Mystery Quilt and Carla's Trees

And other stuff too!

First things first. An issue of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks is on it's way to Cherie and Virginia. I hope you enjoy them ladies!

My Clue 1 of Bonnie Hunters Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt is finished and I have started on Clue 2. This block was made using the Easy Angle ruler and 2.5" strips. I may try one of the other methods just to see.

Saturday at Quilts For Kids we had a gift card tree for Cathy and Barbara, the coordinaters of the Indiana Chapter. Lots of quilters brought in gift cards to hang on thier tree and the trees were presented after we enjoyed the wonderful lunch that Pat made for us.

These little paper pieced Christmas tress were made by Carla. I quilted them all the same and am happy with the results. You know that I don't do much custom quilting, but once in a while it's ok.

Here's the back of one of them.

 Have a great week!

Quiltmaker, Turning Points Color Option

In March I worked on the Color Option of Turning Points by Carolyn McCormick for Quiltmaker. A Color Option is just a top that I assemble and send back to them to show how a published pattern might look with different fabric and values.

This one had 208 paper pieced units, 104 of the red and 52 each of the blues.

It really went together well, with only a couple seams not in the correct orientation for nesting.

The quilt is pictured in the July/August ’13 issue issue of Quiltmaker on page 23.
Here is the original quilt:

The background changing from positive to negative shows just why they show a Color Option.

Paper Piecing, Row-By-Row and Doll Clothes

Last Thursday I led a group of quilters in Frankfort at L&S Fish Sew-N-Vac in their first adventure in paper piecing. Paper piecing is one of those things that you either LOVE or HATE. Of the 6 that were there only one HATED it. So much so that she left after 15 minutes. Made me feel really bad :(

Here is my project, ready for quilting. I think I will buy a hanger from Ackfield Wire to display it. If you haven't checked out their quilt hangers, you should do it now. They have great products!

The other 5 quilters finished the top of their piece and had every intention of taking it home to finish the rest of it.  The block is Desert Lily by Caroline Reardon, Block #248 from Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks, Volume 3.

Last weekend I worked on Judy's Row-By-Row and I am happy with the result. We each picked a block to use and mine is a double square-in-a-square. The blocks are 8" and the sashing strips finish  just shy of 1.375. Here are all three of her rows so far and mine is on the left. She asked for the yellow to be used as a background.

And last but not least, a set of PJ's for Liz's American Girl doll, Julie. I intended to do these for her birthday but they got buried in the sewing room. I'll probably keep them for a while as she doesn't play with Julie as much as she does Lily. You may remember that Lily got some clothes for Christmas last year.

That's what has been keeping me busy lately, when I'm not quilting with Mabel.

Kitchen Utensils

I spent a little time the past couple of weeks making this test block for Kristy over at Quiet Play. She has designed these wonderful paper pieced patterns called Sew Retro.

The tines of the whisk and spatula  are only 1/8" finished so it took a while. I usually use my "Add a 1/4" ruler for paper piecing, but this time I purchased an "Add a 1/8" and this one worked perfect!

I'm not a real lover of all things retro, but this one caught my eye. The pattern that Katy made is just adorable. So, if you like paper piecing go check it out.

I chose to make the hanging utensils because it made me feel a bit nostalgic. You see, my mom had a hanging utensil rack on the wall next to the stove when I was growing up. The rack was metal and the utensils had wooden handles.  The kitchen was yellow with daisy highlights. So, my fabric choices were based on my memory of that utensil rack.
Here is an image of a similar set, but the wood on these is pretty dark.

Paper Piecing

I got these blocks sewn last night for a row-by-row that is due on Wednesday. I usually try to take along a hand project to guild and although I do have some bindings to apply, I think I will take these paper pieced blocks to take the paper off with me tonight. I'll just have to see how quietly I can take the papers off.