Back in 2017, Joe Cunningham (AKA Joe the Quilter) visited International Quilt Museum with his improvisational piecing techniques and it was really so much fun.
I take classes like this to expand my creativity and to get inside the minds of other designers and artists. If I end up with a quilt, so much the better.
A while back I wrote about some quilts that were in trouble with me for a post called “Quilts in the Doghouse.” I just finished piecing another top, a recent UFO (which means I started it in the past year or so), and near the end of the process, I had what you might call a full-on hissy fit.
First I want to say that Hexie Framed is a great design and a well-written pattern from Emily Dennis of Quilty Love. None of this story is the pattern’s or the designer’s fault. This is all on me.
Another recent finish is my Bitty Blocks row quilt. I started this years ago when I was working as an editor for Quiltmaker. We had this idea to create 3″ and 4″ blocks and post them for free on our website. There was no such thing as a marketing team so we had to market ourselves, and this was one of the ways we did it.
The thing about Bitty Blocks is that they’re addictive. You make a few, and then you make a few more, and you’re having so much fun that pretty soon you have 50 little 4″ stars or 70 tiny houses at 3″ x 3″, and then what?
Hey quilters, how are you holding up? I know. Me, too. Things are starting to open up here in Nebraska, and I wonder if my friends would want to head out to a quilt store this week. I am ready!
I have sewn like a crazy woman during the pandemic. I’ve finished up some things, started a bunch of new things, and practiced machine quilting a LOT.
In December I dug out and shot all the UFOs I could find, including these little baskets.
I’ve been machine quilting much more than usual during this extended time at home. I’m learning a lot. I am so happy to have finished My Wild Garden recently.
It’s an improvisational quilt, which is a fancy way of saying I made it up as I went along. You’ve never had so much fun as improv quilting allows.
I’m not going to talk about the pandemic. We’re all frustrated. So…
I’ve been finishing up some things the past few weeks. I have a lot of UFOs squirreled away in closets and cupboards and it would feel great to be done with them. And, BONUS, some of them can go into trunk shows! I have extra time because my engagements with guilds have been cancelled for April, May and June.
Two quilts I finished this week gave me pause. One was My Christmas Album, above. It’s a great design by Tina Curran with fusible applique and a border of Christmas sweaters. But when I took the final stitch, I didn’t feel anything good. I felt all manner of royally ticked off.
My favorite night of the quilt guild’s year is the garage sale, hands down. There are always things to be shared and treasures to be found. My small guild in Holdrege, Nebraska had a garage sale in January. I tried hard to find interesting things in my studio that I no longer needed to benefit the group in a small way.
I recreated this image and it doesn’t do justice to the hundreds of 1-1/2″ strips I had on hand. The strips were passed to me from a co-worker (I think) at Quiltmaker quite a few years ago. They were of every persuasion and they weren’t terribly appealing. I knew they wouldn’t do well just stuffed in a bag but I had an idea.