An Online Quilt Trunk Show

There's a fun linky party going on over at Whims and Fancies.  I wasn't going to link up, there just hasn't been time to write a post.  But after reading a few of the posts, I got to wondering what my trunk show would look like.  So it's time to write the post to figure that out.  So here's my entry to:

I've been quilting regularly since about 2001, so where to start? Definitely not at the beginning.  The blog started in 2010 and that seems like a much better place to start the show.  

1.  Seeing Stars

Pattern by Amy Heaton, pattern available here

This is the result of my first online quilt along. It was such a fun experience that I've done many more since.  The pattern is available on Electric Quilt My EQ Boutique and if you look close at the catalog page you'll see this quilt in the inspiration section.  More details here.    

2.  And Kiss Me Jack

Pattern by Judy Turner and Margaret Rolf
From the Book "Successful Scrap Quilts"

This is my quilt that almost wasn't.  I hated the first 3 blocks so much they put it way for a few years and then I decided to finish it. I'm so glad I did. There's a purple and yellow flower known as Johnny Junp Ups, which includes a variety called Kiss Me Jack.  That's where the name comes from.  You can find a more detailed post here.  

3. Elements

                               Elements (aka Sweet Treats), Pattern by Judy Laquidara

This was one of those serendipity quilts.  Judy posted the pattern and while I was cleaning up the stash closet I found a pile of 1930's fabrics. The temptation was just too great.  More details here.  

4.  Pieces of a Rainbow

          Pieces of a Rainbow, Pattern is Jigsaw by Alyssa Clancy for Lehmann Quilting

Of all the quilts I've made, this is my favorite.  It was made for Drama Teen.  The color placement isn't perfect, but she doesn't care.  More about this one here.  

And last but not least:

5.  Flame Test

                 Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler, By Angela Feldbush of Soscrappy

Of all the Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts I've started over the years, this is the first one that's made it to the finish line. It's another of Drama Teen's favorites. More about it here.  

That's it for my trunk show. I've made a lot of other quilts, but it appears my bright scrappy ones are the favorites from the lot.  Hope you enjoyed this trunk show.  You can see many more over at Whims and Fancies.  

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Pieces of a Rainbow

It's time for the fall version of the Blogger's Quilt Festival sponsored by Amy's Creative Side.

My entry for the ROYGBIV category got started as a request from my daughter, Drama Teen, to make this pattern, Jigsaw by Alyssa Clancy,

in rainbow colors as a bed size quilt for her room.  Here's what came out of that request.   

It took a couple of years for me to gather up the fabrics for this quilt.  Even then there was an awful lot of switching in and out of fabrics as I got to the bottom rows.  Getting the color change to flow from the orange to the red-violet from upper left to lower right as the shades moved from lighter to darker from left to right was probably more of challenge then I was really ready for.  The whole fabric selection process was an education in color theory.  I'm still not sure I got the flow quite right, but Drama Teen loves it, so it works.  

The quilting was done by Trudy Lindemann, who never disappoints.  She varied the thread colors to match the colors in the quilt. 

The free hand flowers echo the quilt back and look just as good on it as they do the front.

The colors in the backing fabric match the colors on the front and it has the same shifts in color as on the front, so it worked really well.  
 Hand stitching the binding for Drama Teen's rainbow quilt was completed a few days after she'd had knee surgery to repair a torn ACL that ended her high school volleyball season just a week before their first game.  She told me that the quilt reminded her that even while she was hurting, that she was loved.  Her quilt felt like one big hug from Mom when she most needed it.  

This quilt goes pretty much everywhere with her.  So I'm pretty sure it will be well loved.  That's the best gift she could give me.  

There's a lot of eye candy over at the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  I'm going to go get a second cup of coffee and indulge in the best quilt show one can enjoy from the comfort of your recliner.  Thanks for stopping by my entry.  Enjoy the rest of the posts.  

Something Old, Something New: UFOs and Scrap Management

Somehow I completely missed the Something Old, Something New post for September.   

Thinking back that would have been posted sometime the weekend Drama Teen had ACL surgery and we had the roof damage that caused water to leak into the sewing room.  Now I know why there wasn't a post for September.  There probably wasn't much to report anyway, so I'll just proceed on to where things are now.  

In terms of something old, Jigsaw finally became a finished quilt.  

  
Drama Teen has slept with it every night since it's been finished. She obviously loves it.  

Since Jigsaw is all finished up, I pulled out the box holding my oldest UFO and started putting it together.  All the star blocks were finished I just had to cut the alternating blocks and decide on a layout.  It looked like this back in August.

As of tonight, it only needs two more borders added before it will be a finished flimsy.

Pattern is Folk Art Christmas Stars

by Robyn Pandolph

This quilt is intended for my Mother's bed, so it needs to be queen sized.  Hopefully this one will be sent off to be quilted before the end of the month, but at the moment it's my something old for October.  

I had to really think about the something new for September.  I'm still wrestling with getting my stash organized, that includes my scraps.  The Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler quilt has really helped me understand how to make good use of strips that are already cut, so I'm trying to get all the odds and ends into either squares or strips.  My sewing time has been pretty limited and it's not fun to just stand and cut up scraps, but I think I came up with a workable system to "cut as I go".  I've been using this blue bin to hold the color scraps I'm working with. 

  
At the back of the bin are some plastic bags that I've labeled with the various strip sizes.  

These bags serve two purposes.  At the beginning of the month, I go through my already cut strips and pull out the color I'm working with that month.  As I cut up any odd sized shapes, I sort the newly cut scraps back into these bags.  At the end of the month the strips go back into the the general strip storage, when I pull out the next month's scraps.  This keeps all the action at my cutting table and I'm not running back and forth to my scrap storage putting up or looking for scraps. Plus I know what sizes I have available.  I did a pretty good job of getting most of the orange scraps cut up and stored without it seeming like I spent a lot of extra time cutting and organizing.  

That's my update for last month.  You can see more old and new projects over at Never Too Hot to Stitch.  

Design Wall Monday - A Finish Finally

Weekends never seem to be long enough to fit in all that I'd like to get done.  Since the sewing room was deconstructed due to the storm damage last Monday: it seemed like an ideal time to give it a good cleaning and reorganize a bit as it got put back together.  I didn't get all of that done, but made good progress.  

Drama Teen is still recovering from ACL surgery.  She's getting more mobile everyday, but her knee still hurts quite a bit.  She spent a lot of the weekend catching up on homework and with her friends

That's Jigsaw she's covered up with.  I put the last few stitches into the binding and label late Saturday night.  You can't tell from her face, but she was thrilled that it was all finished.  She renamed the quilt Pieces of a Rainbow.  

Pieces of a Rainbow
Pattern is Jigsaw by Alyssa Clancy for Lehmann Quilting

It's an apt name.  I have a whole new perspective when I see a quilt that has a rainbow or color fade theme.  You have to demo a lot of fabrics to get something like that right.  It was a fun, though sometimes maddening, challenge to get the colors to flow like I thought they should.  

Trudy Lindemann did a gorgeous job on the quilting.  She matched the quilting thread to the colors in the quilt.  

 Which worked really well on the back.

This is only my second finish for the year.  I hope to finish up Scrappy Stars and maybe one other quilt before the end of the year, which is coming up faster than I'm ready for.  

That's it for what's finally off the design wall and finished.  Check out Patchwork Times for more design wall Monday posts.