On the Design Wall

Here's what's on my design wall today.

It will take a while to evolve.

It's inspired by this quilt in Gwen Marston's Liberated String Quilts book, and one by Sarah Fielke in Material Obsession Two.  I'm using the templates from the MO2 book, but not the instructions.

Remember these?  (December 8)  I had made them for this quilt, but had lost my courage and tried to find an easier way out.  Nothing satisfied me, so I went back to the original plan.

He likes it!

What could be more gratifying than a baby wrapped in your handiwork?

Scraps, dots and plaids, oh my!

I woke up to snow this morning, so stayed home and shamelessly sewed all day.

Here's what I completed.  It began last month, sewing scrap "strings" together, Gwen Marston style.  Each block finishes at 19".  The whole quilt is 69" x 81".

First I sorted my scraps by length, with no preference for color, pattern or style.  These scraps are 4" to 7" long.  (I have other plans for the longer scraps.)  Then I sewed them together, chain stitching--1 plus 1, then 2 plus 2, then 4 plus 4--to get a strip of 8.  Then I traced the template from Gwen's book, Liberated String Quilts.

And cut along the lines.

 

Eight of these makes...

One scrappy star.

Add dots...

and plaids...

And go out and play in the snow!

Do you think this rose is a little confused?

Gratefully Done

I've been hand-quilting this for the last two months.  Finished at last!  
It's 40" x 40."   

It started with this block that I designed in an appliqué class with Gwen Marston.
I thought I'd be making the block into a pillow.

I'd also been fooling around with words, using Tonya Ricucci's book, Word Play Quilts.

Then Tonya visited in July, and designed this quilt with my orphan blocks.

Many of you helped with advice on dealing with hand pain.

And that got me through to the finish line!  

I like the way it looks over the fireplace, and it's a good reminder!

Starting the Year with Finishes

I finally got around to quilting NYC Scraps.  I made it last spring at Victoria's.

I used an overall squiggle with colorful thread.

Here's the back and binding.  It's good to finally get this done!

I think Malti approves.

My son's corduroy quilt was all tied up by Christmas, with my husband's help.   It has wool batting and a plaid flannel back.  I'm happy to say that he loves it!

I made a little flannel quilt for a new baby boy who lives in Brooklyn.  It includes scraps from flannel pants that I'd made for my son when he was a toddler.

It's pretty easy to make a cute quilt with sock monkey fabric!

Happy 2012!

Wishing you a very happy, healthy and creative new year!

This is one quilt I'll be working on.  The star blocks are 19".  The template is from Gwen Marston's String Quilts Book.  I'm planning to make nine stars.  Goodness knows, I have plenty of scraps!