Thursday, March 26, 2009
Flower Stars
I've decided to make a vine-y, flowers and leaves border for the Periwinkle Stars quilt center. "Flowers" will be individual Periwinkle Stars to which I'm adding a center...to make the stars look more flower-like!
From one gold fabric, I've cut circles. Bits of batting were cut into circles too so each fabric circle has a batting circle inside it. This gives the flower a little dimension as well as preventing any shadowing from fabrics beneath the circle. I baste around the edge of a fabric circle so I can draw it up over a heat-resistant template plastic circle. After it's pressed, I remove the template plastic, making a nice round circle with a smooth edge to hand-applique to the center of each star.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Hand Piecing - Periwinkle Stars
With no specific size in mind, I cut out oodles of snowballs from a solid ivory fabric. Then, using my scraps and scraps from quilter-friends, I pieced the stars, being sure to have a light and a dark for contrast. Notice how each star alternates the placement of lights and darks.
Now the quilt top is 80" X 90"! I briefly entertained the idea of calling it enough, but one of my favorite quilt effects is a geometric pieced center surrounded by a border of softly curving applique. So, bordered it will be!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
QAYG - Quilt As You Go
A week ago, our Hope Quilters group at church learned how to string-piece onto foundation paper. Now several quilters are interested in learning how to make QAYG (Quilt As You Go) blocks. In the right-hand menu is a slideshow tutorial I've created. (Thank you Jan MacFadyen of Victoria, Australia, and your blog Sew Many Quilt - Too Little Time.) Jan and many other quilters are busily making these QAYG blocks into quilts to donate to Australians who have experienced terrible losses due to the February 7 bush fires where 1,834 homes were burned. Visit Oz Comfort Quilts blog to see pictures of their quiltmaking relief efforts. ![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW-Bs9YLhEnCJbW-RG43C4aH9VHCbZBvYqAOu7o0WsJEH5z_G9ouvlc20sCdtK8Qo6qrmqoAO3WTgHtdETohv7wSpJsn-PpqEPp3-zwTlQE59Jn6oUVFcI9LSbDX1g4qLzJB6db9E2f9U/s320/DSCF4007.JPG)
Note that I made my QAYG samples starting with 9-1/2" X 9-1/2" backing and batting squares--'cause that's the size square ruler I had. My finished block is 8-1/2" X 8-1/2". Expect to lose a whole inch from the size you start with. Aussie quilters are beginning with 11" squares and ending up with a 10" X 10" finished block.
Click on the slideshow and enjoy learning!
Mariner's Compass
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On the condition Lola would enter the quilt in the Iowa State Fair (group quilts/wall hanging), I quilted it, basically covering the entire surface with feathers.
Lola's never entered a quilt in competition, so look for her first blue ribbon at the August 13-23 Iowa State Fair!
Saturday, March 7, 2009
It's a Quillow
Today I finished a quillow. In case you don't know, a quillow is a quilt that folds up and tucks into it's own pocket, making it look like a pillow. The outside of the pillow pocket is four 6" X 6" turnstile blocks.![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA4JXEAMiM1GDFcOmJNr_fuQUB8c5NcY33vdR39k58JMvYJOEXbrNKJinpQrRU0WbV0Q5PRwQkO0kMz3D_jLHStzOO5bLhUWh1h0mqg47JJ9EqPo7Atxxrr-HJCxxFw3u5x_Hq7uC7Jbc/s320/DSCF3959.JPG)
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Here is a close-up of the opening where the quilt is folded into the pillow pocket.
Quillow instructions are from the Jan/Feb 2007 issue of Love of Quilting, though I changed the pillow and quilt dimensions--the pillow is 12" X 12" and the quilt is 36" X 48".
The quilt front is the clown print and the quilt back is the polka-dot print.
Monday, March 2, 2009
String Piecing and Rollin' Along
Hope Quilters has several
bins of donated quilting cotton, and stringing is not only a stash-reducer, but it's fun! Several quilters have already told me, "I can't stop stringing!" (Do we need a new support group?) Andrea (at right) sure looks pleased with her block, doesn't she? We hope to receive several wonderful new mission quilts from everyone's efforts.Today I cut out and pieced several Turnstile blocks. Decided to try my "new" manual presser, roller. It's an old wallpaper seam roller, and it works great! Really even better than a wooden presser which can pull and distort fabric grain. The roller just rolls over the seams. (duh) Another great quilting gadget that isn't found in a quilt shop.
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