Category Archives: Piecing quilts

Piecing quilts

Feb5

Day Two at Retreat

Posted on February 5, 2013 by texasboxerlover

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It’s happy Tuesday at Retreat today! Bonnie has finished her One Block Wonder Quilt – we named it THE FINGER! She is working on her second quilt top built from the special Creative Grids ruler, the 4 1/2″ quarter square triangle…Looks like it will be really neat!

Carole has been slaving over her blocks for two days now…maybe a glass of wine for dinner. She is one of the happiest quilters I know!

Sally gave up on her workshop project for a while and has resorted to crocheting. Grandbaby coming soon so she has an excuse. Can you tell she doesn’t want her picture taken – she hasn’t “styled” her hair yet!

Sandy finished this great quilt today. Looks really great especially the opposing corners!

Last, but not least, is our esteemed crew Captain – Judy! Her baby quilt is coming right along – a disappearing 4 patch.

The bright project is my finished top from a workshop several years ago. It is a Cara Gullati pattern only I made it with all of my hand dyed fabrics – super happy!

So…busy Retreat -lots of laughs and sewing and fun!

Until later…BE HAPPY

Karen

Jan23

MAKE IT PERFECT!!!

Posted on January 23, 2013 by texasboxerlover

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I’ve been busy all day finishing up costumes. Have one more to go and then, thank heavens, back to quilting! So looking forward to that.

Meanwhile, here’s a very neat technique you might try. When you really, really, really want all your points and intersections to match, or when you have fabric that just wants to stretch when you sew it, get out the Elmers glue. Credit for this technique goes to Sharon Schamber. When sewing your seams in a quilt put a very fine line of Elmers School glue (the liquid type-not the stick) down right along side the stitching line, put your two pieces together and press with a hot dry iron. Check everything for accuracy, open seam and re-glue if necessary, then stitch away with your 1/4 seam. Yes, it does take longer to do but you will have an absolutely perfect seam, no distortion anywhere on the fabric. I will certainly use this technique for any show quilts I would make. It will keep those seam lines straight and everything matching! SEW COOL!!!!! You will want to get a fine tip for the glue container. Remember the glue needs to be very fine and solid…not dotted.

BE HAPPY!!

Karen

Jan16

An Iron – Finally!

Posted on January 16, 2013 by texasboxerlover

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I must have at least 10 irons sitting around my studio or parked on a shelf in the closet. I HAVE to have a great iron. All along I have been a fan of steam -lots of it!!!! Yes, I know using steam is discouraged but it helps satisfy my need for speed. But, eventually they cry and spit up all over the place (yes the iron, not the baby!) Well, this new iron is the BEST!!!! Cheap, under $30. No auto shut down, just the right size, gets hot enough for freezer paper. No holes in the plate to leave marks (yup, its a dry iron so never any dripping issues). My spray bottle of water and my can of starch are always close by. I’m in love!!!! I bought mine from Amazon.

BE HAPPY…..Karen

Jan15

Tuesday’s quilting friends

Posted on January 15, 2013 by texasboxerlover

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TODAYS QUILTING PROJECT. These are pics of the front and back of Barbara R’s small quilt I quilted this morning. I love the floral edge to edge design. It looks fantastic on the back and despite my inability to take very good pics, the front is great-quilted with a Sew Fine variegated thread. It was fun to quilt

THE GREATEST APPLIQUE LADIES I KNOW. My usual Tuesday morning is spent with a group of quilters, mostly from Sugar Land, Tx. It was a quiet day today – we just haven’t gotten into the swing since the holidays – too much rain. Usually there are some absolutely beautiful quilts and blocks to see. These ladies excel at applique! The pics below show some hard at work. Val, the lady holding the bunny has gotten into felting. The bunny is great but don’t you love the felted owl?

BO’S PLACE – A GREAT PLACE HELPING GRIEF WITH QUILTS. Last stop for the day was a place called Bo’s Place. Our quilters guild has been piecing and quilting quilts for them or over 5 years. Bo’s Place is a non-profit that works to help as many children and their parent(s ) as they can face and handle the grief of loosing a sibling or parent. No charge to those participants. Part of their therapy is makin a memorial square for their loved one. We take the squares and sash and quilt and bind them. Quilts are hung all over the facility in memory of all of those lost and those that remember. Because of privacy I could not take great pic of the quilts-a good excuse for blurred images. The group of ladies standing in front of some of the quilts are the guild members that helped to put the quilts together. What a fantastic place!

Untll tomorrow – BE HAPPY!

Jan7

Easy Street – What an experience!

Posted on January 7, 2013 by texasboxerlover

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Easy Street ready to quilt

This was an incredibly fun adventure and I want to thank Bonnie for her generousness. Easy Street was the first of her quilts I’ve done since discovering Quiltville.com So much information, so many things to try. Now, I don’t know if I would have started it if I’d had any idea there were nearly 2500 pieces in the quilt-thank goodness for my Sizzix cutter. It was a challenge but worth every minute!

Karen

Jan5

Rain, rain go away!

Posted on January 5, 2013 by texasboxerlover

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Gosh I am so tired of the rain. It has drizzled for days and been gray and miserable. Oh well, it has kept me busy working inside and I am getting lots done for a change. Even so, it snowed about three hours from Houston. That, my friends, is a very exciting thing in South Texas! TV is showing kids sledding in laundry baskets.

Meanwhile I finished the top to my Bonnie Hunter Quiltville Mystery quilt, Easy Street. I love the way it came out. It is currently on my longarm table very close to being finished. The pattern and fabrics are very busy so I am just doing some circles to give the quilt texture. I have already prepared my grey binding and will be ready to go with that when I finish quilting it. This is my first mystery quilt with Bonnie and I really enjoyed the process and love the quilt. Everything went together like bread and butter. Here is a picture of the top before I put it on the longarm to quilt it. No more quilting tomorrow. Have to get busy making drill team costumes for my daughters high school drill team. 😦 Until tomorrow…BE HAPPY!

Easy Street Top

Jan1

Project Bonnie–a mystery quilt from Quiltville.com

Posted on January 1, 2013 by texasboxerlover

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I am having a great time working on my first Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt. This one is called Easy Street and it is tons of fun, and very relaxing, just piecing away. This is a block from the quilt that has some small “wasted” corners. I have sewn an extra 1/4” seam and then cut the small finished 1” block off and put them in a baggie for later… Sew easy and lots of fun. Here is a picture of the steps to completion – a 2 in 1 project for sure. Hmmmm, I feel a miniature quilt coming on!