Kim's Quilt

If you've been following along at all you know I've been on this quest to create a quilt for each of "The Girls".  As I thought about creating these quilts I've spent time thinking about what each of my friends means to me and the influence they've had on my life.  Our friendship of over 40 years has help shape my views and reinforce my values.  Kim is one of these wonderful friends!

Kim is a runner.  That's her in the picture below wearing the green shirt at the Maine Corp marathon in WDC.  She and her husband trained long and hard to be in that race and both finished!  Now I have no idea what it's like to train for or run in a marathon but it's one of the many things admire about Kim.

It sounds like such a final declaration to say she's a runner because the truth is Kim is much more than a runner.  Yes, she is an athlete but she is also a wife, a mom, a sister, an aunt, a grandmother, and a dear friend.  On my visits to our home town, where she still lives, I'd see her running the route of hills and valleys that lead past her mom's place near where my sister lives.  I typically wave but don't stop for fear of breaking her concentration.  I never asked her about stopping during a run but I figure if it was me running (NOT!) it would take me every bit of concentration and determination to be running on such a rugged course that I wouldn't dare to stop!

I am always in awe of anyone with such physical strength and mental determination.  I have never been much of an outdoor gal, even in my youth.  I was always wanting to sit around reading a book.  It was my friends (and my mother) who encouraged me to join in the biking, swimming, and skiing that kept us busy summer and winter.  I'm so glad they did!  I enjoyed it mostly because I was with them certainly not because of my grace or ability.

When Kim invited The Girls for an overnight stay it was the perfect time to deliver her quilt.  Getting all of us together in one place can be a challenge but we try to do it once or twice a year.  And there's usually one or two who just can't make it.  In this case it was Audrey and Mary so Kim made these fun "big head" cut outs to make sure they were included.  What a hoot!  It seemed, as always, that we had just seen each other yesterday when in fact we hadn't seen each other in months!  Catching up is easy because we do keep in touch with all the new fangled technology and occasionally a phone call or two.

During the summer before this get together I had been talking to Kim at a party.  She was telling me about the next big running challenge she was training for and I got that old feeling of envy.   Of how I wish I was more physically active and had the grace and beauty that comes from being tall, slim, and healthy.  Let's face it, I'm never going to be tall but I'd love to be slim and healthy!  And it's not envy in a bad way, it's more like inspiration, in a way that makes me want to do more.  To be better at going to the gym, at sticking with healthy eating, at getting outside to enjoy the sun and the fresh air.  While I love being inside working on my quilting there are days when I still feel like that 17 year old girl who'd just love to spend a day playing on the slopes with her friends! 

 

When I first began collecting novelty fabrics for Kim's quilt I chose a print with bras (it's an inside joke ;o) )and another one with woman's running shoes.  I was envisioning the vibrant, primary colors like lemon yellow, lime green, bright orange, red and blue.  I wanted to do something that would show the energy and fun of running.  But as I said earlier, Kim is so much more than a runner so I went in an entirely different direction.

 

I asked Kim what colors she likes and it was no surprise that she talked about the colors she has in her home.  The creams, browns, and beiges with touches of cranberry red and pine green, that make her home so warm and welcoming.  So instead of the cute novelty fabric of running shoes I decided to go with the warmth and comfort of fall colors to blend in with the colors she already has at home.  I knew I'd found the prefect solution when I saw these Timeless Treasures fabrics called "Leaves of Green".

I had so much fun making the disappearing 9 patch block for Betty's quilt I decided to use it again for Kim's.  I just love the way you start out with these big blocks sewn together to get a huge 9 patch.

Then you cut the 9 patch up to produce four smaller blocks seen below.  The one thing you need to consider when making this block is do you want any of the directional fabrics to stay in an upright position?  In this case, I didn't mind if the leaves were tipped and turned but I wanted all the birds to be sitting on the branches right side up not dangling down like bats. :-)  But that's just me, you may not care and I'm sure they would have been just a pretty, even upside down or sideways.

Then when you rotate the smaller blocks and sew them back together you end up with a totally different look.  And this is just one of many options for turning the small blocks - again for me it was all about keeping the birds upright.

The overall effect of the disappearing 9 patch is a bit scrappy.  Just enough for me to tolerate!  And since I have a hard time mixing up different patterns and colors in the same quilt this type of block gives me the effect I'm looking for without the stress of losing control LOL!  Maybe I'm a bit OCD.  Here's the finished quilt.

I didn't realize it until after taking this picture but there's a secondary pattern.  Can you see it?  It looks like large pin wheels and gives it a nice energy to the peaceful colors. 

For quilting I had Lorri do a large swirl that reminded me of blowing winds in the fall.
 

In the corners and borders there's an acorn and oak leaf motif.

As always for me one of the most fun parts of making a quilt for a gift is to watch the person opening it.  Kim was totally surprised!  Sorry for that bad picture Kim but I couldn't get one without the reflections beaming back from your running jacket!  Love, love, love the backing fabric by the way! 

And as you all know I hate a "honking big white label" on the backs of my quilts so I try to incorporate something more interesting.  In this case I used one of the smaller blocks from cutting up the larger 9 patch.  Trying to herd the cats and get everyone in the same place at once is usually a challenge so the inscription "Friends are always together in spirit" is very appropriate. And particularly appropriate for Kim as she's one of the hardest to catch up with. 

Now all of the girls, including Kim, knew they were getting quilts but they had no idea what to expect or when it would arrive.  I was just going to work on them and they'd get them when the got them.  (I didn't need the stress of 6 quilt deadlines in my life!)  In this case, I finished the quilt in December 2011 just before Kim's birthday but didn't get it delivered until February 2013.  Oh yeah, and I'm just finishing writing about this one in 2014 . . . I know, I know but don't judge me!

While we were stating at Kim's that night nearly a year ago it snowed as we slept.  In the morning we woke up to over a foot of new snow.  The more hearty of the bunch went for an early morning walk.  I would have loved to have joined them but I'm not crazy, I know my limits.  When they returned we started digging out and preparing to head home.  So I got that chance to spend some time outdoors with my friends!  LOL!  Mostly though, the guys did the shoveling and snow blowing, while the girls cleared off the cars.

And the get together at Kim's was just like all the other times The Girls get together; lots of food, fun, "remember when", and new memories.  So when's the next get together for The Girls?  Who knows, but I'm sure it will be a blast!

 

Flannel Finish

Gee it's been forever since I've felt like I had time to post something.  I really admire those bloggers who are so proficient at keeping their blog up to date!  I have to admit I've not been doing a lot of quilting lately so there really wasn't much to say.  Now that the weather has changed here in New England and the humidity is gone I'm getting the quilting bug again.

Before I start writing about my latest project I need to catch up on one or two of my previously finished projects.  Let's start with this flannel one.  This is a project that was actually finished and delivered back in May.  I have a very dear friend that lives on a lake and I'd wanted to make a quilt for her and her husband.  So it had to be pretty but masculine at the same time.  As I poked around my stash I came up with this fun flannel fish fabric!

The fish are different types of salmon (my friend loves salmon!).  And then I found these flannel fat quarters in fall colors, plaids, and little flowers.  Seemed like just the right mix!

Deciding on a block was easy; the disappearing 9-patch is a quick fun block I’ve used it several times and loved the end results each time.  Deciding on a layout took a bit longer but after several tries I decided that what was missing from the block was the fish!  So I checked my yardage and had enough for the backing and the blocks.  Here’s what the final block looked like after it was cut and the pieces rotated.  If you have a novelty print that has a specific orientation then rotating the blocks can be tricky. For some of my previous quilts with this block I tested them first. 

 

In this case, I wanted to make sure that the fish were swimming upright but they could have been rotated any which way and still been fine.  Once the layout and rotation was determined I simply strip pieced the blocks together.

Before bringing the finished top off to the long arm quilter I had to piece the back.  Now most of the time I don’t pick a fabric that has such a distinct pattern so piecing the back just means doing the math, cutting, and sewing the pieces together.  But for this backing I just felt the fish would look weird if they were cut in half and a head swimming into a body!  Kind of ghoulish don’t you think? 

So I took the time to match the pattern and I had whole fish swimming happily around when it was pieced together. Phew!  Funny how I was hearing my mother’s voice as I lined up the pattern (not literally, they lock you up for that!).  She would have been saying “if you’re not going to do it right then don’t do it at all, it only takes a couple extra minutes to get it right!”  How true, and I’m so glad I did it.  Mom would be proud.  :o) 

I love picking out just the right quilting pattern.  This one looks like ripples on the water.  Having a long arm quilter that works with you is one of the best things.  Lori Wurtzler of Seventh Heaven Quilting here in NH has been doing a great job for me.  I always feel like she’s as excited about how the finished quilt will look as I am.  I didn’t get a very good picture of the quilting but if you look closely at the gold and cream squares you can see it.

For the binding I used the same cream fabric that was in the block.  I didn't want to distract from the scrappy nature of the layout so I didn't include any borders or sashing.

And what quilt would one of my quilts be without the “Guppy Quality Check”?

 

Once it passed the Guppy test the label was all that was left.  As I’ve often said I really don’t like to have a huge white block on the back of the quilt.  I always fine it distracting.  Sometimes you have to do that but I try to at least incorporate some type of fabric from the front to tie it all together.  For this one I just wanted to put my name and the date on it because I loved how the fish looked swimming around in the water.

 

 

The finished quilt came out beautiful and my friend loved it.

 

 

 

 

I hope you'll give that disappearing 9 patch block a try I think it will become one of your favorites too!

 

 



 

March Meeting Of The Once A Month Group

While I don't have any pictures of my own quilts to show you I do have some from the "One Friday A Month" group to share. Our March meeting was held at Deb's new home by the river.   She was gracious enough to have us for an over night quilting/visiting get together. 

We all arrived early enough for a tour before the sun set. Her home is warm and cozy not to mention beautifully decorated! There's a view of the river just 50 feet or so from her back deck and a huge working farm across the street from her front door.

Our rooms upstairs had welcoming beds with plenty of comfy quilts. It was like being at a bed and breakfast.  Nothing was overlooked, from the food to the accommodations it was a feast for the eyes. 

I feel very fortunate to have found a group of women who are all so talented.  I look forward to our monthly get together so I can see what every one's been up to and catch up on the latest news about family and friends.

Speaking of family, that's my sister Dutchy holding up a baby quilt she made for a friend's grandson.  It's a pattern of interlocking Friendship Star blocks.  I had made one when I first started quilting and it took me forever to put together.

Hers was whipped up in no time flat. Turns out that using the two colors along with the white printed background like she did her rather than the multiple blues and yellows like I did (here) made all the difference.  Oh yeah, and having a few more years of quilting under your belt helps too!

The blues and yellows are so soft.  The white background fabric on this one has the cutest little pastel toys on it.  I don't think the picture does it justice but here's a detail shot.  Kind of looks like flowers but it's really toys.  The border and backing were done "envelope" style where you sew all the edges right sides together leaving a small opening so you can turn it right side out.

Jane brought her Disappearing Nine Patch.  That's her peeking out from behind the corner of it.  I love all the colors.  One of the things I always admire when seeing a finished quilt is the personality that comes through.  Whether it's the quilters personality or the recipients personality.  Each one is unique.  I love how the sashing and the borders frame the large blocks.

I can't remember if Jane was finishing up the hand quilting or the binding.  One of these days I'll be ready for a lesson in hand quilting and these are just the people who can teach me.  They all do such beautiful work!

The rest of the gang, Tami, Carol, Deb and I, were all working on hand work.  I was so busy talking I forgot to take more pictures until morning!  Several of them had started a block of the month from our local quilt shop.  I worked on piecing some of the blocks for Mary's quilt and they were very cute. 

Deb, our hostess, was working on piecing a set of blocks embroidered by her grandmother.  They are the state flowers for all 50 states.  The embroidery is just lovely.  Everyone like the patterns so much that one of the girls decided she wanted to make them so she borrowed the patterns.  Wish I'd taken some pictures DARN!  Well, I'll ask Deb to bring it to the May gathering and get some pictures to share with you.

After many hours of talking and laughing we all headed off to bed.  SOME of us were asleep right away but the "Hot Flash Twins" (and you know who you are!) were both fighting with the covers.  One even got stuck in her sleeping bag and nearly melted from the heat LOL!  Oh yeah, and there was that little mishap with the picture in the bathroom - Sorry Deb!

After a short night's sleep we ventured down to the kitchen.  The hot flash twins were already up and trying to figure out how to get the coffee pot to work.  After many attempts and floods of giggles our hostess appeared with the simple answer:  put the special rock on the lid to engage the start mechanism.  HaHaHaHa  Why didn't we think of that!  Once the coffee got going we dug in to quiche, fresh fruit salad, muffins and juice.  Yummy :-)

The rest of the day was filled with sewing, eating, laughing, sewing, talking, walking and more laughing.  It all ended much too soon!  A big THANK YOU to Deb for sharing her home with all of us.

Before I forget, I want to mention that the April meeting was at Jane's home where we were all treated to Jane's luscious brownies and cookies.  Again I forgot to bring the camera so no pictures.  I really want to share the quilt that Jane is working on - it's red work blocks set with beautiful patchwork.  Jane if you're reading this I hope you'll bring it to the May get together so I can take some pictures.

Happy quilting everyone!

Happy {Very Belated!} Birthday

What's more fun than making a quilt?  Surprising a friend! 

With schedules being what they are we haven't had a chance to get all The Girls together so I couldn't deliver the quilts I made for Betty and Audrey.  Last Friday we thought we had a quorum so I brought the quilts to Jean's to surprise the birthday girls.  As luck would have it Audrey had to cancel at the last minute but Betty was there so she received her VERY belated birthday quilt.


"It smells so good!"

Jeannie's behind the quilt holding it up so Betty can get a better look.
 

Oh look!  A tent! Some beers! OSJ!

Here's a close up of what's she's looking at.  For those of you readers that are quilters the pattern is Disappearing 9-Patch.  The fabrics are cats, cookies, camping and beer, 4 of Betty's favorite things.

The quilting is dragon flies buzzing all over the quilt.  It's done in an orange colored thread which really pops on the black borders as well as the cream background fabric.  A big thank you to Lorri Wurtzler of Nashua for doing the long-arm quilting.  She really brought my idea for "some kind of bugs" to life!

The binding is a black and gold print that made a pretty pattern when folded and sewn into place.

 

It was so fun finishing this quilt with all those dragon flies buzzing around!

Finished binding

Now back to the birthday girl.  Betty always makes chocolate chip cookies for The Girls when we get together.  She has the fun container that has a big cookie for a lid!  Sure enough when she arrived she had a container full of warm "chippers" for us..

Chippers!



Happy Birthday Betty!

PS Audrey's next . . .

Caroline's Mermaid Quilt

The Mermaid Quilt - Day 1
 

Wait till you see how this
beautiful panel gets center stage.

 A few of weeks ago I had a rare opportunity to spend 2 days quilting at a friend’s house.  Now, my friend Jean doesn’t quilt – although I know she would love it if there was time in her hectic days – but her daughter, Caroline, took to the sewing machine like a fish to water! 

Another rare event was to be joined by our friend Sully who drove 3 hours just to get in some quality quilting time.  I can't thank you all enough for such a fun couple of days!  I rarely get to share my love of quilting with interested parties.  I'm usually boring some poor soul to tears as I babble on about fabrics, patterns, blocks, applique’, borders, and backings . . . . hence the BLOG   ;o)

Years ago, when Caroline was just a baby,  Jean got a new sewing machine.  She asked me if I would come by some weekend and help her with making some baby clothes.  As life would have it our schedules kept us both so busy that our sewing date (and the baby cloths) never happened.  We often talked about it and as Caroline got older we agreed it would be fun to teach her to sew.


Jean's dining room became
the sewing room

 Well, 11 years later, the stars finally aligned.  I showed up at Jean’s with sewing machine in hand.  And let’s not forget all the other paraphernalia like the cutting mat, rotary cutter, fabric, thread and 3 more bags of stuff that were all packed tightly into my car, just in case.  Oh and PJs and a pillow.  After all it was a sleepover!

I don’t know who was more excited to get started Caroline or me.  I had picked out a selection of fabrics from my stash that had pretty spring daisy pallet.  I also had a kit that had the fun mermaid panel.  Once she spotted the mermaid there was no going back.

The block I wanted to teach Caroline is the Disappearing Nine Patch.  I had used it on Betty's quilt and loved the way it turned out.  It's such a simple block but it looks much more complicated when it's all done.

Caroline had never used a sewing machine before and I had never seen Jean's machine.  Using a sewing machine is kind of like driving a car.  If it's your own you're able to jump in and hit the road, if it's a rental you need to take a few minutes to see where all the buttons are and what they do.  I had Caroline use the owners manual to look up anything that wasn't obvious.  In short order we managed to get the stitches set up, the machine threaded and eventually even wind a few bobbins.

 

Next we tackled cutting.  I showed Caroline how to use the rotary cutter but after a few closely supervised tries I decided she wasn't quite strong enough to use it and my nerves weren't strong enough to watch! 

On to Plan B.  I did the rotary cutting and she did the fussy cutting.  Using a 4 1/2 inch square ruler she traced around the pretty mermaids, then cut them out.

A few quick instructions on how to sew the squares into rows and the rows into block

and she was off.

I was amazed at how quickly she picked up on all the directions I was giving her.  I was trying to keep it simple but as you can tell by my writing "short" is not something I do well. 

Even to me it seemed that I was just talking and talking and talking.  I kept thinking she's going to get sick of hearing my voice!  





But she was very focused and absorbed everything I said.  It wasn't long before she was just cruzin' along.

We worked as a team:  Caroline sewed the 9-patches together; I cut them up to make them "disappear" and she sewed them back together to form the new block. 

Isn't this one beautiful!!!  Once she had the hang of it she managed to get 6 blocks done before we stopped for dinner. 

In the span of just 4 hours she had learned how to use the sewing machine and created 6 beautiful blocks.   I know it must have taken me a lot longer than that for my first blocks!  Along the way there were a couple of opportunties for "reverse sewing" so she did get to use the seam ripper! 

After dinner Sully arrived.  We set up her sewing machine and mine on the table as well.  She had seen my pictures of Betty's quilt and wanted to try the Disappearing Nine Patch block for a quilt for her daughter. Fortunately, Sully is a quilter so she was set up and sewing in no time. She was also able to lend a hand with helping Caroline as well.  The dining room was now fully transformed into quite the classroom. 


 

Since we were working in the kitchen/dining room we had to improvize.  The kitchen counter became our cutting surface and the dining room table became the sewing table.  The big advantage to not having Mom around was we could use the curtains as a design wall.  Hey, she said do whatever you want right? LOL! 

Jean arrived home late after a long day at work to be greeted by a very excited daughter, two good friends, and a kitchen turned up-side-down!  Caroline caught her mom up on all the activities of the day and did a  show and tell with the blocks she had finished.  She also included a vocabulary lesson on all the new sewing terms she'd learned.  Once again I was amazed at how much she learned!

It took another hour before Caroline finally went off to bed but not before she had finished the last stitch of the block she was working on. 

There is definately more to this story so check back again soon for Day 2 of The Mermaid quilt!

In the mean time I've got a couple of other projects I want post in the next few days.  Both the Baby Quilt for Trevor and the birthday quilt for Betty are back from the long arm quilter and ready for bindings.

Disappearing 9-Patch for Betty

Next in line for her birthday quilt is Betty. Picture someone you know that has a beautiful smile and an infectious laugh; that's Betty! She is just so much fun. Betty's delicious homemade chocolate chip cookies, or "chippers" as we call them, are a staple when The Girls get together. And while we all have our favorite adult beverage Betty only drinks lite beer!

Betty seems to have boundless energy and all the 411 on the latest hot topics. She often credits her nieces who live nearby with keeping her up to date and supplying fashion advice. The youngest of 8 kids, her large extended family is a topic we all love to hear about.  I remember all of them and can still picture in my mind their famous family photo of the "Milk Drinkingest Family"!

I think the secret to Betty's good cheer is she's actually forgotten her real age. No really, she actually thought she had another year to go before turning 50.  What a bummer when that turned out to be wrong!  But Betty's good sport and laughed along with us as she confessed.

Originally I was going to make a quilt for Betty with cats on it. Side note: Betty has two cats, both of which were thought to be males. That is until the day she and her husband came home to find one of the cats in the closet delivering kittens!  Betty's description of the event had us rolling in the aisle with tears in our eyes.  

Back to the quilt. While driving my sister from NH to FL we stopped at several quilt shops. At one shop in VA I found some cute camping fabric. That's when the idea of a "camping" quilt started brewing. Something Betty could use on her annual summer camping trips. Once I returned home and began looked for coordinating fabrics I realized the camping fabric I had purchased was about “camping on wheels”. This wasn't going to work; Betty is a “tent” camper. 

I still had the cat fabric and a search through my sister's stash turned up some tent camping fabric. Both of these had black backgrounds. Looking a bit dark I thought. So I continued to look for a more fabrics with lighter backgrounds. I found the chocolate chip cookie fabric at a quilt show here in NH along with the beer fabric. So there you have it; Chippers, Cats, Camping, and Beer, four things that describe just a little bit of my friend Betty. 

Trying to find a pattern that would allow me to incorporate all four of these fabrics in a single block was a challenge.  I finally came up with the "Disappearing Nine-Patch" from a Moda Bake Shop Recipe called "Christmas Table Topper".  I had already decided to use 4 1/2" squares before finding the pattern so I just adapted as I went along.

For coordinating fabrics I picked up on the colors of the cookies and beer; caramel, cream, beige.  These seemed too dull for such a happy person as Betty!  Then I found the orange – PERFECT!  It added just the "oh-lay-la" (as Betty would say) that I was looking for. 

Two of my fabrics were directional and two weren't so that worked out fine. After working out the fabric locations and sewing the 9-patch the next step was to cut the block across the middle, left to right, and down the center, from top to bottom.  What fun!  I'm a bit of a rule follower so cutting up a perfectly good block seemed a bit naughty to me ;o) 


9 patch layout





Cut up the block

Next I rotated the non-directional (upper right and lower left) blocks 180 degrees and sewed the block back together. 



Rotate oposite corners



Sew them back together

I just love how complicated this block looks compared to how easy it was to make. I'll bet if you use all non-directional fabrics you can get some beautiful combinations. 

I was reluctant to use black in the blocks because I felt it would be too dark.  "Dark" is not a word I would ever use to describe Betty!  By reserving the black for the border it gave just the right effect next to the orange framing.  

Here's the finished top. I just LOVE it!  I'm sending it out next week to be quilted so stay tuned for the finishing touches.