It's Blogger's Quilt Festival time!

Once again it is time for the spring Blogger's Quilt Festival, the wonderful online quilt show organized by Amy at Amy's Creative Side. 

There will be tons of fabulous, amazing quilts in all of the categories.  I can't wait to see what everyone has entered this spring. Last fall was the first time I followed the festival, and I was overwhelmed by how many incredible quilts were shown.

I haven't finished many quilts since last fall's festival, but I do have one that I am especially proud of.  This is my Blazing Hidden Nine-Patch.

The top for this quilt was made for my quilt guild's nine-patch challenge. It wasn't until last year that I was able to get it quilted. I have always thought it looks like the glow of a fire showing through a dark screen, so it was quilted with a flame pattern.

This is my favorite type of quilt to make--a very simple pattern made special by the choice of fabrics. It is one of my all-time favorite quilts, and I hope you like it too.  I have entered it in the wall quilt category.  You can see all the entries in this category here.  Voting for your favorites begins May 24th. For more info about the festival and to see all the categories/entries go here.

QUILT SPECS:

BLAZING HIDDEN NINE-PATCH

Finished size: 46" x 58"

Pattern: "Atlanta Commons" by Marti Michell in her book 101 Nine Patch Quilts

Blogger's Quilt Festival #34 in wall hangings

Julie

15 Minute Challenge

This is my favorite time of year. The weather is so beautiful, lots of flowers are blooming, and my schedule has lightened up, making it possible for me to get in some serious quilting time. The next couple of months are the best opportunity to finish up some of my old projects (and maybe start something new!)

I have mostly been continuing with my ongoing BOM projects. So far this month I have made 5 Dancing Stars blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Yesterday I started working on this month's blocks for the Scrappy Sampler BOM. Both of these projects are hanging out on my design wall.

I managed to sew for 6 out of the 7 days last week. Pretty good considering I was away from home the first 3 days. I prepared a hand-sewing project to take along and that kept me on track.

May 7th to 13th
Tuesday--nothing
Wednesday--Dancing Stars
Thursday--Dancing Stars
Friday--Irish Chain
Saturday--Irish Chain, Dancing Stars
Sunday--Irish Chain, Dancing Stars, Scrappy Sampler
Monday--Scrappy Sampler

Check out the 15 Minute Challenge posts at Life in Pieces to see how others are finding time for their creativity. 


Julie

Design Wall Monday 5/13/13

My design wall shows my latest group of Dancing Stars blocks at the top. I was able to continue the foundation piecing by hand while I was out of town last week. You can see how I did that by clicking here. Now I am back to doing them by machine.

The lower part has the center of my Scrappy Sampler BOM quilt. I have been auditioning fabrics for the next group of blocks. Looking at the photo makes me think I should switch one or two fabrics to brighter colors rather than so many dark. Making those will be my next project. If you are interested in seeing this quilt in all bright batiks, you can find that here.

As usual, I will be linking up to Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday.  Check out all the great inspiration there. 

Julie

Stash Report Sunday 5/12/13

I fell off the no-fabric-buying wagon in a big way this week. When I took my Turning Leaves quilt to my friend Jan for longarm quilting, she pointed out a bin of fabric that she was selling for a friend who had given up quilting. They were all very nice quilt shop fabrics priced at $2 per yard, $3 for batiks. How could I resist those prices?!! Most of what I got were large pieces that will be good for backing (the medium blue on the left) or backgrounds (the white with tiny red stars and the yellow.) The rest are smaller (1/2 - 3/4 yard) pieces.

I was going through a box of quilt tops recently, most of which were made in the late 1990's up to about 2003 when I went on the road.  One was this Irish Chain that I made as a beginning quilting class sample.  I discovered that this pattern was not a good choice for beginners--a very accurate 1/4" seam is necessary for these blocks to fit together.  That was too difficult for new quilters and led to lots of frustration.

This is not a quilt I feel the need to finish for myself, but it is the perfect size for a Quilt of Valor.  I think that the medium blue fabric I just bought will be perfect for the back.  I just needed to add another fabric to get a little more length to make it big enough.

I have a question for others who participate in the weekly Stash Reports.  Would you count the fabric in the Irish Chain quilt top as yardage used?  The fabric in that top hasn't been "yardage" for a long time, but it has been taking up space in my sewing room all those years.  

Used this week:   4.75 yard  (back for Irish Chain quilt)
Used year to date:  29 yards    

Added this week:   15.75 yards   

Added year to date: 20 yards

Net year to date:  9 yards used 

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.

Julie

Dancing Sapphire Stars

It has taken me a little while to get going on my blue Dancing Stars blocks for the May Rainbow Scrap Challenge. In previous months, my stars were foundation pieced by machine. This month I decided to try foundation piecing by hand because I was going to be traveling for close to a week and wanted a hand sewing project to take along. For more info on my hand-piecing, check out this post.

So far I have one block finished and another one together that needs the foundation paper removed and the edges trimmed. The segments for my third block have all the parts sewn to the foundations, and the strip segments need to be stitched together.

I am back home after being gone for almost a week, which means I can go back to machine piecing these blocks, but it is good to know that the hand piecing works well too.


I am linking up to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2013, where you can see all sorts of wonderful ways that other quilters have been using their blue scraps this month. The Dancing Stars pattern is available at Amy's Creative Side (and it's free!)


Julie

15 Minute Challenge

In her 15 Minute Challenge post for this week, Kate talks about some of the many other creative outlets that quilters enjoy. My other source of creative inspiration is my job of making theater costumes. One of the best things about it is the variety of projects we get to do. In the past 9 months or so, we got to work on everything from tailoring 1970's style men's suits to gypsy costumes for Zorro. Every show is different, and it is so much fun to see the final product up there on stage.

It looks like I missed posting for the 15 Minute Challenge last week, so we will have a double dose listing today. It has been a fun and busy couple of weeks, including having my sister Karen and my mother visiting. Karen and I made a baby quilt together for her first grandchild. We always have such a great time when we get to quilt together, but it doesn't happen very often.

Tues., 4/23--cleaning sewing room
Wed., 4/24--cleaning sewing room
Thur., 4/25--Dancing Stars
Fri., 4/26--Dancing Stars
Sat., 4/27--baby quilt 
Sun., 4/28--baby quilt
Mon., 4/29--baby quilt, quilt shops
Tues., 4/30--quilt shops
Wed., 5/1--baby quilt
Thur., 5/2--baby quilt
Fri., 5/3--baby quilt, Dancing Stars
Sat., 5/4--Dancing Stars
Sun., 5/5--Dancing Stars
Mon., 5/6--Dancing Stars

I didn't get to sew every day, but I did have quilt-related activity each day. A couple days were spent cleaning the sewing room, and I also spent part of last Monday and Tuesday taking my sister & mother to some of the local quilt shops. Visiting the stores definitely gets my creative juices flowing!

Here is a photo of the finished baby quilt we made. We worked together on the piecing, then I did the quilting and Karen did the binding. It will be given to my niece at her baby shower this Saturday, but unfortunately I won't be able to attend.  Baby shower in Wisconsin, I will be in Georgia.

Check out the 15 Minute Challenge posts at Life in Pieces to see how others are finding time for their creativity. 


Julie

Design Wall Monday 5/6/13

My design wall is empty this week, but I do have a design table. I have been working on more Dancing Stars blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. This month's color is bright blue. The blocks are foundation pieced, and I decided to try doing the piecing by hand.  First I needle punched the foundations with my sewing machine. This makes it much easier to sew through the foundation.

After that I started hand stitching my star fabrics to the foundations. For me, it was easiest and most secure to sew with a backstitch.  I started out doing a small running stitch, but I couldn't get a consistent stitch length. Here are the segments for one block.

Here are the same segments from the right side. After they were all stitched to the foundations, I pressed them lightly, then trimmed the long edges where they will get joined together. Once I get the seams stitched, I will trim around the outside edges of the block to square it up.

As usual, I will be linking up to Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday.  Check out all the great inspiration there. 

Julie