Blogger's Quilt Festival - Spring 2012

It's that time again.  The spring version of the Bloggers' Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side.  What a great way to see a quilt show and never leave your recliner. 

This is my 4th time to join in the festival.  It gets harder every time to pick just one quilt to showcase,   I've loved the creative process with each project and to date haven't made a quilt where "What was I thinking?" has been the first thought that came to mind when it was completed.  The subject of this post was a long time in the planning stages, but the end result was worth the wait. 

Have you ever come across a piece of fabric that just speaks to you?  You see it and know it's just the perfect focus piece for a project for someone special.  About 5 years ago, I spied just such a special fabric when I was innocently pursuing fabrics on line. 

The rich colors of the Geisha caught my eye.  My brother's daughter loves the Asian culture.  This was just the right piece for a quilt for her.  Once it arrived, the thought processes went into high gear, picking the coordinating fabrics and trying to find just the right quilt pattern to showcase this piece.  The Geisha is about 20 inches tall, so the first thought was to use it as a central panel.  Everything I came up with was way to dark and heavy.  I wanted to use a dark blue and gold in the setting fabrics.  I'd come back to the design board every few months, but still couldn't come up with a setting that worked.  After about 4 years of playing around with the the formal medallion set, the idea to offset the panel and make it more scrappy came to mind.  That was the right path.  So about 5 years after I bought the fabric, the Geisha quilt was finished. 

Trudy Lindemann did the quilting. A beautiful all over fan design,

mainly in dark blue thread.  But spread out over the quilt is an occasional gold fan.  In the Geisha panel the quilting is a combination of outline and ripples that make the blue background look like water. 

I had hoped to give the completed quilt to my niece for Christmas last year, but I only managed to finish the top.  So she got the top with a note that I'd finish it for her after the new year.  Now it's all bound and labeled, just waiting till we make the trip back home so I can give her the completed quilt. 

Thanks for letting me share one of my favorite projects.  Check out all the other gorgeous eye candy posted on the Bloggers' Quilt Festival. 

Design Wall Monday - April 23rd

For the second weekend in a row, some sewing happened both days.  That's a rare thing these days it seems.  Saturday morning was spent with Drama Teen and the rest of her school's speech team at a competition in Tulsa.  She attends a small school, so there were only 5 of them on the team.  Every one of them placed in their respective events.  Not bad for a small school.  This was DT's first speech competition.  She was hoping for a third place finish and was absolutely stunned to get first in her division.  Getting team pictures was easy, for a change there were no arguments from the kids when asked to smile for the camera.  They couldn't keep the silly grins off their faces.  It was nice to see those smiles, as they had all been really nervous during the competition.

OK, I'm done with the "proud mom" stuff, on to the quilting stuff.    As of this morning there is nothing up on the design wall as I finished up the binding for the Geisha quilt on Friday.

The label was made on Saturday and sewn onto the quilt on Sunday. 

It's hard to get a good picture of the whole quilt, but I made an attempt.  The outer border print is gold Chinese characters printed in columns.  It just doesn't photograph well. 

Trudy quilted a fan type design in blue across most of the quilt, but she put in a few gold ones here and there as accents.  

She custom quilted around the Geisha in the main panel and filled in the blue background with swirls. 

I'm happy with how it came out.  My niece has already seen the top as it was a Christmas gift that didn't make it to the quilted stage in time for the holiday.  She loved the top when she opened it.  This one is a little hard to part with, even the Drama Teen will be sorry to see this one go.  But as I reminded her, we'll be able to see it when we visit.   It's going to a good home.  

To see what's up on design walls else where, check out Patchwork Times. 
   

Design Wall Monday - December 26th

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.  I certainly did.  The last week was a shopping and wrapping frenzy around Life in Pieces.  Manic sewing was also well in evidence as can be seen in my late bedtimes on a few nights last week.  Thankfully, I did "finish" two Christmas gifts during those late hours.  The last two borders were added to the Geisha quilt so I could at least wrap a finished top up for my niece. 

My niece was thrilled with the top.  I'll get the back assembled this next week, then get it off to Trudy for quilting. 

I finally got the binding on the Flurry quilt about noon on Friday.  Leaving me just enough time to get photographs before it was wrapped and loaded up in the car as a gift for one of my sister-in-law's. 

She liked her gift as well.  She likes both the front and back.  My Guy and Kiddo like the back of this quilt better than the front. 

Trudy quilted this using holly leaves and berries along with a few snow flakes here and there. 

Trudy did a wonderful job as usual. 

The only thing left on the design wall is the Fat Quarter Stars Quilt Along, but I've not made any progress on that this week due to the aforementioned manic Christmas sewing. 

I'm off this next week and have plans to do some sewing room clean up and reorg, along with some significant piecing.  To see what everyone else has been up to, check out Judy's Patchwork Times for more design walls. 

Design Wall Monday - December 19th

It's Monday, Christmas is Sunday.  I have a lot to do between now and then.  How about you? 

Not much sewing going on here in the last couple of weeks. Between holiday prep and work stuff, it's just been hard to get into the sewing room.  I didn't bother to post last Monday, nothing had changed up on the design wall.  I have snuck in a few minutes of sewing here and there this weekend, so do have a small amount of progress to show.  I'm almost done with the borders for the Geisha quilt. 

The last border looks very different depending upon the lighting.  It has a lot of reflective gold in it.  It really does look much better in person than it does in the photo.  All that's left are the horizontal borders.  Those are sewn and cut to size, I just didn't have time last night to get them attached.  How I managed to pick two border fabrics that were directional I don't know.  Must not have been focusing on the color part and not the assembly part. 

Hopefully the Geisha top will be done today.  I still have to label one quilt and put the binding on a second before Christmas.  I'm getting there slowly but surely. 

That's what's up on my design wall.  Check out the other design wall goodies by stopping by Patchwork Times. 

Design Wall Monday - December 5th

How's the Christmas preparations going?  If I were giving myself grades, I'd get an A in shopping and a F in holiday decorating and gift wrapping.  Just haven't gotten there yet.  Mainly because I've been trying really hard to finish the Geisha quilt.  I made good progress on Saturday till I realized that the fabric choice for my first border was just lousy.  Of course I didn't realize that until I had both vertical borders sewn on.  After some playing around on the design wall and a consult with My Guy, I unsewed the lousy choice, cut new borders and tried again.

I still have two more sets of borders to add.  This may have to be wrapped up as a completed top for Christmas with the promise the new owner will get it back quilted after the first of the year.  We'll see.  The tree is not up, nor are any gifts wrapped.  Kiddo's Christmas program is this week, plus she has a swim meet this weekend.  Time to sew is going to be a precious commodity this week. 

On the other design wall are the first 5 blocks from Moose on the Porch Quilts Fat Quarter Stars Quilt Along.  

These blocks have been assembled as leaders and enders while I've been working on the Geisha quilt.  I know the block in the lower left stands out since it's the only one that has red corners.  There are still 7 blocks left, so I'm hoping there are a couple more blocks with the corners in the set.  Other than that, I'm pretty happy with how this project is progressing.

That's it for me this week.  Hope your holiday preparations are going well.  I'm hoping to sit down for a few minutes this evening with a cup of tea to check out all the other design walls over at Patchwork Times. 

Design Wall Monday - November 28th

Have you recovered from the all the festivities and shopping of last weekend?   I didn't do any Christmas shopping this weekend.  I did a bunch of cyber shopping last Wednesday before the holiday.  I checked out a few of the Cyber Monday deals this morning but haven't seen anything tempting as yet. 

It's Monday, so it's time to show what's up on the design wall.  I've not posted the last couple of weeks due to business travel and other family obligations.  I'm still working on the Geisha quilt.  I managed to get the sashing all done before we left for the holiday last week.

Now I just need to add the borders, which hopefully will happen this week.  I'm not sure this one is going to get done for Christmas.  I'll keep working on it and we'll see if it slides in under the wire. 

To see what else is up on design walls this week, check out Judy's Patchwork Times. 

Design Wall Monday - November 7th

I'm a bit groggy this morning.  Supposedly we are sleeping later, but we went to bed later too.  At least the aftershocks from Saturday's earthquake didn't keep us up or wake us up.  What a weird weekend. 

We were actually home this weekend.  Kiddo had no games, no school stuff to go to.  She did get started on her science fair project, but other than having to spend a few minutes as one of her study subjects, she didn't need much from Mom. 

Since we were home, I did manage to get some significant sewing done this weekend.  I finished all the blocks for the Geisha quilt.  I've put them up on the design wall to play with placement. 

Hopefully I'll have time to play with the layout tonight and get started on the sashing.  I'm using the same dark blue in the sashing as was used in the center frame of the block.  The fabric in the large Geisha panel was the inspiration for this quilt.  I found it on line several years ago and just loved it.  It just took me a while to come up with the quilt to highlight it. 

So that's my design wall this week.  Click over to Judy's Patchwork Times to post your design wall and check out what's been going up on other design walls. 

Design Wall Monday - October 31st

Happy Halloween!  We're ready for tonight's trick or treaters.  My Guy and Kiddo spent last evening carving pumpkins.  I think they've been watching too much of "Halloween Wars" on the Food Network.  This year we will have a vampire and a mummy greating the trick or treaters tonight.  (I was initially alarmed when My Guy popped into my sewing room and asked if we had a roll of gauze bandages anywhere in the house.)

This Halloween is a bit sad for me.,  Kiddo will not be out pounding the pavement in search of candy this year for the first time since she was 2.  At 12, she could probably squeeze out one more year, but at 5' 2" Kiddo looks a lot older than she is.  There is a costume party on her schedule tonight, so she's not terribly bummed. 

Since it is Monday, it's time to show what's up on the design wall.  I got the Flurry binding sewn yesterday, but that's laying on the cutting table, not up on the design wall.  That's my only "new" project this week.  I've made some progress on the Geisha blocks.

Only 11 more blocks to frame before I can start working on the sashing, so I'm more than half way there.  

That's it for me this week.  Check out more Halloween eye candy over at Judy's Patchwork Times. 

Design Wall Monday - October 24th

Monday, already?  Most of last week I was lucky enough to be on vacation, though the first two days of the week I was out of town on business.  It's hard to do much on the blog when I'm traveling for work, so there was no Design Wall post last week.  I'll make up for it this week.

Block 2 for the Moose on the Porch Fat Quarter Stars Quilt along is done. 

My block is simpler than the pattern provided.  I just liked the cleaner look, especially when paired with the first block.

All the blocks for the purple and yellow quilt have been sewn together.  

The original pattern didn't use borders, but I'm going to add a couple.  That may mean ordering some fabric as most of the purple I have left is all as fat quarters.  I really like how this one is turning out.  This UFO almost didn't get finished becuase I wasn't thrilled with the first 3 blocks made in the class.  It definitely deserved a second chance. 

Progress was also made on the Geisha quilt.

I'm not setting the blocks this way, there will be dark blue sashing between the blocks in the final quilt. 

That's it for my design wall.  Hop over to Judy's Patchwork Times to see other design walls. 

Design Wall - October 10th

It was a nice weekend here.  We got some much needed rain.  Even better, My Guy made it home after 4 weeks of being overseas.  He had asked me to have some Starbucks coffee waiting for him in car.  Apparently it's very hard to find brewed coffee in the UK and he really wanted a good cup of coffee.  It's good to have him home.

Since Sunday was spent shopping with Kiddo before we headed to the airport, I didn't get as much sewing room time as I normally do.  Even so, progress was made on Geisha Quilt.

 
Corners have been added to all the fussy cut blocks.  Now I need to cut and assemble the "frames" for these blocks.   I also finally got myself in gear and finished up the first block for the Fat Quarter Stars Quilt along. 

This is the first time I've used black, red and white in a quilt.   I'm liking how they work together.    When I picked out the bundle of fat quarters for this project, I didn't realize just how many of the fabrics have stripes.  That may make some of the future stars a bit challenging to piece.

That's it for my design wall this week.  To see what other creations are under construction, check out Judy's Patchwork Times. 

Design Wall - October 3rd

It was a busy weekend, I'm almost glad it's Monday.  I thought I was spending Saturday morning watching Kiddo play volleyball, instead we spent a good chunk of the morning at one of the after hours clinic.  Kiddo is mostly fine, it only hurts when she walks.  We're not sure what she did, but she definitely hurt something when she made a dive for one of the balls.  So for now no VB or swimming until Kiddo sees her primary care physician, which should happen today.  The rest of Saturday was taken up with preparations for Kiddo's 1st middle school dance of the year.  It's amazing what you can do with a $5 windbreaker from Goodwill and iron on letters.  Add in a very cool badge with a slot for an "official" ID and your kid is magically transformed into a Las Vegas CSI.  

I did get some sewing time on Sunday.  I made a bit more progress on the Geisha Quilt. 

I have the corners sewn on about half the blocks.  This doesn't look like much sewing time, but I also worked on sewing the binding to the Buck-a-Block quilt, sewing blocks together for the purple and yellow scrap quilt, and starting cutting out the fabric for the first block in the Fat Quarter Stars quilt along.  I didn't get photos of any of those projects. 

That's my design wall for the week.  Check out Patchwork Times for more design wall goodies. 

Design Wall Monday - September 26th

It's Monday again.  Which like most things that happen every week, it has it's good points and it's bad points.  It's back to work for many of us.  This Monday is also "The Big Day" at Chili's Restaurants.  Today the chain will donate 100% of it's profits to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.  A friend's 4 year old daughter has been at St. Jude's for the last several months undergoing treatment for an aggressive form of brain cancer.  She started her last round of chemo yesterday.  If you aren't aware, at St. Jude's no child is ever denied medical treatment because of a family's inability to pay.  The hospital covers what insurance doesn't.  So if you are eating out today, considering feeding both yourself and helping St. Jude's continue the treatment of and research into children's cancer by eating at Chili's.  Kiddo and I are headed there this evening after volleyball practice.

Moving on to today's topic, the design wall.  I didn't have anything up on the design wall last week.  That's not quite true, the purple and yellow quilt is up, but it hasn't changed much since the last time I showed it.  I did start on a new project last week.  The first step was fussy cutting 29 squares.  Yesterday I was finally able to start piecing. 

I didn't get very far, but it's a start at least.  This project is one of my PIGS (projects in grocery sacks).  I've had the focus fabric for this quilt for several years, it has just taken me a while to come up with a pattern that I liked that would showcase it. 

That's it for me this week.  To see more design walls, check out Patchwork Times.