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!

Winter Greetings

Wishing you peace and joy this holiday season!

Corduroy Quilt #2

I'm loving my corduroy quilt so much, I just had to make another one.  This one is for my son, who moved to his own place last month.  He's a guy who loves the forest, and he's lucky to have a job where he works there everyday.

So we'll need some tree trunks,

And some greens,

Some light shining through the trees, some more browns and greens, and some red maple leaves.  Wa-la!  It's 80 x 77 inches, nice and big.  I think I'll call it, "Corduroy Forest."

Now to tie it before Christmas!

Rocky Roads

Just last night, I was drooling over this "Rocky Road to Kansas" quilt, made in 1930, pictured in Gwen Marston's Liberated String Quilts book.

This book is one of my absolute favorites, for the amazing collection of old string quilts shown.

Grey shot cotton

Some months ago, I made about 150 kite shaped "string" pieces with Victoria's 15 minutes play method.  I was going to use them in a spider web quilt, but then changed my mind.  Ah-hah!  I could use them for a "Rocky Road to Kansas"quilt!  I looked up instructions for the block before I went to bed last night.  

This morning, I woke up to a beautiful "Rocky Road to Kansas" block on the NYC Metro Mod Quilter's blog!  Hmm.  Something must be in the air.   THEN, Nadia at Multicolored Pieces wrote about the "rocky road ahead" in Tunisia.

OK, I got it!  It's time to start this quilt!

They say, "Great minds think alike."  So I'd like some help choosing the setting fabric from your great minds.  Here are several auditions, none that I'm really thrilled with.  Any thoughts on these or other directions would be welcome.  Thank you!!

Kona "Cinnamon"

Olivey Shot Cotton

Vintage Turquoise

Kaffe Fasset Red Chard (generously gifted by Mary K.)

A Kona Green, not sure of the name.

Kaffe Fasset disappearing act