Birthday Surprise from the Wonderful Women Who Quilt

My birthday was on a Monday night this year so I celebrated it with the Wonderful Women Who Quilt the night division of Pieceful Hearts Quilter in North Augusta, SC. We meet at St. Bart's Episcopal Church on Martintowne Road the first Monday of the month for meetings and every Monday following for quilting bees. They are a great group of ladies and we have lots of fun helping each other and spurring each other on in our projects. Usually only a handful come to the bees but the meetings are rather large.

me (before the great haircut), Ille (the doll who brought me cake) and Betsy and Marie













me, Ille, Betsy













Jackie, Marie, me, Ille, Betsy, Kay's mom, Kay's sister Beth













The WWWQ gave me flip flops for my birthday!! They said since it wasn't a finished quilt they were going to give it to me as a quilt kit...thankfully they were kidding :)
















They wouldn't tell me what was going in the middle so I suppose I will have to wait to see what it is














Sooooo.... I was invited to the quilt workday the following week after Margaret was finished working and this is what they had done before I got there



















adding some flip flops



















Ille pondering



















Mary & Margaret pondering



















Laying it out what does it need????














Margaret sewing like a fiend & Ille preparing to iron.














Ille who irons as meticulously as she quilts and pieces.



















Mary working on flip flop blocks














Quilt so far...and yes Margaret I swiped the pic from your blog *heh heh heh*

More Lancaster Season

It was rainy outside today so I spent the day cutting fabric into piles of 2 1/2" squares for the checkered top and bottom borders.











Then I sewed the squares together into six rows of 20 which were then sewn together in 2 groups of 3 for the borders.






Once that was done, I sewed the borders to the top and bottom of the quilt. Doug was home and held the quilt so I could photograph it. I'm still loving this quilt more and more!!

Slow Progress on the LS quilt

I've only added the top and bottom strips on the Lancaster Season quilt. It is the same fabric as the original background for the poinsettia. I didn't have anyone to hold the quilt and still don't have a design wall so this is as good as it gets. I'm onto the 120 - 2 1/2 inch blocks that will be added to the top and bottom also. Of course I did pick out the fabrics for that and I ironed. Did I mention that I hate ironing??? yuck yuck yuck but at least it's done and all I have to do is cut and sew eensy teensy squares together...I'll be done in no time I'm sure....yeah I'll get back to you on that one.....

Ohio Star Block for Lancaster Season

The next round for the Lancaster Season is the Ohio Star Block.

After cutting all the pieces and sewing more flying geese the blocks were finished and layed out before sewing together.

First three blocks were sewn together and then to the sides of the center block.

Then I added the top and bottom five Ohio Stars.

I really do like this quilt even more as each installment is added.

Lancaster Season

I've finished the next installment of Lancaster Season for the quilt guild demo. The red frame border and the flying geese were added to the appliqued block. I'm really loving this quilt and the fact that I'm using only stashed fabrics is exciting!! So technically this quilt won't be 'costing' me anything...hee hee...wonder if Doug will buy that??? :)

Lancaster Season

This year our quilt guild, Pieceful Hearts Quild guild in N. Augusta, SC is doing Kim Shaefer's Lancaster Season as a block of the month (BOM). I volunteered to do the demos of the quilt as we go along.

The quilt is a great Christmassy quilt but by changing the center medallion you could adapt it to any season you like. I'm using fabrics that I already have in my stash. Since the focal point of this quilt was a pointsettia I chose a bronzy colored pointsettia print as my color inspiration and for the final border fabric. Some of the fabrics have metallic gold in them also and hopefully will add a glow to the finished quilt. I'm really excited to see how this finishes up. We are having our quilt show in October 2009 so I'm hoping those of us who are making this will have them finished in time to hang by then.

The central block is made on a 15 1/2 inch piece of fabric. The pattern uses machine applique technique so I traced the individual pieces onto freezer paper first then pressed them onto the fabric I was using. Since I didn't want a stiff appliqued piece I used Misty Fuse instead of one of the other products available. Misty Fuse is much lighter and still gives you a bendable product when you are finished and I would highly recommend it especially when layering of fabrics is involved. Cutting out individual pieces AFTER you have add the fusible web is much easier than precutting and trying to follow around the piece, it also avoids the jagged edges and leaves a much cleaner cut. Doing a preliminary layout before adhering any of the pieces is suggested just to be sure everything will fit properly then iron away! I shortened my zig zag stitch on the machine to 2.0 and .45 and stitched around each of the individual pieces in coordinating threads. Amazingly the little gold centers were not a bugger to stitch either!! I had forgotten to take a pic of the final finished block before giving it to Marie to take to the morning meeting next week...oh well I'll catch it on the next installment....

2nd DOT and quilting

After taking her nap, Charlotte came in and helped me work on the quilt top. If you look closely you can see the thread on her nose...silly puppy!

The top and bottom sashings were added and the rows were sewn together. All that's left to do is add the borders and the top will be finished!!

quilt progress

Piecing the blocks together and adding the sashing to seperate each I've gotten the 3 rows sewn together and am off to pin the sashings to the top and bottom of each...I love to pin...arghhh

Quilt update

I sewed the pieced for the blocks together and for the sashings between the finished blocks. Ironing is on the bill for tomorrow. ;)

DOT - Charlotte helps quilt

Charlotte and Wilbur started the day off helping me pick out the fabrics for the Carolina Comfort quilt in the post below.

Then we headed off to the bathroom to take a bath...fun for all...well Wilbur loves the bathtub but Charlotte, not so much, however at least she has quit whining the entire time we are in there...maybe because Wilbur jumped in at the same time I was able to get Charlotte into the tub...BOYS!!! Anyway, the pups are clean, the towels are in a pile waiting for their turn in the washer, the bathroom has been febreezed so it now smells like ode de apple spice/wet dog...which is significantly better than the ode de stinky wet dog before spraying.

Anyway after I showered and everyone was smelling better, Charlotte and I set to cutting out the fabrics for the quilt.

It's hard work laying under the ironing board watching mom cut fabric!

Todays project is the Quilter Magazine's free online project Carolina Comfort which I am doing in these colors:


















The large pink rose print will be the focal fabric. The pink hearts will replace the yellow cornerstones.
The light blue swirl fabric will replace the green sashing strips, small cornerstones and for the binding.
The blue & lavendar batik will be used in place of the ribbon border.
The large blue flower print will be used for the outside border.