Just Sew Quilter

My finished product is a Harmonic Convergence (pattern designer is Ricky Tims). I have made several of these and, since I was teaching a class on it at my local quilt shop (Stewart's Sewing in Mt. Zion, IL), I thought I'd play with some Halloween fabrics.

The bats were cut out with an Accuquilt die and the quilting and bat appliques are done with glow-in-the-dark thread. It does all light up in dark but I think doing double stitching would have helped it show better. I wouldn't choose white thread for this project ordinarily, but I do like those pumpkins I quilted for the outer border.

Here's a close-up.

I've also been working on this bench pillow (The Boo Crew by JoAnn Hoffman) but have not had time to finish it--almost done with the applique here:

So, nothing scary but all fun.

Here's a photo of our younger daughter and family at the zoo. Poor Sydney was ready for bed when this photo was taken--she looks tired.

Here's the list for the week. Be sure to check out all the cool projects!

Monday October 23

Tuesday October 24

Scrapdash

Words & Stitches

Homespun Hannah's Blog

Domestic Felicity

Wednesday October 25

Karrin’s Crazy World

Just Because Quilts

Quilt Doodle Designs

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

MS P Designs USA

Thursday October 26

Monday, October 9, 2023

Monster Mash Coming Soon!

I'm participating! And it's only 2 weeks away--I'd better get busy!

See my "wares" on the first day--October 23.

Here's the list:

Monday October 23

Tuesday October 24

Scrapdash

Words & Stitches

Homespun Hannah's Blog

Domestic Felicity

Wednesday October 25

Karrin’s Crazy World

Just Because Quilts

Quilt Doodle Designs

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

MS P Designs USA

Thursday October 26

Wednesday, August 23, 2023

Am I Crazy? Check it out today!

When I decided to join this "Crazy" blog hop, I knew what I would share--I am participating in Whole Circle Studio's Shoreline Shells block of the month. Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill is the founder of Whole Circle Studio and the creator of this block of the month. I often think that it was a crazy idea to join in on the fun...

The circle setting is the one I decided to do, and it wasn't enough to make it as shown in the photo above. I wanted to add sea glass to the center. (That was a crazy idea too.)

(The above photos are from Sheri's website.)

The BOM started in January, and I determined to keep up with it. Well, nothing got done in January or February, but in March, when Cerro Gordo Quilters had our annual retreat, I was able to get started. Below is the first block and some of the sea glass. I am using Chalk and Charcoal for the shells and Kona Celestial for the background.

Here's February's shell.

So far, I have all the sea glass parts done and even attached to the blocks up to this point, but I haven't sewn any blocks together yet. Here are the first seven blocks.

Just finished number 8 (snail shell) in time to get a photo for this post.

It wasn't enough to do that--I took a class on using a photograph to make a quilt. Here's my progress on that, but I haven't started to quilt it yet... There will be a lot of thread painting, and I'm working up the nerve to start, as well as finding the time to devote to it.

I had also decided to do one of Angela Walter's workshops on free motion quilting. Well, it's done. I sort of enjoyed stitching all the FMQ patterns, but some are not me.

The CG Quilters decided they wanted to make chicken pincushions again, so I had to remember how to do it before teaching that lesson:

In case you're wondering why they look kind of wimpy, these don't have filling yet. :)

On the right is Jenny Doan's method, in the middle is another method I learned at a quilt retreat, and on the left is combo of both.

I went on a shop hop bus trip Saturday, through my LQS, Stewart's Sewing in Mt. Zion, IL, for the All Illinois Shop Hop. We went to 5 shops, loads of fun and expensive... brought home lots of goodies! At the very first shop, we saw placemats made from the Take Four Placemat pattern, and I commented that I had made a bunch of these. Someone who knows me said, "Teach a lesson on it, Carol," and others quickly said they would come. Here's a set I made several years ago.

As a result, I am teaching a lesson on these placemats in October and have 11 signed up so far to come. Now I need to start another set (or two) as my teaching tools.

In the meantime, I am also making school bags for Church World Service school kits and Christmas stockings for the local domestic violence shelter.

No shortage of things to sew--and I love it--is that crazy? (Why aren't there more hours in the day?)

Thanks, Joan, for hosting Call Me Crazy!!

Here are the week's participants. If you haven't been to all of them yet, check them out!

Monday August 21

Tuesday August 22

Happy Cottage Quilter

Wednesday August 23

MooseStashQuilting Guest Post

Thursday August 24

Saturday, August 12, 2023

Coming Soon: Call Me Crazy Hop

Before we know it, Call Me Crazy Hop participants will be showing off their "stuff." I am one of those "crazies." My turn is August 23.

Monday August 21

Tuesday August 22

Happy Cottage Quilter

Wednesday August 23

MooseStashQuilting Guest Post

Thursday August 24

Tuesday, July 18, 2023

Quilts I've Seen

We were at our Church of the Brethren Annual Conference over the 4th of July, and here is some of what I observed in the Duke Energy Convention Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The Association for the Arts Church of the Brethren asks for blocks from each congregation. I have made the violets each year since at least 2011 for inclusion in each year's wall hangings. Five or 6 wall hangings are all hand quilted at conference each year. This one is still on the quilt frame.

Below are a few of the other wall hangings:

On a wall of the convention center, I notice this layered piece:

It is made of fabrics, yet stiffened to be 3D with the inserts in the "windows" of each block.

One booth in the exhibit hall featured an antique quilt--beautiful work!

This table runner was a silent auction item--I was fascinated with the hexies that were laid in the grid and then the quilting being so precise. Lovely--maybe I'll try keeping something that straight sometime. LOL.

I haven't finished much lately--with conference, going last week to help out with the grands, and having grands this week, not much stitching gets done.