String Blocks & Three Boys

I finished Step 2 of Bonnie Hunter's Orca Bay Mystery Quilt before midnight. Now I'm ready for Step 3 when morning comes!

Other activities of the day included these three boys and a fire engine!

Orca Bay Continues

I'm slowly working on my Orca Bay Myster Quilt by Bonnie Hunter. I finally have 224 oversized hour glass blocks pieced, but I have yet to trim them down to 2.5" square.

In the mean time at our Graber Reunion I helped put the finishing stitches into Heidi's quilt.

I love, love, love this "fresh modern quilt" ... and the little girl in front of it!

Sewing, Sewing, Sewing Orca Bay

I have started making 224 quarter square triangles, or hour glasses as some may say, for the Orca Bay Mystery Quilt by Bonnie Hunter. I have half square triangles made but need to make them into quarter square triangles yet.

And I'm still debating on my fabric choices. You can see from my last post that I've already changed out my cream colored fabric for a cleaner look of white with a little black.

Now, I'm debating on changing the blue also. I have some blue old fashion strips already cut, but I'm not sure about adding the blue fabric with the bits of yellow. I don't mind the blue having red in it but the yellow is adding another color to the quilt. Decisions, decisions. What shall I do?

So Many Quilts to Make

There are so many quilts that I want to make. There is so much inspiration and so many ideas out there that I'll never get them all made. But I'm working at as many as I can while I can.

This Mystery Quilt, Orca Bay is from Bonnie Hunter. She uses lots of scrap fabric and makes marvelous quilts. She also cuts the fabric into very small pieces. I'm hoping I don't bog down on this mystery. I'm already behind. While others have already made 224 hour glass units at 2.5" square, I'm only just gathering my fabric for a picture.

And then this next set of fabric is for a quilt or two from Father's shirts. I'm cutting out the seams and saving fabric from the collars and cuffs. Polly cut the shirts in half so we each have the same fabric to work with.

I have fond memories of father wearing a lot of these shirts. And then I'm getting glimpses of Mother's care for Father by altering the shirts to fit him. His arms were so short and she had to take the sleeves off at the shoulder and cut off an inch or two and then sew them back on again. And then I found seams where she had sewed in the seam under the arm. I have 2 patterns in mind to make with these treasures.

PTQ's Show & Tell

I enjoy our Possum Town Quilter's 'Show & Tell.' We have a creative group of ladies that get inspiration from each other.

Judy shows how she carried designs of the blocks out into the border to complete her top. 

Gwen's quilt was machine quilted by Watana.

As a result from our Karen Combs workshop, Lawana made this quit ...

... and Mary Ann made this quilt.

Linda shows a color wheeel made by her grandaughter and given to her.

Coleen shows a quilt she quilted for a customer.

Watana made this quilt for a University of Alabama fan.

Union Station

Last night I sewed the border on to the "Union Station" comfort top. I'm hoping that our Sewing Circle will tie it and then pass it along to charity. Sewing the blocks together was not for the faint of heart. There were way too many 'partial' seams to make it fun. And then too, I was dissappointed that it didn't look more like the picture from which I got my inspiration. Is it that my gray is too light or should my colors be brighter? Check out the difference here. Would quilting it with a dark gray thread help?

A New Quilt Project

I've been collecting fabric from different people and places down through the years. Usually it's material that they want to get rid of to clean out their houses and closets. Yesterday Linda D. brought me 2 boxes of fabric. I found a couple pieces in there that inspired me to go ahead and cut out a quilt that I've admired for quite a while. I added some pieces from my closet to complete the palette.

A simple quilt. Easy to cut out ...

 ...but it may be a little tricky to sew together. It's going to take some 'partial seams' to make it work.

Scrappy Quilt

How can we make a pretty quilt from this ...

... and this?

Evie came over and helped place the scrappy squares on my design wall and sew this quilt together.

While we sewed, the boys played in the living room.

Later, Evie added an airstrip and hanger to the roads.

A Plate of Pineapples

Thanks to Amy over at Amy's Creative Side for hosting another fine Blogger's Quilt Festival. Here's my entry.

My quilt was made for a challenge using the "Dresden Plate" block as the jumping off point. I first pieced "Pineapple" blocks and sewed 3 of them together in a row. From those blocks I cut out a blade from the Dresden Plate. Then I sewed the blades together and finally applique'd the "plate" to the background.

Combing Through Your Scraps

Pre-cutting for a Karen Combs workshop.

Wise Old Owl

A wise old owl lived in an oak
The more he saw the less he spoke
The less he spoke the more he heard.
Why can't we all be like that wise old bird?

I made this quilt block for our PTQ's "Birds At Home" challenge.

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.
--Psalm 19:14

Slow Going

Little by little, piece by piece, strip by strip, and section by section I am slowly getting this quilt put together.

Mother & Emily

Mother made an amazing 100 squares of velvet for me while she was here to visit.

The fabric is not just velvet alone, but anything that shimmers & glistens, brocades, or something that pleased my eye. Thank you so much, Mother. And thank you to each of you for your choice of setting the squares. We chose the zig zag effect in the diagonal setting. I appreciate each of your thoughts and input in this matter.

Mother was a trooper while she was here. Some days I had to work and she just loved staying here , relaxing, reading, and sewing in the quiet of the day.

My Mother & I!

And then it was time for her to go home. We met my sister, Emily and shopped at a quilt shop in Ackerman and then zeroed in on the thrift stores along the way home. Emily has been bit by the "quilting bug" and it's great fun watching her put together fabrics. I love her taste. We decided to use a few of the same fabrics and each make something and not let the other see our end product until we both have them finished.

It's been a great week!

Mother & Emily Visit

 Emily brought Mother down to Mississippi from Virginia last Friday. Amy, Ashton and I meet them in Corinth for suppper ...

... and for the night.

We also did some Thrift Store shopping and then stopped at fabric stores and a place called The Quilt Shop Gallery just east of Booneville, MS. Here's Emily with her purchases.

Mr. Claud was a friendly man who used a carpenters square and pencil and then Ginger scissors to cut our fabric. He scoffed at using a rotary cutter and mat. His shop was full and overflowing with quilts and fabric ...

... and depression glass.

Today, Mother is sewing velvet squares for me to make a small throw.

State Fair Sampler ...

... made by Possum Town Quilters.

Our Possum Town Quilters have some of our quilts on exhibit at the Rosenzweig Art Center in Columbus, MS for the month of August. You are invited to come and view the quilts during their hours, Tue. - Saturday 9:00 - 5:00. Closed Sunday and Monday.

You are also invited to the opening reception on Thursday, Aug. 4 from 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. It's free and open to the public.

Come and bring your friends.

More of the Knoxville Quilt Show

I enjoyed a class with Laura W. ...

... and started this small quilt of a pineapple in the folk art style.

That iron in the top right corner is my badge for graduating from the "Chicago School of Fusing." Our slogan in that class was "Press On!"

I also had a class on machine quilting with Teri L. She does lovely fine work.

Coleen & Claire Bleu joined us later in the week.

Karen K. Stone's quilts have attracated me with all the bright and bold colors. Polly had a class with her.

Karen also had a lecture and let us see her quilts up close, touch them, and take pictures of them. They were a feast for the eyes.

At our "Three Mennonite Quilting Sister's" brunch, we met another family with 7 girls and 1 boy. Here, three of the girls pose with Mother and 5 of her 7 daughters.

After the show I went with Coleen & Claire Bleu to Georgia. Claire has the neatest decorated room.

I felt so blessed that she purchased my "From New York to California" to display on her wall.