Sunstruck

The theme for the third month of So You Think You Can Quilt was 'Circles'. Voting ended last night and I'm happy to say that I'm still in the contest. My entry is a wall hanging, measuring about 25 inches square. To make this quilt I used Caryl Bryer Fallert's free Flying Geese in a Circle paper pieced pattern as a jumping off point, enlarging the pattern slightly on a copy machine. The photo online of the finished quilt indicated that the quilter should trim the circle of geese both inside and out (essentially making a donut of flying geese), but I adapted the pattern so that each of the four quarters was squared off. The four quarters of the circle went together like a dream. I enjoy the contrast of circles and squares in the piecing and continued that with the quilting. I'm pleased with the way it turned out.

Cassidy named this quilt Sunstruck.

I learned a little lesson about continuing to sew when I should be sleeping. As you can see below (partway through my repairs), I forgot to put in some of the black framing and had to unpick stitches and do a little more cutting and sewing. I'm glad I followed through with my original vision, I like it so much better with the black framing crossed at the corners.

Here's a picture of a mama and her little ducklings. This was taken on the day before Mother's Day. It was very windy and the poor little guys were getting blown end over end.

Finally, this picture of mama swan and her cygnets was taken on our Mother's Day walk around the lake on campus. Originally, she was farther away near the little island in the middle of the lake. We were surprised when she came up to the shoreline.

I Love Spring

It's finally spring here, kind of. In typical northern Indiana fashion our temperature this time of the year can easily swing 35 degrees or more in one day. Certainly makes it fun in the morning when trying to decide what to wear. But the trees are in bloom and things are 'greening up' nicely. It is much appreciated after a long winter.

These pink flowers are from a tree here on campus. I love the way they look against that blue sky.

These are in my front yard. I love the tree, but wish the owner had planted it elsewhere (rather than directly in front of a window) and trimmed it properly into a standard tree shape.

Hello little lady bug. These little critters are cute when they are outside. Less so when they find their way into my house and can't find their way back out.

I've really got to get cracking soon to start on my 'circles' quilt for the So You Think You Can Quilt contest. I think I've got a plan, but who knows. I've had several plans so far and I've changed my mind each time. I've got until the 15th, so I should be okay. Yesterday was my last day of class for my master's program. Cue the choir of angels. No more homework = more time to sew!

Get to the Point

'Get to the Point', that's the name of my entry for the second round of So You Think You Can Quilt. The theme was 'Vintage'. Here's a picture of the quilt I made. The binding looks wonky in this picture because I did a poor job of hanging it on the wall - it's actually quite square. When it came time to take pictures it was a rainy day, so I had to do indoor pictures in poor lighting. Ugh.

For this quilt I dug out five fat quarters that had been living in my stash for a few years. When I bought the fabric I liked the vintage look of the pattern, but didn't have a plan for it (story of my life). When the vintage theme was announced, I decided to try my hand at the flying geese pattern. I used the No Waste Flying Geese Method of piecing since I didn't have much fabric to work with. I really liked this method since it takes care of the problem of sewing on the bias. The binding is also cut from the same fat quarters, so there was very little of that fabric remaining. The finished quilt is approximately 36" x 36". Here's a close up shot which shows the prints much better than the full shot.

So, I've survived to make it to Round 3. Plus, I've finished another quilt and tried out a new technique. Success all around. If you haven't already, head over to Brown Paper Packages and take a look at what's going on. The entries for Round 2 were quite lovely.

The theme for Round 3 is 'Circles'. I'm tossing around a couple of ideas, but haven't settled on anything just yet. You'll just have to wait and see. Voting will open around May 16 and I'll show you my entry about a week later. Can't wait to see the entries!

New Pendants

The above pendants are some recent ones I made. I'm off to the studio in a little bit to pick up some finished pieces and make some more.

Meomi Swap Results

Meet Quatchi. He arrived in the mail Thursday and is the handiwork of Melissa from Dandelionladyseeds. He's simply adorable and garnered immediate hugs from Cassidy. My swap partner was also kind enough to send along one of her garlands and some handcrafted tags complete with velvet ribbons (I dig velvet ribbon!).

This is the Nurse Peso Penguin quilt that I made for the swap - he resides with Melissa now. I thoroughly enjoyed making this and was pleased with the final product. This little 'art quilt' measures about 17" x 18" (roughly, as I forgot to take a final measurement after completing it).

Thanks to Melissa from Dandelionladyseeds for the awesome swap goodies. Thanks also to Karen at Urban Craft for organizing the swap - I had a great time!

Hummingbird

 

Here's a little something that Cassidy made recently in Glass Club. She used some scrap glass, stringers and millefiori slices. Isn't it just adorable? She's so creative - I think she really has a knack for this.

Three of Hearts

The February voting has closed over at Brown Paper Packages and it looks like I get to play along for another month! The theme for March will be announced tomorrow. I didn't think of a name prior to submitting my pictures, but decided afterwords on 'Three of Hearts'...I know, remarkably creative. The quilt measures approximately 37" x 45". I was hoping for a sunny day to take pictures, but wasn't that fortunate. I'm not gonna complain though, the sun has been shining just about every day since then. Our theme was Love...here are a couple of shots of my entry.

I accomplished what I wanted with this - mainly that it was completely finished in time for judging. I didn't want to end up with more additions for my pile of unfinished quilts. I also christened my new machine (thanks mom and dad!) with this quilt. The quilt was pieced on the old machine, but I decided to (finally) unpack the new machine for the quilting. Originally I had planned on doing free motion quilting (feed dogs that drop at the flip of a switch!). However, after a little practice, I determined that a lot more practice was in order. I need to spend a little more time getting to know my machine before I commit to my next free motion project. Since I didn't have the luxury of time, I made the decision to quilt this in an echo pattern. All in all, I'm pretty satisfied with the way it turned out.