Another One of a Kind Christmas

I was going through my pictures and saw these that I forgot to post.  Before blogging I was bad about taking pictures of my quilts.  So when I see one that I never documented, I'll take a few pictures. Here's an oldie but goodie.

This is a One of a Kind quilt I made from a Christmas panel for my daughter quite a few years ago. 

My granddaughter is the beautiful quilt holder.  I just love this technique of making a completely original quilt with very few glitches.  Everything matches and it's so much fun to make.

Happy stitching today,

Karen 

Enough Blocks to Start

I'm not sure how many blocks I've made, but I've got enough to start looking at my graph paper pattern and start laying them out.

I love making the little double four patch blocks as a way to direct your eye around the quilt.  I never know exactly where they will go or how many I'll need.  That's part of the beauty of this technique, you really are designing a "One of a Kind" original :).  I like that.

I usually start in the top left corner and just start placing the blocks.  When I'm about 1/2 way done, I will begin to see which color seems dominant and which color I need to balance things out.

I'm auditioning some borders for the trees but will wait until more of the blocks are done to see which color I like best.

There was a question on how I did the trees.  I know there are several ways to do this. I decided to draw the shape, then drew random lines, made patterns and then paper pieced them.

I used my trusty Tri-Recs ruler.  As you can see, I made them longer than the ruler.

Nothing fancy, but it got the job done.  I'm thinking of using a different technique for the large tree in the center.

Back to sewing, hope it's a good day.

Karen

Changing Directions

I have been asked to present a program for the Piecemakers of Milton Guild in August.  They have asked me to present my "One of a Kind" program and I have decided to make a new quilt for the demonstration.

Here are the very first blocks up on the design wall - so cute already!!

I brought everything down to the kitchen to cut out.

I got out my green, red and aqua scraps, which were all in one place :).

Without any panels or orphan blocks to use I decided to make some new blocks and drew up a tentative layout on graph paper.

I brought down some of the sections from the previous quilt I made using these fabrics, just really to give me some inspiration.

I have made 5 pieced tree blocks and have started making the filler blocks.

These tree blocks will get borders around them to equal 12 x 12, but I'm waiting for a while to see what colors I'll need to keep things in balance.

Here is the previous quilt using the pillow panels.  It's such a happy quilt.

Here's the book that has given me so much inspiration and my first group of fabrics.  I cut my own jelly roll from my stash - so fun.

I always make a graph paper pattern.  I cut out separate blocks to scale and use scotch tape so I can move them around.  When I have the blocks set where I want them. I then fill in with 4" blocks.

I'm having so much fun today, these are happy colors.

Karen

A Different Look

I decided to try my Nine Patch Pineapple quilt on the couch this year.  Last year it was not quilted.  I was scheduled to teach this technique as a 2 day workshop last January. So I needed to quilt this one and then decided to make another quilt (the Christmas table topper). 

I must say, I do think it looks quite wonderful!!  With all the light areas, it brightens up the couch.  It's not an exact color match, but still very "fallish" looking with a great graphic pattern.  I'm enjoying having it out where I can see it every day.

This simple quilt is the one I normally use on the couch during the fall.  I made it years ago in fabrics that almost exactly match the couch.  This year I decided to try it in the foyer on the deacon's bench.  Love it!!  With the morning sun coming in, it looked so pretty.

And last to put up for my fall quilt decorating, is my "One of Kind" fall sampler.  I finally decided to put a sleeve on this instead of just pinning it up.   It looks so much better that I sometimes wonder why I procrastinate so long on something so simple. Still love this one.

And this weekend in downtown Pensacola, was the Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival. The Pensacola Quilters Guild had a booth in the Heritage Arts section.  We were able to hang "Vintage Blooms" and sell tickets.  

I was told that it earned an award and won $100.00!!  Yippee :).  So happy, this quilt just makes me smile every time I see it.  And to think that for one mere dollar, it could go home with someone. :)

It was a great weekend - this is a beautiful time of year along the Gulf Coast. 

Thanks for stopping in,

Karen

Talking to the Animals

Here is the end of the story to this -

my original post on waiting for the animals to talk. 

 

After listening to the animals talk to me, I decided to use my favorite "One of a Kind" technique and make "sort of" matching quilts for the 2 twin boys.  I guess you could call this "Two of a Kind" :).

After trimming the 54" fabric to 36", I was left with about 18" WOF times the length, about 2 1/2 yards.  I cut up as many animals as I could, starting with a 16 x 18" block as the largest and going down from there.

I pulled as many fabrics from my stash that matched the basic colorway and cut 2 1/2" strips.  This is a slight variation of the original OOAK technique which is built on a 4" grid.  But 2 1/2" finishes at 2" so it's basically the same, only a little more complicated as the pieces are smaller.

I tried out several different layouts, putting them up on my design wall and taking pictures.  As you can see, I ended up with a Lion quilt and a Hippo quilt.

There were random body parts and pieces I was able to use - which I hope, when they get older, will be fun for the boys and not too disturbing to see a one-eyed lion and an elephant with no head :).

Here are the 2 backs, pretty much identical.

So they ended up the same, but different.

Which to me was perfect for twins.

 

 

 So, all in all, I think the animals did a pretty good job talking to me.  Hopefully, one day I'll meet the parents at church and see if they liked them. 

At the end of the day, it's always good to exercise your brain and do something really different and outside your normal box.

I'm happy I said yes.

Karen

Here we go again

After working with those wonderful Civil War fabrics, I jumped to this!!  I've been asked to present a program to our Guild on this technique - "One of a Kind Quilts".  I've shared about this before, I love this technique.  I bought a new Christmas pillow panel to work with and then pulled fabrics from my stash that match.  I'm changing things up a bit and have made my own jelly rolls to work with (how fun is that?!?). The original directions call for a lot of templates, I'm trying to use some specialty rulers and see what happens.  The red, turquoise and green just make me smile!!

Here's the very early stages, I have many more blocks to make.  This is going to be so happy.

This is my last quilt I made using this technique - using these wonderful Kaffe pineapple blocks and lots of Kaffe fabric.  I actually sold this quilt when I was in Dothan, AL last October.  The new owner has graciously agreed to ship it to me so I can use it for my program.  Thanks Faye :). 

Never a dull moment around here LOL. I'm off to work, then I need to finish prepping for two workshops I'm taking with.............Cindy Needham!!

  I know - it's very exciting.  More later,

Karen

 

 

My Fall Quilts

Fall is such a great time of year, even in Florida where we don't see much color change.  Of all my fireplace quilts, this might be my favorite.  It was the last one I made during my NYB series (8 in all).  I pulled in the clay/red color and made the golds a little stronger - love this one!  It almost glows at night.

My hand pieced and hand quilted apple core is always a favorite.  It's a good size and has so many wonderful memories attached to it.

This little fall wallhanging used to hang in my office in my ever changing series of  "Office Art", but now it gets to hang out in my living room, making me smile.  The applique is all by hand and it's hand quilted.  This is one of the quilts I've made using the "One of a Kind" method.  Love it!!

This last one is one I haven't shown before.  I made this quilt in 2003-2004.  We had just gotten this new couch and of course I had to make a quilt to match.

I'm not sure what this pattern is called, but it was fun and easy.  I carried this pillow around with me for weeks, making sure the fabrics would match.

It matches so well it almost doesn't show up!!  This was one of the last "utility" quilts I hand quilted before I started learning to machine quilt.  Now I pretty much save the hand quilting for 1st time baby quilts for the grands and the quilts I put in the quilt show.

It's not a really "wow" quilt, but was perfect for what I was trying to achieve.

Have a great day,

Karen

Catching Up - Part 1

It seems like ages since I've done a post..... and it has been.  I have been very busy these last few weeks, and now that I'm almost finished, I thought I'd start catching you up.

I have two opportunities in the near future to have a venue to sell some of my quilts.  The 3 I'm showing today will all be for sale.  This is a child's quilt from Kim's book "Scrap Basket Surprises".

The little owls are a Michael Miller fabric and the strips are from my stash.  With very few exceptions (a few backings and bindings), I have been able to make these quilts from my stash - yea!!!

This is my "One of a Kind" quilt that I started several years ago. I made the two big pineapple blocks  the wrong size.  Instead of ripping them out, I made an original.  This is a beautiful, bright happy quilt.

There are a lot of Kaffe fabrics in here (including the border), but there are lots of brights from wherever.

There are two tiny 4" paper pieced pineapple blocks - I will probably never do any more.

 

It's hard to see the quilting, but it's one of my favorites, an all over meandering feather vine with swirls every so often.

It's a happy bright yellow polka dot.

This is from Kim's 2nd book "Scrap Basket Sensations". It's actually the quilt on the cover - but looks so different. I used a small jelly roll of children's Christmas fabrics.

It turned out really cute.

The back was a small scrap of Christmas lights fabrics - not enough for the whole back, so it got a center.

Some exciting news I have to share is about this new calendar.  Twelve authors were selected to have a quilt featured each month along with the instructions.

Kim was one of the authors selected and look who is Miss April?!!  "Flowers for Nana Girl" from her second book.  I am so honored and thrilled!!!  It's kind of a wierd feeling knowing that come next April people all over the country will be looking at my quilt all month!!

It's actually home with me for awhile, it's been travelling quite a bit.  I tried to capture the colors out on my porch this afternoon, but my camera doesn't do it justice - it's really so pretty.

Kim surprised me by naming this quilt after me and telling the story of how I came to be called Nana Girl.  It's a very special quilt to me.

Stay tuned, there are lots more quilts to share.

-Karen