Category Archives: Quilting

Slashed Blocks

Quilting

I joined an online Block of the Month club this year. The promo material said it would teach me some new techniques, and at the end of the year I would have a completed sampler quilt.

The technique is quite simple and the video I was following was very well done (better than the paper instructions and I’m generally more of a paper-instruction gal).

I got the first block finished before lunch but I wasn’t very happy with it. The lines didn’t match and, although I knew the second block was to be wonky, the asterisk block was supposed to have matching lines.

I finished up the wonky pound sign block (much easier than the first) and then started over again the asterisk. Although not perfect even the second time around, it is much better and I had some extra practice on the technique.

Change of location

Journal, Quilting

As you know, Tuesday is one of my favorite days of the week because I get together with other members of the Guild for our bee. The Seniors’ Center holds their monthly luncheon and general meeting on the second Tuesday of the month, and we were going to have to cancel our session or find another location. Several women in the Guild, including two from the Tuesday morning group, live in the same mobile home park and they were able to gain access to their clubhouse for our Tuesday session on the weeks we are kicked out of the Seniors’ Center.

I woke up this morning with quite a sore back and, for about five seconds, I thought about not going to the bee. But I had plans to finish off a project, and I was anxious to see what the space was like. Just as I found at the Seniors’ Center, the clubhouse was very clean and full of natural light. And it was a particularly bright day out today. There were eight of us sewing, and there wouldn’t be room for many more. I guess if we worked two machines to a table we could get more in, but we were laughing at how much we all like to spread ourselves out.

Several of the ladies were working on their Mystery Quilts. I was able to show them my completed top and get their opinion on whether or not I should have a border, and what color the border should be. We decided on a pink “zinger” with a wider green border. I just love the terms we use in quilting. I heard another good one today for when you have to rip out stitches – reverse sewing! Another favorite term from the Mystery Quilt weekend was a “relaxed bottom”.

Click on the photo for a larger image

I finished my Bargello top today. I took the class in December and I’m hoping to have both it and my Mystery Quilt done for Show and Tell at the February meeting. I thought I would stop at the fabric shop on my way home to pick out some backing material for both projects, but I decided there was no rush and came straight home.

Before I had my dinner I finished a knitting project I’ve been working on for Madison. I hope to have it in the mail to her on Thursday. Why Thursday? I plan to spend all day at home tomorrow catching up on my appliqué blocks.

The Cat Came Back

Quilting

When we visited Calgary in the fall of 2010 the Burton’s cat Louie had just gone missing. We put up posters and searched the neighbourhood hoping we would be able to find him. In the middle of December that year, long after everyone except Madison had given up hope, a call came that Louie had been found. Where you might ask? In a town about 200 miles from Calgary. How he got there remains a mystery.

One of the first Blocks of the Month for the 2010-2011 Guild season was a pinwheel cat. Because Louie was still missing I decided to make something for Madison using a cat theme. When I finished the pinwheel cat block, it wasn’t quite “cat” enough for me. I found a book of paper-pieced cats (and dogs) in the Guild library and did a couple of samples. They were very hard, but I had a paper-piecing course coming up and knew I’d gain some of the skills I needed. I struggled to complete the eight cats I had chosen from the book, and I think I made each cat at least twice.

But eight cats are hardly big enough for a quilt. I looked online and found the Fashion Cats, also paper pieced but on a larger scale. I had such fun picking out fabrics to dress the cats in.

The quilt was taking shape, but I still didn’t have a design in mind. At the Guild year-end potluck a woman who had seen me working on the cats suggested they would make a nice border. That was all I needed and I could immediately see the design for the quilt.

The Sunflower Cat was another of the Blocks of the Month. This was a machine appliqué block and, since the practice piece worked well, I created three Sunflower Cats for the center. The last pieces I needed were corner cats and I found those online as well.

I realized after I had all the blocks completed that they were a combination of 6” and 12” blocks. In order to tie them all together I added 8” border blocks that were made up of small pieces of the fabrics I used in making all the cats.

The final piece was finding the right background, backing and binding material. I was able to find a star motif printed on both a black and a white background.

 

This was my first full-sized quilt and both Madison and Louie were happy with it.

Cookie Tin Exchange

Quilting

As part of the Timberlane Quilt Guild I am taking part in a Cookie Tin Exchange. Each member who is participating is assigned to a team. To begin the exchange we each made a block of our choosing, and provided the other members of our team a notebook describing what we were looking for in a finished project.

Royal Star

My challenge to the ladies in my group was to reproduce their first quilting block, or a block from their first quilt. My first blocks were made as potholders for my sisters. There is no question that I did a better job with these than I did my first time around.