quilting

A Garden Party

| terriaw

I squeezed in some time this week to sew together the remaining blocks I was missing for my Garden Party quilt project.

I’m so excited to have it all sewn together! I love how bright, bold and colorful this turned out.

I was able to scrounge enough of the red fabric from my dwindling garden party stash to add a border. I think it looks so much better with the border.

It turned out to measure about 43 inches wide by 56 inches tall, which will be a great size for a lap quilt.

I have the backing and binding all ready to go; just need to pick up some batting to quilt it.

It would be so awesome to finish this by the end of the year. In the meantime, I’m so happy I got this far with it.

Bloggers Quilt Festival: Fall 2011

| terriaw

It’s time for the Bloggers Quilt Festival: Fall 2011 – an online festival where quilters from all over the world share a picture of one of their recent favorite quilts. It takes place over the same time period as the International Quilt Market, a wholesale trade show where fabric manufacturers and fabric designers get together to share their treasures with fabric shops.

Amy'sCreativeSide

I am happy to share my favorite quilt again with you today.

I used Randi’s pattern and my favorite fabric collection, Chocolate Lollipop. I did free motion stippling all over, which was quite fun to do once you get into a zone.

I think the print for the backing and binding is so charming.

I have big plans to make a quilt from each of Anna Maria’s fabric collections. In addition to this one, I have a zig-zag quilt made from the Good Folks collection, and a quilt-in-progress from the Garden Party fabric collection. I’m hoping to make a quilt with the Innocent Crush fabric collection using a 25-patch pattern, and the Loulouthi collection using a star pattern. I also have a stack of Loulouthi flannels cut up to make into a warm, cozy quilt to curl up in winter. And I’m hoping to make a string quilt with my stash of the Little Folks voile collection. I know, it’s quite ambitious to think I can make that many quilts, but it’s still fun to dream about it.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Pair of Minis

| terriaw

My husband asked me to make new mini quilts to put on our nightstands. He was bored with the previous ones. So I laid out a stack of fabrics I thought he might like, and let him choose two prints for his nightstand and two for my nightstand.

Here’s what his looks like:

Here’s what mine looks like:

He went with a combination of an African safari map and batik fabrics. He also wanted a simple patchwork design, so I used my pattern for my checkerboards (which are sold out). I love how rich they look on the wood stain of our nightstands. I also love how easy and quick these minis were to make over the course of a week.

Floating Stars Finished

| terriaw

I can’t believe I finished my Floating Stars wall hanging already!

I started this project at my annual summer quilting retreat.

Only a month later, it’s quilted and bound, and ready to hang. I did some echo quilting inside each star and inside each border, and then some free-motion quilting in all the white space.

This was one of those projects that I just made up on the fly, and I’m loving the results!

PS – forgot to mention that this wallhanging measures 32 inches around.

 

Quilting Retreat Projects

| terriaw

I am excited to have some fun quilting projects to share with you from my quilting retreat this past weekend!

I finally finished piecing my pinwheels quilt top. I love how Sis Boom fabrics, which I started piecing last fall. I love the way it turned out so I can’t wait to quilt it and snuggle up in it when our air conditioning gets too cold.

I also stippled two sets of patchwork that I’m going to use as bathroom rugs. I finally reached a point where I feel comfortable stippling and love the relaxation of free motion quilting.

One patchwork rug is for summer, and measures 18 inches tall by 31 inches wide, made from Sis Boom fabrics I cut into charm squares.

The other patchwork rug is for fall, measures 22 inches tall by 31 inches wide, and is made from Nature Walk fabrics.

I found these cool coffee prints while fabric shopping, so I had to make a mug rug and a 36-patch mini quilt that I’m going to use as a placemat.

I finally made a ticker tape wall hanging, which measures 16 inches wide by 18 inches tall. I LOVE THIS QUILT! Thank you to Amanda Jean for sharing your inventive and amazing idea with us! And thank you for sharing some of your snippets with me. If anyone has ever been tempted to try making one of these, go for it! It produces fabulous results and becomes addicting. You’ll never look at a tiny scrap the same again.

I also made a new maverick star wall hanging using Gwen Marston‘s liberated star block from fabrics I bought over the weekend. I had no idea what I was going to do with them, so this project was especially fun to dream up as I went along, getting feedback from my fellow quilting retreaters. I added a wide white border so it came out to a 34-inch square, which will make a nice wall hanging.

It felt great to be so productive at retreat, especially when there was so much talking and laughing going on!

10 Women, 9 States, 1 Common Bond

| terriaw

I love sewing. I don’t have any local friends to get together with for a sewing day, so I have learned to love to sew by myself. But I cherish the connections I’ve made through blogging with so many other like-minded women, who are also different and fun and interesting. I always try to seize the chance to meet them in person, this time for a weekend together sewing and quilting.

(Terri, Amanda, and Cindy)

I love making lists, so I made a list of words and phrases to describe our weekend quilting retreat:

New WIPs, More UFOs, Stash Building, Idea Sharing, Inspiration, Advice, Motherly, Sisterly, Friendship, Laughter, Bonding, Heartwarming, AMAZING!

Since most people don’t like to have their picture taken, I took pictures of everyone’s sewing machines and workstations instead. We all love to see people’s creative space, so I thought it would be cool to see  our work stations at retreat. (Doris has a group photo, which I think she will share soon.)

Cindy’s work space

Amanda’s work space

Doris‘ work space

Shelly’s work space

Rene’s work space.

Rene’s sister Michelle joined us, but I missed getting a photo of her workspace before she had to pack up to return home. Sorry Michelle!
Toni’s work space

Stephanie‘s work space


Mary‘s work space

My work space (which I photographed in between projects so it looks a little too neat and clean!)

How far would you travel  to spend time with a group of like-minded women you know but you’ve never met before? If it means the privilege of getting together with such an amazing group of women, I highly recommend it!

PS – I got a lot of projects done at retreat which I will plan to share with you in another post.

Annual Retreat

| terriaw

Last year, I was lucky enough to go on a quilting retreat with a fun group of quilting bloggers.

I am lucky to get to go again this year, with most of the same group and a few new people, including Amanda Jean, Cindy, Rene, Rene’s sister Michelle, Shelly, Shelly’s friend Stephanie, Mary, Doris, and Toni. I haven’t done a lot of quilting this past year so I’m bringing a couple quilt tops I made at last year’s retreat to finish quilting this weekend. No more starting any large projects until my current pile is done!

I leave you with pictures of a couple lilies from our garden. Promise to give you a full report when I get back.

Little Forest Finished

| terriaw

I can’t believe I have another finished quilt to share with you. This is so exciting! I started to grow this little forest a few months ago.

Thank goodness for spring break last week, when I had time to work on this project too. I am so happy to be able to show it off a little.

I love how it turned out, so I can’t wait to hang it up!

Colors of the Ocean Finished

| terriaw

Thank goodness for the break in the semester we had last week, when I made time to work on this project. I am excited to share my finished Colors of the Ocean quilt!

I started this project as a part of Cherry’s quilt-along.

I made progress pretty quickly by finishing the top. And then it sat for awhile.

It was wonderful having time over spring break to quilt it and bind it. I love how the straight line quilting turned out. And I adore these colors. I am definitely sold on this modern look of solids and straight line quilting.