Start of One Block Wonder - November 2011

I had been admiring some of the One Block Wonder quilts I had seen at various shows. I bought this fabric at Fibers in Motion (now sadly closed) and started laying out the design for a queen-size quilt.

Alexander Henry 2009- "Otranto"

A few of the first hexagons

Completed center with partial border

Detail of seminole pieced border

Making the sandwich

miscalculated the corners - oh well

The next step was determining what to do for the quilting. For the center portion I decided on large spirals, in keeping with the natural motion created by the hexagons. After three bad starts and some practice improving my stitch ripping techniques, I just decided to go for it. 

I quickly discovered that this was a big quilt. Previously I had been using the "quilt-as-you go" method for queen-size quilts, quilting individual pieces and then joining them together. But I felt committed so I forged onward.  The resulting quilted spirals were not as smooth as I would have liked. It felt as though I was continually fighting the quilt with the large bulk of fabric I was trying to move around. It was really exhausting! Looking back, I think I would have quilted the center hexagon section, pieced and quilted the border separately and then joined all the panels using the quilt-as-you-go method. (It's all about process, right?)

The next question:  "what to do with the large black outer border?" After playing around with some quilting patterns on scraps I decided to do a Greek key type design to reflect the square theme of the seminole border. This required some chalk marking for guidelines. Hmmm. I remember I don't like following lines, but too late now. I am about halfway through the quilting of the outer black border.

So where do I go from here? Two months ago and nearly 10 months after the inital work on the quilt, I laid it out on our bed in hopes of rekindling my interest in completing it. My husband, Mark, walked into the room. I loved his comment: "So is this what you made in the last two days?" On the up side, he really liked the colors and the design so that may be just the spark I need to complete it....someday.

Sleeping Bags - Janary 2012

Layout for Brett's bag

My nephew Bryan's boys, Brett and Davis, were born before I started quilting so I never made baby quilts for them. I was thinking about what I could make that they could use and enjoy for a few years to come. Sleeping bags! 

I used a free online pattern from Valerie Wells as a guide for the layout, resizing the blocks to make the finished bag  x  . The same fabric was used for the bags. I just changed the placement of the various fabrics.

Ready to put in the zipper

Once the sandwich was made (top/ Hobbs wool batting/black flannel) I quilted around each rectangular block. I added a bit of quilting in selective blocks, mainly the larger ones to help keep things together. The zipper was installed so the bag could be fully opened and used as a blanket. 

Davis' bag

Brett's bag

A boy and his bag

In early January, Daniel and I headed to Colorado where he was moving for his new job. Enroute we stopped at Bryan and Julie's in Salt Lake City and delivered Brett's bag. He seemed to really like it and spent a good deal of time insisting that Julie "get in!"

Daniel's T-Shirt Quilt - March 2012

The initial layout in December 2011

On a visit home Christmas 2011, my son Daniel finally sorted through his collection of  t-shirts which were stored for four years in six file boxes in our garage. After selecting the "keepers" from the "donaters" he chose a few to go into a t-shirt quilt.

I found some great fabrics at Cool Cottons and finally finished the quilt in March 2012.

67.5" x 68.5"

The back

Alexandra's Baby Quilt - November 2011

48" x 60"

With the news that my niece Ellen and her husband Andru would be expecting their first child in January 2012, I had a great excuse to make a baby quilt. 

This required a trip to Fabric Depot so I invited Hiromi to join me. Not only did we find lots of fabric but we both bought brand new sewing machines (of course we got a great deal). It can be dangerous to shop with other addicts.

The quilt top was based on a free online pattern from Hoffman Fabrics (Get Hip and Be Square). My new machine (Janome Horizon Memory Craft 7700) had a longer arm which gave me more room to move the fabric when free motion quilting. I had fun meandering around and incorporated 17 different animals and objects in the quilting design.

kitty

octopus

polka dot backing and binding

"Love Great Aunt Susan - Nov 2011" 

Quilted Landscape - Fall 2011

After all the table runners I was ready to try something new. I had long admired landscape quilts. When I saw an advertisement for Marjorie Post's Quilted Landscape class, I signed up. With Marjorie's expert guidance I was able to create a landscape based on a photograph. The inspirational photo was one I took of Gorges de l'Herault from our trip to the south of France in 2010.

Pinning the pieces 

Prior to quilting and adding the third tree

The finished piece

I really enjoyed this process and will put this on my "want to do more of these" list.

The Beginning - February 2011

The Quilting Addiction

As far back as I can remember I have always enjoyed working with my hands. In the most recent years this has manifested itself into two obsessions - gardening and quilting. I thought this blog would be a good place to store photos and some short narratives of my progress in quilting. The perfect therapy for days when I can't get out in the garden.

I owe my introduction to modern quilting to Hiromi Ota. In February 2011, during a visit to our family vacation home in Sisters, Hiromi asked if we could go to The Stitchin' Post as she was interested in taking some quilting classes. By the time we left the store we had both signed up for Jean Wells' Colorwork Table runner workshop. Below is the project I made from that workshop.

Our dining table runner - March 2011

Building off the technique I learned from Jean my next project was a queen-size bedspread. This project was going to require learning some new skills: quilt-as-you-go method (found a great resource for this online) and free-motion quilting. I signed up for a class in free motion quilting at The Stitchin' Post, taught by Barbara Shapel. I was sewing on my 17-year old Pfaff Triptonic which took a bit of practice in order to get the proper thread, needle and tension combination, not to mention synchronizing the speed of the machine and the movement of the fabric. Fortunately this project gave me lots of practice. I think it took about 50 hours to do 
the quilting.

Our bedroom quilt - June 2011

The back

Detail of the free-motion quilting
Lots of circles!

The next few months found me sewing more table runners as gifts for family and friends.

Sandi & Tom - July 2011

I made a template for the quilting
and traced it onto the fabric. But,
I found it very restricting trying to
follow my tracings.

              

  

  
           






Dave & Christina - August 2011

Barbel & Michael - August 2011

                                                      

                                                           

                                        Andrea & Florian - August 2011