Go, Tigers!

My niece will be attending Mizzou (University of Missouri at Columbia) in the fall. I am making her a quilt in Mizzou colors for her dorm room. I downloaded the Mizzou tiger plus the MU logo and will incorporate both into the quilt. The tiger head was enlarged, then traced using a light box onto fusible web. He still needs to be sewn down onto the background fabric. Not sure if I will stay with the white background or use gold. Maybe black. I don't know at this point. Different fabrics will be auditioned and then a decision made.

It's hotter than Hades here and very humid. At 9:00 p.m. it has finally cooled down enough to walk. Doing that now.

June Hexie Block

The June hexie block is a flower. It just barely fits onto the background block, which is supposed to finish at 15" I cut the block at 16" and, as you can see, the flower takes up almost all the space, including the seam allowance. That is going to be problematic.

The day lilies have begun blooming in the yard. The coloring of this one is not so different from the hexie block. Here are a few more.

Doll Quilt #2

I have never worked in a series before, but this may start one. This is doll quilt #2, perhaps to be also known as "Ticky Tacky" - remember the song, "Little boxes....made of ticky tacky...."? Totally made from stash. I can see from the photos that things aren't as straight as they should be. But, hey, it's a doll quilt, not a masterpiece. I will use it to try another of Jacquie Gering's quilting ideas from the Craftsy class by her that I am watching.

Small Quilting

Inspired by a recent guild presentation on small quilts by Cindy Felts, President of Piece and Plenty Quilt Guild, Rolla, MO, I made this small doll quilt, measuring 22" x 22". To the right is the proposed binding fabric. It is simply a repetition of the Jacob's Ladder block, made dynamic by the use of strong colors. The cheddar is one of my favorites - so much so that I bought a bolt from Mary Jo's Cloth Store. It is Prairie Cloth and if memory serves, the color is tangerine. Next up this afternoon - quilting on my home machine using some of the tips I have learned in Jacquie Gering's Craftsy class.

New York Beauty Finished

Making the New York Beauty blocks was the easiest part. Getting the eight NYB blocks in the center to match at the corners - that's another story. I purchased several of Linda Hahn's quilting templates which fit the NYB blocks. They will make marking for quilting easier, I hope. My intention is to free motion quilt this myself as it's not too large.

Happy Father's Day

Dad, Mom, myself, Lloyd, and Chris. Circa mid 1950s. Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there.

More Progress, Color Change

The blue had to go. It looked good with the pile of fabrics, but once up on the design wall, positioned in its place within the quilt top, it was obvious it wasn't working. I went with more purple, figuring there were enough colors already!

Making Some Headway

I still have six New York Beauty blocks to make, but ever impatient to see results, I have started putting the blocks together with what I have. By the end of the day the goal is to have the center pieced. The borders can wait until another day.

New York Beauties!

I made these blocks, and three  more, in a workshop yesterday with Linda Hahn, author of  "New York Beauty Simplified" and New Your Beauty Diversified." You can find out more about Linda here. The workshop, and Linda's lecture, were hosted by Piece and Plenty Quilt Guild in Rolla, MO.

Although I know how to paper piece and do curved piecing, Linda's methods and expert teaching taught this old dog some new - and improved - techniques. The paper piecing went faster than the "traditional" way and no quarter-inch ruler needed! My curved piecing is now greatly improved after picking up tips from Linda's demonstration. Believe it or not, only one pin is needed. All students get a one-on-one session with Linda during the workshop and she is constantly circulating throughout the room to make sure you are understanding what she is teaching.

The lecture the evening before was interesting and fun. Linda has a great personality and it is apparent that she enjoys what she is doing. She spoke about the quilt book publishing industry and it was an eye opening experience for me. I will never look at a quilt book again without understanding all the work that went into getting into print. Linda is in the process of more books and I can't wait to see what she comes up with.