quilt I completed at the Shop Hop last year, and an Amish 9-patch that I picked up at the Guild auction about a year ago. But the yellow/green basket had the backing and batting ready. In the box where I found this little quilt was a Borders quilt. Actually the borders quilt took up 2 plastic boxes. So if I finished the quilt I would have 2 empty boxes. It was close to completion and it still lacked a few borders. But after opening the boxes and examining what exactly needed to happen next I knew why it sat so long. The black floral was printed 40" , there were spaces between the motifs but it was still a challenge to make it fit in a pleasing manner. So I laid out the quilt and after letting it sit on the floor for over 2 days my daughter finally helped me to decide the final color placement. She is so good no wonder she loves to work with Cosmetics. Here is a corner of the quilt. After It is quilted I hope to post a photo of the completed quilt.


Over 3 weekends I completed the top. Now how to quilt this? Hmmm, I'll probably do some doodles and then decide. 
I decided to quilt the little baskets. I found a pink and green thread to quilt with. I did not want the
green to show on the pink areas. Nor did I want the pink to show on the back. I decided to ditch quilt
around the blocks and the baskets. Then I went through my templates and found a leaf shape. I did not
want to mark on this quilt so I traced the leaf shape onto freezer paper. I used this shape in the alternate blocks and the border.




Here is the back

































Dealing with UFO's

It has been a while since I posted. Life gets crazy sometimes and mine has been a roller-coaster. I have been slowly getting back in the swing of things. Earlier in spring I completed several quilts for our guilds Quilt Show. My Many Heart Strings I had been hand quilting on and off for several years and finally pushed through the finishing stage to have it hang in the show. I was delighted it won a red-ribbon (2nd place).


Over the years I was constantly searching for the "New" project. Something in my brain would ignite a tiny "Thrill feeling" just thinking about starting something new. Most of the time I would just look through magazines or patterns and not be tempted at all but just enjoyed the seek. Other  times I would purchase special piece of fabric for a "Someday" quilt.  After painstakingly completing several tops for the Quilt Show I realized that I need to start completing what I started. So I decided to evaluate my UFO's.
I have had a long UFO List for years. The past few years I've tried to prioritize but, I made several levels (1) long term projects, (2) on hold, (3) current, (4) tops to assemble (5) completed tops (6) tops  basted and quilting.

As I cam across trying to get fabrics together for my current list. I came  across several flying geese blocks that had been shoved into the bottom of my scrap barrel. After playing with these I realized it would make a quick Doll sized quilt.  I only needed the brown print and I purchased that the next day I worked. This little quilt came together so fast and the quilting was even faster. I used red thread to ditch quilt and a red backing.



This sweet doll I found at an antique store. She was originally made in 1990's. A Daisy Kingdom Doll. So naturally I named her Daisy. I think she needs a few more quilts don't you?
Well that's all for this post. I really miss this Blog. 

Tanya