Round Robin # 5 - The Tree!

Upper left corner of "The Tree"
when I first got it.

Doing a sewing project as a group can be fun and challenging.  And for any quilter, whether experienced or just starting out, a Round Robin can also be a bit scary!  When we began our little adventure I was feeling pretty confident.  I love a challenge and now that I've been quilting for nearly 15 years I figured I could deal with a simple Round Robin.  Little did I know what was in store!

I wasn't at the first gathering where everyone exchanged projects for the first round.  I'd heard rumors from the other members: 'have you seen"'The Tree"?'  'Wait til you see "The Tree"!'  'Oh my goodness, "The Tree" !  . . . 

I was curious but I'm a rule follower so no peeking allowed and besides, I didn't want to spoil the surprise.  I like surprises!  So I didn't actually see "The Tree" until it was my turn to work on it.  When I first took it out of the bag I was not only surprised but fascinated!  The trunk has several layers of fabrics with different textures and the leaves are 3-D.  She used batiks for the backgrounds which simulate the land, the river, and the sky. 

The Tree is what I consider an 'art' quilt.  I've never done an art quilt and honestly working on an art quilt created by someone else sent a shiver of panic down my spine.  As I said, I'm a rule follower but 'art' doesn't have any rules!  

I began the project, as with all the other projects, by hanging it on my design wall and leaving it there for inspiration.  When we started the Round Robin we were each given a little note book that we used to describe why we chose our particular project and what we wanted it to be in the end.  So I took out Deb's book read the back-story.  

The gal that created this art work, Deb R., has been a lover of tree houses since she was a young girl.  In her note book she quoted the poem "Trees" by Joyce Kilmer.  I remembered studying that poem in English class in high school and it was a nice surprise to read it again. It starts out "I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree . . .".  

Deb went on to describe her first tree house and her wish to create one in the tree outside her new home.  She had been telling us her tree house plans at our monthly meetings so I had a hint of what she was planning.  She was going to enlist the help of her family and friends but intended to build it on her own as much as possible.  

I was the next to the last person to get The Tree.  Some of the others had put in some very creative additions.   

In the lower left Charlene had added Deb's two dogs.  

Carol added two kayakers on the river in their red kayaks.  

And Tami added an actual miniature quilt hanging on a clothes line with a basket of beaded flowers next to it. There's even a label on the back of the little tiny quilt!

This next picture shows the details of the batik border that Charlene added and the adorable turtle created by Carol.  You can also see some of the details in the tree trunk but you really need to see this one in person to appreciate the textures.

Next, in the far right right bottom corner just past the turtle and the ladder, you can see a big black bear added by Dutchy.  He's had enough of this craziness and is fleeing the scene!  There's also more of that beautiful woodland animals batik border.

As I surveyed the whole quilt it dawned on me that there were no people there to enjoy the tree house.  So for my additions I selected the "Fruit Bottom Ladies".  But I had to wait for the cat to finish his nap before I could cut anything.  

I picked 7 different women - one to represent each of the girls in the group - and added them to the quilt.  Since Deb has told us that this is a tree house for grown-ups I put two ladies sharing adult beverages on the deck.  Notice how the leaves are stitched?  There is fabric on both sides and doubled sided interfacing in between that makes them stand off from the surface.  It's just the coolest 3-D effect!  I couldn't capture it with my camera but it's just so fun.

Three other ladies are out on a limb watching the river and chit chatting away.  The white line over their head is the "phone" line for the two tin cans, one in the tree house, one in the garage, so the ladies can "call" for more refreshments. LOL

But there are two ladies missing.  Wait, I see them, down on the ground.  Hmmmm, could that be Deb trying to talk Tami up the ladder?  It's OK Tami, adult beverages can also be served under the tree house too ;o)

When I finished my additions I sent The Tree on to Jane.  She added a kite and some birds to the sky . . .

along with a cute 3-D tire swing!

I've probably forgotten a couple of items that got added but as you can see there's tons of stuff going on in this fun art quilt.  Each of us stretched beyond our initial apprehensions and came up with some pretty creative additions!

Deb loved the finished project and promised that when it was done it would be hung in the tree house for all visitors to see.

I thought I'd share this picture of the REAL tree house that Deb had posted on social media.  She is one happy woman with a real, grown-up tree house and a beautiful piece of art to hang on it's wall!

Next week is the final installment of the Round Robin and we'll look at Jane's project.

Round Robin - # 2 Tami

I have Tami's project listed as Round # 2 but really it was the first one I got to do.  Carol's was the second one.  It doesn't really matter right at the beginning but as we get towards the end you'll see the progress on each project more clearly.

So this was what I got as the very first item to work on for the Round Robin.  Tami had created this beautiful center block.  She does wonderful hand applique work!  I have to admit I was a bit intimidated when I first pulled it out of the bag.  Per usual I hung it on my design wall for about a week or so for inspiration. 

Tami had a piece of fabric from one of our original group members, Mary Jane, who passed away several years ago.  She and Tami were very close.  Tami included the green fabric in the center of the cone flowers.  It was fabric that Tami had purchased on one of their trips to Pennsylvania.  She also added 7 blue circles to represent each of the members of the group and one gold circle to represent Mary Jane.

In her instructions Tami asked us to be sure to use a piece of the green "Mary Jane" fabric in whatever we created.  She also include in the bag some scraps of the other fabrics she used in case we wanted to use them as well.

I took the background and scraps from Tami and pulled some coordinates from my stash.  I  was really surprised to find so many pieces in my stash that would work.  

Doing another applique border at this point didn't seem like the best choice.  And I'm much better at piecing than hand applique!  So for my addition I created an angular border to contrast with the curves and circles of the flowers and leaves.  I was able to incorporate the Mary Jane fabric on the corners.  

Unfortunately, I didn't take enough pictures of the "building" of the border so I don't have much in the way of details on how it was constructed.  But you can see it's half square triangles set symmetrically from the center outward.   


The corners are half square triangles as well, just rotated to create a diagonal line.  Since I was not working with a pattern I had to do the math to get everything to fit.  Yes, math!  Not to worry, I don't mind math and I LOVE geometry :o)  I think that's one of the reasons I enjoy quilting, it's real life geometry. 



Here's how it looked when I passed it on to Jane.

 

Who would have predicted how beautiful this quilt top would become!  The combination of colors and keeping all the same background fabric made it look as if one person had done all the work.

Jane added the pretty appliqued border after me, Deb R added the bottom appliqued panel with her signature beeskeep, Charlene added another pretty appliqued panel at the top, Dutchy added the green border and pretty pieced side panels.  But Carol had the toughest job of all - adding the corners after everything else was in place.  Now that took some MATH!!  

We all loved it, especially Tami.  You can see that we have some very talented ladies in our group.  Learning from all of them is just one of the many things I enjoy about meeting up once a month.

Next weeks post will be Round # 3, Dutchy's signature block wall hanging.

Hair Options

Our Once-A-Month Quilt Group enjoyed a lovely fall evening at Jane's last month.  The weather was beautiful, no rain!  That's an inside joke. You see the gatherings at Jane's usually come in the spring and the fall when the weather is rainy and cold.  But this time we were lucky, the weather held out. 

I forgot to take pictures of the show and tells but I did get a few close-ups of Deb's "People" quilt.  Dutchy is making one for herself and is working on the hair.  There's lots of little people on this quilt and she's running out of hair options!

These are a few of the hairstyles on Deb's quilt.  Pig tails, curls, braids . . .
 

Short and long . . .

 
and one poor little girl (in red) with her face sewn to the shoulder of her dress!  Deb says she must have been really tired and nodded off but didn't notice at the time.  Then when she went back to do the hair she realized what had happened.  We say there may have been adult beverages involved ;o) 
 

 

Either way, her hair is FABULOUS!  Deb's leaving it just the way it is.  I think she looks like she's dancing.  It's just one more fun thing to see in the quilt. 

 

Three of the girls each made this fun little quilt and displayed it at the Capital Quilters Guild Quilt Show in 2009.  Deb and Carol each made two sets of the nine patches then swapped with each other to get a great mix of blocks. 

Deb, Dutchy, and Carol with their "People" quilts
(2009 Capital Quilters Guild Quilt Show)


If you take a look at the corners you can see that Dutchy made her outside borders square while the other girls made theirs angled.  Both options came out really nice. I love the repeat of the red fabric used on the inner border on the binding.

This was no quick project that's for sure!  Each of the little people has a different outfit on and different hair style.  The people and their cloths are all fusible applique. The hair styles are done with embroidery floss and/or yarn.  Here's a close up of Dutchy's.  This beautiful quilt was a gift that she gave to the Rector and his wife at St. Paul's School (where she worked) to remind them of their world travels.  They absolutely loved it. 

So after giving the quilt away as a gift the group of girls at the local quilt shop got together and gave Dutchy some beautiful fabrics so she could make a second quilt for herself.  It's still a work in process and she's finishing up the hair.

I hope she uses this one again it's my favorite!

Hope you're inspired to make your own "People" quilt.

Monthly Quilt Group

Has it really been that long since I posted something?  Yes!  According to my Monthly Quilt Group it's been just forever.  Needless to say they were laying the guilt on pretty thick at our last get together.  All in good fun of course ;-)
 
Not that I haven't been busy with several projects its just that two of them I can't write about yet and the other two are still at the same stage as the last time I wrote about them.  So I've got some fun show and tell shots of the project that each of the Group members are working on - except the other Deb, for some reason I didn't get any pictures of her project.
 
Here are the rest of the gals with their quilts.  First up is Jane and the Houses BOM quilt.  I love the secondary pattern created by the two toned Courthouse Steps blocks.
 

 

Here's a close up of it.

 

 

Next is Carol.  She's been working on these beautiful applique blocks for quite a while now.  It looks wonderful all put together.  The black background is so striking! 
 

 

Here's a closeup of Carol's wall hanging. Those flower colors are just popping off that black.

 

 

Here's my sister Dutchy just back from her annual trip to Florida.  This snowbird was busy while she was down there for 3 months.  Golfing, swimming, and even teaching a quilting class!  She has promised to share her pictures of the quilt that her quilting class made and raffled off.  When I get them I'll be writing a post to share with everyone.

 

 
Her project is hexagons.  She's making a table runner to go in her kitchen.  I didn't get a clear picture but you can see how she fussy cut those fun chickens She'll have 3 of these hexagon chicken blocks on a beige background for the full table runner.
 

 

This is Tami and her Wonky Churn Dash quilt.  This was a class at the local quilt shop taught by Charlene, one of the other gals in our little group.  Wish I had been able to make it for this class.  Great colors! 

  

 
And she added that fun applique border. She's a whiz at applique, not just fast, her hand work is also beautiful.
 

 
 In addition to the churn dash quilt, Tami also had this cute applique wall hanging.

 

Here's a close up.  I just love those fun flowers, so pretty!

 

 



No pictures of Charlene this time, she was off to Maine to visit family. I'll catch her next month. 

 

And even though I didn't get any pictures of the other Deb's project I can tell you it is a beautiful full/queen size quilt that she is hand quilting. The blocks are hand embroidered flowers of each of the 50 states that her grandmother started. Deb is putting the finishing touches on it with beautiful floral sashing and cross-hatched hand quilting. It is just beautiful. I'm pretty sure our next get together is at her home so I will definitely take some photos of it.

 

Oh yeah, and no pictures of me this time because the project I was working on is a gift.  Besides, my face was so red in the pictures it looked like I'd been out in the sun too long.  LOL

 

A big THANK YOU to Jane for hosting this month. Jane's turn is always in April and it's always raining but this time, just for the record, NO RAIN!!!

 

See you girls next month and I promise to catch up on my blogging :o)

 

Back to Quilting



Flip Flops on Audrey's quilt


Ahhh, back to quilting!  I've been off studying for an exam that I want to get for my job.  It didn't go so well but I've decided that a little quilting time will cheer me up.  Actually, I have been doing some sewing since my last post but I haven't been able to share the projects yet because they are for "The Girls".

Jean's quilt is done and I just realized last weekend that it needs a label.  But the binding and sleeve are on and sewn in place.  It's really pretty and I can't wait to give it to her.

Kim's quilt is at the long arm quilters and should be home any day now.  That will be #5 of the 6 quilts I had set out to make beginning this time last year. 

Of course, I did have help along the way.
This is Guppy helping me measure
 for the binding on Betty's quilt.

It all sounded so simple.  I just wanted to make a quilt for each of The Girls for their birthday. Well, I almost did it.  I never imagined it would take so long or run the gambit of emotions along the way.  They didn't get them "on" their birthdays but they each got one.  Or should I say will get one since there is still one more to go. 

With such a large group of work in just over a year there's lots to choose from if I decide to enter a show.  Each quilt is so different from the next and I love them all so it would be hard to pick one from  the bunch.  Maybe I should enter a couple of shows? Hmmm, now that's an idea.  Guess I should look into that.

I've started working on Mary's quilt this week.  I'm just at the fabric and pattern stage but it feels good to be getting back to something I love.  Pouring over quilt magazines and check out patterns on the web give me lots of inspiration.  I have had an idea brewing for this particular quilt for well over a year now I just need to pull it together.

Besides the girls quilts I've started a wall hanging called Cone Flowers.  It's a nice size applique piece that I'm able to pick up when I take a break at lunch time or for a when I have a few minutes here and there.  After spending last summer with Betty's large quilt in my lap and without AC in the house I decided that I needed some small projects for this coming summer.

Along with the cone flowers I'm going to be working on the borders for my bunny quilt this summer.  I just love this quilt and can't wait to design the applique layout for the border.  This one is done in 1930's reproductions.  I want to add a 4 inch white border using the background fabric which has white on white polka dots.  The flowers and leaves will be from the 1930s prints that are in the blocks and the vine will be black rick rack.  The borders will be scalloped and the binding will be black.  I'm hoping it comes out looking something like this.

Sample border for Bunny quilt.
From the pattern "Sweet Caroline" by
Karie Patch Designs

Ahh, it truly is good to be doing something I really enjoy! 

Just In Time

Nothing like a deadline to light a fire under me!  The Girls are getting together this weekend so it's the perfect time to finally deliver the quilts to Betty and Audrey. 

A while back I had made a promise to myself to get the labels on four quilts I had finished.  As luck would have it I didn't have Audrey's quilt available at the time.  I had dropped it off, with a few others, to a friend to have some pictures taken.  Well, I finally retrieved all the quilts about a month ago but didn't get the label on Audrey's until last night.

What is it with me and labels?  First I can't decide what to write on the label; too much is just ugly and not enough seems pointless.  I started out with this one for Audrey but it just sat there like a big old blob.  The lettering looks like a 6 year old did it.  I stared at it for two weeks while I worked on the Blue and Cream project but never sewed it on.  Do you have troubles like this with labels? 

The night before last I pulled out the box of scraps from the "Quilts for The Girls" project.  Dug out the pieces from Audrey's quilt and made a block for the label.  I like this one much better!  It's all sewn down and ready to go.  Can't wait to see if they like them!!!

Be sure to check in next week when I'll have pictures of the girls with their quilts.