Category — Quilt Ideas

I found this heart yoyo today while checking out some quilting blogs. Penny of Penny Sanford Porcelains has posted a free tutorial on how to make them. I thought they were darling and that it might be cute to make up a few pillows with them on to match Jessica’s pink & white Chain Event quilt. Her quilt top is on the quilting frame right now. I’ll post pictures in a day or two.

I hope you all are spending the day with those you love.

I finished up the freezer paper templates for the quilt. The ocean at the bottom isn’t done yet. The only thing I might do is something rock-like in the ocean but that can be the last thing I do, if need be. Here’s how the design wall looks tonight and a closeup of the hills:

I’m going to start sewing the pieces together tomorrow. I’ve never used this particular template method before so we’ll see how it goes. If it doesn’t work out like planned, I’ll switch to fusible applique. I suppose I *could* hand applique the whole quilt but really was only planning on hand appliquing the details and words. I’ve added a page with the words to Psalm 8 over in the sidebar so you can picture how it all fits together.

Piecing: 14 days of 23

I started the freezer paper templates for the top half of the background.

I’m still unsure of how I want the hills to look in the bottom half, and I definitely have too many green fabric choices that are muddying up my thinking. I decided to just go ahead with the top half of the background for now.

Late last night this is how things looked on my design wall:

I’ve decided for one thing I need a bigger design space! Hmm… but where to *put* it? LOL The idea for a tree doesn’t work for me when I see the fabrics on the wall. It makes the scene look too crowded or something. I’m not liking my large rock formation at the bottom of the sea either. I *do* love the fabric though and want to use it somehow. We’ll see what I come up with… I’m off to do some machine quilting and piecing.

Piecing: 14 days of 22

I got the full-sized drawing for my Psalm 8 quilt top done. Here’s a picture:

I realize you really can’t make out the details very well… you’ll just have to wait for the fabric unveiling in stages. I picked out quite a bit of the fabric for the major portions of the background from my meager stash. I’ll only have to get a few FQs or 1/4 yd pieces from the LQS to get started on the background.

I’ve been reading through some of my landscape piecing books for tips to get me started. Ruth McDowell’s book had a tip on piecing the “S” curves for the two sky fabrics that will be a great help. In Mary Hackett’s, A Bridge to Landscape Quilts, I found this bit of wisdom:

“You have the quilting skills. The rest is simply the willful act of allowing your mind to let go of what you think you can or can’t do. It entails getting past what is “right” when it comes to quilting, of training yourself to really see the natural things around you, and employing well-loved quilting techniques to simulate them.”

And, so, let the process begin!

Piecing: 11 days of 17

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to sit at my machine and piece and I’ve missed it severely! Today, though, I just needed a break from the quilt on my machine quilting frame so I decided to spend some time piecing. It’s a goal for this year for me to spend some time piecing (even if it’s only 15 minutes!) everyday.

Mom wants a small wallhanging to cover the breaker box in her TV room so I designed a small (36? x 36?) wallhanging for her in Electric Quilt 5. EQ5 is new to me (I’m always a little behind the times. . .) and I’m hoping to do a lot more designing with it. So *much* easier than graph paper and colored pencils! Anyway, Mom’s wallhanging is just a simple, 9-block quilt of Ohio Stars in green, mauve, burgundy and gold. I worked on piecing some of the blocks today.

I also designed a smaller wall hanging for my quilt studio. I seem to be amassing a small collection of blue & white plates for the studio. I thought a blue & white quilt in the broken dishes pattern would look cute hanging from the small shelf over the girls’ sewing area. I laid out the design in EQ5 again. I’m going to go tomorrow to the LQS where they’re having a sale and get a few FQs for this one. (My stash is pitiful.)

I want to finish up a mystery quilt that is for DD-J before she goes to PFR in Montana next month. She asked about it today when she came home from work. . . I’m adding the sashing to the blocks on that one so it won’t take long to get the quilt top together once I get back into piecing everyday.

Piecing: 1 day in a row