Working on the 3D pinwheel quilt

Working on the 3D pinwheel quilt. Yesterday, I finished quilting it.  I started the day by piecing the background, sandwiched it, did the stitch in the ditch to stabilize the prairie points.  By this point it was time to make lunch.  After lunch I started quilting the middle, and move on to the borders.  It was great, it went so smoothly.

I am so happy this one is done.  The shower is coming up shortly.  After dinner I ironed the binding and sewed it on.  Now I have to tack it down by hand.  I am not going to show any pictures yet.  Not until I finish the binding.

So.....instead I thought I would share with you part of my front garden.  This first picture is a view from a few steps down from the front door.  To the right of the picture, not seen here, is a bench.  This is about what you would see from the bench or the front window.  It is all new and still needs to fill in some, but it is getting there.

This next picture is the one corner beside the driveway, left of the picture above.  This view is from the walkway looking toward the house.  As you can see the walkway turns to the right and leads to the stairs on the left turn.

The pictures were taken right after a rain fall.  I love how the colours stand out so much after it rains.  The lime greens are brighter and the green of the yew bush seems deeper.  So pretty.

Today I did some more quilting on my log cabin quilt, but again I won't be showing you the pictures yet.  Not until the quilt is done.  I am hoping that will be soon.  I have been wanting this one done for quite some time.  Anyways I am hoping everyone had a great weekend.  Enjoy the rest of the night.

Bottom floret number three is done

Bottom floret number three is done.  This floret is the only one that I have that will be this type of purple.  I like purple, but it looks too close to the purple of the border.

With the appliqué Tiny Town blocks that I am working on, this quilt has been put aside for a bit.  It only gets to come out when I am done my homework for class, so needless to say it is going to take a little longer to do.  That is ok though, as this quilt does not have a timeline and is something that I am enjoying the process of.  In between assembling these florets and the appliqué Tiny Town, I am still taking the diamond hexagons apart.  No rush there either.  Always lots to do.

As I said earlier, I like purple, so I thought I would share some of the purple blooms from my garden.  Here are some purple Japanese Iris.  The shade of purple can almost be described as blue.  What you don't see just yet is the bush behind the Iris. It is a Lilac bush and the colours of the blooms are a soft purple, almost lavender, but a bit deeper.  It it a young bush, as I just planted it last year.  It had only two blooms on it this year.  I am looking forward to next years blooms.

I also like my pinks.  Here I took a picture of the Bleeding Heart that I planted last year too.  Already this garden is looking very full.  Beneath the Bleeding Heart are some purplish pink ground cover.  If you look closely at the top of this picture you can just see a small bit of the purple Iris.

As you have probably noticed, I love my gardens.  They are a constantly changing canvas, with all the colours and all the different seasons.  Always a work in progress.

Enjoy the rest of the day everyone!

Starting Tiny Town block three for June

Starting Tiny Town block three.  This is the block for June.  We don't actually have a class for June, but I have to stay focused so I don't fall behind.  By the end of this weekend I should have one section of this block done.  I did start on the black post for the mail boxes.

This weekend should be better for getting some quilty stuff done.  The last couple of weekends were primarily working on the garden all weekend, all day.  I still have to do some weeding and clean up, but that is nothing compared to what I have been doing.

I am looking forward to a more relaxed weekend.  Hope everyone has a good one.  Cheers. 

Finished Tiny Town block two For May

I finished block number two of the Tiny Town.  This is the bottom half of the block.  Finished it the night before class.  I like the background on this one, especially.  There are cute quilting lines on it.

This is the whole block trimmed and pieces together.  If I want to I can put blocks one and two together now, but I think I will wait until I have block number three done.  I can put the whole top row together.

 
Here is a picture of the pattern and the fabric they used.  It is amazing what the different fabrics will do to the looks of the block.

I even took a picture at class of some of the other completed blocks.  Some of the students brought in what they had so far.  All the different varieties.

Maybe this month I can try and get the block done ahead of schedule instead of last minute.

Drunkards path quilt

On the Monday of the May long weekend I was working on finishing the 3D pinwheel quilt.  I had all the borders picked out.  As I worked on it, I was using my Drunkards path quilt pieces as my leader/enders.

The drunkards path quilt I am embarrassed to say was started back on September of 2004.  This was 1 1/2 years after I started to quilt.  The reason that it got put aside was, at that time my experience level was not up for this one.  Curves are a bit challenging.  I did take it out about a year later and tried again, but I just didn't have the patience for the the small curves.

Now many years later I decide that I want this quilt done.  I like this pattern and the soft type fabrics I am using.  It feels like a summer or spring quilt.  I took the pieces out again and thought to myself that, I can do this, I can!

So, in between attaching the borders to the 3D pinwheel quilt, I worked on these pieces.  Just in doing the borders I was able to get 12 more small blocks done.  That's not bad.  And because it was done between other sewing I didn't even notice how quickly they were getting done.

I think I am going to keep the pieces beside my machine all the time and see how far I can get on this.  

So far, I only have two full blocks completed, but I do have enough small blocks to make approximately another 4-5 blocks.  The above picture is the block layout.  This block makes a diagonal chain going across the quilt, which ends up looking like a grid, only wonky.  The wonky part is the name of the layout the Drunkards path.

The top of the 3D pinwheels quilt is done

The top of the 3D pinwheels quilt is done!!!  Move it on up the list!  My little man did a good job holding up the quilt even with the wind blowing.

I finally committed to an outer border.  I think the colours are a little brighter than they really are in real life.  It was very bright outside when I took the picture.  Maybe that had something to do with it. After I quilt it I will take the pictures inside to see if it makes a difference.

Up close it looks great with the little striped border and the greens are bit brighter.  This was my first 3D pinwheel quilt.  The 3D affect is achieved by making prairie points and sewing them to a block, and attach the blocks together to make the pinwheels.  They are a little more involved but soooooo cute.

I would make this quilt again.  I can see it done up in pretty girl colours or even in primary colours.

You will have to stay tuned for the final picture, quilted and bound when I get that done.  Should be too long as her baby shower is in July and I don't want to leave this for the last minute.

My layout of the Stashbuster's Ugly Sunshine quilt

As I mentioned in my last post, there are endless options for layouts.  You just have to use your imagination.  A lot of people did a simple sashing and borders and let their blocks stand up on their own.  Others did different things.  I thought they were all very nice, in all their variations.

This is my layout of the Stashbuster's Ugly Sunshine quilt.  The quilt is king size.  As I have also mentioned in previous posts, that I like stars.  I wanted to incorporate a star in the quilt to tie all the blocks together.  The star turned out to be a plus, because it allowed me to put some blocks on point and others straight.

When I tried to put the blocks together this way I realized that the on point blocks would be too small for the corners to match the straight blocks, so I had to come up with a solution for this.  My solution was to frame them on two sides to make them big enough.  This created a secondary pattern by creating a border, also on point, that framed the whole thing.  It really made things stand out.

The colours I used for the quilt were selected because I had my nephew in mind for this quilt.  His favourite colour is orange, which is why I did the star in that colour and also why I chose the blue background.  Unfortunately, I was told later that I can't give it to my nephew, because the block fabrics have flowers.  They are thought to be too feminine.

So, I have had this quilt top done for a long time.  It just sits there waiting to be quilted.  I even have the backing and batting waiting with it.  Two things are stopping me from getting this quilt done.  One is that now the quilt does not have a purpose, no one to appreciate it.  Secondly, I wanted to quilt this with numerous small fill in quilting and I never felt my experience in this technic was ever good enough.

I am slowly building my confidence in my quilting using this technic, but I still feel the quilt needs to have a purpose.  So, it sits and waits....for someday.