A Tower of Giraffes!

Did you know that a group of Giraffes is called a Tower?

I did not know this until I googled it today.

The quilt group that started after I taught a couple of 

friends to quilt a few years ago

got together and made

Gerianne the Giraffe.

I made mine first and everyone else wanted to make one, too.

Meet Gerianne times six!

I love how different they all are.

I should have gotten a close up of all the eyes...

all very different and all beautiful.

Great job everyone!

One of the ladies in the group made this quilt for her brother for Christmas.

Unfortunately, it took a wrong turn along the way.

She sent it out to a long arm quilter

and when it was returned, it looked awful.

She contacted the longarmer, who made it right,

but my friend had to take out all of the quilting stitches herself.

That was done, it was sent back to the long armer

and it is finished.

I didn't get a photo of the entire quilt

and the quilting doesn't show up very well in this photo,

but it's a beautiful finish.

I love the batiks and black together.

Yesterday I started a new quilt!

Kaffe!

My favorite!

Happy Quilting!

Finished Christmas Tree Skirt

It's been quiet on the blog and in my Hidey Hole

this past week.

I was in NYC watching the A10 basketball tournament.

Unfortunately, my team lost early in the tournament,

but we are still playing in the NCAA tournament starting on Friday.

GO RAMS!!

Before I left for NYC,

I was able to quilt and bind the latest Christmas Tree skirt

I'm making for a wedding gift for a friend of my younger daughter.

The 15 degree wedge ruler was used to make this tree skirt,

using strip sets of 3 1/2" wide strips of fabrics.

 

Quilting this was fun.

I used some of my free motion rulers and just played with each ring.

The bottom ring was quilted with a feather design.

 

 

I love this backing fabric.

It could be reversible if they choose to use it this way.

My dilemma is, if  it can be reverisble,

what do I do about a label?

The first photos show the true colors of the fabrics.

Christmas fabrics are some of my favorites to use.

All of these came from my stash!
I'm glad I was able to finish this in time to send back with

my daughter when she comes for a visit soon.

No shipping needed!

Happy Quilting!

Dragonflies Are Dancing!

I'm so excited with the finish of this quilt.

The kit was purchased in Rapid City, SD

by my sister-in-law

after I told her I would make it for her.

It took some courage to open the package

and begin the process,

but once I did,

things moved right along.

Here is "The Dance of the Dragonflies".

 The kit was so well organized with easy to follow directions.

The most important feature was the pieces were all laser cut.

WOOHOO!

The background fabric was digitally printed for these wallhangings.

The pattern is made in a square,

but the sample in the shop was in the round.

We both loved this version.

The shop sample had some fun quilting on the background

and I managed to do some, too.

 Each piece of fabric is machine stitched down with a 

straight stitch and monofilament thread.

 

The colors are a tad bolder in person and so striking.

The shop from which the kit was purchased

sold these support wires so the wallhanging could be hung on the wall

and not anchored all the way around.

I ordered these when I got home and will let my

brother and sister-in-law insert them into the quilt.

The binding was made wider so there is a pocket

around the back of the quilt to hold the wires.

I am excited about delivering this quilt to them in a few weeks.

The dragonflies will be dancing in their home.

I'm linking to Design Wall Monday today.

Happy Quilting!

Another Wedding, Another Tree Skirt

One of my daughters' college roommates is getting married

later this year.

As some of you know, my traditional wedding gift,

when appropriate, is a Christmas tree skirt.

My daughter will be visiting from California in a couple of weeks,

so I thought I would try to get this tree skirt made before she comes.

If I can do this, I won't have to mail it to her before the wedding!

For this tree skirt, I decided to play with one of my wedge rulers.

I pulled the fabric I wanted to use and began cutting and sewing strip sets.

Here is what resulted from a few hours of 

cutting, sewing cutting again and sewing again.

Once it is quilted, the opening will be cut for the tree

and a cut will be made up one side.

 

See the fabrics with the words?

It's directional.

Ask me what I had to do once all of the strips

had been cut and partially sewn into sections.

Yep....

I had cut the original strips going in the wrong direction,

so the words were sideways.

Some time was spent with my seam ripper

and the new pieces were cut so the words are going in the

right direction.

Quilting can be so humbling!

 

I hate to cut the center out of this.

I love how it looks!

Maybe I can make something with it once it's cut out.

This week I was able to make a few more blocks

from Lori Holt's

"Farm Girl Vintage" book.

The two blocks at the top and three blocks at the bottom

are new additions.

 I need to figure out how large this quilt is going to be

and then determine how many blocks will be needed.

These are fun blocks to make!

Happy Quilting!

Little Things

I'm waiting for some hanging wires to arrive before I can

make the binding for the

Dance of the Dragonflies wallhanging,

so I've been putzing.

(Once the wires arrive, I'll explain how they work...I hope!)

My History of Quilt group is discussing quilting

and life during the Depression this session.

For our quilting challenge,

we are using Lori Holt's book

"Farm Girl Vintage".

Of course,

since it's the Depression,

we are encouraged to use 30's fabrics for our blocks.

Well, I am not a fan of 30's fabrics and have very few of them.

I thought about buying some to make this quilt,

but then decided to do what the women in the 30's would have done.

Use and make due with what I have!

Last year I finished this Metro Rings quilt and have LOTS of scraps left.

 

Out came the pile and the playing began.

Here is what I've made so far!

These blocks are so much fun to put together!

I don't know if I'll make any of the animal or kitchen blocks,

but the other blocks are great.

By the end of the session,

I plan to have enough for a quilt.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've also started my children's' sock knitting for the year.

These are the first sets of socks made that will be sent to the

Pine Ridge Indian reservation in the fall.

This past year I made 24 pair of children's socks

and hope to make at least that many this year.

Happy Quilting and Knitting!

The Dance of the Dragonflies Commences

My sister-in-law loves dragonflies.

When we were on our trip to Yellowstone and the Bad Lands

last fall, she saw dragonflies just about everywhere we went...

including a quilt shop in Rapid City, SD.

We walked into the quilt shop, turned the corner

and there was this gorgeous

Dragonfly wallhanging.

It stopped her in her tracks.

I looked at it and thought

WOW! 

There are a lot of little pieces in that wallhanging.

Then I spotted a kit.

A kit with laser cut pieces!

She bought it and I'm making it.

This pattern is so well organized and easy to follow.

 The wallhanging in the quilt shop was in the round,

which my sister-in-law really liked.

 

They sold this digital background fabric in several

different colors.

It's such a neat burst of color for this qilt.

 

These photos do not do the colors of the batiks justice.

They are very vibrant and beautiful.

As I was snipping each piece and pressing it into place,

I was thanking my lucky stars for the kit with the laser cut pieces!

Quilting all of these little pieces is going to take some time and patience...

And maybe a little of this!

(Belgium flight from World of Beer...yum!)

I'm linking to Design Wall Monday today.

Happy Quilting!

Baby Rob's Quilt is Finished

A dear, dear friend is going to be a Gram for the third time in the spring.

This will be her first grandson.

Her son and daughter in law live in my town,

but she doesn't, so I have offered to host a baby shower for them.

And, of course, that means a baby quilt had to be made.

Both of the parents are HUGE into cycling

and sports of all kind and spend a lot of time outdoors.

Since this is the case,

I decided to make a bright quilt and found a piece of

fabric with cyclers.

(NOT bikers, as I've been told. That's a totally different look. :D)

This quilt is perfect for picnics or playing outside,

if they choose to use it for this.

The 60 degree ruler was used to make this quilt.

I bought the cycling fabric and two others... the rest came from stash.

 

The parents compete in races and this fabric was perfect.

I didn't realize until I was putting the pieces on my design wall

that all of the rest of the fabrics have polka dots!

I think I have a problem. :D

 

This one was quilted with my walking foot, following the seams

and is bound and finished.

 

I had a large enough piece of solid turquoise fabric in my stash

and used that for the backing.

Polka dots for the binding finished it off.

It will be labeled, washed and ready to give to the new parents

at the shower.

Baby quilts are so much fun to make!

Happy Quilting!

Finished Moda Love

 

 

This sweet little baby quilt is finished!

It was such an easy quilt to make and just what I needed...

Mindless yet made with an interesting design.

 

 

Moda Love has been a quilt along this year,

but I just happened to find the pattern and liked the simplicity of it. 

Mine was made with charm packs and a little yardage.

 

 

 

 

I quilted it with freehand flowers

and realized after I was about half way finished

that I should have added leaves.

It will be leafless, though, as I am not good enough to go back

and add leaves to it now.

 

 

 

 

 This little quilt is about 36x36"

and will be donated to one of the recipients of

Hands2Help this year.

 Once the mailing addresses are given,

it will be in the mail.

 

I am linking to Design Wall Monday today.

 

Happy Quilting!

 

Moda Love Quilt

The other day I needed something mindless and fast to make.

As I was looking on line for some inspiration,

I came across this pattern.

When I was cleaning a while ago,

I found a charm pack and some yardage I had purchased

a long time ago and was forgotten.

These items would work well with this quilt.

Plus, I am going to participate in Sarah's

Hands2Help Challenge again this year

and one of the charity's, Jack's Basket, wants baby quilts 36"x36".

This is the perfect pattern for this!

What little cutting was needed was done quickly and the sewing began.

This will make a sweet quilt for a baby girl.

I love the pinks and aqua/teals together with the white background.

 

The top is made from 4 1/2" squares and HST's.

The pattern comes in three sizes that can be used with

layer cakes, charm packs and mini charm packs.

 

It went together in a snap.

The backing is pieced and the quilting will begin.

Happy Quilting!

Polka Dot Sew Together Bag

Before Christmas, my older daughter asked me to make her a 

Sew Together Bag.

I had pieced the outside of it,

but that was as far as I got with it.

A couple of weeks ago I decided it was not going to be an

Unfinished Project,

 so I started working on it again.

Ta-Da!

While I had my box of polka dot scraps out last year,

I pulled some squares and pieced the outside for the bag.

 

This pack of polka dot fabrics had been sitting in my stash for

a while, waiting for their turn to play.

Out they came.

 

I used the polka dots for the inside and outside of the pockets.

 

This binding/end fabric is one of my favorites

and I think I'm almost out of it!

It's ready to give to my daughter!

I'm waiting until Valentine's Day.

Although I'm not a fan of Valentine's Day, 

but she is.

This image was taken from the internet.

Linking to Design Wall Monday today.

Happy Quilting!

Tie Stocking

Those who follow my blog may remember the

Tie quilt I made using the ties of a dear friend

who retired.

I have a lot of pieces of the ties left and decided to

make something else with these.

After pondering and looking for ideas,

I decided to make a Christmas stocking

with some of these pieces.

Here is the Tie Quilt revisited.

It will be delivered soon!

 

For the stocking,

I pulled the red and blue ties and cut

HST's from the pieces after ironing interfacing

on the scraps.

 

The HST's were sewn together

and then I made a quilt sandwich.

 

I quilted a sandwich for the back of the stocking, too.

and cut the stocking shapes out of both sandwiches.

 

Binding was cut on the bias and then sewn to the stocking.

If my friend likes this,

I will make three more...

one for each of his grandchildren.

Happy Quilting!

Meet Genevieve

When I started making this quilt,
I was calling the giraffe by her name on the pattern...

GerriAnn.

Now that she is finished,

her name will be

Genevieve.

Meet Genevieve...

I had the best time making Genevieve!

After the fabrics and pattern marinated for about 5 years,

it was time to get her finished.

The fabrics used in the pattern were busy and the

grass and borders were dark.

 These orange batiks I collected for her

played well together and were fun to place on the pattern.

The pattern suggested minimal quilting in the sky and grassy

areas. It didn't take me long to quilt this one at all.

The pieces were all machine quilted with monofilament thread.

Genevieve is hanging in my home for a while and will

then go to a special person.

I might have to make another one for myself when she goes

to live elsewhere.

I'm linking to Design Wall Monday today.

Happy Quilting!

Frosty the Snowman

It seems appropriate to be finishing a snowman this week

with the weather being what it's been.

Although, I think very few people have been outside

building snowmen!

This guy has lingered in my cabinet for years,

waiting to be finished.

The embroidery and applique had been done.

All he needed was to be sewn together and stuffed.

His hat and scarf took no time to make.

Frosty is finished 

(except for his branch arms and a bell on his hat)

and ready for display.

This pattern was taken from a book called

"Little Red Hen Snowmen in the Coop"

and has some cute snowmen patterns in it.

 

At the time I started this,

I had planned on making several of these.

That idea has been scrapped

and the fabrics have been put back into my stash.

 

His nose was supposed to be made from clay,

but I thought it would be difficult to store.

He has rice in his bottom to help him stand

and the rest is filled with polyfil.

When it warms up and dries out a bit,

I'll go look for some sticks for his arms.

Another old UFO is finished and out of my cabinet!

 

Happy Quilting!