It's a Purple Log Cabin

We made it to Bakersfield and back for a visit with the in-laws. It wasn't too hot there this trip. When we were driving to Bakersfield the haze from the fires was very thick. The air was much clearer on our drive back. We had a nice visit with the Bakkersfield folks. We went down because DH's stepfather had his 87th birthday on Friday. I thought it was his 90th, but I was mistaken and I was corrected very quickly. He is only 87 please remember!

This picture is of the purple log cabin quilt that was on the bed where we slept. It was really too warm to sleep under a quilt, but I pulled it up the first night just so I could say I had a purple log cabin quilt over me. DH's mother had her bedroom painted light purple (not lavendar) to go with the quilt. I felt so decadent sleeping in that room with that quilt near me!

While we were there I visited Strawberry Patches, a quilt store near where we stayed. It was quite nice with lots of samples to see, and kits, too. I bought two Christmas charm packets. There were two new Christmas lines available, one by Mary Engelbreit and one by Patrick Loose (?). I love the little charm packets. I bought two Christmas designs. I looked for some charm squares appropriate for a baby quilt, but they did not have any. There was lots of minkey stuff.

I bought some marbled purple fabric for a background for a new applique quilt pattern that I bought at In Between Stitches in Livermore. We stopped there on our way out. I am hoping I can convince some of the ladies in the applique group to take a challenge with me. There are 12 blocks in this new pattern (a Piece 'o Cake design). I hope that we can make a block a month, and if we keep up, we could have the 12 blocks made by next summer, then the borders and of course the quilt top could be done before our next quilt show. The quilt on the pattern has a background of bright red. I think a bright purple would be okay, too.

I also bought a Quilter's Companion, latest edition. I am hoping I can convince DH to take a trip to Washington State and we can stop at quilt stores along the way. It sounds like a great trip to me!

I am glad to be home. I enjoy taking a trip, but I am always glad when I get home. Baby Cat survived our absence. A neighbor came by every day and fed her, and our daughter also came by to spend some quality time with her. Baby Cat probably had more attention while we were gone than she usually gets when we are home. I was worried about racoons coming in through the screen, but there was no evidence that anything unwelcome came into the house.

I took an embroidery piece to work on while in Bakersfield. I spent some productive sewing time while we were visiting, and the piece is almost finished. I did not get to see any Perry Mason's while we were gone, so I will be glad to get some time with Perry tomorrow

Meanwhile.....Happy Quilting

The Goose is Done

Here is the Goose in the Pond block. I finally have all the parts done, well almost. I need to make four more goose blocks, then I can put it all together. My mystery will then be solved. I am so excited. It is really late and I need to get to bed since I have a dentist appointment tomorrow morning, but I just had to get at least one block done.

I want to get this top together so I can get busy on my baby quilts. But I am in a quandry. I want to do the kaleidoscope quilt that Elaine has on her blog, and I want to do the quilt Wanda has on her blog, and I want to do Gypsy Quilter's quilt, etc. etc. etc. Sew many quilts and sew little time! The story of my life. It is off to bed for me.

Happy Quilting

Finished one more step

The checkerboards are finally finished. I was able to get some time with my sewing machine and I finished them. The photo shows how they will be sewn together in the mystery. They are the borders! Did you figure that one out? I certainly did not. It was quite a surprise to me. Of course, the whole quilt was quite a surprise to me.

This second photo shows two of the four corners. They are constructed

with the checkerboard design, just a larger block. I must be careful how I sew them together because they are opposites. I do not want to get the wrong block sewn on the wrong border. I can do that so easily, you know. If there is a possibility of making that kind of sewing error, I can do it, and I have done it, more than once, too! I get in such a sewing frenzy to get something finished that I am not careful how I put it together design wise, until someone points out to me that something just doesn't look quite right.

I had a great quilty weekend. Saturday I went to LAFS (Ladies Academy Finishing School). It is a monthly sew-in our guild has at the church where we meet. I took my checkerboards to sew. I was determined I was not leaving the church until I had them all done. I almost finished them there that night. Sunday DH and I went to the county fair. I quilted on the fair quilt while DH cruised the vendors. Every year our guild does exhibit quilting for a week at the county fair. We make a quilt top and take it to the fair. Members sign up to hand quilt on the quilt that week at the fair. Every hour we work on the quilt (sewing blocks, quilting, etc.) we earn a chance on the quilt. At the next monthly meeting someone's name will be drawn and that person will win the quilt, finished or not. I have never won, but I do have a fair quilt in my possession. A member who did win a fair quilt, gave it to me when she moved from the area. I had been in charge of the fair quilt that year, and I was more than happy to take the quilt off her hands! After we returned from the fair, I went into my sewing room and finished the last part of my checkerboards. So they were totally sewn last night. I was so excited I wanted to go on to the next step (the big pinwheel blocks, and the goose in the pond blocks). I cut some strips, but I decided to go to bed. It was 1:00 a.m. See what happends when I drink a soda with caffeine for dinner? We stopped at a favorite Mexican food place on the way home from the fair, and I had a soda with my tasty tostada. That kept be buzzed for a few hours. My body does not process caffeine very fast. I am officially on summer break starting today. I made a list of things I hope to accomplish this summer. The list included mostly quilts, but also things like getting the garage cleaned out. I wanted to do that last summer, but never got around to it. There are lots of boxes of my mother's things. I want to go through them and get things distributed and out of our garage. Maybe I can get that done this summer along with a few quilts. Also a trip to Monterey/Pacific Grove is on the list. This week is already busy. I have a luncheon date with a friend tomorrow. Wednesday I am having a tooth extracted (actually only the roots since the tooth is already gone), whoopie! Thursday we are going to Bakersfield (if I am not suffering too much from my extraction) to visit DH's step father for his birthday. I think he will be 85. So there goes the first week of my summer break. Already I am down one week, and it is only the first day of break! Life is passing me by too fast lately. I also want to shop for a new vehicle this summer if I can squeeze that in between baby quilts! Of course, let us not forget that I want to see all the Perry Mason shows that I can while I am off work. I like the older black and white shows the best. So, it looks like a busy summer for me. Lots of sewing/quilting and lots of Perrys. Happy Quilting to you. Sorry, it appears that I have lost my paragraph spacing again.

Another great class

Here is a picture of one of Jill Schumacher's whole cloth quilts. She was the teacher for the quilt design class I attended today. She quilts on her home machine, and is another phenominal machine quilter. I took more pictures at class, but they turned out too fuzzy to post. I apologize for this picture being a little fuzzy. I seem to be a little fuzzy in picture taking lately. I need to concentrate on holding the camera more steady. I had a fuzzy picture of Jill, and the table where all her stencils were located. She had over 900 stencils, plus her other products on another table. We all felt like children let loose in the candy shop!

This class was about learning how to decide on a design for your quilt (the different areas and shapes), and how to mark your quilt so that you can successfully remove the marks after quilting. Jill ditches (sews in the ditch) all seams before she starts quilting the motifs. She brought some great supplies (stencils, pencils, Synthrapol, dye catching sheets, scissors, patterns, battings). She talked about wool and silk battings. I have never used this type of batting. The people I have talked to about these battings say they are wonderful to quilt through. You must take care how they are cleaned.

After attending my last two quilting classes, I realize that I have been doing minimal quilting on my quilts. There is so much more that I can do. With all the great information I have received in the last two classes, I am so excited about getting into my sewing room and marking and quilting a top. I am so excited about quilting altogether. I want to get busy and quilt, quilt, quilt. But first, I must finish my checkerboard corners, then on to the next-to-the-last step in my mystery quilt.

Happy Quilting

Checkerboards Done - sort of done I mean

Here are the checkerboards, with corners sewn and cut. The two large checkerboards on the left are the first two that I completed. The two small blocks on the right are the cut-off corners placed together. There are many more checkerboards yet to sew and cut. See my new purple cutting board? I know, it looks pink in the photograph, but it really is a light purple (orchid) color. A friend realized she had bought two of the same one, and she offered the second one to me. Isn't it cute? It is blue on the opposite side. In this second picture, I am showing you the process I am using to complete the checkerboard block (my first mini tutorial!). I draw two lines on the back of the swirl fabric. The first line is corner to corner (diagonal) in the very center of the square. This is the sewing line for the corner. I have added a second line 1/2 inch away as a second sewing line. After sewing on the two lines, I cut the corner away between the lines. I did not want to waste this fabric (the patchwork corner and the swirl fabric corner). I figured that if I mark the two lines, my leftover (cut) fabric triangles would make a square when sewn, which it did. I now have two different triangle/squares that measure about 5 inches. Double the fun!

There are two different designs that I have sewn from these leftover corners. It depends which way I turn the swirl fabric that determines the design. I like the one with the swirl fabric on the outside corners with the modified checkerboard in the center. I could do a quarter turn with the swirl triangles, and have a totally different design again. It is such fun playing with these triangles. When I sew the diagonal center line of the swirl fabric, and the second line 1/2 inch inside the center line, I can get a small block sewn each time, and a corner of swirl fabric sewn onto a checkerboard corner at the same time.

This last picture is a close up of the two drawn lines. I apologize that the picture is a little blurry, but I think I was too when I took the picture! It was late at night. I finally decided that my eyes were too tired to sew any more after I broke two sewing machine needles in less than 30 minutes while sewing through all the layers of fabric where the checkerboard squares join.

I have quite a few more corners to sew on my finished checkerboards. I want to get these done before I go on to finish sewing the other three big pinwheel blocks, and the five big goose in the pond blocks. Then I can sew the center together. I am so anxious to get to that part.

I have a machine quilting design class this Saturday, and Sunday is Father's Day. I am not sure how much time I will have to sew, but I really would like to get my checkerboard corners done this weekend. We will see. In the meantime.....

Happy Quilting

Today's Quilt Show

Here are some pictures of some quilts at the show we went to today. DH took me on an outing and I took several pictures. I asked if I could take pictures of these quilts and was told it was okay. There were many more beautiful quilts than you see here, but these were a few of the ones that called to me.

I really like the purple and green split nine patch quilt. It is the first one I have seen that used floral fabric instead of a solid color for the leading between the patches. It was very effective.

The small hanky quilt was done with purchased trims, not by hand, or from the sewing machine. She wanted something fast and easy, and it was great. I thought at first that everything was hand made, but not so.

The blue/purple with squares of the orangish color was so different. It was three dimensional. The orangish squares looked like a folded bow tie center, but it was sewn into the side seams to make it pop out between the blocks.

The purple french braided quilt was great. It was purples, what more do I need to say?

The New York Beauty style quilt was fantastic. All those tiny spikes. It was so eye catching. Everyone who walked by while I was in that area stopped and viewed this quilt and commented on how tiny the spikes were, and how hard they are to do, and how much patience the maker must have had to make so many of those blocks.

It was a very nice show. There were a lot of different quilt styles and designs. There was the main hall with quilts and vendors (lots of good vendors, also), and there was another room adjacent to the hall with more quilts. DH enjoyed the show, too. We went to Johnny Garlics after the show and had a super good meal. All in all, it was a great day. I wanted to get home and show you these photos and get to my sewing machine and sew, sew, sew.

I hope you had a good Sunday, too.

Happy Quilting

More Thread Play

Here are some more pictures of our thread class. I did not want to put any more in my last post for fear Blogger could not handle them. Cindy (the instructor) is in the purple blouse. The table shows some of the threads she brought us to use. The rainbow colored quilt is one that was on the other end of the table with the threads. Such a great class!

Okay, Blogger put the photos in a totally different way than I anticipated, but you get the idea. We had so much fun!

Happy Quilting

Thread Play Today

Here are some quilts done by Cindy Needham, our instructor for today's guild quilting class. She is a phenominal machine quilter. She quilts all her quilts on her home sewing machine. She has written a book, Linen Quilts. She started finding old linens, in good shape or not, and quilting them as a whole cloth quilt. She has done some wonderful quilts using these linens.

She works for Superior Threads, and she brought a lot of their threads today for us to use. She started class by talking about different types of threads, and how to use them. She explained how to adjust your sewing machine for using the different threads, including the metalic threads and fancy couching threads. As you can see in the photos, she does fantastic machine quilting. She also embellishes her quilts with beads, other type trims (like rick rack), and lace. She may take weeks to quilt a top. Many of the quilts she had today were silk. She likes to use wool batting, or whatever is appropriate for a particular project.

We started out making a sampler of threads. We used different settings on our machines, and used all different threads. We wrote on our fabric what thread we used and what settings we used for that thread. That was really fun. It was so interesting to discover what my machine would do, and not do, with a little adjustment on the settings. We even used metalic threads, like Glitter, and Halo. Such fun!

I learned that I can adjust my machine and not destroy it! That was really the biggest discovery for me today. I sew so much patchwork, that my machine settings stay very much the same all the time. I use the same type thread, so nothing needs to be changed. But let me tell you, that is about to change.

Today we had time to play with thread and our sewing machines. That is something I seldom have the time to do. I am always on a deadline to get something done, and do not have time to really play with my machine. Sometimes I find things out by accident (because I have made a mistake), but I usually do not have time to experiment to find how to do something different, unless I am in a class.

Today's class was such sewing fun. I hope you had fun with your sewing machine today.

Happy Quilting