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Ohio Stars 1992

Bed quilt
Pattern: More Lap Quilting with Georgia Bonesteel
machine pieced, hand quilted

The square were set on point with 1/2 and 1/4 squares added to make it rectangular. Sashed with cornerstone blocks.This was lap quilted by rows and the outer border print was also used on the back for joining the rows.
As usual, the one glaring mistake in piecing wasn’t found until after the quilt was finished,and it’s almost front and center in the picture.
I no longer tear out my hair when this happens.But the Aaaahhhhhgggggs !!!! still happen.

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Wedding Gift Quilt
A work in progress

Making a quilt top, hand quilt over the summer-Ugh! It gets hot under a quilt and then the thread sticks to your fingers and i get all sticky.
Think, think, think. Travel back to my first years of quilting - thanks to Georgia Bonesteel and PBS “Lap Quilting”! Perfect, small blocks for quilting, then rows of blocks to hand sew on the back side, then rows of rows - then binding. I can do this (and so can you). Hopefully by the time i get to the rows of rows it will have cooled off at night.
Even here in central Vermont summer can be hot and sticky! Not as long, hot and sticky as central North Carolina, thank goodness. I started quilting while in living in the north country of upstate New York, took it to southern Virginia, central N.C. and now 20 plus years in Vermont, for the most part a very nice climate for quilting.
Hunt for a pattern. No-Maybe-No-Yes-No-No etc. Are the Yeses and Maybes lap quilt canidates? One was just right. I had already used part of it for a pillow tops so i had the templates in stock. Have a fabric stash for most of the blocks, only had to purchase 4 pieces. I have a stash of leftover batting-perfecr for lap quilting and a stash of backing.
I chose Bethany Reynolds “Magic Garden” as seen in he Fall 2003 issue of Fabric Trends magazine.But I didn’t want to make the sashing so instead I’m making 20 blocks instead of 12 and will use lattice strips as shown in the Quilters Newsletter magazine, workshop, May 1996. I bought a yard of fabric for the front strips and will use the scraps stash for the back.
Next time moving on!

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MST3000 1997

Wall hanging/baby quilt
Pattern: Carol Hall with thanks to Ray Dunakin for the “Bots”
hand appliqued, machine pieced,hand quilted

A baby quilt for an on-line message board friend. If you never watched an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 on Comedy Central or the Sci-Fi channel this is a meaningless mishmash of blocks. If you were a fan and want more info or confirmation of the squares drop me an e-mail or post.

Sorry the Bots are tipped, must be the space station is out of control! I’ll get the boys to right the ship.

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Wedding Gift Quilt
A work in progress

Our nephew is getting married in September of this year. Happy Happy news! Then the date filters through the brain to the reality section - SEPTEMBER - Yikes!. It is already April. This means hand quilting in the SUMMER.
Consult mental check list. Finish a graduation quilt for May. Make 4 Xmas decorations “Home for Santa” boxes*~*, get started on making Xmas cards, finish the top of a baby quilt, then finish for tying. The top is done for Xmas present quilt - needs to be quilted. Fit in a wedding gift- no problem-fingers crossed. Do not dwell on hand quilting in summer.
Now i have finished the graduation quilt—a year early—it has been put in a safe place for till next spring, and an “X” marks the spot is posted on the frig! The baby quilt top is done, have 3 of the 4 boxes for Santa homes, started gathering paper and trimmings into a project box, and have started the wedding quilt.

*~*These boxes our for our kids. I am downsizing my Xmas decorations. Bought a new 30″ Santa last December. Giving away 4 - 21/2″ Santa’s. My husband commented, “Strange way of downsizing”, forgetting whose idea it was o get the new Santa!
Next time phase 2 of a quilt during summer.

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Charming Bow Ties - 2003
Bed Quilt

Pattern by: Florence Edith Goggin
Quilters Newsletter Magazine May 2000
machine pieced, hand quilted

All those lovely bits and pieces of left over fabric, plus fabric from discarded home decorating books.
I changed the outer border from the original bow tie blocks to nine patch/checkerboard blocks. Then i added a strip of 1/4″ bias tape as another border.

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Shattered Glass 2006
Wall Hanging

Pattern: - Crystal Star by Jinny Beyer
From: Quilts with Style - issue 46/June 04
Paper Pieced

Pattern was enlarged 200%. Some sections on our home scanner and some on a larger copier at work.
Materials - most came from discarded home decore sample books. (shiny stuff, lining fabric)
The wall hanging was machine paper pieced and hand quilted with metallic thread. Hand quilting with metallic is a challenge to your sanity, leastwise mine, but i love the effect!
The button in the middle which covers the uneven meeting of seams came from my late mother-in-laws collection. Very appropriate, as it was sent to my brother-in-law and his wife.

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AllBrands.com Janome and New Home Sewing Machines and Sergers.

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Izzy’s Quilt - 1998
Bed Quilt

Pattern Traditional Spools or Apple Core
Hand pieced, machine pieced, hand appliqued, hand quilted

This one took a few years to gather material and piece together. It is a Charm Quilt, no two blocks alike**. I found hand piecing was just about as fast as machine piecing. Once the top was done, I cut long strips for the top, bottom and side borders, and then appliqued the top to the borders.
** Tip - Heard/Read some were that most fabrics have a front and back. Not all backs work, but a lot of them will, - different look from same fabric!

(This post is to honor Izzy who was a friend and family member for 13 years - we lost her this week.)

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AllBrands.com Gift Ideas for Sewing/Quilting Machines.

Quilting Fabric at Joann.com

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Playing With a Block

Providence Block 10″
From 1898, Ladies Art Company
alternate name Providence Star

The original block, figure one. uses six different fabrics in dark, medium, light, neutral

Click to enlarge

This is a great block to play with. Get out the colored pencils, markers, or crayons. You will also need paper, pencil and ruler: or a drawing program on your computer. (I used Appleworks)
Make your basic pattern, figure two. Mine is based on one inch squares. It is just squares and 1/2 square triangles.

Click to enlarge

Make lots of copies! A computer program should let you resize your block after it is drawn so that you can print at least 2 blocks per page.
Start coloring! There is no right or wrong way to color in the block. To get you started see figure three.

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I used just 3 colors. Use dark, medium and light in just one color, then two colors, then three, four etc. Remember that black, white, tan and gray are colors too.
Going on road trips with kids? Give them a copy and a few colored pencils, who knows what they might come up with.
Figures four and five show the block with the darks and lights reversed.

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

This block is a great way to use up scraps. If you decide to make a sampler quilt using all you blocks I suggest that you cut the pieces for each block separately, then put the paper block and the fabric pieces into a plastic sandwich bag, to keep them organized.
I made this quilt for my oldest grandson, using a different original block that I played with 25 times. My daughter did some of the coloring.

So - now you have all these paper blocks which you have turned into a quilt top - or not. Don’t throw them away! Use them as design elements for greeting cards, scrapbook pages, gift tags, bookmarks, picture frames. Paste them onto boxes. Take them to the sewing machine, put in an old needle and zig-zag stitch them together to make wrapping paper, posters or wall paper??
Origami cranes anyone. Uncolored blocks for those who are bored. Write a message on the back of colored ones, cut into pieces (paper jig saw puzzle) and send them to friends or family.
And you thought playing with blocks for only for kindergardeners! Leave us a comment, let us know if you have a favorite block to play with.

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