School Days Classroom Quilt

Since I was procrasti-quilting my way through August, it was the perfect time to make a new classroom quilt for my sister. In the late 90's, I designed a way to piece clear vinyl into a quilt block so you could slide pictures into the pocket. My sister got the first classroom quilt in 1999. It served her well for many years, but the homespun fabrics are starting to fray.

2015 on left, 1999 on right

Since I would be staying at her house in early September, I quickly pulled fabric and got busy. I had bought the focus fabric months ago, and I always have a roll of vinyl on hand. 

I did take pictures of the process if anyone is interested in a tutorial.

Are we really surprised that I chose the same title for both quilts? 

School Days

50" X 50"

August 29-30, 2015

Original Design

A Goosey Finish

 I'm always surprised when so much time passes between blog posts. It is never my intention to be gone for so long. If you ever wonder what I'm working on, check my Instagram account. I've been posting there for instant gratification. 

It does take some time to sit down at a computer, upload and edit pics from my camera, and write a coherent blog post. Since I'm all caught up with deadlines, I finally have the time to do all that. So get ready for a bunch of posts!

When we left off in August, I was finishing up the blocks for my little Wild & Goosey quilt.

When I started this project back in February, it was a leader/ender project. Toward the end, I just wanted to get it done, so it become a primary project. I cut all the pieces for the goose blocks from my bin of batik scraps. I wanted to control the chaos, so you might be able to see how I placed warm and cool colors in each block.

The binding is scrappy, too, but I used a fresh piece of batik for the backing.

I combined straight lines and free motion quilting with variegated YLI machine quilting thread. It's a neat little piece that I will be happy to hang up in January when I need color!

Wild & Goosey

36" X 36"

Started February 1, 2015

Completed August 28, 2015

Pattern by Bonnie Hunter

WIP Wednesday

Yesterday was a soggy, rainy day. I have to force myself to be productive on days like that. I'd much rather spend the day on the couch with my laptop.  

I did manage to get two Wild & Goosey blocks done. That brings me to 20 out of 25 I need for my wall hanging. This riot of color was the perfect antidote for the crummy weather.

Quilting the Farmer's Engineer's Wife is at the top of my priority list. I have to add one more large piece to the back, then it can be basted. I will be trying Sharon Shamber's method of using boards to keep the parts square and flat. I haven't decided yet if I'll thread- or pin-baste.

In the finished column since my last WIP post, I have added another QOV for a cousin 

and a graduation gift for a friend's daughter.

I'm participating in the modern fabric postcard swap on Instagram. These are the 4x6" postcards I will be dropping in the mail later today. It was fun playing with the color and fabric choices of the recipients.

 I printed 4" New York Beauty blocks from EQ7 and added 2" of extra background on one side. I wasn't sure if I could piece such a small curve, but it wasn't too bad. I pinned a lot!

Have a great day!

Lea's Graduation Quilt

 I can finally show you the second stacked squares quilt. Remember the blue one I made for my cousin? The red one is for Lea, who will be heading to Catholic University in a few weeks.

Lea's mom, Janet, is a good friend of mine. Way back in February, we went shopping for fabric during a snow storm. She had originally considered a t-shirt quilt, but Lea wasn't ready for her shirts to be cut up. The lone shirt that we included used to be her brother's. We had fun shopping for reds, whites, blacks, grays and some fun cardinals.

A few extra  blocks were added to the back.

The quilt was finished in time for graduation, but it wasn't gifted until last week at her graduation party.

The quote on the label is a song lyric that was supposed to be including in Lea's graduation speech, but it got cut in the last edit. It still works.

 

Janet and Lea wore blue to coordinate with the party colors. I'm the short one in pink.

Quilt of Valor for Tom

 I was very happy to present this Quilt of Valor to my cousin Tom at a family reunion last week.

I had been working on this quilt, on and off, for several years. You know how that goes. Once I finished Leo's QOV, I decided I needed to finish one for Tom, too. And you know how well I work under the pressure of a deadline!

I had a minor mishap while quilting the border and quilted through the tip of my machingers. At least it wasn't my actual finger!

I turned to my brother for help with the label. Tom has written a book about his experience in Vietnam, so most of the info came from there. He did not, however, earn a Bronze Star. I'm not sure how we got that wrong. I know a QOV label is supposed to just have the first name of the quiltmaker, but in this case, I thought it was fitting to include my full name. 

 My son, the Marine, presented the quilt to Tom while I read my presentation speech. Another cousin's son graduated from Marine Corps boot camp a few days ago.

Tom was totally surprised and rendered speechless, which is really saying something for a Martiniano and a prolific author. And, yes, our family is so big, we wear nametags!

Selvedging Along

I will be playing with selvedges along with Quilty Habit and Quilts of a Feather. To start, they've asked us to show how we store our selvedges. Mine are all in this big lined basket in a jumbled mess. I'm in awe of the quilters who have their selvedges stored by color, folded neatly in ziplock baggies.

Earlier this year, I made this selvedge log cabin wall hanging in response to the RIMQG log cabin challenge.

I had a few extra blocks which became a giant pillow.

My first selvedge project was this spiderweb wall hanging made in 2013.

 I had so much fun quilting this one!

 I will be teaching a class called "Salvaging your Selvedges" in September. This table runner is my class sample of a sampler table runner.

I'm ready to play! Maybe I'll start by sorting my selvedges by color like the cool kids.

WIP Wednesday

 How has it been three weeks since the my last post? Summer fun has kept me away from the blog, but not my sewing machine. I was able to complete two quilt tops recently.

My Farmer's Engineer's Wife top is done! It's great to have friends working on the same pattern to push me along. (Hi, Sharon & Donna!) Sharon started quilting this week, so the pressure is on!

The spools top is done, too. I might quilt this one first since it's a lot smaller and I can just have fun with it.

I'm finishing up another Quilt of Valor this week. Tonight, I'm burying threads while I watch TV.  More quilting and binding tomorrow or Friday.