Sunday, March 30, 2008

Orange Crush fabrics & finishes



Here is the fabric I've chosen for the Orange Crush mystery quilt to start on Tuesday, April 1st. All my friends are
going to Asilomar [a week-long quilting retreat in Northern California] so I have to amuse myself this week.
I found a really rich purple [to the left of the pinks] and more oranges, pinks and lime greens than I thought I had.





I don't know what to cut into 2" strips as the lights, but since I won't be starting the mystery until after lunch I'll check a couple of the posts and see what might look best. I'm also going to try out the Fons and Porter triangle ruler and see how that works [because you know she's going to have triangles in this quilt].

This quilt was made from several packets of Hawaiian flower fabrics that was given away at guild for charity quilts. I added the window panes to the 4-patches and made a 2-1/2 sashing between the blocks. I quilted around the flowers [took way to long to do], but it really looks great.



This quilt top was given to me, along with a pieced backing, by one of the women I quilt with in a Tuesday night class. After piecing it she was so sick of it she didn't want to see it again. I showed it to her after I quilted it, and she didn't think it was so bad after all.




This quilt was pieced by 4 of the quilters who meet here at Westminster Gardens. I was saved for the quilting. It is hanging in our dining room now, and will be replaced with a 4th of July quilt at some point.


Thursday, March 13, 2008

Finished quilts



I started and finished this quilt January/February. It is hanging in the dining room at Westminster Gardens [WG] near the coffee area. I think they plan to have it hanging for some time.

It has all different coffee cups with what looks like Starbucks coffee names under them. It was a fun and easy kit to work on.












This is one [below] of my UFO's from the mid '90's [last century!!!!]. I found it in the storage unit and quilted and bound it in February. The scary thing was that it had been pinned - but there was no rusting of the pins [thank heaven]. I'm going to donate it to our fund raiser at WG for our Cinco de Mayo festivities. I even tried some miniature feathers in the border [I had taken a class, but hadn't been brave enough to try them].



















I haven't posted for awhile - at first I didn't have much, but then got whatever virus is going around and could barely walk the dogs for a couple weeks. I'm finally sewing again on my granddaughters quilt [blocks are still being cut and I'm looking for the pattern again - in a
magazine somewhere in my collection].





I'm also enjoying the spring here in Southern California - it's fantastic to hear the birds [and leaf blowers : ( ] and see the iris's[?] in bloom.






Now back to my row robin - this is my row [there are 5 blocks - 3 patience corner and 2 snowball and 9-patch]. We have 8 in our group [with one in Pittsburgh] so will have fairly large quilt tops when we get them back.








I have my friend Sandy's rows right now, but can't post anything on the blog until the end of the year. My friends read this and we can't see our rows until the unveiling in December. Most of the folks are easy about their blocks, but we have one who wants paper piecing with each row matching the row above or below [not my idea of fun]. We meet about every 6 or so weeks to exchange rows and do a show and tell of other things.




Open your windows and listen to the birds while you quilt [for those of you in sunny climes] or turn on the t.v. and listen to fun movies for those of you who are in colder areas.




I wish you happy sewing with no ripping.