Last quilt finish of 2019 and December stuff

 This is a jellyroll quilt called Slice.  It is from a tutorial by the fatquartershop.
It measures 40x40 and is very fun to make.  I used Sandy Gervais WellSaid fabric.

 The back is Winnie the Pooh fabric.

WARNING....this blog post has a lot of photos......

The next photos are quilts in progress by my friends from the retreat we went on the first part of December. 

  The following are some of the things I worked on at the retreat......
I used 4" pieces of fabric and did strip piecing and then added borders.  I used mostly scraps of Laurel Burch fabrics I have had for awhile.
I put batting separate on the front and on the back and did quilting before I sewed them together.

 I finished 6 of these for gifts after I got home from the retreat. 

 The following photo is the design wall placing charm squares for Oh My Stars quilt.  Pattern is by Pat Sloan.

 Here is a photo of the paint chips for Bonnie Hunter mystery plus fabric.  We went to a fabric shop during the retreat and I found some more fabric for doing the Frolic quilt.  Today Bonnie gave the 6th clue.  There is still time to join in on the fun.

AND today is the last day for the early bird special for the Joanne Sharpe 2020 online class.
2020 Artfully Inspired Life.  Painting...lettering....collages.......and more......VERY FUN!!!

That's it for 2019.............

I put my favorite quilt finish for 2019 on Instagram.....It was one I had started 10 years ago and finally finished!        WHAT is YOUR favorite quilt finish for 2019?    #favoritequiltfinish2019

Smiles and hugs....Caryl

Cool Cats finish in November

 I finished this before Thanksgiving and posted on Instagram.....but just now getting it on this blog!
This photo was taken on the patio just as it was starting to sprinkle...and I took some more photos inside and the one on IG is taken inside on the floor.  Also....on IG a photo machine quilting.

This is Cool Cats pattern by Peggy Martin and I have blogged about it in previous blogs and will add the links
October 22, 2018
November 2, 2018
There are photos and info about this quilt on these previous posts...just click on the dates and it takes you to the blog posts.

For the backing I used Moda purple marble swirls.

AND a scrappy binding....I had the binding positioned on the floor around the quilt to be sure there were no seams in the corners..........

I moved the starting position when I went to the machine and I did what I DID NOT want to do is have a seam at a corner...................

and not just one corner.....but two corners.   These photos are mostly for my reference and tips for later to remind myself how easy it is to miscalculate position of binding!!!

I quilted it with the serpentine stitch between the cats and then straight 1/4" around the cats.  It was a lot of turning....................so this prompted me to purchase a ruler foot and ruler so machine quilting will be much easier when I don't have to keep turning the quilt! 

It certainly was a fun quilt to make and I will probably be making another one!

Smiles and hugs....Caryl

Happy Halloween and some projects

This time of year I enjoy pumpkin spice coffee and creamer and anything pumpkin spice!  So when we were in Julian last month and I spotted this cup...it had to come home with me.  The selfie photos were at Lake Cuyamaca and in Julian on the bench on main street.  It was our 58th anniversary and we had a lovely day in the country.

This was a Halloween finish I made last month and gifted to a friend.

The photo shows a page from my creative journal.  Documenting the day in a creative way is so awesome......and I always enjoy it!  It is a great way to remember the day!

This last photo is a page from one of my practice notebooks of drawing abstract flowers in an online class with Joanne Sharpe. 

Not many finishes but I am working on the binding on two quilts and I will blog about them when finished!

Smiles and hugs....Caryl

Christmas in July...a finish + liberated log cabin and other projects

 I just had to start and finish a Christmas project in July.  I had some of this fabric left from when I made tabletoppers in 2011 and 2013 and I made one similar to the ones I made back then.  I used machine quilting and hand quilting.

 The back of the mat is Debbie Mumm fabric.

 Here is a photo of half of the batting cut off close to the stitching.  I used the backing as a binding.  I cut it 1" from the outside of the mat and folded over halfway and pressed.  Then I clipped and pinned and did a machine stitch around the outside edge.  I used #332 on my Bernina.  That is the same stitch I used to quilt down the center and across the middle.

 Here is the little quilt I got so excited to start back in June when I watched an old show on TQS.  I blogged about it in this blog post   I was going to make it larger but changed my mind.  It is really difficult to piece something not straight and then try to get the outside fairly straight!  I thought improv making up whatever I wanted would be easier....but there has to be some kind of plan!  I am hand quilting it....fun....fun!  I am calling it Not All Solids.

I decided to do some big stitch quilting on this rail quilt that I had machine quilted about half so far....many many years ago!   I needed some hand work to do.  The tutorial I watched is
https://crafty.house/big-stitch-quilting/     I will go back to machine quilting when I practice some more....I have gotten very rusty with not doing it!!!

This photo is from my 2019 Artfully Inspired Life journal with the class I am taking with Joanne Sharpe.  It is the January page (she says we are NEVER behind)....and under the window shutters are my goals I wrote out for this year.  I had written them in January and just copied into my book this week!  The little shutters were made using my sticker machine and the acrylic papers I had painted and cut into tiny strips!.

I am so excited that I am NOW able to see The Quilt Show and my ruzuku classes on our big TV screen in the living room using Amazon Fire Box.  Really a great way to watch and get my steps at the same time.  Healthy eating and getting my walking exercise every day is a very important part of each day!

Linking to http://quiltingismorefunthanhousework.blogspot.com/2019/08/oh-scrap-new-color.html

Smiles and hugs....Caryl

Red, white and blue patriotic quilt finish

 This is the quilt I finished last week!!

 This is the quilt top before quilting it.  AND three photos of closeups of top, middle and bottom.

 I quilted with the serpentine stitch 4 vertical and 5 horizontal rows...I wanted to do minimal quilting.

The next photo shows how I finished the quilt.  I cut off the batting close to the quilt and then cut 1" beyond the quilt of the flag backing fabric.

 I pressed the edge of the backing in half and folded over the top and held it with clips.

 I used red, white and blue thread for the quilting and binding.  AND I used #332 stitch on my machine for the backing/binding.   You can see it in the foreground on the next photo.

 Next....the finished quilt showing the three photos I used for the first photo in this blog post.

I started this many years ago and put it away........and I finally got it done!  9½" x 34".


Smiles and hugs....Caryl

crazy improv quilt mat finish and other projects

 I made this little mat to sit on top of a cabinet in our bedroom.  The cabinet belonged to my dad.  I used the same fabrics and technique as I did last summer with the other mat I made for our bedroom furniture.

 It is crazy improvisaional and from a Bluprint class.  The next photo shows the back with the crazy matrix quilting.  So fun and so easy!

 There are so many interesting classes online.  Several weeks ago I watched The Quilt Show #2310 with Lynn Carson Harris.  She was using tiny bits of scraps.  Her liberated log cabin caught my eye and I couldn't stop thinking about it and had to start piecing little pieces together.  This is what I have so far.

 Sew Sampler this month had a pressing mat that I really like.

 I enjoy classes by Joanne Sharpe online.  I got the idea from her of cutting out letters out of magazines to use for journals, scrapbooks....and I used some for a card.  Very fun to search for letters larger than a penny.

 The following photo is the two pages of assignments from the class...2019 Artfully Inspired Life with Joanne Sharpe.  The background is acrylic layering.

 I used a practice journal to check out different acrylic paints for class projects and decided to use a white pen and doodle!  The following photos are of two pages I have done.

That's it for now!!   Smiles and hugs....Caryl