Hearts and Geometrics

Quilters are such awesome people!

So kind and generous...

especially with their quilting talents.

A group in New Zealand is collecting green heart blocks

and are going to make quilts for the victims and

families of those killed and injured in the mass shooting there.

A woman here in the US is collecting hearts to send to them

from quilters here.

There is so much senseless tragedy in the world these days.

It's nice to lose oneself in the creating of something that will,

hopefully, bring a bit of peace and love to those who are suffering. 

These hearts and binding will be sent to be added to the quilts.

It would be wonderful if something like this is never needed again.

I have been working on the new quilt being made with Kaffe fabrics.

This quilt is one that I have to pay attention to while I am working!

Guess what this means!

Yep...the blocks have to be taken apart.

Even though I had written on the label what way the block is facing,

I STILL made it incorrectly!!

UGH!!

This is my progress so far!

I just love the pattern in this quilt.

 

Hopefully I will not need the seam ripper again after using

it on the stack of blocks above.

 

These are my block sets, labeled and stacked.

I have eight more sets to make

and then I can begin putting the top together.

Stay tuned!

Happy Quilting!

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!