Melinda Quilts etc
Last night was the monthly Beyond Beginner Class. The focus of the lesson was half square triangles – there are a lot of them in this quilt. This is the sample block I made for the class.
Here are the ones made by the students.
As usual we had a great time and I think they learned a lot.
Melinda
Not much new on my design wall today.
Lots and lots of wonky log cabin blocks in progress. Now that the class is over, I am planning on using these blocks as leaders and enders. Once the outside sashing/border is on, the blocks will measure 15 inches finished so I will need a lot of them to fit on the bed.
For more design walls, go to Judy’s blog and check out the rest.
Melinda
Here is the group from the morning Wonky Log Cabin class. There were ten students and most finished at least one block and some have several in process.
It can be a messy process as you can see from these photos of the sewing tables.
Here are several of the blocks at the end of the class.
I had a wonderful time teaching and think it was a successful class!
Melinda
This is the second embroidered quilt I have done for Jennie.
Lots of feathers, lots of continuous curves and a little stipple = nice quilt for a child.
Melinda
On Thursday night we went to the Cherokee Rose Quilt Guild to present our Christmas in July in August program. Here are the tables set up before we started.
We took a lot of our Christmas and Halloween quilt samples with us, along with the kits to make them. We also took the Quilt Sampler magazine where we are featured and sold quite a few of them.
We did a similar program two years ago for this guild. They are a wonderful group and show and tell was amazing. We really enjoy visiting quilt guilds.
Melinda
I forgot to post photos from the Beginning Machine Piecing class Wednesday night. We made the log cabins last week. This week we made a square dance block and then moved on to the dreaded half square triangle. We made friendship star blocks and they have a couple more to work on for their homework.
A couple of them were still working on their stars when I took this photo. They are doing a great job.
Melinda
Here is Maggie’s quilt for a young girl. Love the simplicity of it.
I quilted it with a freehand overall of flowers and heart/leaves.
Used the lime green thread again. I need to order more of it since it seems to go with so many of the bright modern quilts that are being made now.
Love this quilt!
Melinda
Here is the Halloween quilt quilted. I finished it yesterday. Here are a couple of close-ups of the front and quilting.
I quilted it with lime green (my favorite) thread doing a variation of dwirling. Here is the back of the quilt with the cute hearses.
Just need to get the binding done – I am thinking of just using plain black because I don’t think I can get more of the stripe which would be my first choice.
I also finished two customer quilts and will post photos after they are delivered to their owners.
On to more quilting today and teaching tonight.
Melinda
Have you seen this Moda Bake Shop project? We got the same fabric in the shop last week so I decided to make this. I think I will add another row so it won’t be a square quilt.
Here is what I brought home to get started with.
Melinda
Not much new on my design wall today. I did get the Gone With The Wind pillowcase made. The wonky log cabin blocks are still there and the top row is the three Saturday Samplers I am working on. They each have blocks behind them so the whole set is there.
The other wall is just the same as last week – untouched since then.
Still haven’t put the first border on the Jelly Roll Sampler.
For more design walls, go to Judy’s blog here.
Melinda
We got some new Gone With The Wind fabric in the shop. Only two different designs and they really don’t go with each other. Maetha has a niece who really would like to buy my Frankly My Dear quilt made from the first Gone With the Wind fabric line but I am not ready to sell it. With this new fabric, I am making a pillowcase to store my quilt in and a second one for Maetha to give to her niece.
Here is another photo of Frankly My Dear.
And here are the fabrics I am using to make the pillowcases.
Hope to get them made this evening.
Melinda
The magazine is here!
Tiny Stitches is on page 80-91 and I can’t express how excited we are. I cut kits for the batik quilt that is featured and the magazines are in the shop so we are ready to celebrate.
We will be having a magazine signing on the 4th at the shop, along with the usual Saturday Sampler crowd, should make it quite a day. A lot of hard work went into this and it is wonderful to have the shop recognized in this way. We are all so proud.
Melinda
I got the borders on the Halloween quilt. I found this quilt top a couple of weeks ago while straightening up my sewing space. I remembered buying the fat quarters last year and apparently I pieced the center. Fortunately, I had put the border fabric with it so on Thursday I managed to get the borders on and the backing pieced. Now it goes into the queue to be quilted.
Melinda
Look at all the wonderful nine patches made by my class. There are also a few rail fence blocks at the top as one student missed the class last week.
This week we worked on log cabin blocks but they were all packed away before I remembered that I had not taken any photos. Oh well, we will get pictures next week when we are working on friendship stars.
Melinda
I finally heard from Robin in Canada and she received the tote bag I sent for the tote bag swap. It was mailed over two weeks ago but both post offices apparently took their time and it just got there today.
Of course, it is a Letty’s Bag. I made it from batiks and really like how it turned out. I was getting worried that it had been lost.
Melinda
I made two more sample blocks this morning. The first block was a simple log cabin block. This second one is a Wonky Bento Box.
The third block is a variation on Courtyard Steps.
You can probably see that I added an extra “step”. I didn’t have quite enough on the top of the block and instead of taking the strip off and adding a wider strip, I just added another strip. After all, it is a wonky block on purpose so one more strip just adds more wonkiness.
Here are the three blocks I have made so far.
For a whole quilt, I think I like the regular log cabin. The other two will probably become pillows some day.
I am really having fun with these blocks!
Melinda
I am teaching for the Atlanta Modern Quilt Guild later this month. The topic is Wonky Log Cabin blocks.
I am making sample blocks for the class and here is the first one. I am using a fat quarter pack of Make Life by Moda.
I am planning on making different blocks and this one is a standard (wonky) log cabin. I am looking forward to this class.
Melinda
I completed my needle case for the swap and it is on the way north. The pattern called for regular fabric but I decided to make it in wool. Here is the front of the needle case and then with it open. I really like the heavy wool I used for the center of the case.
I was going to wrap it in tissue paper but saw this fat quarter and decided to use it instead of paper. I used Moda twill tape from a fat quarter stack for ribbon. I think it is very cute and hope my swap partner likes it as much as I like the one I received. I also added an old/antique paper book of needles to the package before I wrapped it. Forgot to take a photo of it.
Melinda
I have two different things up on my design walls today. First is a Halloween quilt that I started last year and am ready to put the borders on. I bought the backing over the weekend and want to get it finished so it can go to Tiny Stitches as a sample.
I have a striped inner border and then a polka dot for the outside border. The backing is funky bright hearses.
The other design wall still has my jelly roll sampler on it.
I have been trying to decide on the borders and think I finally have a plan so this will hopefully get more progress done on it this week.
If you would like to see other design walls, go to Judy’s blog and check out Mr. Linky.
Melinda
We had a small class of girls today at the quilt shop. We teach a kids camp in the summer and have occasional Sunday afternoon classes. Today they learned to make a pillowcase. They did such a great job that they were able to also make a travel pillowcase each.
The first photo is of the pillowcases and next of the travel sized one.
I don’t know if this is just a Southern thing but the girls all refer to us as Miss – I was called Miss Melinda all day. It is a great answer, in my opinion, of what children should call adults that are not family. What do you think? Is this common in other areas? I don’t remember this from my childhood in California.
Melinda
Here is block 3 of the batik Saturday Sampler. This one is turning out very nice. One more block to make and I will be all caught up.
My next project is doing the sample blocks for teaching a wonky log cabin to the Atlanta Modern Quilt Guild. I want to have several blocks in different stages to show them.
Off to work at the quilt shop!
Melinda
I finished all the black Saturday Sampler blocks thru this month. Here are the last three of them. I now have 8 of the 12 blocks.
I like some of the blocks better than other ones but I guess that is always the case. I am sure they will be great at the end of the year.
I still have the August Green Tea and Floral Fantasy blocks to do – maybe tomorrow.
Melinda
