July quilting

[bridesmom]

I have started going through my stash and making piles of fabric for quilts for the old folks home. It's something I will work on over the summer, making wheelchair lap quilts to get some of the stash down, and use up some of the fabrics that I know I won't use for anything else. Plus it give me some new ideas to try and some more fmq practice. I'm really going to try to do this without buying more fabric, we will see how it goes. Trying to get the fabric stash down to a manageable size is going to be a challenge.

[HeyJudee]

Laura, getting my stash to a manageable size is something that I'm trying to do too. I've been planning to make quilts for Victoria's Quilts Canada with mine...but I haven't gotten my quilting mojo back yet. Hoping that will happen sometime in the near future though.

I did finish another quilted baby bib yesterday...one that I had started but didn't have enough fabric to make it in one piece so pieced two fabrics and then added an applique on the front. This one will be sitting on a shelf hoping that one of my nieces will be having a girl. Will post pics after it has dried...right now it's blocked and drying on top of the freezer in the basement.

[bridesmom]

Judy do you always block your quilting stuff? I have only done it once when I had one that was pretty mishapen.

[HeyJudee]

Judy do you always block your quilting stuff?

Not always but I usualy do my wall hangings as they usually flatten out and hang better on the wall. But after quilting the bibs they were a little wobbly and didn't lay flat. After wetting them and stretching them out on a towel and leaving them to dry, they are nice and flat and will look better when gifted.

Here's a pic of the two sides of the same bib. The piece of bear fabric wasn't long enough so I pieced it with some liliac gingham and appliqued a bear in the centre. I used liliac thread to quilt it. It's kinda more for a girl even though it has bugs in jars on one side. So hope one of my nieces has a girl.

BearBibWL.jpg (58.11 KB) Viewed 7506 times

[bridesmom]

Oh that's cute! I like the bug fabric!!
Just got home from my Gees Bend class and I'm bushed. But I finished (I think) a house top. You make some log cabiny type blocks, no rulers!! Just eyeball them, then you cut them up, mix them around and start putting them back together, still no rulers!! And you add pieces to make it all fit. It's a little wonky, but I may just leave it wonky and not square. I used alot of the Boston Bruins border pieces I had left over from DS's quilt last year after they won the Stanley Cup. It sure was a lot of fun to do, and felt really strange to just grab fabric, whatever 'spoke' to you and start sewing it together. I think I may do some more with my scrap stuff, just to get it down to a manageable size AGAIN. Honestly I think scraps mate and multiply overnight!!!! The little strip bit of brown/red on the right side is from a back of a quilt already on the design wall. And yes, I did throw in that little scrap of red, just because.

[lendube]

Okay, Laura. Interesting. I like the concept but it's not one of my favorites. There's a lot going on. I see 3D in there. I can see where it'd be fun and addictive. What a great way to use up scraps. I think I'll go find some other Gees Bend quilts to look at just to see.

[lendube]

Forgot to say how much I like the bib, Judy. Funny that the same background looks so different.

Check these out, ladies. Laura, inspiration plus!! They look like abstract art.

http://www.auburn.edu/academic/other/ge ... /index.htm

[HeyJudee]

Laura, I love it! But the perfectionist part of me would definitely want to square up before putting the smaller squares together...and square it again when all put together. Don't know whether I could take a class without a ruler...

[Magot]

Those fabrics zing Laura - I love it too - but I would square it up at the ned and put nice neat borders on it. How parochial of us! Be Free!!!!!

[bridesmom]

I know, it's really out of the box for me! I still want to square it all up, but I think I'm just going to let it hang there for a bit. Love the website Lennie, thanks! I'm itching to make another one, but I have to get ready for holidays! DS just texted me to ask me if I'd make t-shirt quilts for his girlfriend and her sister out of their dad's tshirts.He just passed away on July 1. So when I go there in August, I will take my scissors with me and bring back the pieces, rather than all of the tshirts. I'm excited to do it for the girls, I wanted to do something, but wasn't sure what. This will be a great way for them to have something to remember their dad by. I'm already trying to figure out what to put on the back, he was a real handyman, a teacher and very musical. So I will do some quizzing when I am there of their memories of him and see what comes out of it.