Arrangment Complete, Note Cards, and Pot Holders

     I have the entire Let's Polka quilt laid out and ready to sew together. It will be hard to show the whole thing at once, since it is so big, but here are a couple of photos to give you an idea. Yesterday, my friend Eleanor came and looked at it with me. It always helps to have another set of eyes to help decide where to put things, and provide moral support.

     I spent the day cutting out batting and backing for some hot pads I plan to make for my Blue Ridge show in October. I am using batting leftover from trimming the sides of large quilts. It feels good to make use of this stuff. Since I want the hot pads to be nice and thick, I will use 2 layers of batting in each one. I will be using my scrap collection for the fronts, and piece QAYG. I can't wait! I think they will be a lot of fun to make.

     In the evening, Eleanor and I went to our quilt guild's 1st meeting of the year. Our guild is The Cotton Boll Quilters; and we are having a quilt show in January of 2013, I am the chair person. It will be held at artstation.org

     The opening party will be January 12 at 7pm, and the show will be up through March 2. I hope you will come and see all of our beautiful quilts!

     After I got home I went through and organized my note cards. Eleanor had suggested that if I made groups of 6 that were different views of the same quilt, or followed some other theme; I could put them  in my Etsy shop. So I got together several complete groups, a few others that only lack a couple of cards, and identified a couple of possibilities where I have a couple of nice photos of, but need to take a few more details of that quilt to make a nice group of cards. I hope these will also be helpful in my booth at the Blue Ridge show, and in the art gallery where I am a guild member, for the coming Christmas season.

     Now it is time for me to get in there and get that Let's Polka sewn together. Thanks for stopping by!

Arranging the Let's Polka Quilt

      I have been offline for a bit lately due to a computer tragedy. The screen on my old one bit the dust. They are really hard to work without a screen. So now I am trying to do everything on a new computer. Easy for most folks, I'm sure; but, I am rather technologically challenged. So everything I am doing just takes a bit longer. I am sure I will get used to it soon. It is interesting to me that 2 1/2 years ago I didn't even have an email address. Now, when something goes wrong with the computer; I feel like I have to do something about it immediately because I use it to communicate with others so much. It's like having your phone down.

     Now that I finally have all of my Let's Polka blocks finally done; it is time to arrange them on the design wall. Arranging these blocks is a bit different. Usually you try to minimize the proximity of blocks with like fabrics or similar colors. In this quilt I often put blocks with like fabrics right next to each other with the common fabrics touching, so that they form other shapes. I try to let the blocks form a color grouping that gradates to other colors using the color combinations in the different blocks.

 

This is going to be a king size quilt. !8 blocks by 18 blocks. The blocks are 6" square. It is difficult to get a good photo of the whole thing at once; especially with the loom in front of it. All of the other quilting bloggers have a long arm machine. I have a loom. It's what makes me unique. lol!

 

     I have 11 out of 18 rows up so far.

     This is a reminder of what the original full size quilt looked like. My client wanted less bright red, and less purple.

    

     Now that all of the blocks for this quilt are done, I have been working on a different portable project. I have done several EQ drawings for future quilts; and I have started more HST for this quilt.

     I also added a pattern to my Etsy site yesterday. It is called: Flip and Sew Tableware.

     I the also entered the Martha Stewart Made in America Contest; which was not easy to do with a computer that was in the process of dying.

     So, that is what I have been up to lately; thanks for stopping by!

     Well the graduation has come and gone; so I can share with you the gift I spoke of last week. I was told by her mother that she really likes purple and yellow. I leaned heavily on purple with other cool colors, and added as many yellow or yellow green accents as I could.

     I got this idea during the last retreat when we did the jelly roll race. Although I love quilts that are planned out and have intricate and organized designs; there is a part of me that is fascinated by random, and just being entertained by how things hit on their own. Instead of working with 2 1/2" strips, I made a group of 1 1/2" strips. I shot for 40 strips, but that is approximate since I didn't hesitate to add a few partial strips if the fabric I wanted to use happened to be a fat quarter, or have a piece cut off. I made these strips all out of striped fabric. I sewed them end to end as you would for a jelly roll quilt.

     I made another group of strips that were 3 1/2" wide. Again I tried for 40 strips, but I cut them all in half and mixed them up, before I sewed them end to end. These strip were all batiks. 

     So, I had 2 very long strips, one that was 3 1/2" wide, and the other which was 1 1/2" wide; and I sewed the narrow strip to the side of the wider strip. Whew! That was a really long seam. The narrow strip ran out sooner than the wider strip, so I just cut the wider strip at the end of the narrow strip, and saved it in case I wanted to use it for a border later

     Next, I cut that extremely long strip in half and sewed the 2 pieces again side to side. I couldn't just fold it in half as you would normally do for a jelly roll quilt, because that caused the 2 sides of the same width strip to be next to each other. 

I had to find the center: cut it in half; and flip one of the strips, if I wanted to alternate the narrow strips with the wide strips. I just repeated that step until I got a size that would make a nice lap quilt. Actually it turned out closer to a twin. It is not at hand right at the moment, and I am trying to remember the size. I think it was something like 65" by 87". I used the extra wide strip that I cut off earlier to put one more wide strip on the side that finished in the narrow strip, then I used it to go across the top and bottom acros the ends of the quilt. Here is a photo of the quilt top.

I took the above photo before I added the wide strip across the top and bottom of the quilt. I think she really liked it. I gave it to her, but I took it back so I could quilt it for her. I don't often machine quilt things myself, but I am thinking this might be a good one for me to hone my machine quilting skills on; since I could just zig zag in the strips.

     Too bad I didn't get a photo of the proud graduate with the quilt! I will have to remember to do that after it is quilted and bound. That's all I have to share today. Thanks for stopping by!

    

Finally! All of the blocks are finished!

I finally have finished ALL of the blocks for the Let's Polka quilt.

This photo shows a few 3 color quarter square blocks which will be sprinkled in.

I also have some double diamond blocks to add.

Now all it is time to get all of the blocks sorted by color, and arranged. That's all for now. Thanks for stopping by!

Another Show

     I just found out-I will be showing my quilts and patterns at the Chattahoochee Evening Star Guild quilt show on Sept 22-23. It will be held at the Lakewood 400 Antique Market at 1321 Atlanta Hwy. in Cumming GA, 30040. Come and visit with me. I know it will be an awesome show!

     I am almost done with the last of the Let's Polka blocks. I will be able to show you a picture of those soon.

     I have also been working on another project for a gift for someone dear to me. I can't show it to you  until I give it too her Stay tuned!

     Thanks for stopping by!

Berea, Let's Polka, Fun Day

      I returned from my trip to Berea on Sunday evening. I am really enjoying these shows. It is fun meeting and talking with people. I am learning that I can accomplish a tremendous amount of work in between customers in my booth, and in the evenings. The best thing is that I really feel like I am getting some good exposure. I am also enjoying getting to see some new places. Berea was such a beautiful college town and, is very arts oriented. On the way home I got to stay at a gorgeous State Park an hour south called Cumberland Falls. It had a beautiful lodge with an all you can eat buffet dinner; and I enjoyed the short hike to the falls in the morning before I left for home. I really need to get better at keeping my camera with me for this kind of thing. Sorry! I will work on that. I only think about it when I am sewing!  

    

     Time has flown by since I returned. It seems like it took most of Monday just to get unpacked and reorganized. I have also emailed all of the quilt guilds I could find in the state of GA. to tell them about my program. I was thinking that many of them are planning their schedules for the year about now.

     When I was away I got 2 block groups for my Let's Polka quilt pressed and trimmed. Today I finally got them up on the design wall and photographed. I hoped if I waited until the morning to take their pictures, I would have better light. No such luck. It was an overcast day. So here they are any way.

The blocks go from almost the ceiling, down to the floor, so it is almost impossible to get them all in the picture, but I hope this gives you an idea. Now, all I have left is a couple of blocks that are sprinkled in much less often than the main blocks which I have been showing you. That is what is on the agenda for tomorrow. Then I can get down to the business of arranging the blocks.

The above photo is my attempt at showing you as much of the covered design wall as I can, at once. I have 22 rows of 16 blocks each up on the wall. Right now, I have them sorted by block type, but when I finish the rest of the blocks; I will take them down, sort them by color, and put them back up in a pleasing composition.

     Tonight my friendship group met and celebrated my birthday. It was a good time to reflect on just what they mean in my life. It is great to have such a wonderful group of friends to encourage and support you. I appreciate them so much. We were discussing how long we have been meeting together; I think we decided it was about 14 years! My! How time flies! I feel truly blessed, and would recommend this to anyone who has the chance to be a part of this kind of group. It adds so much to your life.

     I hope I will have the rest of my Let's Polka blocks finished by the next post. Thanks for stopping by!