Magnolia II Quilt

Life …

Ashton can beat me in putting these puzzles together.

… as a Quilter

I cut out the petals from a fabric made of soft pastel colors.

I thought at first that I would quilt all the background +/- 1/8” apart so I started in the middle and was working my way out to the top and bottom. And then I changed my mind. I decided to quilt approximately 2” apart and then fuse my magnolia to the quilt. Why waste all that beautiful thread under the magnolia?

I highlighted the pastel petals with Inktense pencils and love the darkening effect.

And now it’s on to the quilting.

  

     

Life and “Amazing Grace”

Life …

We had our family all together when Dustin & Gina arrived from Los Angeles. Here are all my girls with an antique meat fork or pie crust cutter. I’m trying to pass out some of the things I have accumulated over the years.

The boys each got an awl that I had purchased at my folks sale. Father turned the handles on the lathe to his liking.

We gave the grandchildren each a puzzle or game.

… as a Quilter

I finished a challenge to use this symbol in an art quilt.

It reminded me of the sol in shaped note music. So, I took a picture of a song...

...and printed it out on fabric and layered it with the batting and backing.

Then I machine quilted it +/- 1/8” apart over the whole surface.

I machine stitched over all the music and lettering. I’m calling it “Amazing Grace.” It measures 8”X10” and is finished with a narrow binding and ready to hang.

And now I have started on my second Magnolia which is to be 36” square. You can see my first Magnolia here.

~~~ Parting Shot ~~~

Magnolia II

… as a Quilter

It’s time to begin my “real” Magnolia for our PTQ Ultimate Guild Challenge. You can see my first sample HERE.

Can you see a very faint sketch of the magnolia through the background fabric?

I cut out oblong shapes to fill the petals and now that I’ve placed them on the background fabric I think something needs to change.

The small oblong pieces were cut from the bottom fabric. It seems I need more contrast to make a distinction with the light and dark on the petals. Should I choose another fabric for the petals? Or for the background? Or both?

I hope you enjoy lots of inspirations at these creative links.

 

2014 Magnolia Guest Day Sewing

We were greeted this morning to sign in at this table adorned with an old hand pieced quilt top.

Activities of the Day

Carmen & Shirlene work together tying a comfort top.

Mary, Rhoda, and Joan stitch the binding to the back of this quilt by hand.

These ladies are tying a cheater’s cloth top that is being made into a comforter.

Crystal, Tab, and Karla

Natasha, Tab, Crystal, Carmen, and Rosetta

Cheryl and granddaughter, Veronica, and Evie and son sew small dresses.

Making Christmas Bundles for the less fortunate in Cherry Creek, SD and Belize.

Karen, Isok, Carmen, Beth, Whitney

Tab

Angie and Josiah

I helped with the ‘string quilt’ project. We started this quilt last year. You can read about it HERE.

Alma, Tressa, and Pat

Some of the blocks ended up smaller, so we decided to make two separate quilts.

Thelma made 4 string blocks at home for the beginning of another “String quilt.” The same 4 blocks look different depending which color you turn toward the center.

  

These ladies continued quilting the Rocking Horse Quilt that we started last month.

Martha and Krista stitch on a bright “square in a square pineapple” quilt that I had pieced earlier.

   

Magnolia Sewing Circle

Today I got to sew with the ladies and children from church at our regular monthly sewing circle.

They started quilting a new top that had languished in the back corner of the cupboard for years.

Sherilyn sews the binding to a quilt that Paul’s mom embroidered years ago when she worked nights at the hospital.

Sisters, Rosetta and Cheryl pieced blocks for tops.

 

Evie and Karla cut out small dresses to be sewn up.

Carson and Alan found building blocks for entertainment.

Teryn reminds me so much of his daddy when he was this age.

Evie helped spearhead this project of clothing and such for Operation Ukraine.

Rhoda and Karla manhandled those boxes easily.

I sewed the ‘string’ blocks together for this ‘string’ quilt that was started a year ago.

I brought it home and cut more strings to make it two rows longer.

We’ll work more on it next month at our “Guest Day Sewing.”