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.

Whacked Trees: Row by Row

Slowly but surely I've been nibbling away at the Whacked Christmas Trees.  After all 30 blocks were constructed I laid them out on the design wall.  I took a step back and all I could see was one HOT MESS!  

You all know I'm not a fan of scrappy quilts yet when I did the wacky pumpkin quilt it turned out beautifully.  In fact it's one of my favorites!  I keep telling myself this one's going to be great too and I do love each and every fabric in it but boy I'm not in love with it yet.

The blocks by themselves are really cute.  Even side by side on these blue trays I use for organizing they seem to be fine together.  Hopefully, once I get the final border on I'll like it more.

In an attempt to give myself some order in the scrap heap on the wall I decided to add in some sashing.  I found this great fabric that I had used as a backing for Betty's quilt and as one of the blocks for Kim's quilt.  (The only one of The Girls quilts that's not been delivered yet!)

This fabric is a favorite of mine, from Joann's, because it's so versatile.  I mean really, what other fabric goes with cookies, camping, cats, birds, beer, and now Christmas trees!

Here's a peek at some of the Whacked Christmas tree blocks with their sashing.  I used a 1" sashing to go along with the skinny tree trunks.  It's kinda "growing" on me!

By the way, several of you have asked me about my story for Mary's quilt.  All I can say is I cried when I delivered it and I keep getting choked up when I try to write the story!   Here's Alice helping me put the binding on Mary's quilt.

 

Hang in there, I'll get it written soon I promise.

Once A Month Quilters

Seriously, we need a real name for this band of friends.  We meet once a month to share some quilting fun and a few laughs.  We've never had a name but if I'm going to be writing about us it's time we had one.  Any suggestions?


In the mean time here's some pictures of our most recent gathering at Jane's house.  My apologies for the picture quality, something was up with the camera that night so most of the faces came out blurry, but the quilts look good!


Tami and Charlene got right down to business with their handwork.  That's my green basket in the forefront.

All of these girls do beautiful work.  We all have different tastes and I just love seeing what new stuff they bring.  I'm the underachiever in the group which is why there are no pictures of my work from that night.  I was too busy taking pictures!


Show and tell is always fun.  It's great to see the finished projects after seeing them in their early stages.  Here's my sister Dutchy with her green alphabet all done.  She's been on a roll lately and finished up three or four projects in the last couple of weeks.   I've never been interested in doing embroidery but Dutchy does a beautiful job.  She takes after our mother who did lovely work.

Now that her grandchildren are getting married she's hoping for great-grandchildren.  So this one and a couple of others will be put away until the next generation starts arriving.  Here's a close up of the blocks, the letters are cross stitched. 

Alphabets are a popular theme this year.  Dutchy was finishing up her blue alphabets and Tami was also working on alphabet blocks.  These are Tami's with a little girl theme.

Isn't this just the cutest rabbit?

Jane's show and tell this month was Cat's.  She's done a beautiful job with choosing the fabrics.  Some of them look like fur!  Check out the butterfly and the dragon fly.

Deb (the other Deb in the group besides me) has been working on this heart quilt for a long time.  It was all finished, even the quilting, but she decided she didn't like the way it came out.  So she took out all the quilting and started over. 

She decided to use cross-stitches of large "X"s between the hearts to give it a bit more character.  We all agree it looks much better.  Then someone, I think it was Jane, suggested that she should quilt around each heart to give them more definition.

And finally she did a cross hatched quilting in the border.  Check out the rick-rack around the inside of the border.  A lot of work but well worth all the effort.  Great job Deb!  We all want to steel her cross-stitch idea.  I even think I could manage to do that kind of quilting.

Just like Dutchy, Deb had a show and tell as well as a new project to work on.  This is her Halloween wall hanging.  Jane's giving her some advice on the quilting. 

Love the colors!  Just in time for fall. 

Last but not least we had to wait until the end of the evening to get a look at what Charlene was working on.  After some much needed TLC and look how it turned out. This beautiful old quilt came to her as a top that had been machine stitched down.  She unsewed pieces and hand appliqued them back onto the top. 

The yellow is truly that bright!  I'm not sure what the design is but Tami took some measurements so we may be seeing one of these from her some day soon.

Here's a close up of it.

Check out those funky fabrics!  Pretty wild for 1930's prints.  I love the open meandering quilting too.  What a great addition to her collection.

The only one missing from the group this month was Carol but she had a great excuse, a new grand baby!  Congratulations Carol.  We all know you were probably busy watching him sleep ;-D  Bring pictures next month so we can ooh and aah along with you.

The time always flies when we get together.  Before you know it the snacks arrive on the table, the needles get put down and we all enjoy another story or two before packing up to head home.  Check back to find out if we come up with a name - suggestions welcome!