Border by Border....

Adding borders....

only half-way through....

this is a fun quilt!

my girl is keeping me company and enjoying this amazing weather...

{Flanders}

tgif

mary

Architextures

I have had several questions about the ledger fabric in my last post...

the fabric is called Architextures by Robert Kaufman...

A great text fabric!

I have added a couple of borders to my quilt....

again, the pattern is from the new book by Sarah Fielke...the book is called Hand Quilted With Love and the pattern is Made to Measure...

several of the borders contain delightful corner blocks...

  

added to some fun pieced border strips...

 

I am loving working on this quilt...makes me want to stay up late and piece...

I also have a special one in the hoop....a little hand quilting with perle cotton {of course}

 

happy thursday!

mary

Wordless Wednesday....

from sarah fielke's Hand Quilted With Love

happy wednesday

mary 

A Special Quilt.....Blogger's Quilt Festival

It happens twice a year!

 

Amy brings us a spectacular display of quilts from Bloggers across the globe...

My entry is a quilt that is among my top all-time favorite quilts...

The pattern is Whirligig by Sarah Fielke

I still can't believe how this quilt came together.  It is a rather lengthy story....so grab a cup of coffee:)

A year ago this Spring we{my family} were going through a very tough time.  My mother had been diagnosed with brain cancer in February...my sister, brother and I spent day and night with her in the hospital for about a month.  By the end of March, my sister and I were living with her and had the assistance of Hospice to guide us through the difficult times. 

    

On April 11th., I received a call from my husband telling me that Kyle had asked for our daughter's hand in marriage. It makes me want to cry just thinking about it....

I knew my mom was dying...so I told her the good news.  She could barely speak at this point and whispered, "Wonderful".....

my mother died later that evening.

Now, I know every good parent loves their children...as it should be...

My love for my girls is so deep and so strong.  I love them with all the passion that my mother loved me and my siblings.

molly, maggie and mary....my dad just before he died with molly and mary...

    

I have 3 girls and they are all about 20 months apart in age.  They have always been the best of friends. My two oldest daughters have had type 1 diabetes since they were small. So life has definitely had it's challenges.  Anyone who has a child or relative with type 1 diabetes knows full well what I mean.

Molly is so full of spunk...bright as can be and so friendly and fun..

molly=bat, maggie=hershey kiss 

I knew I would make a quilt for them before they were married, but I was not sure what design....what fabric...and then like magic it all came together!

The design was fairly easy....I knew she would appreciate a hand appliqued quilt and I would enjoy the stitching after such a difficult year. Sitting and stitching quietly with my thoughts sounded like perfect therapy.

       

        So what fabric?  Her 'theme' was a honey bee.  When I spotted this seed fabric {on my way back to my mother's home to deal with estate business} I knew this would be a great foundation.  Perfect for the center - a great backdrop for the vines and leaves!  Plus it fit her colors....yellow, white, grey and touches of green.

Then what to use for the huge corner triangles....

It was a bit of Serendipity...

I found Bari J's amazing Art Gallery fabric...

  

Perfect!  It had her colors....and a coordinating fabric in grey worked beautifully into the palette.  And best of all the corner triangle fabric has a bee!!! 

Does it get any better than that?

So the quilt was hand appliqued, and completely all hand quilted...

   

There are so many things about this quilt that I love.  The whimsical tabs all along the border....the curvy, rounded shapes....I am much more partial to rounded shapes than to geometric shapes...they flow...

    

Having the time to work on this quilt was a blessing...it helped me  create something to celebrate the hope of the future and it helped me settle into my thoughts and contemplate how life would look without my mother.  

  

It is now on their bed in their new place.  

It is so much more than a quilt...

Enjoy the Blogger's Quilt Festival!
You can find my quilt in the Hand Applique category 

mary 

Simple Lessons....

I spent yesterday preparing for a class...but set some time aside to play with a few traditional blocks....

A Schoolhouse Block....

years ago I made a couple of schoolhouse quilts....gave one away and the other we used.  In fact, it is the only quilt we used until it was literally threads and batting!  

I like this version...it is not pieced with small triangles...rather uses Y-seams.  Gives it a clean simple look.

 

 

Clare of Selfsewn sent a lovely wreath of hexies for the newlyweds! So lovely!  This was waiting for them when they returned home from Ireland and they were thrilled!  I can't wait to see it in their new home together.  Do you remember your first place as a newlywed? 

Yay!  It's Friday!

hugs

mary

    

 

May Madness....

I had a talented group of new and experienced quilters who worked together over the last 5 weeks...

Some had a bit of piecing experience and a couple were completely brand new beginners!  How fun!

We worked on a Coin Quilt and learned as much as I could pack into 5 classes...

Some of the things we talk about...

types of thread, tools for quilting, types of batting, seam allowances, tips for pressing fabrics, proper cutting techniques, fabric and color- including value, size of print, etc., various ways to baste a quilt....

We piece, quilt {including hand quilting}, baste and bind.

Here are their special makes!

 

Aren't they fantastic!

When I have not been busy sewing with fun and talented folks....I have been enjoying {still} some relaxed time at home...doing 'what I want'....hee hee!

while I sip coffee from my favorite new mug....

   

Molly and Kyle brought this back from Ireland!

Oh yeah! She knows her mamma well!

I have been piecing more spools...

I was thinking 100 spools...hmmmm....not so sure I am quite that patient...

And I finished my block for the Mid-Century Modern Bee....a block for my dear friend Susan....a Feather!

The colors are not quite true in the pictures I took, but she asked for the colors of the Kingfisher.  Truly a lovely palette.

 

I am also part of another Flickr group....

Zakka Along 2.0....

projects made from Patchwork, Please!

 

I believe this group just started posting in May so I shouldn't be too tardy...

But this is the first of, hopefully, many cute projects from the book...

Patchwork Please!  by Ayumi Takahashi

This will be sent to someone special...

  

We have had some of the best Spring weather this year in Ohio...

my flowers are loving it!

  

Happy Wednesday!

mary :)

Finally!

As fun as the wedding was to plan and experience {and it truly was a complete blast}....it is good to have some time to work on a couple of things I have been wanting to try.

I have always loved the simplicity of a spool quilt...

where the textures and the quilting really do most of the talking....

 

I need to gather together a few more 'black' fabrics for the spool tops and bottoms and perhaps throw in some Essex in white and natural for the negative space....

And then I have a super secret project...that will have to wait for it's debut...

  

We had another busy weekend....daughter #2, Maggie, graduated from OSU on Sunday...

she was one out of 5 students graduating with a degree in Animal Nutrition....out of 10,000 graduating students! I found that amazing! She is a smarty pants!

happy monday!

mary 

Sweet Caroline....

A friend, Caroline, sent me an email looking for some help.

Caroline lived in Columbus, but much to our dismay, moved to Chicago recently.  

And in honor of her new town she wanted to make something using a likeness of the Chicago flag...

      

the dilemma was how to do the stars.

It is sort of a sheriff star, right?  

So the options are applique {either machine or hand} or piece with Y seams, or paper foundation piece....at least these are the options I could think of at first glance.  

I thought perhaps the most efficient to make a star block would be to use paper foundation piecing....so I have a little tutorial for Caroline and anyone else interested.

WARNING, though, there is a bit of math involved....but hopefully this will all make sense.

And since this is for Caroline....I will name this little block...the Caroline Star!

To begin you will need to gather some supplies....

a sharp pencil

acrylic ruler

rotary cutter

mat

paper...you can use tissue paper, parchment paper, golden threads paper for quilting, freezer paper or regular old computer paper

scissors for fabric and for paper

sewing supplies

I first sketched out my 6 pointed star...but really I only need one half...actually I really only needed one point and the negative spaces on both sides of the point.

Draw a rectangle measuring....6 inches X 5.25 inches

Divide this rectangle in half along the width and the length....

3 inches and 2.625 {or 2 5/8th.}

With the top {5.25"} of the rectangle facing you, measure down 1.5" from the left hand corner and make a mark...then measure across the top 2.625".  This should be the middle line you made earlier.  Draw a line connecting those two marks.  Do the same thing on the right side of the top.

From the middle of this line you just drew {1.5" from both points},draw another line from the mid-point to the center line. Repeat on the opposite side.

Now we are ready to make the points...from the top center point draw a line matching the top center point - down 2.25 inches to meet the previously drawn line.

   

Do the same thing on the other side of the top center...

Now draw a line from that point up to meet the 1.5 inch mark you placed in the first step....

Repeat on the other side of the center line...

Then place a point from the left center line across the width 1.5 inches in from the left side. Connect the last line from the left to this point....

Repeat on the other side of the center line...

Then simply connect the points at the base of these long star points...each one of these lines will be about an inch long...

Again, repeat on the other side.

Now you should have a point and two negative spaces on both sides of that point that you can copy....

  

I copied mine onto golden threads paper...but you can use any thin paper.  Tissue paper, parchment, tracing paper, computer paper or even freezer paper.

 

You will see, I have copied it 6 times....you have 6 points. Number them as I have.

Now you are ready to sew.  I am using red for the star and light blue for the space.

Cut squares from the red...about 4 inches X 4 inches.  This is larger than you need, but I always feel better knowing I have enough to cover.  You will need 12 red squares.  For the space, again, cut 4 inch squares and you will need 12 for the star.  You will need an extra amount to 'square' off the block {but we will get to that later}.

Begin with two red squares.  Place the foundation paper so the right side of the paper is facing you.  The red squares will be underneath the paper and you want to make sure you have at least 1/4 inch excess fabric all around. Pay close attention that you have an extra 1/4 inch {at least} beyond the line between 1 and 2.  

      

Before you begin stitching, reduce the stitch length to about 1.5...

this makes it easier to tear off the paper without tearing out the stitching.

Stitch directly on the line between 1 and 2....begin 1/4 inch before the line and end 1/4 inch after the line.

Finger press the two pieces open and then press...

You aren't quite finished yet...every time you stitch...you need to trim the seam allowance to 1/4 inch.  So fold on the stitched line and fold both fabric pieces back together so you are only cutting the seam allowance!

Place your acrylic ruler so the 1/4 inch mark is on the stitching and cut...

Open these two pieces again and fold the paper foundation on the next line...between 2 and 3....

After I fold on the next line, I go ahead and trim the seam allowance so I can just line up the raw edges of fabric #2 and #3...

Place fabric #3 with raw edges lined up with the edge of number 2.  And stitch on the line between 2 and 3....

Press open and then trim along the outside edge leaving a 1/4 inch seam allowance....

Repeat the same process between 2 and 4!

When you are all finished with this point....make sure you trim all around the foundation template, leaving a 1/4 inch seam allowance on each side.

 

You will need 6 of these points....

Once you have all 6 points...sew them together in 2 groups of 3 points....then simply stitch the halves together....

the last thing you need to do is square it off so it is a quilt block!  I found the easiest way to do this is to cut two rectangles - 2.5 inches X 3.5 inches.  Now cut these on the diagonal from upper left to lower right hand corner.  These will be placed on the corners to square off your block.  

This block ends up being about 5.5 X 6.5 inches.  If you need another size, I would make the template and then just enlarge or reduce it on your printer.

The most time consuming part is just making the template...and there is probably an easier way...but this is how I achieved my template.  

Hope this makes sense to Caroline and anyone else wanting to try this paper foundation pieced star!

happy Friday!

mary