Ta da da done

 I finished this last week!! I thought about lots of different ways to quilt this, curved lines weren't right it needed to be something angular so I quilted inside each monkey wrench or churn dasher whatever you want to call it and the same in the center then straight lines with lots of angles. It was slow going I can free motion quilt curves much faster than straight lines.  This quilt used 30 of my many hand dyed fat quarters I still have a pile to sew someday. This was a Buggy Barn pattern.  A stash happy project.  --Ann--

Machine quilting

 Small steps of progress machine quilting on my wonky churn dash made with my hand dyed fabrics. Ann

Wonky Churn Dash

 This was so easy........it’s been together for a week........Its a Buggy Barn pattern from the book Certifiably Crazy. Stack the fabrics cut, shuffle and sew if the intersections of the churn dash don’t intersect no big deal. It sewed together fast sometimes I need an almost instant gratification project.  Add it to the stack to be basted. And we are almost halfway through summer. I wish summer would slow down. ~~Ann~~

Hand Dyed

New project on the wall.  I pulled out all my hand dyed fabrics from almost 20 years ago with thoughts of another quilt.  I sorted the brightest fat quarters for that project and I was left staring at the pile of earthier colors. After looking through a couple books this wonky churn dash by Buggy Barn was the perfect choice. Begin by stacking the fabrics and tracing the pattern on freezer paper, pressing again and cutting..... its onto the sewing.  I'm just past half done with the blocks.  Happily sewing on these hot days.  --Ann--

Splats

 

Backside of the quilt, this quilt has been done for months I just haven't made the label because I need to sit down and read the manual and learn how to do it or spend a couple hours at the sewing shop and pay for a lesson.  DD picked out the backing and the colors are perfect for the quilt.  It compliments the hand dyed and black and white batik fabrics so well.  I dyed the fabrics close to 20 years ago they have been aging in my closet waiting for the perfect project, and who more appreciative than darling daughter. 

The pattern is Twirla  by Butterfly Threads Quilting.com.  It was fun to sew.....very clear instructions.  I barely put a dent in my stack of hand dyed fabrics,  I must have dyed 20 yards of fabric.

One of these days I will learn how to punch in the letters and store them in memory in my sewing machine and get the label done and send it home with DD.   Until then I'm going to put it on the bed where she sleeps when she comes for a visit. I'll enjoy it every time I walk past her room.

I just swung an arc from point to point in each block.  The seams made for an awkward intersection in the middle of the block so I did a little daisy flower in the center of each asterisk, splat isn't that what the younger generation calls them?!?

--Ann--

Divide and conquer

Decisions decisions for how to arrange these blocks.  I always sew the sashing and cornerstone to 2 sides of the block so I can rearrange the blocks before I add the sashing to the left and top.  I wish I could have put these pics side by side so you can see the differences more easily. The origional plan was for 20 blocks which would have been a rather large throw quilt these blocks are 14 inches square.  I made 4 more blocks  so I could have 2 quilts that will be 48 or so by 60 some.  Better size for snuggling up on the couch and there are twins in the family now, I would hate to have them fighting over a quilt.  The top and bottom pics are the positive and negative mixed together color splat, black splat, color splat.  The center 2 pics are the positive all in one and the negative blocks in the other.  Tough decision which way to go??  --Ann--

finish this

 

DD picked out the sashing fabric for these splats, starbursts, asterisk or whatever you want to call them.  What do you think black corner stones or colors? They are all hand dyed from a decade or two ago. I think the eye needs to rest on the black cornerstones.          --Ann--

quilt top together

My last post I said I printed off a photo of these quilt blocks and cut them apart so I could arrange them while we were at the camper............I forgot to pack them...........what with getting other stuff together, food, coffee, clothes, other beverages, oops.  So after stuff was washed and put away....... to the sewing room.  I did play with my little squares a little bit but it was so much easier to see the colors and black and white prints up close so........up and down on the step stool then bend over and pick up the blocks I knocked off the wall.  It was good exercise and I needed some after 4 hours in the car and sitting around all weekend because it was so hot and humid.  Just jumping up and down to get more water or ice and the ice just wasn't chilling the water.  So puttering around with this the past week, its together and after awhile I just say enough, that's the way the blocks are going to be.  --Ann--

Blocks complete

The blocks are completed next to do some rearranging and rearranging and more rearranging.  There are 18 different colors and 6 different black and white prints so it is going to be a challenge to seperate the prints and the colors.  I printed a large photo of these blocks and cut them apart so over the weekend at the camper I can play with my blocks and rearrange things without the use of a step stool and I can take pictures with my phone so I can recreate the arrangement.  Hope you have a safe and happy 4th of July.  

--Ann--

Design wall

More *** astriks, splats, splotches, explosions, and fireworks! The black and white prints are so much more interesting than the solid black fabric I used on the first bunch from a week or so ago. What is interesting is some of the black and white prints are not strong enough to hold the astrik together, the color looks shattered, disjointed, discombobulated or like it exploded. Isn’t it fun! Darling daughter helped pick out sashing fabrics too. She is such an enabler when we shop. The white looks anemic, the multi color dot is fighting for attention, the solid black or the mini dot are the finalists. Still have half the blocks to sew.    --Ann--

New project

New project started and resolution to not buy more fabric flew out the window as I sailed down the interstate because darling daughter helped me pick out a bunch of black and white fabrics, they just complement my hand dyes fabrics so well. If I need more I can still get them. Don’t you just hate it when fabrics go extinct?!!  Ann

Design wall

New parts on the design wall  Butterfly Threads has a tutorial for this pattern.  I thought it would be a great way to use my stack of 100 or so fat quarters that I dyed 15 or 20 years ago.  I've used 10 in this.  Darling daughter will eventually get this because she loves the bright colors.  We thought it needed some sashing, she like the white background polka dot and I prefer the black.  Do you call polka dot fabric by the color of the polka dots or by the color of the background?  I have 2 yards of the white background but need to go on a shopping mission for a black background fabric. What do you think for sashing? This makes me think of an astrik but then the younger generation calls it a splat.  --Ann--

Blogger's Quilt Fest

I do love puzzles, word puzzles, number puzzles and tessellating star puzzles, I call this quilt Dragonfly Dance.  The stars are cut from two bales of Merryvale fabrics. (click for and explanation of Merryvale) The entire quilt was arranged on my design wall before any parts were sewn together then kept in order. (click for sewing tutorial or click on tessellating star in the label section)  The yellow and lavender swirl through the center of the quilt like a well choreographed dance to direct the viewers eye. There are only a couple blocks that could be switched in the quilt and not change the stars. I free motion quilted it on my Bernina with loops, dragonflies and echo quilting. I practiced the dragonflies on paper with pen then on the machine with paper and no thread until  my eyes, hands and brain memorized how to sew a dragonfly then practiced on scraps before working on the quilt. I hand dyed the back of the quilt. Enjoy all the beautiful quilts at Amy's Creativeside Bloggers quilt Festival. Be inspired!  Ann

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On the Needles

 On the needles, a stocking cap for daughter. She chose this handpainted wool for mittens to go with her winter jacket. We decided at $26.00 per skein we would get a contrasting yarn for a cap and the cap yarn is 51% wool and 49% acrylic so it won't make her ears itch. The cap is done and in the mail, she needed a mid semester pick me up so it is on the way. I'll send the mittens when they are done or may wait til she comes home for Thanksgiving depending on the weather.

 Her stocking cap was so quick to knit I bought more of the same yarn for a cap for me.

 Also on the the needles a pair of toe up socks, two more rows and count the stitches then I can turn the heel. I love the 40 inch loop with the bamboo kneedles needles, I did it again put a k in front of needles for knitting and some times my brain is saying knittles for knitting . knitting needles knitting mittens knitting needles knitting mittens knitting needle knitting mittens its more of a typing finger twister than a tongue twister. See what everyone else is knitting at Judy's  ~~ Ann~~

Fall Leaves

 Fall is in the air, leaves are on the ground. The color was fabulous a couple weeks ago then the wind came. I made this little quilt when I first started quilting, many years ago, the leaves are batiks I dyed in college many more years ago, and still very stiff with wax. I machine quilted around each goose and leaf with gold metallic thread. I remember I did not like sewing sashing in long strips because matching the intersections didn't just happen, they had to be marked and pinned.  Learning to piece was sewing without pinning as I always did when sewing garments. It was fun, it was fast, it was liberating, it wasn't for 4-H. ~~Ann~~