Saturday, March 31, 2018

Tula Pink All Stars Kaleidoscope - Part 3

So this is where the quilt currently sits.  It needs some triangles to finish it out into a rectangle.  And I'll get to that....eventually!




Here I am testing what should come between the big triangles.  On the bottom you can see the dark purple triangles.  I decided I liked it better with them than on the top without them.




Once that decision was made I cut and laid out all the pieces.  I wanted to be sure that I had them all and that I didn't mess up the placement when sewing them.  I highly recommend this!



Pieces, pieces,  Getting there...



And it was a 1/4 inch too wide....at least I figured it out before I sewed it (and that it wasn't too small!)



And all the pieces sewn together.  I LOVE This so much!



I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Tula Pink All Stars Kaleidoscope - Part 2

I continue to work on my Kaleidoscope using Tula Pink All Stars.  I added some large purple dot triangles.


For the next round I decided the quilt needed strips all the way around the center.  Then the big frog in a triangle and some light blue dots around the frog.


Then I tried a green stripe instead of the pink.  The pink has more punch and so I went with it.


Here you can see the triangles all assembled.  I added another fussy cut diamond to the tip of the triangle because I didn't want to have to worry about what it would look like with the dots connected.  You can also see that I have a problem....the triangles are too big so I am going to have to add on to the center.


I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Monday, March 26, 2018

Mill City Museum Inspiration

Last week I went on a field trip with my students to the Mill City Museum in Minneapolis.  I found some great inspiration.



I think this part of an old antique stove was my favorite.



I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Saturday, March 24, 2018

Tula Pink All Stars Kaleidoscope - Part 1

I have fallen in love with the new Tula Pink All Stars Collection.  I decided that I needed to fussy cut the fun patterns in the prints.  I started with some hexagons of the squirrels and owls.


Here you can see how I started.


I was trying to decide which strip to use....I decided the pink would be too much so I went with the green and lavender.


To get the right trapezoid I used post-it notes to know where on the ruler the strip needed to be.  I also liked the center line on the ruler to help align the stripe.


I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Friday, March 23, 2018

Free Motion Friday - Filled Feathers Idea 4

I love this feather!  It has clouds in it.


Start by making the feather itself.


Then add half circles facing towards the inside.


Here you can see how I started my half circles.


Continue around the shape until you get back to the center spine and then travel to the next feather.


The hardest part of this design was how to start/finish in the skinny part of the feathers.  I found that if I alternated them it worked best the points didn't touch/overlap.


I really like this feather.


I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Island Batik Ambassadors Try a Technique Challenge Part 2

In my last post about my Island Batik Ambassadors challenge I showed you how I made my Seminole pieces.  Now....what to do with them.  Originally I thought I'd use them as a border for a square.  As you can see below, it didn't quite work out that way!  The pieces wanted to be a diamond because they ended up as parallelograms not rectangles.


When sewing strips onto my sections I realized that this wasn't going to work....and a little ripping ensued.


How to get the right angle?  I laid the parallelogram on top and cut the purple strip at the same angle with a ruler.  I had no idea what angle it was, but this method worked well.



Then I was able to sew them correctly so it became a straight line, not a v shape.



Once they were all done I sewed them into this diamond and got to work on the quilting!  It is after all, one of my favorite parts.  As you can see I haven't quite made it to the binding yet....but I will soon.  This quilt has Hobbs 80-20 Cotton-Poly batting in it.  It's one of my go to favorites.


I quilted large feathers in the outer border to fill the space and then did matchsticks between the feathers and the edges of the quilt.  I did matchsticks in the black print too....but you can't see it.



I also did a feathered wreath in the center of the quilt.  It was fun. I also did matchsticks around the edge.  Why?  So the feather edges pop and you can really see them.  It didn't take too long and was worth the effort.

It was hard to know what color Aurifil to use on these feathers.  I ended up using a dark purple #2545,  I decided on the dark instead of the lighter purple because I didn't want the lighter thread to take away from the fabric.  It's such a lovely fabric after all.  It's an Island Batik basic fabric called Blackberry and is one of my favorites!



I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Quilt Qwazy Queens Blog Hop 2018 and Giveaway!

This year Marian at Seams to be Sew challenged us Quilt Qwazy Queens to finish up a UFO project.  I remembered I had these two blocks that I'd never done anything with.  Originally they were going to be baskets for applique, but I wasn't in the mood to do that.


Quilt Qwazy Queens 2018   

I decided the thing to do was to make two more blocks in similar, but different fabrics and put them together.  Here's what happened.  I really like it, but I felt like it needed a border because I really didn't want to try to hit all those triangle tips with my binding.



You can see that I alternated colors for my border too.  I like the contrast that it gives.  I also had a lot of fun quilting this quilt.  It's for my friend Susan who loves turquoise.


Yes, those are my feet.  Oops.  Here you can see the detail of the feathers and the wavy lines I used in the triangles.


And here is the feather I quilted in the center.  I used 28 weight Aurifil thread in the top for this.  I like the additional dimension the thicker thread gives though it was a little fussy for me.


Be sure to check out the rest of the bloggers on this hop!


Thursday, March 15, 2018
Friday, March 16, 2018
Monday, March 19, 2018
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Wednesday, March 21, 2018

And now it's time for a giveaway!  
There is a $150 gift certificate from Fat Quarter Shop (this contest lasts all 5 days of the hop)

And a gorgeous Timeless Treasures Bundle also from Fat Quarter Shop

Quilting Fabric at the Fat Quarter Shop




I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Monday, March 19, 2018

Stair Railing Inspiration





I googled stair railings this week.  Where the idea came from?  No clue.  But I did find some cool images.

Image result for interesting railings

Image result for interesting railings






Image result for interesting railings

Image result for interesting railings

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Saturday, March 17, 2018

Island Batik Ambassador's Try a Technique Challenge - Part 1

I've been a quilter for over thirty years, so thinking of a technique that I hadn't done before was a bit of a challenge for me.  But thanks to the amazing group of Island Batik Ambassadors and their brainstorming skills I finally settled on a technique...Seminole Piecing.  I've watched my mom do it, but I'd never tried.



Seminole piecing comes from the Seminole Native American tribe and you can read about it here.

I started by picking some fabrics.  The left fabric is called Blackberry and it's one of my absolute favorite solidy batiks from Island Batiks.  The other three fabrics were from stash buster rolls.  I know the far right one is from the Fire Island line a few years ago.  I love the combination of these colors.



I started by constructing two strip sets like these.  I then cut 2 inch wide pieces at a 45 degree angle.


Next I figured out how I wanted to sew them together.


And then a lot of cutting ensued...


To get them aligned just right I put some tape on my cutting mat.  The first top piece of tape is where the black and green meet on the bottom piece.


The bottom piece of tape is where the end of the black fabric is on the top piece.  This method yielded very close and accurate results. 


Here are the first two sewn together. 


Now they're a set of seven.


The last step is to trim the outside triangles so you have a rectangle.....er parallelogram?


But it is a beautiful parallelogram!  Come back next Wednesday to see what happens next...


Be sure to check out the other amazing Island Batik Ambassadors projects!

 ISLAND BATIK AMBASSADORS FOR 2018

Adventerous Applique and QuiltingArk Angel Creations
BeaQuilterBejeweled Quilts by Barb
Busy Hands QuiltsCarole Lyles Shaw
Clever ChameleonCreative Blonde
Curlicue CreationsDen Syende Himmel
Desert Bloom QuiltingDevoted Quilter
Dizzy QuilterFreemotion by the River
Gateway Quilts & StuffheARTs Creations
If These Threads Could TalkInchworm Fabrics
Inquiring QuilterKathleen McMusing
Kauffman DesignsLittle Bunny Quilts
Living Water QuilterLizard Creek Quilts
Mania for QuiltsMary Mack Made Mine
Masterpiece QuiltingMMM Quilts
Moosestash Quilting PamelaQuilts
Patterns by JenPowered by Quilting
Quilt in a not-ShellQuilting Affection Designs
Sally MankeSarah Goer Quilts
Sew Increadibly CrazySew Karen-ly Created
Slice of Pi QuiltsSteph Jacobson
Sweetgrass DesignsThe Quilt Rambler
Yellow Cat Quilt DesignsVicki’s Crafts and Quilting
Whispers of Yore

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy