Thursday, October 28, 2010

5 girls and a disappearing 9 patch

In my Bad Blogger Givaway post (check it out to enter) I mentioned that I did have some quilty things going on.... this is one of them.



I had a group of 5 girls that are all home schooled that wanted to learn to quilt. I had just completed the Fishies quilt and thought that would be a good pattern for them since it looks far more complex than it is. I made up the above quilt as my test run before starting with the girls.
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It features the Dick and Jane fabric... so cute... I found it at Joanns as 2 sets of fat quarters.
I wanted to test drive a pillow case edge thinking it might be easier for the girls than a binding and used this as my sample. I quilted using stitch in the ditch around each fabric. This quilt will be going to the Downy Quilts for Kids program.







This is Shanon and Alyssa.... all basted and ready to tie... didn't they do great?



I had a couple assumptions regarding the sewing experience of both the girls and their mothers that were for the most part false, so what I had planned to be a 5 week class stretched to 8, but in the end there were no dead bodies and the girls all completed both a 4" 4x5 patch quilt for their baby dolls as well as a nice sized disappearing 9 patch lap quilt for themselves using 6" squares. I even had one girl who used free motion quilting!


I had the last session with the girls one-on-one to give them each individual attention to finish up, but only remembered to take pictures of the sisters. I hope to get pictures of the others soon and will share. All 5 of the girls did great!




Two of the moms participated as well, making a larger version of the quilts.



This is my quilt-along version I did with them, well, three versions of it. Which border/binding option do you like better? 1,2 or 3? I think I have a favorite, but lets see what you say.... and to sweeten the pot all opinions will get another entry in the Bad Blogger Giveaway!


Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Bad Blogger Giveaway




I have been a bad blogger, I admit it, I have.

My excuse is that the parental involvement in Marching Band has been beyond anything I expected and has sucked up every spare moment. Fortunately, some of that time has been spent sewing. Sewing flags, sewing hems in cloaks, sewing decorations on outfits.... that kind of sewing. I also made myself a fanny cushion to sit on at competitions. I have a little quilty thing that has been going on.. but back to the bad blogger part... I'll tell you about the other later....

As a reward to anyone out there that might still be stopping by, I am going to giveaway 4 fat quarters of MM Mod Geo, one each of green, coral, aqua and lt blue.


This is them looking out the window, wondering where they will be going and hoping their new home has something great waiting for them.

Leave me a post letting me know that you dropped by even though I am a bad blogger. Let me know if you have been by before or if this is a random drop in. I will leave this open for a week (at least) and notify a winner.

And, heads up.... I have a few other things that I put aside while sewing band projects that I may be looking to giveaway in the coming weeks!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Haunted Mansion


It has been so long since I posted, lets see if I remember how! I have gotten some sewing done, and have finally gotten the pictures to prove it!



I completed the Haunted Mansions Halloween quilt! I ended up quilting it with stitch in the ditch which complemented the pattern.





I had big plans for a pieced backing featuring the large print squares that were left from the layer cake, but in the end I went with one of my favorites, dainty damask from Micheal Miller in orange and black. I think it goes well with the Gothic feel of the Haunted Mansion Moda fabrics.

The little guy posing is a thrift shop find that I decided was needed for holiday decor. The kids, husband and dog were all suitably impressed when they noticed him in the tree!