New project in the works

I am working on a new project that I am very excited about.  I discovered Missouri Star Quilting Co recently and am just loving their video tutorials and FABULOUS selection of fabrics.  I have been watching tutorials on "jelly roll" quilts.  A jelly roll is a bundle of fabrics in 2 1/2" x 40" strips of cloth from one designers line.  My favorite so far is Moda designs because of the variety of print and color.  I am attempting a "strip" quilt and have placed the blocks randomly to see how I want to put it together.  I love the colors and the brightness of this quilt and it's definitely stretching my limits.  I tend to stick to traditional designs and very basic colors but am loving the look of this. What do you think?

Project in progress

Hi all, 

Attached is a project I am working on.  I discovered Missouri Star Quilting Co website -- wonderful  video tutorials and absolutely FABULOUS material for quilting.  I watched a tutuorial about how to use "jelly rolls" which is a bundle of  fabric strips 2 1/2" wide and 40 " long.  They are all from one line -- Moda is my favorite -- and different themes to each one.  There are many types of quilts to make from one bundle and one of them is "strip" quilting which I am attempting.  I just love the colors and I am really stretching outside of my comfort zone with this one.  I usually am pretty traditional with colors and design so to leap outside of the box is a challenge for me.  I have placed these squares in a random design but haven't sewed together yet. Any comments are greatly appreciated.

Kathleens quilt

I made a quilt for my sister for her birthday.  Her birthday was in November and it was not nearly put together, much less quilted, sewn, bound, etc. etc.  So I told her it would be ready "soon".  Holidays rolled around and I just didn't have the time to devote to it and I didn't want to rush.  I finally got it done and sent off and she called over the weekend to tell me she "loved" it!!  I love the colors and the figure is Frida Kalo (for those of us who are not "artsy").  I have many many large scraps left over and I am making another quilt for my niece, who loved the fabric when I gave her a peek back in November.  Worked on it all weekend and am very excited about this one, too. Take a look.

Back to the Basics

Here is a picture of basic tools that I use for most of my sewing projects.  When I started quilting years ago ( a long long time!!! 33 years), I used to cut out templates from cardboard and my measurements weren't always exact.  I had some disasters along the way but how else do you learn, right?  The tools I use now are so much easier, exact and gets me to the finished product oh-so-much faster.  What is pictured is a self-repairing cutting board that is marked in a grid, a transparent straight edge, rotary cutters in two sizes and little nine-patch scrap block.  Also pins in a magnetic holder ( I always dropped and spilling pins all over the floor -- this helps to eliminate that). 

A WORTHY CAUSE

I would like to promote a very worthwhile cause, maybe one that is near and dear to your hearts -- It's called Soldiers Angels, http://www.soldiersangels.org/, I made two quilts in the last couple of years to send overseas to a wounded soldier.  The idea is to support our troups by giving them something from home, especially our guys and gals who have been wounded.  Check out the website -- there are simple blankets to make, and many other ideas if you are not into sewing that much. Here is a simple quilt that I sent recently, made mostly from scraps of fabric that I had, adding to it with some red and blue.

Aprons, aprons, aprons

So I have an ongoing project with apron-making.  Last year, my daughter requested an apron for her birthday present.  I found a couple of patterns online -- for free!!! -- and was off and running.  When I discovered how easy and fast they are to make, I was busily sewing to my hearts/ content.  I made her two aprons - both reversible -- so she actually had four!!  When I took them to the office to show off, everyone oohed and ahhed -- adding to my very inflated ego -- and my boss was especialy enamored.  So I made her one for Christmas with her name across the bib on one side. She loved it!!! I ordered more fabric online -- here is the greatest site for fabric:  http://www.equilter.com/, and Luana Rubin does a blog along with that -- here is her email: equilter@equilter.com.  Pictured is one apron that I made with the fabric I bought on that site. It has the cutest puppy dog pattern on it and it is solid black on the opposite side.  Sorry, ladies, my co-worker already purchased it.

More new stuff

Hi All, Thought I would let you in on a technique that I learned last year -- I am big on putting my scraps to good use -- I just can't throw anything away if it looks usefull!!!!  I stumbled upon a tutorial online using your scraps in a very constructive way --it's easy and fun!!!  Try looking at http://www.how-to-quilt.com/.  Here is my version:.  As soon as my grandson saw it, he said, "Granma, can I have it? Of course I couldn't say no because I have plenty more "crumbs" to make many more of these types of quilts.