Charming Girls' and Guys' Quilt Club

It's time to post what I would like to get finished in March for the Charming Girls' and Guy's Quilt Club.  There are a lot of things I would love to get finished, but March is a busy month for me. 

Did you know that March is National Quilting Month and that March 20 is National Quilting Day?  So, what are you going to do to celebrate the whole month? 

I'll tell you what I would like to do.  First of all, I would love to unpack my sewing machine from when I went away a few weekends ago and finish my Bull's Eye quilt.  I decided, afterall, it would look beautiful hanging in my Quilt Guild's Quilt Show in June.  I am remaking some of the super, duper wonky blocks and make them look a little prettier.  This will be the perfect quilt for finishing up especially since I started it in 2000. 

Next, I will be helping my best friend, Terry, and another dear friend, Rita,teach beginner classes every Saturday in March at one of the museums here in town.  I am so excited!  There are about 10 people that signed up to learn everything there is to know about quilting.  There are no better people than these two to get beginner quilters started in the right direction.  I'm excited about helping them! 

Thursday (today) is my Quilt Guild business meeting, which is always fun.  Last month we had over 20 show and tells!  Most of it was from a challenge that I issued to the guild to finish up some projects.  They have been working like crazy getting things finished for our big prize drawing in May, which may be extended because everyone is having so much fun.  The prizes are worth it, though.  First place gets a free machine quilting from Terry.  Second place gets a handmade basket from Rita.  Third place gets a wooden quilt holder from me (which I will be buying from a wood crafter that makes quilt related wood projects).  The best prize of all, though, is finishing projects and seeing them hang in our Quilt Show. 

The third Thursday, Terry is teaching a "Start to Finish" class where she talks about all things quilting from tools to her "Theory of Color Relativity" which is so awesome.  The class uses her stash that she brings along to choose fabrics for a quilt while learning more about value than color.  Sometimes we travel to other guilds, and I help hold quilts and fabrics while she teaches her "theory". 

This isn't a picture of us at one of her theory classes, but this picture makes me laugh everytime I see it.  Terry taught this heart quilt at a retreat that I went to.  We didn't shop together to get our fabrics.  I didn't even borrow any of hers.  What makes me laugh so hard about this picture is that it looks like we just delivered this baby from it's mama behind us.  I've got a big grin with, what looks like a stethoscope (but is my sizziors) hanging around my neck.  Terry looks as though it was a hard delivery!  (It probably was.  This quilt is a booger to make and teach).

This one is better. 

I probably wouldn't be a quilter if it weren't for Terry.  Let me put in another way...

I would be a quilter, but my color choices in quilts wouldn't look pretty and my piecing might not look so great. She's a fun friend to have, and even more fun that she's a quilter. 

So,what are you planning to do for National Quilting Month?

Amanda

One Project A Month

When Peg and Kris challenged their blog readers to completely finish one project a month, I thought to myself, "I'm sure I could do that!"

It's a low key challenge, but in order for something to "count" it has to be completely finished.  This means that if it is a quilt, it has to be quilted and bound.  If it is a bag, or some other "soft project", it, too, has to be completely finished. 

So, you've seen these before, but for the month of February I finished the valentine quilt "Text Messages"

and the diaper bag I made for my friend.

It's a good feeling to get something fully completed.

Have a great day!

Amanda

Edit:  One of my projects that I said that I would love to complete in the Charming Girls' and Guys' Quilt Club was the diaper bag.  I think this is the first time I got something completed since I joined!  I always have such good intentions. 

Sew and Tell Friday

I didn't mean for it to almost be 2 weeks before I posted anything on my blog! 

There's been a lot of this:  One snow storm after the other.

A lot of this:  teenagers out of school hanging out at my house (which I love).

There's been a little bit of

sewing.  I  got the diaper bag finished.

(This is my Sew and Tell Friday Finish.  Be sure to check out Amy's blog to see what everyone else finished this week.)

and a little bit of sleeping late (really late) which is unusual for me. 

There's been a whole lot of this:  doing the Quilter's Winter Olympic Challenge with Pat Sloan. 

It's harder than I thought to watch the Olympics while sewing! My finger came close to getting sewed in the seams of the diaper bag.  (I've done that before.  It's not fun!)

 After I finished the diaper bag I started

fusing the applique to a quilt that I started 5 years ago. 

This is as far as I got.  I still have the top, bottom, and side borders to fuse together, but this will keep me busy (along with several other projects) when I take it with me to

 the lakehouse with me this weekend to celebrate Terry's birthday.   Her entire family of girls/women (from 1-65) and me (there's 19 of us) are going to sew all weekend.  Terry and I will be teaching them how to make Turning Twenty quilts. 

We'll sew, eat (they requested I bring my Italian Cream Cake.  The link to the recipe is on my sidebar.), and most likely get snowed in.  Yes, another snow storm is on it's way.

And, speaking of snow storms, I finally figured out who's fault it is that we're having all of this unusual snow.  It's Sharon, little miss red geranium cottage herself.  She moved to St. Louis (4 hours from me) from California.  All she has talked about since she moved there is how much she wants to see snow.  Well she got it, and she's enjoying every bit of it!     

I'll be back next week! 

Have a great weekend!

Amanda

Charming Girls' Quilt Club

It's time again to announce what I would like to finish this month for the Charming Girls' Quilt Club.

I forgot about it last month, but that's probably because I had just gotten back from our trip to Louisiana to see our families at Christmas. 

I am invited to a baby shower this coming Saturday.  The mother-to-be, Fallon,  used to take care of my grand-babies when they stayed in a day care center while my daughter was at work.  She loved the diaper bags that I made, so I decided to make her a diaper bag for her new baby girl.

Amy Butler's pattern, Nappy Bag, is roomy, has lots of pockets, and it's easy to make.  Fallon likes black and pink, so I thought these fabrics were perfect.

The black and pink swirl will be the outside of the bag, and the pink polka dot will be the inside.

My next project I need to finish this month is another "Butterfly Love" designed by Elizabeth Scott of

Late Bloomer Quilts.

I taught this as a class for my Quilt Guild this past June.  I posted about it here.

I have the opportunity to teach at a retreat in the Fall.  I have to turn in a teacher application the first of March.  Although I have already made the quilt, I want to make one again using different fabrics.  I love Sandy Klop's (aka American Jane)  fabric line "Snippet's" from Moda.  I bought a fat quarter pack when I went to Hancocks of Paducah when I went to the AQS Quilt Show this past April.  It has been sitting on my shelf just waiting for the perfect project. 

The little florals, stripes, and polka dots will make pretty little butterflies. 

I want my quilt to be larger, and maybe do 10" butterfly blocks.  I figured it up that I would have to make 45 butterfly blocks.  That's a lot of butterflies! 

Another project I would like to finish because it's strewn all over my sewing table after the Camping Trip with Pat Sloan is my Bull's Eye quilt that I started in the year 2000.  If you scroll down to the next post, you can read about it there. 

I think these projects will keep me very busy this month. 

To see what the other girls in the "Charming Girls' Quilt Club" are working on this month click here.

Happy Quilting!

Amanda 

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday, everyone!  

I hope you all had a nice weekend.  I spent most of it on my virtual camping trip with Pat Sloan, sewing, and watching the Saint's win the Super Bowl with my family. Way to "geaux" Saints!!!

It was the perfect weekend for our virtual camping trip.  It was snowy at my house, but not as snowy as it was at Pat's house.  She got 25" of snow!  Looking at her photos brought back memories of when we lived in PA. Snowstorms weren't something that we experienced living in Louisiana, so you can imagine how shocked we were to see our first real snowstorm which brought 36".  I think the most snow we ever saw, though, was when it snowed 48"!  That's a lot of shoveling!

Pat designed this really cool block  that is perfect for busting your stash.  You can find the block here.Yesterday, she had a little contest and asked us to name her block.  One of the campers named it "Tent Flaps".  My idea was to name it "Possiblity" since there are so many different ways to lay out the blocks.  "Tent Flaps" was the winner, which is perfect for the theme.  You can see everyone's blocks here and their idea for laying out their blocks.  I love them all, but my favorite is the Zig-Zag.  I would have never thought of that idea.  .

My blocks are the two circles that you see in the photos.  I decided that this would be the perfect time to wipe the dust off pull down one of my UFO boxes that held the parts to a scrap quilt, "Bull's Eye", that I started in the year 2000.   One of the women in my Quilt Guild taught it as a workshop.  Evidently I was talking (imagine that!) and not paying much attention to the placement of each of my circles.

 

  Obviously I did the "slap down and sew method", which looks okay here, but

 

not so much here! 

This one is a little better, but not that much better!  

Are you laughing?   So am I.  

I think this quilt will drive my kids crazy because it isn't perfect.  

I'm not about to undo all of those blocks or toss them in the trash and start over.  My fabrics bring back lots of memories of where I was when I bought the fabric.  The black with the pink little flowers is the fabric from the last dress my mother made me before she passed away in the late 80's. 

Since it's rough edge applique (where you sew 1/4" around the edges of the circles instead of satin stitching or blind hem stitching to finish the edges), I'm sure, once the quilt is put together and thrown in the wash, all of those little unfinished edges will ravel and they won't even notice that everything doesn't match.  

They'll notice.

Looking at these blocks has made me realize how far I have come since I first began to quilt. I have learned about value of fabrics, variety (of my background fabrics), and, hopefully, I'm a little more accurate in my piecing.    

The quilt  may  not hang in my Quilt Guild's quilt show this coming June, but I'm sure it will be perfect for snuggling on the couch, covering the grandbabies when they fall asleep on the floor, or, who knows, maybe it will go on a camping trip!  

Thanks, Pat, for a fun weekend!  I'm looking forward to another one!

Have a great Monday!

Amanda