Thursday, January 31, 2008

Miss Millie's Mystery Quilt



At long last, I can show off the mystery quilt that several of us tested prior to publication. The third and final part was published at the first of the month and this month's Thimbleberries Club was just the place to show it. Several of us brought our test quilts and we had a grand showing.
My first mystery quilt and I truly enjoyed the process as well as the finished project.
I tried to pick contrasting values so as to show off the design. I love the colors and just had to add the raw edge appliqué flowers and leaves. I love this throw and use it all the time. Thought it would be worn out by the time I got to show it.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Organizing

I'm happy to say that the project is just about finished ! ! !

The dining room/sewing area is still presentable - no overwhelming stacks of fabric or notions. Though I've not been doing much sewing, just a tad.

The 'Stash Room' is boxed and labeled. I couldn't think with all the clutter. So with many trips to Staples my stash is now boxed according to color, labeled clearly and placed on shelves in some kind of order. UFO's in one area, Orphans in another, Floral, Novelty, Geometrics and on and on are all neat and tidy. The obvious colors are placed on the shelves in 'color-wheel' order and easy to get to.

I can walk in the Stash Room door and not have to step over or move things to get access to my stash.

I'm a happy gal.

I enjoy hearing from all of you and am inspired to get down to the business of actually doing projects.

Since I will be doing a Doll Making Program at our Thimbleberries Club, I decided a couple of new gals to add to the mix is just the thing for my newest project. Just last night I was given some lovely violet lace [nice skirt for one of the new gals] as well as some interesting semi-vintage blanket binding that will do nicely for a dress or two. Can't wait.

Photos will be posted sometime this week so that you can see all that I've accomplished :)

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Thimbleberries, too


This is the last of the four tabletoppers made the Cotton Theory method. At least for now.

This method is a pretty neat way to quilt-as-you-go. Works well for small projects now I'll have to plan a larger project, perhaps a throw, to see how it goes.

Love to explore all the ways of quilt-as-you-go! !

Am continuing to organize my 'stash/pressing' room, can at least walk from one side of the room to the other. The storage boxes have really made the room look organized, not as colorful as having all the fabric out, but at least more co-ordinated looking. Will post a pic before too long [that means just as soon as I work down to the top of my pressing board.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Butterflies and Surface Embellishment

After I free-motion stitched around the butterfiles in the center rectangle and the two border pieces, I turned the pieces over and saw that the yellow with the varigated thread were too stark. So I grated crayons onto each the yellow side of each piece. Then heat-set them by pressing with a hot iron several times. I kept the grated crayons off my pressboard pad by using parchment paper both beneath and atop the quilted pieces.

The tabletopper should be able to be laundered a number of times before there is any sign of fading.
I love the bright colors of this one!

Friday, January 11, 2008

Quilt-As-You-Go Tabletopper


The center of this topper I did free-motion stitching around the flowers then more or less straight stitching on the rectangles.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Cotton Theory Class

This is the tabletopper I made in class.
It's a fun, quick project that can be made from scrap fabric, as well as, scrap batt. Since this pattern uses 3.5" strips of fabric and and 1.5" strips of batt, I was able to use a number of pieces from my pieces stash.