Friday, July 31, 2009

Album Quilt

Here's the quilt I got back from my quilter, Kat, right before going away for my quilting week.

I had the binding made but wanted to get them sewn by machine before going to Sunriver. I'm sewing away and for some reason something didn't seem right, but I couldn't put my finger on it.....until about 1/2 way through the second binding I realized I was sewing the binding on the back instead of the front. I stopped and had a good laugh at myself, wondering how many bindings I've sewn on. I figured it was too many to call myself a beginner:) I kept sewing and just made sure to hand stitch it down very nicely to the front.

This was a block swap my small group did. We made 2 blocks, signed one and sent them to the other group members.





Kathy did an awesome job quilting this.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Summer Sewathon continued

I was working on this in March when I went sewing with Randy and Bonnie. I feel like I made pretty good progress this time. I want a total of 80 blocks and only had about 7 or 8 more to make. I didn't have them all laid out in this photo.


While cleaning the sewing room I found a few "spare" nine patch blocks and friendship star blocks. This is how I used them up. I'm not sure what I will do for a border yet. I don't always feel like I have to put a border on my quilts, but this one is a bit small yet.

So, I used some of my orphan blocks and came home with some of Pat's! Now I have 30+ beautiful 9 patches!!! They don't seem quite like orphans since I didn't make them.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Quiltathon

This first quilt top was done by Pat. Isn't it wonderful?! She churned out the machine applique as fast as I was piecing. I was really impressed.
I was sure I took pictures of her other projects but I can't find any photos so I must not have. (boo-hoo) While at the Stitchin' Post she bought an apron pattern and whipped 2 of them out in nothing flat! And she did a gorgeous table topper in wonderful cheddars, reds, and greens by Jo Morton.



Cathi was working diligently on setting these tiny 4 patches. She brought a massive bag of them that she had been swapping. I think they finish at 2"!!! After she got this far she decided to switch projects.
I'm sure these 9" blocks seemed large and simple after working on the 4 patches. I think she told me she has this top together. Isn't it charming?


Unfortunately (for you) Bonnie's projects were top secret so no photos.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

More Sunriver Sewathon

This is Max. We think he is getting the quilting gene. Anytime we tried to layout our quilt blocks he thought he needed to walk all over them. When he needed a nap he would find a corner of a quilt or quilt top and lay on it. He loved to push our sewing machine pedals when we weren't paying attention. He was a good distraction when we needed to get up and stretch.



I haven't had a chance to show you what the other girls were working on during our sewathon. The next few are Randy's quilts. (Max belongs to her too)


Two baby quilts she had machine quilted. She had just picked them up when I took these photos. She got the binding sewn on both of them!






This one is her polka dot quilt. It is such a wonderful happy quilt with some adorable fabric!


Randy was a machine. She got bleary eyed from so many 9 patches, but she persevered and got this top together. I love the chrome yellow and red!
She didn't actually work on the pineapple blocks while I was there this time. Randy and Bonnie are doing these crazy small paper pieced beauties.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Hands Across Time

Here's my Civil War Sampler. For those of you that have asked it was a 2 sided special issue called America Quilts. You can still order the back issue from McCall's.














Saturday, July 25, 2009

Catching Up

Thank you all for the comments you've left this week. I have had an amazing time hosting friends from Denmark this week. I've read all the comments, but will not be trying to catch up by responding to them. Just know I appreciate everyone who drops by and visits my Humble Blog and enjoys my Humble Quilts.

I am also hoping to catch up on your blogs this week!! I'm sure I've missed some great quilts.

Here are a few random photos taken throughout the week.

The whole gang outside Pambiche Cuban restaurant in Portland.
The Cove Palisades State park.

The three amigos. My son is on the right.


Ogden Wayside and the Three Sisters mountains.

These 2 photos are from the Columbia River Gorge. It was a beautiful day and a great place to conclude our visit.



Friday, July 24, 2009

Civil War Sampler Part 2

This was the first quilt we did using our "own" blocks. The color in the first photo is not good at all.

The one year I went to Paducah I met Patty to see the quilt in real life. It was gorgeous! Patty Harants has a web site but it doesn't seem to be working at the moment.

Patty brought the quilt to the Houston quilt show where she had a booth. McCall's took notice and asked if we would like to do another one using Benartex fabric. They wanted to use our quilt for their magazine.

This is the magazine cover. Each block had a little story about the history of the quilt block and how it related to the Civil War. Directions were provided for each block and the border. We had to come up with a name and somehow we ended up as Sewrority Sisters.






This quilt top was brought into a quilt shop in Las Vegas where one of our group was working at the time. I've searched and searched and cannot find the woman's name who made this.

So we had 2 quilts and 11 ladies in our group. I decided I needed to make my own. I'll show you that on Monday.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Civil War Sampler


I'm finally getting around to posting this photo. The breakoff Stickle group I am involved in decided we wanted to make a Civil War sampler. We all chose a block we liked and sent it to the other members. It wasn't necessarily an original block or in the public domain. The block I chose was by Barbara Brackman called North Carolina Lily and Southern Rose. (or something similar) It is the only one that is on point in this quilt. Carol from Canada brought her quilt to one of our get togethers and we were blown away by its beauty! Right away we started planning on making one with original blocks or in the public domain. I use the word "we" lightly. I have mentioned before that in our group we have an awesome designer and another 2 who are whizzes at Electric Quilt. Tomorrow I'll show our original Civil War Sampler.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Sue Spargo Quilts

I am totally inspired by Sue Spargo and her wool quilts. I've made one and found it to be a beast to quilt, but I am tempted to try again, especially after seeing these.












You can see my Ginger Grove quilt by Sue Spargo here.



Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Fun Quilts

The first 5 quilts are from Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston's second book. I bought it, although I wouldn't probably never make the quilts in their color scheme, I do like the liberated style from the old quilts.(I call mine Humble quilts) Gwen draws her inspiration from the scrappiness and haphazard looks of antique quilts.









The woman with the hat is Freddy.



Is this house quilt too cute!? This was made by Tonye Belinda Phillips and was one of my favorites.
The next two were from the teacher's tent. So bright and cheerful!



Monday, July 20, 2009

Gee's Bend Quilts

Every year the employees of the Stitchin' Post have a challenge. This year they were challenged to use their own interpretation of the Gee's Bend "style".



Below are a few quilts from Gee's Bend, Alabama.
I haven't really decided if I have an opinion about them or not. Oh, heck, I have an opinion and I'll keep it myself.;)






Friday, July 17, 2009

More Finishes

Here is a scrappy little doll quilt a friend sent me a photo of some time ago. I've kept it for inspiration.





Here's my version using a reject Salinda Rupp block as the center. I was able to finish the borders this past week! It measures 23" square.



I was able to get the binding sewn down on this one too! Woo-hoo!