Orphan Block progress

I thought you might like to see the orphan block quilts which I've been working on since January. I received a lot of orphan blocks from guild members after my year as guild president was over.

I've challenged myself to put them together in different layouts and, as much as possible, use only fabric from my stash. I know several members of my local quilt guild, Prairie Quilt Guild, occasionally read my blog so maybe they'll recognize their orphan block!

 This is Orphan Block quilt #1 which I still need to finish. My plans are to big stitch quilt Baptist Fans on the top. Considering that this top was put together back in January, I need to make time to finish it. All of the vintage blocks were given to me by guild member, Jackie Clark. If this looks familiar to you, I wrote a blog post about it in January.

 Heart Orphan Block Quilt #2 - approximately 84x92"

Since the photo was taken, it was machine quilted by Dynamic Duo Machine Quilting in Wichita, KS. Just needs binding and some embellishment. I saw this layout or something similar on Pinterest and can't find it now to give the original maker credit. If you recognize it, please let me know. This layout used up a lot of orphan blocks but I had issues trying to keep it square. Probably a once in a lifetime project!

 Orphan Block Medallion Quilt #3 - 73x73"

There are 16 orphan blocks in this quilt, three of which were cut in quarters to make them small enough to fit. I used some of my Kaffe Fassett stash which I think really perked up and tied together the blocks. It was quilted by Bluebird Machine Quilting in Wichita. I still need to make and stitch on the binding.

Orphan Block Wall Hanging #4 - approximately 56x78"

I received quite a few red, white and blue blocks so I decided to put them together in a flag layout. It looks wonky in the photo but it isn't. I spent a lot of time measuring, picking out and restitching after I discovered it was over an inch larger on the top than on the bottom. Its going to the machine quilter today.

I have enough orphan blocks to make more projects but I need to concentrate on binding so that these projects plus my other quilts will be ready to show at guild meeting. I'm our guild speaker on September 13 and if you're in the area, I hope you're able to attend. Not a member? You may visit twice for free. Here's a link to the Prairie Quilt Guild website with more information. 

Until next time, Mayleen

Orphan Block Project #2

 After my year as Prairie Quilt Guild president last year, guild members gave me orphan blocks to make into something (?!?) I thought I was going to make a throw quilt but due to their generosity, it will be several wall hangings and maybe a throw size quilt or two! My goal is to have used all or most of the blocks by September when I'll be the guild speaker. 

I'm not going to reveal what I'm making until its finished but I hope the shape is recognizable when you see it.

You know how you get excited about making something but when you're well into the project, you start wondering if this was such a bright idea after all? Well, I'm there. I'm fairly sure it will turn out well or it will be an opportunity to be creative.

Our guild show, Common Threads Regional Quilt Show, is just around the corner. If you follow the link, all the info is there - June 16, 17 & 18 in Wichita, KS. Lots of new things happening at our show! We've got some really great prizes to give away at the Grand Hoopla! on Saturday - a Baby Loc sewing machine and a Bernina Sewing machine, a Brother Scan N Cut plus a sewing chair but I'm going to win the chair so don't worry about it, OK?

I'm in charge of creating the quilt show book so progress on Love Entwined has been slower than I thought it would be. Next month I hope to have something to show.

Until next time, Mayleen

January Jumble

Prairie Quilt Guild's tradition is that the immediate Past President may ask the membership to make a quilt block of her choosing. She then puts together the quilt as a remembrance of guild members. I took a little different path and asked for orphan blocks. One guild member gave me all of these vintage quilt blocks!

It took a bit of pondering but I decided on a layout after carefully measuring and trimming the blocks. Yes, quite a few points got chopped off and nothing is even. Some of the blocks weren't the right size so I added an extra strip of fabric. Do you see my little mistake? I didn't calculate the correct amount for the inner spacer border and had to add a narrow purple and gray strip under the red border. I like it just as it is and someday will have it quilted with a Baptist Fan design.

I'm guessing most of the fabrics are from the '60's, the era I grew up. They remind me of my Grandma Goossen's aprons. She was a great influence in my life and I miss her very much. She liked to crochet and tat but I didn't know until after her death that she had also quilted for a short time. The quilt she made was used up and gone before I came along.

On to another subject, Quilty 365. I told myself I wasn't going to get involved with this but I did anyway. The idea, which I think is a great idea, is to make a block a day in 2016. Here's the link if you want to play along:

January 1 - I made a block

January 2 - I made a block

January 3 - I forgot to make a block

One day, I remember I was supposed to make a block a day so I make 5 more to catch up.

I forgot again and again and again.

I think I'm going to make and applique the circles for the rest of the background blocks, stitch the blocks together, add borders and call it something like "Twenty-seven days in Winter" (if I make it to 27). I'm anticipating my kids cleaning out my sewing room someday and wondering why 27 days?!?

What's this mess? These are the bits and pieces for Bonnie Hunter's latest mystery quilt, Allietare. I wasn't going to do this one either but I decided it would help me improve my piecing skills. Allietare is Italian for gladden, rejoice, become cheerful! 

For some reason, this project didn't have that effect on me and one day I decided my attitude would greatly improve if I put all the bits and pieces away. All the units are finished, some need trimming before they're sewn into blocks. I think I was just so disappointed with my piecing skills that I needed a break from this project. Maybe a quilt top will happen in the future.

I started working on Love Entwined again! Most of the little pieces in the flower arrangement are glue basted and waiting to be stitched. Do you see the red tulip on the left side of the pot of flowers? I got it all stitched down and realized the petals don't cover the stem, they just barely meet it. At first I thought I'd just applique a small circle at the base of the flower to cover my mistake but as time went on, I realized I'd always remember that it wasn't appliqued correctly. I made up my mind to take the flower completely apart and reposition it. 

However today at my Applique Group meeting, one of the ladies suggested that if I just move the lower red petals down I wouldn't have to take all those tiny petals off. Sometimes solutions are so obvious I don't recognize them!

Now this is totally different for me. I'm taking part in a color challenge and the first assignment is neutrals with only one (maybe two) accent colors. No patterns, has to be original work. Ordinarily, I would never choose gray and peach but it is a challenge so a challenge it will be. Its supposed to be finished in three weeks but I'm not even sure what finished will look like! Lots more work to do on it.

There's some play going on too! While in Houston at the International Quilt Festival last fall, I took two classes with Kaffe Fassett. This is one of the classes, Bright Squares from his book, Heritage Quilts. I haven't always followed the light, dark, light layout but I'm still playing and enjoying it.The colors are so much better in real life! 

I chose polka dots because, even though I seem to have quite a few polka dot fabrics, I rarely use them. Suddenly there seemed to be polka dot fabric in each quilt shop I went to and I ended up buying "a few more" fat quarters of fabric. Now I have more polka dot fabric than when I started!

One more row of three blocks to go and these are the squares I have left. At first I was going to use what I had left and discover new exciting color combinations. That's not working and I'm going to have to cut more. I was surprised which colors do not play well with others. I can't keep that bright yellow Aboriginal Dot from trying to steal the show.

Leftover squares are going to be made into a doll quilt for our granddaughter, Elizabeth. I hope she likes bright yellow and peach with pink polka dots!

 I'm learning how easy it is to make a Dresden Plate and what fabrics not to select.

Leo the Lion was delivered to our grandson, Ethan, during January. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a full photo of it. Just recently, the weather was 70 degrees where he lives so I don't know if he's able to enjoy this very warm quilt. However, winter's not over yet.

Mediterranean Hexagons was the other class I took from Kaffe Fassett and Liza Prior Lucy at Houston. Last week, it went to the machine quilter. Since she's going to be closing her customer machine quilting business, this will be the last quilt she quilts for me. I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out! 

This quilt will hang in the Common Thread's quilt show this June. If you're anywhere near Wichita, Kansas June 16 - 18, please come to our show!

This is the backing of my Mediterranean Hexagon quilt. A little out of my comfort zone but I like it. How far would you drive for a certain kind of fabric? Unfortunately, my local quilt shop didn't carry a Kaffe fabric which would work for the Mediterranean Hexagon backing. I purchased "Brandon's Brocade" from Material Girl in Grand Island, Nebraska which was at least a 5 hour drive one way for us, regardless of what Google predicted. Its not what I thought I'd buy but its what the quilt needs.

That was January for me. It started out dreary but ended well. I had a finish, a few quilts put on hold but am looking forward to a finish or two in February!

Until next time, Mayleen

Resurfacing!

Its been 2 months since I've written a blog post so I'll try to fill you in on what I've been doing. Most of my time has been spent finishing up my term as president of the Prairie Quilt Guild in Wichita, Kansas. However, I did finish two more UFO's and here's the first:

"Just Ducky", my August UFO finish #8

I started this baby quilt years ago while my kids were still in school many years ago. I didn't know anyone who was having a baby but I thought it was cute. Besides learning to do fusible applique, I learned that its a good idea to line fabrics so the background doesn't show through. The backing is a fuzzy duck print. Quilted by Tricia Lehman. I may give this to my daughter whose baby is due any day!

A few Prairie Quilt Guild traditions - 

The outgoing president makes a gift for each board member. These were my gifts - pincushions pieced from red, pink, purple and gray fabrics. Those squares are about 1/2 inch square. Now that I've worked that small, I'm wondering if I can piece even smaller!?!

Another tradition - The Board makes a quilt for the outgoing president. This is a signature quilt made with many Kaffe Fassett fabrics. The signatures are from the board members, some of whom are pictured, and guild meeting speakers from the past year.

"Cheddar Cheese and Crackers", UFO finish #9

This was a 2009 quilt-a-long on the Humble Quilts blog and is finally finished! The hand quilting was what kept me from finishing this UFO on time. I'm going to have to check if this small quilt is really as wonky as it looks in the photo!

Recently I've begun working on Love Entwined (LE) again. As you can see, I'm busy stitching on Vase #4. When its finished, there's some redo work and I still need to add those fried eggs! I've set a goal to have the entire center finished by the end of the September. At that point, I'll decide if I'll add a narrow border to the center and call it done or if I'll attempt the borders.

Did you see the Houston Quilt Festival button at the top of the right hand side bar? Selvage Star of Bethlehem will be hanging in the "In the American Tradition" exhibit! I'm planning to be there too.

Until next time,

Mayleen

Happy 33rd Birthday PQG!

Yesterday was Prairie Quilt Guild's 33rd. birthday! You might remember that I'm serving as guild president this year. We're a large group with nearly 700 members.

 There was a little craziness. Yes, I wore it. Thankfully, I don't think there are pictures.

Our Birthday Block giveaway - I won 36 blocks! This is the loot that came along with my blocks. I wore the tiara for part of the meeting. Those buttons on the left are actually rings which were decorations on the birthday cupcakes we ate during break. Delicious but wow, did the frosting ever send me on a sugar high!

Here's my stack of spool Birthday Blocks. I'm not sure how I'll put them together yet.

My June UFO finish - "Geese in my Pineapple Patch"

I cringe when I see my straight binding, definitely prefer bias binding. This will probably be used as a table topper so I'm not too concerned about everything being just so.

I know this isn't a pineapple block but the small group I attended years ago when this project was begun, couldn't decide if it was a pineapple block or something to do with flying geese. So, to keep everyone happy, I named it "Geese in my Pineapple Patch"!

This past month has been stressful for me so I took time off from writing on this blog. Whenever I'm stressed out, I begin a new project and even though I hadn't planned to start anything new until I'd finished more of my UFO's, I started what I'm calling my "Presidential Stress Reliever" project. I'll be blogging more about it in the future plus I still plan to finish a UFO each month. July's UFO finish will, hopefully, be my own Jubilee+5 birthday (a few years late) project!

Until next time,

Mayleen

Wall of Fabric

A little cheeriness on a partly cloudy day:

Prairie Quilt Guild's 2014 Block of the Month

"Inspiration at Dusk" - my blocks so far.

Here's my Wall of Fabric pictures:

What was lacking the most in my sewing room was fabric and project organization. This is the wall just as you walk into the room completely taken up by two heavy duty wire shelf units. 

We already had one of the racks but it wasn't being used much so I claimed it. I purchased another rack and more of the Artbin containers. I usually buy them at JoAnn's but found a good deal on the internet this time. 

On the end nearest the door, I've hung most of my tote bags from "S" hooks. My husband thinks I have too many tote bags. I'm always looking for a bag to transport quilts so totes call my name!  

I couldn't back up far enough to get both racks and the tote bags in the picture so here's another view. Almost everything has been sorted into containers. Each project has its own container, fabric has been sorted by color or type and my current or most used patterns, magazines and books are together.

 

I still have some organization to do and decisions to make about this wall but its been really nice to be able to find what I need when I need it!

Until next time, Mayleen

Inspiration at Dusk

Prairie Quilt Guild 2014-15 Block of the Month

"Where Inspiration Blooms, Block #1"

Every year our guild president asks a member to choose or design a Block of the Month program for us. This year, I asked a small group to take on this responsibility.

I'm going for a contemporary look so I've chosen to make my first block using Kaffe fabrics. I'm not sure I'm happy with the polka dot star but will make a decision about it when I have more of the blocks finished.

I've seen the Block #2 pattern but for any guild members out there, I'm not going to give away what it looks like. However, I will say I'm looking forward to the piecing!

Until next time, Mayleen

In Pieces

Life certainly can change quickly, can't it? Just when I thought my life was getting a little predictable and boring, wham! To try to catch up, here are a few pictures and short explanations. Believe me, the story behind the story is too long.

First of all, Mustard and Ketchup -

I think this is the last image you saw of it. Since then, I decided to take the borders off because the pieced diamonds were too wide by about 3/8 of an inch. I could have lived with it but the mistake would have just become worse with every subsequent border. 

So, off they came and I experimented with sewing the seams in a tiny amount.

Here's one of the borders I thought I'd fixed. Not sure how I could have made such a big blunder! Its way too short and if you look carefully, you'll notice that I've scorched the fabric. I was so disgusted with myself because it meant looking for new border fabric to match the red in the star.

Border on the left - too bright red

Border on the top - too dark red and I don't like the bright yellow flowers.

Border fabric on the right - maybe it will work. I haven't had time to try piecing it yet.

Would the maker of the original quilt struggled with this? Probably not. She would have just used what she had but not me. 

About this time, I was reminded that way back in early summer I signed up for an online nine patch swap Barb is hosting.  With only 6 weeks to go, I hadn't even begun stitching the 100 3-inch nine patches yet! So glad I was able to put them in the mail to her last week.  

However, my ultimate craziness happened when in a moment of weakness I agreed to be president of our quilt guild, Prairie Quilt Guild for the next fiscal year. Since then I've been immersed in details, meeting board members, appointing committee chairs and realizing how little I know! Traditionally the president makes name tags for her board and committee chairs and the picture is a sneak peek at all 40 of them.

OH yes, other big news. Two of my quilts were juried into the AQS Des Moines show coming up October 1-4!

"The Cotheals at Home" (Phebe) and the "Selvage Star of Bethlehem" will be there and so will I! Looking forward to it very much.

One last thing. Our son and his family are staying with us during his job search. Tell me this, where does a two year old get all his energy and can I get some!?!

Until next time, Mayleen

Yesterday at Guild

Look what someone brought to yesterday's Prairie Quilt Guild meeting for me - selvages! I guess it doesn't take much to make me happy, does it? I have "plans" for another selvage quilt but am still collecting and have to finish a few projects before starting anything new.

 And then something happened which hasn't happened in a really long time, I actually won a door prize! I'm not a "lucky" person so this was quite a shock. The prize? A pair of spring loaded cutting shears from A-1 Singer Sewing Center in Wichita, Kansas. I may have to frame that winning ticket.

Our speaker, Cathy Miller - the Singing Quilter - was a lot of fun to listen to. About half way through her presentation, she got my whole attention when she brought out her crazy quilt and then her 1/2" hexagon project and finally, her 1/4" hexagon mini quilt called "Insanity"! It has over 3000 1/4" hexagons in it. Go to her website, click on Quilting and then Cathy's Quilts to see photos of her quilts.

 If you go back far enough on this blog, you can see pictures of my finished crazy quilt and my 1/2" hexagon project in progress. What you don't know is that I have a pack of 1/4" hexagon papers from Paper Pieces in my quilting room just calling my name! So far, I'm resisting. A project made of 1/4" hexagons is not to be entered into lightly but yes, I know, resistance is futile.

Come back in a few days to see pictures of some Hanky Panky from my younger days!

Binding in my future

Can you guess what it is?

Last weekend, I picked up quilts from two machine quilters! Both quilts are beautifully quilted but quite different from each other in pattern and quilting.

You've seen my daughter's 30th. birthday quilt before while I was embroidering the blocks and machine piecing it. It was the first quilt I picked up and was machine quilted by Siriporn Hollar.

I'm in the process of binding it so if you look closely, you'll be able to tell the binding isn't tacked down on three of the sides yet. I like a narrow binding so I usually make a 2 1/4" bias binding. Whenever I make a straight binding, the quilt corners are pointy which is a pet peeve of mine. Even though a bias binding uses more fabric, I stick with what I know.

I was disappointed the large photo didn't show the machine quilting better but you can get an idea of the beautiful quilting on this photo of one of the blocks!

I'm sorry I wasn't able to wrestle this monster up to hang from the top of our bookcases for a better picture. Its the back of my queen sized Spiderweb Selvage Quilt! I'm only showing you the back this week because I haven't even begun to make the binding for it yet. As you can guess, I didn't have enough of the pink floral fabric so had to piece the back with two more blue fabrics and even more selvages. Pictures coming of the front when its bound next week.

Jan did a wonderful job quilting it. She's probably resting her arms this week after quilting all those little swirls! Check out her website for a look at the Prairie Quilt Guild's beautiful Opportunity Quilt. I've been trying to figure out how many tickets I need to buy so that I can win it at the Common Threads Quilt Show in Wichita next June!

My Big Fat Pink Life

See this stack of bright pink forms?

These are membership forms for Wichita's Prairie Quilt Guild! This year, I agreed to serve as Membership Chair and for the past month I've been processing forms, over 400 so far. Our guild's membership has been over 700 in the past few years so just a few hundred more to go!

I have to ask you to do this.

OK now, repeat after me:

"I promise to fill out membership forms entirely. Yes, ENTIRELY!"

I feel so much better now that you've promised!

What's that you say? Speak up, don't mumble.

Pink, yes. Big stack, yes. Fat, huh?

Fat is what I'm going to be if I'm not careful.
Here's how I've been coping with the forms.

No indication whether its a renewal or new membership, eat an M&M.
Contact information missing: eat another M&M.
Can't read the writing: have an extra M&M.
Finished processing a membership form: reward yourself with an M&M (or two)!

Help, I've had to buy more M&Ms, the large economy size from Sam's. I'm no longer concerned if I'm eating them in ROY G BB order and very shortly, I'm going to have to spend quality time with the Mr. Treadmill and I absolutely dislike, abhor, dread the thought!

Be kind, fill out your guild's membership form completely, OK?!?
Membership committees everywhere thank you!

As crazy as you think!

Hmm, some of you are really wondering about my Gerry inspired project! In fact, Gerry wanted to know if its as big as Kansas? That reminded me of our "new" state tourism slogan: "Kansas - as big as you think!" So, I guess my project is as big as you think.

Kansas is 82,282 square miles. Instead, I encourage you to not think too big, maybe of something less than a yard square. You should know that I like detail work and ... well, that's enough hints for tonight.

Yesterday I entered it and my crazy quilt in the Prairie Quilt Guild's quilt show coming up in June. Even with the project being only partially finished, quilters who saw it either A. Thought I was crazy or B. Loved it!

It will be OK if you think I'm crazy too because when its done, it will be all mine, mine, mine! Interesting how we tend to identify with some of our projects more so than others. Some I am relieved to have finished, some are long term WIPs and some make me feel happy inside!

P.S. - Most people think Kansas is flat. Did you know that Kansas has a mountain? Yep, Mt. Sunflower - 4,039 feet. Wish I could show you a photo but unfortunately don't have one. Till Friday then!

Our 30th. wedding anniversary & a giveaway!

Today is our 30th. wedding anniversary! My husband and I spent the weekend in Kansas City and managed to leave town yesterday before the road conditions deteriorated. We browsed through antique malls, bookstores, ate some of our favorite food and enjoyed being with each other. Hope that wasn't too much excitement for you all!

I think our anniversary is a great reason to have a giveaway of some of my string projects. They're starting to accumulate and I'd like to share with someone! (Please let me share!) I'm sure there will be some chocolate involved too. Sometime tomorrow, I will post details and a photo of the giveaway items so check back then.

While we were in Kansas City, I purchased a new quilting book by Elsie M. Campbell titled, "String Quilts". No surprise, I'm so very tempted to start a few new string projects! She'll be coming to speak at Wichita's Prairie Quilt Guild in April. Maybe I can finish them by then!?!

Please save me from myself as I'm supposed to be finishing up the embroidery on my crazy quilt wallhanging before the PQG's quilt show in June. The stitching is done on the front but I decided to also embroider a wild and crazy bush/flowers/bugs/whatever strikes my fancy on the back. Why? Just because I wanted to, that's why!

Anyway, I'm planning to enter the crazy quilt in the judged portion of the show. It won a blue ribbon in the Kansas State Fair this fall and now we will see what a professional quilt judge thinks of it.

The photo shows just 1/4 of the front of the crazy quilt. It's machine pieced and hand embroidered. It has great sentimental value to me because of what was happening in our lives while I was stitching on this quilt. Perhaps I will share that story with you another time!

Don't forget to check back tomorrow for the giveaway details. Please!