Sneak Peak

These are the various pieces to David's Bear Paw Quilt. David and Anna just left here - Natalie wasn't feeling well today. And in the hurry of getting things done, the kids left before we could take pictures. So they will come back within the next few days and we'll officially wrap things up. (I thought David was nuts for choosing the fabric for his border, but isn't it stunning? I also thought the kids were junior high-ers. They aren't - David is 9, and both Anna and Natalie are going into 7th grade this fall.)

A: A Purse and Two Boxes

Q:  Name three beautiful things made by two White cousins

This hobo bag is my second one from the Abbie's Hobo pattern, and I'm liking how it turned out.  John and I are heading to some of the national parks of the West, and I think this bag will comfortably serve as my purse and a daily carrier for my iPad.  I'm crazy about this batik, and this is the almost the last of it.














Earlier last week I posted a picture of the fabulous spoons my cousin Jerry made me.  And in that photo were two little round things.  These are boxes that Jerry turns, and I'm thrilled to have these along with the spoons.

Friday the 13th

No unlucky ladders or cats in the studio - just four very happy kids.  Here's Anna Best working on her quilt, backing, and it was her birthday today!

Anna and Natalie  are working on Flying Geese quilts. Here's Natalie's quilt top ready for some side borders.

And this is Natalie taking a break from working!

Anna and Natalie finished their tops and backs and layered them with their batting. After making the "quilt sandwiches," they then trimmed everything even with the actual quilt top. David and I are working with one of our best friends, Mr. Seam Ripper.

David was hard at work connecting his Bear's Paws blocks, a very intricate block for a first-time quilter. Julie Best was perfect at supervising this tricky and difficult step of joining all the block pieces. 

Rebecca finished her pillow project - she chose the fabrics, pieced some of the blocks by hand, and supervised as her mom joined the four-patches by machine.  She was the envy of all in the studio because she actually left with a finished project.  Natalie, David, and Anna will know this feeling when they leave here Monday.  Stay tuned for their finished projects!

My Cup Runneth Over!

With wooden spoons!

My cousin Jerry White finds joy in his family, his mechanical engineering work, and his woodworking.  In February I sent him one of my casserole carriers and asked if he would make spoons for future projects.  He agreed.

Look at these!  They are beautiful!

Jerry's daughter Erin is getting married this summer.  Seems like one of these carriers might be an appropriate shower present! 

Thank you, Jerry - these are fabulous and nicer than anything I could have bought!

The Good Quilting Fairy - Who Also Happens to Make Purses

Donna, the Good Quilting Fairy of the Western Suburbs, has been busy.  Of her current three junior high students, one of them chose Bear's Paw.  Donna underestimated the difficulty of this pattern for the first-time quilting.  She has had to play the Good Quilting Fairy so that David can experience some success with this project.  Lots of trimming and truing up, but it's now ready for him to assembly-line construct these six blocks.  Sister Natalie and Anna Best are doing Flying Geese - both girls will be over shortly to assemble their quilts - their homework was to make blocks of their geese.  And today we will connect their blocks with sashing strips.

Once my fairy work was under control, I tried a new purse pattern.  With the exception of a too long strap, this hobo bag turned out nicely.  I'm especially pleased with the free-motion quilting on both the purse body and the contrasting band.  In preparation for our trip at the end of the month to parks of the West, I made a pocket for my iPad on one side of the lining.

I again used Soft n Stable by byannie.com and am crazy about this product for purse/bag construction.

This bag is 18" across and 20" deep.

This last picture shows the bag in relation to the iPad.

 

For a Local Boy

TJ Bongiorno's baseball jersey quilt is complete, just in time for his high school graduation.  His mom is friends with one of the first people I ever did t-shirt quilts for.  But his mom also knows daughter Julie and her family - small world.

The navy blue backing/binding sets off ths gold very nicely.  And there's a matching pillow made from the leftovers of two jerseys.  I bet TJ's mom will keep it.

Credit goes to Frank of T and F Quilting in Lemont for his terrific meandering quilting. 

A Demand for a Vacation

 

No, not for me. For my Husqvarna Sapphire 830!

We talked and decided that a trip to the Husqvarna Spa should be scheduled. When John and I go to some of the great parks of the West (Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion, etc) on the 20th, Husqvy and I decided that would be a good time for the mechanical Spa. But someone decided to put his foot down and leave sooner than was discussed. Today as I was winding a bobbin, Husqvy refused to go back into sewing mode. So Thursday we will head to Lombard, and one of us will begin our vacation sooner than the other.

I took Husqvy out of the sewing table and have installed my old faithful 500 Computer Husqvarna in its place. Thanks to the old faithful machine I was able to finish the second of my three sports quilts.

A lot of time in the past two weeks has been devoted to the parental move and getting them settled in to my brother's house in Lombard. How handy that he lives in the same suburb as my Husqvy's mechanic!

A Different Baby Quilt

There is nothing usual about this baby quilt. In fact, this quilt is a "first" on so many different levels. First, it's 50 x 70, which is pretty large for a baby quilt. Second, the colors are way out of my comfort level, but I do like these fabrics. Third, I didn't wash these fabrics. Instead I washed the quilt twice when it was completed. Since the batting is 100% cotton Warm N Natural, it has puckered and softened beautifully. The texture of the quilt is what I prefer.

But what really sets this quilt apart is the quilting. With the exception of channel stitching in the outer border, this quilt is entirely free-motion quilted. And while 1000's of quilters do free-motion quilting, this is something new in my repertoire. This baby quilt became a huge practice piece. If you click on the pictures, you can see that each print has a different kind of quilting. For the dark purple bits, I did use dark purple on the bottom, so you can see that quilting on the back of the quilt.

This quilt is for my friend Cecilia's third grandchild, and she gave me permission to do what I wanted. What a great opportunity to try new things on this quilt! This design is "Fashion District" from Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr's Quilts Made Modern.

A Beginning, A Middle, and Two Ends

On April 29th  three junior high home-schoolers are coming here for their first quilt lessons.  Anna and Natalie both want to do Flying Geese baby quilts; Natalie's brother David likes half-square triangles and wants to do a Bear's Paw quilt.  The technique used in both of these patterns is similar.  David is going to use a dark blue background and has some bold prints for the paws.  Anna too is using a dark background with bright geese.  Natalie wants a light background with some purple and green geese.  We're going to try to do this project in three lessons with homework.  Of course I think this will work and be a great introduction to quilting!

This is a rough draft of the third sports quilt.  Cutting up the jerseys was first.  Then was time for the layout.  Mom Joanne came over and tweaked the layout.  Now these jerseys just need to be attached to the red sashing, and then it's ready for quilting.  This quilt will have a navy background and binding.

This sports jersey quilt is the first one of the three to be completed.  It's the one with the camouflage backing.  Despite the inflexibility of some of the jerseys, this quilt has a wonderful softness and usability.  Click on the picture to see the detail of the long-arm quilting, done by Frank of T and F Quilting Studio. 

























The other end is this Jinny Beyer tote, and I think it's something I'll use a a lot. It's perfect for toting projects and fabrics. There are two lovely deep pockets inside, and the lining is the same light teal fabric as the feature triangle.  The pattern recommended using two layers of batting.  Instead I used Soft and Stable by annie.com  Soft and Stable has given this bag a great shape, softness, and flexibility.  It really is the ideal lining.





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All Projects Great and Small

While I'm working on the sports jersey graduation quilts, I need to switch over to something small and simple every once in a while. This is a Jinny Beyer Tote Bag (see picture below) along with some of her fabrics. All other bits - pockets, lining, straps -  are cut out and ready for assembly.But this is the weekend my parents move from Chicago to  my brother Doug's house in Lombard.  Brother Al and his wife Pam will be sleeping in the studio - er, guestroom. Good thing my wonderful
Chicago Modern Quilt Guild is having a sew-in this Sunday afternoon.  I'll be more than ready to continue working on this bag there!

This tote will be about 20" wide and 15" deep. The construction is foundation pieced. The pattern suggests using a double thickness of batting. Instead I have used Soft and Stable by byannie.com and think it will be perfect.