My 1, 2, 3 Quilt

Here is my 1, 2, 3 quilt. What makes it one, two, three you ask? To piece this top, it takes one jelly roll, two yards of background fabric and three weekends to complete. Not much time, however, I do have a few tricks.
Most of the commercial patterns for similar designs call for drawing a line across a square, sewing on the line and then cutting, thus wasting a portion of fabric. I have devised a way which does not waste any fabric and I do not use any paper guides. (Time spent ripping off paper is also not productive.)

Fabric has gotten so expensive and sewing time is often fleeting. The next time you start a new project, take a look at the pattern and the directions. See if you can find a way to save both.
Happy sewing.

4 Blue Ribbons, 1 NQR

This year at the local fair, I entered 4 items and won 4 blue ribbons. Yea!

In the "Large Quilt Category," my designer BOM (from an on-line quilt shop,) received 1st place,
(ok family and friends, this one needs a home)

In the "Holiday House-Other Category," (all Christmas items are placed in "Holiday House,") my Santa Quilt placed 1st, (I'm keeping this one, don't even ask)

1st place in the "Quilted Kitchen Item Category," was my poppy table runner,

and the NQR item which won a blue ribbon in the "Crochet-Work-Fine Category," was a cream colored doily.

If you've never entered your work in a competition, consider entering your local or state fair. Who knows, you might win!

Two More Ribbins, Actually Three

The state fair is over and I am pleased to share my latest winner with you. The name of this quilt is Water Lilies and is completion number 62. It placed first in it's division and won an Award of Excellence. The quilting is feathers and pebbles where every inch has quilting on it. This quilt is absolutely beautiful.

Many of you will recognize the cherry and key lime pie bali pops. When using the bali pops, enough blocks are created to make two quilts and the other sister quilt is out being quilted.

 

BTW: Another entry, Scrappy Pineapple, placed third. (Completion number 64.)

What is on the design wall?

"Bubble Gum Explosion," or as my sister calls it, "Bubble Gum Fiesta." (Haven't decided on a title yet, still thinking about it.) This is the latest project on my design wall, and now it's finished. Whew! So, off the design wall and into a box, traveling cross country to the LAer.

Once again, I used a bali pop. A watermelon bali pop to be exact. (I have a box full of those things and I think they are multiplying.) The blocks are 16" and the quilt turned out quite large. It looks complicated but was very easy and I like the variety of the fabrics.

Speaking of bali pops and variety, have you seen the latest series? No fun prints, just monochromatic colors. What's the fun in that? Good thing I've got a few more stashed.

Peachtree Road Race T-shirt

Over the years I have run walked the Peachtree. Held in Atlanta, Georgia on the 4th of July. It is the world's largest 10k road race with over 60,000 participants. Everyone who finishes receives a t-shirt where the competition for the winning design has become very competitive in the design realm.

Let me begin by telling you, I do not do t-shirt quilts. There are so many issues when working with t-shirts and I elect not to mess with them. That aside, I decided to clinch my teeth and make one. Not only that, I needed to clean out closet space and Peachtree t-shirts were taking up a lot of valuable hanger area.

I surfed the internet and looked at hundreds of t-shirt quilts. I didn't like the ones where each t-shit was cut to the same size. Also, I didn't like the ones where each had a border because they were way too large and jamming all the t-shirts together wasn't appealing. I tried a couple of different layouts and finally decided on a mix of something that appealed to me.

Next item of business, get it quilted and add the binding. I think I found the perfect binding fabric. I'm partial to stripes, especially with slime green. What do you think about this fabric?

For those of you who are wondering, once again I have entered the lottery for a number in this years Peachtree. Haven't decided if I am going to use it or not, but I could always use the 2013 t-shirt as a quilt label. The hubby was also entered for a number and we both expect to receive one. (His start wave will be much earlier than mine.) If anyone is looking for a number, please let me know.

State Fair

This year I entered a couple of quilts in the state fair. I originally hadn't planned to do so, but there were so few quilts last year. This year there were over 300.

You may remember this quilt,  "Thorn In My Side." It is a JN pattern which automatically means "paper pieced." Guess what? In the small quilt group, it won in the category for "Best Piecing." Duh!

I entered another quilt, "No Two Hearts Are Alike" which won Honorable Mention in the bed quilt category. (A picture is on an earlier post listed as Affairs of the Heart.)

County Fair

Having entered the local county fair for a number of years, I've become familiar with the ladies who volunteer their time to work with the exhibits. My plan was not to enter any more, it wasn't worth the effort. Having said that, I ran into one of the ladies who recognized me at the grocery store the other day and she was telling me how the number of entries had dropped of greatly. Yes, she made me feel guilty that I hadn't entered anything in the last couple of years, so I decided to enter something. Here's the result:

The pattern is Bali Sea Star by Kim Brackett and can be found in her book, "Scrap-Basket Surprises."

Closet Cleaning

Several years ago, someone gave me a quilt kit as a gift. I thanked them for the present and stressed very strongly, "They shouldn't have." The pattern and fabric were not to my taste so I squirreled it away in the closet, destined to never see the light of day.

Time has passed and I have not given the quilt kit another thought, that is, until the gifter came knocking on my door for a visit. She inquired as to how it was coming and she really wanted to see my progress. Oops!

Time was limited, we had somewhere else to be, and yes, I made a few excuses. After she left, I knew the situation would once again resurface and bite me. After all, she kept telling me how she drove over to another city all by herself just to find a quilt shop and how she would like to see it completed before she departs, and ........ well, you know the rest.

Two weeks ago, I dug out the kit and started stitching it together. My teeth hurt, but it is finished and is ready for the LAer, who assures me it will be back quite quickly. After completion, my plan is to give it back to her at Thanksgiving. It will fit in nicely with her decor.

A Good Deed

You may recall from a previous post where a finished quilt top was claimed by my sister. She wanted it for a raffle at the hospital where she works. (More about that in a minute.)

I knew the quilting would have to be phenomenal if it was to help raise money and I found the perfect LAer to do just that. Linda at The Quilted Pineapple was up to the challenge. She emailed me this morning with these pictures to let me know the quilt is on it's way.
She is truly talented.
Ok, so here's the story about why and where the quilt is going. My sister works in the lab at a hospital on the gulf coast. Every year the hospital has a fund raiser for the American Heart Association. (Having had heart valve repair surgery a few years back, this is an orginization I've become very familiar with.) Anyway, each department at the hospital has to raise money by some means. It could be a bake sale or car wash or what ever hair brain idea they come up with. (How about a jumbo hamburger that feeds 20ish people? If you don't have heart disease, that would do it.) Next time around, the lab will be raffeling off this quilt, "Pink Lemonade."

Pieced by Vickie in Georgia, quilted by Linda in Michigan, the quilt will probably reside along the gulf coast. A quilt well traveled. Now, how am I going to get all that on the label?

Affairs of the Heart

After posting my last completed quilt top, my sis called to claim it. She wanted it for her department at the hospital to raffle off and raise money for the Heart Association. Sis should have waited for the next one.......

Doesn't matter. I've decided to keep this one. I very rarely keep a quilt, but this one is special. I've created a couple of quilts with my own designs and they usually end up somewhere else, but this time I'm keeping this one. The hearts are paper pieced to look like a crazy quilt patch. I love them and they are just like people......no two hearts are alike.

I have lined up just the right LAer for this project. This quilt is calling for something custom. Can't wait to see what the LAer does with this one.

What am I working on?

This is one of my favorite patterns to eat up a couple of jelly rolls. The pattern is "Honeyberries" by Evelyn Sloppy and is the quilt on the cover of her book, "40 Fabulous Quick-Cut Quilts."( I love that book so much, I have purchased it twice.)

By using a Pink Lemonade Bali Pop and a Meringue Treat Strip, I can complete the entire quilt top except for the third row of border. I cut the jelly rolls to the needed length and throw them in a basket. Whenever I get a couple of minutes or on those days where I'm not feeling so good, I can just feed the sewing machine a couple of strips and not have to think about it. Later on I can cut them apart and do the thinking part. But generally, I can put the strip sets together in a couple of days.

Now that it is finished, it is time to send it off to the LAer. I can't wait to see what she does with it.

OK family and friends, who wants it?

Mystery Quilt

Once again I have taken on a mystery quilt.

Kristina's web site was hosting a mystery quilt and I decided to play along. The project required 3 fabrics: a focus fabric, a contrast fabric and a background fabric. After much searching and with the help of a friend from work, MSB, I decided on a yellow bug fabric, a green seed fabric and a pink swirl fabric.

Ta-da-ha! This is one of the completed blocks. I haven't completed the assembly of all the parts, but I am quite happy with the results so far.

Well, the quilt show is over....

Family and friends, please take note. The next time a quilt show approaches, please remind me that I can not enter every quilt that I am currently working on. This year I was determined to enter 5 quilts, 3 of which were not quilted when I entered them and 1 was still in pieces. I worked diligently on them until the very last hour. The night before they were due, I was up until midnight finishing up the hanging sleeves and rounding up the pillowcases.

I am happy to say that my work paid off. In the large two person quilt category, I won! (Along with Shannon, aka Doodlebug.)

This quilt is titled "Never Again." If you have this pattern or kit, you will understand the name.

BTW : (TSC) 200-1=199

Getting Ready for the Show

Here is another entry for the CES Qult Show. I am sewing like a mad woman these days to get my quilts finished. I should have learned my lesson last time and not enter more than I can reasonably finish. This year I am trying to enter 5.

"Bali Chop" is made from two bali pops and is my own design, if you can call a block made from 25 squares a design. I quilted it last weekend at GSQ and I love how it turned out. My goal was to quilt it very densely so there was quilting in every block. It took forever and I'm sure the ladies at GSQ were tired of looking at me.
BTW: (TSC) 201-1=200