April's Quilt Group

Our quilt group's monthly meeting never fails to inspire. 

This is one of the things I'm working on....

These are going to be pockets on my quilted bag started at our sew day. I worked on them on my recent trip to New York. While Beckham, my adorable 9 1/2 month old grandson, was napping, and Kate was working and Jed was out of town, I worked on the hand stitching using embroidery thread.  I WILL get the bag finished. Soon.

Up next are two pillow covers made by Terry to match a large quilt she made. Love the fresh, summery colors!

 

And Barbara's blendy zig zag takes me on a tropical vacation!

 Denise took us back to the farm with her placemats and  mini quilt...

 And she also bought this at a craft fair and then made one to match, only her bunny is milk chocolate!

Nan shared her beautiful quilt made from linen and lovely red. I loved the combination.

 And she brought a quilt given to her by Mari years ago. It's the inspiration for the guest book Nan's helping her soon-to-be daughter-in-law with. Guests will sign blocks and Nan will make them into a quilt.

 Helen loves color almost as much as we love her! Here is her latest colorful star quilt.

Love the way the she extended the star backgrounds to make the outside border...

This is one Helen made a while back. She had originally planned to hand quilt it. That wasn't happening, so she had it machine quilted. Done. Beautiful. And will you look at that skinny pieced border? Love it.

 

 Ardiths' quilt is for her grandson's 8th birthday. He requested all things aquatic, and that's what this quilt delivers...

 

 Janet shared this raffle quilt made from upholstery samples!Money raised will support international relief efforts by Janet's church.

My photo does not do it justice- the colors are so elegant, and will you look at that binding? 

It's a thick corduroy that is just perfect, matching the opulent feel of the rest of the quilt.

 We loved Marsha's Arrow quilt- somehow I didn't get a photo of the whole thing.

Marsha set a beautiful spring table and lunch was delicious. As always, I'm so happy to have a chance to be with such talented women every month- to have fun, to work together, to learn from each other.

Make it a Wonderful Day!

"Jump in the Pool" Quilt

This is a quilt I started a long time ago. Years and years.

 

It started when someone gave me a stack of 3-inch squares of some really UGLY fabrics. Just the kind of leftovers-nobody-wants-it fabric that appeals to me.

I kept adding to it as I came across reject scraps.

 Once I added some pieced borders of blue Kaffe fabrics, the quilt reminded me of a bunch of colorful kids in a swimming pool. Hence the quilt's name, Jump in the Pool.

 The back is pieced red and yellow prints that I had on hand. Once Terry quilted it for me on her long arm, I bound it with another saturated blue from Kaffe.

Finally. Finished.


Make it a Wonderful Day!

Welcome Home Bouquet

Have a Wonderful Day!

Art Club Pencil Sketches

Here are a few of this year's pencil sketches from Art Club...

 

We did some practice drawing first identifying the basic forms first. Then we practiced shading with a five  value scale. We learned to press harder or softer, and to layer the pencil to increase the darkness too. 

I brought in a big box of things to draw, so each student had an object on their desk to draw.

 

Make it a Wonderful Day!

He Sent Me Flowers

Have a Wonderful Day!

Quilt Group Friday for March

Our monthly quilt group met last Friday, and as is always the case, provided lots of inspiration.

First up is Helen's scrappy zig zag. This quilt started with yellow and zig zags. 

I loved it. Helen did not.

 

So she went home and swapped the yellow for scrappy squares. 

Okay Helen. You win. I love the scrappier version more. 

Terry wowed us with two quilts she made as gifts for two little girls. One quilt is lavenders, the other blues. Both beautiful.

 

Terry also brought this one- the center block was embroidered by a friend and Terry used it in her quilt. 

 

And another one by Terry- this one with Prairie Points and an embroidered bunny.

The bunny isn't appliqued- she blanket stitched the outline on the large white block, added the appliqued flowers and bow, and then quilted around it. Love the contrasting texture her quilting added to this.

 

This one is Terry's ragged edge circle quilt. Scruffy and cozy!

Last month, Marsha asked our group to help her with a project she'd taken on- five quilts for a family who had lost their dad and husband to an unexpected illness.The quilts are made from his shirts for the four kids and his wife.

Here's mine. I  had 4 shirts to work with. Once I'd cut it up, I came up with a simple pattern and then handed off my extra squares to Marsha. (Sorry for the very bad photos!)

 

Marsha added the shirts she had to my blocks, and that added a bit more contrast. I like the random pattern and the darker blocks. (I think both of these will look much more interesting once they're quilted.)

Nan used the shirts she got in the HSTs and then added the stripes and tan polka dot for borders.

 I didn't get a photo of the label Nan made from the sleeve. Buttoned, it just looked like a sleeve, but unbuttoned, the recipient's name was visible.

 

 I love how Barbara used the buttoned shirt fronts on hers.

 

And the last shirt quilt made by Lori and Kareena used large shirt fabric blocks and an added border. 

Even though none of us, including Marsha, know this family personally, we know that these quilts will bring them comfort and loving memories of someone so important in their lives.

On with the show and tell- here is a bag that Nan made at our sew day, complete with buttons and applique. She's the fastest sewer in town! (My bag is still not finished!)

Denise and some friends meet weekly to sew, and she made this table runner with some fabrics Terry had shared at our last quilt group meeting.

 

 And she also made this cute smock for her grand girl...

 

These are the "Home is Where the Heart Is" blocks Denise is paper piecing for our group theme this year....

I'm going to love seeing what everyone comes up with for this "make-your-own-but-stick-to-the-theme" group project.

This WIP is by Kareena, who wanted to make a Christmas quilt with blue so it was more in keeping with the blue color scheme of her home. The snow men will have buttons and faces added. I think the snowmen look like they're headed up to the top of the mountain for some downhill skiing. 

 This quilt has a story to it! You'll have to read more about it over on Nan's blog. It started as a bunch of 9-patch blocks from a swap we had a while back. (The link may not work- Nan's blog is having ISSUES!)

 Here's a top that Ardith is working on for her grandson who loves everything aquatic. She's adding some borders and wanted our opinions, which aren't hard to come by. Really.

 Neva is new to our group. Welcome, Neva! She said her personal style is more traditional, but the recipient of this quilt picked out the "bead" fabric and will love the bright colors and more contemporary vibe.

                             

  Helen hand quilted this- love the low volume prints in the background.

 This is a crib quilt by Lori for one of her grands. Terry did the quilting for her. Happy and sweet!

 So there you have it. I love how diverse our little group is when it comes to color and quilt style. And opinions. Did I mention that earlier? :D

Make it a Wonderful Day!