Finished Tops

I've finished a couple full size quilts here lately and have been remiss about keeping up here.  I think I'm making progress though this week getting caught up with posts about my projects.  First I finished the Spiced Apple Quilt and it is off being quilted at Quilts by Phyllis.

Spiced Apples

This was a really fun quilt to make and I think it turned out fairly well.  I loved the reds in this quilt!

The next one I finished was the Carpenter's Star quilt that I started in class.  This was a super easy quilt to make and it turned out really nice. It's also at Phyllis' being quilted. 

Carpenter's Star

And last but not least one of my Simply Charming Quilts.  This one is Julianna's Jewels.  And guess what?  It's off being quilted as well.  I'm thinking that's going to be one heck of quilting bill when I go to pick it up because if my memory serves me right, there's one more little quilt there too: my Blessing Baskets small quilt. I failed to take a picture of it, so we'll have to wait for it to come back from the quilter.

Julianna's Jewels

International Quilt Show - Cincinnati

I finally got my confirmation today for the classes I registered for at the International Quilt Show in Cincinnati next month!  I'll be taking two classes taught by Cindy Blackberg on hand piecing.  I'm very excited.  I'm hoping I like it and can do it fairly well.  It would be nice to be able to have small projects to take with me places to work on.

Carpenter's Star class today was good.  I learned that I've never put borders on a quilt properly and that putting them on properly takes more time.  Needless to say I didn't finish today.  I've got one more border to put on then I'm done.  And since I didn't finish that quilt, I didn't get the Spiced Apple quilt done today either.  So much for that plan.  They will get done after Jackson's Mill now. 

Tomorrow .... I cut.

It's Been a While

Real life has intruded in upon my "Quilting Life" and I haven't had much to post about for quite some time.  I've been cutting fabric.  I'm in the process of cutting out two "45 & Life to Go" quilts for the Jackson's Mill Quilt retreat next weekend.  I've got to cut mine and my friend Debbie's.  So I've still got a little bit of work cut out for me, but I anticipate having in done some time Sunday.

Today I sewed my strips together for the "45" quilt:

I'm using my Featherweight and I love it!!  After I got them all sewed up, it was time to cut them apart again:

So now they are all in baggies and ready to go for next week!

Tomorrow I have Part 2 of my Carpenter's Star class.  I should finish that quilt tomorrow and hopefully the Spiced Apple quilt too!

Sunday, Busy Sunday

I joined the Simply Charming Small Quilts Club from Homestead Hearth. It's a series of 12 small quilts from this book:

I got the book at the 2011 Quilt Festival in Summersville, WV.  I actually bought the book from the author, Tara Lynn Darr.  I didn't know that at the time or I would have gotten my quilt geek on and had her autograph it.  Today I put together my first quilt from the book called Nellie's Nine Patch.

After I finished that I put together that Shamrock block from yesterday. The binding is just pinned down in the picture, but I think it turned out pretty good.

After that .... yeah .... I was on a roll ... I put together three more blocks for my Farmer's Wife quilt:

These are (left to right):  Block #70 Prairie Queen, Block #72 Railroad and Block #84 Spool.  Now there are only 106 more to go!

Lastly, I sewed the Spiced Apple blocks together and cut the borders. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get them sewed on so I can take it to the quilter this coming weekend.

Whew!  It was a busy day!

Lazy Friday

I had great intentions of actually getting the machine out today, but it just didn't happen.  I did, however, lay out all the blocks for the Spiced Apple quilt and have them ready to sew.

I'm attending the 16th Annual Quilt Retreat at Jackson's Mill, WV here in a few weeks so today I figured I'd better start cutting some of my fabric. I'm taking a class called 45 & Life to Go which is a pattern by Primative Gattherings (I think).  I'm using the Primative Gatherings line of fabric as well:

I cut my 1.5" strips today and sorted them into piles to sew together:

I still have quite a bit to cut, but at least it's a start.

I also laid out the fabric for a couple of other cute little projects I'd like to get done before I leave for the Mill in March.  Hopefully I'll find time to get everything done!

Tomorrow I'm going to Quilts by Phyllis to pick out fabric for the second class I'm taking at the Mill.

Spiced Apples

I'm not posting a recipe ... just another quilt!

I started this quilt a little while ago after a trip to the Quilt Shoppe in Summersville, WV.   They don't have a website, but if you are ever in that area, I highly recommend stopping in.  The owner is Vickie Fleer and they have a wonderful selection of fabric.

But I digress ...

I bought this book on that trip:

Vickie had the Spiced Apple Quilt in her shop and I just had to make one.  I've posted pictures of the work in progress on Facebook, but it's hard to keep a record there so I want to repost every thing here.

I started cutting strips and of course I had expert help, our two Bengals, Khaleesi and Keira:

 

It was in the middle of this that I discovered  that Keira was a fetcher.  Yes, just like a dog.  See the collar in the picture below?  That's her toy of choice to bring back and forth for you to throw.  It does make it difficult to use a rotary cutter with something constantly being dropped in your way, but it's so worth it!!

I finally got all the strips cut though:

 Next I had to sew all those strips together:

Then those got cut apart and sewn into blocks.  And yes, kitchen colanders really do make great baskets!

Then ... those blocks got sewn in to bigger blocks.

I've finally gotten all of those sewn together and started laying out the quilt:

 So this weekend I hope to get this one sewn together and then I can show some of the other projects I've gotten myself into!