Happy Quilt has a Name

Back in January when I took 2 classes from Karen K. Stone, one of the things she talked about was color selection and picking fabrics for a quilt. She described it as an invitation and to ask the question "Who can be invited to the party?"  So I've decided to name this quilt "Come to the Party" since pretty much any fabric made the invitation list LOL!  Here are some of the blocks - it is wild and wonderful :).

Here is the finished (at this point) quilt.  It's 10 blocks across by 13 rows - so 130 blocks.  Next step is to sew the blocks together and finish the top. Then decide if it needs a border.

Here's the magazine that started it all.

My quilt looks so different from this one!!

I changed the sized of the logs slightly to better use the strips I already had. 

What appealed to me about this pattern was that I could use the leftover 1 1/2" strips from my pineapple quilt.  I just had to re-figure some math.  This quilt alternates light and dark for the centers and outside rows.  It's basically all done in taupes - I may have to do another one!! This one is gorgeous!

Couldn't resist sharing again one of my Fireplace quilts.  I just changed it out this morning - this is my summer one and may be my favorite :).  Makes me happy.....

Have a great day,

Karen

Happy Quilt Turns 100

This may be one of the most fun little blocks I've ever done.  There is no measuring, no pinning and each block is so happy!!  This is what I had coming back from our road trip - 9 blocks.

These are some of the sets I cut and had ready to go.

It was just a matter of start sewing :).

So up they went on the design wall and they started to multiply.  I timed myself and it takes about 4 minutes to make one - pretty fast!

I'm not really concerned about colors at this point - anything goes!

I've started tweaking the blocks just a little - mainly to spread out the darker ones. 

I've taken out a few of the lightest ones - they just didn't seem to go.  As you can see, I'm using anything!

So here it is at 100.  I'm going to definitely make 2 more rows so it will be 10 x 20.  I may decide to  make more.  I'm thinking at this point - no border.  The most incredible thing about this is that my pile of scraps does not seem to be going down!!  Plus I'v now got lots of little pieces - I think I see a crumb block quilt in the future :).  I'll look for the magazine where I first saw this idea and post next time.  Have a great day,

Karen

Recent Road Trip Projects

I forgot to show you what I worked on while we were travelling to Asheville a few weeks ago.  The trip to see our kids usually takes between 8 1/2 and 9 1/2 hours depending on whether we go to Asheville or Charlotte.  So I usually start out working on dishcloths.  I make knitted and crocheted ones.  They are so easy and mindless to make.   And then I have something I can give when I arrive :).  If not, they go home with me to be given away another time.

This is a group of fabric I've been collecting for over 4 years.  It started with finding the batik (on top) at Mary Jo's.  The colors are phenomenal but I just have not been able to find the right pattern. ( I didn't take these, just the book).

I recently checked this book of our Guild's library.  I think I've found the perfect pattern for this project!!  So I took graph paper, pencil and eraser and worked on graphing out a pattern.  More to come...  This is one of Jean and Valori's older books but it's fabulous!

Then of course there's the hexies project.  This is a long term project as the only time I work on this is usually in the car.  A friend gifted me hundreds of hexies all prepped and ready to be joined (oh, and by the way, she's the same one who gifted me the orphan block from the previous post).  While 30's are not my passion, the colors are fun and happy and I'm content to work on this slowly.

I do think it's going to be beautiful. I don't plan on any setting hexies, I'm just going to join them like this.  It's going to be plenty big enough.

Last, but not least, is a big bunch of leftover scraps from my wild Pineapple Quilt.  I also used these scraps when I designed the One of a Kind quilt and I still have a whole tote of them that I'm going to have to find projects for .  I swear, I think these things multiply during the night LOL!!! 

I'm playing around with a variation of a quilt I saw in APQ several years ago.

I took a small cutting mat, rotary cutter and ruler and went to town.  Each center will have this Kaffe fabric, and the surrounding logs are basically anything.

As you can see, it's going to be a happy quilt!!!  Out of the all the pineapple projects, this one is the most like me - I think I'm going to love this one!!  I'm hoping to get some serious sewing done on this project now that I have so many blocks prepped.

Since my DH made some business calls on the way up and back, I did all the cutting in the hotel room (lest you think I tried to rotary cut in the car!!)  All the other projects were done in the car.

The sun is out - I'm lovin' it!

-Karen

Playing in the Rain

While I didn't actually play in the rain, I was playing while it rained :). In case you're curious - we ended up with 17 1/2" at our house! Glad that's over! But here's what kept me busy.  Going thru a random box of fabric, I found this orphan block.

Here's the block before it was quilted, but the color is way off.  Anyway, it's a sweet orphan a friend gave me several years ago and I threw it in the box.

Seeing so many little quilts out there, I decided maybe to just play and see if I could make a little quilt.  I had a little bag of bonus hst's left over from a project using Cabbage and Rose.  I'm so glad I spent the time to sew and press them, because they were waiting for me to use and they were all ready.

I started laying them out surrounding the orphan block.  Guess how many I used?  Every single one! I had exactly the number I needed to build a border.  I'm sure that will never happen again.  I didn't have any room to trim the orphan block so I had to add small strips to get the math to come out right.  So it ended up being a 9 patch.

I had some yardage left, so I added the blue border called it finished!  It was a little too big to probably be called a "little" quilt so I thought about how I could use it.

I saw my Viking sitting there with it's "lovely" cover.  Why not use the quilt to cover my machine when not in use and I would get to enjoy the quilt all the time??

So that's what I've done!!  I decided to make the side panels larger than the top and bottom to create the right shape to cover the machine.  When the binding was on I took it outside (it quit raining) and took pictures.  The color in these pictures is finally accurate!

I had so much fun quilting this - I can see why small quilts are so addicting!  I looked at each section, started quilting and just let my hands wander.

This is a happy quilt and it's so rewarding to use up things I had stuffed away for a "someday" project.  Who knew it would only take 17 1/2" of rain to inspire me :).

Here's the finished quilt.  Pretty cool.

Here's the back :).

Well, maybe it's a little big :0!!  I wanted to cover it completely - I guess I did that!!  At least I'll enjoy seeing it often:).

I also worked on some other things - almost finished with them.

Have a great day,

Karen

That Big Red Glob

In case you ever wondered where Pensacola, Florida is, just turn on the weather channel.  Look for the big red gob along the Gulf Coast - that would be us!! 

We have had 14" of rain in the last 24 hours and it's still pouring!  We have so much sand in our soil, that it drains really fast. It's unusual to see standing water.

We've got some water coming into the back porch, but I'm so glad we have a good roof!!  I've been playing in my studio all day, will share soon :)!

-Karen

Perseverance

I am happy to say that my flying geese are done!!!

I kept tweaking my technique and got faster and faster. 

It is nice seeing all those perfect points.  Aren't these great fabrics??  Now it's on to the applique :).

Here's the start of a new project - only need about 900 hst's.  This is a great start. It's a gift, so I can't share more now but it's a step in a new direction for me.

And my DD sent this, we look a little more revived than the last one, maybe I should always take pictures sitting down LOL!!  I love these little people.

Hope you have a great day,

Karen

One Little Step

All the little pieces are cut and I've started working on the Civil War wallhanging.  These fabrics are so beautiful and fun to work with.

As you can see, I have a long way to go.  And these long papers are a little tricky to work with.  I'm slowly getting the hang of it.  Once I finish all the piecing I'll start working on the applique.

Hope you all are having a nice Sunday, I'll be spending some quality time in my studio "playing" while it's 94 degrees out!!

-Karen

Some Sweet Surprises

I did not have time to post about this before we left for the holiday weekend.  I recently received 2 sweet surprises.  The first was this wonderful stack of pure perfection!!

It's the Seasonal Little Gatherings from Primitive Gatherings.  I was helping a friend finish a project and she surprised me with this.  She knows I did not expect anything, but as we all know, fabric IS the perfect gift :)!  I imagine these fabrics will show up in my quilts for years to come.  Thank you sweet friend - your friendship is a treasure in my life.

My next surprise came when I found out I had won the giveaway from Kathie at Inspired by Antique Quilts.  Kathie and I (and a million other quilters) share a love of Civil War quilts and I heart just about everything she makes :).  This is the cutest little wallhanging.

All the fabric to complete the top is included.  Since I'm kind of at a stuck place on my Jubilee quilt, this little project is the perfect thing to distract me while I wait for more inspiration.

After checking out the fabric in the kit, I realized I did not have a single duplicate of anything in my stash. That's always exciting!!  I actually started cutting this morning so maybe I'll have something to show soon.  I haven't made a little quilt like this before, so I'm excited.  Thanks for sharing Kathie.  I can't wait to see this finished.  And since I've been doing so much applique, I'm in the groove :).

Have a great day,

Karen