Polka Dots and Spots - Part Two

This is a continuation of a previous blog about the Polka Dots and Spots theme quilt that I've been making.

In order to transfer my idea to my design board, I taped together several sheets of freezer paper.  (I used to "melt" them together with my iron, but my off-brand freezer paper didn't hold the ironing! Note to self: buy the real brand next time).  I added the circle for my inspiration piece, and then free hand sketched as close to my sketch as possible. You'll have to look really close to see my sketch lines - sorry for the poor photography. 

I used this great technique to transfer extra-large circles to foundation paper - either tear-away or water soluble.  You can purchase a set of these gadgets at a drafting supply store.  One part has a pointed end and the other part has the pencil.  Each piece has a slot that fits exactly on a yardstick.  It is basically a huge compass when you're done mounting the parts onto the yardstick.

After the foundation pieces were cut out, they were glue basted to the material, the edges were turned, and all the adjoining edges were machine appliqued to each other.

The next thing was to place some defining parts onto the background.  Those pieces that would inform the rest of the design.   I knew that I wanted to use pinks and greens in graduating shades and offset these with very large polka dot/spot black and white fabrics.  Here is the piece with some of these wedges in place.

I like it so far and I hope you do too!

Polka Dots and Spots - Part One

Clark County Quilters selected "Polka Dots and Spots" for their 2020 quilt show theme.  I like to make quilts for the theme of the show, and encourage others too, so that our display is awesome!

I looked at a lot of pictures on Pinterest and through some of my books and magazines for ideas.  While I'm not a huge polka dot person, I really like a lot of material that has tiny spots on it.  Or even large spots, like Moda grunge dots.  I even made a blouse of Moda grunge dots.  (OK, that was a little off topic.)

I found a great hand dyed piece of fabric from Maureen Schmidt for my inspiration.  Fabrics to match this piece were either pulled from my stash or purchased from Island Quilter.  Here's a picture of the fabrics I have in mind with the inspiration piece. Don't you just love the hand dyed piece?

Here are some of my sketches for this quilt:

I picked the one in the lower left-hand corner and decided the size would be 50" W x 70" H.

I hope you like it so far!

Baby Blanket For Nephew's Family

My husband's nephew and his wife are expecting a baby boy in December.  This little baby blanket made from Minky started as a kit that I purchased from McKay Manor.  They provided both of the fabrics in 30" x 30" pieces, as well as the fluffy navy blue edging.

It was so simple to make this little blanket.  I pinned the edging to the top and basted it in place.  

I then placed the backing on top, right sides together, and sewed around the edges, leaving a small opening to turn the blanket.

And finally sewed close to the edges.

I know that the little baby and his parents will enjoy cuddling in this little Minky blanket.

And I hope you like it too!

Emily's quilt, part Three

This is a continuation of two previous posts about the making of Emily's graduation quilt.

The top was all sewn together and Blue polka dot fabric was used for the borders.   It's 69" x 87".

I have sent the quilt out to be basted and have started to plan the quilting design.  Since this quilt is so white, I plan to use white thread throughout and will try to make sure that the quilting is more modern.  This type of quilt, which is very close to an Irish Chain, has lots of spaces for fancy feathered wreaths and other old fashioned quilting designs.  However, it just seems wrong to hand something that "dated" to a young high school graduate. 

I hope you still make traditional quilts from time to time.  They're kind of fun, even though they are fussy to sew!

The Little Black Hole in my quilting room

I have a little black hole in my quilting room.  It's very similar to the little black hole of the washer and dryer that eats my socks,  the one in the rest of my house that lunches on my car keys, and the one that moves things from drawer and drawer. (Sometimes, it even gobbles them up for good.)

I had cut out all of the 3-1/2" squares for Emily's quilt and placed them on my design board.  Here's a picture to prove that they once all existed.

So, the other day I was vacuuming the room and my vacuum cleaner blew off a ton of the white squares. When I picked them up and put them back in place, I was suddenly missing a bunch of them.  Were they in the vacuum cleaner?  No.  How about under my sewing machine table?  No.  Under the bookcase?  No.  Behind other pieces on the wall? No.  Aagh!  The little black hole was at work.

I resigned myself to having to cut more, but opted to wait until it was absolutely necessary.  Hoping, of course, that they would magically appear.

Well, THEY DID!  As I was sewing together the blocks, one of the blocks had the missing squares all stacked and pinned in place.  I must have been thinking fast as they were flying off the wall and grabbed them up before the vacuum had a chance to eat them.  At least I can tell myself that.  Made me feel very smart indeed.

I hope you solve the unending mystery of the black holes in your house too.  And that you experience days when you feel extra smart.

No Grunge on this quilt - Emily's quilt Part Two

This is a continuation of a previous post about the graduation quilt I'm making for Emily.

I bought some white-on-white fabric just for this quilt.  I had a grunge fabric in my stash that I liked too.  Both of these fabrics were planned to be used in this quilt.  I wasn't sure that I liked the combination.  Most of time, I like to mix up the backgrounds to give the quilt a little more personality.  Originally, I thought that I would add gray fabrics too, but the poor pastels didn't hold up.  Do you mix up the backgrounds too?

Since I was wobbling on the decision to use the grunge fabric, I asked some of my long time quilting friends for input.  Immediately, one of them told me to loose the grunge.  It made the quilt look dirty, which is sometimes the fun part of grunge fabric.  I knew she was right.  It did make this quilt look dirty instead of young and flirty.  Hey, I'm a poet!

So, no grunge on this quilt.  I pulled out some solid white from my stash and cut that up for some of the blocks, and here it is now with the plain white instead of the grunge fabric.  It looks so much better now.

I hope you have a posse that gives you honest feedback too.

Painted art quilt for class

I've been asked to teach a class to my quilt guild about how to paint an art quilt.

All of the pieces that I've painted of flowers are gone.  One was given to the person who took the picture.  One was sold to a fiber art collector. One was donated to a non-profit for a fundraiser.  One was given to a member of my small quilt group.  So, I couldn't use any of them as my class sample.

September is the due date for this little quilt, so that the class can be advertised well in advance of the January class date.  It's kind of cool that our quilt guild holds classes once a year that are taught by members for members only.  The classes are really cheap, because the teachers donate their time and only charge for kits, if needed.

I'm going to co-teach with another member of my small quilt group, since she loves to paint and is very creative.  We decided to pick something easy and small so that our students can complete the piece in the one-day class.   Here is the picture we chose. 

I'll show you more when I get it painted!