Which one of these...

When my granddaughter was growing up, I would buy workbooks that had four pictures and you had to pick out which one of these is not like the other.  I can look at a block and it looks perfect.  Take a picture of it and it's like playing which one of these is not like the other. 

Enter my latest example...

Do you see it?  I was auditioning borders and took a picture with my cell phone.  Just as soon as I opened the picture on my computer, I saw the block which had been turned 90 degrees the wrong way.  Of course, then I went back and found another one.  (frog quilting... ripit, ripit) 

So I showed the picture to DH.  He came out to the studio and said, "I thought you were going to fix it."  Aaarrrggghhh.  He found two more! 

All are fixed.  We've made numerous inspections and think I have the all right now.  Maybe I should take a picture...

Design Wall Monday

On Monday's, Judy at Patchwork Times has a "link up" for quilters to show what's on their design wall.  Here's my current project in process...

In front of the design wall is my long arm quilter and you can see the strips lined up for making more blocks.  Lots of work to do...  this quilt was requested as a gift for Mother's Day in 2012.  I'm heads down trying to finish it for Mother's Day this year.

Wake Up, Harley

A couple posts ago, I talked about black and gold fabrics.  My cousin is a Harley Davidson bike rider and he asked me to make a t-shirt quilt for his daughter, Mary.  Mary is a recent graduate of Wake Forest University... hence, the black and gold fabrics.

The t-shirts had logos and designs of various sizes.  Some of them were 16" which is a little oversized for a t-shirt quilt.  Most t-shirt squares are cut at 12" and the logos are just chopped off... not to my liking for a special quilt like this one had to be.  Some of the logos were small which would have left a lot of negative space on the block if they were cut at 12".

So, it became a very custom quilt.  The t-shirt blocks were various sizes filled in with traditional quilt blocks in black and gold.  I used blocks like flying geese, square in square, pinwheels, etc.  I thought they would add a nice touch since the quilt was for a girl, yet the t-shirts and colors were somewhat masculine.  The traditional blocks finished at 5" square (except the geese) and I used sashing to make the rows even.

Here's the result...

The driver for preserving the 16" block is the middle block which says...

           What makes a road "Sweet"?
           What makes a journey "Epic"?
           It starts with that ribbon of pavement  calling your name.  

As Mary is at the beginning of her life's journey having just graduated from college, I thought it was so profound.  She will have roads in her life calling her name and whether the journey is sweet or epic is all about the decisions she will make.

Oh, Wake up, Harley is the name of the quilt... Wake Forest + Harley Davidson.  Get it?

Bonnie Hunter!

I love Bonnie Hunter.  She has a website, quiltville.com, and a blog.  This gal has more energy in her little finger than I have in my whole body.  She lives in Wallburg, NC which is near my home (Midway), and she travels all over the US (and sometimes Internationally) teaching quilters how to make quilts using tiny pieces of fabric. 

• Side note... Quilt fabric is now in the $12 a yard range and you don't want to waste any fabric.  Bonnie is the queen of using every little piece of fabric in her quilts.

But, I digress... Bonnie is highly in demand as a teacher.  Her calender bookings are now into 2016.  Sarah, with Silver Comet Stitchers, saved me a place in Bonnie's class.  I felt blessed.  Bonnie was teaching Jamestown Landing from her newest book, String Fling. 

See my little squares made from half square triangles?  Sometimes I think quilters are nuts.  We take fabric, cut it into little pieces, then sew it back together again.  Why?  Because we can. 

This quilt requires that I make 840 squares from 2-1/2 inch half square triangles.  Bonnie teaches us how to cut and sew them efficiently.  I like efficient!

Then you take the triangles and sew them together in blocks called a Churn Dash.  Churn Dash blocks are sewn together to make star blocks.  So, let's lay them out...

Oops... do you see the two blocks in the right corner/side?  Wrong way.  When you sew blocks together like this, there is a handy gadget to use called a seam ripper.  Ask me how I know!  Ripping out quilt blocks is called frog quilting... rip it, rip it. 

Ah... this is better...

My block is on the left.  All sewn together.  My table partner and new friend, Hetty, made the block on the right.  (Hetty is from Moreland, Georgia.  She drove an hour and a half during rush hour yesterday to get to this class.  I loved sewing with her.)  

• Another side note... I am an avid fan of Harry Chapin's songs.  If you don't know him, his songs told stories.  In one song, he tells of a singer who tried to go professional but didn't make it.  The line in the song that speaks to me goes, "he did not know how well he sang.  it just made him whole."  That's how I feel about quilting.  I don't know how well I quilt, but when I spend time with friends and fabric, it just makes me whole.  

The dark fabrics were gifted to me.  I think they are going to make a lovely quilt.  I completed two blocks yesterday.   For now, it will go in the UFO stack as I have committed to make a quilt for my friend, Beth.  These bright colors will be calling me, though, so I will be next in line. 

Black & Gold

Fabrics laid out on the cutting table...

Working on a quilt with black & gold accents.  Lots of fabric to choose from.  Guess what college these represent?

Charity Quilt

(Also known as my "go to" quilt pattern.)

Joe came in one day last year after his Kiwanis meeting and was talking about needing to raise money for the Administrative fund.  The Administrative fund is the fund they use for internal expenses like postage, gifts for speakers, travel expenses, etc.  The Service fund is the money they use for scholarships, etc. 

So in short order, I could see where this was going.  So it came around to a discussion of me making a quilt for them to raffle.  I asked him about timeframe and he said early 2013 (but the raffle had to be approved by the Board). 

Of course, the Board said yes but they wondered if I could have it done in time for the Smyrna Jonquil Festival. 

 Yikes, six weeks! 

So I went to my "go to" quilt pattern and this is the result...

Joe worked so hard to sell tickets.  The club capped the ticket sales at 400 and Joe sold over 100 by himself.  The raffle raised a little over $1,600.  Woo Hoo!

The quilt was won by our friend Rosemary who works at our local Ace Hardware store.  When we were in the store last week, she told me is was so warm and comfy.  I love it when someone uses an appreciates my work.  

My Jonquils Are Confused

We have had the strangest weather.  One day it's 70 degrees and the next day, we have freezing temps and ice on the deck. 

Needless to say, my jonquils are confused.

After a spell of warm weather last week, the weatherman was forecasting freezing temps.  I went out to my jonquil patch and picked them so they wouldn't freeze.  Nothing fancy, just a jelly jar to hold them.  They look bright on my kitchen table. 

The Georgia ground hog, General Beauregard Lee, say his shadow so he's saying six more weeks of bad weather.  Although I hope it's not bad, bad, we could use some rain to offset a couple years of drought.  In the meantime, I have my jonquils to remind me that Spring will come.