Saturday, June 27, 2015

"conversational geese" top done





I told you last post about the method I used to sew these flying geese. I loved the process.

This sweet Maywood Studio floral in blue, red and yellow makes me happy.



Find at:

Friday, June 19, 2015

no-waste, quick and precise flying geese



I found this tutorial by Lauren Palmer of Olive Tree Textiles via Pinterest. I'll let you look over there if you want the details.







It has transformed how I'll do flying geese from now on.




We came home after dinner with Lesley and her family, and I worked another hour out of sheer pleasure.

Really, if it weren't for preparations for Father's Day tomorrow taking priority, I would finish this top tomorrow.

I've always loved purple and red together. I like how the various shades of blue add a little punch.


The sweet bird fabric by Stella is covering a gift quilt on the design board I'm piecing for someone who is coming Sunday. :)

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

"vintage port" top finished

not a great photo, taken with my phone

I'm sort of proud of myself for designing a block that turned out the way I pictured it. Do you ever have a vision of a thing while you lie in the dark in bed? Quilts flash in my head. Sometimes I remember them. I pictured this one draped over the back of a sofa.

I wanted diamonds, not squares. So I had to create this template. After piecing each block, they needed to be squared up with my square tool. I should have taken pictures while I did it. Even though the template needs tweaking so the square is more precise, I have to say that I LOVE squaring off the square with this tool. Oh man. LOVE. And then the final piecing is easy and satisfying, because the squares are perfect and seams match up for sewing together the rows.

I know, this does not sound very improv, does it? Maybe the evolving quiltist in me is finding a pattern that makes me happy.

I can see doing this in a hundred combinations. But can I do what Hopewell or others do and repeat the same pattern again and again? Would I enjoy doing color and fabric "studies" a la Josef Albers? This is not answerable at this time.

Saturday, June 6, 2015

"ships & sails" baby boy quilt finished and listed


This has been a fun project. The strips of stripes (from a dust ruffle) were narrow, and I enjoyed letting that guide the design.




I've had the anchor fabric forever (from Nancy?) and felt happy and relieved to finally use it, for the backing.

The triangles are from my old stash, and from Nancy's old stash. Some are left from pillows she made for her beach lodge condo.








The quilt measures 39" x 48"
all cotton
cotton batting
machine pieced and quilted
Etsy listing here