Evening in the Garden Quilts

Adventures in Fabric Art


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WIP Wednesday: I Won!

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I’ll show you a little bit of new sewing in a minute, but first I have news to share.  My “North Dakota Landscape” won the judges choice in mini-quilts in the Holiday Memories Mini-Quilt Competition over at Celtic Thistle Stitches!  I’m so excited.  This is the first year for this contest (thank you, Fiona!), so there weren’t a huge number of entries, but go over and take a look.  They are really great entries, with diverse ideas for portraying vacations from all over the world.  So I am honored to win.  AND…I won a batch of Oakshot Cottons, which was exactly the prize for which I was hoping.  Thank you to everyone who advised and encouraged me in one of the few landscape quilts I’ve ever done.

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I paper-pieced this little tree  (please hum carols- so far all I’ve gotten is a Halloween carol!).  I think it turned out beautifully, but I am not making another anytime soon.  I like to sew big patches together.  This was a pain.

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I cut and sewed a bunch of triangles together for Step 2 of the Scrapitude Mystery Quilt over at Quilting for the Rest of us.  These are only part of that, but I did finish the step.  I found that I used a lot of a few medium and dark fabrics for this particular size, instead of being really scrappy.  I hope that doesn’t mess me up.

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And I’ve been working away at the garden: harvesting, pulling, replanting, mulching.  At the risk of jinxing it, we’ve been having beautiful fall weather.  I hope you have, too.

And I hope you’ve been playing with fabric.

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I’m linking up WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.


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Sunday Stash Report: 10/13/13

Good morning!  Destashing in a positive direction this week.  The baby quilts used 5.5 yards.  No, they were not on my list to make at all, but that’s probably more fabric used than if I had stuck to the plan. (All three aqua and gray quilts were purchased from my shop last week.  Nice, but weird.  I felt the need to replenish.)

This week:  +0 yards,  -5.5 yards

YTD:  +123 yards,  -203 yards

Net stash used in 2013:  -80 yards

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How are yo doing with your destashing?

I’m linking up with Sunday Stash Report at Patchwork Times.


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Two Finishes

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Here are two little baby quilts I finished yesterday.  Both are aqua and gray, very popular colors.

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I finally got these log cabin blocks oriented correctly.  You might have said something after Wednesday’s post, or did you think it was something artsy I was doing?  I found two to fix after that post, but I didn’t see the last block till I had it sandwiched.  Fortunately, it was in a corner, so it wasn’t too bad to un-sew and re-sew.  If you spot a problem now, please don’t tell me.

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This one with the chevrons was more of a minty aqua, and hard to photograph.  I like it, though, and I had fun doing the feathers.  I even remembered to add extra batting to the gray areas when I sandwiched it, so the feathers pop more.  The odd triangles are seersucker, and the texture is  great.

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I like the flying geese backing.

These are smaller than I usually make, 30″ x 36″, which I still think is a useful size.  Usually, mine are around 36″ x 42″.  What do you think is the ideal size for a baby quilt?

I’m linking up with Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

 

 


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Throwback Thursday: Happy Columbus Day!

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The Wayback Machine is set for 1992 here.  Every year when I hang this Columbus Quincentenniel quilt I think about how far quilting has come.  At that time, my entire connection to the larger quilting world was through Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine, and that must have been where I saw this line of commemorative Columbus fabric by Jinny Beyer.  It’s a nice square little quilt, in spite of the funky way it hung on my shed today for pictures.  It’s machine pieced (possibly my first ever?), but all cut from templates, definitely pre-rotary cutter, for me, anyway.

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This is all hand quilted, which shows better from the back.

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The pattern is “World Without End”,  though I played with the coloring so much that it doesn’t really give the effect.  I put four winds in the corners to blow Chris on his way.  The border reads, “In Fourteen Hundred Ninety-Two, Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue  1492-1992”.

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I could not get these motifs in the diamonds to photograph, but they are some things from the Columbian Exchange:  potatoes, sugarcane, corn, and horses.  I know, we also exchanged some much uglier things, but I was teaching fourth graders, and it was just an introductory lesson.

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And, finally, this little piece of history comes complete with a dot matrix computer printed label!  Kind of an artsy use of Printshop, don’t you think?

Things were much different twenty-one years ago, weren’t they?

I’m linking up with Throwback Thursday at Quiltin’ Jenny.  Go see what we used to do.


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WIP Wednesday: Order Out of Chaos

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Yesterday afternoon and today I pieced thirty little log cabin blocks from strings, and sewed them into a baby quilt top.  Those are some of my little umbrella girls in the center “chimneys”.  I love to take that tangle of strings and bring order to them.  It never seems to make much of a dent in the bins, but I remain optimistic.  I also love to use the last bit of favorite fabrics of which I thought I had seen the last.  There’s a little gray Mirror Ball Dot, some Michael Miller zoo print, as well as bits of silver and white Fairy Frost.  Must remember to order more Fairy Frost.

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I hope you’re playing with fabric today.

I’m linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.


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Sunday Stash Report: 10/6/13

This is the boring kind of stash report:  nothing in and nothing out.  I’ve been pretty sick with a cold and sore throat (I blame my DS who brought it home from college), and I’ve been working on the garden and the house.  I did some paper piecing for Christmas wall hangings, but nothing is finished yet.  Ah, well.

This week:  +0 yards,  -0 yards

YTD:  +123 yards,  -197.50 yards

Net stash used in 2013:  -74.50 yards

I will get to 100 yds!

Since my garden is more interesting than my sewing this week, here is some of the bounty:

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And a fall pizza made from all local ingredients:

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Hope you are eating well and destashing this week.

I’m linking up with Sunday Stash Report at Patchwork Times.


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Come Vote in the Contest at Celtic Thistle Stitches

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Fiona’s wonderful contest, Holiday Memories Mini Quilt Competion, is now open for voting.  My North Dakota Landscape is there, but I want you to see all the other wonderful entries, too.  They are like small jewels, with inspiration from all over the world.  Be sure to follow your favorites over to their blog/Flicker posts for construction and inspiration details.

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I’m glad we saw this scene in July.  I think it’s a little snowy there today.


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WIP Wednesday: Haul Out the Holly

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I’ve been working on these little paper piecing darlings to avoid working on Oh My Stars.

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Here are my stars hanging out on the design wall.  These are 12″ blocks.  I need to figure out how many more, and what sizes, I need for the two throw quilts I’m making.

I haven’t heard you humming those carols.  “Candles in the window, carols at the spinnet…”

I hope you’re playing with fabric.

I’m linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.


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Getting It Done in September and October

The September goals really focused me this month.  I accomplished all of them.  Well, I was a little weak on the Oh My Stars Christmas quilt(s), but I had used the verb “revisit”, and I did revisit it.  I found it in its gym locker where it had marinated for two years.  I put the stars up on my design wall.  I unsewed some stars made with a white fabric that just wasn’t working, and I looked over the original directions and tried to remember what in the world I had been planning to do next.  I think that’s “revisiting”.

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In addition, I also made 32 Quilt of Valor blocks, and I made a throw quilt from a batch of string blocks I had laying around, and got started with the Scrapitude Mystery Quilt.

September Goals

1. Quilt and bind Coffee Quilt.

2. Make some fall wall hangings for my shop.

3. Make a small art quilt from a vacation photo.

4. Revisit my Oh, My Stars UFO.

October Goals

1. Piece and quilt Oh My Stars throw quilt for shop.

2. Piece and quilt OMS throw quilt for myself.

3. Step 2 of Scrapitude Mystery Quilt

4. Several Xmas wall hangings for shop

I’ll make up both Oh My Stars quilts if I can get interested in it again.  If not, I may substitute a UFO for the second one.

How are you doing with your goals?

I’m linking up with Getting It Done at Patchwork Times.


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Sunday Stash Report: 9/29/13

No fabric came in this week.  Four and a quarter yards went out for the flag donation blocks.  I’m creeping up on my hundred yards of destashing.  Will I make it?  Hmmm.

This week:  +0 yards,  -4.25 yards

YTD:  +123 yards,  -197.50 yards

Net stash used in 2013:  -74.50 yards

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Krissi is all ears waiting to hear how you’re doing!

I’m linking up to Sunday Stash Report at Patchwork Times.