What's on My Design Wall 8-31-09

Here it is with the fabrics, instead of a mock-up. I'm liking it. I like the little bit of green, gives it a nice zing. I also made the outside border a bit narrower than was called for in the pattern. It was just too much with a wider outer border. This is a mystery quilt, and I've always avoided them, because you never know what you are going to get in the end. Because of how well I like this one, I may do another one (mystery that is) one day.

I went out yesterday and bought five pieces of fleece for backings. I've decided I really like the fleece. It's cuddly and warm. It may not be regulation for quilting, but there are no police here, and I've gotten good reviews on the fleece backs I've put on so far. I am much more likely to make tops into quilts when I use fleece. Since the idea of this whole thing is to have fun, and then share the fun by giving the quilts away, it works for me.

Border Selection

The border above is kind of what is called for in the pattern. It seems I am constitutionally unable to follow a pattern exactly.

However, when I looked at the first one, the print border just seemed too "there". I thought, perhaps with some of the blue (but I really like that narrow strip of green~oh, well keep that in then). I ended up with the border above and I like it lots. The inner green is going to be about 3/4" to 1" (I think it might need to be 3/4". The blue is about 2" and the print border about 3"-4". I'll need to play with the widths a bit, but I like the look...a lot.

Mystery Top

Here is the mystery quilt our guild is doing. I just finished the rows, they now have to be sewn together. Not too bad, but the focus fabric is a little "heavy" and it seems unbalanced with them all lined up like that. I think it will OK once the border fabric is on.

Update: the inner border fabric I chose at the beginning of the mystery is the solid blue, but looking at it now, I'm thinking maybe a yellow green. The outside border is the large print fabric, and I think the green will give it a zing!

Not Much

Not much up. Haven't sewn in a couple of days.I did sew on the top and bottom borders for the jelly beans quilt. I was looking for a fleece for the backing, and thought I found one at JoAnn. It was yellow and filthy, so I ended up not getting it. When I got home, I found the fleece for another quilt (a turquoise blue) and I think it will work for the jelly beans as well. I just was throwing stuff around, and I looked up later ans saw this. I think they look pretty good together.


I volunteered to do the guild newsletter, that's done for the month. I'm working on a website, got a bit more to do there. I've been reading blogs (that I can handle).

If you're interested, twiddletails is having a give-away for her 500th blog post. It's a pretty cool organizer. I imaging most of us have lots of little stuff that could go in there. Speaking of twiddletails. I just got the last batch of 9-patches that I swapped. Here they are on the design wall. I think I'll just use white sashing, and call it a day.

What's on my Design Wall...With Borders

Here it is with borders. The right and left are sewn on, the top and bottom not. I like it. What a happy quilt. Don't know who it's for yet, but I like it.

Check out other folks design walls on Judy's website.

Here's a Border Mock-Up

I like the inner white border. I think this is what I'll do.

Jelly Bean Top

Well, here is the top. None of the blocks are sewn together. I looked at the top on the wall, and it was OK, but when I looked at it through the camera, I liked it much better. The blocks are 6"x12" finished size, so the top as you see it is 4' wide by 5 1/2' long. I found the green/blue fabric when I shopped in Grand Junction yesterday, so I think it's going to be the border. I need to have some other color (maybe only an inch wide) around the blocks to frame them. I don't know what yet. My default is always black, but maybe white. Looking at the quilt top again, there are only 3 places where the green is on the outside, so maybe I'll just stick with the green. I do have all those 6 1/2" strips though. Hmmm, maybe something with them.

Quick Trip

I didn't know I was going shopping, though I did know I was going to Grand Junction. It's a 5 1/2 hour drive. I went with my husband because he was giving a 1 1/2 hour talk. Hmmmm, 11 hours of driving for 1 1/2 hours of talking. He says he's not going to do it again. Anyway, I had some time on my hands, and I was there with a car, so found a couple of hours on my hands so decided to look up some quilt shops on the internet and visit them.


I found Quilters Corner--a very nice quilt shop. It happened to very busy because of a CQC (Colorado Quilters Council) meeting that was happening near by. I found the dragonfly and two greeny stripy fabrics there. I'm collecting greens because I have an idea for a quilt. Of course by the time I get around to it I'll probably have enough green to make 5 quilts. I also love dragonflies, but don't have an idea for a quilt yet. It will come when I have enough, or when I sit down with the fabric and play some. I also bought the books. The first one is new to me, but I spent a bit of time reading it, and I think it's going to be lots of fun.

I have wanted to make a storm at sea quilt for a very long time. I am collecting directions, but haven't made one yet. This book looks like it might push me to actually make one. I hope so. I haven't read much of it yet, but hope it will inspire me.

The other fabrics I bought just because I like them. I love bright clear colors and love to use black as a neutral. The stripes and the black batik fit there. The tape measure fabric is just for fun. Don't know what I'll do with it yet, but I think I saw it online as a bag, I think a bag for rulers and stuff.

Well, Since yesterday at 2:00 I drove 600 miles and went shopping--not much sewing though. That can happen tomorrow.

Jelly Beans

Anybody hungry? I think these colors are great. I'm glad I finally found a pattern that would look good. I have been looking for a while, but everything was too...blah. These are pretty fast and easy to make. I am making them according to my plan, so have 18 finished, you'll notice I only have two different fabrics in the centers so far, I have 3 more sets of 9 to do, then I'll be done and ready to put them together.

Early Morning Jelly Beans

Remember all those lovely 1 1/2" and 2 1/2" strips from Monday. Well here they are all cut to length. I woke up at about 4:30 this morning, and decided to do some more work on this quilt. I was cutting away, cutting, cutting cutting....there, all done!

Now to put some of the strips together to see what a block would look like. See that white paper on the right hand side with the green and purple colors on it, that's my "map" to make sure I get a good mix of strips throughout the quilt. So, I took the strips for the first blocks and put them next to each other. "One block that is 2 1/2 x 4 1/2...got it. On each side of that 1 1/2 x 4 1/2, hmm that looks nice. On the ends 2 1/2 x 4 1/2 again. Hey, this is starting to look pretty good. Next 1 1/2 x 6 1/2...? What, those are much too short, but I cut them all the sa......me! Ooops, not 1 1/2 x 6 1/2, no, no, no 1 1/2 x 8 1/2!"

See all these wonderful 1 1/2 x 6 1/2 inch strips, they're 2 inches too short. That's what happens when you get up at 4:30 and decide to cut some strips.

Luckily I had enough fabric that I could cut more 1 1/2 inch strips and cut the correct length, I even have ONE block done. See...

What's on My Design Wall 8-17

This is going to be a "kilt" from Hawaiian fabric. It's not there yet, but I hope to have it done before we go to the highland games in a couple of weeks.
This is fabric I bought in Bend last year when I went to the Sisters quilt show. This was a 5 yard bundle, and it took a long time to figure out what to do with it. I'm going to use the Jelly Beans from quickquilts.com

It's not going to look anything like the picture online (though I like that one a lot) but I think I will like it well enough. I'm making it bigger than the online version. I need to find border fabric (don't have enough of anything left to use as a border), but I think I'll be able to, and maybe even from my stash.

Check out other folks' design walls on Judy's website.

What have I been doing?

I got the boxes of sewing supplies sent off for the Iraqi Bundles of Love. I was able to send 4, and that felt good. I certainly have lots more stuff, so I might send a couple more.


What, you say is THAT?? That is going to be a "kilt" (I use the term loosely) made from Hawaiian fabric. I'm still working on the fit, but I hope to have it done it time for my husband to wear it when we go to the Highland Games in 2 1/2 weeks. It should be a kick. He is going to wear it with flip flops and a t-shirt. It's just cotton fabric, so I hope he won't be too cold. It can get pretty cold in the mountains of Colorado during September.

I'm back at work and TIRED when I get home. It will take me a while to get back in the swing, then I'll get back to quilting some more.

Iraqi Bundles of Love--Sharing the Wealth

Here is a post about sharing your riches. I just gave away a bunch of fabric, but I still have plenty more. This idea was started by a soldier who is serving in Iraq. He is callin them "Iraqi Bundles of Love". Hope you join in.

Fabric Available

OK, I'm trying to be a good steward of my "stuff". I have more fabric than will fit in my room, so have decided that I need to get rid of some of it instead of find more places to put it. I have a bunch (about 52 yards if I counted correctly-eeek!) of solid fabric. I bought most of it about 17-18 years ago when I was still living in California. I was interested in making Amish type quilts at the time so most of it is cool colored fabrics. As you can see, there are lots of greens and blues, a few reds and rusts some purples. All of it is cotton (though there may be a piece or two that is mixed fibers). It is all in excellent shape, no smells, no stains even though I've had it quite a while. If you would like it, I am willing to send it (or some of it) to you for the cost of shipping.

If you're interested, let me know and we'll talk.



Fabric has been requested--may be more going out in my future, I'll post about it if I decide to get rid of more.

Drunkard's Path Quilting

I just got the Drunkard's Path back from the quilter, and it's beautiful. I chose an angular quilting pattern to set off the curves in the piecing, and the thread is from Superior Thread, King Tut--Cleopatra. I love the way it came out. The colors are great, the quilting is great, and Gary always does such a beautiful job. He uses the Statler quilting system, and everything is beautifully flat and square and the tension is perfect. I am always impressed.

I need to bind it, and then give it to Joe. I haven't ever made a quilt for him, when he saw this one he liked it, so there you go. I asked him if he wants it on the wall of his office, and he said, maybe we should keep it at home to snuggle under. It was a bit cold last night, and we used one of the other quilts I have while we watched TV. That's the first time we've done that, and so the idea of using a quilt to keep warm was fresh in his mind.

I know some of you are suffering in the heat. Two nights ago when I went to bed the temp outside was 45. I love it. The trip to California was wonderful, I had great times with the family. I missed seeing one of my brothers, but hope to see him next year. The temperature when I left my sister's house to come home was 85 degrees...at 3:00 AM. She said by the time she got off work it was 105. I am not sorry I had to snuggle last night.