The Royal Rumpus

This past weekend was

not about quilting,

or the weather,

or what was on my 

calendar for next week.

It was all about family.

"'And now,' cried Max, 'Let the wild rumpus start!'"

~ Where the Wild Things Are ~

 

 Despite all the commotion,

the silliness,

and the giggles,

one little boy slept.

Hope you have a royal rumpus soon.

Until Next Time-

Rows of Tulips

 Several springs ago,

Running Man and I went to

La Conner, Washington

to admire and be awestruck

by the beauty of  millions
 of  blooming tulips.

There are thousands of rows

of colorful tulips filling the landscape.

It's like looking at a 

row by row quilt made up
of wonderful fresh spring time colors.

That was my inspiration when I 

gathered some quarter yard pieces

of  bright cheerful fabrics

and decided to make a chevron patterned

"get me out of the gloom of winter" quilt.

We all know, there can be many ways to get 

to the same conclusion.

In this case, in making a chevron design,

I chose to use only strips of fabrics,

no half square triangles 

to get a zig zag pattern.

I cut 2 strips of each of the 19 fabrics,
 each 3 inches wide.

Then arranged them in an order
to achieve some balance

between the colors.

Then it was simple straight strip sewing.

 Crazy Mom quilts

has a great tutorial on how to do use

this variation of a rail fence
to create a chevron.

You can see how the  duplicate strips were 

matched up. 

 

 Each strip was subcut into 5.5" squares

(Don't mix up the order of the strips or 

it gets WAY to confusing.)

Then on my design floor

the first set of blocks were laid out.
By turning set 1 one direction

and the second set turned the other direction

you create a chevron pattern.

I added an extra piece at the beginning of each

row so I wouldn't have to cut off so much

when it came time to straighten the edges.

The  diagonal rows of blocks
 were simply sewn together,

 then the rows were sewn,

and finally the jagged edges straightened.

The quilt top is finished

looking like colorful bands

of springtime tulips.

Until Next Time-

Christmas Crowns

 March brought us new snow

and the endless freezing temperatures.

But there's always a bright side.

Christmas Crowns

2014

57" x 57"

I brought March in like a lion

with another quilt finished.

The pattern is

from Di Ford's book

Primarily Quilts...

19th Century Inspirations

published by Quiltmania.

Her original inspiration is from 

Henrietta Smith Glover,

of Huntington Connecticut,

c. 1840-1865

I used bright poison greens and

vibrant turkey red repros along with

a few golds.

The fabrics didn't have busy patterns

so the graphic design of the quilt could be the star.

I opted to have it machine quilted and 

went with an overall pattern 

that loosely resembled swirling feathers.

I thought it added another element

to balance and soften, just a little,

the sharp angular lines of the blocks.

With a complicated quilt finished,

I feel the need to do something

simple and quick.

 My machine is humming already.

 Until Next Time-

Has It Been A Year Since I Started?

 It has been a year,

not a year of constant work,

but a year from start to finish.

It was last February 

while I was staying in Denver,

helping to take care of my little grandson and granddaughter,

that I began this

wool/flannel project

designed by

Primitive Gatherings.

There was lots of prep work:

fusing, cutting

and more fusing ,

along with  some help at the ironing board.

("Hey, Nana, I think it works better like this.")

But the blocks got done.

Well, not done completely.

There was lots of button hole stitching to do.

 I even had help with that.

Then all the borders were appliqued,

 half square triangles made,

and the top was finally pieced together.

Last week I got out my Perle cotton

and started big stitching.

Big stitching doesn't take too long

It is big stitches, after all.

So here it is all done,

quilted

 and bound.

Not bad for a calendar year,

even with help.

 Until Next Time-