Hampton Virginia Quilt Show

Once a year the Mancuso quilt fest folks put on a fabulous quilt show in Hampton, Virginia. On Sunday, we drove down to Hampton with some friends and had a wonderful day.

The traditional quilts are usually my favorites, but these were just different enough that they caught my eye. I have a picture of the quilt, and then a closeup. I hope you can see some of the details in the quilt, including the quilting.

I really, really love 2-color quilts. Blue and white would be my first choice, followed by red and white, but this green and white quilt was stunning. Oh how I wish I could have watched this artist machine quilting this green and white beauty!

And the artist who hand pieced this basket quilt was robbed of a ribbon. This quilt was incredible! Each basket finishes at 3 inches square. She used all kinds of fabrics, but the quilt has an older feeling to it because she used the blue Civil War era repro to set the blocks together. This truly was a stunning masterpiece!

Of course, I had to buy a few goodies to bring home! First, a few bundles of fabrics:  The blue bundle is 8 fat quarters of Judie Rothermal's Cocheco Mills in blue and brown; The shirting bundle is 10 assorted reproduction shirting fat quarters; the flat red package has 1.5 inch x 42 inches "log cabin" pieces. How fun is that going to be! 28 dark reds and 24 light reds. And the brown bundle in front has 20 different 10 inch squares in brown, from light to dark. Gorgeous!

And then a few notions:  a package of 1" hexagon paper pieces (hexagon piecing is very big right now!), some blue quilt pounce (to use on white fabric); and 3 quilt pounce stencils: a feathered heart, 2 snowflakes, and 2 borders. I have a quilt pounce but couldn't get it to work satisfactorily, so she gave me a quick demo. You have to "prime" your pounce by pouncing it about 100 times to get it started....who knew? The stencils are on a very fine nylon mesh and you can store them rolled up if you like.  You can buy them at www.FullLineStencil.com.

And I could NOT resist this Superior thread chart, for only $3.00! It will be fun to put it on a blank wall space near my sewing machine and just look at the gorgeous colors. The beautiful blue bird toile is a gift from my dear friend, Pam....thanks Pam! Hubby and I really enjoyed our day with you and your hubby...And dinner at the Kings Arms in Williamsburg was wonderful!

till next time, keep stitchin!
Mary

Shared Nine Patch and Irish Chain Blocks

Yesterday I posted photos of the two quilts I'm currently working on, and it occurred to me that you might be interested in seeing how these blocks go together.

This is the shared 9-patch block (above and below). I hope you can see that the block is not quite together--blow up the photo to get a better look. The block has a 9-patch in the upper right corner, and a 4-patch in the lower left corner. The remaining units consist of a 2.5 inch background square, and 1.5 inch background and indigo squares. I strip pieced the 9-patch and 4-patch using 1.5 inch strips. And yes, it does go together pretty quickly.

I set my indigo and light background blocks together with alternate squares of a medium blue fabric, cut into 5.5 inch squares. And again, here is a photo of the finished top:

I think this quilt would be just as fun done up in red and white fabrics, don't you?!

Now I'll show you how "Liz's Scrappy Irish Chain" is made. If you have your January/February Fons & Porter Love of Quilting magazine, it's on page 38. All the units are cut at 1.5 inches. I took out a bunch of fabric pieces leftover from other projects and cut as many strips as I could from the pieces, all of them less than a fat quarter. I strip pieced them, then sliced them at 1.5 inch wide. Notice the unit on the very left and the unit on the very right have a dark blue square in the middle. The middle strip has a dark blue square at the top and at the bottom.

This photo (below) is the main block all sewn together (Liz calls this the "Checkerboard Block"). At this point, the block measures 5.5 inches square. I need a total of 111 of them. I'm at 75 right now, so almost 3/4 of the way there!

The photo below shows the alternate block coming together (Liz's "Chain Block"). It starts with 3.5 inch strips of dark indigo, and two 1.5 inch strips of light background. I think it's more interesting to use two different background fabrics...remember, I'm trying to use up some of my stash. And I normally don't buy more than 1 yard of any piece of fabric.

Once you have the background strips sewn onto the indigo piece, cut them into 1.5 inch widths. Then sew them onto the sides of an indigo piece cut 3.5 by 5.5 inches, to create a 5.5 inch square.

I'm using more than one indigo too, here's a photo of the two I have so far. They are both Jo Morton fabrics from her indigo and berries line. I need 110 of these little beauties. I'm at 60 so far. 50 more to go! They're not at all difficult, it's just a matter of sitting down and doing it.

And here's my design wall, with a portion of the quilt. Liz's quilt is set 13 blocks across and 15 down. The photo shows 7 blocks wide by 6 blocks tall. With no border, the quilt will finish at 65 x 85 inches.

The weather here has been damp and rainy, perfect weather for spending time in my craft room. As a matter of fact, I think I'll go grab a cup of tea and head back there. Maybe I can get more of these little guys completed!

Till next time, keep stitchin!

Mary

Blue on Blue; Scrappy Quilts

I've been in the mood to sew something blue, and when I found this quilt in American Patchwork and Quilting, I had to pick up the rotary cutter and start cutting. The quilt is called "Baby Blues" and is supposed to be a baby quilt. The completed quilt will measure 42 x 50.

I'm also trying to use up some of my older indigos and shirting fabrics. The block in this quilt is called a shared nine patch. I had never seen it before! The indigo and shirting strips are cut at 1.5 inches. I made a total of 42 blocks, set 6 across and 7 down. The medium blue setting fabric is a new purchase, as I didn't have a big enough piece in that color. The blocks finish at 5 inches.

When I received this issue of Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting just before Christmas, I knew that the scrappy quilt on page 38 ("Liz's Irish Chain") would use up more of my older Jo Morton fabrics. This quilt also uses a 5" block as it's basic unit--more 1.5 inch strips to cut!


So here's what's on my design wall tonight:

I have made a total of 80 of the pieced blocks (each with (25) 1 inch squares). Note that the dark blue indigo fabrics are the middle square on each of the four sides of the 25-patch block. This is going to be a heavy quilt with all those seams! But yes, I am using up some fabrics! I made 23 of the connecting chain blocks today. They go up much faster than the 25-patch block. I need 31 more pieced blocks and 87 more of the connecting blocks.

One of my LQSs had a fat quarter sale this weekend--buy 10 at $3.00 each, get 10 free. That means $6.00 a yard, so that's a good deal! I was able to find four more dark indigo Jo Morton fat quarters, so that made me happy. I also bought some Easter egg colored fabrics...I'm in the mood to make a spring table topper next.

Oh, the pattern for Liz's Irish Chain is on page 38 of the January / February 2013 Love of Quilting issue. And as an aside, when we lived in Missouri, our guild had Liz come and teach a class and she was delightful. It's so meaningful to have that personal connection with a national teacher. I always learn something new whenever I take a class.

It was 63 degrees this past week here in Richmond Virginia. And this afternoon we had snow flurries! Some of it actually stuck to the ground. It will be gone tomorrow when it warms up a little.

Till next time, keep stitchin'!
Mary