What's Black and White and Red All Over?

I offered to make my son a graduation/going off to college quilt, so we've been discussing fabric choices and design lately. He decided that he wants a black/white/red quilt (Cornell's colors are red and white), but isn't sure of a pattern yet. The photo above shows the fabrics I found during a fun quilt show-and-shops trip that I took last week with a couple of friends.

At our last stop on the trip, I came across this wonderful fabric that will make a wild bias binding! The red color is so much richer in person, believe me.

I guess I'll have to wash these fabrics before I use them (most of the time, I don't usually do that). We don't want Nick to wind up with a pink quilt....he'd probably report me for child abuse.

I Hate It When This Happens

I literally had less than half an inch of satin stitching left to do on this postcard when the bobbin ran out! Aaarrghh...

Country Drive

Those of you who read my friend Susan's blog saw a very similar picture there yesterday.

I saw my first "local" (within an hour's drive of my home) barn quilt when I went on a quilting adventure with two friends on Friday. This was painted on a barn on the property owned by the folks at Sew What? Fabric Shoppe on County Route 119 in Addison, NY. Nothing fancy, just a large block painted right on the side of the barn. But it looks great!

If you want to see more barn quilts, check out the Barn Quilts and the American Quilt Trail blog.

Trudging Along

This is another example of a triangle made following Jane's original pattern rather than what was in the software. The pattern called for a narrow diamond shape for the dark piece at the bottom of the photo, but in Jane's block it's more of a square, so that's what I did. The original also has the two small dark triangles pointing outward in the center, while the software pattern eliminates those completely. What also frustrated me is that the software did not provide a paper-piecing pattern for this triangle, but I was able to draft one myself. If I could do it, then certainly the software makers could have as well. That's what I paid money for!

This is "BR3, Attic Window", an intermediate-level triangle that I paper pieced.

High Stepping

I found these on a blog recently (I wish I could remember where). I think they'll clash a bit with these socks that I blogged about a little while ago, don't you?

Birthday Wishes

My friend Peggi is having a birthday today, so of course I had to make her a fabric postcard to mark the occasion. Last summer I was fortunate enough to be invited over to Peggi's house to try some fabric dyeing with a few other quilting friends (see these posts here and here to see the results) and I came home with 6 half-yards of rainbow-colored fabric. So in keeping with my practice of making postcards from selvages, I used the selvages from the dyed fabric for this postcard. No fancy color circles or wording, just the frayed selvage edges. I probably could have embellished the card a bit more, but I have way too many other projects calling my name.

If you'd like to see some of the wonderful quilts that Peggi makes, head on over to my group blog, Random Acts of Stitching, and do a search for "Peggi".

And if you know Peggi, wish her a happy birthday today!

Another Finish!

This is my latest charity quilt -- the blocks are made using a pattern from a tutorial at Oh, Fransson!. I wanted to make my quilt big enough for a teenager, so I added more and laid them out differently. My one piece of advice for those who use the tutorial to make the nine-patch blocks is to definitely have a sharp blade in your rotary cutter.

As I blogged about in this post here, my mission this year is to make quilts for teenagers because they often get forgotten when we quilters make quilts for charity (teenagers get sick, too!).

One of the things that I'm most proud of with this quilt is that the backing (which screams teenage girl to me) comes from a sheet that I found at my local Goodwill store for $3. (hint to the quilt police -- don't even think about commenting...). The sheet was in great shape with no stains or fading, so I took gladly paid the $3, took it home, washed it in hot soapy water and voila...a perfect backing that didn't need to be pieced.

Here is a closeup of the double-loop meander quilting that I did on my HQ16. It went very quickly.

Now on to the next charity teenage quilt...this time for a boy.

Playtime

Even though I have tons of housework to do, I had to give my new toy a try (see previous post). I found some squares of donated fabric that I had in my stash, so I quickly (and I mean quickly) cut out these tumbler blocks for a small Project Linus quilt. They're just randomly arranged on the floor and not sewn together yet...I just wanted to see how it worked. Sorry about the bad lighting -- it was taken in my basement.

For those of you who saw yesterday's post and don't recognize what I bought, here's a link. In addition to the dies that come with the set, I bought the tumbler, circles, and rag square.

This is going to be fun!

I Couldn't Help Myself

Seven weeks from today, my son graduates from high school, so I bought myself a graduation present!

Another Fun Goodie from Lancaster

Like I said in a previous post, I didn't buy any fabric at the AQS show in Lancaster last month, but I did buy some fun quilty things like this license plate frame. It's on the front of my car because when I put it on the back, it covered up most of the "Pennsylvania" part of the plate and with my luck, I would be pulled over for having part of my plate obstructed.

I bought it from these folks who were vending at the show.

Thunderstorm Season Is Upon Us

We have already had some small thundershowers this spring, so this is an appropriately-named triangle for the season.

This is "BR8, Thunderhead", an intermediate-level triangle that I paper pieced and then used the raw-edge machine buttonhole-stitch for the center piece. If you make this triangle using the software, notice that for some unexplained reason, the pattern doesn't include the small dark triangle that points toward the center one of the three small triangles on the top of this photo. The pattern has that piece shown in light fabric, not in dark as it appears in Jane's original quilt. I chose to do it Jane's way. I have no clue as to why the author chose to change it...but then, a lot of the blocks and triangles were changed for one reason or another...

Today is the monthly gathering of my DJ support group, the Laurel Janes, so it will be a fun day. I don't know what I'd do without that group and without my online support...Thank you to you all!

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On a Roll

I recently found this tutorial for a small sewing roll, so I thought I'd try to make one using my neverending stash of selvages. Now I can easily take a few basic handwork supplies with me when I travel somewhere.

This is what is looks like when it's unrolled...

I think I need to make a king-size quilt in order to really make a dent in my selvage pile...not anytime soon, though.

This Brings Back Memories

See the dress that I'm wearing in this photo...

...when I grew out of it in the mid-1960s, my grandmother made it into two aprons, both looking like this...

While visiting my parents for the Easter weekend, I happened to mention that I really should use aprons when I'm cooking, especially with tomato sauce. My mother then dug these out of the closet. I'm not exactly sure where the orange fabric came from, but it may also have been from one of my dresses. Judging by the way the ties on one of the aprons is made (see photo below), it was probably from some garment rather than a new piece of fabric off of a bolt. I wonder if my grandmother even re-purposed the rick-rack from my dress.

Sock It To Me

I stayed away from buying fabric at the AQS Lancaster show, but that doesn't mean I didn't buy some fun quilty stuff.

Just A Little Thank You

This postcard is for Sara, who picked me as the winner of her giveaway of a Loralei fabric panel. Some of the selvages are from the fabric she sent. Check out her blog sometime -- I especially like the mini snowflake quilt that she made for a swap partner.

Thanks again, Sara!

Happy Easter!

This is really cool, but if you decide to try it...please don't eat the eggs. I'm sure the dyes are toxic...

Happy Easter (a few days early) to those of you who celebrate!