Batik Give Away

I finally feel like I have my sewing mojo back! This is another quilt I made for our 16 x 24 challenge to show the ladies that you can piece something as well as applique.

To make it a little different I made the blocks into rectangles instead of squares. The quilting on the blocks are straight lines and some crazy lines in the borders.

I am not a huge fan of batiks (probably the only one in the world) but had some on hand and decided they would be attention getters. The colors are very saturated and bright.

I even gave it a pretty back!

I decided to just make a clean sweep of my sewing table and am going to give these scraps away. There are big pieces and small pieces, squares and rectangles and everything else in between.
Leave a comment, become a follower, if you aren't already and I will draw a name on Tuesday July 3. Everyone is welcome to enter just be sure that I have your email or I will have to pick another name!

Kelly

Thursday Pictures

The following are quilts that are on display at the Mercer Museum in Doylestown PA Enjoy! No words needed!!

Kelly

A New Challenge: Vintage Patchwork Revisited

Debbie, a fellow quilter emailed me the other day to see if I was interested in a challenge for our local library. She was given some old wedding ring fabrics that were sort of sewn together.

The colors are pretty and I really like the prints too.

Some are hand pieced and some are machine pieced.

They smelled a little like grandma's attic and had a few stains on them. I have not tried this before but knew others that did and gave it a whirl. It's called Restoration and it gently removes stains and brightens the fabrics.

The directions say to dissolve it in cool water and add you fabric. Let it sit for about 15 to 20 minutes, rinse and repeat the soak, now for 5 to 8 hours.
I did as directed, got rid of most of the stains and dirt, they do look brighter. They also smell much nicer.

I love the sail boats

So to all the local people who might be interested here is the Vintage Patchwork Revisited Challenge.

Stop by the Downingtown Library and pick up a kit which will include several "arcs" from the original pieces ( about 28 patches). Fill out the information sheet and return with $10.00 in the envelope provided. You will get this back when you return the finished quilt or you can exchange it for a ticket to the reception and raffle of quilts on  October 5, 2012.

Make a small quilt using any number of patches from the kit along with any new fabric and or embellishment you would like to include (buttons embroidery etc) The design is up to you- traditional, contemporary whatever inspires you. Maximum size 24" on a side. You can also make a block and frame it rather than make a quilt. Quilts should have a sleeve or rings included on the back or some other way to hang it.

Turn in the finished quilt on or before October 1, 2012. Finished quilts will be displayed as they come in.
On October 5 the quilts will be displayed at a reception where all attendees willl be able to win the quilts through a lottery drawing. Details are being finalized. Tickets will be $15 per person. Refreshments will be served.

We are hoping for a lot of enthusiasm and support for this new idea as a library fundraiser. Please consider joining the fun and or passing on the information to a friend.

For more information contact Debbie at dokeefe19@hotmail.com 


Do you have any ideas what I should do with mine? The pieces are about 3" x 1 3/4" .

Kelly

Diary Block Tuesday

I think my block says it all this week! I ended up not having to even go but I made the block ahead of time because my times were for Monday and Tuesday.

I have been on a jury twice and really did like it, I don't know why everyone complains about it. I thought it was interesting to see how it all works. No matter how silly the lawsuit, everyone takes it very seriously.

I think I am back in the groove, the sewing groove that is. I have gotten some things done and have lots of irons in the fire.

Kelly

Weekend Project

I will admit I am a magazine reader. I love that you can pick it up read it and come back to it later to read another article. I general I love to read and never feel like I waste money on a book or magazine.

My good friend, Cheryl got me hooked on dyeing fabric. She would have the most beautiful colors and I wanted some of those too. This article was in the current issue of Quilting Arts Magazine, so I thought I would give it a try.

After a stressful week of this, I wanted to do something fun and creative!

My husband is a builder and it is amazing how many times his stuff comes in handy for quilting. He also uses my rulers for counting drywall on plans and has been known to wield a rotary cutter,so it is a win win! He set me up with some plywood on saw horses and even had plastic drop cloths needed for this method. I recommend doing this in the yard and not on your deck as my friend, Cynthia found out! It is messy.

I mixed up the dyes to make 12 different colors. I liked using the Ball canning jars as it was a little breezy and they worked as paper weights on the plastic too. You could also see the colors which was nice.

I used this book and liked it very much. The instructions are clear and easy.

The idea is that you lay down a piece of plastic and place your prepared fabric on top.

Pour the dye on the fabric, mush it in, smooth it out and place a piece of plastic on top of it, lay the next piece of fabric down and continue until all 12 colors are used.

When you are done you will have a stack of 12 fabrics. The plastic is big so the dye rolls off and does not get on the next piece, make sense? You then cover the last piece with plastic and let it sit until the next day.

The colors came out good and are very close to what they showed in the book. This picture is not a good representation!

Part of the reason to do this is to get a more "solid" looking color. These have a bit of a mottled look to them.

Overall I liked the technique and would try it again. It was a lot of work hauling everything out into the backyard. Clean up was a breeze using the hose and I didn't have to worry about dyeing the laundry room!

Kelly

Keeping It Real

16 x 24

At long last I have finished something! My guild, Penn Oaks is having a quilt show next spring. After many years of making large bed sized quilt for our raffle quilt, we are doing something different. All the members are asked to make a small quilt 16 x 24 of anything they want. We will hang them up and sell raffle tickets for each quilt. I am hoping every member makes a quilt as it would give us a nice variety.

I am making a few of these over the summer to give members an idea of what they can do. I am hoping to do a pieced one as well because not everyone want to do applique.

I was happy with the simple machine quilting. I did a pretty good job staying on the line!

I quilted the background first, next I did the stem and finally the leaves.

Even the back looks good. The colors look so much better in real life. It is a grey day here and I couldn't get a good picture.

Kelly

The Heat Is On

I really, really, really dislike grocery shopping. Think about how many times you touch the food before it gets into your stomach. Pick it off the shelf,  put it in the cart, put it on the conveyor at check out, put it in the bag, put it back in the cart, take it out of the cart and put it in the car, carry it into your house, take it out of the bag, put it on the shelf, take it off the shelf to prepare it. With the heat you have to worry about all of the cold stuff melting too! So now you see that in order to do all of this I felt I needed a reward, plus I had a coupon at Joanne's that was about to expire. This is 4 fat quarters all connected, so it is a yard of fabric with 4 different prints. Good idea.

As you can see the East Coast had a very hot day. This was in the shade but on our deck. I think it showed a little hotter than it really was, but........

my husband Bob and his brother, Kevin who works for him continued to finish our roof. They worked from 7 to 5 in the broiling heat. We have a very steep roof.

Bob

Looks like fun huh? I spent the entire day worrying about them, making Gatorade and dispensing ice cream.

Kevin

Notice the one foot on the ladder and the other on that very skinny strip of wood. They are tethered you just can't see it in the picture.

This is the way they get up there. Would you climb up those ladders? (Suzanne I know you are totally freaking out right now!) Again they are not freestanding but hooked on the each other and attached at the top of the roof, but still!
They have assured me they are working a half day today because it is supposed to be 100. Gatorade anyone?

Kelly