FNSI Results - 6 Minute Circle - Free Shows

My FNSI was spent getting a display board ready to teach a demo at the guild on the 6 Minute Circle. It's a technique in the book Pieced Curves So Simple by Dale Fleming. I love the technique for making perfect circles everytime, WITHOUT having to cut perfect circles in fabric. The baby quilt above was made last year using the technique.

If you cut apart your perfect circle, you have 4 perfect Drunkard's Path blocks!

I was quite nervous about showing the technique today at the guild, but I did enjoy the whole experience.  By the time I repeated the 10 minute demo a total of 5 times I had it down pat (the first group I showed it to only got to see the 6 minute HALF CIRCLE, LOL). If you ever have the chance, you should check out Dale Fleming's book Pieced Curves So Simple, you'll be glad you did.

It's International Quilting Weekend. The Quilt Show is celebrating by allowing free views of their over 100 online quilting episodes. The show is hosted by Alex Anderson (formerly of Simply Quilts) and Ricky Tims. They have special guests that show the latest techniques. The shows are free until Sunday (possibly Monday too, as they try to cover all the time zones). Usually the majority of shows are for paying members, although they do have a basic free membership which allows you limited access to some shows. There are over 8000 member quilts that you can view too.  If you have a few hours to spare on Sunday you could watch some pretty interesting shows (I'm not affiliated with the site, just like some of the shows).

Happy Stitching
corina

Quilting My Funky Flowers for FNSI

I know many of you thought I had disappeared off the face of the earth. I'm still alive and kicking! This year we went all out with Christmas. Lots of decorating, baking, 2 big turkey dinners and many get togethers with friends and family. Best of all, my daughter came home at the end of December for a 2 week visit. This was quite a wonderful event as she lives in Athens, Greece and I haven't seen her for over a year! She brought her boyfriend of many years too. It was wonderful to connect with my future son in law (nothing official, but I'm hoping!). Needless to say, blogging was put on the back burner. In fact, so was everything else!

The FNSI marked my return to my sewing. I finished free motion quilting my Funky Flower Jelly Roll 1600. I did an allover pattern of swirls and small flowers, trying to mimic one of the flowers in the applique (key word is trying).

 Note to self: Never try to quilt a black and white quilt with white thread! It was impossible to see where I was going or where I had been. The stitches completely disappeared on the background. Eventually I used masking tape to mark off small areas to work in. I could have used wash out markers, but for some reason I was too stubborn to do that.

I tried something a little different for the backing. It reminds me of the teeth on a zipper, so I'm calling it my zipper backing.  Next time I try it I'm going to use solids, or fabrics with less of a pattern. That should make the zipper effect stand out a little more. Tomorrow I'm off to a mini retreat with a goal of attaching the binding.

I'm working on a list of goals for this year. Something has to be done about all the unfinished projects!

Happy Stitching!
corina

FNSI & Roots to Grow Wire Worked Tree

I took another beading class this past week and am thrilled with the results. The class was called Roots To Grow.So easy. I will be making many more of these! It's about 3 1/2" in diameter. A little large for a pendant, but could easily be a tree ornament. The next one I make will be smaller though.

As for my FNSI, it was more of a 1 seam sew in.The final guild meeting of the year was last night so I didn't get started on my FNSI until 11!  At least something got started (yup another one of those Jelly Roll 1600s).

This one will be much larger, more of a queen sized quilt. If my calculations are correct, I need 3 jelly rolls to make it. I've got a week left to do it, along with some smaller handmade gifts.

I ventured out to the mall this morning. All I can say is YIKES! Thank goodness all my shopping is done, except for the groceries. Tonight I will get our little tree decorated. It's one of those tall, but very skinny alpine looking trees. I usually only have lights on it - but this year it's getting smothered with sparkly light gold, silver and taupe baubles. It will look gaudy and overdressed but I don't care - this year my heart cries out for shimmer!

Happy Holidays!
corina

My FNSI Results

 Last week I started a wall quilt from Gloria Loughman's book "Quilted Symphony". I love her work. Hopefully one day I can see her quilts in person. My version of her quilt is in browns and greys. I finished sewing around the circles. There are a few more sections to be done, but that will probably have to wait until after Christmas!

Love the purple/green combination

Don't forget to enter my giveaway! Just click here!
Happy Stitching,
 corina

Lots of Strips for the FNSI

It doesn't look like I accomplished much this FNSI, but I actually cut enough 2 1/2 inch strips to last a lifetime (or at least a couple of weeks). I'm not 100% sure what they will be used for (yeah right, you all know by now what they will turn into!).

 
One of my favorite blocks is the Jacob's Ladder. While searching for images of quilts made with them, I came across a gorgeous one from Piece O' Cake Designs. I liked everything about it, including the colors. Even though I could figure out the arrangement, I wanted to do a quilt that told me all that I needed to know. No figuring out how many squares, how much fabric etc. I couldn't find the pattern on their website so I emailed them. Within a couple of days, they emailed a free  PDF file of the quilt! Thank you Becky of Piece O' Cake Designs!! Here is the link to the quilt that someday will be draped over my favorite chair Jacob's Ladder Quilt.

Happy Stitching
corina

More Jelly Roll 1600 at the FNSI

 I find it very hard to cut into fabric I really love, hanging on to it for months (or in this case, years). What usually happens is that by the time I'm ready to use it, I don't like it anymore! Luckily that didn't happen with my Kansas Troubles fabric. I get a good feeling looking at them.

I can't seem to get enough of the Jelly Roll 1600. This one I've added a flange and 6" border. Originally I was going to applique flowers in the corners, but they just didn't go with the simple lines of the quilt. Circles to the rescue. I love circles (half of my quilts seem to have them). Go to the Heirloom Creations blog if you want to instructions on how to make your own Jelly Roll 1600!

For the FNSI I started stitching around the circle appliques. I've used a blanket stitch in a color that matches the applique. Maybe next time I'll try a thread color that stands out a bit more. Seems funny to do all those nice stitches and not have it show up. For those of you who don't know about the FNSI (Friday Night Sew In), click on this link for Handmade by Heidi. It's a great way to schedule in some sewing time with a bunch of blogging friends (and a prize draw!).

If any of you live near Winnipeg, Manitoba you might want to check out the Assiniboine Circle Quilt Club Fall Quilt Show. It's happening next Sunday, September 25th at the St. Francois Xavier Community Centre from 11-4.  I'm showing a few quilts, including this circle quilt so I guess I better get going on the quilting of it! I would love to believe that it will be ready, folded by the door, the day before the show. However, from past experience I think there will be a frantic push the night before to finish the binding, stitching into the wee hours.

Happy Stitching
corina

FNSI Sunflower

 I belong to the Assiniboine Circle Quilt Club and our quilt show is on September 25th. The theme for our show is sunflowers and I had planned on entering 2 sunflower quilts. One is only a background so far, and the other was just a bunch of petals cut out. Time to panic. Thank goodness for the FNSI. I finished cutting out some leaves and have temporarily placed the sunflowers on one of the quilts. The sunflowers are not sewn together, just lightly tacked together with Elmer's glue. Once the placement of the flowers and leaves is final, they will be tacked into place with the glue, then raw edge appliqued in place.

I had started this quilt in a class. I believe this is based on a Phil Beaver's design. In the beginning I was cutting out the petal pieces exactly as the pattern but that was way too finicky for me, so I just freehand cut the rest. The pattern had a rooster in it - too barnyard for me. I love roosters but not for this quilt. As of yet I have no idea how to do the stems. The original plan was to use some kind of braided trim but I think it will end up being just fabric. The sunflower centers will probably have some beading (if I can get my act together!). I'm completely drawing a blank on how to free motion quilt the background. Any suggestions?

I always think I know what I will work on for the FNSI, but invariably change my mind by the time it rolls around. Maybe I have a fear of project commitment!

Happy Stitching
corina

My FNSI Results

Even though I was the first to sign up this time, I was probably the last to get started! I'm not quite sure where the day went, or for that matter, half the night. My Moody Blues quilt needed some work so I finished piecing the drunkard's path blocks. They were a bit tricky to sew because on some of them I had to match the strips on both convex and concave portions of the blocks. There will be a lot of matching seams once I sew the blocks together too (now I know why I loved doing the string quilt!)

There are more blocks than are shown in the photo but not too sure of their placement. I like the present arrangement and may leave it as is (I swear I rearrange them on a daily basis!). By the time I add borders it would be a decent size for our bedroom wall. There are a couple of blocks that are just strip pieced. Eventually they will have a full circle appliqued on them.

As you may have noticed I am on a black and white kick. So here we go again!

I finished the last round of another Jelly Roll 1600 last night. I've had a few ideas in my head and that pattern makes the perfect background for them. One of the ideas was to applique a bunch of funky flowers in wild colors off to one side of the top. I cut out one flower (missing a center) to see how I liked it. The other idea is to applique a bunch of philodendron leaves on the top, so I cut out one to see the effect.

I think I like both ideas, which means I need another jelly roll 1600 background! Tomorrow I'm invited to another mini retreat with Myra of Tactile Pleasures in Fabric. I will be bringing my 40 2 1/2" strips and hopefully come home with another background.

Once these last 2 quilts are pieced I've gotta do the sunflower thing. So yes, eventually there will be something else on my blog besides  B/W!

Happy Stitching
corina

FNSI Results

What a great FNSI!  For once I had everything prepared. Housework was done, sewing room was neat (I must have come down with something!) and my project prepped! I've got a feeling that I will be doing a lot of string quilts. They are so quick and easy. No wonder there are so many of them out there!

Strip pieced onto muslin. I love black, white and lime green!

I cut a block in 1/2 to see what it would be like. Interesting, but I'm going to go simple.

This is the layout I prefer.

12 blocks sewn!

 I took pictures along the way, after all, I did take the Process Pledge.

I'm using a 1 inch center strip. I marked a placement line on my muslin, 1/2 inch off center.

 

I place a couple of quick dabs of glue down the center of the muslin

 to keep the strip in position.

Add  2nd strip, lining up with right edge of center strip ( right sides together,).

Sew, then press open.

Keep adding strips until all the foundation fabric is covered. Trim block.

I think I'm going to have a SNSI sew in!

Happy Stitching
corina