July Goals

As you know, I took a 2-month sabbatical from blogging. I didn't really plan it, it just happened. As a result, I haven't written any goals since April. Here's how I did on those goals:

1. Finish the 3rd border and make the 4th border for my Fibonacci's Challenge quilt. I finished the 3rd border, but am still working on my final border. Here's how it looks with the 3rd border. 

2. Make label for my QOV quilt. Finished. See here.

3. Finish top of All-Star UFO quilt. Haven't gotten any further on this one.

4. Embellish the March and April seams of CQJP 2013. Done. Click here for March and here for April.

I had three extra credit projects in April:

1. Finish 8 setting triangles for Easy Street. This is my current leaders/enders project, so there's a good chance it will get accomplished. Still working on this one.

2. Quilt McKenna Ryan 12" mini-quilt. Finished. Plus I mounted this and my two other McKenna Ryan quilts on 12" X 12" canvas stretchers. They are now hanging on the wall over the jetted tub in our master bathroom. There are no windows in there, so the lighting is terrible...sorry.

3. Baste my AP and Q Mystery Quilt. With my new J'aime Paris project, this has gotten pushed to the back burner. Maybe I'll have this quilt basted before the end of this year and quilted by the end of next year!!!

July Goals:

1. Finish quilting and then bind J'aime Paris (see tomorrow's Design Wall post for more info on this new quilt).

2. Make the 4th border for my Fibonacci's Challenge quilt.

3. Finish top of All-Star UFO quilt.

4. Embellish the May, June, and July seams of CQJP 2013 (Okay, this goal is probably way too ambitious).

I have two extra credit projects this month:

1. Finish 8 setting triangles for Easy Street, my current leaders/enders project.

2. Totally finish Fibonacci's Challenge quilt (quilt, bind, and label) so I can enter it into the show that is put on each August by the quilt shop that sponsored this challenge.

Here's the poster I made for my studio wall:

Pop over to Judy's to see how other quilters are doing on their monthly goals.

Happy stitching!

Bloglovin' ~ I'm claiming this blog

Follow">http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/5266199/?claim=7zqukxzebzp">Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Crazies at International Quilt Festival ~ Chicago

Have you heard the good news? International Quilt Festival returned to Chicago this summer! That's a lot closer for me than Ohio, so I took a little trip there last week. I took tons of photos, but today I'm just going to show you some of the crazy quilts that were displayed, since crazies often get overlooked. Keep in mind that the lighting's not great, the quilts are hung on black fabric, and it's not an ideal photo-taking situation, so some of my photos aren't all real good!

This first quilt had cute dogs appliqued on a neutral background, surrounded by crazy patches. Unfortunately, it was one of the very first quilts I saw, and I didn't take note of the title or the quilter's name. If you know this information, please leave it in the comments and I'll add the info, so I can give credit to the quilter.

This second crazy is called "The Shoulders I Stand Upon", by Carmen Huggins. She put black patches to give the eye a rest from all the craziness. I love all her beading..

This house quilt is called "Beach House Crazy Quilt" by Carli Heinrichs. Lots of cheerful colors.

Susan Jaenen-Griffin made "Diversity". I love how she made the map of Canada and included lots of regional details.

Isn't it fun how different from each other these crazy quilts are? I hope that we continue to see more crazy quilts at big (and small) quilt shows in the future!

Happy stitching!

I'm Baaaaack!!!!!

Hello again!

I didn't plan on taking a two-month break from blogging, but it was a crazy spring: both boys ran track (one high school and one middle school), so many weeks we had 4 track meets per week; plus the normal craziness of end of the school year stuff when you work in an elementary school; plus my oldest child graduated from high school; plus we had out-of-town relatives visit for the graduation festivities; plus we got a new puppy two weeks ago.

Isn't she cute? Her name is Jetta (we just kept the name the shelter had given her) and she's a black lab/Chesapeake retriever mix. She is now 12 weeks old.

Although I haven't been blogging lately, I have been working on some quilt projects.

Here's the latest on my patriotic hexie quilt for Quilts of Valor. My daughter and I have been watching old DVD's of the TV show Monk, and I add a few hexies while we watch. Yesterday I had to pick up something for the puppy, and so I took a detour to a quilt shop that I've only been to once before. I bought a few more patriotic fabrics that I haven't seen at any of my local quilt shops. This is a perfect time to stock up on patriotic fabrics :)

Edited: The flag embroidery pattern came from Carole Samples' book, Treasury of Crazy Quilt Stitches.

I just realized that I need to take some photos of the other things I've been working on, so I guess I'll have to post those later on.

Happy stitching!

Hexie organization

I've decided that I will need to be organized with my hexie project. I had this basket with wooden dividers that was being under-used in a closet, so I cleaned it out and claimed it for hexies.

In the back, you can see one blue hexie that's ready to be sewn on. In the two empty slots, I will put white hexies and embroidered hexies. On the right are my 2" templates from Paper Pieces and a package of small binder clips.

In the front, I have my red and white threads. Then some red hexies that are ready to go in the quilt. Next is a coffee mug with a small pair of scissors inside. I'm also using this mug to put my scraps and thread clippings into. As a side note, I got the mug when I graduated from junior high school many years ago! The mug never had a handle, so it fits perfectly in this spot. To the right of the mug is a spot to put hexies that I've basted but not pressed yet.

I've sewn three red hexies onto the white flag embroidered hexie, but they are not sewn to each other yet.

Happy stitching!

Back to the Drawing Board with Fibonacci

A few weeks ago, I posted about this month's border requirements for the Fibonacci's Challenge quilt, which included making some Tri-Recs units with the Tri-Recs rulers. I had made up one sample block with a 4-pointed star. Susan at desertskyquilts commented that she usually makes the stars with the points going the other way. I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of that!

So I made a sample block of that version, and I really like this star. I asked my 11-year-old which version he liked better with the rest of the quilt, and he said this 8-pointed star. He is quite proud of himself for helping me make design decisions on two of the borders for Fibonacci! I would say he might be a future quilt-maker, but he is so full of energy, I cannot see him sitting still long enough to do any piecing. For now, he is my design consultant!

Of course, in the actual quilt, I will be using Christmas quilts to match the rest of the quilt! I've started cutting out the pieces, but haven't sewn any together yet.

See what others are doing at Judy's.

Happy stitching!

CQJP April

I've finished all my April seams for CQJP 2013. I'm so happy to be done on time!

I think I got all of these seam ideas from Carole Samples' book Treasury of Crazy Quilt Stitches. As usual, all the fabrics are black, but some look grayish in the photo, probably because of where the sun was when I took the picture.

Here's how the whole quilt looks so far. April's section is on the middle right.