Sunshine and Shadow Progress

I was out visting blogs today and found myself over at Nadine's blog (Friendship Threads) and was amazed at the progress she had made with her Sunshine and Shadow quilt. I love her color combinations. It is going to be a stunner. Stop by and see her progress.

I wanted to show you another version of a Sunshine and Shadow quilt. I took a picture of this quilt while on vacation in Pennsylvania at the Chester County Historical Society. I like the color combinations in this quilt.

I know that it is not the usual solid color that the Amish use but it is still very striking to see in person. The colors all seem to blend in together to make it look like stripes.

This is a closer view. Look at how the colors seem to blend in to each other.

These are my strips for my Sunshine and Shadow. I haven't made much progress but the weekend is near. More time to quilt. Hooray!!! Hooray!!!

I plan on putting my on-going quilt block as a side bar as soon as my DS comes over. I have decided to turn it into a year long quilt. From Sept 2009 to Sept 2010 without stopping the chain. I can cut blocks and make things but I cannot stop the chain. I have over 200 inches at this time. I plan on working on it every Tuesday at Sit and Sew. The Lutheran church near my job has a sit and craft night every Tuesday. You bring whatever you want to work on and socialize with other crafters. In my case ooh and aah. One of my co-worker's mother is a quilter and she attends every Tuesday. She does not attend the church but will find out if I can attend since she was invited by a friend. Keep your fingers crossed. The sit and sew I attend is about a 30-40 minute drive from my job and it is every 2nd and 4th Tuesday. The nice part is it is at a quilt shop and you can buy fabric or supplies if you need it. Maybe I will attend both.

Lots of quilting.

Jeri

Quilt Pattern Organizer

I went to my quilting group last night and had a lot of fun. Show and tell was great. I won the door prize last month and had to bring something this month. I decided to make a quilt pattern organizer. I love mine. I found the pattern on All People Quilt and decided to modify it to meet my needs. I also changed the closure to a button and ribbon.

I bought the 8-pocket folder from Office Depot. I now can keep track of the patterns I am working on (and future patterns). I am working on a smaller version for taking to the quilt store (shopping list with supplies and samples).

I started attending Sit and Sew at one of my local quilt shops. I have so many quilts I want to make I could not decide on a project for working on there. So I decided to make an ongoing quilt block that I plan to cut up into scrap squares or triangles or tumblers or some shape and sew together.

Since I have quite a few scraps I can keep this going forever. I am sewing to about three inches away from the end of each row so that the rows can continue on. They are two inches wide (I had a lot of these) and no more than 6 1/2inches long but no smaller than 1 inch in length. I will keep you posted on my never ending block.
Last night I started sewing my strips together for my Sunshine and Shadow quilt with Nadine. I will post pictures this weekend. We divided the quilt up into sections. We are working on the four corners. Nadine e-mailed my pictures of her strips and they are beautiful. Thanks Nadine.

Happy quilting.

Jeri

New Quilt Started

I guess you could say I have started another quilt. I completed my color reference board.
I did not include the inner or outer border colors on the board.

I have cut all my strips and labelled them with my numerical system. They are just waiting to be sewn. I will keep you posted on my progress.

Jeri

More Sunshine and Shadow

Sorry I haven't blogged anything lately but I have been busy with my quilting projects. I will try to blog every other Sunday. That way I will have something to show and tell.
I have started cutting the strips for my Sunshine and Shadow quilt. I have 18 colors but will not use them all but want to have them available if needed. I sent Nadine some fabric and numbered each piece so that we could coordinate our colors. When you look at a picture vs looking at the actual quilt the colors may be a little different. So I need her help with the different colors. I made a new color reference board. I wanted to show Nadine what I was talking about so I decided to put a picture on my blog. I have made one before when I was making a Bargello quilt and found it quite helpful.
I have a curtain rod running along the top of my bookcase with curtain hooks that I can hang notes to myself there, as well as quilt patterns and finished quilts. It is a very helpful rod.

Recently I took one of my quilt tops to work to photograph and one of my co-workers whose mother quilts ask me why I iron my seams open. I iron them open because that was the way I learned to sew plus I get a flatter, neater seam and my seams seem to match when I sew them together.

My DS is having a birthday this month and wants a quilt. King size no less. So I am going to start two new quilts this month. I know this is against my New Years Resolution but he's my son and I not only love him, I like him. So I am searching through my stash for blues, reds and lights. The pattern is Hudson River Chain by Maria Umhey. The pattern is in The Quilter January 2007 issue.
The closer it gets to September the more excited I am about going to the Jacksonville Quilt Show. The lady I am going with has made our hotel reservations. We will be staying at the same hotel we stayed in last year. They give a special rate for the show.

Happy Quilting.

Jeri

Quilting Along Merrily

I finished by block of the month blocks for July and have sent them off. I am still trying to decide if I like this block. I haven't started any new projects lately (although I have wanted to). I have been browsing the internet, visiting blogs, wishing and dreaming. But I have stuck to my goals of completing a project before I start something else.
Although I am going to make what I call a quilt planner for my quilting group. Once again I won the door prize and need to bring the next prize. I want to bring something that I made instead of something I bought. I have one and I use it all the time. It holds six patterns and room for notes. Mine does not have a cover but I am going to make a test cover with mine before I make the one as a prize. I will post pictures when I finish.
I am getting ready for my trip to the Jacksonville Quilt show. I have chose the pattern I want to make and ordered it. It is paper piecing. Lots of it. So I decided to make a small ironing board to take with me. I had seen the board on several blogs and never thought I would want one. Now I do. It was fun and easy to make. I bought my dinner tray from WalMart for $8. The material and elastic was from my stash. I would say it took me less than 2 hours to make it. I did a lot of planning before I cut into my fabric since I was using left over fabric that was not quite wide enough. I am liking this a lot.

I will be starting my Sunshine and Shadow quilt next month. I have mailed the fabric to Nadine.
I hope she likes the colors I chose. I have washed and ironed my fabric. This weekend I plan on cutting into it.
My friend JoAnna will be here sometime today from Colorado. I am taking off work Monday to visit with her. We will have a good time.
Happy quilting. I hope to have a completed quilt to show and tell next time.
Jeri

Another Love

I have fallen in love again. I beginning to think I am fickle. My mother use to say that all the time when I went from one thing to another. I never thought I was. But now I think I am because I love this quilt. If you remember Crazy Mama Quilts was having a quilt-along with nine patches. And being that I love nine patches or any patch for that matter, I decided to once again be a straggler. I did not join because I have so many other projects going on and did not think I could keep up. Well, I have 89 nine patch squares and decided to start joining them together. I tried the 2 1/2" wide strips and did not like it. I knew I had seen the pattern on SoupQuilts website and decided to read the instructions. She has 1 1/2" wide (unfinished) sashing on her quilt. I decided to give it a try and I like it much better. So in order to make a quilt big enough for a queen size bed I need to make more blocks. I think I need 11 x11 blocks to make it big enough for my bed. So, on I go making nine patches and thrilling my heart with each new patch. I hope to have it completed by winter. I do not want to catch a cold from lack of a quilt.
Oh, I live in sunny Florida. I feel a trip in the making this winter. Just me and my trusty quilt. Oklahoma, Indiana, Idaho, South Dakota. Nice thoughts.

I always name my sewing machines. I do not know why but I do. I guess it is because I talk to them. Sometimes they need words of encouragement, compliments on their stitching, or a little rub on their tummy. So I decided to introduce you to my Sapphire. I have had her for quite some time but I have not used her much. My intention when I bought her was to have a sewing machine just for quilting. I would have her set up and ready to quilt one of my many UFOs. But my free motion quilting leaves a lot to be desired. It looks more like sick motion quilting or free motion quilting blind folded.

So, in June I took a free motion quilting class again. I learned a lot but my quilting looked like a four legged lizard trying to square dance. Not that I have anything against lizards square dancing-just not on my quilt. You will be glad to know that I have since started practicing my free motion quilting and I can see some improvement. The lizard is still there but now at least he is tap dancing.
I have finished my block of the month blocks. I will mail them tomorrow after I take pictures and post them. I won the blocks for June-the ribbon pattern. I like that pattern. I will make a few extra blocks and make a nice quilt.
My friend JoAnna at Banana River Quilts bought a Featherweight sewing machine on e-bay. She says she will post pictures of it. I am so glad for her. She has wanted a Featherweight every since I have known her. Congratulations on your new baby JoAnna.
Happy quilting this week.
Jeri
p.s. I want a Featherweight too.

Happy Fourth of July

I finally finished the baby quilt for my co-worker. I like the way it turned out.

This is my favorite. I like putting the birth announcement on the back.

I finished off the blocks for my block of the month club. I saw this block in a quilt over on the Idaho Quilter's blog and I thought at the time that it was a nice quilt pattern. I hope I win this month. Oh, and has anyone heard from the Idaho Quilter. She hasn't blogged since she moved closer to her family. I enjoyed her blog. She did/does beautiful patchwork and applique'.

I haven't been doing much sewing. I have been busy working on my Sunshine and Shadow that I plan to start on in August. I did not know how much planning goes into planning the quilt from a photo or image in your mind to the finished product. But I love it.

Look at what I found for $10.00. It is going to make the perfect quilting table. One of the maintance men at work is going to make an extension for the back that folds down so that when I am not quilting it does not take up much room. The only drawback I saw was that it did not have a drawer but for $10 I can live without it.
I hope everyone has a lovely Fourth of July. I plan on celebrating with my daughter and son.

I live close to the beach and can watch the fireworks from my house.

Happy sewing.

Jeri