Quilting

This quilt (Turnstile, as published in the May/June 2004 issue of Fons and Porter Love of Quilting magazine, design by Kay Kingsley of Indiana) is completed, quilted and bound, and being donated to my church for a fundraiser. With that project completed, it was time to get back to my Road to Indy quilt. I was very proud of the fact that I had made all 96 half-square triangles and decided to lay them out on the design wall. That is when I discovered that I didn't have anywhere near enough. Oops. I went back to my calculations and realized that I should have doubled the amount. I needed 192 half-square triangles. I did not have enough background material to do these additional pieces, so I went through my stash and found another that will blend well (I hope). For this amount of half-square triangles I use Triangle Paper. As you can see below, my paper is old (from 1991) and has been through a flood. It still works though and because it is old and brittle, it tears off very easily. (Smile)

Here are the two background fabrics. From a galloping horse no one will know there are two different fabrics.
I hope everyone is having a good weekend with plenty of time to sew, read, and enjoy time with your family.

Fusing Fun

The quilt guild I belong to (Northwest Suburban Quilter's Guild) is quite large and we are lucky to be able to afford really good speakers. Thursday night our speaker was Laura Wasilowski - http://www.artfabrik.com/ - who gave us an evening full of laughs, ideas, and eye candy (colorful quilts). I was on a waiting list to take her class today and fortunately an opening became availabe. I have never tried my hand at "art" quilts, but she helped free up all of us who are uptight follow-the-pattern quilters. Below is what I did in the class today. There is more work to be done - decorative stitching, probably some beads or buttons, quilting and binding.I am proud to say that I am now an Iron Maiden - or graduate of the Chicago School of Fusing. This little badge is proof positive.

Not only did I enjoy my day at class, but I also had the added benefit of making a new friend, Paige Alaine (www.paigealaine.com) , who shared table space with me.

My advice for today - Take a class - learn how to do something you haven't tried before - make new friends.

Spring Blossoms and stitching

The tree in my front yard is showing off today. It is a cloudy day and these pink blossoms seem to produce their own sunshine. While watching American Idol and Dancing With The Stars, I was able to get a little stitching done on this LHN Necessities Sampler.
Yesterday I made a trip to the LNS to sign up for a class. I couldn't resist also purchasing some La-D-Da charts. Don't know when I will ever do them, but just in case I run out of stuff to do............
Finally, this is the tree in my back yard, heavy with fluffy white blossoms.
I hope the beauty of Spring is showing itself in your area too.

Quilting with the young people

The young people at my church are working on projects to earn some money. My friend Lindsay and I decided to help them make two Christmas crazy 9-patch quilts as auction items. We had two sewing sessions with the young people and they managed to get some blocks completed and most of the blocks on their way to completion. Above are some of the finished blocks randomly placed on my design wall. The next step is to sew the blocks together and add a few borders. Lindsay and I will do this finishing-up process.
The kids seemed to enjoy using the machines and even enjoyed the ironing process. The hardest part for them was getting fairly straight quarter inch seams. Fortunately, this crazy 9-patch pattern is very forgiving and the kids can be proud of their work.