Quad P a top!

Not a great picture, but this quilt top is big, about 103" square, and pretty flat considering the angst I was having about block sizes. And the borders! I remarked the red borders a lot, and think I got one of them marked correctly, or maybe not. But it all worked in the end, amazingly. You might have noticed that the border is different than the EQ rendition. Not enough of the dark blue, and this was the original border fabric. Next is figuring out the quilting, but not this week. I want to take it just as a top to an upcoming retreat. Need to get the stuff ready for the retreat next.

This shows the whole quilt, although I think the picture above is better color-wise.

Quad P Progress

Quad P, formerly known as the Prairie Paisley Patchwork Party quilt, is moving along.

You can't see the part on the other wall very well, so it is below.

After these borders are attached, there are just two plain borders to go!

Patchwork Party 2008 - UFO turned into WIP

Back in 2008 I fell in love with the Prairie Paisley fabric that was being used for the Summer edition of Patchwork Party. I made all of blocks from the various stores. I bought lots of Prairie Paisley fabric from my LQS. I looked at all of the finishing options, then using Electric quilt, I modified one and made it my own. The center of my quilt was going to have a Feathered Star. Now, mind you, I had never made a Feathered Star at this point. I started it, but then had issues, didn't think it was going to work, and gave up on it for a while. I even cannibalized the blocks I had made for the corners and made a baby quilt with them. But I still loved the fabric, and had made two feathered stars when I decided to get back to this. This one was harder, and bigger, but it is done! I used a combination of Marti Michell templates (P set) and EQ templates for the center star. You can see from the mock-up below I have a ways to go. Next up, a bunch of 8-pointed stars. I've figured out that the MM Q set can be used for the triangles and corner squares, but no diamonds are the right size. I might make the corner blocks first, just to make sure I have enough fabric for all four before I do the scrappy stars.

Love this fabric! I recently got some Prairie Paisely II fabric. At this point my fabric container has enough fabric for at least 3 quilts! I have an idea for at least one more (Barb Adems and Alma Adams' Women of Grace and Charm), then we'll see if there is enough for another big one, or just a lap quilt.

Prairie Paisley baby quilt

Still unnamed, this baby quilt was made using some extra star blocks and the first border was added using parts of the star to create a secondary 4-pointed star design. Pieced using Marti Michell templates, make those Peaky and Spike type blocks a breeze. Machine quilted used Superior Perfect Quilter thread, Warm and Natural batting. For my great-nephew, due this month.

Empty Spools, among other things

I've been down at Empty Spools, a quilt retreat with classes held at the Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove, CA. Fabulous fun. I took a class from Suzanne Marshall, an appliquer with a quirky sense of humor. I can't show you her latest quilt, but it is called, at least right now, The Musicians, and what musicians they are! Taken from an old print, she enlarges them and makes them her own, with her signature bugs. We worked on what she calls Wacky Birds. Mine is almost ready to quilt, having found a perfect border fabric in my stash. It is hand appiqued, hand embroidered, and will be hand quilted. We learned her take away applique method in class. Works well, but I need more practice.

Before I left I had been working on the Prairie Paisley baby quilt, made with some blocks I decided not to use with the Patchwork Party blocks. The four extra blocks are in the center, surrounded by a pieced border, and then a triple border. I used Marti Michell templates (sets B & D) to make the blocks, which work lovely with the Peaky and Spike and Ice Cream Cone shapes. I pieced the border before attaching, reversing the pressing so the seams would nest when I mitred the corners. Works pretty well . Now to find backing and batting, this will be machine quilted.

The Cotton Patch from Lafayette brings down a mini-quilt shop so that people can get things easily that they need for class, or another new project. They had some flannel baby kits, I got one. I decided to make nine patches, 4 sets are done, 4 more to go. There are 8 fabrics in the quilt, then I need to get backing and binding. This is the first flannel quilt I have made.

Oh, and I finished a sock! Just one, working on the second one, made from Opal's Harry Potter yarn, Ron coloring.

2008 Finishes and attempted finishes

Started and finished in 2008:
knit dishcloth (2)
homespun shawl - Berrington
navy blue knit scarf - Fons & Porter pattern
green watercolor yarn scarf, knit
black fun fur scarf
Helmet liner, black wool knit
Diva Essential Designer Bag
shopping bags,lined - three
Paris Cats Sewing Machine "cover"
Pair of pillowcases -Paris Cats
Tree Landscape (the sky's the limit class)
Dragonfly Wallhanging
New Jersey Mystery Quilt
Baby Quilt - Paris Cats fabric

Finished in 2008 (started previously)
Knit I-pod holder
Purple Handbag
Once Upon a Garden - Full size quilt
Starlight Serenade (ancient UFO)
High Country Garden (ancient UFO)
Basic and Beyond - wall quilt (oldest UFO)
Shoo Fly full size quilt - Cotton in the Cabin fabrics
In the Mood table runner - Metro Blues
Yellow Brick Road - Paris Cats - Full size

Started in 2008
Cube Lattice Mystery Quilt - top finished (lap size)
Katie's quilt - top finished (queen size)
Sylvia's Bridal Sampler - 70 6" blocks completed (queen size)
Prairie Paisley medallion - 16 12" blocks completed (queen size)
knit scarf - which is being pulled out and restarted in a narrower version, just wouldn't be long enough :(
pair of socks
shawl - which will be pulled out and restarted in a different pattern, someday

Quite a bit of progress this year :) And a new craft (knitting) that is taking up a lot of my time, but typically TV time when I didn't sew at my machine anyway. I got some of my older UFOs completed (YEAH), but I still have 42ish quilts on my UFO list (includes the four I started this year but didn't finish yet, hence UFOs even if I am actively working on them). Some of those might not get finished, but I hope to get a few of them done this year, along with whatever else I start :)

Back to spool blocks for my Cube Lattice backing (had 8 done for a border for the High Country Garden, making another 8 to make a round in the medallion backing).

Back from Gold Country Retreat

My sister and I joined 26 other quilters for a retreat this last weekend. Lots of fun, oohing and aahhing, and progress made on lots of quilts. I managed to get the last nine Patchwork Party blocks done (yeah!) and pulled out an ancient UFO to get the top completed. These were patterns from High Country Quilts in Colorado Springs, I got one pattern each month in 1997 (or thereabouts). I started the BOM blocks in October 1998 and finished the center in January 1999. Not too bad on the center, but then it hung around. I wanted to make it 'bigger', a problem I have. I thought a border of pieced blocks would be nice, and I had lots of leftover fabrics, another issue. I bought fat quarters of fabrics instead of the kits. Would have been a lot cheaper to get the kits, but oh well. Somewhere along the line I did get some border fabric, so finally just added a skinny black border and the floral border. Now to quilt it.

This is most of the Patchwork Party blocks and most of the pieces for the Feathered Star center. Getting there.

Patchwork Party Progress

Last night I went to my SQG and worked on the Patchwork Party Blocks. Got two completly done and one more well on its way, which is now done. I have been using Marti Michell templates to cut out these blocks and must say they make piecing a whole lot easier. Cutting is more work, but the accuracy you get when piecing makes up for it, IMHO. And it is really noticable when you try to put bits together the wrong way! I was working on an ice cream cone section (for those of you familiar with Doreen Speckman's terminology), and tried to put the 30-60-90 triangles on backwards. The trimming at the tips won't match up that way, but does when you put them together properly. So glad I had done the trimming instead of having to do the frogging (rip-it, rip-it).