Border, Borders and More Borders.

My two finishes in January were WIPs from 2012.

I had been dragging along my petite four for about 6 months...

It was missing a border. Two borders actually.
It traveled to New England in August with the potential borders.. one got put on at that point.
Then it went to retreat in November, where the next border was auditioned and failed. Finally, after a few more tries, it went to the January retreat where it was finished! This quilt started a few years ago when I decided I needed a traveling project.. lots of baskets with handles to practice my hand applique stitching. It definitely traveled quite a bit.

My second finish this year did not linger as much as Petit Four but had just as many border auditions, if not more...

I had put on the first border during retreat in November, but I had to wait for some more fabric to continue the trial and error process.

I must say the last inside border was the most difficult since I had used most of the fabrics I had brought to the retreat but I refused to leave with it unfinished!

I'm so happy I worked through that last inner border and was able to finish it.

This is my first FINISHED machine applique project. It really worked wonders on my confidence to tackle more like this. Which means I just might get some use out of the truckloads of Blackbird design and Kim Diehl books I have in the closet!!!

A few days with Kim Diehl (pt 3)

If you have been following along, I have been chatting about my invisible machine applique class with Kim Diehl last week.

On the second day of class I greeted Kim with an evil eye and proclaimed her not my friend. I was tired and felt a bit defeated because the leaves from the night before looked horrid (my points were not really points). She had a good laugh on my behalf.

I was to leave it all behind me and start with a fresh attitude on this beauty.

Again, the pictures don't do this quilt justice..

Kim has a fantastic eye for color

And she incorporates the patchwork into her quilts like very few can do.

Lovely, Lovely, Lovely...

After breakfast and a pep talk from Kim, I cracked open the book (pattern is Gathering Gardens from her new book Simple Charms) and saw that the patern called for 60 berries!!! 60! I let out a squeak in class that incorporated everyone's feeling on the subject. At the end of the next two days we were making berry puns left and right...

We did some pre-sewing at home for this one. 

Funny thing is, that even though there were so many berries. There were not as many leaves. 

And the color really gave you something more to think about besides the little darn circles.

By the end of the second day, I had the basic structure of this one in place. 

Enough laid out that I could actually start the sewing process.

Kim showed us how to see the layers in the piece and build up the applique. 

Can you see the stitches? I think I'm getting it! 

I had soo much fun. The others in the class were a great group of gals. They could laugh and tease as experts. Kim was such a good teacher, she squeezed in some tips on quilting using Big Stitch method as well as her unique wool applique method. I say unique because I had never seen it before. She gave us a run down of her thought process when choosing colors and, above all, that hands on help that allowed us all to walk away thinking we know what we are doing. So worth the wait!

A few days with Kim Diehl (pt 2)

Continuing with my tale of the class I took with Kim Diehl...

Monday was the first day of the class on invisible machine applique. Through the week we would be working on two projects. The first project could be made either as a large lap quilt or a small wall hanging.

This is the larger version. This picture does not do the quilt justice.

The colors are fantastic!

And the quilting just makes it pop!

This is the smaller wallhanging.

The idea was to get the basics down with this one before moving 

onto the two day project on Tuesday.

After a session where the basic concept was demo'd for us, we got to sniping the freezer paper.
Lots and lots of leaves and berries were cut. So many that my fingers were cramping.

Kim explains her method in all her books but seeing her demo it makes things just click. The idea is to use the freezer paper like most methods do but instead of ironing the shiny side to the wrong side of your fabric you tack the template in place (wrong side of the fabric) with a bit of glue from a glue stick. This will leave the shiny side facing up. You then can go in without further glue or starch and iron the seams of your piece onto that freezer paper. The seams then stick without further assistance.

Did I mention there were alot of pieces to cut and glue and iron?

This is how far I got on my project...

But I didn't feel too bad... We were all in the same boat... (This one is by Janet)

Except for some overachievers!! 

This one belongs to Barbara who was the event mgr. I thought it was a bit drool worthy.

My day ended at midnight and I STILL had not finished my leaves. I was grumbling rather loudly the next day. LOL!

A few days with Kim Diehl (pt 1)

I had been anticipating last week for months. Last May, while trolling Kim's website for her teaching schedule I found that she would be dropping into Kerrville, Texas in October. To say I immediately emailed Creations Quilt shop is an understatement.

I have not had tons of success with invisible machine applique and I really needed some help. Who better to teach you the tricks and trade than someone who's work you admire the most. That would be Kim Diehl (pronounce Deal - as in "Let's make a Deal" - I always wondered about the pronunciation of that!).

Taking a class with Kim is like hanging around a sewing machine with a buddy. I cannot tell you what a class act she is. Funny and relaxed and low stress... she repeated things to anyone that had problems "getting it" and would look over your shoulder if you were not sure you were "doing it right". But I'm really getting ahead of myself.

We started the class with a trunk show on Sunday night.

She talked about how she got into quilting and how unconventional she has always been.

She then brought out a truckload of quilts so that we could drool over them. 

This is one of my favorites just because it's on the cover of the APQ that my daughter was in.

Unfortunately the lighting in the room was sooo poor that many of the quilts photographed very dark or if I tried to play with the manual setting on the camera, they would blur. So disappointed in that.

Still, I got a few that held up.

I love this one too. I think a few quilt shops have been running this one as a BOM.

After the lecture we were able to go up and give the quilts a thorough rub down..

This one is in her latest book Simple Charms.

And this one will be in the next book (expect it some time in 2013/2014)

The night was a real treat! Many quilters that could not get into the class traveled a good distance just for the trunk show. I think it would have been well worth it.

Giving things a Test Drive..

There has been a bit more TV viewing this week than usual with the Summer Olympics taking place and I have found myself desperate for something to do while watching, so I pulled out one of my long term projects and dusted off the cobwebs.

This is the first block in my, larger - more modern, version of Jacqueline’s Album Quilt. The original block is 9" but I have decided that is a bit to small for my clunky hands. I've decided to increase the size to 12" which was just a matter of enlarging the applique templates to 10 1/2".

As to my travel project I decided I needed to give it a test drive.

I wanted a one piece template of the basket instead of attaching the handle separately, so I traced the handle on the body template right off the bat. I wanted to make sure I would be comfortable with the corners and arcs.

It actually went smoothly, but I thought the handle could be pulled down closer to the body so I adjusted my plastic template to make the basket more stout.

I completed 4 little blocks in no time at all! Only 292 to go! LOL!

New travel project...

With Petit Four wrapping up (more updates on another post), I'm left with the need to find a new take along project. I find that I travel quite a bit for work and having something tucked in a ziploc bag ready to just grab and throw into my carry on is a blessing.

I find that not having a hand project readily available has me full of anxiety so I decided to look for my next project. Which ever project I chose it would be a long term project and one that I won't keep track of.

My original thought was to make this:

I like the small baskets that look more like padlocks than baskets but what I love most about this one is the medallion in the center and the scalloped borders.

Option two was this one:

This one is bigger and has a unique design where the quilt has a different pattern on the edges and incorporates nine patches between the baskets. The baskets are also more defined. I don't like that the baskets are in two pieces (the handle is a separate piece) but I like that they are larger...

I consulted with the most opinionated ladies in my life and the feedback was unanimous in favor of option #2.

The pattern is called Trick or Treat and is in the book When the Cold Wind Blows by Blackbird Designs. BTW: This book is AWESOME! I love love love the projects in it.

I recently went to a not so local quilt shop to take advantage of an awesome sale where I picked up a good start on my palette for the quilt.

I have a few more pieces on order but I think I need a bit more of the dark cheddar.

Does anyone know of someone working on this one?

Baskets and More Baskets!

It's been awhile since I gave you an update on this one but my Petit Four quilt (pattern by Fig Tree and Co) is almost ready for it's reveal...
The basket handles, which are appliqued on the block, have been my travel buddies for over a year. I take them every time I get on a plane. Little by little they have moved to the completed bag.

Out of the 36 basket blocks, I have two more handles to attach...

In anticipation of finishing the handles, I started putting together the 9 patches that will be part of the sashing...
Last weekend I finished sewing them all together and I'm now cutting the solid sashes. I'm hoping to call this top done by the end of this weekend!

Wish me luck!!