Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Blockless - Building Blocks Tuesday

Ok, I admit it.  I am a no good at blogging these days.  Heck, when my kids are out of school, I am lucky if I know what day it is at all.

Here it is Tuesday evening, and I'm just getting around to posting.  And worse, I have no blocks to share.  I can report, that the quilting on this one is DONE.

Lucky Star 2013, quilting complete

I just need to add the binding and it will be well-done.

Lucky Star 2013, quilting complete.

I will be working on several things starting next week when the kids go back to school.  I need to start making more of these Sawtooth Stars for a commission quilt I am doing.

Sawtooth Star

And, I have several more improv wreath blocks to finish up for a quilt that I am in the middle of making.

Have any of you given any thought to your New Year's resolutions?


What blocks have you been working on this week?  I would love to see.  Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open until the first Monday of next month, but I will repost it every Tuesday until a new month starts.


Quilter in the Closet

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page on your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr and Instagram pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!

Thanks for reading,

Jennie





***This post may contain affiliate links.  If you purchase something after clicking on one of my links, I may be compensated, but at no additional cost to you!


Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Collection of bunting blocks - Building Blocks Tuesday

November was my month to collect blocks in the We Bee Canadian bee.  My bunting blocks have been trickling in.

Bunting blocks on the design wall

I think I am waiting on a handful more and then will see how many blocks I will need to make myself.

I'm afraid the blocks I made last week were the only blocks I've worked on in weeks.  The holidays are a hard time for me to get anything in my sewing room done.  Any spare minutes I do have, I've been working on my Lucky Star quilting.  Here are some of the final blocks.

Lucky Star quilting in progress

And please pretend you can't see the pile of unburied threads in this next one.  I broke all of my self-threading needles when I started this quilt, and my new batch hasn't arrived in the mail yet.

Lucky Star quilting in progress

I only have one more block to finish, and a bit more on the outer borders.  Then I will be able to call this one DONE!  It feels pretty good and I can't wait.

What blocks have you been working on this week?  I would love to see.  Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open until the first Monday of next month, but I will repost it every Tuesday until a new month starts.


Quilter in the Closet

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page on your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr and Instagram pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!

Thanks for reading,

Jennie





***This post may contain affiliate links.  If you purchase something after clicking on one of my links, I may be compensated, but at no additional cost to you!


Tuesday, December 6, 2016

After a brief hiatus - Building Blocks Tuesday

Welcome back to Building Blocks Tuesday!

I apologize for being missing in action the last few weeks.  Mary, at Quilting is in My Blood, was nice enough to check up on me.  All is well, things have just been a little chaotic around here lately.

Mary also pointed out that the link up for November wasn't working properly.  It appears that I copied the link incorrectly, so it didn't work properly.  Hopefully, this month's link up will work as usual.

Rose trellis blocks for Nita

I had a bit of time yesterday to whip up these Rose Cottage blocks for Nita in the We Bee Canadian bee.  You can find the pattern here.  It should be a lovely quilt when done.  I had a bit of trouble finding rose fabrics for Nita's request, I only had one in my stash and it was very plain.

It felt good to sit down at my machine and piece a bit.  Any sewing time I've had the last few weeks has gone into quilting my Lucky Star quilt.  It is still in process, but I am making progress.  I've got 9 of the 12 blocks complete, although I need to re-quilt at least one of the first blocks I finished.  As I've gone down the quilt, the later blocks have a lot more dense quilting on them than the first couple, and I fear they will look out of place now.  Here is one of the blocks I just finished up.

Lucky Star, quilting in progress

I feel like I have gotten the hang of using the ruler for the straight lines, but anything involving circles or loops is still challenging.  I can't seem to find the right speed.  Too slow and my movements are too jerky; too fast and they are wildly out of control.  It may take a whole quilt of pebbles to find the right pace......next project?

What blocks have you been working on this week?  I would love to see.  Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open until the first Monday of next month, but I will repost it every Tuesday until a new month starts.


Quilter in the Closet

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page on your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr and Instagram pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!

Thanks for reading,

Jennie





***This post may contain affiliate links.  If you purchase something after clicking on one of my links, I may be compensated, but at no additional cost to you!


Saturday, November 26, 2016

Black Friday Weekend Sale at Craftsy

I hope the Thanksgiving weekend is treating everyone well.  I just happened to be shopping online last night and I noticed that Craftsy is having one heck of a sale on their classes through Sunday.  It looks like they most are $17.99 or less!  It might be worth checking out.

It has been a while since I've advertised any Craftsy sales -- Please remember that I am a Craftsy affiliate and if you purchase a class after clicking through my links, I do earn a small commission.

I ended up getting the Lori Kennedy class, "Divide and Conquer" and Christina Cameli's class "Wild Quilting".  They look pretty good.



And don't forget, you can gift any class - for those friends and relatives that are so hard to shop for.

Happy Shopping.

Jen

***This post may contain affiliate links.  If you purchase something after clicking on one of my links, I may be compensated, but at no additional cost to you!

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

In a galaxy beyond the negative space - Building Blocks Tuesday

Still no new blocks to share this week.  Now that I have the Lucky Star quilt loaded up on the frame, I'm plugging along with the quilting, usually half a block at a time.  I've got the first 3 of 12 finished, and will probably start on the 2nd row of blocks tomorrow.  I tweaked my lower back at the gym yesterday and don't want to aggravate it today by reaching over the frame.

While I love quilting in the negative space, I often get hung up on what to quilt over the actual blocks in the quilt.  Many of the quilts I've done in the past have little to no quilting over the actual blocks.  Oh sure, it was a "design choice" I made to leave them unquilted.  In reality, I just couldn't come up with a design I thought looked good....this is probably why I still haven't quilted my Swoon quilt.

I love this little trick I picked up in a class I took with Krista Withers at Quiltcon in Pasadenda.  If you have a chance to take her class, please do.  Not only is she a good instructor, she is a delightful person to be around too.  She had us make these nifty trial drawing overlays from a sheet of plastic.  I just use a dry erase marker to draw right on top of the block and see where my creativity takes me.  If I don't like what I see, I can just erase it and start over.  I love it!  I can even keep the overlay nearby to reference if I need to.

Untitled
I must admit, I still go through several drafts of my block designs.  Some are easier to come up with ideas for than others. But it is still better than stitching them out, not liking what I see and then having to rip out the stitches.

Lucky Star in progress


What blocks have you been working on this week?  I would love to see.  Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open until the first Monday of next month, but I will repost it every Tuesday until a new month starts.


Quilter in the Closet

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page on your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr and Instagram pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!

Thanks for reading,

Jennie





***This post may contain affiliate links.  If you purchase something after clicking on one of my links, I may be compensated, but at no additional cost to you!

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Lucky Star WIP - Building Blocks Tuesday

I have no new blocks to share this week, as I have been busy with other things.  One of which was pulling out an extremely OLD UFO, my Lucky Star quilt.  Here is one of the blocks from the 2013 BOM.

Lucky Star BOM June 2013

Around the end of 2014, I finally finished all the blocks and put the top together.

Lucky Star 2013 flimsy

There it sat for a ridiculously long time until I finally got around to basting it in March of 2015.

Lucky Star pin basting in progress

I then folded it up and put it into a drawer while I contemplated how I wanted to quilt it.  In truth, I am still figuring that part out.  But as part of a challenge issued by my Lazy Bum group on Flickr, I pulled out the Lucky Star quilt, took all the pins out and loaded it up on my longarm.

First, I should explain that the Lazy Bums are a group dedicated to encouraging one another to finish up UFO's specifically.  Each month they choose one of my UFO's from a short list and challenge me to work on it.  Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.  Any progress is good.  I am about to start what I think is my 5th year with the Lazy Bums and the Lucky Star quilt has been on my list the entire time, making slow progress which is always cheered on.

Deciding to load up the Lucky Star on the longarm added an additional dimension to the challenge.  I am still not great at quilting on the longarm.  I struggle with all but 3 designs, and those are still pretty shaky.  Straight lines are tough (I have a ruler, but my table extension for ruler work broke within the first 5 minutes of using it and I haven't gotten a replacement yet), and stitching in a ditch is amazingly difficult -- and of course, a paper pieced quilt like this benefits greatly from stitching in the ditch.  Well, you can only learn by practicing right?

Well, I've started it!

I've only finished the top border and I've started working on the first row of blocks.  One thing I have to say about the longarm - once a quilt is loaded, you pretty much have to finish it before you can move on to another.  Unlike some of my partially completed quilts that I've done with my domestic where I've quilted a bit, gotten tired, and put them aside for an indefinite period of time.

I know this sounds pretentious, but I am trying to remind myself that the quilting might look terrible in the end.  I just don't have the control that I have accumulated with the domestic and have come to desire of my work.  I've already ripped out a few things that just weren't working out, that I knew I couldn't live with. But, I persevere with the thought that this is a learning quilt.  I'm learning that control.  I'm learning to use my ruler.  I'm learning to go slow and stay in the ditch.  These were things I had to learn with the domestic.  I practiced on quilts, lots of them.  It took a while, but I got better with each quilt.  I just have to keep trying.

What blocks have you been working on this week?  I would love to see.  Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open until the first Monday of next month, but I will repost it every Tuesday until a new month starts.


Quilter in the Closet

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page on your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr and Instagram pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!

Thanks for reading,

Jennie





***This post may contain affiliate links.  If you purchase something after clicking on one of my links, I may be compensated, but at no additional cost to you!

Monday, October 31, 2016

Derivative debate - Building Blocks Tuesday

Wow have I been lazy lately!  I started a project using my Improv Wreath Blocks, but I got a little more than half done and stalled out.  I've been procrastinating starting up again, even though I really need to get them going. So, I have no new blocks to show you.  Instead, I will share this block that I made for the Star of Africa bee that I was in a few years ago and hopefully inspire a bit of a discussion below.

Music themed Star of Africa Block

Irene asked for music themed blocks for her month.  I designed this block of guitars based on a bunch of things I saw on the internet, including: a custom painting by an Etsy artist, Amie Murray;  a quilt by Robbi Joy Eklow called Groovy Guitars, several student versions of that quilt, a poster of Guitar art from Amazon, an art print of the guitars of the Beatles by Danilo Agutoli, both the Fender and Gibson guitar company websites, and of course, my own fabric stash.

Why all the links?  Well, it got me thinking about the Modern Quilt Guild's requirement (original post HERE, taken down and replaced with THIS) to obtain permission from any artist that one might have derived a design from in order to enter a quilt into QuiltCon.  I had strong feelings about this "derivative" discussion when it first surfaced, but I mostly kept them to myself.  I'd like to ask your opinions now.  If instead of a block, I had made the above into a full quilt, would I need to get the permission of each of the artists that inspired me?  If you don't feel like clicking through all the links, that's OK, I'll tell you what specifically inspired me from each of the images.  Both Amie Murray and Robbi Eklow have overlapping guitars in their art.  I don't think overlapping the guitars is a particularly groundbreaking idea, but that is what caught my eye.   Composition wise, it makes for a more interesting and visually appealing image.  As for the rest of the links, I was looking for interesting guitar shapes to include in my collection of guitars.  Assume I took one shape from each of the links.  Who do I need to get permission from?  Just the painter and quilter?  The person who photographed real guitars and put them on a poster?  And let's not forget, someone designed the shapes of those guitars too. let's call them sculptors.  So would I need to track them down too?  Oh, and let's not forget that the painter and quilter were probably inspired by someone else's photographs too.  There is a possible rabbit hole of inspiration there.

In this day and age, we are bombarded with visual images.  Some of them are easy to pinpoint and remember, some are vaguer in our memories.  For example, lately I have been drawn to circular designs and I have sketched out several quilts based on circles, wedges, and other round things.   Some designs might have been inspired by things that I remembered to pin to Pinterest (meaning their origin is somehwat easier to follow).  One was an infographic on an ad I saw on the side of a bus 4 years ago - I don't remember what it was for, only the general shape of the words radiating away from the circle.  One was some wallpaper I saw in a random magazine article I was reading at the doctor's office, that looked like a sun.  The only commonality between all these things is that they started with the shape of a circle, but I might have taken the color of the wallpaper, an added spike from the bus ad, and probably a bunch of random other things from the things I've seen on the internet.  ALL of those images were ingredients in my recipes for designs.  None of my designs are exact copies, but sure, they are derivative of several other artists interpretations of a circle.  The Modern Quilt Guild's requirement seems to say that if someone could look at the bus ad that inspired me and say, "yeah, I can see where Jen came up with her idea", then it is derivative work requiring written permission in order to submit for the show.  But seriously, what if 12 people were each shown ONE of the things that inspired me and all 12 say my one quilt is derivative of that one inspiration?  I have to get 12 written permissions for one quilt, all because they have circles in common.  This seems a little ridiculous to me, not to mention stifling.  What if there are 20 infographics that resemble my block?  Maybe because you can't tell which one of the 20 I looked at for inspiration means that it isn't derivative at all??  Just a bunch of people that like circles.

Based on this derivative requirement, some have decided to leave the MQG or not to submit quilts to their show.  I am not sure what, if any action, I will take.  I was planning on submitting quilts to the next 2 shows, but now I am unsure.  I have a hard time believing that I am the first person to think of a circle the way I am today.  I also believe that most art is derivative.  Would art have evolved the way it has throughout history if we did not allow derivations along the way?  Think of the techniques that represent specific art movements -- are they really not derivative of each other?  I am not an art history major but I have a hard time pinpointing which impressionist decided to paint an outdoor scene first.  And who was the first to use those tiny brushstrokes that everyone quickly adopted for a time?

What do you think?  Do you think the derivative definition and regulations set by the MQG are too strict?  Do you think that we are limiting our growth as quilters by not allowing derivatives in shows?

Interested in reading more about the derivate debate?  Check out this post and this one too to see what other bloggers have said.

What blocks have you been working on this week?  I would love to see.  Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open until the first Monday of next month, but I will repost it every Tuesday until a new month starts.


Quilter in the Closet

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page on your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr and Instagram pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!

Thanks for reading,

Jennie





***This post may contain affiliate links.  If you purchase something after clicking on one of my links, I may be compensated, but at no additional cost to you!

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

More Garden Fence blocks - Building Blocks Tuesday


Untitled

Yesterday, I made some more Garden Fence blocks for Danielle.  I grabbed some scraps out of my bins in the colors she requested, and didn't realize until I posted the pictures in the group that I had made identical blocks to the ones I made last round.  The one above is the only different one due to its argyle center.

Garden Fence block

Isn't it funny how the mind works?  Did I pair the same fabrics with each other because my subconscious had seen the pairings before?  Or did I just execute my personal style given the same inputs resulting in the same results?

Garden path block

That's it for philosophy today.

What blocks have you been working on this week?  I would love to see.  Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open until the first Monday of next month, but I will repost it every Tuesday until a new month starts.


Quilter in the Closet

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page on your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr and Instagram pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!

Thanks for reading,

Jennie





***This post may contain affiliate links.  If you purchase something after clicking on one of my links, I may be compensated, but at no additional cost to you!

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Cartwheels - Building Blocks Tuesday

Hey there.  Sadly, I don't have any new blocks to share today.  It is not because I haven't been working on some things, but rather because I haven't finished anything.  So, I thought I would share one of my favorite blocks from last year.

Cartwheel block

This cartwheel block is an English Paper Piecing block from a class I took at QuiltCon 2015 in Austin from Katy @imagingermonkey.  She was such a fun teacher!  She's recently taken a hiatus from blog writing, but she is still on Instagram.

I made this block with the intention of turning it into a couch pillow, but never got around to quilting it.  Perhaps seeing it again today will inspire me to pull it out and put it back into the to do pile.

What blocks have you been working on this week?  I would love to see.  Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open until the first Monday of next month, but I will repost it every Tuesday until a new month starts.


Quilter in the Closet

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page on your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr and Instagram pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!

Thanks for reading,

Jennie





***This post may contain affiliate links.  If you purchase something after clicking on one of my links, I may be compensated, but at no additional cost to you!

Friday, October 7, 2016

Holiday placemats - a finish Friday

Finally a finish!

Tookie helping me display my Christmas placemats

I am almost embarrassed to say how long these Christmas placemats have been lingering in my UFO pile.

I first finished some of these ornament blocks way back in 2012 for the Vintage Holiday QAL.  You can see my finished quilt HERE.  I had a bunch of fabric left over so I decided it would be fun to make some holiday placemats with the leftovers.  It turned out that I had plenty - enough for 12 placemats!  I finished all the blocks themselves in December of 2014, and got them all quilted some time in 2015, and was trying to finish up the binding on Christmas Eve (2015).  I didn't realize at the time just how many placemats I had at the time, and I am the world's slowest hand binder, so didn't finish them and they got stored away for another day.  My Lazy Bum group chose this project as my September challenge, and I am happy to finally say that I finished up all the hand binding on these fun placemats.

As you can see, despite not having many finishes to help display, Tookie has not let her skills deteriorate.  She is more willing than ever to sprawl on my work.

Speaking of QAL's: Does anyone have any interest in participating in one after the holidays?  Is there a particular pattern you've been wanting to try in a group?

Thanks for reading today,


Jen




Linking up with:



  
**This post may contain affiliate links.  If you purchase something after clicking on one of my links, I may be compensated.

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Economy blocks - Building Blocks Tuesday

I made these fun economy block for Pam in the We Bee Canadian bee this week.

economy blocks for Pam

I like these blocks because it gave me a chance to go through some of my charm squares hunting for random things I could put in the centers, and I also got to use several scraps that I had lingering about.  I hope these play nicely with the rest that Pam receives.

What blocks have you been working on this week?  I would love to see.  Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open until the first Monday of next month, but I will repost it every Tuesday until a new month starts.


Quilter in the Closet

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page on your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr and Instagram pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!

Thanks for reading,

Jennie





***This post may contain affiliate links.  If you purchase something after clicking on one of my links, I may be compensated, but at no additional cost to you!

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Sawtooth Stars - Building Blocks Tuesday

Happy Tuesday!  I can't believe September is nearly over!  And it doesn't feel like fall here either; yesterday it was 107!!!  I guess I should be thankful that we haven't had nearly as many triple digit days as last summer, and it is supposed to cool down a bit by next weekend.

I'm just looking forward to fall.  It is my favorite season.  The cool breezes, the occasional rain shower, soup for dinner, not to mention the desire to get into my sewing room and make stuff.....Fall!

I made up these sawtooth star blocks as samples for my next commission project.  I find that it is hard for non-quilters to imagine how big the blocks will be without seeing them, so I made up this 12 inch one.

Sawtooth Star

And then this 8 inch one.  The recipient also needs to choose between the two different reds that I have.  I like this darker one best, but it will be up to her.

Sawtooth Star

In other news, I did finish my "Friends of the Forest" quilt in time for the Quilt Walk in Blue Jay on Saturday.  This picture was taken when I finished up that all over leaf design that I was really worried about.  As I suspected, when it was all done and you stepped back a bit, it worked out just fine.  I used a light blue thread that blended well with the animal blocks, but stood out from the navy background.

Friends of the Forest - all quilted

In fact, I wasn't the only one that thought so, because it sold at the show!  My daughter was a little dissapointed, but she knows that I can make her another one.

Participants displaying quilts in the Quilt Walk, like many shows, are given the option of including a price in the discription if he/she wants to sell their quilt.  I usually price my quilts according to what they are worth, to me.  After all, I know how much time and effort I put into them, plus I would obviously like to keep them.  For example, last year I displayed my flag quilt (top left pic in the header), and I put a price of $1500 on it.  I had a pretty good idea that no one would buy it for that price, but I also really loved the quilt.  If I was going to part with it, I most definitely wanted to be compensated for the nearly year-long stitching by hand that went into making that EPP quilt.  I am not one of those quilters that just hopes to get the cost of supplies back.  Now, I will admit that this Friends of the Forest quilt was priced a bit more reasonably because I knew that I could make another and would enjoy doing it.

How do you price quilts that you post for sale?

What blocks have you been working on this week?  I would love to see.  Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open until the first Monday of next month, but I will repost it every Tuesday until a new month starts.


Quilter in the Closet

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page on your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr and Instagram pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!

Thanks for reading,

Jennie


***This post may contain affiliate links.  If you purchase something after clicking on one of my links, I may be compensated, but at no additional cost to you!

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Thistle Blocks - Building Blocks Tuesday


Thistle blocks

These are the Thistle blocks from the Fancy Forest pattern by Elizabeth Hartman (**affiliate link). They were relatively easy and quick compared to the fireflies and hedgehogs!  Yet, of all the blocks, the foxes are by far the easiest and quickest.

I completed the sashing over the weekend and have already loaded it up on the frame for quilting.  I started quilting an all over leaf pattern that sounded like a great idea in my head,  Now that I have the first few inches in a row done, I am highly skeptical that it will look good.  Perhaps Lori Kennedy got into my head recently with her post about Six Ways to Ruin a Quilt with Quilting   Not that she addressed this particular issue, but I just have the "Ruin a Quilt with Quilting" thing stuck in my head and destroying my confidence.  I have decided to persevere with the pattern and see what happens.  I am hopeful that it is just one of those things that doesn't look fabulous close-up but will give a great texture when you step back a from it.  Fingers crossed?

If I want to enter this quilt in the show this weekend, I have to have it completely finished by Friday to turn in.  Say some prayers.  I am pretty confident that I can get the quilting done, but I like to hand bind and that usually takes a while.

What blocks have you been working on this week?  I would love to see.  Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open until the first Monday of next month, but I will repost it every Tuesday until a new month starts.


Quilter in the Closet

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page on your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr and Instagram pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!

Thanks for reading,

Jennie


***This post may contain affiliate links.  If you purchase something after clicking on one of my links, I may be compensated, but at no additional cost to you!

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Fireflies - Building Blocks Tuesday-ish.


Fireflies

Whew, these took a while!  But aren't they cute?

These are the fireflies from the Fancy Forest pattern by Elizabeth Hartman (**affiliate link).  I've only the thistle blocks to go!  Maybe this will get done....fingers crossed.

What blocks have you been working on this week?  I would love to see.  Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open until the first Monday of next month, but I will repost it every Tuesday until a new month starts.


Quilter in the Closet

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page on your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr and Instagram pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!

Thanks for reading,

Jennie


***This post may contain affiliate links.  If you purchase something after clicking on one of my links, I may be compensated, but at no additional cost to you!

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Hedgehogs - Building Blocks Tuesday


The hedgehogs

Tada!  The hedgehogs in full force.  These are cute little guys, aren't they?

Here are the creatures I've made thus far from the Fancy Forest pattern by Elizabeth Hartman (**affiliate link).

Fancy Forest in progress

 I still have the fireflies and the thistles to go.  The fireflies look as intense as the hedgehogs, but the thistles look easy.  I think I will save the thistles for last.

I was hoping to finish this quilt for the guild's quilt show on the 24th, but I think that would involve me doing nothing but quilting for the next couple of weeks and I know that isn't going to happen.  I'll see how far I can get though.

What blocks have you been working on this week?  I would love to see.  Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open until the first Monday of next month, but I will repost it every Tuesday until a new month starts.


Quilter in the Closet

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page on your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr and Instagram pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!

Thanks for reading,

Jennie


***This post may contain affiliate links.  If you purchase something after clicking on one of my links, I may be compensated, but at no additional cost to you!

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Hedgehogs and grapes - Building Blocks Tuesday


Hedgehog 1

I've been working on my hedgehog blocks from the Fancy Forest pattern by Elizabeth Hartman (**affiliate link).  WOW, they sure do take a while to complete.  I've got a few more to finish up.  Hopefully, I will be able to share them all next week.

I've been having a little fun too.  This past weekend, the hubby and I were able to get away and tour the Napa and Sonoma valleys with some friends.  It is hard to believe that it is in the same state as us since the landscape is so different.

Untitled

It was just as hot as home, but instead of desert, there were gravevines as far as the eye could see.

Untitled

We had a fabulous time.  I recommend going if you ever have the chance.

What blocks have you been working on this week?  I would love to see.  Link up your fabulous blocks.  You put a lot of hard work into them - show them off!  This free linky will stay open until the first Monday of next month, but I will repost it every Tuesday until a new month starts.


Quilter in the Closet

Rules:

1) Please link up only to the page on your blog showing your wonderful blocks, not just the blog homepage.  Flickr and Instagram pictures are also OK.
2) Make sure to put your blog name as the description so people know where they are going or the name of your block!
3) Please grab my button and post it in your blog post or sidebar.
4) Visit other linky participants!

Thanks for reading,

Jennie


***This post may contain affiliate links.  If you purchase something after clicking on one of my links, I may be compensated, but at no additional cost to you!

Friday, August 26, 2016

Rainbow Road - a finish Friday

A finish!

Rainbow road

Reagan is surveying my quilting on this Strip and Flip quilt that I am calling "Rainbow Road".  I made two of these tops with the intention of donating one to the quilt auction coming up on September 24th, 2016 in Blue Jay, CA, that benefits the Ability First camp in Crestline.

I was inspired to make this quilt a while ago when I saw my roommate, the lovely Heidi from Buttons and Butterflies, binding one in our hotel room at QuiltCon 2015 in Austin, TX.  It took me that long to get it going!

I am also proud to say that this is the 2nd quilt that I have quilted on my longarm.  I was having a lot of trouble on my practice pieces doing my favorite spirals.  When I was first learning to FMQ on my domestic machine, I found that if I just did a whole quilt with one quilting design, by the end I was much better at it!  So, I implemented this same strategy on the longarm.  I am happy to report that it worked!  My first few spirals were oval or squarish, but by the end, they were round and nesting nicely.  Hooray!

The other Rainbow Road top is destined to be for my oldest daughter.  She had been waiting patiently for me to make a quilt for her.  She is only 10, so she has only been waiting a decade.

Oh, and here is the back, in case anyone is curious.

back of Rainbow Road



Thanks for reading today,


Jen




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**This post may contain affiliate links.  If you purchase something after clicking on one of my links, I may be compensated.