Quilt Guild

Boy, it has been busy for me these last couple of months! Lots happening including my daughter graduating from Temple University! Yea Alyssa! Here is the graduate with her brothers- aren't they all wonderful? (sorry, proud parent moment!)


I wanted to share what we worked on at our quilt guild recently, but I had to wait until after our guild meeting!

Back in January, we started a Mother's Day Swap. Everyone who wanted to participate put 5 FQs in a brown lunch bag along with their name. And we traded bags. No one was supposed to know who got their bag and we were to take them home and make something. Anything. Each person was allowed to include with their fabric one request such as "please don't make me a hat"! We could add anything to the stash we were given, but we had to use all the fabrics they gave us!


The exchange of completed projects would take place at our May meeting- hence the Mother's Day reference. The organizer said it would be fun to see who recognized their fabrics when everything was all done. I thought, of course people will recognize their stuff- they picked it!

Boy was I wrong! What fun reveal night was- a lot of people did not recognize their fabrics once they were created into a beautiful quilt,tote bag, apron or table runner (we had a lot of runners- I made one too!). One quilter made a beautiful doll!
So I thought I would show you what I made.

I wish I had thought to take a picture of the 5 fabrics I had been given- but I didn't. I had a very interesting Autralian print, two greens, a peachy orange fabric and a green, brown and white print. Hmmm.. what to do? Luckily for me, my quilter had included a full half yard of the Aussie print. So I decide to use that for the border and make a runner from our pattern Pinpoint. I made up some pinwheel blocks and after I had them all sewn together decided they were too busy. So, I took the runner apart, took some of the blocks apart and I made some more blocks- but not pinwheels. Much better! Here is the front of the runner.



Then, I decided I did not want to waste the other pieces, so I made pinwheel blocks from the rest and used them for a fun, pieced back. I only had small scraps left! I added only a rich brown to the mix, which I used in the back and for the praire points and binding. Here is part of the back.


After that I just needed to baste, do some quilting, make a label and I was done.

Not. I decided the top still needed a little something. In the original pattern, I had added some yo-yos to the center of the pinwheels but that did not seem to go with this runner. So off to the store to find some fun buttons! Perfect!




I used three different buttons and they added just the right touch to this runner! This leaf button is my favorite one.







I have to admit, when I first saw the fabrics, I felt they were a challenge but I think it came out great! And I think the owner liked it- that is the most important part!

I hope we do this again next year!

Happy quilting
Kate

Random Acts of Quilting Kindness

I mentioned a while ago that I am participating in a Block of the Month sponsored by 3 Creative Studios. Last month when I posted the picture of my block, I mentioned that I am running out of one of my fabrics and I have not been able to find anymore.
Well....

What a great group! A few of them checked their stashes and one of the quilters sent me fabric from Belgium! How nice was that? I am thrilled. The fabric is not an exact match but it is really close and I think will work out great.

Don't you just love quilters?

Happy quilting!
Kate

Naming

Naming things is hard. Take for example, naming children. There are tons of books and web sites to help parents name their child. It is something that every parent agonizes over- what is the best name? How do I name my child something special, that best represents who they are?
Patterns are the same. How do you come up with a name that is unique, and best represents the design?

Recently, I have been working on two of our newer patterns. And they have had a few names!

The first one has been around since last year, and we have been tossing around a few names. One was Flower Pot Purse. Not so great, but since the bag shape resembles a flower pot....
Isn't it cute though?

So after a few fits and starts, it has a new name. Sweet Pea.
It's a long story about how we got there, but it is to be part of a small series. The other pattern we have been working on is another bag. A hobo style bag. So, of course, it's first name had Hobo in it. I wanted to name it after my daughter Alyssa and since we were using charm squares for one version, it's early name was Alyssa's Charming Hobo Bag. A little wordy!

Then to be cute, we tried calling it a Boho Bag. So it was Alyssa's Boho Bag. Nope. Stike Two.
Without a good name, the pattern sat around for a while. We designed other things and ignored it.
Can't do that with kids!


So, now it will be called Sweet Alyssum. Today I was working on a charm square version of the bag using a charm pack I bought a few years ago. It is in bright, spring colors and very fun. I cut the charm squares, pieced them together and then quilted the outside fabric. I love it!


Here is a close up of the quilting I did- I used a fun stitch on the machine and some great varigated thread.







Then I cut out the bag pieces. It was hard to cut into the fabric- it was so pretty!
And I may have to figure out what to do with the leftovers... there is not much, but I hate to throw it away!


So, here is one side of the bag. Won't it be great? I can't wait to see it all done!


Happy quilting!
Kate

Post Quilt show

What a great show! If any of you have never been, the Long Island Quilter's Society quilt show is very nice. We saw some lovely quilts and met a lot of great quilters.

Hope to see you all again soon!

Happy quilting
Kate

LI Quilt Show

We will be vending this weekend at the Long Island Quilter's Society Quilt Show. It will be held at the Garden City Field House, Garden City, LI on Sat 3/20 from 10am-5pm and Sun 3/21 from 10am -4 pm. Stop by if you are close by. It should be a great show-the theme is "Asian Inspired".
I'll be there, leg brace and all!

This is a picture of a Four Star tote I made to sell at the booth- usually I choose a color scheme that is not so subtle but I really like this one.



Have a great weekend!
Happy quilting
Kate

A Lovely Week

This has been a lovely week. My daughter and her good friend C.J. just spent part of their Spring Break week with us. They hung out, went to Boston, went hiking and saw friends. It was wonderful having them around. We areally enjoyed it. So did the kitty- she got lots of attention and had more choices of who to cuddle with.

This weekend I also managed to write the directions- at least most of the directions- for 2 new quilts! How cool is that! I have had the ideas hanging around for a while, and this weekend the writing muse was strong so I went for it.

Now I have to make them! That's the fun part.

Happy quilting
Kate

Pushing It

So... I have a hard time with limits. I am now 4 weeks post op this knee surgery and I am still only supposed to be up on it for maybe 15-20 min at a time. It is still swelling up quite a bit at times.

But... I have not been able to sew since I had the surgery. Oh trust me, I tried a few times, but with a long leg brace on it just wasn't comfortable! Last Thursday I went into a short knee brace- yea!- and so today I thought I would try a little sewing.

Hmmm... I told myself I would only sew a few minutes. So hard to do!

I have been participating in a BOM thru 3 Creative Studios and I only had a few days left to do the next block. So here it is.


I have also been working on a new pattern- it's a cute little bag and I have had one cut out and partially made for a while. So I worked on that as well. I will post a picture when it is done.

So now I am back on the couch, leg elevated with ice. Like a good girl. No one will ever know!

Happy quilting
Kate