DARE TO BE CREATIVE!

Sunday, May 22, 2011

More Quilties - D E F

Here is are my next three Alphabet Quilties.  Hope you enjoy seeing all the quilties from the Alphabet Quiltie Swap on Fabric in Altered Arts 2.  This is my second post showing past alphabet quilties.

"D" is for Dove. 
"E" is for Eagle.  
"F" is for Face.  

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Alphabet Quilties - A B C

"A" is for Angel

"B" is for Bird.

"C" is for Cowgirl

One of my blog followers asked if I had posted all the alphabet quilties from the Alphabet Quiltie Swap.  The swap is from the group Fabric in Altered Arts 2 and Penny has been the hostess for the past 23 months.  I've decided to repost my quilties leading up to the end of the swap in August.   Here is my first installment.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

"W" is for Weave

We are nearing the end of our Alphabet Quiltie Swap on Fabric in Altered Arts.  The letter for May is "W".  My friend, Susan, recently brought me these selvages from a project she was working on.   I decided that they would make a wonderful woven quiltie.  Our quilties are to be 6" x6".  I decided to leave one edge with untrimmed "tails" of selvage.  The base is 6" x 6" and the tails could be trimmed if needed.  This has been a fun swap but we only have X, Y, and Z to go.  We will finish in August.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Happy Pink Saturday -Pink Sunset


I've chosen to share a few photos of our trip to Northern Arizona this week.  We spent a few days in our motorhome at a campground near Happy Jack, Arizona.

This was the sky last evening as we drove through the forest of Northern Arizona near Happy Jack.  It was such a lovely pink sky.  We drove on the forest service road hoping to see wildlife.  We did happen upon a few elk drinking at one of the water tanks near the road.  Beautiful animals.



Wednesday we drove to Flagstaff. Along the way we visited this beautiful mountain lake.  I don't remember the name but it was beautiful with the white clouds and blue sky in the background.


This is a picture of the San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff.  The photo was taken from Mormon Lake.  Northern Arizona is one of my favorite places.  I spent my college years looking out the dorm windows at these peaks.  Many times they were covered with snow as they are in this photo. 

Hope you enjoyed this little tour of Northern Arizona and hope you have a wonderful Pink Saturday.  For more Pink Saturday posts, check out Beverly's blog.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

May Chestnut and Vine

This is my Chestnut and Vine quilt top after attaching the May Blocks of the Month.  This quilt top is so much faster and simpler than the Civil Wars Chronicles block of the month that I am also doing.  The Chestnut and Vine will last 6 months but Civil War Chronicles is an entire year.  This month we added the "half-square" triangle border and the large triangles around the outer edge.  Here you will see the center block made in April. 

If you are a regular reader you will remember my discussing (or was I cussin') all the half-square triangles that we are making for the Civil War Chronicles quilt.  Well the beauty of the Chestnut and Vine quilt is -----THOSE ARE NOT HALF-SQUARE TRIANGLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They are made from "Cheater Fabric".  They are cut from a Strip-It piece of fabric.  The fabric features stripes of various prints from the Chestnut and Vine line of fabrics.  You just place your 2 1/2" square ruler (it's a tiny one) diagonally on the stripes and cut.  Now you have a perfect "cheater half-square triangle".  Look closely, can you tell the difference?

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL!  HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

My finished Table Runner



I just finished my Lil" Twister Table Runner.  I decided to add buttons in the center of each pinwheel.  I had these small purple buttons in my button bucket.  I like the way they look.  No I didn't sew each on by hand.  I got out my sewing machine instruction book and did them by machine.  So each and simple.  Wonder why I haven't used this feature before.  I'm quite pleased with this little table runner.  Best thing is that everything is from my studio.  I didn't have to purchase anything to complete the project.  I need to do more project like this to help reduce my stash!

Monday, May 2, 2011

Lil' Twister Quilting Tool

My friend, Dolores, recently showed me the Lil' Twister Tool for making pinwheels.  I decided to use fabric from my stash to make a table runner following instructions in the package.  Above you see where it all began, with 24 charms sewn together with a 3" border.


Now it is time to use the tool shown above.  You place the tool on the intersections of the charms and cut out a square using the rotary cutter.

These are the resulting squares.

Here are the squares ready for stitching together.    I choose various purple fabrics for the pinwheels.  All are from my stash.  The inner border is a gray print.  I will use a black print for the border. 

I'll post the finished table runner later today.  This was a fun project.  A little time consuming when cutting out the blocks and you do have quite a bit of waste.  Instructions say there is a 1/4 to 1/3 loss.  I would agree.  I would recommend a small rotary cutter because of the size of the block.