Sister's Choice Quilts

My Favorite Schnibbles

Aw gee.  I feel like Sophie's Choice here.  How can I pick my favorite?  Sherri and Sinta's challenge for January is to post a photo of our favorite Schnibbles. 

I am quite partial to Bennington, made with a fun collection by Sandy Gervais.  It definitely was my favorite Fall Schnibbles.  I also like the quilting I did on it.

Hmm.  This is State Fair.  This is my favorite Schnibbles that I ever gave away.  This one lives in Southern California at my niece's house.  I really  need to make one for myself.

Mon Ami.  My favorite Valentine's Schnibbles.  I really  need to make this again as well, and make it the full size.

Scratch.  My favorite Christmas Schnibbles.  Love this one too.

Leap Year.  This is my favorite hand quilted Schnibbles.  You see where I am going with this?

It impossible to pick a favorite.

Tumbler Quilt, Finished

You didn't even know I had started this one, did you?  I made it in just a couple of hours.  Amazing, isn't it?  I could start my own Quilt In A Day show.

Want to know my secret?

The entire quilt center is about the size of a piece of printer paper. Did I fool you?

This was so much fun.  I never thought much of miniature quilts, but that opinion has definitely changed.  A friend sent me 120 precut teensy tumbler pieces, all cut out and ready to sew. So, first off, I didn't even need to cut anything.  The little tumbler blocks are seriously tiny, but how cute they are.

On Wednesday afternoon while my student did some strip piecing for her next project, I started sewing these little cuties together.  I paid no attention to what was next to what (which may be obvious, ahem).  I just sewed.  In no time flat I had the pieces all connected.  I could have made the piece ten blocks by twelve rows, but preferred the symmetry of ten blocks by eleven rows better.

I added a three quarter inch containment border and a two inch finished outer border.  I love it!

I have even machine quilted it, which took no time at all.  My gosh, if you aren't that proud of your machine quilting, just try quilting on a black print.  I am not kidding, the detail does not show at all.  In the photo above, the black fabric is all quilted with loops just like the tumblers.   Can you see it?  Nope!  It will be all puckery when I wash it and no one will be able to see my wobbly stitches. 

By the time you read this, I will have the binding sewn on, and will be using this little quilt under a candle or something.  Fastest quilt I ever made.

 

 

 

Trimming, Layouts, and Getting There

I went gangbusters on my Message in a Bottle blocks while I was on my quilting retreat.  I finished the 42 pinwheel blocks before I left and finished up the 56 square in a square blocks while vacationing.  Then they all had to be trimmed. 

Soon as I got home, I set up camp on my kitchen counter and trimmed away, using my fabulous Fit to be Square ruler.  Does that tool ever do a great job on squaring up that block!

Now that the blocks are all finished, I can start playing around with them on my design wall---which isn't quite big enough to lay them all out.  That's all right, I think I can lay out one half at a time.  You know what is thrilling me?  I used so many fabrics, I hardly ever end up with two that are the same touching each other.  Famous last words.  Now I have gone and jinxed it.

I love the mosaic effect of those blocks when they are assembled together.  Tell me your opinion:  Do you think those center plain squares are calling out for some sort of custom quilting motif?

The Back of the Quilt

Seriously?  Yes, this is the back of a quilt.  The quilter used different colors of bobbin thread to be sure that a fabulous design was created on the back of the quilt as well as on the front.  Incredible, isn't it?

Last week I went on a little quilting retreat with friends, and stayed in a condominium in Palm Desert, where it was 78 degrees the first few days we were there.  That good luck changed on us though, and we had lots of rain the end of the week.  It never rains in the desert, except when we were there.  We didn't care though, and even though none of had umbrellas or appropriate outerwear, we had a blast.

We got plenty of sewing done, and I will show you what I accomplished in later posts this week.  Our trip culminated with a drive up "The 10" to the Road to California Quilt Show in Ontario, where we saw some pretty amazing quilts.  I have to say that my taste runs more towards the traditional style, so those tended to be my favorites.  The work that goes into these pieces is truly mind boggling.

I am not sure why I was so taken with the backs of quilts, but here is a photo of another one that was pretty amazing:

I came home to a freezing cold house, as our thermostat went belly up last week.  Supposedly it is an easy fix, and will be taken care of right away.  Last night I burrowed under a heavy down comforter, which normally would be way too hot for me.  I was snug as a bug.  Unfortunately I have other things to do which are going to get in the way of me staying under the covers all day.  What a pity.

Just a Quick Little Note

Just a quick little note to let you know I am alive and well.  Just back from a quilting retreat with some dear friends. The photo above is one I took on one of our outings.  Maybe you can guess where I was?

I will have to tell you about it in another post though.  I came home to a broken thermostat and my house is freezing!  My nose is running, my fingers are so cold they won't work, and I need to crawl under the down comforter and try to warm up right now.

Normal posting will resume tomorrow.

 

 

Blocks Finished

I am making real progress this week with my Message in a Bottle blocks.  I have completed the square in a square blocks (56), the pinwheel blocks (42), and the pieced setting triangles (26).  Soon, I will be putting these up on the design wall and sewing my rows together!

This pattern is highly recommended by me.  The blocks are simple, easy to piece, and the only time consuming aspect has been the amount of trimming required.  The trimming has been totally worth it, as all the block components have come together perfectly.  Once the blocks are connected, there will be a fairly complex looking design, that will be pleasing to the eye, I think.

Sorry about the picture quality. I took the photo with my camera, and the lighting is very strange.  You get the idea though!

Plenty of sewing going on, but it's a busy week all the same! 

Next up I am going to work on my baskets for the Hill Country Basket quilt.  These are much more tedious and are going to require a lot more concentration on my part. 

 

Travel Bags

I made a couple of little bags last week.  For me!  The one above is perfect for face creams and make up, or perhaps all your makeup brushes.  I know when I travel, I prefer to keep my brushes separate from everything else.  Hmmm, I believe I should make one more...

On the blog In Color Order, there is a super tutorial, if you are interested in making one of these bags for yourself.  And if you can't quite get it just by looking at the tutorial, Jeni offers a pattern for the bag in a half dozen sizes that you can download for $6.50.

The bags in the photo wer made from fat quarters and a little piece of accent fabric.  The fabrics are "Sew Cherry", designed by Lori Holt for Riley Blake.  Cute, huh?

And since I gave my previous hair products bag to Mary Ann for her knitting project, I made myself another one of those too.  No pattern for this, I just sewed two fat quarters together and made a casing for a drawstring.  I like my bags to be lined.  They feel more substantial that way.

 

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Message In a Bottle

I know every quilt I am currently working on is my favorite quilt ever.  But this one really might be.  There is something jewel like in the feel of this project.  The pieces resemble facets of gem stones to my eye.  Smokey quartz and sapphires.

The design is so deceptively simple.  It looks so complex, until you break the design down into the two very easy blocks that make up the quilt top.   The magic comes from not just the combination of two blocks, but the diagonal set.  Brilliant.

The two easy blocks are 1) a Pinwheel block, and 2) a Square in a Square block.  Tilt them on their sides, lay them out diagonally, you have an extremely interesting design that forms. 

Doesn't it appear that the light squares are surrounded by two rounds of trickily pieced triangles?

And then there is the color combination.  Dear me, aren't those blues and browns beautiful?

Ok, enough of me singing the praises of this design.  You all just need to go buy the pattern, "Message in a Bottle" by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company, and make one of these for yourselves.  Imagine it in pinks and browns, or purples and greens, or ....

 

 

 

It's a Pinwheel Party!

I finished all the half square triangles for my pinwheel blocks.  Woo hoo, it's a pinwheel party.  A plethora of pinwheels.

Plenty of trimming on these little guys, but so worth it to have them all come out a perfect 3 1/2 inches square.  I am using my Precision Trimmer for the job.  It really didn't take too long.

You know what makes a slightly tedious task a bit more bearable?  I like to listen to audio books.  I have a subscription to Audible.com, and each month I get a new credit for a book I can download to my iPod.  The latest selection I have been enjoying has been quite enthralling.  It is called "State of Wonder" by Ann Patchett. 

I thought this book was positively awesome.  It is set in the Amazon, a place full of truly mind boggling mysteries.  Also way too full of snakes and bugs and very strange indiginous people.  A doctor who works for a pharmaceutical company is sent to the Amazon to check on the progress of a drug study and disappears, presumed dead.  His office mate follows the trail in an effort to get some answers, and gets way more than she bargained for.  The descriptions are poetic, the characters well conceived, and the plot wildly fantastical.  I loved it!