Meet Dave & Friends ~

This 40" w x 39" high wall hanging inspired by a 1999 pattern of Janet Jones Worley is almost ready to go to the longarm quilter ~ once finished, it will hang near my desk at work.


Why Dave & Friends? I took another quilt to the office a week or so ago and asked my co-workers to help name it. During that process, one of our attorneys kept saying 'name it Dave' ~ didn't fit for that quilt but it works for this one (plus there are now 12 partners in our firm, two of whom are Davids ~ not something I 'planned' but it happened anyway).

There's another black and white and red pending, but I need to finish up a few other tops first.

Quiltdivajulie

Trellis Roses

I finally finished one of my challenge quilts that I've had in mind for several months. I named the quilt, which measures 54" x 74" without borders at this time, "Trellis Roses." There were two designs that I couldn't decide on so some of my blogger friends helped my out. See my blog to get the low-down. I'm really pleased with this quilt and plan on making one more before it's all said and done.

Black and white and turquoise

I finished my black and white and turquoise quilt. I ended up doing a diagonal grid. I will be delivering it personally to my grandson in the U.S. in less than three weeks. You can see it on my blog.

Debbie

Making Progress...

...albeit a little slower than some.

So I got this fantastic striped fabric, onsale last month. I am using this to make a literal ton of HST's for a border. I made over 150 of these only to find that it was not quite enough.

They are going together in strips like this and make up the last border (1.5") on my lap quilt. What you can't detect is that that quilt (below) is actually in 3 pieces so that I can machine quilt it. I have actually quilted one of the sections, but have not yet photographed it. I made a quilt at Christmastime like this and it worked very well. It was completely indistinguishable that it was made in pieces. I am hoping to quilt one section every couple weeks. It is tedious quilting, and quite honestly, I have lost steam on this quilt and have refocused my interests elsewhere. I will finish it soon though!

Curvy tablerunner

Here is the finished product. The more I look at it the more I like it. This project was all about new techniques for me....couching, random stiching/quilting and even the way I put the binding on (I strayed from my normal way and mixed it up a bit - don't mind the results but will need more practice before I try it on a quilt). Blogged about it here.

Sally Sweet Quilt

My daughter and I have Quilt Block *almost( a day calendars this year, and are basically following them. Yesterday wasn't a block day on the calendar, but I made one anyway, because I only needed ONE to finish my Sally Sweet quilt. Above is a block depicting him, with my prototype drawing. These blocks are all 6" finished. Today wasn't a block day either, because it is the intro pic of the next quilt. So today I cut my sashings for Sally. In this terrible picture, the side-to-side sashings look like they are too short, but that is only because the blocks are not all sewn together yet. They will be fine, trust me. And this is the quilt in it's entirety... it will be 24 1/2 inches square.


It also qualifies for a Bumbling Bounty Hunters Mini Quilt Challenge I am in. That challenge is about characters from Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels. In them, Sally (Salvatore) Sweet is a very tall, very hairy, very straight, Italian guy who drives a school bus by day and is a transvestite in his club act at night. I tried to capture him in this quilt. Now! On to something else!

Bento Box Top Completed

The bento box top is finished now I need to sandwich it and quilt it.

I ditched the checkerboard strip of black and whites in the border as it just didn't look any good. So the border is just plain blue. I don't think this pattern needs anymore it is enough on its own.

I hope to make a couple of pillowslips to go with as well and I am in the progress of making a black and white and purple bag to slip the quilt inside when not in use. Will post some more photos soon on the progress of those items.

Have a gre8t day cre8ting wherever you are.

~ Bye for now, from Liz ~

Bento Box in Progress

I have started on my bento box quilt for the challenge.

It is proving a very easy block to sew but I still manage to twist pieces around and they turn out wrong so I have needed to do some reverse sewing on a few blocks.

Here is one row of four blocks. I think I will end up doing 3 rows of 4. Not quite sure I will wait and see how it looks. Sort of make it up as I go kinda thing.

I have had to purchase some more 1/4 cuts to add some more variety into the quilt.


This is the third colour I have chosen and I will be using it in the border only. I will be adding a strip of the black and whites in a checkerboard strip in the centre. A fairly simple idea. Hope it looks okay.

I am very happy with how it is turning out so far and enjoying the simple pattern. The differing contrasts between the fabrics amaze me and how that only 2 colours can work so well and look very graphic and dramatic.

Have fun cre8ting.

~ Bye for now, from Liz ~

Well, I finished one B/W/R quilt.



It was not the quilt I intended to finish for the challenge, but it is a B/W/one other quilt, that I thought I'd share.

Here's the new owner with the completed quilt -- funny hat and all!



My challenge quilt is a Bento Box that probably won't be finished until the Fall, as I'm 'saving it' for Quilt Camp with my oldest/dearest girl friend. I have to have SOMETHING to do then. Actually, we're each working on a b/w Bento box that weekend.

Of course, that doesn't stop me from purchasing even more b/w fq and nickels. I probably have enough for 3-4 b/w quilts ;)

Ida

More Stash & Pattern Choice

Here is some new stash to add to my challenge fabrics.

How cool is this piece. 8 different pattern strips on the one piece of fabric. Very economical.

Colour didn't show up to well against the brown cupboard door.

I have chosen to do the bento box pattern of course not in this colour just the pattern idea for you to get an idea. This quilt will be my second challenge and so I'm not sure if I will use red again as that is featuring in my first challenge. Maybe blue/teal?
Looking forward to starting my projects.

~ Have a gre8at day cre8ting, Bye for now from Liz ~

B/W stash and ... a little bit more

Here's a pic of my b/w stash, with a few pieces added for this challenge. I've decided on my third color (deep tropical blue), but am wavering on the design itself. LOL! It's a good thing I have until the end of the year. Tomorrow, it's back to my "real" job, which is a bear -- I hope to be able to check in with you again next weekend. Stay safe! Sew well ...

B/W and Purple Wonky Log Cabin ... done!

Happy New Year, challenge quilters!

Finally, here's a bright pic of the wonky log cabin quilt I finished last month. As I mentioned I was inspired by Jacquie (Tallgrass Prairie blog) to go wonky and I learned a lot! With the project completed, I'm inspired to create yet another black and white project for this challenge. Now I just have to jump into my stash and see what's jumping out at me.

I wish everyone a very healthy, happy and joyful 2009!

5 of Hearts

I made this little quilt back in the summer and added the hearts because it looked so plain. You may not be able to see it but each heart is woven with 2 colors of red. Remember when our teachers cut out strips of construction paper at Christmas, Valentine's and Easter so that each student could weave a place mat? That's what I'm talking about. Oh dear, I might have just dated myself....LOL

I'll still collecting fabrics for the challenge and have a couple of ideas for my design. I'm really looking forward to getting started in 2009.

Half of My Blocks Complete

With my boys away for a couple days, I have my 2-yr old's naptimes to spend sewing (do I hear "YEA?!"). I have three of my 6 blocks for this lap quilt completed. They will have red sashing between the blocks, and a heavily pieced border consisting of nearly 150 HST's, but the body of the quilt is coming along.
Here's a close-up of a block.

I used photo transfer fabric that you can print on (from Soft Expressions). I am really not very pleased with it's ability to hold the color. I used it in the spring with colored pieces, and ended up doctoring many of the printouts (artwork done by 6 year olds) with fabric markers to get the colors sharper. I have followed the heat-setting directions, but there was definitely a bit of color loss. Oh, well...I will know what is in the pictures, even if nobody else will :-) If any one has good info on transfer sheets, I'd love to hear-

A miniature black and white

I am so excited to be included in this challenge. My favorite colors are red, black and white and I've made quilts in these colors all my life. I look forward to trying to branch out and use black and white with other colors! : )

This is my first attempt at a project for this challenge, though I hope to make a bed-sized quilt before it's over!
I've always wanted to make a miniature quilt but have always been nervous about all those little pieces. Well, in an effort to add stress to the holidays I have ignored all else for the day and made a little miniature quilt. When I laid it out my first thought was "Wow, that's a LOT of orange for one quilt."

The little friendship star blocks are 3" and the whole thing measures 14.5"x22". I am playing with the idea of another border but haven't added anything else.

I've yet to quilt it but hopefully will do that tomorrow and not have this end up a UFO. I don't know what I'll do with it after that, since I'm not a real big orange person.

My first project. This tote is by Penny Sturges and is called "Charm Party Tote". It's big! 11" x 14" x 4". I used 37 different fabrics and cut them all myself. That was a chore LOL! There are 2 large pockets on the inside. I've never done anything like this before. I made it for a gift that has to mailed tomorrow but I'd sure like to keep it myself! I'm pretty proud of it.

Stash Photo

Well isn't this a bit sad for a stash of Black & White fabrics. These were purchased with a particular quilt idea in mind. I'm thinking I may need to do some unexpected christmas fabric shopping to build this up a bit :) I will be going through the rest of the stash too as there may be some black and whites lurking in other places.

Bye for now, take care

~ Happy Cre8ting, from Liz ~

Woo Hoo!

I'm very excited to have this challenge for 2009! I have a "somewhat" collection of black/whites and now I have an "excuse" to purchase more -- LOL! Like I need an excuse.

I will be posting soon my project plans. I just wanted to drop in and give you all a "Texas Howdy" and I look forward to seeing everyone's projects.

Luv 2 Challenge Myself

Hi there everyone,

Looking forward to joining in with this gre8t challenge. I luv a good challenge and this will definitely be one for me. I luv the dramatic black and white look but not overly fond of these 2 colours but they are steadily growing on me. As I luv 2 cre8te I have had an idea for a quilt floating around in my head for awhile and have been collecting fabrics over the past year so this will give me the motivation to start and I am keen to do so. I will be using red as my third colour for this particular project. There have been lots of lovely quilty photos posted already on this blog all are so amazing. Thanks for sharing.

Here is a photo of a bag I made recently for a teacher friend who is mad about black and fashion. I used red fabric in the lining.

Bow Bag - Monica Poole, Moonshine Designs

Lining Fabric

Main bag fabric

Handle and bow fabric

My friend was absolutely thrilled with the bag. More than I would have expected which was a great feeling.

I need to dig out my black & white fabrics and share those next post.

~ Bye for now, Happy Cre8ting from Liz ~