March Sewing Circle

 I have been wanting to post the photos from our March Sewing Circle group. Our project was to make the churn dash quilt from Kathleen Tracy's book "Civil War Sewing Cirlce."

 Love, love, love a blue quilt!

 We had a few sampler quilt blocks, too. That's Linda above, with her square in a square block. You can see Pam's sampler quilt blocks on the design wall in the photo below.

Hi Ann! Oh my goodness, now that's what I call a mini! We have a new English Paper Piecing group that meets at the shop. Of course you can make your hexies in any size from 1/2" to 3" or so. How cute is that little one!

Thanks Pam, for leading the group that day. We were in Florida on a short vacation so I missed the chance to get together with everyone. I trust you all had a good time!

We're doubling up on our sampler blocks so that our top will be complete by September. Maybe we'll even have some quilt tops for our December show and tell. I really do enjoy making sampler quilts. Since you make only one of each block, you don't get bored! And it's a great way to use up some smaller pieces of fabric.

Hubby and I have been working hard on my sewing room today. We bought an Expedit shelving unit from Ikea in December and finally got it put together today. Once I get my sewing room organized I'll give you some before and after photos. It has really been fun trying to figure out what to put on display in the new shelving unit. My goodies are pretty much a mixture of books, magazines and fabrics. And since there was a Murder She Wrote marathon today, Jessica Fletcher kept us company while we worked.

Till next time, keep stitchin!
Mary

Springtime and our Sewing Circle

We had several nice spring days here in Virginia, but you had to look close or you would have missed it! I saw these gorgeous trees blooming on a Wednesday morning, we took the pictures on Thursday, and today (Sunday) they are already losing their beautiful blossoms. There are 6 of them planted along the Lowe's parking lot. I'm thinking they are cherry blossom trees. Aren't they gorgeous!

And then I spotted three purple redbud trees near the CVS drugstore...aren't they gorgeous, too?! I think these will stay around a little longer than 4 or 5 days...I hope so anyway!

Our Little Women met and we showed our "T is for Temperance" Quilts.  It was a small enough project and we had quite a few make this one up. I even got mine hand quilted! That's Linda, above--love her color combination, and camera shy Ann below-who upsized her quilt. She is trying to move some of her stash this year.

Vickie and Celeste both made their quilts using purple fabrics. Very nice, ladies!

Joy made hers in blue (above) and here's our great group shot, below.

Fannie finished piecing her churn dash---nicely done in pinks and browns.  Great job, ladies.

till next time, keep stitchin!

Mary

The Wayward Girls

The Wayward Girls had another fun get-together last Saturday with our sewing machines and fabrics and fun projects. Pam worked on several projects, including our Scrap Therapy mystery quilt.

 Step 1 are these gorgeous 6 inch 9 patches (above).

Step 2 are the 4 patch blocks, and step 3 uses the 4-patch blocks to create a 4 x 12 inch strip (above). Pam is using her Oriental fabrics--won't it be wonderful!

This is the 2nd project Pam worked on--These Signature blocks are from the Civil War Sewing Circle book by Kathy Tracy. She is on her way to having 44 of them. Now she needs at least 43 friends to sign a block for her!

Carol worked on her Thimbleberries project. Aren't these teapot blocks adorable? Each block will finish to 4 inches square. Even though they are so small, they were rather time consuming. Carol used a fusible product and her machine blanket stitch, plus a decorative stitch to add the leaves and stem design. I can't wait to make mine! I'm thinking blue teapots, but I might change my mind before I actually start this project. Red would be cute too!

We had lunch at Red Lobster for a change...they're having their Lobster Fest right now. Then we checked out the yarns and threads at Hobby Lobby, stopped at Starbucks for a coffee and cake pop (have you tried the salted carmel ones? They're my favorite!), and picked up sandwiches at FireHouse subs for dinner.

I worked on two projects:  My Scrap Therapy project step 4 (no photo) and a Fons and Porter project called Blackbird Crossing, from their January-February 2009 issue of Love of Quilting (below). I had already made the 36 red pinwheels, and traced the patterns for the center medallion on my fusible paper.

Don't you just love those little blackbirds? The pinwheel blocks will measure 6 inches finished. I need to do all the blanket stitching on the center medallion, and on the 10 star blocks. I have finished 22 blue and white pinwheels and need another 22 more--so I'm half way there!. The quilt is finished with a row of flying geese all around.

And the really fun thing is that I'm making this quilt and the Scrap Therapy mystery quilt all from my stash. They are both a "no-buy" project. That adds to the challenge and makes it special.

I hope you're having a good week and get some time to do something creative. Till next time, keep stitchin!

Mary

On my Design Wall Today - A Sampler Quilt and Some Pinwheels

I've been playing with my sampler blocks today, and finished two more to add to my collection. The block above is called "Richmond", it will finish at 12 inches square. The block below is called "Card Tricks" and is one of my all-time favorite quilt blocks. I love how the fabrics look layered under and over each other!

 Here are the 4 blocks I have finished, plus I have all 13 of the setting blocks done. The setting blocks will show a strong brown or blue diagonal line across the whole quilt top. The Rail Fence (upper left in the photo) was our January block, and the Square-in-the-square (upper right) was our February block. I am hoping to do this entire quilt top using my current stash--mostly Jo Morton fabrics.

This is the other project on my design wall, another quilt totally made from my stash. This quilt is called "Blackbird Crossing" from the January-February 2009 Fons and Porter magazine (Love of Quilting). My 36 red pinwheels are finished. (They will finish at 6 inches square). I need a total of 44 blue pinwheels--I have 4 done! This might become a "Quilt of Valor" if I can bear to part with it when I'm finished with it.

I work 4 days a week and Thursday is my day off. I always enjoy sewing up a storm on Thursdays. Some Thursdays I don't even get out of the house! That's my contribution to saving gas, too. I made 20 pinwheels today and 2 sampler blocks. Plus I worked on the handouts for my Sewing Circle class. Next I'll  trace some of the applique blocks for Blackbird Crossing. I need 4 red star blocks and 6 blue star blocks, plus the applique center block. I'm planning to use machine applique with Pellon Wonder Under for the applique. I downloaded the digital issue of the magazine from the Love of Quilting website. It's the Jan-Feb 2009 issue. I also noticed they have a digital copy of their 2012 issues for $20. That might be better than trying to store all these magazines! I have made several quilts from their patterns, and they get very high marks for accuracy and easy-to-follow instructions. I've been a fan of theirs since Liz Porter taught some workshops for our quilt guild.

I hope all is well in your world...and till next time, keep stitchin!

Mary

Wishing you a Blessed Easter

I hope you all had a happy and blessed Easter. We were able to spend time with one of our sons and DIL and grandson, Kian.  Kian was really having fun posing with our tulips...and then we remembered the bunny ears! How cute is this little guy!

I put a few spring decorations out, not many, actually. I just took the winter wreath down off the front door today! My spring wreath is beautiful, but alas, it is hanging high on the wall in the garage. Retrieving it and getting it up on the front door will be my next little project.

Say hello to Kiwi! We are bird sitting for our other son and DIL while they are on spring break. Kiwi is very sociable and needs to have someone chat with him on a regular basis. He says "Pretty Bird" very plainly. Oh...hubby is taking him out of his cage now!

We did get one sewing-related project finished today....We recovered my ironing surface with the pretty rose patterned floral (above). I'm trying to add some "Shabby Chic" touches to my sewing room. This fabric is so cheerful, I'm really pleased with it. It was a remnant at Joanns and only cost me $7.00...it's a decorator weight cotton fabric. I also bought a small package of Warm and Natural batting and laid two layers of that down on the top board, then stapled the floral fabric all around the back.

The two quilts made from 30s fabrics on the wall are "Little Quilts" patterns. The other two quilts are Jo Morton designs. I do love a good mini quilt!

My ironing surface was actually sold as a bakers rack for the kitchen. We removed the top shelving unit. I have my Civil War repros and some other scraps in the bins below.

I'm working on rearranging some of my sewing room. It seems to get cluttered so easily, and it needs some straightening time on a regular basis. Wish I had a sewing fairy to come in and clean up after me! I also wish she would come in and finish some of my UFOs for me!

I did a little sewing today, I'm working on some 6 inch red and white pinwheels. I have 21 made and need a total of 36. For some reason, they're going very slowly! I'm hoping to use up some scraps and make a Quilts of Valor quilt at the same time. Stay tuned and I'll show you my progress!

I hope you had a good weekend...spring is definitely here today (at last!) and its so nice to have the windows open for a change. Hubby started dinner...life is good!

Till next time, keep stitchin!

Mary