Category Archives: Uncategorized

Back Again

Once again it’s been a long time since I’ve posted. It seems the entire world has changed in that time. It’s a sad and difficult time, but a time with the promise of better things to come. Many have stepped up to make masks for medical personnal, friends, relatives and strangers alike. Others have peacefully shown their support for equal justice regardless of skin color. For many of us quilters, our quilting passion is the little bit of solace that we need in this time. I wouldn’t be honest if I were to say that the events of the past months haven’t weighed heavily on my heart, and turned me into something of a recluse.

Today I posted some pictures to Facebook of quilts that I have quilted this year. I have more, but I’ve been having a difficult time getting them off of my phone. As usual I have missed getting pictures of a few quilts. Just par for the course here.

A couple of days ago I finished another quilt top. At some point I have to start adding my quilts to my schedule. Yesterday I had talked with a friend about not adding new customers, today I added a new customer. I can still sneak a few of my own quilts into the schedule, right? Sure I can. I haven’t taken any pictures of the new quilt top but I do have a picture of another top I finished a couple of months ago. Since WordPress has changed it’s layout I can’t figure out how to post the picture though. I’m guessing if I want to spend enough time I can figure it out but I will admit that I’m tired of people messing around with what works and expecting me to spend precious time to figure out what they’ve done. If you would like to see the quilt top, go to https://timeoutontheprairie.blogspot.com/ I moved my blog posts their after finding that my WordPress blog had ads for toenail fungus. Ugh! Anyway, come over and check out the picture and follow me there. I think the time is here to move my blog.

Happy quilting!

Mary

On Quilting and Kolaches

Once again the quilter’s Christmas party was postponed. We had heavy fog with below freezing temperatures, making for the possibility of icy roads. The party is now scheduled for our regular meeting date in January. Now I’m doubly glad I didn’t make my mug rug with a Christmas theme.

For the January meeting we are making 12 1/2″ blocks using the leftover challenge envelopes from a few years back. Each year the group defines a challenge which can then be entered in the competition at the county fair the following year. The challenge we are using for next month’s blocks consists of an envelope with a shape and a sample of fabric. The blocks must contain the shape in the color that was in the envelope. The blocks will then be assembled into a quilt to be raffled off at the 2020 fair. My envelope contained a egg shape with a blue scrap of fabric.

Contents of Challenge Envelope

Since the shapes in the remaining envelopes are likely to be circles, rectangles, squares, and stars, I don’t want to make something that looks like an Easter block. I have thought about using several of the egg shaped pieces as flower petals to make a flower, or as leaves on a tree. There aren’t too many blue flowers or tree leaves out there but that’s the best I have come up with to date. Any suggestions or ideas would be more than welcome. Just comment below.

Today I baked kolaches for the family for Christmas. I decided to use unbleached flour this year. It is amazing how different they turned out compared to when I have used bleached flour. They are much less fluffy. Since I can’t eat them, I am not sure how much difference there is in the taste.

Normally I make my gluten free kolaches before venturing to the well-glutened variety. For some reason my organizational Zen has abandoned me, and I ended up making the regular variety first. That was probably not a good idea as it added quite a bit of extra work scrubbing everything down to prevent cross contamination. My gluten free kolaches did turn out to be much moister and softer this year. I’m not sure how that happened but I’m good with moister and softer.

Happy Holidays everyone, and for those of you in the cold regions of the country, stay warm!

Quilters Christmas Party

After postponing the Cedar County Piecemaker’s Christmas party due to weather last week, it appears as though the weather will cooperate this week. Our exchange is a mug rug or coasters. My initial thoughts were to make a Christmas themed mug rug. After thinking about it a little more, I decided that a mug rug that would be appropriate for a greater part of the year would be more practical. Yup, that’s me–practical.

I had found a quilt pattern that featured a variety of cups and mugs that I thought was cute. Why not make one of the blocks for a mug rug? It turned out to be an easy block and I did use colors that are somewhat wintery. The block is from a quilt called “In From the Cold” by Kate Spain. The full pattern can be found here: http://www.unitednotions.com/fp_in-from-the-cold.pdf. Someday I would like to make the entire quilt. There are additional ideas on using blocks from the quilt here http://blog.modafabrics.com/2013/06/in-from-the-cold-mini-project-and-gift-bag/ This is how my block turned out. I hope the person that receives it will like it.

Mug Rug

Since I may not be back for a bit, I want to wish everyone Happy Holidays, whatever holiday it is you celebrate. May the season bring you peace and joy.

Mary

A Special Quilt

Yesterday I finished quilting a Christmas wall hanging that is somewhat special to me. The quilt kit was purchased by a very special friend, Mary, who passed away this year. Another friend of Mary’s pieced the quilt for Mary’s husband. I squeezed it in so it can be bound and ready for Christmas.

Mary’s quilt, pieced by Sue

I did get the block in the previous post fixed. It turned out to be quite quick and easy. It appears that I won’t be working on more of the Forest Floor blocks until after Christmas. We will be celebrating Christmas on the weekend before, and with having a couple more quilts to finish this week, time will be at a premium. I have yet to put up the Christmas tree and decorate, bake goodies or start any other preparations for the holiday. This may be the year to delegate some tasks.

Forest Floor block, fixed

Until next time, Happy Quilting!

A boo boo

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Our son and family were here and it was the kind of day you don’t want to end. But end it did. There are still the memories to warm the heart and draw a smile.

Unfortunately the weather forecast kept me home on Saturday, when I had planned to journey out to the quilt shops for bag day. If you have a bag from this year’s quilt shop hop you get 20% off your purchases at participating quilt shops. Since I do actually need a couple pieces of fabric I thought it would be a good day to go.

This evening I pieced together another block for the Forest Floor block of the month. I had hoped to get two done but they always take more time than you think they will. Granted, had I actually gotten a block done every month when I got the pattern and fabric the quilt top would be done. Not sure it would be quilted. I pressed most of the seams open on tonight’s block. When I started the blocks, most of the seams were pressed to one side. There are several places where the needle will go “thunk” while quilting if it hits places where there are multiple layers of fabric . That sound always give me a moment of anxiety.

Have you ever gotten a block together and discovered a mistake? As I uploaded the picture I immediately spotted a boo-boo, so I guess I’m not done with this block. Hopefully I can get it fixed without taking the entire block apart. I wonder if I should take pictures of the rest of the blocks. It is much easier to spot mistakes on a photo than just looking at the block. Time to pull out the seam ripper and start frogging. Sigh.

Forest Floor Quilt Block

Happy quilting!

Mary

Back Again

After a very long absence I have decided that I would resume my blog. I have been posting pictures of the quilts that I have been quilting on Facebook. Since I’m kind of a private person, I feel rather exposed there. I don’t post much of what is on my mind, just pictures. A blog just feels more personal–more of a place to share what’s going on among a more intimate group. I may have that all wrong, but hopefully not. I will still post pictures on FB, but share a little more of my process here.

It is the Christmas rush season. Today was one of those days where absolutely nothing went right and it seems I didn’t accomplish a thing. I had planned on getting a smallish quilt completed today but the thread I had ordered was not in the box that arrived today. For some reason the shipment was split so I’m hoping for the thread tomorrow in the 2nd box. If not I will have to formulate a plan B.

I will leave you with a picture of a cute panel quilt that I recently completed. I love the birds, and actually have a canvas picture that has similar birds hanging in my bath. Please forgive the distortion, I had to drape it across the couch as there was no one here to hold it up for me. It has a water design quilted edge to edge which is a good look for this quilt.

Quilts, quilts, quilts

So many wonderful quilts I want to share!  Today’s quilts are quilts I have quilted for my customers.  So much  color, variety and fun!

Vicky’s quilt is a beautiful combination of blues.  It’s color and striations are reminiscent of the sea, and therefore it is quilted with an angelfish pattern. Vicky2 Vicky3

Remember the stories about people who accomplished the things that had always been considered impossible, because the person who accomplished the task didn’t know it couldn’t be done?  Well, there is nothing like a non-quilter to teach this old quilter what can be done when it comes to quilts!    Megan had a vision of a quilt, but is not a quilter.  I agreed to make a baby quilt for her, and when I opened the box of fabrics she sent, I was surprised to say the least.  I knew she wanted fabric from a bridesmaid’s dress included in the quilt, and I knew she wanted Minky on the back.  I had not, however ,expected cotton duck, which is a thick heavy fabric for those of you who are unfamiliar with it.  Very unlike quilting cotton.   She sent a wonderful selection of contemporary colors and designs, and I was up for  quilting “outside the box”.   I think it turned out will, as I hope she does.  The quilt should serve the baby well, being thick  and soft enough to provide cushion and insulation from  cold hard floors.  The minky backing  will also be soft against baby’s skin.  The navy fabric is from the dress, and the small blocks are minky. Megan2     Top  20140404_185001  Back

Lianne brought me a very cheerful and colorful scrappy log cabin.  The quilting design is an edge to edge called Roll With The Punches.

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Lianne also had a pretty Thimbleberries quilt, which I custom quilted.MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA

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The Sandy Hook shooting took place at the time that  Lianne was working on this quilt.  The number of circles matched the number of victims of the shooting, so this quilt is dedicated to those who died.  Each circle contains a unique motif and there is a quilted starburst for each circle, as they move through space towards the golden star.

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My quilting “partner in crime” aka shop hop friend, put together blocks that had been pieced by her neighbor’s mother.  Even though I’m not usually a big fan of the color pink, I love this wall hanging, with it’s traditional charm.MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA

 

I hope you have enjoyed viewing these quilts.  I will have a few more pictures at a later date.  I am currently having difficulty getting the pictures of the rest of the quilts from my camera to the old computer.  New technology may be great, but my camera software is too old to run on Windows 8, and that is not a good thing.  I’m just hoping the old computer never dies, there are still things that I can do with it that I can’t with the newer version of windows–without spending money on new software and a new camera, that is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Customer Is Always First

I’ve been feeling guilty lately.  Guilty about not posting sooner, but that’s where priorities come in.  In order to get quilts back to my customers, I have had to put some things on the back burner.  But the up side is, I have quilts to show you!  The 1st quilt belongs to Pieceful Pasttimes , The quilt shop located in Norfolk, Nebraska.  Isn’t it so much fun?  Beautiful bright colors separated by black and white!

Pieceful Pastimes (2) MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERAJust freehand ribbons quilted on this one.  With so much  color action, to add a lot of complicated quilting would only make for confusion and chaos.

Over the winter I quilted two extraordinary identical quilts,  made for a set of twins by their grandmother.  Beautifully embroidered in a gorgeous blue pallet.

Betty's quilt

This was quilted by following the preprinted  quilting lines in the blocks.  Those preprinted designs are definitely not meant for machine quilting!   One quilt had meandering in the sashing, both had stars in the sashing corners.

That’s all for tonight, but there are many more quilts to come!  Just stay tuned.

The Key to Being More Creative

http://www.tesh.com/index.php?page=tv-story&media_id=21e6fee97f2c4f36800183b612806642

For the creative mind, ideas just seem to appear from nowhere sometimes–coming in waves so fast and furious that the first ideas are drowned by the onrush of the tide of new inspiration.  But then comes the drought.  What to do when the ideas dry up?  John Tesh has found the research that may be the answer to that creative dry spell.  The color green.  Click the link on the title to read more.

Rail Fence Finally Finished

rail fenceHave you ever started a quilt with a  holiday theme  only to not get it finished in time for that holiday?  Did you then put it aside because the holiday was over and you have another year to get it done?  Several July 4th holidays had come and gone for this quilt, so I decided it was the perfect 1st quilt for Millie to complete.  This quilt had begun its life as a demonstration for beginning quilters.  What better pattern for a beginner.  Simple and striking.

At the February meeting of the Cedar County Piecemakers, an alternative binding technique was discussed.  Instead of folding and pressing the binding strip before applying to the quilt, the pressing was eliminated.  Of course with a quilt ready to be bound, I just couldn’t resist trying out the new (to me) technique.  Initially I wasn’t sure that I was going to like folding the stip in half as I went, but found out after just a few inches that it was not a problem.  I do think it made it easier to join the ends together without the crease.  The binding was done totally by machine and I do believe it looks good.  rail fence binding