100th Post - Bulloch Hall Quilt Show

This is my 100th post to my blog - a milesone of sorts. It has been fun to write and post pictures and read the comments - I love the comments because they show that someone is reading besides me.

Yesterday, my Piecemaker's Bee went to the Bulloch Hall Quilt Show is Roswell, GA. It is a beautiful historic house and a wonderful place to view quilts. I was surprised that right inside the front door, Jan's Saturday Sampler quilt was hanging. I custom quilted it for her last year.

Not sure you can see the quilting but she did a great job of arranging the blocks in an unusual fashion with the large basket of flowers in the center. I love quilting for Jan because her quilts are always unique and fun to work on.

First UFO

Here are all the blocks I found from the first quilt that I talked about yesterday. There are six that are completely finished and the Dresden plate that is not sewn down to the background - it also needs a center circle applied.

Since 7 is a number that does not easily fit into a quilt, I think I will not use the unfinished one but will try to put the other four into a small charity quilt. Along with the blocks, I found a lot of the fabric from making them. It looks like I have a couple of yards of each - can't imagine why I bought so much.

They are all hand pieced or appliqued and better made than I remember. If I eliminate the one block, I will have 3 with pink background and 3 with green background. I can sash them and make it into a small child's quilt that someone will love.

I will add them to my unfortunately large list of UFO's but I feel better about them than I have for years. It was still a miserable experience in the class and I really don't like the fabrics but at least it can turn into a FO at some time.

Topic of the Week - UFOs

The suggested topic of the week is about UFOs. First question is What is Your Oldest UFO? No question about mine. It is the first quilt I started, back in the early 90's when I lived in Australia.

I was somewhat homesick and found a local quilt shop and signed up to make a quilt. What is really surprising about that experience is that I continued to quilt. Many of you have probably experienced something like I did when I first took a class. I really don't understand why the person owned a quilt shop or even tried to work with the public.

The class was a traditional hand piecing class - not knowing any better, I signed up and went to the shop to buy the fabric. Apparently there was only one way to select fabric - her way! After much discussion, I ended up with a "lovely" pink and green selection - Yuck! OK - It was a learning quilt, not a masterpiece so I could live with it.

I managed to complete 4 blocks - actually, they are fairly well pieced, but not attractive. I still have the rest of the fabric in a plastic box and don't know why I don't just throw them away. I have thought of making pillows out of the finished ones but they are really ugly.

Actually, I am glad that I know how to hand-piece but HATED the process a the time and HATE the unfinished project.

A couple of months later, I went to another quilt shop in Sydney and took a "quilt as you go" log cabin. My son in Sweden still has this quilt. It was red, white and blue and actually looks pretty good. They use it as a picnic quilt and he told me it is developing a few holes - I will try to patch it next time I go to visit. At least it has been loved, which is much more than I can say about the first blocks I did.

I think I will go up and try to find the blocks tomorrow and take pictures - maybe they are not as bad as I remember.

Deco Pictures

Here is the first one I completed. The title of it is Gratitude.

Next was I Love Lucy.


The Secret SuperHero Identity - I described myself as a Quilt Diva. I bought this pattern a couple of years ago and want to make it for the door of my sewing room.

Lastly here is Unlikely Fairys - I did the strange tooth fairy and also the snack fairy.

I have several more decos to work on but it feels good to get these done and on the way to the next person.

Sewing Expo

Lynda and I went to the Sewing Expo today and had a great time. The East Cobb Quilters Guild had a booth there and were displaying the raffle quilt. I must admit that it was a thrill to see a quilt that I had quilted in a setting like that.

There were lots of great products there and I managed to only buy link rollers. I love lots of the fibers but I really don't need any more - I need to use the ones I have already purchased at other shows.

We sold a lot of tickets at Shop Hop for the quilt but I think having it at Sewing Expo will allow us to sell a lot of tickets.

I have been working on some Decos and will post pictures tomorrow.

Quilt for Noah

I picked up a quilt right before the shop hop that I made for my granson Noah last year. It has been hanging as a sample for several months but all the kits are finally sold and I can send the quilt on to Noah.

It is made from a simple panel, bordered by a border print. I then quilted it using the design as a guide for the quilting.

It turned out cute and since his 4th birthday is coming up in June, I will send it to Sweden for him at that time.

Favorite Quilting Tool

Swooze suggested we talk about our favorite quilting tool. I have many - I love my Roxanne thimble, my rotary cutter and my many, many rulers but I think my favorite - or at least my most frequently used - is a simple roll of blue painters tape.

I use it with my longarm to mark the beginning and end of pantos. I have it on my sewing machine where I have it marked so that I can do 1/2 square triangles without marking them.

I keep it in my travel kit so that I can mark 1/4 inch seams for my students. I am currently teaching a jacket that requires 1/2 inch seams so I mark their machines for that.

I have been looking at the tags that are sold to mark blocks, rows, pressing direction and I have realized that I can use a small piece of tape and a sharpie (one of my other favorite things) to mark them. I can use the money to buy other tools or fabric instead.

I really love blue tape!

Shop is Over!!!

Well, the shop hop is over. It certainly seems like it was a success as we were very busy for each of the last four days. Each shop designed a flower block and made some kind of quilt using the blocks. We did a table topper using our design. She called our block Tossed Azaleas and used four of them in the table topper. We gave each hopper the pattern and enough fabric to do one block.

I quilted the table topper and you can seem some of the quilting here.

We had the guild's raffle quilt in the shop for the past three days and managed to sell a lot of tickets. Everyone seems to love the quilt.

The shop looked so great -our theme was Garden Party and we had floral quilts hung everywhere. We sold all the kits from the two quilts that I made so that makes me feel good.

Greater Atlanta Shop Hop

Well, we survived the first of four days of shop hop. It was a terrible weather day here in the Atlanta area, with rain, thunder and a tornado watch but it didn't keep the dedicated hoppers from coming out. I was amazed at how many people showed up, in absolute downpours.

We worked late last night and completely changed the look of the shop, hanging all new quilts and putting out kits for all of them. The theme of the shop hop is "Springtime in Georgia" so we have flowers and spring all over the shop. It really looks great and the customers seemed to enjoy it.

We have three more days and are expected to have good weather so it should be busy again tomorrow.

One More Quilt for Shop Hop

Well, Shop Hop starts tomorrow and I got one more quilt finished just in time. I got the binding done just a few minutes ago. Once more, I used the Simply Squares pattern and some Moda charm packs. The charm packs were from the Spring Fling line and I used four of them. Each charm pack had 39 squares which meant that there were an extra four from each pack. I used these to put a four patch in the corners.

We do not have yardage from the line at the shop yet but I was able to find border and binding fabrics from other lines that look great on the quilt. This is another happy quilt.

I quilted it using yellow variegated thread and a panto called Starburst. It was a good selection for this cute quilt.

I will be taking it to Tiny Stitches this afternoon when I go in to help decorate ths shop for the hop. I also have to finish packaging the kits so they will be ready for all the hoppers starting tomorrow.

We expect to be very busy for the shop hop. It lasts for 4 days and has 13 shops on the list. Because of the distance between the shops, it certainly takes more than one day to visit all of them.

I quilted the shop hop quilt and will post a picture of it tonight or tomorrow - it is very beautiful.

Springtime on the Square

The raffle quilt was at our guild meeting today. It has it's own suitcase to travel in and it's own stand to hang from. It also has a name - Springtime on the Square. The center of the quilt is the gazabo at Marietta Square, which is the Downtown Square.

All the guild members got their raffle tickets today. If anyone is interested in purchasing a raffle ticket, let me know and I will be happy to get them to you. You can pay with paypal or send me a check.

The quilt top and backing are batiks. The applique is all needleturn and there are also 3D flowers on it. The top was pieced and appliqued by guild members and it is wonderfully done. I custom quilted it and even if I say so myself, it is wonderfully quilted.

4th of July Quilt

I made this quilt several years ago but decided that I need to take pictures and document more of my older quilts. This was made in a bag lady class at Tiny Stitches. The way this class works is that you go on a Friday night starting at 6:30 and ending around 11:30. You purchase a kit to make a quilt - most of them are relatively simple quilts - or supply your own fabric and sew together with the group - having dinner, chocolate and soft drinks. I used to go to the monthly classes a lot and met many great people there. This is where I now work and teach.


This was a fun quilt and one of the first ones I quilted after getting my gammill. I have had it about 5 years but I don't remember exactly when I quilted it. I used red thread and the Stars and Loops panto by Linda Taylor.



It is a happy quilt!

I taught a jacket class this morning and then spent part of the afternoon quilting on a Thimbleberries quilt that has to be finished in time for the shop hop next week. It is a very large quilt but I will finish it up tomorrow.

I also worked for a while on a bright Simply Squares quilt from some more charm packs. I hope to finish this one also for the shop hop. I need to get borders for it so I can get it ready for quilting.

Garden Club by Country Threads

We are doing a block of the month at my Tuesday guild. We actually started last month but as usual, I am behind. This is block #2 which I finished today because I am responsible for leading the class tomorrow and had to have it finished! It is called Bird Housing.

The photo on the left is from the pattern and the one on the right is mine. As you can probably tell from my other projects, I am not a county color fan so I went with brighter colors, using batiks, hand-dyes and other bright fabrics.

This block of the month is from Country Threads and is called Garden Club. The book is out of print but most of the members were able to find it used or on eBay. I was lucky enough to find a folder in the sale bin at the quilt shop that had the pattern before there was a book. So I have 12 flyer type patterns that include a printed photograph of each block and the pattern for that month.

The quilt is designed as a combination pieced and appliqued quilt. I decided that I was going to do fusible applique with a buttonhole stitch. I am using various DMC machine embroidery threads (I have every color) that contrast with the actual fabrics. I think it is going to be beautiful and fun.

I am teaching two or three of the months so I guess I better get caught up and do #1 Summer Glory so I don't get too far behind.

We had a Quilt Show meeting today and the raffle quilt was there. It is really beautiful and I can appreciate it much more now that it has a sleeve and a stand to hang from. We are going to show it to the guild members on Friday and give out raffle tickets for them to sell. I hope we can make a lot of money on it.

It should be photographed in the next couple of days and I should get a copy of the full quilt and will post it as soon as I can. I think I will also take my camera on Friday in hopes of getting better pictures on my own.

Around the Block Quilt Finished

I finished the Around the Block quilt using the turquoise and brown fabrics. I really like how this quilt turned out. The colors are much more beautiful in person - the brown is so rich.

It will be displayed in the shop for the Greater Atlanta Shop Hop the beginning of March. We are all doing quilts using florals since the theme of the hop is Georgia in the Spring. I am glad to have mine done. Next on my list is to quilt the 2007 Thimbleberries quilt that Mary made. She needs it done for the shop hop also. It is a huge quilt. Will try to get it on the machine on Sunday morning. Tomorrow I will work in the shop and I am always too tired to actually quilt anything on work days.

Round Robin Quilts

I last posted about about my guild meeting where we showed off round robin quilts. Here are photos of my quilt that I took to the meeting.

This on is my Kimono Lady Quilt. I started with the center two ladies. I adapted them from a pattern for a tote bag. The last border is truly wonderful. The bamboo is all hand appliqued on the sides, then cherry blossoms along the top and bottom borders, complete with 3D blossoms. She also drew a beautiful woman at the center of the top border.

This one is not quilted. In fact, I had completely forgotten about it and only vaguely remember doing it - it was several years ago. I am not much of a fall colors person and this is actually a nice quilt. I will get a back organized for it soon and put it in the stack to be quilted.

This wonderful quilt is from a row robin that I was in. I started with the BOO row on the top and the rest of the group did great things with it. The second row is hand appliqued trick or treaters, followed by ghosts, witches and gravestones. Next is the word Halloween in wonderful fabrics followed by another row of ghosts and friends. The next row is witches and then pumpkins with black cats. Lastly there is a row of candy corn.

I love this quilt.

This is the last quilt I showed. I started with a redwork center, which is shown below.

I fell in love with the design - A cat, shopping for fabric, at the sewing machine, quilting and of course, on the computer.

This was another fun round robin, with borders that were added by each person and enhanced the quilt. I almost took the last border off because I didn't feet that it really fit but decided to leave it on. I still don't think it really fits, but the quilt is done and that is that.

I finished the turquoise and brown quilt this morning and quilted it this afternoon. I will get the binding sewn on by machine in the morning and hopefully sew the binding by hand tomorrow night so I can take it to the quilt shop.

String Block Swap and Guild Meeting

I swapped out the string blocks for our January Swap. There were 11 swappers, each making 6 blocks. Also, 5 of them made a red, white and blue block for a QOV quilt. All the blocks look great and will be on their way to their new owners tomorrow.


We had our monthly guild meeting today. The topic was Round Robin Quilts. I took 4 of mine and several other showed their quilts. I will try to take a photo of the ones I shared tomorrow when there is better light.

Our guild meeting is so much fun. We have show and tell which is always interesting and at our monthly business meeting, we have a potluck lunch. I saw Bobby Flay make Chocolate Banana Pudding on the food network last week and so decided to make my version of it. Everyone that tried it seemed to enjoy it.

We actually meet every week but the other weeks are more like sew-ins. We are doing a block of the month, a roosting round robin and dedicate one full day a quarter to community service. Our next community service project is making cool-ties for the troops in Iraq.

More Purses from Class

Here is a purse made from bright fabrics. It is lined with lime green!

This one is a tote bag. She used a mola on the front of it and hand quilted both the front and back.

Here is a batik bag that really turned out great.

I have been teaching bags for quite a while at Tiny Stitches - usually concentrating on one pattern for all of the students. I have started something new called Choose Your Own Bag. Each student can pick a pattern and I will help them make the bag they choose. I limit the number of students to 5 and I have time to help each of them.

This has worked out well so I also teach a Choose Your Own Jacket class. Same concept, only jackets.

On Wednesday I am teaching pajama pants - that will be a fun class. For some reason I seem to get elected to teach the non-quilt classes. During this quarter I am teaching the pajama pants, jackets, purses, postcards and one quilt - the Wacky Devine Nine.

I have pieced most of the turquoise and brown quilt and should be able to finish the top tomorrow or Wednesday. It is turning out great!

Finished Purses

I am having trouble getting some photos from my phone to my computer. Sometimes technology gets the best of me. Two of my students came in to the shop today and finished up their purses that they couldn't finish last Wednesday night. This is the New York purse. She only had a small amount of the New York fabric so we fussy cut it so the best parts show on the front of the purse. See the Statue of Liberty at the top of the purse?

This was a City Bag by Lazy Girl. It is a large bag, not quite a tote but would work well for a smaller laptop or files. The fabric she chose is really beautiful and she is giving it to her daughter for Valentines day. The first photo is of the front of the bag with a pocket.

This is the back of the bag. It has a single pocket all the way across the back.

Both bags have zippers in them and students are always afraid of trying to put in a zipper. Both of these purse patterns have very easy ways of doing the zipper and they went in without any drama.

Hopefully I will be able to get the photos of the other three purses transferred soon so I can show them all off.

I was so excited about the new fabric/quilt that I got it all cut out last night and strip-pieced the major pieces this morning. I got some of the sub-cuts done and have a few more still to cut. I am ready to start piecing the top together. I also found a great polkadot fabric for backing and have it ready when I get the top pieced.

Starting a New Quilt

I love starting new projects! I am trying to get many of my UFO's finished but still have to have some new projects. My goal for the year is to finish more quilts than I have started. So far, so good.

The Atlanta area quilt shops are having a shop hop the first week in March. Each of us that work at Tiny Stitches are making at least one quilt for the shop hop. I got my fabric picked out today for my quilt. Since the theme of the hop is Springtime in Georgia, we are all making quilts using floral fabrics. Here are the ones I am going to use.

I fell in love with these fabrics and colors. The floral will be the main fabric and border, the brown is the background and the turquoise is the inner border and accent fabric. The stripe will be the binding - I really like the look of striped binding and really like it when it is printed such that I can use straight binding and it looks like bias.

I took the picture a few minutes ago and plan on cutting the quilt out tonight. I am going to use a pattern called "Around the Block" by Robin Gallagher of Two Wacky Women. (Robin is my sister and has very nice patterns) The Wacky Devine Nine is also one of her patterns.

Simply Squares

This is a quilt I made for Tiny Stitches. I just finished up the binding a few minutes ago. It uses 4 charm packs from Marti Michell's new fabric line called Ramblin' Rose. Then just a small inner border and a 5 inch outer border. Very quick and easy quilt.

The pattern I used is called Simply Squares. You sew the charms together in a straight set and then two cuts are made, sewing the pieces back together and resulting in a quilt set on point.

I quilted the quilt with a panto called Rosie and used cotton thread in a wonderful color called Latte. It was wonderful to do a quick quilting project after having the raffle quilt on my machine for such a long time - about five weeks.