Catching Up....Again

When I returned from Asilomar, I had quite a bit of my lone star completed. For the first time EVER, I went with a clear plan in mind. I had my strips cut and knew where I wanted to put them, so I was able to start sewing almost immediately!

Jan Krentz is a wonderful teacher; if you have any interest at all in making a lone star, take a class from her. You won't be sorry!!

 This is a pic of my original diamond design. I made a mock up of it for my pattern and followed it while putting my diamonds together.

 

A completed diamond, with the fabric in strips next to it for easy assembly. It was supposed to be foolproof and it was...almost. I only had one minor goof that had to be fixed when I got two fabrics out of order. 

 

When it was completed, I auditioned the black fabric for the background prior to cutting. Then others were getting in on the "try this" phase. Debbie suggested the dots on the center star; I vetoed that suggestion!!

 

This is what I have so far at home. As you can see, my "Y" seams didn't go as smoothly as I'd hoped.  Fortunately, my longarmer knows the old "starch and steam" trick and I think she can quilt those corners just fine! My only other thought, and I'll know this when I have all four braided borders finished, is whether I want another black border on the outside? Or maybe just black binding?  What do you think??

I'm happy with how this is going so far (except I keep staring at those wonky square bits--I bet I end up pulling them off and fixing them!) and I love that my plan of the black diamonds leading out worked as well as I'd hoped. 

When completed (please note: I said "when," not "if"), it will be the first project ever from a class at Empty Spools. I'm hoping this means I'm turning over a new leaf!!

Dory

Empty Spools 2015

Today is the last day of class for Session 2 of the Empty Spools Seminars at Asilomar. I will be sad to be packing up, but I'm not going home! From here, I go to Oakland to visit my granddaughter again and then to Sebastopol to see my other step-daughter and my brother!  Fun!!

If I've been paying attention and if my plans don't change, this is what I will be working towards this session.

 

I'll be in Jan Krentz' Lone Star class.   I actually used my EQ7 program and uploaded photos of my fabrics and then played and played until I came up with something I liked. I made the mock up and cut the strips prior to leaving home.  I didn't sew them though, as I was too afraid I'd change my mind. The best thing...this fabric is ALL in my stash! I didn't buy anything (okay, I didn't buy anything as of the writing of this post)

I'll post a pic of my progress when  return...I know you're all just on pins and needles, right???

Dory

Grandbaby Quilt!!

Nope...not my granddaughter. This one is for Carolyn's granddaughter, Addy. Its so bright! I love it.

 

 Kid quilts just don't require lots of quilting. To keep this one soft and nice, I just did loops and double loops allover. It does have wool batting though, so the texture is great!

 

Thanks for stopping by!!

Dory

Its Pumpkin Time!!

Isn't Joyce's quilt adorable?  I love these pumpkins and how fun they are!!

 

I've never seen this pattern, but from what others have told me, Joyce did some extras. I don't think the original had the same sashing and there was something about the actual blocks as well.  I don't remember what, but whatever it was, it worked!

 

I did the same geometric border (I'm really loving it for texture) as I did in Betty's QOV. The sashing has leaves with that same geometric in the cornerstones. Stippling behind and in the pumpkins and then a different design in each inner square...in ORANGE thread.  I rarely do that, but decided to chance it this time.  

I think it worked out okay. What do you think??

Small shot of the back so that you can see the border and sashing designs more clearly. 

My Country Quilt of Valor

This quilt is from a new Cabin Fever Quilters customer, Betty. She made this for her son from the Fons & Porter magazine pattern. I love patriotic quilts and this one is no exception. Red is one of my favorite colors and the red Betty used in this is just perfect.

 

Quilting decisions on this one were a bit harder to come by. I was fine with the borders and the log cabin blocks, but those split Ohio Stars had me thinking.  I didn't want to change thread in each of the parts; I wanted to do something to help with continuity. Luckily another quilting friend suggested stitching both the red and blue portions with blue thread.  I still had to change to white thread for the white parts change to red for the red borders, but I think having the OS blocks be all one thread color in the red/blue parts worked.

 

The border design, above, was a new one for me. I'd just seen it done by Cindy Roth over at Longarm University and wanted to try it...this seemed like the perfect quilt for it. Its all freehand with no rulers (except the travelling diagonal line) and is so forgiving!

Below is a pic showing a bit more of the overall design.

 

My final design idea was to put this star in the corner using blue thread to pick up the blue in the blocks. I didn't want the red parts of the OS blocks to be the only blue on red quilting.

And, of course...a few shots of the back.

 

I just love when people do plain backs; the quiltling is so fun!!!

 Dory