Posts

Showing posts from 2014

A bit more about the Halloween quilt

Image
Close-ups of the embroidered star blocks: The embroidery and hand coloring was done by my friend JoAnne several years ago. They were cut 7.5”, so DGD sewed coping strips of black on each one to bring them to 8.5” cut. I then added star points from various Halloween fabric / scraps. DGD picked these out. The top center green with skeletons glows in the dark. The 4 other blocks were cut from a panel I bought up in Nebraska when visiting with Diane Harris. I added coping strips to bring them up to the odd size needed to fill in the sides. The spider webs with spiders that look like M&Ms filled in the top and bottom rows. I hate losing star points, so I added a small outer border cut on the straight of grain. This helps so much when long-arm quilting to keep things square. This was the first time I successfully tried continuous curved quilting for the star points. I bought some HandiQuilter melon templates and they had an arc that I managed to make work with some consistency on

Halloween quilt finished in time for the day, 2014

Image
DGD’s Halloween quilt is finished. Her mom held it up for a picture tonight. She will take it home tomorrow after coming here to Trick or Treat. I will hang it in my entry as a backdrop for handing out candy to the few visitors we have. She showed it off to her class (2nd grade) yesterday at the end of their party. They all loved the feel of Minkee on the back. JoAnne Glass did the machine embroideries that fill the center of the star blocks. They were colored after stitching. Quilted with several different Superior threads, Thermore batting and Minkee backing. Ruler work and freehand quilting. Happy Quilting, Becky

What I’m working on 9/20/14

Image
After a year of mainly working on items for my Quilt Guild’s boutique and traveling I’m finally beginning to play a bit on quilting again. I just returned from AQS in Chattanooga so have regained some enthusiasm that I had lost with all the family illnesses and deaths. DGD#2 was sick last Wednesday and I picked her up from school and took her to the Nurse Practitioner. She had to have a breathing treatment and she hates them. She did well, so as a treat we stopped at the nearby quilt shop. As we went in I confirmed her request for 2 fat quarters. Just inside the shop they had this marvelous Halloween quilt made from the skeleton panel. I thought we should have a panel and some striped fabric. Jessica wanted some purple “bones” fabric. When I took them up to check out, Jessica explained that she needed another fat quarter as the two pieces I had weren’t hers. They get you every time! We came home and immediately “had” to pull the Halloween basket and start auditioning fabrics. We

Links to blogs / tutorials talked about at guild 7/8/2014

Image
This is redundant to those reading this on the web, however I want to be able to print this out for guild members who use the library for their computer access. My blog is: http://beckyquiltobsession.blogspot.com/ My previous blog post about the Buzzsaw / tribbles quilt: http://beckyquiltobsession.blogspot.com/2014/07/tutorial-for-buzz-saw-tribbles.html or get a pdf file here A tutorial on making zig-zag quilts out of half square triangles (HSTs) http://myquiltinfatuation.blogspot.com/2013/09/easy-peasy-chevron-quilt-tutorial.html The diagram and settings I made for vertical and Horizontal Zig-Zags in a PDF is here The tutorial on allpeoplequilt for the sewing kit is here or type in below (the pictures are from the website) http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/bags-pillows-gifts/pincushions/sew-perfect On the same site the knot bag or grab bag is here or type in http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/bags-pillows-gifts/bags-and-purses/grab-bags The settings for the disappearing churn

Tutorial for Buzz saw/ tribbles block–quilt

Image
I wrote this tutorial to give to my guild members. We are making 6 1/2” HSTs to sell in our boutique during the quilt show. It is in Independence, MO at the Sermon Center at Noland and Truman Road during the Labor Day weekend. Small tribbles/buzzsaw block / quilt Needed for each block (finished size 5 ½”) o One HST 6” (unfinished) high contrast o One strip 2” x 6” similar value to dark fabric of HST Making the block · Square HST to 6” · Lay on mat with angle the SAME each time · Cut square into 4 strips – each 1 ½” · Turn each strip end to end · Sew strips back together · Add 2” x 6” plain strip to dark end · Block now measures 6” unfinished again   To make pictured quilt 64 blocks total – set 8 x 8 v 24 black and white blocks (black strips on side) v 20 grey and white blocks (grey strips on side) v 20 grey and black blocks (black strips on side) Borders width: inner border cut 1 ½”, outer border cut 2” length to match your quilt top Quilt and bind using your f

Design wall Monday–graduation week

Image
This is my great-niece Emily in front of the top of her t-shirt quilt. She ran cross-country forever. We had her high school graduation open house here at our home yesterday. Guests signed the backing for this quilt with fabric markers. Some of you locals (Kansas City, MO area) may have seen her on TV news – we had her graduation last Monday in her front room so that her mom – Margaret – could attend. She is losing her 4 year battle with a really aggressive cancer. We are all spending a lot of time caring for her and her family. Sometimes life just sucks! I hope you are happily quilting, Becky

Cabinets finished–almost

Image
The cabinet doors are all on – except one that needs a piano hinge and I bought the wrong size. My son started the cove trim at the top and some face fronts for the kick space at the bottom. We sure put in a lot of screws – 12 per door x 26 doors. Now we can protect the kitchen essentials from all the sanding dust from the living room hardwood floor. I’m partway into a Tee-shirt quilt for Emily – a great niece that is graduating this year. More on that when there is something to show. Right now I’m still fusing interfacing to the areas I cut out. It was great having all the leftover parts to use for wiping off wood stain! Happy Quilting! Becky

Design wall Monday and other stuff

Image
Finally, something new on the design wall. I found this pattern on the web and decided to play with a fat quarter pack from Robert Kaufman. There are also a few disappearing pinwheels in the churn dash pattern – I just can’t stop making those. Most of the last several weeks have been spent working on kitchen cabinets at my sister / brother in law’s new home. It is a foreclosure and needs a lot of work. I do like working with wood, so I am refinishing all the kitchen cabinets. The face frames are all finished – they could start using them Sunday. I finished the drawers last night – I brought them home so I could work on them here. They started as dark as the inside of the deep one. Now to tackle the 27 cabinet doors. I’ve started sanding the finish off a few, but am stripping the curved parts to maintain their shape. I did buy an attachment for the Mouse to get into small parts, so I may go back to sanding even the curves. It is a slow process either way. I also finished these “bo

DWM 3/3/2014 Quilter’s ADD

Image
Getting ready for a retreat next weekend. This is my project as we will have a work on anything session with a certified Quiltworx instructor, Eileen Eubanek. I’ve cut my own jelly roll strips as this is to hang next to my Glacier Star on the stairwell. It will have a blue black as well. I've been sorting UFO’s, seeing if I can kit some up for the Guild’s Boutique since I am in charge of it this year. I unearthed these, but I’m not ready to give up on them, yet. What to do with these? I thought I would do the Iron challenge at Missouri Star Quilt Company so bought the charm packs. I thought I would do a fractured quilt from the Material Obsession’s book, but . . . . I’m also cutting up some Dr Seuss fat quarters to make this quilt – I think. . . . Can I make a table topper out of this orphan? It’s too much trouble to make these blocks . . . . I’m not sure what to do with the rail fence blocks, another UFO that didn't sell at last year’s Boutique. This doll bed is an e

Friday Finish!

Image
My last Scrap Squad project is finished – a king-size quilt for our bed. We haven’t had a “bedspread” on our bed in the entire 8 years we have been married. We had two quilts on our bed, one for me, one for DH. But without further ado – here’s what it looks like now: Linda’s quilting: It covers all of the mattresses: Happy Quilting, Becky

New use for a Scrap Squad quilt

Image
Remember this quilt that I had so many problems making? I even had trouble with the quilting because I used both a cotton and a wool batting. It ended up really thick and it doesn’t drape well. I had to block it to remove the “C” cups in the center of the star. Enter the polar vortex. My chair is near the fireplace. We had such a cold draft coming in I put an extra outdoor thermometer there and it measured 42 degrees F. at the bottom vents. I took a quilt and wedge it up against the bottom vents, but later realized it was coming in the top vents, the door, the sides, etc.  I finally convinced DH that we had to do something and he looked it up on the net. We ordered a balloon for the flue and some magnetic vent covers. Magnetic? It sparked a thought – I hang quilts with magnets. We measured the fireplace and I began searching for an appropriate size quilt, preferably one that already had a hanging sleeve on it. Viola! A nice, thick quilt that had been blocked to lie flat – against

Alert! Scrap Squad post and Give-away

Image
There’s a new post from a Scrap Squad 2013 member, Christa Marcotte, over at the Quilty Pleasures Blog . I love what she’s done with this wonderful pattern. There is also a great give-away there, so be sure and visit! Happy Quilting, Becky

Kaffe is Star Struck

Image
I somehow managed to not blog about my 5th finish for Scrap Squad, a quilt I really like as I finally found luminosity. This is from Carolyn McCormick’s pattern Star Struck, which appeared in Quiltmaker in Oct-Nov, I believe. DH made acrylic templates for it down in the shop as the star points and even the central “diamond” were unusual shapes for which no commercial templates are available. I’m so fortunate that he can do this for me. I quilted this one using the Circle Lord frame and a spiral circle, not my usual long boards. This way I was able to center the spiral in each diamond. I picked yellow thread (Superior So Fine, with Bottom Line pre-wound bobbins) for all the quilting, but have mixed feelings about how it shows on the black as I had starts and stops that I, at first, was not good at hiding. I did improve on this. On a side note, my quilting friend, JoAnne, who made these quilt s had a house fire the night before Thanksgiving. She had smoke and water damage in