A Few Little Holiday Finishes

I've been using the same cardboard jack o' lantern for my front door Halloween decoration for a lot of years.  So this year I got out a little scrap bag of Halloween fabrics and made a few Door decorations, so's I could retire that poor tired jack o' lantern.

I made this one to replace Jack.  That scrap with the cute witch with the green and orange poka dot sweater was the inspiration for this one.  

This one is for my 20 year old college son.  The skulls and cross bones reminded me of his High School punky days. (don't ask)

This one is for my daughter who is living the sophisticated  City Life in San Fransisco but she dained to hang this silly decoration on her Apt. door!  I love the grouchy witches in the red strip.

After all that Halloween decorating I figured I'd round things off by quilting this top that I finished last Halloween!

I just love those happy monsters and the color scheme of this fabric line!

I used a plush blanket for the backing.  The quilting looks so cool on the back and it is so soft and cuddly! I'm sending this quilt to my older son who lives in Indiana.

I pretty much used up all my Halloween scraps (admittedly,it was a small baggy) and I finished a UFO top!  I'm doing pretty well with my promise;  'finish two for every one started' to help combat my UFO-itis.  I think I'm up to 22 finishes with only 8 starts!  

Happy Halloween everyone!

cheers, CW

AF-UFO's = almost finished UFO's

I'm really trying to push myself to finish some of my Almost Finished UFOs.  You know the tops that just need one more border or that last row of blocks sewn on... but, you can't find the Right fabric or the you ran out of the fabric and so now what?!  #%@*?!  I've got quite a lot of those kind of UFOs!

Awhile back I was making a bunch of samples for a new class I call Beautiful Bars (see description and more samples here ).  I ran into a few of those border issues on a couple of them.  While cleaning / organizing one of my storage cupboards I found some more sashing fabric for this quilt.  Problem #1 solved!

The design idea behind these bar quilts is to pick striped / banded fabric prints that can be cut selvages to selvage.  When sashed they create their own 'blocks'.  It creates a nice pattern on what is otherwise a very simple quilt.  This vintage banded fabric by Jo Morton for Andover is a great choice for such a project.  This quilt is about 54" x 68" if not for the lack of sashing fabric I would have finished it in a jiffy! 

The center is made from strips cut selvage to selvage and the border is cut on the straight of the grain.  

This quilt was lacking border fabric too but a thorough search of my stash came up with zip.   Both these quilts will make nice charitable quilts but I did not want to go shopping to correct their problems, so on this one I just had to punt and get over it! 

I'm waiting for my 40% off coupon from Beverlies to come in the mail so I can go buy a big supply of batting.  When I get that I will finish my info. post on my quilt frame.  

Cheers, Claire W.

So, what makes a UFO anyway?!

I know some people who won't start a new project until they have finished the one that they are currently working on. (there aren't many but I DO actually know a few!).  I know a few people who only  work on a handful projects and finish one or more before starting another.  And then there are the rest of us,who start all kinds of projects;  finish some, work on a bunch at the same time, put some on hold (for an undetermined amount of time) and go onto the next and even abandon some altogether. So what constitutes a UFO?

 Well I guess that answer is a little different for every body...For me it usually means I have gone beyond the fabric collecting stage and started to cut and sew.  But what about orphan blocks?!  This little quilt was started with a bunch of orphan blocks that had been sitting in a basket for Quite sometime but they were not blocks of my making. Once I adopted them did they become MY UFO?!  Oh well,  The satisfaction I had in finishing this little quilt was at least as great as if they were some long lost blocks of mine.  It is a humble little quilt made for charity and I am happy to have rescued those blocks from oblivion!

So I'm sayin' another UFO done!

Cheers, CW

Another Road Trip another Blue Work Block

We had to drive to LA for the weekend so out came the Blue Work.  I think that makes 16 Blocks! I traced this one from an Art Deco coloring book published by Dover Books. click here so see more examples of blue work. cheers, CW

About as different as two quilts can get.

I finished two tops the other day.  One I had been working on all week. The other just needed borders.  But it occurred to me that they were about as different as two quilts could be in design.  One really scrappy made of flannels and the other a foray into the Modern world.  I like all kinds of quilts and I try to make all kinds of quilts, but usually not all on the same day. lol

60" x 78"

I call these kind of quilts Big Chunk quilts 'cause I go through one of my scrap bags (in this case dark flannels) and I pick out a lot of big patches Some are 6" x 10" or more.  I just put them up on my design wall and try to make them fit together like a giant puzzle. 

54"x 68"

This quilt top was inspired by two free 4"charm packets I got from Andover at the Portland FabricMart.

The colored patches were slightly textured and the pallet seemed just perfect for a Modern quilt?!

The flannel quilt (I guess) qualifies as a UFO 'cause some of the scrappy units in it were leftovers from my previous scrappy flannels see here.  But the Modern top is a start and finish in a short space of time.  They were both fun and easy to make just very different.

cheers, Claire W.

Almost a Quilt?

Do double sided receiving blankets that are quilted count as quilts?!  It's kind of like a summer quilt for a baby, right?  Well whatever you like to call it I made one for my first grand child expected in Dec.  I've been hoarding some really cute flannels and thought it was a good time to break them out.

back 

Especially this one with I Love Lucy.  Remember the episode where Ethel and Lucy get the job working in the chocolate factory?

 I've got a couple of other quilts going for the baby but I wanted to get this one in the mail because my son (the soon to be New father) is having a birthday at the end of the week And I wanted to send him a quilt for his baby with one I have made for him.

This is a summer quilt too.  I started this quilt for my son when he went off to Africa in the Peace Corps.   I told my son I was sending him a quilt he said don't send it 'cause he did not want to worry about taking care of it and getting it back home.  

So I put the quilt away and kinda forgot about it until the other day when I was trying to decide what to send him for his B-day.  I dug it out and finished it.

  It's nothing fancy but I liked the idea of making a Trip Around The World quilt for my kid who had, in fact, taken a trip around the world!  All the shirting plaids and chambray came from shirts that had belonged to his paternal Grandfather and the sun and moon fabric was some left-overs from Sam's bedroom curtains.  Fabric which he picked out when he was about 10.

I hope the kids enjoy their respective 'blankeys'.

Oh, and another UFO done!

cheers, Claire W.

Vntage Tops

While at the Sisters show last summer I made a few vintage purchases. Kathie's blog on her 16 patch reminded me of this top.

It's a little younger and the layout of the blocks is different but it has the same 'graphic' feel to it that Kathie's quilt has.  

You can see the progression of the piecing in the yellow block.  It was probably constructed like a 16 patch but then the blocks were further combined to make the 8 x 8 patch blocks. The tag said 1920's.  I think that's about right, the indigo's and reds might be earlier but the solid yellow and orange I think are from a little after 1900.

The blocks are all hand pieced and the top has kind of a soft bouncy feel to it.  I love the crazy layout and vibrant colors.  I think this will be my next hand quilting project.  Here are some of the other tops I picked up that day...

 I love this churn dash, great indigo, pink and brown prints.  blocks were hand pieced and machine sewn together.

Somehow the Reds never photograph as vividly as they really are.  It's an interesting block layout.  Essentially a 9 patch of subunits of hst's but if you try to read the pattern from left to right it's hard to figure 'cause that end starts with only 2/3rds of the block.  Start by looking at the lower right corner and the pattern is clear.  It's the intersection of 4 main blocks that makes the large red hexagons which creates the secondary pattern!

Look at this charmer!  I wish I was better at applique I would make a reproduction of this for my first  grandchild.

I think this quilt was definitely a kit.  The vendor had another finished quilt with all the same blocks only a different color way.

My friends and I at Randy's quilt retreat had quite the debate about which quilt to finish. Altho' some of my Wisconsin friends were lobbying heavily for the red quilt I think I will stick to the checker board top.  Which would you pick?!

Have a great week!

cheers, Claire W.