Becky's quilt obsession

Design wall Monday, is actually “gather things for quit guild retreat” Monday. Retreat starts on Thursday, and, of course, I need to take about 5 million more things than I will need. The Chinese coins quilt is quilted, binding machined on, ready for turning by hand. I figure this will be good for when I’m tired of the sewing machine. The middle picture includes 2 UFOs that are my #10 for Judy L’s challenge. I cut all the pieces out, and expect to bring them home ready to be quilted. The third picture is of a quilt of AM’s – the backing is in the dryer, then I hope to put it on the frame and quilt it tonight or tomorrow. Then I can add the binding, and take it along, too, for handwork. I feel like Ann Champion’s vintage top day with this next picture. This is another UFO from my Grandmother’s things. She died in 1968; Mother gave them on to me in 1998. This was about 7 rows long, and twice the width that you now see it. Awhile back, I decided that I would never finish it in that s...

This is the second time I’m trying to post, so we’ll see if it works. First, the weather report. Blizzard conditions, with blowing and drifting. It is blowing sideways, so the deck on the back stays clean, but the porch in the front drifts. Hopefully it will end so we can be plowed out tomorrow. I told my DH not to have a heart attack, as we wouldn’t be able to get any help here. He agreed not to. UFO #6 is to a flimsy state. I hope I can quilt it and finish it this month (Feb). My UFO #10 is further along than this was was, so I may be able to do so. Happy Quilting, Becky

Thank you, thank you all that commented for your help in deciding how to set these coins. I had not planned to put the yellow next to the coin strips, but several people suggested it, so I tried it and I really like how this is turning out. I don’t usually make strip-pieced quilts. I usually make a lot of blocks, then procrastinate about putting them together. This time I have all the strips made and it seems like there is no progress, until today when all of a sudden it is looking half done. The coins on the left of the strip are the second border. I did take a close-up of the waiting strips to show that it isn’t really all black fabric in the scrolls. It’s a grey blue green design with a black background. This is my #6 UFO. I probably won’t finish it this month, but if I get it to a flimsy , I’ll be happy. Happy Quilting, Becky

This is my #6 UFO – fall Chinese coins. Since they are so dark,  I thought I would brighten it up with a gold yellow. It will hang above the pineapple blossom, which contains a lot of yellow. The scroll will be a bit narrower after sewing – right now the center strip is sewed, but not the two dark side pieces. I also saw a picture of a saddle blanket setting, made with sawtooth stars. I could do that instead but I’ve wanted to try this scroll since I first saw it. What do you think???? Becky

It’s snowing in Kansas City. This is the view out the deck door from the kitchen. No DGD today, no guild tomorrow. When the schools have a snow day, guild is cancelled.           This is my table runner from the scraps of the Christmas gifts. My placemat is out of a mixed fruit fabric that is only included in the right star. DH’s is out of the Oreo fabric, so I put a small border of it. The purple in the setting triangles was included because the stained glass windows in the breakfast area contain this color, as well as red and amber. This will be on Black Bart today. UFO #6 is on the wall. I think I am avoiding it, cleaning up the room some. I tried a dark green strip next to the 4th column to use instead of black, but it does disappear against some of the fabrics, so black will be needed. I’m using yellow for the scrolls. Hopefully I will have some progress on this UFO during the snowstorm. Time to finish here and start doing something! Happy quilt...

In an effort to not create any more UFOs, I decided to work on the last of veg/fruit fabric and finish up DH’s and my placemats and table runner. I didn’t have much of the fabrics left, and trimmed them up into mainly 2-1/2” strips. I had purchased Marti Michell’s strip templates, so decided to use them to make up LeMoyne stars for the runner. I cut 3, one is finished. I will put the placemats and runner on Black Bart(LA) together when I finish the runner. Also in this picture is a pot holder made last night with DGD#2, aka “Little Girl” helping pick the colors. We made one for her Mommy for Christmas, and DD was very happy. I used Stashbusters ListMom’s directions, so these are nice and big. I cut enough Insulbright and batting to make a few more – kind of like having kits, and just having to pick the fabric out of the scraps bin. These are leftovers from the Crayon quilt top. For Judy L’s UFO challenge, #6 was these fall-colored Chinese Coins. It was probably good that I put t...

6. Fall Chinese coins When I finished the Pineapple Blossom quilt pictured, I cut up the remaining scraps into Chinese Coins, and sewed, and sewed, until they were all in the coin strips. There are different sizes of columns. Both of these projects were made from scraps from 2 other quilts – all cut from quarter-yard cuts of autumn fabric. The only fabric I had to add was the various yellows. The pineapple and Chinese coins came from stash/scraps – no fabric was purchased. I plan to make the Chinese Coins into a wall hanging that fits above the king-size bed pictured above. I found a cool setting using black and white Greek something in between the columns. This project was put away because I was busy making a lot of Heartstrings quilts out of Chinese coins, and I wanted them finished for Alycia’s goal of 400 QOV that year. 7.Blue Braid (King) Another class project with Bonnie Hunter . I wanted to make a monochromatic quilt for a long time, so did this. I knew when I started it ...

The box is taped, labeled, and sitting by the front door for tomorrow's pick-up by our mail carrier. Four of these are out of the HeartStrings red-white-blue Chinese Coins project. The right top one uses some of the HeartStrings R-W-B swap blocks, and some other donated blocks. I nearly had heart failure when I was quickly hanging these for DH to photograph - one of the blue stars had run. Off it went to the washer and Synthropol - and it worked!! They are all washed, ready for cuddling. I still have the basket-weave top and another funky caterpillars top to put borders on, quilt, and bind. I decided to put these five, with pillowcases, in the mail to meet Alycia's deadline, and will finished the others soon. I forgot about labels, sorry Alycia. I meant to at least write on the quilts, but I forgot that, too. I'm excited about attending the Nebraska HeartStrings sew-in next weekend. We are going to the quilt study museum (it has a fancier name) in Lincoln on Fr...

I've started working with the Red, White, and Blue Chinese coins that were made by my fellow HeartStringers. I have two finished http://tinyurl.com/cptwxs , and one I still need to take a picture of that I call string X-X. I also quilted another top made out of some swap blocks and extra blocks I had. Pictures of those later. This must be the 4th or 5th funky caterpillars I've made. This time I tried varying the setting squares. The one in the center isn't that bright in real life. The swirly fabric was one I've had a long time and couldn't figure out how to use, but I love the swirls in this setting. I'm trimming some more Chinese Coins, ,and plan to put them together today. I'm also planning to trim up the one I finished quilting yesterday and make binding. I will be sitting with our Guild's opportunity quilt http://tinyurl.com/cgm98r some this weekend to sell tickets during Shop Hop. I'm hoping to be able to see well enough to turn bi...

I've finished up some of the RWB Chinese Coins quilts from HeartStrings donations. I think I've posted pictures of the tops before, but these are finally ALL finished!! The top left one is a Disappearing 9-patch that I pieced at Retreat in February. I quilted it with meandering stars and loops. The lower left one is the first Funky Caterpillars from the RWB coins. I quilted it with the swirls giant template from Circle Lord. The top right one is a string-X. I really enjoyed making it from sets of 4 CC strips. I call it the "Soldier quilt" I quilted freehand stars and loops on it as well. The lower right one is also a String-X, but with sashing. This is the first time I tried quilting spirals with the Circle Lord frame so I could center the swirls in each block. While I like its appearance well enough, I didn't like all the starts and stops - then going back and burying all the ends. I think I need to do a few more with this template and see if I can figure ...

I think I have posted a link in my sidebar to the pattern for making Funky Caterpillars out of Chinese Coins. I added it to the files section of HeartStrings so you can access it that way as well. This link has been changed since I first posted this message. If the previous link didn't work for you, would you please try it again. Thanks to all of you who let me know it wasn't working before. Please let me know if this one works. Stashbusters is having a retreat weekend, so I thought I would make it available for anyone to try. I would love to see pictures of any blocks / quilts you make from it. Happy quilting Becky Email me

I finally took time today to put binding on this HeartStrings quilt. The Chinese coins were from HS's first coin-making session. These had a lot of novelty fabrics in them. I actually assembled it while I was still taking pain meds after my total knee. I was making a horizontal strippy, and didn't measure, and came out with a very long, narrow quilt. I ended up cutting it in half, and sewing the two sections together to make this. I quilted it about 2 weeks or so ago; a friend did part of it under direction as she is trying to learn the long-arm machine. I used the Circle Lord Giant templates - my favorite spiral. I really like the look of all those curves with the straight columns. The binding still needs sewn down, but Hurray! there are people in the guild that LIKE to turn binding and they are on the charity quilt committee. This one will be donated through my guild to the local children's hospital. They are always looking for quilts suitable for teen boys. They never...

If you remember, I set personal goals to meet while creating quilts out of the RWB Chinese Coins. One of them was to use up all the fabric in this bin, and I’ve made some progress, however some of it just ended up on the cutting table, although most of that is from the “stacks”. I’ve told a few of my quilting friends about making QOV, and Rose decided she wanted to help. Right now she isn’t doing much sewing, but is trying to pare down her fabrics. She visited today, and this is what my ironing board looked like when she left. There is over 20 yards of fabric there! I think I’m going to have to make a lot of quilts. I have been working on Funky Caterpillars 2. DH is gone tonight, but will help me Photoshop the pictures and add them to the test directions tomorrow and Friday. I thought you might like a progress picture. I’m really liking not having any waste! Happy Quilting, Becky Email me

I was able to finish the HeartStrings RWB CC#3 this evening just after DGD#1 arrived for her "Girls' Night". When I put #3 up on the design wall to take the picture, DGD decided she and the dolly, with quilt, needed to be in the picture, too. Does anyone recognize their blocks? Becky

Yesterday was another day of Gma's summer camp, so not much progress on CC#3. I was able to sash the blocks I had finished - I'm half-way. By using the cream corners and the bright blue, I was trying for the effect of depth - like looking out a window, but still seeing the frame as closer. It "kinda" looks that way on the design wall, but not so much in the picture. I have most of Joen Wolfrom's books, and I love what she does with depth, illusions, etc., but I don't seem to be able to duplicate it on my own. I hope to take a class with her one day. I was reading this blog today, http://www.elaineadairpieces.blogspot.com/ and was so impressed at the change in her Kaleidoscope quilts after she had taken a class on value. Wow! Impressive! No DGKs today, so I may be able to finish CC#3. DH returns late tonight so I have most of the day to play! Happy quilting! Becky

Mary, list mom of HeartStrings, sent me a message that she posted a link to my blog on the HS blog, so I thought I should catch up on my progress. My DGC slept in yesterday, and I couldn't go back to sleep, so I tackled the borders on CC#1. It is now a flimsy, measured and labeled waiting for backing and quilting. I finished the 48 blocks for CC#3, and started sashing them last night. I'm about 1/3 done with them, and began thinking about my next top. When I was quilting Sunday, my friend had some quilt books laying out. When I took a break, I thumbed through them. One was on scrappy quilts by Gayle Bong. http://tinyurl.com/6r7b52 There was a pattern there using Chinese Coins that was interesting, and I later found almost the same thing in my copy of Evelyn Sloppy's string book. http://tinyurl.com/62va36 I thought that would probably be my next layout, but the CC strips had another idea. The RWB CC's are stacked on the back-side of my sewing table, in my lin...