Monthly Archives: January 2019

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I’m R. I’m six years old. I live in San Jose, and my quilt is called Mixed Up Signs. I got the idea from an old kids’ book called Mr. Pine’s Mixed Up Signs.

My quilt has four arrows pointing in all different directions. One block (top left) is themed “England," one (bottom right) is “Dots," one (bottom left) is “Outdoors," and one (top right) is “Random.” The white in my blocks are white-on-white. And my thread number is #2735 (Aurifil 50wt). The thread color is Medium Blue.

The reason I made arrows is that my Mom was making half-square triangles, and I told her that they looked like half an arrow. And she said, “How would you make an arrow?” And I said that I would write it down. So I did.

And we started making them. But first she said that there was a challenge, and I asked, "what is the challenge?" She said it was only red, white, and blue fabrics. And I said I wanted to do that challenge with arrows.

A couple days later, after we started making them, she said “So, you want your arrows to be facing all different directions?” I said, “No, I wasn’t thinking that, but I might actually do that.” Then a couple days after that, I said to myself, “I’m going to do different facing arrows like Mr. Pine’s Mixed Up Signs!”

I learned that I can make arrows, and that books can inspire you.

 

Mixed Up Signs
designed, pieced, quilted, and bound by R, age 6 1/2
with cutting, pressing, and supervision help from mom
12.5" x 12.5"

Linked up to Project QUILTING 10.2. R's quilt is #72 in the linkup. And my submission is #74. Voting is open! You can vote for your ten favorites.

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Last week I traveled down to Tehachapi for a visit to the Tehachapi Mountain Quilters. I met the program chairs from the group last April at the SCCQG Meet the Teachers event.

After a long drive, I rolled into town on Sunday evening, ready to join them Monday morning for their guild meeting. My new Island Batik scarf made it's debut since it was the perfect match the my top. I couldn't resist stopping for a quick photo of the beautiful mountain view on my way to the meeting.

I shared my My Quilting Journey lecture with a large pile of my quilts, spanning from my first quilt back in 2002 (I think) to many of my recent Planned Improv and other quilts. This lecture is show and tell of around 25 quilts, sharing my tips and tricks along the way. The quilts you can see hanging are some of my recent Planned Improv pieces: Fandangle Scrappy Squares, Modern Batik, Pantone Ultra Violet All About Angles, and Bold and Brave.

Following the guild meeting I had lunch with a group of the women from the guild and then visited Yvonne. I ended my day with some delicious chicken pasta from Jake's, which was walking distance from my hotel.

On Tuesday I taught Planned Improv: Scrappy Squares. It's so fun how versatile Planned Improv is. Anna work in progress and Angie's first finished slab are shown above. During the workshop I had students making baby quilts, wall quilts, table toppers, and placemats. Part of my Planned Improv workshops is talking about how to iterate on a design and in order to build another unit that looks like it belongs with the first. This is applicable when creating larger sized quilts with multiple slabs, like my Greenery quilt, as well as working in a series to create a set of placemats that aren't identical, but do go together.

Gina used a variety of blue Grunge fabric with soft greys in her background. They she chopped up her finished slab and rearranged the quadrants to create a different composition.

I had a lovely day with this great group of women who all finished one or more slabs. A great big thanks to all of the Tehachapi Mountain Quilters for having me, and to Beve and Nancy, the current program chairs, who took care of me while I was there.

Would you like to have me visit your guild to teach? Point your guild program chair to my teaching page for details about the lectures and workshops I'm currently offering. Check my teaching schedule to see if I'll be in your area.

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It's once again time to reassess the project list. I have already finished three quilts this month and I'm excited to get working on some others. Q1 is full of Project QUILTING challenge plans, and I have some Planned Improv: All About Angles projects in progress, but I'm hoping to also get back to some of my older WIPs in the coming months. This quarter will also see me moving back into my newly renovated sewing room. Most excitingly, I have some awesome new lighting. :-) And in February and March I'll be making some updates to my blog/website.

Here are the four Q4 finishes from my list:

I realized that I miscounted my 2018 finishes last week since i didn't get my class samples onto the blog. I finished 34 quilts last year (including two pillows) and 3 finished bags this year.

 

Thanks for visiting. I hope you have a cuppa something to enjoy while you peruse my lengthy list. ;-)

 

Just Need Binding

  1. Meadow Mystery, Lap Quilt.
  2. Variation of Planned Improv: Scrappy Squares, Wall Hanging. 

Quilting In Progress

  1. Very Hungry Caterpillar Twin Quilt

Finished Quilt Tops

  1. Scattered Squares lap quilt (upcoming pattern). 
  2. Planned Improv: Playing with Angles, class sample Mini Quilt #1. 
  3. Feathered Star... pillow? 
  4. Creative HST 
  5. Island Batik Starstruck lap quilt 

Piecing in Progress

  1. Purple scrap project. 
  2. Planned Improv: Playing with Angles, class sample Mini Quilt #2.
  3. Planned Improv: Playing with Angles, in Cherrywood Meadow + Indigo.
  4. Tula Pink City Sampler. 
  5. Improv Abstraction, Small Quilt. 
  6. In the Middle quilt, Lap Quilt.
  7. Cotton & Steel (and low volume) HST Quilt, Lap Quilt.
  8. Ocean quilt for my daughter.
  9. Patchwork City Metro Area Quilt.
  10. Swoon Quilt. 
  11. Rainbow Chain. The pattern is Autumn Chain from The Bee Hive quilts and IG friends. 
  12. My Floating Squares improv project. (from The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters by Sherri Lynn Wood.)
  13. Rainbow Remix from Rebecca Bryan's class at Quiltcon. Blocks are all done. Next up, the big job of piecing together irregular blocks.
  14. Wonky Cross quilt from Rossie Hutchinson's class at QuiltCon. I'm up to 50 blocks and they are now all trimmed up.
  15. Quartered Log Cabin quilt from Rossie Hutchinson's class at QuiltCon
  16. Purple Royalty quilt. 
  17. La Passacaglia. No way I'm finishing this anytime soon, but including it so my list is complete. 
  18. Blogger Bundle baby quilt. 
  19. Playing with solids project from Tara Faughnan class. 

Planning Stage

  1. Island Batik February Quilt.
  2. Island Batik March Quilt.
  3. MQG mini swap quilt.
  4. Project QUILTING 10.2 (January 20-27)
  5. Project QUILTING 10.3 (February 3-10)
  6. Project QUILTING 10.4 (February 17-24)
  7. Project QUILTING 10.5 (March 3-10)
  8. Project QUILTING 10.6 (March 17-24)
  9. R's Waterfall Quilt from Sewing School Quilts 
  10. Planned Improv: Scrappy Squares, large scale. Purples are cut out.
  11. Floating Hexagons in Heliotrope and Breeze.
  12. Unnamed in Oasis and Pickle.
  13. Unnamed in grunge and linen neutrals.

Clothing

  1. Blackwood Cardigan in black and white stripe.

 

I'm linking up to Finish-A-Long Q1 goals link up.

Thank you for visiting!