Happy Halloween!

We had some fun pumpkin carving today. Have a Happy Halloween!

Bloggers' Quilt Festival

This is my first time participating in the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  Thanks for stopping by to have a look. I decided to pull an older quilt that has a really neat story behind it. In 2008 our guild hosted a round robin.  We started off with any block for the center and participants were given instructions to follow for each round.  It was really fun watching the changes every month.

 This was the block I brought.  It was a mystery block that was paper pieced.

Lynn got my quilt first and the instructions were to add a pieced border.  I think the Easter eggs were the perfect touch.

Next the instructions were to make the quilt "not square".  Sandra enhanced it with an egg shape.

Eileen was to add a border, keeping the "not square" shape.  Eileen could see that less was more in this situation and added a border that didn't overpower what was already there.

Robin was next and her instructions were to "Return to square/rectangle."  I got some bonus appliqued butterflies too!

Last of all Marg added the final border and embellishments. Pieced border, ribbon embroidery, hundreds of buttons and a chick!

Then it was my job to quilt it. I quilted this one on my Janome 6600 as it was long before I owned my longarm. I had a lot of fun and pushed myself to do many new things.  (I only broke a few buttons in the process.)

As I didn't want to take away for the cool pieced border I used a facing method instead of a traditional binding to finish the quilt.

Now for a few quilt stats:

Finished size: 25 x 32

Techniques Used: Paper Piecing, applique, embellishments, Round Robin

Quilted by me

Category: Best Wall Hanging

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you again!  Be sure to check out all the eye candy during the Festival.

Curve It Up - Churn Dash

First installment of the Curve It Up Quilt Along complete. It went together beautifully. It's not too late to join in!

Lost City

This is Carol's Lost City Quilt.  It is a free pattern for the new Moda fabric line "Cuzco" by Kate Spain.  You can find it here. (Carol has the fabric at her store.)  I have to admit the the acres of open white spaces had me stumped for awhile, but I am very pleased with the final result.  Deciding what to quilt is always the hardest part.  Once you get that figured out the rest is play time.

I snuck into the neighbour's front yard to take advantage of all the fresh maple leaves on the ground for this photo shoot.  As you can see the leaves were raining down as I took the pictures.

I decided on diagonal lines in the colored portions, and simple curls in the border and sashing strips.

 A double whimsical feather follows the shape of the piecing and gives some movement to the white areas.

I always like to know what the back looks like too.

 I don't always remember to take a before shot, but it is nice to look back and see how much quilting changes the look.

Just takes 2 again!

Surprised?     The last installment of the Just Takes 2 project contained these eight blocks.

We also received layout instructions for Section C. I am glad that I decided to wait until the end to sew all the blocks together as I seem to have a large pocket of purple.  I know I will be able to readjust things later. I am really looking forward to seeing how Kathy's layout looks in comparison ;)!

Have you ever wanted to join in a Quilt-A-Long?  Jenny (Sew Kind of Wonderful) & Helen (HGMR Deco Quilting) are starting a new QAL called "Curve it Up".  You need the Quick Curve Ruler (which I highly suggest you add to you quilting arsenal anyway), 2 yards of background fabric and about 12 fat quarters.  Instructions will be out every two weeks for 6 months.  You will make twelve 16 1/2" traditional blocks that have been tweaked using the QC Ruler.  You can learn all about it here.  I have been rummaging around through my fabric stash and came across another pile of my Northcott Fat Quarter winnings.  I happened to find a background fabric the last time I was out shopping.  They have been waiting for just the right project and this might be it.

Now back to my frame.  I think I finally decided what to do in the large open white spaces...

Just Takes 2

I really had let myself get behind on my Just Takes 2 blocks. I hadn't sewn any since the beginning of August!   I was able to use our guild's UFO day on Saturday to make my way through 8 blocks and finished the rest up today.  Good thing as the next set of instructions comes out tomorrow!  Caught up for about 12 hours - Yay me!    I am pretty happy as to date that is 75 blocks completed!

Set 16 - August 15

I really like how the purple one looks.  The orange one had a shockingly large number of pieces!

Set 17 - September 1

The "crumbs" from the large purple block were the perfect size to use for the row of flying geese.  That was cool.

Set 18 - September 15

Set 19 - October 1

I really like the pink "pretzel" block.  When I was appliqueing the keys down all I could think of was unlocking the Caramilk secret!

Charm Table Topper

Quilting can really make something simple into something quite nice.

I received a charm pack as a thank-you gift at the Kick Ass Country Store Birthday sale a couple of weeks  ago.  Instead of adding to the fabric pile I had Kyla piece this top together for me.  I was busy getting ready for our Thanksgiving company at the time and she was thrilled that the job I had for her wasn't cleaning! I have to say that it is really cool having a teenager who knows enough about pressing and matching seams to just let her go for it.

Found a fat quarter and some backing in my stash.  I added a panto called "A Little Bit This".  I think it added great texture.  Cotton thread on top and So Fine! in the bobbin.

Eileen's Scrappy Squares

This is Eileen's quilt.   I have to admit that when she passed this quilt to me I was shaking a little.  I have a top just like this one, and had not yet figured out how to quilt my own. All I could see when I look at it was a sea of white, and lots of odd shapes.

As a general rule Eileen would prefer something other than feathers on her quilts, I knew it needed something special in those snowball blocks.  Slowly the ideas started coming, and after I developed a plan I really enjoyed the quilting process.

So Fine! thread, Quilter's Dream Blend batting.  Eileen's subtle backing fabric really shows off the quilting. 

Her are a few shots of some of the shopping I did at the Kick Ass Country Store Birthday Sale.  I am just a sucker for batiks on sale!  Some for fun, some to match a project I might want to make bigger.  And a new book and some stencils for inspiration.

 

Nine Patch Pizazz

This lovely quilt belongs to Bev.  She took a bunch of simple nine patch blocks that she won at our local Guild and turned them into something very special.

 The fabrics she chose for the setting triangles, sashing and border surprised and delighted me.  I used the "Fluffy Clouds "panto which is very light and open.  A steel blue cotton thread on top and So Fine thread on the bottom.

This was my first post after my photography lesson from Kathy.  It felt a little bit like a pop quiz.  I don't think I would give myself an A yet, but do feel a little more confident.  I am still struggling with getting a nice shot of the whole quilt.  I will just have to keep practicing.  Thanks for stopping by.