Sewing Days with Good People

My friend Kim made the above cowgirl rag quilt for a friend of hers.  I think the friend loves it!  She showed a photo of herself wrapped up in the quilt with all three of her dogs, a cup of tea, pinky out, at 1:00 AM watching the royal wedding.  THAT'S the photo that I need for this blog, but she refuses to give it up.

By now, you know that I LOVE to make things.  I love to quilt and sew and make soap and . . . my friend Sue says that my crafts expand to fit the space.  I think I should admit to BEYOND the available space.

My mother and my friends and I get together every so often to sew together.  Usually, we work on our own projects.  Sometimes, however, we work on projects together.  Usually without fighting.

Food is involved, too.  You have to keep your strength up to keep on sewing and quilting, you know.

Kim used the leftovers from the rag quilt above to make a smaller quilt.  Here is her Maddie helping with the layout of the quilt. 

My mother received these fabric circles from a friend.  Mom's plan was to make round placemats.  Well, she got one mostly done.  Pronounced it a centerpiece and moved on to other projects!

Here is Mom's stack and whack quilt in progress.  It was going pretty well until she couldn't find Row 10.  Turns out she didn't make a Row 10, but after all that hunting and aggravation, she was kinda ready for a break. 

Here is a baby quilt in progress.  Kim and I worked together on this one.  Mom worked on it too, but she didn't like the colors, so she made sure to have enough of her own projects ready to avoid having to work on it again.  

Here's a pretty flower from Kim's back yard.  

Here is Kim's Maisy on the bed with the batting that was spread out to "relax" out the wrinkles before it got put into a quilt.  The plastic bins are there to keep Maisy off the bed and batting . . .

Why is everyone looking at me?

 Maddie has no quilt available to arrange or test, so she's sleeping very well on her bed, but there's something wrong with this incline.

Lightning Strikes Twice . . . Quilt, That Is

Lightning Strikes Twice quilt top

 Quilts in progress . . .  I have 10.  No.  I have 20.  No.  I have LOTS of quilts in progress.

I LOVE to make quilts.  I want to make all different kinds of quilts.  That's part of my problem.  I find a quilt or get an idea of what I want to make and I start it.  Then a quilt with a deadline (a custom order, a class sample, event, birth of a baby, birthday) comes in and pushes something aside.  Or I get a little bored with my current project.  Or I need to go get something for it, but I can't go today and don't want to lose my sewing/quilting momentum and set the unfinished project aside to pick up something else.

My friend Jacquelyn is really good at finishing quilts.  Check out her quilts at her blog here.

Our friend Sheryl makes quilts, too.  And purses!  Take a peek at her blog here.

Anyway, this post is about the Lightning Strikes Twice quilt that I made.  Well, the top is made.  It's not quilted yet.  So, it's still a UFO.  Big sigh . . .

First you start with the pattern from Scrap Therapy.

  I chose the version that takes fewer scraps and makes larger blocks.  Fits my (lack of) patience level.  The pattern calls for scraps cut into squares.  I bought a couple of new fabrics (from the Michael Miller Southwest Monument Valley line), but used quite a few fabrics from my stash.  Then you sew and cut and sew some more and you end up with some small blocks that look like this.

Then you trim these blocks to the correct size.  Keep those pattern instructions handy.  And maybe draw a diagram for yourself so you can keep it straight in your head. 

Then you arrange the little blocks and sew some more until you get larger blocks that look like this. 

Then you start putting your blocks into rows.  Can you see the lightning bolt now?

Then you add sashing and borders and you get this quilt top. 

It's hanging up now in the local quilt shop where it's a sample for my classes on this quilt. 

Of course, as I mentioned above, it's not quilted yet since it had a deadline to be in the shop--before the newsletter announcing the classes.  When the classes have run their course, it will come home to me and wait to be quilted.

So . . . quilters . . .  what are your ideas for how I should quilt this baby?  I'm thinking I might follow the path of the red lightning bolts.  What do you think?

CATS AND QUILTS

I'm not a cat person except when I visit other cat people.  Cats love quilts. 

Especially when they're not quite sewn down yet.  And they can still "help" you with the layout. 

Visit rikrak's blog here to see her new cat and the cat stories shared there.  She thought she was a dog person and that it was an either/or proposition.  See what she learned about herself . . . and cats.