HUH?

Well, that's a new one. I thought I'd lost the picture of Laura so re posted and look what happened. Sorry about that.

J

OKAY, YOU ASKED FOR IT

The DGKs were here from last Friday until yesterday morning and guess what they wanted to do? The boys (15 in June) are on the cross country team at their high school and had their daily extended run as well as lots of target shooting in the yard into a very high bank to satisfy their Y chromosome urges. The only thing they wanted to do in addition to that was sew. The girl, (12 last month) was already started on her project. I thought I'd start them out with a simple 9 patch, but nooo, the boys had to go poking around in my perpetual calendar with 365 blocks and pick the ones with triangles. Greg's pot holder not only had a bunch of half and quarter square triangles but stripes as well. Yikes. All three sewing machines were set up between the quilt studio and the dining room table for two and a half days and Grandma spent those two solid days and part of a third on her feet going from sewing station to sewing station. Pete's pillow was an odd size so we had to make the pillow and the top couldn't just be made like an envelope the way Laura's was sensibly made. He's going to have a tough time sewing the top closed. They were really wired but got anxious toward the end trying to finish before departure and we all know what happens when we rush. They learned how to use the unsewer with great alacrity.

Jane in quiet city, NC

Where did everyone go?

Good question, Judy. Weekends are particularly bad but time after time I check the site out and nothing new is there. What do you think about the new quilt show? I have to say I'm also disappointed in that so far. The set up is good but the shows haven't blown me away yet. It can only get better.

Where Did We All Go?

I am beginning to think that JudyPete and I have scared every one away .... her Sock Monsters and my goofy Froggy-themed quilt are not usual things to find on a normal quilting site. I guess traditional BBers must be thinking this site has gone to pot. LOL

Okay, you normal quilt makers, it is time to show us the pretty quilts you have been making, the classic and calm beauties that are restful to the eyes and soothing to the soul.

Or is everyone hunkered down waiting for April to behave itself and act like a normal spring-type month? I know that here in Ohio I am ready to push the "rewind" button and re-do the month of April for it has been so bizarre .... my crabapple blossoms have been freeze-dried on their twigs before they had a chance to open and I am heartsick over the damage done by late hard freezes.

Judy

Stitching Twice

Well, doggone, hit the "publish" button twice and my post showed up twice. I edited the second one to create this "oops" apology.
JudyPete

Not Quilt Related but Definitely a Lot of hand sewing

I just spent a week with my ten-year-old DGS. His DM had purchased John Murphy's book on how to create Stupid Sock Creatures. He and his DM found socks at the clearance racks in appropriate gaudy designs. I taught DGS how to hand sew using a single thread and we stitched these together in a week's time. DGS made #3 and #6 and a third one that is not in this photo. He and I worked together on #2. This DGS has never shown an interest in sewing but he loved making these critters.

JudyPete

My Version of Being a Crazy Quilter

When I began making quilts it was after many years of knitting, needlepointing and doing counted cross-stitch, decades of following other people's instructions and patterns. I quickly realized that quiltmaking offered a chance to "wing it", to go my own way, to be a bit adventurous and have fun. One of the things I like to do is make couch quilts where the front absolutely does not "match" the back. I think of it as my version of being a crazy or goofy quilter.

Here I am back with my gaudy creation that is still in the works. JudyPete sent me a private email suggesting that I make my outermost black border finish so it will be half the width of the inner black border. That sensible woman's advice sounds good to me so I plan to follow it when the time comes to trim the quilted quilt.

You can see a bit of the wrong side of the backing of this quilt ... it is a somewhat pale fabric with happy dancing frogs and since you are seeing the wrong side they appear to be even paler in this photo. :-) I will be tracing the outline of the frog motif on the paper onto Glad's Press 'n Seal and then do free motion quilting in dark blue thread in needle and bobbin to make leaping frogs all over this quilt. I chose the crazy tilted blocks for the front because the woman who will be receiving this quilt as a gift lives a hectic, somewhat disorganized but creative life.

This quilt will be a gift for a friend who is having her first book published in August ... it's a children's book about frogs. She says she will give me a couple of copies of her book (I helped her "dress" the lady frogs) and I plan to give her this quilt in exchange.

Judy

Marilyn in MN

Marilyn, sometimes the quilting threads do break after lots of use and washing, and that's all right. Many years ago, I had a favorite pair of cotton slacks in a silky Pima-type cotton. They were so comfortable to wear. After a couple of years, though, the polyester thread that they had been made with sawed through the fabric along the seams. Since it was the fabric of the pants that was sawed through, there was no way of repairing the damage. This is when I started using all-cotton thread in my quilts. Be glad that you can replace the quilting, and that the fabric of the quilt is undamaged.

Pat in Rockport, TX

hand quilting ideas

now that it is snowing again....I've begun a handquilting project to take me through next winter as well. I have a really pretty floral courthouse steps log cabin, set 5 rows across by 7 rows down, 12" squares. I'm rather stumped for a quilting design. I've been looking through pictures, magazines, books. Does anyone have ideas for me to consider? Thank you in advance.

Color suggestion

Judy, I like that pattern as well and have used it in a recent quilt myself. The black that you have used is perfect for cooling down all those hot colours and if you put a binding of black on the edge, it will contain those strips visually quite nicely. As it is they are visually running off the edge of the quilt. A black binding will stop the eye from moving out of the quilt entirely though I know it's not going on display in an exhibit, it's something that will work well here. I love all the bright colours too.

Rosey

Judy"s quilt

Judy, I love your quilt so colorful. The black is the final touch .
Someone is going to get a special quilt.
My Lone Star is in the final quilting.(last border). This second one had a lot of life interuptions. I started a baby quilt on the machine; will finish it next. Vi

Judy"s quilt

Judy, I love your quilt so colorful. The black is the final touch .
Someone is going to get a special quilt.
My Lone Star is in the final quilting.(last border). This second one had a lot of life interuptions. I started a baby quilt on the machine; will finish it next. Vi

One Reason to Have a Digital Camera

One reason to have a digital camera is so you can try out a quilty idea before cutting the fabric, particularly when you only have a small bit of fabric left. :-) Please notice that I've pinned a bit of black fabric on the design wall on the far right side of this quilt top. This couch quilt is based on a pattern called "Tilt-a-Square" by Bella Nonna and I have made the quilt top as directed in the pattern instructions except I have made it larger. (The original pattern called for twelve fat quarters and I used twenty resulting in a larger couch quilt.) I pinned it on my design wall to check out the finished quilt top and I decided that it didn't look right.

I think it needs another border of the black print around the outside. I have just enough fabric to cut the binding in the black print plus a new 2.5 inch wide black border. The current black border between the blocks and the crookedy piano key border is 3.5 inches. Sometimes a quilter just gets lucky.

Judy

Liberated Baskets -2

Whoops - forgot the picture.

I had so much fun doing these. Just cut out a basket, add side background, then decide what kind of handle. There are pieced ones, appliqued ones, and thread-painting ones.

There are baskets of lemons, peppers, raspberries, blueberries, bluebonnets, cactus, flowers, and plain-o baskets.

Hope you are all enjoying this Easter day.

Liberated Baskets

These 19 blocks are up on my design wall and before I sew them together I thought I'd get your input. Anybody have any suggestions?
The basic idea is from Gwen Marston's latest book. I'm thinking of adding her border, too, - the one that reminds me of lollipops.