Piecing Faster Than the Speed of Sound!

Hello Dear Quilters and Other Readers,

I may not break any sound barriers while piecing at my beloved Erie Mae (Bernina 1230) like the great Chuck Yeager did with his jet plane, but I surely am going like gangbusters with my Blackford's Beauty blocks started in Bonnie Hunter's "Jared Takes a Wife" class last month.  I have 22 blocks and finishing more as I speak.

Blocks--All Scrappy except for Constant Fabric in Large and Small Star Points

I came so close to running out of the black print used for the large star points...would you believe just what a little bit was left?

FIVE INCHES by the Width of the Fabric!!

That is about 1/8 of a yard!  But do you know what?  I wasn't the least bit worried because I remembered what a quilter of olden times did when she ran out of a fabric.  Ladies out on the prairie (or in the case of my family, down in the holler) just substituted something on hand that was pleasing.  No desperate online searches or notices placed in quilt guild newsletters begging for the sought-after fabric.

I have always thought that it gave those antique quilts a special flair that could not be achieved by design, only by happenstance and letting go of rigid ideas about how it "has" to be.  It is good to do our best work up to a point (but if we ever achieved perfection, how boring would that be!

I have started to think about sashing strip fabric!  After auditioning several, I found a chrome yellow with red and black printing that I really like with my blocks.  I'm not really sure but I may have bought this length of  old fabric (maybe 30+ years old!) at a thrift store while on a road trip.

So Far, My Front-Runner for Sashing

I tried some prints for cornerstone squares, but nothing worked.  I finally realized that all the prints were too busy and the cornerstone squares needed to provide a resting place for the eye.  I plan to use solid burgundy for these squares.


Genie

Feelin' Mighty Poorly......

Hi Y'all,


Well, this has been a lost week...in bed with the flu, oh, yes, DEFINITELY, it's the flu.  And Jerry can"t take care of me because we came down with it on the same day.  No appetite,  weak as the proverbial kittens, slight fever on and off, cough and congestion, ugh, ugh, ugh!

We have been in Tucson seeing all our doctors to get ready for our next big RV trip somewhere in the USA.
No decision yet on where we go or even when we start.  We do have some work planned on the Simi Valley house soon that has to be finished first.  Before our trip to death's door, it was fun to consider various destinations, such as New England or the Pacific Northwest. 

Maybe tomorrow will be a little better.


Genie

Easy, Kicked-back, and Hand-Stitchin'

 

Yesterday's project was just my little hand quilting project that still needed to have the binding hand-sewn to the back.  Mindless, but oh so soothing to work on.  An old movie goes well with it too.  Some hot cocoa, or something stronger if you like would be good also.  Ah, bliss.

Genie

My Photo Opp with Bonnie!

My version of Old Tobacco Roads that I brought to Bonnie's class

I brought a quilt top made from one of Bonnie's Mysteries to share at class.  My friend Lynn took this photo of Bonnie and me posing with my top (didn't have room to pack any finished quilts).  My top is named LeMaster's Tobacco Roads in honor of one of my ancestral families who farmed tobacco along the Potomac River in colonial times.

What fun we all had that day!  Thanks, Lynn.


Genie

Last Year's Teapotz Revisited

Hi Folks,

One year ago when I was camping out here in Quartzsite, my 5 day project was to make a funky little Teapotz wallhanging (a la Jan Mullen, a very talented quilter from down under).  With the (...ahem) odds and ends that have been occupying me since then, I did not make it any farther with the project than the little quilt body that you saw last January.  So today was the day for some progress.

Little teapots fabric goes in the first border!

 

 

It doesn't show up really well here, but I found some fabric with cute little teapots at a thrift store,  of all places!  I immediately knew what to do with this fabric.  A closer shot:

There are teapots and teacups in this small-scale print

 

 

Here is an in-progress shot as I added borders:

The second border goes on

 

 

Here's the finished quilt top!

I plan on using this for a grab-n-go hand quilting project for when whenever machine piecing and quilting just won't work.  Mmmm...looking forward to some hand piecing evenings!


Genie

Making Little Units for a Big Quilt!

Hi Y'all,

Today I worked on my second Quiltville class project, Star Struck.  It is designed by Quiltville's Bonnie and taught by her in an all day class at Road to California last Sunday.  Another fun day of sewing, sharing, making new quilting friends and even eating birthday cake!  

The quilt is made of very simple shapes that combine to make the loveliest twirling stars.

You can find detailed instructions at Quiltville.

Start with these 2-patches

Now corner triangles have been added to 2 opposite corners

I have been making these units all today.  And since I want to make a BIG quilt (why couldn't I just make a little quilt once in a while?), I need lots of these units.

The units go together like this to make stars!

Tomorrow, another project, or maybe I'll feel like continuing with this one!



Genie

Back in the Saddle Again

Hi,

Remember me?  I'm the Wanda Gene who quilts (or Wanda or Genie, I answer to any and all of these), but who has not been blogging for a very long time.

I also have not been quilting during this time.  I have had things I could have blogged about but no time or DSL.  Really...no...time.

We have been fixing up the Simi Valley house.  It will be a retirement house for us when a number of projects are completed, but just not for the time being.  Right now it is a great base from which to visit our kids and grand-kids.  We also hope to get back to our previous adventures of traveling across our beloved USA soon.

My Mother is settled into a group home and I bring her home with us every weekend that we are in town.
She gets to be a part of all the family get-togethers.

All of this is easier to talk about than it was to actually do.  So quilting went out the window.

Until this past week.

Bonnie Hunter, the inspiring Queen of Quiltville, has got this old gal quiltin' again!  I took two classes with her at Road to California and it was WONDERFUL!  My class projects were two of the free patterns that have been on her website for some time but I had not gotten around to making either of then.  They are Jared Takes a Wife (using the Blackford's Beauty block) and Star Struck.  We had so much fun, just sewing away with no men asking for help with things!

Chains of fabric strips!

Sunday's class was Bonnie's birthday, complete with a fabulous cake.

Happy birthday, Bonnie

So today I am out in Quartzsite for our annual campout with our ham radio group and I am in Piecing Heaven!  Among my several projects:

 

My four patches--a leaders and enders project

I brought these four patches that I had made with no particular project in mind at the time.

 

Then I turned them into these....

Blackford's Beauty block

This is the full block that I completed as a sample block in class.  Since then I have been concentrating on building the units assembly-line fashion.  Woo-hoo, my needle is hot!

Tomorrow, another project.

Genie