Design Wall Monday 5-7

Not too much to report visually, however I have been busy. This photo shows the 10 blocks made so far this year in the craftsy.com block of the month program. Even though I'm sticking with the red/white/black color scheme, I did add a new black/white fabric and a new red/black/white fabric because I felt it was becoming a bit boring. It's been a fun program. Eventually we'll have 20 blocks made and then we'll finish the quilt which I assume will include sashings/borders

Not shown, but will try to do so next week, is the progress made on Sea Stable, Ocean Jools, and Life's A Hoot - all three are quilted and either reading for binding or ready for embroidery and bead embellishment. The embellishing is one of my favorite parts of creating the wall hangings because it seems to make the piece come to life.

Also, my mother is visiting so we will be working on the embellishing on the Victorian Crazy Quilt together.

In summary- lots of handwork ahead, very little machine work. After the 4 pieces listed above are finished I'm going to make a gray/white/yellow bed-size quilt for me.

Visit Patchwork Times today for Design Wall Monday.

Design Wall Monday 4-23-12

 

I haven't been able to do any sewing for almost 3 weeks - we've had a lovely spring which means the yard and garden were begging for my attention. But now it's in pretty good shape and yesterday it rained a soft, delightful rain all day so I stayed in my pj's and sewed the entire day - a rare treat. I know the pieces in these photos don't look much different than they did in my last posting but I promise they are! I spent all day yesterday doing the machine applique part - lots of changing thread colors, etc. but it was so much fun, especially on my new Baby Lock which I'm totally enjoying. In addition to the 3 wall hangings that I'm working on, I also decided that since April was almost over it was about time to get my hind-parts in gear and do the two April blocks for the Craftsy.com block of the month program. One is finished and it's the one photographed, and the other will be finished tonight ... just in time for the May blocks to be announced. So from here my plan is to quilt the 3 wall hangings and then begin the embroidery and bead embellishments (included in the photos) but it will be a couple of weeks before I can do that due to other plans that require my time.

Take a few moments to visit Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday.

March UFO

Hmm ... I didn't have a #8 UFO, nor do I have a #10 UFO, so I selected something on my list of UFOs to do and that was to do/finish Lake Forest, a block of the month piece by McKenna Ryan. This photo was taken when just the quilt top was finished. It has sinced been quilted, binded, and is hanging on the wall in my office. It was a delight to do this pattern. There are a lot of pieces but it was well worth the time and energy.

UFO #10 - I don't have one so I'll make up another one to do for April. Probably one of the 3 I posted last Monday for Design Wall Monday. Check out Patchwork Times to see other UFOs completed in March.

Design Wall Monday 3-28-12

Take a few moments to visit Patchwork Times to see all the wonderful projects folks are working on.

I've had a lot of time this weekend to work on some applique projects. All of these are just in the beginning stages - all need the raw edges sewn, and all will be heavily embellished with embroidery and beading, then quilting.

This first piece is called "Life's A Hoot" by Angela Padilla, purchased through Craftsy.com. I bought some "wood grain" fabric for the tree and the grass fabric but otherwise I think I've used all fabrics from my stash.

This piece is called Designer Seashells by Debora Konchinsky. It's totally being made with scraps from my stash. I live fairly close to the shore and have always been drawn to seashells, so this piece really speaks to me. I'm thinking of re-naming this piece Ocean Jools.

This last piece is called Seahorses by Debora Konchinsky. I'm itching to get started with the embroidery and beading on this. Debora uses beautiful embroidery to add seaweed and detailing to the seahorses. I did buy a couple of the background batiks but otherwise all of the fabrics are from my stash. I will probably re-name this piece Sea Stable.

And this is my Sweet Charleston - he is my sewing buddy. I so enjoy Design Wall Monday and learning what others are working on. All the wonderfully talented folks out there never cease to amaze me.

Design Wall Monday 3-19-12

Tomorrow is Spring! Yay! Jump over to Patchwork Times today to see what's going on for Design Wall Monday.

A small quasi crayon batik - actually, I used Crayola fabric markers for this piece. It is 6" x 15". Of the 3 crayon batik pieces I've done in recent weeks, this one is my favorite. I've titled it "Night Watch".

Here are all 3 of the crayon batiks. The bottom one was the first and is the one I am the least happy with. I like the middle one, which I've titled Ladies Brunch. But am the happiest with the top one.

Am still working on the local university-themed quilt. I was preparing to make the quilt sandwich today and realized I had purchased a throw size batting but needed a twin size batting. I'll pick up the right size tomorrow from Cotton Fields and will be back on track tomorrow night.

Enjoy the arrival of spring!

Design Wall Monday 3-12-12

Is it Monday already? Check out Patchwork Times to see what fabulous projects folks are working on.

Craftsy.com block of the month club - finished the March blocks so I'm still up-to-date with the program. It's been enjoyable and I've learned a few things. Here are my 6 blocks, so far.

I'm making a quilt for a friend's son - the whole family are fans of the local university's sports program so it was easy to decide how to do this quilt. I bought the fabric from a company that deals with selling fabrics and other items with team logos - there would have been so much waste had I cut the fabric, so I decided to leave it whole and just add borders. The child is a toddler, so I seriously doubt he'll care.

My new sewing machine, the Baby Lock Symphony, is the cat's meow. Oh! My! Gosh! It has been a dream to use and so easy. I made the purple/gold quilt top and matching pillowcase on it, as well as 4 wine bottle totes, and a sofa pillow for my sister. I plan to enjoy using this machine for many years.

Even though all I want to do is sew and play with my new sewing machine, I'm afraid I will have to devote several evenings this week to tackling some much-needed yard work. Oh well, guess we can't sew all the time.

Design Wall Monday 3-5-12

"Ladies Brunch" - this is our 2nd crayon batik dyeing attempt. I like this one better than the first but there is still room for tweaking this process. All that's left to do on this is to add two adorable ladybug beads I found while in Alabama, and the binding. It will be finished by tonight.

I will have more to report next week. "Rebecca" (the Victorian Crazy Quilt) and Lake Forest (a McKenna Ryan block of the month quilt) are ready for binding. And the Craftsy.com March blocks for their free block of the month program are published so I'll work on those this week.

My new Baby Lock sewing machine should be delivered this week. Can you say "Excited"???!

Please visit Patchwork Times today for Design Wall Monday.