A quilting weekend

A quilting day on Saturday with the Undercover Strippers. (Where did we get that name?)

I got the machine set up all set to go on my Newspaper Pinwheels:



One portable sewing machine, one Ott light, one big board laid across a table, the project and assorted tools of the trade - everything necessary for a Saturday with the girls.

The morning was spent working on Newspaper Pinwheels:



.... but the rest of the day was spent finishing the quilting on Tres Triangles. This is such a simple quilt, made out of leftovers and swaps and a few lights thrown in because, after all, no-one swaps neutrals:



This one will be for the house - just a couch quilt, probably for naps ..... and getting up in the middle of the night and deciding it's better to sleep on the couch.

Christening Quilt Finished

Another one bites the dust! Another one bites the dust!

Is that what we're supposed to be saying about quilting?

Well, maybe not, but it is what I think when I snip off the last thread from binding, and then go back to trim any stray threads and pull out the basting thread from the binding.

Another one bites the dust! Another one bites the dust!!

This is the most recent christening quilt.



I should have done close-ups. I really liked the fairies.

Table runners

This is the season for table runners. I'm making them for Christmas, both for myself and to give as gifts. This one is a template for a pattern I'm writing - as simple as they get - Nine Patch and Rails.



There are two place mats to go with this one. Don and I will use them for ourselves.

There is something about the simple nine-patch that I find alluring. It's easy to sew, easy to cut and fits together in so many different ways.

Another baptism quilt

I've written that before - and that's good news. Another baptism quilt means there's another baby being baptized.

I have a week to turn this mess:



into a simple quilt for a baby. It wouldn't be so bad if my brother weren't coming midway through the week for his father-in-law's funeral. We'll take the time to say a proper farewell to Bill Bulat and then it will be back to the machine.

Another baptism quilt

This is the fourth I've made - at least, the fourth I've started. This one will be for a girl, and I thinks she's being baptized at the Cathedral on Thanksgiving weekend.

It's getting harder to find nice kids' fabric that isn't too cartoony, but I think this lot works.

more half square triangles

The Undercover Strippers (don't blame me - I didn't choose the name) tease me about my quilt preferences. Half square triangles, again?

We have a workshop coming up with the Quilt Patch from Moose Jaw. I enrolled because I want to learn machine applique. They assured me that I could change the rest of the quilt to half-square triangles if I wanted. Like, why did they think I hadn't already planned to do that?

Here is the most recent. This is the centre of Music Hath Charms.



(There's a row missing on the bottom. I forgot to take a photo until I'd started piecing the centre.)

I like half-square triangles. I don't know why, I just know I do. Now, I hate the trimming and all that, but I seem to do them time after time, so there must be some reason I don't fully comprehend.

I'm not quite sure on borders. Some pinwheels for sure, but how many, or what else hasn't quite been decided.

Music Hath Charms

There's not a lot to see at this point - it's nothing but half-square triangles and strips cut to be made into more half-square triangles. As my friends would say - "hey, there's a surprise." Some day I think I'll write a book that starts, "First, make a thousand half-square triangles."



All the fabric is music themed, which will make sense to the recipient. The colour scheme is black, white, tan and red, with none of the red fabric cut yet. It's still waiting to arrive.

Christening Quilt #3

Since I volunteered to do christening quilts, this is my third - me, who has done only one baby quilt before I did these. This is #3 and I am trying to get ahead of the curve, so it is neither male nor female, just baby. I bought the fabric a week ago at Kickass Country Store in Plumas (I love that store) and so far, the centre is complete. It needs borders and then I'll get down to quilting.

Another baptism quilt

This one's for a girl (who could have guessed?) due to be baptized on May 23 2010 at St. Matthew's Cathedral, Brandon. Same general idea as the last one I did, except that there are no nine-patches in the corner.



It took me about two seconds to decide, a) I was being stereotypical in picking pink fabrics for a girl, and b) I didn't care, because I suspect the parents don't care. If they do, I'm sure I'll hear about it and I'll make a different kind of quilt next time.

Robin gave me a week's warning, so this is what you get in a week. I'd love to make something a bit more exciting, but not when I know it has to be done tout d'suite.

One Baptism top - finished

With only a week to do it, from scratch to binding means big nine-patches and colourful "blank" blocks for the plain squares. It's simple - and as my friend Shirley is wont to say, "Done is better than perfect."



Of course, if I didn't have to get it quilted, it would be easier, but then I'd be a topper, not a quilter.

Black and white quilts - plus

There are current trends in quilting that just don't tickle me at all, but one that seems to have some staying power is one I like a lot - black and white quilts with a flash of colour.

My current quilt is built on that theme. It starts with two sets of squares - black and grey, and red and pink. (PINK!! she shouts, pink not being a colour she is very fond of, reminding her as it does of fancy dresses that weren't wearable by real children, and their spawn, the bridesmaid's dress.)

Right now, we're in the making pinwheels part.



As we all know, making pinwheels can be a tedious job, starting as it does with half-square triangles and then more half-square triangles. I fall into the category of "quilting weenie" which means I square all my HSTs when they're done. Some days, I spend more time trimming than sewing, which is why I have given my quilting friends permission to say they know little about my quilting skills, but can atest to the fact that I am a master trimmer. (Can you see that on my tombstone? Wife, mother, hellishly good trimmer. Loved by all.

So, given my penchant for trimming, this is the output of a day. Not much to show, is it?



A small pile of six inch pinwheels, a few half completed, a pile of HSTs and many more to trim. (And a whole lot that haven't been cut yet, but that's for another day.)

Black, White and Embarrassed All Over

The beginning of a new quilt. This one is put together from eight inch squares (or something like eight inch), cut into four by eight inch rectangles and somewhat randomly paired. There is a range of blacks and greys and then reds and pinks. The pinks I'm not too sure about, but we'll see.

Because my imagination is at a low these days, I'm doing something simple so that I can do something at all. This is the beginning - a pile of triangles to be sewn together into half-square triangles.



This is my travelling Brother. Not a fancy machine at all, but since my trusty Singer does not travel, I needed something that could be packed into a bag and wheeled down the road.