Friday Finish

Eighteen of thirty quilts quilted and bound!  I'm getting more adventurous in my long-arming; today I am experimenting with straight-line quilting on the long arm machine:

I'm thrilled with the way this is turning out.  The only problem is, the tray on which my machine sits has a gouge in it (don't know how that happened) which makes the machine slip when it goes across that point. Which of course, makes the line crooked!  Now that I know where it does that, I can adjust for it.  But I have two lines of stitching that will have to be ripped out and re-sewn on the regular machine.

Three more quilts to add to my "ready to hand off" stack.  The first one was a "Sunday is for Scraps" project. I quilted it to test a new polyester batting from Pellon.  Poly batting is so much lighter than cotton!  I think I will donate this one to the nursing home -- it is just the right size for a wheelchair quilt, and it is lightweight enough that it won't be uncomfortable on a lap.

I am really proud of this next quilt. It is a Fat Quarter Fun project from early this year, "On a Slant."  I used the January Color Palette colors in Kona cottons (blogged here).

I quilted it with a spiky meander and used a multi-colored King Tut thread:

I love this quilting design with the geometric shapes of this quilt!

The third quilt this week is going in the "someday my boys will get married and I'll have another granddaughter" cache:

It is a Modern Quilt Relish design, "TV Dinner."  I used Moda's "In the Meadow" charm pack, so I'm calling it "TV Dinner in the Meadow."

I'm getting better at quilting flowers!  I experimented with ric rac and Susie's Magic Binding.  I decided to round the corners rather than try to miter the ric rac.

I took photos of the ric rac binding technique and it will be a Tuesday Tutorial someday.

Linking up to Thank Goodness it's Finished Friday at Quokka Quilts.

Tomorrow is another Fat Quarter Fun class.  We're making a Mary Ellen Hopkins design, "Nine to Five."  This color is a hint of my fabric choices -- can't wait to show you!


From the desk of your

Quilts of Valor

Earlier this year, a group of women from Ft. Carson here in Colorado Springs deployed to Afghanistan as the "Female Engagement Team" of the 4th Infantry Division.  Fourteen women spent nine months in Afghanistan.

According to the Ft. Carson Facebook page,

Female Engagement Teams are designed to provide a more culturally sensitive approach to engaging the women of Afghanistan, and other members of the population, in order to improve relations and build support for the Afghan government and coalition forces, according to Capt. Heather Di Silvio, the officer in charge of the brigade’s FET.

Friend Terry Putzstuck decided these women deserved a quilt.  So she dove into her extensive collection of red, white, and blue fabrics and started sewing.  She is quick to say she didn't make all 14 quilts, but had help from her sister, her friends and quilters in the community.

Here are just some of the quilts that will be presented to the team when they return to Colorado this month:

All I can say is "wow."  Thank you Terry, and thank you soldiers of the Female Engagement Team and the 4th Infantry Division.



From the desk of your

Monday Mystery

It also should be BOM-day, but with two mysteries in the works, the BOMs are going to fall by the wayside today.

First up, Step 2 of Bonnie Hunter's "Easy Street":

It is no secret that I do not like Flying Geese.  Please don't tell me "try this ruler" or "try this technique."  Believe me, I've tried them all.  And I still don't like Flying Geese.

This time, I'm pressing the seams open.  I haven't sewn any together yet, but I will say, they come out nice and flat!

All 128 purple "geese" are sewn and pressed, I'm just trimming off the dog ears.  Notice my metal cookie sheet, a la Bonnie Hunter?  Great way to keep the pieces organized until they're ready to be stored in plastic bags awaiting their turn in the quilt!  (BTW, I'm linking up to Bonnie's "Easy Street" linky here.)

I'm also working on a mystery quilt at my fav LQS, Ruth's Stitchery.  This one is by Debbie Caffrey, a very talented and prolific mystery quilt designer:

I'm only one step behind on this one, but it's the second to last step!  I need to be ready to sew all the blocks together by Wednesday.

I'm using Civil War repros for this iteration of the mystery.  Notice the baggie of flying geese?  Maybe that's why I'm behind on this quilt!

 I actually made this quilt last year, but I don't want to spoil the fun for other mystery quilters -- so tune in again next week for the big "reveal!"


From the desk of your

Friday Finish and Giveaway Winner

Whew!  I'm halfway to my 30 Quilts in 60 Days!

Here are the quilts I've quilted and bound since my last "30 Days" post.

First up, a Fat Quarter Fun quilt from last year.  I'm calling it "Prince Charming," since most of the fabric is from Tula Pink's "Prince Charming" collection:

Next is another Fat Quarter Fun project, "Gemini."

Made from 30s reproduction fabrics, this is a BIG quilt.  It nearly covers the top of my king-sized bed.  Even so, it was fast to quilt because I quilted an allover meander pattern.

Second finish this week is "Chain Reaction," sewn from Kate Spain's "Terrain" collection.  I experimented with a "chain link squares" quilting pattern.  I love the way this quilting design crinkles up when the quilt is washed:

In fact, I liked it so much, I used it again for "Line Dance," made with a Kate Spain "Central Park" jelly roll:

I quilted the chain pattern in the background and loops-and-swirls in the prints:

I didn't quilt this one, but it's going to Japan so I wanted to show it to you before I mailed it.  This is My Little Sailor's graduation quilt (from 2007).  The design is a Judy Niemeyer paper-pieced pattern, "4th of July."

 Sonya Chin custom quilted it -- isn't the quilting stunning?

And now, the giveaway winner!

This is how I tricked you into reading through the whole post!

After jumping through some statistical hoops, the winner of the giveaway is Hueisei, in Malaysia!

I'm delighted, because Hueisei was an early follower of my blog and always says nice things in the comments.  Hueisei, I'll be emailing you asking for your mailing address and we'll see how my post office does with this international mailing!


Linking up to Sarah's "Whoop Whoop" and Richard and Tanya's "Link a Finish Friday," and Crazy Mom Quilts "Finish it up Friday."


From the desk of your

WIP Wednesday: Autumn Block a Day

I'm keeping up with the "30 Quilts in 60 Days" project, but everything else is falling behind!

I did manage to piece my November "Schnibbles Little Bites" quilt top, "Drop."

I used the mini-charms of "Marmalade" I bought  on my October trip to Idaho.  This quilt is an excellent example of what happens when the quilter is in a hurry and doesn't read the directions carefully.  Yes, the size is correct.  However:  each row of triangles around the tiny little center square of each block is supposed to be from the same fabric.  My first row is from four different fabrics,  and so the "square in a square" design is lost.  You'll just have to trust me when I say it looks better in person!

I am way, way behind on my "Block a Day" project for Autumn.

I thought the black-white-and-yellow jelly roll would work well for this project.  But alas, again:  the tessellating cross design doesn't show up because there isn't enough contrast.  It will be a fun quilt, but . . . .  AND I should have 70 blocks pieced by Saturday, and so far, I only have 27!

It's a good thing I'm happy with the quilting I've been doing this week!  I'll show off the week's quilts on Finish it Up Friday.

In the meanwhile, have you completed the "Sold on Solids" survey here and commented to enter my giveaway?  I'm collecting fat quarters of solids from various manufacturers to give away, and the bundle is getting bigger and bigger!




From the desk of your

Monday Mystery with Poinsettias

The big news this week in quilt land is Bonnie Hunter's newest mystery, "Easy Street."  This is my first year playinig along, and so far I am right on track.  Of course, we're only at Step 1!

I'm quite pleased that I got all my first step completed and still kept up with quilting and binding for 30 Quilts in 60 Days.

Here they are, 192 four-patch units of grey and black-and-white:

Go here to see other mystery quilters progress.

"Easy Street" is not the only mystery chez Aunt Marti.  These past two years I've made a little book of the photos of all 52 quilts I've made that year.  This year when I got my book back from Snapfish, I realize I don't remember to whom I gave several of the quilts.  So the second mystery is, who got these quilts?

Quilt #1 is "Yellow Brick Road."  Every quilter's favorite "I need a quilt to give away TOMORROW" quilt, this was a "brown bag surprise" at Ruth's Stitchery.

Quilt #2 was another mystery.  Written by Deb Caffrey, I started this one at Quilt Colorado 2010:

A third "brown bag surprise" at Ruth's Stitchery, "Framed Squares."

"Over and Under" was the green monochrome quilt in 2011 from Patchwork Times:

Another monochrome quilt from 2011, I called this one "Mellow Yellow."

Actually, when I consider I've given away 42 quilts in the past two years -- it's not bad that I can't remember five of them!

DH abandoned the Broncos game to go to Dutch Heritage Gardens and look at the poinsettias with me yesterday.  Who knew there were that many colors of poinsettias?  Here are two of their newest varieties.  The first one is "Tinkerbell,"  just for you, Michelle  (who blogs at Just for the Piece of It):

I love the serrated leaves and bloom.

I can't remember the name of this one (really must remember to write these things down!), but it has the brightest red bloom: and mottled leaves:

I hope YOU remember to go here to complete my solid-fabric survey and comment to enter the giveaway.  The giveaway ends this Friday, November 30th (thanks, Jeannie!) at noon MST.  

From the desk of your