Lazy Gal Winter Class

Rose Marie-Winter is Done

2008-05-01T18:31:00.005+02:00

Hello ...... well, gosh darn it ....... Winters of My Life is finally finished. Hop on over to my blog for an explanation of the blocks. I have to warn you, it is a lengthy post (3 separate parts).

Part 1: http://appliqueandpatches.blogspot.com/2008/05/winter-is-not-over-part-1.html
Part 2: http://appliqueandpatches.blogspot.com/2008/05/winter-is-not-over-part-2.html
Part 3: http://appliqueandpatches.blogspot.com/2008/05/winter-is-not-over.html

Once again, many thanks to Tonya for issuing this challenge and for inspiring me to finally make a word quilt. A challenge it was at first; but once I started doing the freeform work, it became fun to make and I love my quilt! :o)

This quilt is being folded up and stored until next winter ..... but what a beauty I have waiting to be displayed.

Have a great day!

Kristin- Finally something to show!

2008-03-13T08:01:00.002+01:00

Now it needs a border. A friend suggested it be a simple border rather than pieced so as not to distract from the center. What color? Any thoughts?

Heidi - finished finally

2008-02-29T15:41:00.006+01:00

I'm happy, it's finished :-) Thanks for all the help and the encouragement, the 'yes'es and other ideas. I won't bore you with another full photo of the quilt, just the faces of the elks, as they have eyes and noses now .

Can't wait the next Christmas time to arrive ( ok, that'n not quite true, I'm looking forward to summer )....

So, where can I sign up for the Lazy Gal Summer Class ?????

The kiwi won't be landing for a while yet . . .

2008-02-26T10:26:00.002+01:00

. . . on Helen's Christmas quilt. I have just been catching up with what everyone has been doing and I'd love to show you progress on my effort, but there hasn't been any! No excuses, but since I started teaching rookie classes at a local fabric shop I don't seem to have any spare time left, not that I had a lot before :-) Or maybe it is just that we are having the hottest summer for at least 10 years and it is too hot to do anything. Perhaps when winter arrives I might get started back on it. Is Christmas 2008 too tight a deadline to aim for? Well done everyone who made more progress than me. The variety is just stunning. I love them all.

Just snowballing along ....

2008-02-22T18:46:00.003+01:00

Well ..... here I am a couple of weeks later and my quilt is not finished; but I do have something to show you.

I have to admit ..... I really do like the free form fans using just a marker and no stencil. The fans were drawn randomly and some had to be touched up a bit. Sure makes life a lot easier and the effect for this frozen lake gives the illusion of snow drifts and ridges.

My quilt has the combination of hand quilting and machine quilting. I'm in love with stipple machine quilting and it is being used throughout.

Haven't decided on a name yet for my quilt. Tonya wondered if it might be 'squeaky snow'. :o) Heard a lot of that lately and each time the noise made me smile. I'm open to suggestions for a name; but you might want to wait until you see the rest of the quilt.

Have a great weekend!

Heidi - help appreciated, again :-))

2008-02-13T19:37:00.003+01:00

The motivation post worked !!! Which is the reason I could use a bit help again.
I want to quilt 'yes' in many different languages into the hearts of my quilt.
So far I have with the help of R.C.T.Q : German, English ( including some slang expressions ), French, Spanish, Italian, Scottish, Polish, Russian, Lazura ( don't even know where it's spoken ), Hawaian, Zulu and Xhara.

Maybe you know yes in any other languages ???
Thanks in advance
Heidi
P.S. Only 2 empty hearts left :-)))

How is Everyone Doing?

2008-02-10T09:30:00.000+01:00

Heidi says she needs motivation to finish up. How are the rest of you doing? (I feel like a bit of a hypocrite since I have no intention of actually finishing my top until next winter, but i'm going to give some of you a nudge anyway.) Let's see where everyone is.

Brenda, who now has her own blog Scraps and Strings, finished her wintry quilt.

Kimberly at Loco Quilter finished Let it Snow!

Lisa at The Quiltery finished Joy to the World.

JMBMommy is Imagining Snow

Lynda finished her Goodwill house quilt.

Carol E. finished her little drummer boy inspired quilt.

Jude's peaceful quilt is finished.

Heidi's just about done with her Marry Christmas - keep at it!

Quilting Fitzy is doing such an unusual fun project. She's got a series of mini-finishes done for her signpost project.

Gillian has got to be just about done. Her quilting was in progress last we saw her stockings.

Rose Marie is quilting on her quilt too. I can't remember what she named it, I just keep thinking Squeaky Snow. hee hee hee.

Katie at Tao of Katie got her Santa Spock top done.

Sandy got her Let it Snow top done (unless she decided to add another border)

Heather has been travelling so understandably didn't get her blocks finished into a top (at least not that we know of).

Tracey did some fun liberated churn dashes and had a great snow man fabric to go with it. Any progress there?

Helen finished some letters. I'm still looking forward to seeing the kiwi wearing christmas stockings.

I know Kristin has gotten distracted with some fun liberated projects (which I always encourage) but I hope she comes back to work on her Better Not Pout project.

Jenclair made a great start with letters and trees...

Erika made a manger. Here's a nudge to come back to blogging and maybe to this project.

Laura has just been having way too much fun. hmm, don't think this quilt got off the drawing board....

McIrish Annie decided to finish up a ufo with the letters.

As did Sara Ho, who has just gotten way too distracted making whacky baskets. (Who wouldn't be?) Someday Sara will follow her star.

Diane unfortunately had some health issues, so was unable to keep working on her incredibly fun Bah Humbug quilt. Maybe sometime soon though.

Kim and Soren, it's not too late to get started if you still want to play.

So we've actually had seven finishes - woohoo and congrats once again. And several more almost theres. That's great.

I apologize if I haven't given you proper credit for your progress. just let me know! And post some pictures, let's see how your quilts look.

Officially there's still several weeks left of winter, even though I am seeing snowdrops and daffodils appearing in blog posts. Keep working on those projects. Good luck.

This winter class inspired me to start my own blog

2008-02-10T05:32:00.000+01:00

Hello: After months of being a blog voyeur, I've finally started my own called Scraps and Strings. I've posted more about this quilt there, and I'd welcome your visits to my new home in the blogosphere. I'm hoping to share more of my attempts at liberated quiltmaking over there. Thanks for the visual feasts on your blogs, and for your kind comments on my winter class project.

Heidi - need motivation

2008-02-09T18:28:00.000+01:00

Yes, please Quiltingfitzy and all the others, post photos of your progress. I lost a bit of my motivation and there are only 5 hearts left to be filled. Here's a photo of the first finished.

Cat Napping

2008-02-07T23:04:00.001+01:00

No ….. not a photo of a cat napping. :o) A cute quilt for a gorgeous baby.

Have a great day!

Pattern Source: Quiltmaker magazine, May/June 2002, No. 85

Edit note: Oops ..... sorry folks, my husband has been posting for me while I'm away and I forgot to tell him about this site. This quilt is not free form, but a few folks have commented and it's winter time and I'll just leave it (unless Tonya, you would prefer to have it removed).

I have been busy working on my Winter quilt and I should have something to show in a few weeks. Until then ...... keep on quilting!

Let it Snow

2008-01-30T14:36:00.000+01:00

Hello-I finally got back to my winter project and got it finished. Although looking at it now, I think maybe the snowmen should have some stick arms embroidered in. I added some sequins for ornaments on the tree and for the eyes. I kind of liked adding the embellishments-although I have done some embroidered things I have never added buttons or quilted with big stitches and pearl (perle?) cotton. It was fun! One thing I wish was different is at the top where the letters end, I ran out of the background fabric , so they are "attached" to the border. Oh well.
I still have Santa to finish but I probably won't get back to him for a while, mainly because I'm not sure what to add to him, but I have a couple of other projects to finish up. I would like to put Santa up next holiday season, so I plan to get back to him and finish him up eventually. This has been fun-thank you Tonya for doing this class! It was a fun project!

Whacky baskets

2008-01-21T20:19:00.000+01:00

I have gotten distracted from the Winter Quilt by Whacky Baskets.

I put a little explanation on my Blog, tho' I can't imagine anyone in this group needs an explanation once there is a photo!

Sara

http://saras-scraps.blogspot.com

Tonya made me feel guilty...

2008-01-19T22:47:00.000+01:00

So I finished the flimsy. :) I sent Scott out to a model show (with really little stuff, not hot girls) so I could work on it today. He's got the camera, so these were taken with my phone. Sorry for the quality.

The border is a dark blue print with gold dots, like stars. Like space... the final frontier...

Here's the face. I'll be putting buttons on for the eyeballs.

Aside: Scott said he didn't get the humour. I said, "Other than vulcan logic precluding believing in the existance of Santa Claus, or trying to imagine Mr. Spock being anything close to jolly?" He still doesn't get it.

It's finished

2008-01-18T01:05:00.000+01:00

I took the advice that lots of you kindly gave me and didn't put any borders on the quilt. This decision was made easier by finding a striped fabric that I fell in love with so I used to make a wide binding. Hopefully you can see the quilting if you click on the photo and expand it, though it's just a simple stipple.

I have a huge sense of accomplishment about finishing this quilt. It feels so good to look at it and think *I designed that, I made it and I quilted it*. Sure there are things I would change but I am proud that it is all my one work. I can't thank Tonya enough for giving me the opportunity to challenge myself in this way. And also everyone who has left comments - thank you for the encouragement.

The big question is.... what next?

It seems my quilt was a weather forecast!

2008-01-16T14:46:00.000+01:00

Hello out there from Winnipeg, a place where the snow is actually as described above, and we're in the deep freeze temperature-wise. My winter quilt is completed and up on the wall and I'm just a bit sorry it's all done. I had lots of fun working on it, and I really liked quilting those freehand fans. I'm going to quilt them into my next project too. Thanks Tonya for hosting the class and being so gracious with your comments. I'm having fun with making letters, and I think I'm developing a style or a font. And for the rest of you, there's lots of winter left in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, so if your project is still in progress, you've got at least three months more by my calendar.

I'm off to a quilting retreat at the end of the month, and I'm taking this quilt for show and tell and I'm going to direct everyone over to this blog so they can see how great you're all doing.
FYI: this quilt is about 37 inches wide by 28 or so and fits nicely on the wall above my fireplace./Brenda

Heidi - finished with fans

2008-01-08T16:06:00.000+01:00

The fans are done, the binding is done, what's left is to fill the hearts, give eyes and noses to the elks and sew the hanging sleeve on ( and then put it away till next Christmas :-)) )

As you can see in the first photo, one heart is filled already, I'm still pondering about how to fill the others. Maybe with question-marks or with 'Yes' and 'No' and 'Maybe' or 'love' and 'joy' and 'bliss ' ??

Toot-toot! I am done!

2008-01-08T06:05:00.000+01:00

Fun, fun project! I did finish this before Christmas so that I could share it at my December guild meeting (Which was SO fun, standing in front of a crowd with it upside down and everyone thinking "Mons?? What does that mean?) I am enamored with small quilts right now, I think that it is the finishing thing. It is very intoxicating to get something done and off of the UFO list. I will continue to make quilts this way, it is so funny that trying this class took away a lot of my fear of failure. It also inspired me to make many of my presents this season and kindled a desire to just craft more. I would do another class like this in a heartbeat, and I am so grateful to Tonya for putting this together and to everyone else for their inspiration and ideas. THANKS!!!--now to finish that quilt-swap quilt that I also signed up for....

Back to the drawing board, sort of -Annie

2008-01-08T02:29:00.001+01:00

I have all my weird sized blocks from "back in the day" all bordered and recut. I cut them on an angle and like how they look. These are just a few of them. I want to make this lap size so I may need to make more blocks. I'm thinking snowball blocks and maybe some wonky trees and snowflakes.

My letters are the back to the drawing board phase. I've changed my mind on the color of the background for the letters. Good thing I only had two made! Ha, Ha! I have also decided to do all the letters in Capitals partly, well because I am lazy. SO here are two J's. I've written down all the words I am going to do and I am doing all of the letters at one time. The Js are done! Woo Hoo!!

I've got three or four irons in the fire so progress may be slow but I am determined to finish this.

Tonya, if you decide to shut down the blog before I finish I won't be offended!

I have set aside time every day to do a few letters so when I have a whole word done, as Arnold says I'LL BE BACK!~

Fitzy - "Are We There Yet?"

2008-01-07T12:33:00.000+01:00

I embroidered, layered, quilted and bound the "Christmas" sign yesterday. That's alot for me to get done in one day! I also cooked 2 meals (which is totally uncharacteristic) so I declare it a GREAT day.

The next sign is to be representative of the state of California. I'll be darned if I can find any city in California that represents Christmas!! The closest is "Angels Camp" and that just doesn't work for dh & I. I may resort to making a city name up, hope the quilt police don't come looking! Let me know if you have any secrets in your pocket, any cities YOU can think of that I may have overlooked in CA? Or how about suggestions for a city name to be "created"?

My background will be dark blue, all pieced together willy-nillie, and the snow at the bottom of the pole will be done the same way. I have in mind a green and white barber pole for the signs to hang on, and a golden ball at the top. I haven't decided if the pole will be pieced, will depend on what I can find for fabric (I'd really rather NOT piece it, lol.) I have some nice folk wooden buttons for the "nails" to hold the signs onto the post.

It's all playing nicely in my mind, just got keep going, stitch-by-stitch!

It's a flimsy

2008-01-07T02:42:00.000+01:00

It's been while since I posted progress on my *Joy* quilt. I originally made my words in December but the colours didn't work. I had to order more fabric and then the silly season got in the way. It's only now that I've sat down and worked on it again.

I could use some advice... does it need a border on the top or right to finish it off? Maybe something narrow? Maybe this is just the *traditional* coming out in me - VBG.

I've had so much fun putting this together. Thanks Tonya for the class!!!

Rose Marie-starting to quilt

2008-01-05T16:24:00.001+01:00

I'm anxious to get this quilt done and up on my entry wall so that we can enjoy it while winter is still here! :o) This section was first started with hand quilting, but was not happy with the look. Ripped it out and started doing machine stipple quilting and am much happier with it. So, all the words will have the stipple effect all around them.
The snowflake blocks (or as I see them, as figure skaters spinning) are being handquilted with beading in the centers.

It's a start ..... but at least it's being worked on! :o)

Have a great weekend!

Finished at last!

2008-01-03T11:52:00.000+01:00

Hooray! My quilt has been hanging on the wall over Christmas and is now full of signatures. (There are so many of them because we have an Open House on Christmas Eve and lots of friends and neighbours come round.) Thank you Tonya for encouraging me to make this quilt, which will be a special reminder of 2007.

Today's post brought to you by the letter O - Annie

2008-01-02T00:19:00.000+01:00

Well, I didn't get as far as I would have liked but I did get a couple of o's done for the word Okemo. Here are my o's!

This next picture is what I am working on.

I am going to add four resorts around the center and then the additional ones will be pieced in with the blocks or maybe as part of the border. The blocks you see I made back in 198??? as my first try at quilting. They should measure 6" but some are smaller and some are definitely larger soo I am going to add strips all around and then cut them on an angle so they will look like snowflakes. I have 15 white and 15 blue. I'd like to make this lap size for my son to have at his place which is wherever the snow flies!

My goal is to get two ski resort words done this week. Okemo will be one and maybe Burke since that's a short one! LOL

Heidi - Happy New Year

2008-01-01T11:35:00.000+01:00

wishing you a Happy New Year from Germany....

finally coming up for air! Annie

2007-12-31T01:30:00.000+01:00

Well I had all good intentions of starting my quilt with all of you but other quilt commitments and a thing called WORK, has kept me from getting any further than my pathetic drawing way back in the beginning of December. I have been on vacation this week and spent some time cleaning up my sewing room. Lo and behold, a project that I started for my son several years ago surfaced. I think it is perfect for Tonya's free piecing. My son is a snowboarder and I had him give me a list of all the places he has gone to snowboard. I am going to start making them into signposts,( I know I "stole" this idea from one of you gals!!) and adding them to the quilt. My plan is to have one of the signs done to show on New Year's Day!! Stay tuned! I'm still here and ready to free piece!!

Progress on Joyeux Noel

2007-12-30T17:02:00.000+01:00

Hey all, I got my sewing machine out and worked on my Joyeux Noel quilt. Still not completely sure what to do next, but this is what it looks like right now. The two rows of words are all sewn together, as is the bottom row of trees. I was planning on doing a wee little quilt - I think I overachieved.

I've been really pleased to see the Winter Class quilts that are already finished. How is everybody else doing? Probably just waiting for the new year and everything to settle down again - I hear ya. Hope to see some more posts soon with all your sewing and quilting progress. And Happy New Year!

Sara's second word

2007-12-24T01:29:00.000+01:00

OK. My second day and second word. I decided to make it a little smaller as a not so important word. And then it turned out awfully "regular". But it is pinned up , just to see how they both look on more blue background. This technique is an interesting combination of fun and tedium.

If time allows tomorrow I will work on "STAR". I have gotten the idea to try to make the "A" look a little starry. Hmmm. This requires more thought than I have in my cupboard right now. Hope to get the three words done since we are going away for ten days.

Guess I'll go work on packing my suitcase and maybe inspiration will strike by tomorrow morning. Since no one is coming here, my time will be my own, as long as the suitcase is ready for an 8 AM departure on Christmas Day.

Sara

Sara's first word

2007-12-23T04:39:00.000+01:00

Working Toward "Follow the Star".

So I started with the "O" because I thought that would be easy. Only after two of those did I realize that the lowercase "L" was the simplest possible! Having only achieved the word "ollo", I could tell I should proceed to "F" But "W" was more work. I did it Tonya's way, wrongly. Then I did it her way correctly. And then I did it the way I thought it should look. Many tries.

Now it is pinned up on the top, which has hung over the head of our bed for more than a year. My husband is in there getting ready for bed, and hasn't noticed it. It is right over HIS pillow!

Not a very visual guy.

Maybe I'll get "the" done tomorrow.

Sara

2007-12-21T20:56:00.000+01:00

this is the hanging that I'm trying to replace... I made it in 1998... I can remember I was still stitching the little gold hearts on the day after Christmas...

this is a window in my kitchen... I'm sort of tired of seeing the same thing!!

so I'm working on replacing it... as 'indigo' features a lot in my work at present... I'm using a blue/green colour theme... and Jude was kind enough to send me a tree she made... so I'm planning to include that too...

however... I have a feeling that it maybe Dec 2008 before this 'work of art' is displayed... I'll post photos soon...

...best wishes and happy holidays everyone...

Long Time, No Blog

2007-12-21T17:08:00.000+01:00

Well ladies, it truly has turned out to be a "Bah, Humbug" season for me. I went into the hospital on December 3 with a severe reaction to a medication I've been on for years. After 7 days in hospital came 4 weeks in a rehab facility. So much for Christmas. Everyone' s quilts are so lovely. Seeing them has really cheered me up. Diane

Sara Ho joining in

2007-12-18T17:57:00.000+01:00

Just saw the link to this class from Tonya's Blog. Looks like a lot of fun, and I've been needing a push to get me more FREE in my piecing. I made an attempt with some of the stars in this top, which isn't finished to my eyes. Now I am thinking what it needs is the word "Follow the Star".

Would that be OK with the judges? I haven't done letters before, so it seems like a challenge to me.

About me? I am working on using up my stash making charity quilts, lots from Bonnie's patterns on Quiltville. They mostly go to Lakotah people on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. I am retired and live in Grand Rapids, Michigan on 4 acres and a little lake with my husband who is an Episcopal priest, not retired, and our dog, Zeke. We have two grown kids and three grands in St. Louis, MO.

Sara

Gillian - not so crazy stockings

2007-12-14T21:54:00.001+01:00

I decided to do lots of close quilting to 'smooth' out the jagged effect of the crazy piecing. And I am really pleased with the way it is turning out.

The variegated green perle thread gives lovely celestial associations for me. A swirling cosmos. Or a swirling snowstorm. I can look at it now and simply not see the pieced angles in the green ground. How clever we are to see only what we want to see. A kind of optical illusion.

Perhaps crazy patchwork lovers would see the pieced background and not the swirling stitches. We see the world as we want to see it, in so many ways.

Heidi - Quilting

2007-12-14T09:29:00.000+01:00

Managed to pin-baste the top and started quilting crooked fans :-)) But I like it. It's amazing, that all I needed for this quilt sits here in my home. So I found this thick red thread, which I got as a present and haven't had a clue what to use it for, and this thread is perfect for this quilt.
I'll quilt the fans all over except for the elks ( as Tonya suggested ) and maybe for the extra quilted hearts, though I'm not sure anymore if I leave the heart. My plan was to quilt hearts in the lime background of the elks, but .... I'll sure let you know what I'll do :-))
Another amazing thing is the difference the fabric makes for quilting. The lime fabric is a very cheap but pretty fabric von IKEA, it's not as fine as the other cottons and it's a paint to quilt it.
I didn't notice that before.
Again, thanks Tonya for this class and a Merry Christmas to all of you

jude- final photo

2007-12-13T20:51:00.000+01:00

it is amazing how hard it is to get details into a whole quilt photo. and i am not good at it...i went for atmosphere instead. hope everyone is keeping warm. it is solid ice here right now.

jude- peace made

2007-12-11T16:13:00.000+01:00

i have added many details since this early morning photo. and i am at peace with this one. i will post a better full photo later. whew! some of the thought process is over on my blog. enjoyed every moment of this one. ThankYou Tonya, and thank you all for sharing. hope everyone has a great holiday!

Gillian - finished piecing

2007-12-09T10:57:00.000+01:00

I spent a couple of hours finishing the piecing on these simple stockings. I have to say that I'm not enjoying the process much at all, and I don't particularly like the crazy effect. Just not my thing. So, when I started to play with making the word JOY, I quickly decided to skip that bit, finish the piecing and be done with it. This is how it looks now.

Then this evening I sat down to hand quilt all over it in perle thread. Aahhh.. .. what a relief. I enjoy this part of it. I hope that the all-over close quilting will smooth out the discordance of the angles. I'll use red thread to sew strings for the stockings to hang from. And there may be more embellishment to add. This will be the fun bit.

This could take a while.

Please Come See a Quilt

2007-12-09T00:24:00.001+01:00

My friend, Karen, was secretly working on a quilt along with us, even though she wasn't an "official" part of the winter class. Please come to my blog, Giraffe Dreams, and see what she came up with!

Here it is!

from Carol E.

On the Wall

2007-12-08T02:49:00.001+01:00

My quilt is done! Hanging sleeve, label, everything! It's even hanging on the living room wall now! Thanks for the inspiration, Tonya. I never would have made this and finished it so quickly if it hadn't been for your class.

Carol E.

Quilting is Done!

2007-12-07T05:17:00.000+01:00

I quilted my Pa Rum Pa Pum Pum top and today I finished the binding! I did a machine free-motion version of clamshells, I guess you could call it. Lumps of some kind.. and it looks ok! My stitches are uneven as I have not done this particular free-motion style of quilting before and need more practice, but I'm happy with the end result anyway. Like someone else said, the "lumps" suggest snow piles.

I have re-glued the drumsticks and tomorrow will work on attaching the mittens. I'm so excited that I made this and finished it in a short time! Thanks for the fun and inspirational class, Tonya. I hope soon to share my photo of the completely done quilt.

jude making peace and a reindeer

2007-12-06T19:11:00.000+01:00

i am already quilting this and i have extended it to include one word. the reindeer wandered in yesterday. i will work on this all week and i hope to have it done next weekend.

Rose Marie-Top is done!

2007-12-06T16:08:00.000+01:00

Could have titled this post ..... Winter is done! But, who would we be kidding? Today, it's -6C with light snowflurries.

The top is finished and will have to be put aside for now so that some Xmas gifts can be finished. This piece measures 53" wide x 55" long.

So many thanks to all of you that left comments on my posts about my project. Your kind comments and encouragement kept my interest going so that I could finish this piece instead of just giving up and putting it aside for something else.

Thank you, Tonya, for the great tutorials and for offering this class. It has been a blast for me to do something without ... gasp .... templates and has opened up a new area of quilting for me! :o) I have been wanting to try something free form and this opportunity just jumped out at me to grab onto and do it!

For quilting this piece, I think both machine and hand quilting will be combined as there are a lot of layers to go through and stitch stabbing will just be tedious. Also, by combining the two, this piece will get finished faster and I do want to hang this quilt up this winter (heck, officially winter hasn't even arrived yet).

It has been fun to scroll through the various posts to see what everyone else has been doing. I think our class is so creative with such a vast variety of ideas coming along.

Have a great day and have fun quilting!

Fitzy - Don't Throw The Baby Out with the Bathwater!

2007-12-05T13:13:00.001+01:00

I'm a little slower than most in the sewing room...

I'm a little less-confident than many of my blog-sewing friends...

But I come skidding into the room with a Part 1 finish in Tonya's Winter Class!

I will make 3 or 4 of these "signs" and "mount" them on a green (maybe candy-striped) pole. I plan to piece the background free-style. I have two other signs to the flimsy-stage but it's slow-going considering the schedule I'm keeping of late.

Stay tuned, and don't give-up on me. I don't post too often, but I sure "think" about it!!

All layered up!

2007-12-05T11:25:00.000+01:00

I have finally managed to layer the quilt up, and am now busy quilting it. I was inspired by Tonya's wonderful and whimsical hand quilting to do some of that (I usually do the bulk of it by machine) but as December rolls on, I am regretting this idea! I think I'll complete the bits I've started - you can't see it, but I'm quilting the sky in swirly cloud shapes - put the binding on, and then add more quilting as time goes on. I want to display it in my dining room for people to sign, so can't take too long over it.

I'm a Fan of this Project

2007-12-04T18:05:00.000+01:00

Thanks to everyone for your kind comments on my earlier posts. I'm making progress with quilting the free hand fans, although they are not terribly uniform in size or shape. I'm telling myself they resemble snowbanks. Here is the pinned quilt not quite half quilted.

I will concede one point to the quilt police -- if you trim or graduate seam allowances, its easier to quilt. I'm not a fan of stab stitching, so I'm not going to quilt over the letters. Next time I would be more careful with multiple layers.

That said, it's been a great project. I'm hoping another week at it will get it to the binding stage, and then up on the wall for the holidays.

Brenda from snowy Winnipeg

Carol's Top

2007-12-04T09:45:00.000+01:00

This is my top.. I plan to add a small star above the manger and the drumsticks after I get it quilted.

Carol E.

'tis the season to be silly

2007-12-03T21:45:00.001+01:00

It looks crowded, but the elements are more or less here. Still need to do the fiddly stuff and make Santa and the reindeer. Still need to arrange the layout. I'm stumped about where I'm going to take it from here so I'm going to leave it for a few days. I'm not really fussed because this is for my mom and I know that even if it looks like trash she will still think it's awesome. I ditched the HAPPY that I put on the blog earlier. Sometime later I'll make the CHRISTMAS to go with it and make a banner for my MIL.

I'm going home to be with my family for Christmas for the first time in 3 years and I'm pretty stoked. Fellow expats, you know what holidays can be like when you are abroad. My husband and I always have a great Christmas, but there's nothing like being in the same house with family. And it always seems a little extra weird because with all the time zones between us Christmas Day for my family is the day after for me. My mom and I have plans to shut ourselves away and sew, and I need to get last pieces cut for the many UFOs I have so I can take them with me and we can finish while together. I'm going to spend a few days cutting and thinking about this SILLY wallhanging.

Rose Marie-Winter again

2007-12-03T15:17:00.000+01:00

I’m getting closer to assembling my Winter quilt. Just a bit more on the bottom section and then the sides can be sewn together.

For the q ..... I made a bit bigger tail and am happy with the way it looks now.

When I first started this quilt, the colour choice became evident after going through all my winter fabrics. There was a lot of blues with snowflakes on them. I’m amazed how over the years, I seem to have accumulated a lot of this colour fabric and how perfect they are for this quilt. Snowflakes are the theme, and even the red fabric in the house has some printed on it.

The bottom section will be put together using up all the scraps from making the trees. Waste not! Putting these pieces together is like making a crumb or crazy quilt. Looking at the photo, it is interesting how they pick up shadows and dips and valleys in the landscape.

There are some blank areas which will have embroidery later.

Yes ..... I’m very happy with the way this quilt has evolved.
Have a good day!

Ta Daa!

2007-12-03T09:37:00.000+01:00

Hello it's me, Sandy, after 3 Christmas music CD's and many trips to the ironing board......

Here it is; top completed. I stuck with it and didn't put it aside too long. That's probably how I end up with so many UFO's to begin with. But, in the coming days I will get this sandwiched and quilted (machine quilted, that is). Thanks for the comments about changing my letters, especially the W. I like this much better than having them all slammed together. Adding the background fabric to the sides of each letter really helped a lot.

Am busy making gift breads today and tomorrow so will have to wait to finish it until midweek.

Finally, some progress! Tracey

2007-12-03T02:24:00.000+01:00

I finally got some sewing for this project completed this weekend. I had planned to use the snowman fabric in the center of my churn dashes, but the snowmen are about 4" across, and that would have made for 12" blocks, which would be just too big for this project. I cut out my blocks according to the guidelines in Collaborative Quilting, and wasn't thinking much when I did. Once I started sewing, I realized that these blocks are smaller than thought...just 5" finished, but thats fine, I'll figure out where they are going at a later point. Last night I made 18 blocks.

Now I'm trying to think about how this quilt is going to be put together. I think I'm going to make some snowflakes to go in here too, and I'll use the snowman fabric, and the words dashing thru the snow. When I was playing with my blocks, I tried a medallion setting, but I'm not crazy about it...too much blank and boring in the middle. I'm going to try rows next, but not until my machine gets serviced.

Any suggestions?

jude- changing scenery

2007-12-02T19:06:00.000+01:00

i am reworking this a bit to integrate the new trees. i want to get this all together so i can stitch it this week on the commuter train.

Gillian - solving some problems

2007-12-01T01:12:00.000+01:00

It's good to leave a piece of work on the floor of the spare room for some days. And it's good to have a picture of it here. Sometimes, over the days, a new perspective arrives.

Looking at my crazy xmas stocking piece, I could see that it would be easy to break up the long line that was appearing by slicing through the whole piece and making a new angle. So I did!

I have also made progress on some of those set-in angles. I found I could unpick an end of a seam, add the new piece, and re-sew the old seam incorporating the new piece.

Then I squared off two sides, so now I can see more clearly where it is going.

Feels like progress!

Thanks!

2007-11-30T20:58:00.000+01:00

Thank you all for your comments and support. I do feel better having shared my situation with you--now I can get on with this project. No one need know the machinations I go through to sew, but I did want you to understand my pokiness. I have always enjoyed the process more than the end result and I know that working on this quilt will keep me laughing through the holidays.

jude- free-er piecing

2007-11-30T17:41:00.000+01:00

i am really getting into this... square snowflakes?

Heidi - need opinion, please :-)

2007-11-30T13:47:00.000+01:00

Now that I have the second question if I misspelled the Marry Christmas, I'm not sure anymore if it's a good idea. Maybe I should go with the Merry Christmas ? I thought it would be a play of words, but if its not obvious, there's no fun in it ?
Thanks for your opinions :-))

jude- the trees have a home

2007-11-29T23:43:00.000+01:00

i finally just stuck it together. i want a picture effect. and i forgot the chimney so i'll add that later. probably i will make this longish because i want to use it for the front door.

It Bugs Me!

2007-11-29T23:05:00.000+01:00

It really bugs me that I'm finding these little
critters so challenging to make. Tonya's
tutorials are excellent and the rotary cutting and sewing are straightforward. But imagine trying to piece this simple block with one hand tied behind your back while your bottom is glued to a chair!

For the longest time, I've been playing a mental game with myself. You know the one--you can't start the quilt because you haven't found the perfect fabrics yet. You can't sit down at the machine because you don't have a big enough chunk of time. The irony is, I have tons of fabric and all the time in the world. I'm just afraid that if I actually try to sew, I'll find that I can't do it anymore. That's a tough issue to face. In some ways it is harder to accept than Multiple Sclerosis itself.

My goal in joining this class is to rekindle some of the joy that quilting has always brought me. I'll be working very slowly, but hopefully enjoying the process none-the-less. Sorry to dump my frustration here. Maybe my BAH! HUMBUG! theme makes more sense now.

Heidi - finished top

2007-11-29T15:24:00.001+01:00

-That was fun :-))
Don't know, when I be able to baste and quilt it, now I have to make some Christmas presents first .
Besides the fun, I'm happy, I could use up those Christmas fabric leftovers and found the matching fabrics in my stash.
Now there's only a small 7" square left of the cute angels fabric ( at the bottom ).
Any takers ?

slowly working

2007-11-29T13:41:00.000+01:00

Making small bits of progress. I pieced this word, but I don't like the colors of the word with the colors of the windsurfing boards or the background so I think I will set it aside for a different Christmas thingy and piece a different phrase for the windsurfing Santa and reindeer.

I am experimenting with using multiple fabrics for backgrounds and letters within the same word so I can use scraps. I can't decide whether it makes it confusing or if it gives it some quirk. When I free piece the letters I'm pretty good about not wasting fabric, but I cringe thinking about the amount of thread I'm using. I guess I need to come up with a leader and enders project or I need to chain piece, but I'm not practiced enough in my letter making that I can plan that far ahead in construction to chain.

Rose Marie-need opinion

2007-11-28T02:27:00.000+01:00

My letters are coming along .... slowly, but surely! Do you see the work 'squeaky snow' on the left? Does the q look like a q? My DH is teasing me about that and if you gals think it looks odd, I'll change it. This is my second go round fussing with the q. There will be a strip of white fabric sewn to the top and bottom of each word, so the bit below the tail on the q will not be there.

There is just one more tree and word to make and then my letters are done!

I bought a couple packages of snowflake buttons and will sew them on throughout the quilt later on. Some have just been pinned on for me to see the effect.

Tonya, hope you are safe in Paris these days! Stay safe!

Have a good evening!

Second guessing

2007-11-27T13:02:00.000+01:00

It's me, Sandy, I have been working at this for some time now. I had to redo the letter W twice and I'm still not sure if I like the result. What do you think? I read a comment about the one gal who had the different color house from the rest of the top. You mentioned that it doesn't go with the quilt and should be set aside for something else. Do you think that same way about mine? I have a completely different color for my doorways and windows in the houses. And one of my houses has a wrap - around window. Yeah, I forgot to add a side to it. My husband liked that one and said that's a great idea. I'm unsure of my layout as well.

Maybe I should just give it a rest for a while. Leave it on the floor or my design wall for a week or so and let it grow on me........ :o)

Suggestions?

2007-11-26T22:19:00.001+01:00

Hi-Every one's projects are looking great! I am having some trouble with mine. Although I did my letters, and some snowflakes and a couple of trees and a house, I am having trouble getting my components to go together. It might be that my house is too dark? I tried making a Santa today and I kinda like him, but maybe he needs to be in his own quilt. I am not sure if he "fits"? Anyway, I guess I am looking for any suggestions anyone may have in how to work this out, maybe I should add something (probably) or maybe just change the colors of my house, I was thinking green and red for Christmas colors, but maybe it just doesn't go with the background I picked. Or maybe my letters are just too big for my house. Well I guess I'll keep it up and keep looking at it and try to figure it out, and if anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them! Thanks-

Heidi - done with the letters

2007-11-26T14:20:00.000+01:00

Anybody need a skinny A, a fat s,a or T ? We could play scrabble with our left-overs !
I'm glad the letters are finished, the elks were much easier :-))
Now I'll continue sewing hearts.

Fitzy - NO pictures, I'm CRABBY

2007-11-26T12:40:00.000+01:00

Maybe the words I should be makin' are "BAH HUM BUG"?

I worked feverishly on my letters yesterday. I made every.single.mistake.in.the.book. I sewed 2 pieces to the wrong side of the block- 2 very long framing pieces. Unsewedx2. Resewedx2. I sewed the wrong letter to the wrong word. Unsewed. Resewed. Chopped off a very important part of a letter. Unsewed, replaced letter, resewed.

This is WHY I took this class. I know I'm anal-retentive. I know I am a direction-follower. I WAY prefer to be told what to do than have to make-up my own mind.

Really, I'm trying. This has been an exercise in patience and forgiveness. Seriously. I'm thankful I'm using forgiving modas that have a memory of presewn fabric togetherness! Otherwise this baby would look like swiss cheese!

Is anyone else having troubles? It can't be just me......or can it?

More Progress- Carol E.

2007-11-25T21:58:00.000+01:00

Here is more of what I'm working on. The letters go along the top and the right side.

The drum goes in the middle.

The previous blocks I showed you (trees and manger) go underneath. I'm going to make some snowflakes (I think) to go along the left side.

I was so excited to attach these knitting-needle-drumsticks that I already glued them down with a super-glue thing. (I also ironed on some fusible interfacing on the back and will do some kind of loop stitching around the sticks under the mittens. Mittens are not yet attached.) Afterwards I realized that it's going to be tough quilting around those sticks. What was I thinking??? It'll be a challenge I hadn't anticipated.

I love everyone's projects and ideas so far! Looking great! By the way, I futzed with this drum many times before I settled on how it looks now. At first I was going to have a snowman doing the drumming, but that looked utterly stupid. I experimented with different backgrounds, too. Finally settled on this and like it better with no snowman at all... just the drum and the mittens provide enough of the idea.

Gillian's Christmas Stockings

2007-11-25T11:14:00.000+01:00

Well, I have made a start. I thought I had a simple design. Just four Christmas stockings hanging cheerfuly.

Here's a sketch.

I will use left over reds and greens.

Well, I've been slicing and sewing. And I'm finding it much more fiddly than I expected. I think I will need to do a lot of planning if I am to avoid set-in seams.

Here's progress so far.

Now that I am this far, I'd like to continue. I can see some embroidery embellishing the surface, in due course. Gold tassels?

Gillian

Brenda's Top

2007-11-25T08:36:00.000+01:00

Hi: It's Brenda from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada with my completed quilt top inspired by the first verse of the carol Good King Wencelas.
I do have to mention that though we have a reputation for being incredibly cold here, we've still hovering around the freezing mark with very little snow so far. I used up scraps for this project, which is why there are several blues and darks. I found a piece of a Hoffman Painted Desert print that looks like northern lights to me, which we see in the Northern Hemisphere on clear nights, both winter and summer. I took Tonya's free-pieced philosophy to heart, so there are many seams because I added a bit more fabric to make it work out. ( I'm still slightly afraid of the quilt police --will they think I can't measure?). I've had fun making this, and if I had more weeks until Christmas, I might even try a few more carol-themed quilts. Maybe next year. So I'm about to sandwich it and want to start quilting, but I'm wondering what to do. How would Tonya's free form fans look on this? What should I be quilting with? thread or perle cotton? I'm slightly nervous about all the layers from the seam allowances too.

I've enjoyed following everyone's progress on this blog. It's a great treat to log on and see what you're all working on.

Mine, So Far - Carol E.

2007-11-25T04:03:00.001+01:00

Here is what I have done so far, plus a few letters that I haven't photographed yet. I wonder if I am going to wish I had varieties of backgrounds on the trees, like a bunch of you are doing? I guess that's where I tend to experiment the least, with funky backgrounds.

I made the manger block without planning how to do the baby or family or animals. I ended up just appliqueing that little manger on there. And I sewed a little heart above the manger. This really is going to be a kind of border on my finished product, so I didn't want these to get too huge.

Some progress

2007-11-25T02:14:00.000+01:00

Thank you all for you advice about the presents. I have been having a play with some and they are okay, though quite large. It's funny, I drew several ideas for how to piece the bows, tried them, made these ones, and it only now as I look at the picture that I realise there was a much easier way. I should have pieced the ties on the bows by making one square with the ribbons through it and cutting it into a half square triangle that I could add to corner of the background square. Lucky this is all about learning :o)

Raspberry and Lime & Need Help Please

2007-11-24T07:23:00.000+01:00

I am quite slow in introducing myself and just as slow in starting this fun project. I am Lisa from New Zealand, and I am going to make a "Joy to the World" quilt based on this very wonky sketch.

My colours wont be traditional Christmas colours. When I was a little girl and people asked me what my favourite colour was, I would say "Orange and Purple". These days I'm quite fond of the combination of "Raspberry and Lime". I seem to have some of all of those colours in my stash I'm going to ty to crombine them.

I've heeded Tonya's advice and started on something easy - the trees. Here are my first few.

One of things I'd like to includes is some presents. Laura has drawn some very cute ones on her martini quilt design. I'm not quite sure how to go about these, particularly the bows. Any suggestions Tonya? Do I combine piecing and applique?

Cheers
Lisa

Ready to get the motor running (Heather)

2007-11-24T04:55:00.000+01:00

Greetings all! I signed up for the group what seems like ages ago, but haven't been able to sew a stitch because I have been away on holiday and entertaining houseguests for the last 2 weeks. Houseguests left this morning and I have 2 1/2 weeks before my next houseguest arrives (peak tourist season for Sydney) so I hope to knock something out for the group between now and then.

Here is the inspiration for my piece:

I gave this Christmas ornament to my mom and I think I'll make a wall hanging for her to go with it. I might create a few reindeer on surfboards to accompany Santa.

I have been sewing for years, but I am a new quilter. Today I made a trip to my friendly neighborhood fabric shop to buy batting for the first time and was knocked over by the choice. Do you have any tips for batting selection? Is there a particular type (wool, cotton, poly, etc) or weight you like to use for hand quilting, and is it different from batting you would use for machine quilting? Is there a batting you tried and would not use again? Why not? Have you ever had anything wild happen with the batting after quilting and washing?

Many thanks to those of you who have left comments on my blog! I'm having a breather now that I'm back from holiday and guests are gone, and I will definitely be checking out your blogs soon.

Habitat for Humbugs

2007-11-24T01:34:00.000+01:00

Here I am, one of the first to sign up for Tonya’s class and one of the last to get started. Right now, I’m working and will be busy at least another week. But, that hasn’t stopped me from choosing fabrics for this quirky quilt.

These fabrics are as far away as you can get from what I would normally use. The bright batik was given to me by a friend. Oddly enough, its floral pattern in red and green (albeit an “icky” green) made me think Christmas. Even though they make the perfect habitat for my “humbug,” the fabrics are extremely bold.

Everyone else is doing such wonderful things!

Rose Marie-Winter is Here!

2007-11-23T15:52:00.000+01:00

No, seriously .... winter has arrived here in Toronto. We had our first major storm of the new winter season and so glad that DH and I didn't have to drive anywhere yesterday as road traffic was a nightmare (with a capital N)!

This is what I've accomplished this week. Would have done more ..... but wanted you gals to catch up to me! :o)

My letters are a tad too straight and formal and I really need a lemon martini to shake things up a bit.

So .... will plow away and see what there will be to show you all next week!

Have a great weekend!

ideas...

2007-11-23T15:20:00.000+01:00

you guys are inspiring me to PIECES! Of course, I forgot that I have a craft fair next weekend so I can't start any quilts until after that - rats!

But I think I have an idea - I want to do some kind of night scene with little houses (or at least one house) lit up inside. Probably some pine trees around it, maybe in the woods - the theme is COZINESS!!!

Finished letters (if not words!)

2007-11-22T10:43:00.000+01:00

Hi, Helen from New Zealand here.

Well done everyone on the progress you are making. Love what you've all done. Have to ask what a lemon drop martini is, sound delicious!

I got all my letters done and just need to get the last word together. I think the 'o' in 'to' is too large and they are not as wonky as everyone else's. I'm finding it hard to cut unevenly. The next thing is to work on the picture to go with it. It will be a beach scene showing a kiwi with Christmas stockings on. Not sure how I'm going to do that since I am no artist, but I'm having fun anyway.

I paid my sister to watch the baby!

2007-11-22T06:06:00.000+01:00

Last Friday I got my sister to watch my 20 month old...so I got to pretend that I went to "work" and I cloistered myself away...it was great. I decided for this class that I was just going to cut fabric and sew it together... hopefully it would turn out ok...normally I plan, plan, plan, and then plan some more. Sometimes all the planning dampens my creativity and I don't actually do anything...this is WAY better. Thanks Tonya!

Regarding the theme...I made the "SNOW" and the flakes then couldn't think of what else to put....I live in the valley in Oregon and what we always do around the holidays is just imagine snow...because we don't usually get it!

jude- making it simple

2007-11-21T21:25:00.000+01:00

so i am going with trees. they are fun. and they make me feel peaceful.

Kristin- I couldn't help jumping ahead!

2007-11-21T18:27:00.001+01:00

I had a flash on Monday night of how I might use Ryan's Santa drawing on a quilt. He wasn't fitting into the Merry Christmas quilt as I envisioned it, so I decided to make a mini quilt just for him. The words went quickly. I plan to use applique and embroidery to transfer the Santa image to the quilt and he'll be on a round piece of the lighter fabric so he'll show up. I also want to have Ryan draw a tree so I can add that on the left. The letters will have more background fabric added and then I'll applique them on, rather than piece it so I can preserve the plaid pattern on the red fabric.

Finally finished those tricky es

2007-11-21T10:36:00.000+01:00

I have now finished my letters, and had great difficulty with the es. I did one before and it turned out fine, but obviously that was a fluke! Anyway, a bit of unpicking (the back of the first one has a great nest of threads on it with the repeated unpicking and resewing!) and then chopping solved the problem and now I'm happy enough with them. I didn't want to write 'Goodwill to all men' with a feminist daughter in the house, so changed it to people, which is less contentious. I've chosen the red fabric for a border round the houses, so will try and get on with that today. If the people we have visiting have to sign the snow under the houses, I think I need deeper snow. So, here goes with the unpicker again!

blogger's let me in....

2007-11-20T19:50:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone.... blogger's let me in... not sure what I did earlier... you all seem to be making great progress with your winter hangings... seems I've some catching up to do... I've not being doing much sewing recently I've got sidetracked by paint... ATCs... Chunky book pages.... reading blogs (especially Jude's... hi Jude..) etc... etc... I'll be back as soon .... my blog

I want to play too!

2007-11-20T14:17:00.001+01:00

Eee gads I go away for a short trip and come back to find Tonya is doing something fun again. I most certainly want to join in the fun! I know I won’t get mine done before Christmas as I just have way to many things on my plate at the moment but I was able to form my idea onto paper this weekend and don’t think it will take too much to execute it. My friends and I have taken a liking to Lemon Drop Martini’s. Because of this our annual Florida trip this year became the Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Martini trip. My friend Marguerite drew up the martini block and we all made one up and had a drawing for the winner. I wasn’t the lucky one but decided on the spot that I had to have my own Yellow polka dot martini quilt so Tonya’s challenge gives me that opportunity. I love all the ideas so far, isn’t Tonya the best in offering this to us all!
Now to find the perfect limey green/red polka dot fabric for my border before my vacation the week after Christmas!

Tonya and Brenda Sew Trees

2007-11-20T08:23:00.000+01:00

Brenda is participating in the class, but doesn't have a blog. Here is her marvelous work in progress:

She explains: "This is Brenda from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Our winters are usually cold and snowy, so my winter quilt focuses on snow. My inspirations for this project were your free-pieced trees and the line from the Christmas carol, Good King Wenceslas: When the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even."

She's doing great, isn't she. I love the word "deep" how it dips in the middle and wonderful trees - especially that little on on the right. Love the mix of fabrics for the background - looks like sunlight glinting off of snow.

Now we go from peaceful to bright. This is where I am on my Christmas quilt. I need to do trunks on trees today and then start moving things around, decide if I need more of anything, less of anything...

Erika - Does this look like

2007-11-19T16:29:00.000+01:00

a manger to you?

I was proud of myself when I first finished, but when I look at the picture now, I'm not so sure. I still have to make a star. Maybe that will help. You can also read a bit more about this at my blog.

HOOORRAAY

2007-11-19T13:27:00.000+01:00

Finally, I got my link to work and can post to the class. Please look at my blog on the right. I am Sandy at Sandy's Quilter's Block. I love what everyone is doing. You're all so creative. Here is my progress so far. It will be a winter wall hanging with trees, houses, snowflakes and maybe a couple snowmen. Haven't drawn it all out yet, it's just stuck in my head for now. Will find more time over the long weekend.

Heidi - changed theme :-))

2007-11-19T07:25:00.000+01:00

So behind my back these 2 elks have changed the theme. They look so happy together, I think I should write 'Marry Christmas ' instead of 'Last Christmas ' ?
Heidi

Heidi - Here she is....

2007-11-18T12:57:00.000+01:00

the Lady Elk. Somehow they look as if they have figured it out ... :-)

Thanks so much for this class, there are so many great ideas. I looked through my stash and thought oh, I could use this idea for this fabric and that for another...
My letters are better and I'll use them, but when I looked at the tutorial again, I found out mine are still too straight. I like the crooky look better .
So now I can concentrate on the hearts and letters. And I'm already pondering about the quilting. Tonya, I love your free-hand fans, maybe I'll try them or maybe I should quilt hearts on the lime background ?

Kristin- I'm having so much fun!

2007-11-18T05:00:00.000+01:00

These are my first free pieced letters and were so much fun to do! We've decided to write out Merry Christmas in several languages on the border, starting with French. I have only done the first letters of the other phrases, can you tell what they will be?

After the letters are all done I'll add some more background fabric and figure out how to attach them together. We're still thinking about how to do the interior of the quilt. I think this is the first time I've ever worked a quilt from the outside in!

I've been thinking about another quilt too. I want to do a Peace on Earth version with trees and stars. Must concentrate here!

Getting on with the letters

2007-11-17T15:10:00.000+01:00

I've started making my letters, and am aiming to say either 'Goodwill to all men/people/mankind/women' or something. I got the first four letters done, and showed it to DD who immediately decided it was a label for her! Thought people would like to see the photo - hopefully will make you laugh!

Resistance is FUTILE!!

2007-11-16T19:43:00.000+01:00

HA! I did it!! I get a cookie now!! I've been cackling and giggling for a half hour now- my DB is getting frightened.

The letter fabric is a dark green metallic, and the background is a blue sky with clouds kinda thing. I've run into a problem, though- I've run out of the background, and it was a fat quarter so who knows where it came from. Any ideas?

Jenclair - Still Trying

2007-11-15T17:26:00.000+01:00

Although I have no real idea of how this will work out, I've made a couple more letters. Everyone else is so adventurous that the contagion is spreading, and I wish I had more time to experiment! As it is, I make a daily goal of a letter or two and get on to my other projects. Today, "B" and "e" are the on the agenda.I've been surprised at how much the blue fabric (that has sat unwanted for so long) has grown on me and wish there were more of the white on white fabric. A trip to Joann's tomorrow to use my coupons should help with that problem.

I really think I must have missed a lot by not taking the previous class. Even though I'm checking Tonya's tips on making letters, I think the class activity itself must have been quite informative. At any rate, I'm enjoying this process!

Spock Santa Hand

2007-11-15T16:59:00.001+01:00

Katie, I sketched a Spock live long and prosper hand. This gets the different lengths of the fingers. It's easy to put in a wrist, just add triangles down at the base of the palm. Unfortunately I got a line in the sketch wrong - ignore the one above the cuff.

Does this make sense?
Have fun piecing it - I'm really looking forward to seeing this project of yours in fabric.

Kimberly-Intro

2007-11-15T14:03:00.001+01:00

Hi! I finally got a chance to get started. Sorry it's taken me a while to get going here. Well, I guess I should say a bit about myself. My name is Kimberly, I live in NY (small city outside of Syracuse, not the big city!) I have quilted for about 12 years, but that makes it sound like I am a better quilter than I really am. I found Tonya's tutorials through Bonnie at Quiltville.com and wanted to try her letters. When she did her Halloween tutorials I tried some of those too and had a lot of fun. I still want to do some more, but since we're now into the Winter/Christmas scene I thought this would be fun to do now and then I'll get back to my Halloween stuff and hopefully finish it for next year. As far as what I want to do here, I am thinking the words-Let it Snow with some snowflakes and maybe a house , maybe some trees. I found some cute snowman fabric so I might try to incorporate that too, but not sure how yet. I'm just going to play around a bit I think, and then try to figure how to put it all together when I get a few more elements done. I love what everyone has done so far-it's very inspirational to see it all. Thanks so much, Tonya for doing this class!

McIrish Annie - here's my plan!

2007-11-14T19:27:00.000+01:00

Well, I know that lots of you have already started constructing blocks and letters but I have another project that I have to finish before I can start cutting and sewing anything for this winter class.

But here is my idea! I usually just take pencils and draw a picture of how I want something to look and then worry about the construction aspects later. I'm quite an artist Huh??? This may not get done for Christmas but I hope to get a start on the letters and some of the wonky houses and trees over the long Thanksgiving weekend.

I'm not married to the wording so that may change but I like the layout alot.

You guys are really burning it up out there! It made me feel guilty enuf to pull out my pencils and paper and get this scratched out.

Rose Marie from Canada

2007-11-14T14:01:00.001+01:00

Hello to all …. I’m late introducing myself here! First off, married 30 yrs., am retired, mid-50’s and home is in a suburb of Toronto. Craft wise for my career, I worked in craft heaven (store similar to Michael’s) as a purchaser/inventory control manager. So …. I am used to having everything under control …. that is until now! :o)

My theme is winter and this is what I’ve done so far. Blue and white will be my predominant colours. Those letters are hard! The first letter I started with was the W. What was I thinking? Should have started with the I first. Anyway, my first W ended up in the garbage after parts were removed to add to the R. Waste not.

There will be snow people and they will be appliquéd on using a buttonhole stitch. Felt is being used and I am stuffing them to give a 3-D effect. And, since I’m from Canada, there will be an igloo. There will be letters running along the remaining three borders and more trees.

This may be all the photos for a while as it looks like my camera just went on the fritz. Here is hoping that it is just the camera card that is the problem.

I have tried to leave comments on your blogs, but keep getting an error message from Blogger. Is anyone else having the same problem?

Have a great day, eh!

Katie in NJ/PA

2007-11-14T11:30:00.001+01:00

So, technology and I don't get along, and I don't own a scanner. I do, however, own a camera phone and know how to text. This is the best pic I could manage of my sketch. Anyone have any ideas how to do the hand better? Trekkies will know how it's supposed to look... :)

Next decision from Lynda in England

2007-11-14T10:24:00.000+01:00

I didn't put anything about me on my first post. I live in Leicestershire in the middle of England, have two children in their twenties and teach part-time. DS lives in London, so I have taken over his bedroom as my sewing room - note to self: he'll be coming home for Christmas so will need to be able to find his bed. Start clearing up now!

I have put chimneys on my houses and sewn them together into strips.

I'm happier with them now. I tried some white fabric underneath them for snow but it looked very stark. Unfortunately I don't have any more of the snowflake fabric I've used for the sky, so I think I'll dye some fabric in the microwave today to use for snow and possible background for the letters. Wonder if my boss will let me have tomorrow off to get on with them?

Recipe for Katie - sorry it is off-topic

2007-11-14T07:19:00.000+01:00

Apologies to everyone in advance!! this is for Katie of Tao of Katie.

Hi Katie

Thanks for visiting my blog. You have your settings as no-reply so that when you leave a comment I can't email you back directly.

This is my hot cross buns recipe. I now use a bread maker to knead the dough (using the dough function so it stops at the right time) and then I take it out after the first rising and shape it into buns

tsp = teaspoon (5 ml)
tbsp - tablespoon (20 ml)

200ml milk
100ml boiling water
3 tsp Surebake yeast (a dried yeast with improvers in it)
3 cups white flour
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter
1 cup dried fruit
2 tsp mixed spice

I throw all this in the bread maker and when it has finished its thing shape it into 24 buns which I put in the pan to rise as per the picture. When they have "rizzed"enough I pipe a cross on them made from 2 tbsp cornflour, 2 tbsp white flour 1/4 tsp baking powder, pinch salt, 2 tbsp milk (approx) all mixed together. I bake them at 220 degrees Celsius for 10 min and then 180 degrees for another 5 min. After taking them out of the oven I glaze them with a mixture of 1 tbsp sugar dissolved in t tbsp boiling water.

Yummy!

Erika -Brainstorming

2007-11-13T20:21:00.000+01:00

Hello, all! I'm really excited about joining this class. I don't get much time to quilt, but I intend to get something done. I don't have an image in my head yet, but I have made a list of ideas. Here it is.

baby Jesus
manger
angels
shepherds
star
friends and family
FOOD

I've always wanted to make an advent quilt, but I'm not sure how to make that happen with this project. I also don't want to fall into my personal trap of biting off more that I can chew.

I'm really inspired by the work that has already been posted. I guess I better get sketching!
I'm over in the sidebar (MommaQuilts). It's a new blog, so there isn't much there yet.

I'm Here, Too!

2007-11-13T19:29:00.000+01:00

I got seriously behind. I haven't even introduced myself yet. I'm Carol from Minnesota. I have tried several quilts using Tonya's method, and I don't think I'll ever really master this genre, but it's fun trying. Tonya is a great inspiration!

For my wallhanging I want to do something about music. It is a very important part of Christmas for me. I have a rough sketch I made in about 30 seconds, and I have been mulling over the idea since I drew. So far, nothing in fabric yet. (I failed when trying to upload the sketch.. maybe next time.)

Heidi, I LOVE your elk! And the person who is doing the direction pole to towns named like Christmas? What a great idea!!!

Maybe I'll work on my idea a little later today, after a nap. (I have a cold which has drained my energy.)

P.S. My blog is Giraffe Dreams... link is over there on the right.

Failed at the first hurdle!

2007-11-13T18:12:00.003+01:00

I was so excited when I saw this class posted! I have tried one or to of Tonya's ideas before, and welcomed the idea of creating a personal Christmas hanging. I thought deeply about what Christmas means to me.

It means - family getting together

- meeting up with friends

- parties

- presents and all the other stuff of course

- lots of cooking (and eating)

- lots of drinking

- relaxing and catching up with people.

I'm not religious, but I love this time of goodwill and love.

My first thoughts were to make a merry Christmas quilt with different drinks on it, but decided to focus on the togetherness side of Christmas. So far, so good.

However, I forgot that the quilt needs to be improvisational, and made some lovely houses - I did draw them myself on an 8 inch piece of paper, but they look rather traditional! I wanted the quirkiness to come from the different people at the windows and other elements I plan to add later. (Honest!)

Here are the houses with different people (and creatures) at the windows and doors, waiting for their chimney pots. I want to add some snow in front of the houses to make an album quilt, and get all the visitors to our house over the Christmas period to sign their names. I'm also planning to do some words. 'Goodwill to all men' is the current favourite.

Now I'm off to cook the tea and think about chimneys.

Katie in NJ/PA

2007-11-13T11:27:00.000+01:00

I'm trying not to squeal with excitement. This is a HUGE step in my quilting world, and I'm so honored to be invited to participate with all of you much more experienced quilters.

I'm 27, a combat veteran, and I'm VERY silly. I usually think outside the box, EXCEPT for my quilts. I'm a great copyer, not great with colour, and I tend to like more traditional patterns. I joined this group to get me to think outside the (nine-patch, no triangles, straight lines) box. Like I said, I'm a copyer, so when Tonya posted her Santa Alien, I loved it, but I had to tweak it. I suppose owning every season of The Next Generation on DVD makes me a Trekkie (and late-night debates about whether a character from the holodeck and a starfleet officer could have children and all the logistics therein), and I really must be, because when I saw it I mentally removed an eye and changed the skin colour, et voila, Vulcan. Santa Spock. That's my idea for this winter class, and we'll see just how far I can throw my templates, rulers, and Borg-like quest for perfection.

aside: My blog is linked in the sidebar, but only recently are there craft posts and very few of them at that. The rest is insight into my life. If you have the time and inclination, I welcome readers. I have strong, currently unpopular opinions. You've been warned... :)