September wasn't a total loss

September didn't start out too well. My dishwasher went on the fritz. I thought my sewing machine died, but it was just a faulty power strip. My iron died and had to be replaced. Then my sewing machine really did start acting up, just as I was trying to finish and mail some promised quilts.

I managed to get the County Lines quilt to the semi-flimsy stage and just need to add borders and get it quilted.

My challenge quilt for JSS made it to the flimsy stage and was turned in on time, along with backing & binding; it got 2nd place for best use of pink. Now to find time to get to the center and get it quilted and bound.

I got the bindings on couple of Heartstrings quilts and am working my way through the handstitching, then they'll be ready for washing and pictures.

Cricket from the Heartstrings group mentioned needing a couple of quilts for homeless kids, and I certainly have plenty of those ready for completion. I got the binding on this lasagna quilt before my machine gave out. The gifted coin quilt from Megan was already bound and didn't make it to it's intended destination back in April or May, so it was in 'the stack' and ready to go. I added a couple of coordinating purchased blankets because I was told these quilts would be all these girls had and I was concerned they wouldn't be warm enough.

blogger seems to have flipped this on its head

the quilt Megan hated

Onward and upward.... making goals for October.

Take care,

Sheila

My challenge quilt

James Stitching Sisters has a challenge once or twice a year. The one that ended Sunday involved taking a bolt of fabric to use in a backing, then make a quilt top to go with. The bolt fabric had to appear in any amount on the front. Part of what I also remembered was, do not bring the bolt back to the Center; if there's some left, cut it up to use in other JSS quilts, make more backings, etc... you get the picture. Just don't bring it back.

Of course, I took the prettiest bolt of those I could choose from. It just happened to be a nearly-full bolt, and I now have about 10 yards left. With a couple of more backings and bindings and a scrappy quilt or two added in, I should be able to finish this up sometime in the next decade. ha!

So, here is the challenge quilt I delivered Sunday, the deadline. (I love deadlines!) I hadn't planned to use that much of the challenge fabric on the front, but I sort of peter'd out on the design end here and just slapped on the borders after weeks of staring at it and trying to decide what I wanted to do. Part of my problem was in using those particular pinks & reds, which were in limited supply in the stash. I wasn't about to tear apart the blocks I had made in order to make it more scrappy.

another crappy pic from my LR floor

The quilt pattern is Winner's Bouquet by Terry Atkinson. It really was quite easy to put together--gentle curves and a couple of remembered tips from other bloggers helped me immensely along the way. In my 10 years of quilting, this is the first time I've used templates, but Carrie's tape idea worked so well on the templates I put it on all my rulers too! And Wanda's tip about stitching the end of the curve first was a lifesaver. I did stitch mine the opposite/ crosswise direction from the stitching line because at the time I remembered the process but not the specifics. It worked great. Thanks ladies!

We'll have a little banquet next week where all the challenge quilts are revealed, so I hope to have pics from that.

Creating more WIPs

My favorite LQS was having buy two get one free special on classes this summer, so I signed myself up for a little quilting camaraderie that I miss so much from my days in Texas.

Friday was day 1 of 3 for the 'Advanced Mystery' and this is the result of this portion of the class. I would have had another block but screwed up cutting it. I'm assured my mistake will be put to use later in the quilt. I need to make nine more this size and then cut more fabric for the next session.

Unfortunately, it wasn't a total mystery to me. If it's "highly recommended" that you have two tools for a mystery class, you investigate the tools, don't you?? One of them was this Tucker Trimmer...

which is basically a half- and quarter-square triangle block trimmer. The black dot and solid lines at the top end of the ruler indicate trimming for whole-inch sizes; when flipped around to the half dot side, the dotted lines indicate trimming for half-inch sizes. Below shows a QST made from two HST, which was then trimmed to 4". Line up the crosswise center seam on the solid line marked 4, and trim two sides. Flip the block around, line it up and trim again.

At $13.50, I don't make enough QSTs to justify this, but at least I didn't buy the Magic Wand. I already have a Quick Quarter for that, even if I don't know where it is.

This pretty thing is the result of Saturday's class using Terry Atkinson's Winner's Bouquet pattern. This will be a lapsize quilt when done.

The background fabric (light blue floral) for this is my challenge fabric for a project due Labor Day weekend and the fuchsias and pinks were from the stash.

Here is all the fabric left from cutting blocks for the Winner's Bouquet. I only cut enough for 16 blocks to begin with, and I'm not sure how many blocks the other lady cut for. She was going to throw all those batik leftovers in the trash, but I convinced her I would put them to work in Heartstrings quilts. I think this is what I like least about cutting with templates.

What I've been reading: David Baldacci's First Family: an excellent page-turner featuring Sean & Michelle, the former Secret Service agents from his previous novels.

I slept from 6-11pm last night and have been up since... so I'm off to breakfast with the boys and then a nap!

Until next time,

Sheila