Me and some of my quilts

I seem to have difficulty getting pictures of myself. Trying to flash a picture from me in a mirror results in nothing but "flash". And I think my phone takes pictures but have never tried it.
Thankfully I was interviewed for an article to be published in Senior Life newspaper. The reporter mailed me some of the millions of photos she took. I was very pleased with the pictures.

 Above is a paper-pieced quilt I made that I call Batik Stars. I hand quilted this beauty with spiderwebs. And the binding is all scrappy. I guess I was a scrappy girl back in 1995 and did not even know it!

And to the left of me is a stack of quilts that I have made. There were many more that did not make it into the frame of the picture. What am I going to do with all these quilts??????

Here is a closeup of my Hubby's birthday quilt made from that great 45 degreee kaleidoscope ruler by Marilyn Doheny. Elaine Adair was the culprit who turned me on to this easy technique that makes the fabric do the work and manages to still look complicated!

 Hubby and I examining one of the many musical quilts I have made him. I remember this black fabric. There were palm leaves along with the guitars so I had to fussycut the fabric.

Yes, I play guitar. Yes, this is a 12 string. This is the same guitar that DH taught me to strum on. Since I was a finger picker on a nylon string guitar I had issues with a smaller neck of a steel string guitar. DH had a solution. He removed 6 of the strings and I used the 12 for strumming until I was used to the strumming thing. I then bought a steel string guitar and never looked back. But I am still very much more comfortable finger picking than strumming.
The quilt behind me was part of a block exchange from the internet. Great color scheme!

Facebook Quilt World Mystery quilt

This was a mystery from Facebook a few weeks ago. Since I had re-discovered my extensive stash of batik fabrics, I felt this would work well for them.
I used the EZ Angle ruler to cut the patches from 2 1/2" and 4 1/2" strips. I ended up having two cutting sessions. I did not double the amount stated in the instructions. They were using the "sew across a square twice" method. So, after a false start I was on my way to making this beauty.
I did not like how the design was just cut off, so I added/extended the pattern into the border and then added another strip of the taupe batik to call this done!

 It is so hard to quilt with kitties. If any of you do have cats, you know how they NEED to lay on whatever you are sewing on. MaggieMae was just telling me how lovely her fur looks with the batiks! HA!

 I used leftover strips as short as 6" to make the multicolored binding. I totally lucked out that not one seam hit a turned corner! I just did straight line quilting around each patch and extending out into the border.
I used Quilter's Dream Green as the batting. It has a nice firm feel and lays so nice.

My niece is getting married this weekend. (Oct.16) So, I started her quilt two days ago. Not one to wait until the last minute. But I was also waiting for her to decide on her colors. All I need is to do a couple small borders and then quilt it. I still have three days!

 One of my favorite bloggers, Elaine Adair, turned me on to the 45 degree Kaleidoscope Wedge ruler by Marilyn Doheny. Between the two of us we have made many, many quilts with this ruler. Each one is unique and a work of art. I love how the circles move...first a dark circle and then you see a light circle! Too Cool!

 I love "Back to school" time. I picked up several of these pencil boxes. These are 1 1/2" squares for my current Postage Stamp Swap that I hostess over on Yahoo. They fit perfectly. There are 50 different fabrics in this sweet little pink box.

And here are my packages all sorted, sealed and ready for the Post Office. The PO clerks are always so nice. This is job security for them!

Another Kaleidoscope quilt!

I have Elaine Adair to thank for an addiction to this great ruler that makes this pattern so fun and easy. I no longer know how many quilts I have made from this pattern. It never gets old as each is unique.
I love the optical illusion it creates. It almost makes me feel I have had one Margarita too many!

 The ruler is called a "45 degree Kaleidoscope Wedge Ruler" by Marilyn Doheny.
http://www.dohenybooks.com/

 My goal is to have this done by June 13th. I want to give this to my great son-in-law, Kevin. He looks so nice in green and I thought I might as well make him a green quilt for his birthday!

 Decisions, decisions! Four fabrics or five fabrics. I opted for the four fabric design and will put the sample block on the back  al'a Bonnie Hunter style!

I thought I should add a picture of the ruler. Such a great tool for this gadget girl.
At least this is one gadget I do use!

 I am still working on the "Different Box of Crayons" quilt. I have three more borders to add and the quilt is now too big for me to machine quilt even without the borders added. I have to work on multiple items. I wish I could clone me and work on everything at once!

 Even Hubby likes the way the design flows out from the center. I can only say "wow" I made this and I love this quilt! Grand daughter AnnaMarie will love this I am sure!

I guess you cannot see much of anything of the Oriental quilt in this picture. I was just beginning to add the binding. I accordion fold my binding and lay it on the machine bed. It stays straight and helps the process. It took 4 of us at guild to hold the quilt up. I wish I had a picture of that so you could see more. When I give this to Laura I will be sure to get a good photo.

Purple Kaleidoscope quilt progress

First I would like to show all of you my biggest square ruler. I may not use it very often but when a large square ruler is needed there is no substitution. It is a Creative Grid. Do not know when or when I bought it. I have had it for eons. But knowing my buying habits I am sure I found it on the internet.

Here is the trimming process. I cut my corner triangles from squares measuring 6 1/2's.
The instructions have you cutting a 5 3/4" square twice on the diagonal. Not only is this a strange measurement for us "Bonnie" girls, it is also a very bad idea to put bias edges on the outside of the triangles. I cut the 6 1/2" square on the diagonal once giving me a generous triangle with straight of grain on the two outside edges. I centered that on the respective corners sewed and then when truing up the block the extra just gets cut away and the block measures a perfect but BIG 17"!!!!

Here are twelve of the fourteen blocks I made. They are not sewn together yet just slapped on the design wall. If you squint your eyes you can see two circles interwoven. I just love this pattern!

When starting this project I wound 5 bobbins with purple thread. I used all five bobbins! There is a lot of strip piecing before seeing the results. But they are sure worth the wait! I have a wild wiggly stripe fabric that is a tame yellow with tons of colors but mostly lavenders running the width of the bolt. I cut along the lengthwise of this fabric ending up with stripes running across the strips. Not only is this more pleasing to my eye, it is a better cut for borders. The lengthwise grain has less stretch than WOF grain. I learned this from one of Judy Martin's books. Yes, I have all she has written and am waiting on the next one!

Marilyn Doheny's Wedge ruler information

I hope these pictures are clear enough for you. We are having a cloudy, rainy day here in Indiana.

Pattern is on the back of the ruler.

U.S. Toll Free: (888) 436-4369

Kaleidoscope quilts from wedge ruler

This is a test block for another grand daughter's birthday. She loves purple. I did all the strips sets today and cut them into the wedge shapes. I hope to sew them this next week. I also did several strip sets in greens to mix into the purples. Cross your fingers....

All done and again wonderful hubby is holding it up for me. This quilt came about as a personal challenge to myself. I won a yard of "ugly" fabric at the last guild meeting. I wanted to prove to them that the fabric was BEAUTIFUL! Tomorrow night is the next guild meeting and I plan on bringing this for show and tell. I also need to find a yard of ugly fabric to offer as a prize. Yikes! I love all of my fabric and hate to say one is UGLY!

I mitered the corners. And the guitar stripe was so perfect for this project.

Here is a closeup of the easy straight line quilting I did on my Janome 6600P. I love this machine! I used a 40 weight gold top thread and a deep blue John Flynn's So Fine in the bobbin. This machine takes whatever thread combination I throw at her!

Star Struck, Rag quilt, swap blocks and a Kaleidoscope quilt!

Where have I been? At the sewing machine of course! And the rain is light and wonderful. Makes for a perfect sewing day. But I am also doing the laundry. A gal cannot do just one thing at a time you know!

I have my Star Struck pink/brown all done and ready for the borders. Pattern is by Bonnie Hunter at : http://www.quiltville.com

Right now it is a comfy 48X55". Then I was caught by another quilt in my head and took it down from the design wall. I do have the borders all cut and ready for a quick finish.

I really like this pattern. I want to do it in all colorways including scrappy. There is not enough of me to go around. I even sew in my sleep!

This is what took me away from the Star Struck quilt. There is a story here. Last week I won one yard of "ugly" fabric at my guild meeting. Next month I am to bring a yard of what I consider ugly fabric to a drawing. Anyway, I loved the fabric and used it in this quilt. This quilt is now 52X66" before borders.

The fabric I won was the guitar fabric. It is by Michael Miller. A beautiful piece of fabric. Hubby and I both play guitar and the fabric fits us to a "T". I told hubby he can have this one when I am done with it. I have been asked to teach a pattern at my LQS and this one will be it. If you make smaller blocks it is doable in one lesson day.

One afternoon last week I got another "itch" to try a technique...rag quilting. This picture is after just one wash/dry. I understand they will bloom the more they are washed. The cats have claimed this one alread. That is fine, I was only testing the technique.

This is before wash/dry. I have a whole bolt of the brown floral flannel. It is so beautiful. I need to start selling some of my stash. What will I ever do with 15 yards of this beautiful fabric? It is made by Andover Fabrics 2002 American Folk Art Museum, Broderie Perse Pattern #2017.

Any takers at $4.00 a yard?

I am in a batik block swap on a Yahoo group and these three sets are what I am mailing out. I just love these swaps. I worked on these last week too. Guess that is why I have not been blogging.

Here are the fabrics all washed. Batiks bleed so bad. These will not.

And this is the project that really took a big bunch of my time. There are 200 3" nine patches for mailing. And I do not have have the other 200 rail blocks pictured. I mailed out 400 mini 9-patches and rails. I cannot wait to get the return swap! It really impressed the ladies at the post office. They love to look at what I am swapping. And it is job security for them.

I moved around some more furniture and added a pressing station to my sewing area. Gosh am I lucky or what!

There is more room for the kitties to help me too!

And here is MaggieMae in her glory. She loves to lay on cool hard surfaces. I think that is because of her heavy fur. Less static or clinging.

Two summers ago there were two baby squirrels born without tails. One did not make it through the winter. But little Stubby made it. I think it large part because I made sure she was fed through the winters. She is now heading into her third winter year. She has had 2 litters each summer and is an excellent mother. She is so tame she takes peanuts from my hand. She also knocks on the door to get my attention. I fear she is going to dash into the house when I open the front door to give her peanuts and what a mess that would be. I fear she would really hurt the cats. They all love her through the window as you can see. Pearl is just calmly watching her. I guess I really love her as I bought 25#'s of raw peanuts this summer for winter feeding. I also make them peanutbutter/cornmeal/birdseed balls.

See? All she has is about 2" of fluffy fur. All her babies have long gorgeous tails. Maybe something got into her nest when she and her brother were VERY small and they each lost the tail. I looked it up on the internet, and she is showing and sharing her terrritory with only one of her last litter. I watched her showing the little girl the boundries and marking them for her. All while I was filling the birdbath with the hose. She has even came up behind me and touched my leg to get my attention. Hope she does not try to use me as a tree.......