2012 From Marti and Me Club Christmas

Had a great time today at the 2012 From Marti and Me Club Christmas

at Cottonpickers Quilt Shop in Chardon, Ohio.

Show and tell was fabulous, we have some very talented quilters.

Plus the cookies were great!!!

Thanks to Gayle and Beth for a great time
 

Free photo slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Yes there is life after Feathered Star!!!

Thursday I stopped at Cottonpickers to pick up some 50% off fabric for quilt backings.

 

Beth asked me what I was working on now that my Feathered Peacock Star is at Becky's for quilting.

 

I'm currently working on two Lisa Moore Quilts with a Twist kits from Alaska for my friend Doris.  She and her oldest son's family traveled to Alaska this past June.  She bought the kits to decorate her basement as a reminder of the trip.

 

 

Aurora Garden with a Twist

 

This one has been fussy cut and some of the blocks are together.  The fabric for the outer blocks and the borders on this one are directional so I need to pay attention when putting them together.

 

 

Scene in Alaska the Interior

This one will be next.  I need to press the fabric and and use template plastic to cut the panel into the correct pieces.  I love how this looks like you are looking through a window!!

 

 

Alaska Photo Album

 

I purchased this kit when I was in Alaska almost 5 years ago.  It's finished and I may have Becky quilt them all at the same time.

 

From Marti and Me Club November 2012

Attended the From Marti and Me Club meeting at Cottonpickers Quilt Shop in Chardon, Ohio this morning. 

 

Our attendance was light because of illness and grandchildren!!  Hope you feel better soon Marge!!  And Jenny we hope you had a geat time with kids!!

 

We always start with show and tell.

 

 

Marge showed us this Wool Applecore table runner that she made for under caseroles.

 

 



Nancy showed us her hexagon quilt.



Cathy brought this quilt that she made for her granddaughter.  Which is an example of one of the quilts we will be discussing in class.

 

Our instructor Gayle is great at sharing ideas of how to use the patterns that Marti Michell has designed for us.

 

 

 

This is the Hexagon Pinwheel that Gayle made for the class sample.

 

I think this may be the project I start after the holidays.

 

 

 Thanks Gayle for a great class!!!

 

Feathered Peacock Star quilt top is done!!!

I finished sewing the and removing the paper from my Judy and Brad Niemeyer Feathered Star quilt top last weekend. 

Then this past week I worked on pressing the quilt top and piecing the backing.

 

Today I visited the Cottonpickers Quilt Shop and put the quilt top on the design wall.

 

 

 

Close up of the center.

 

Becky of Ruby Blue Quilting Studio will be quilting this wall hanging in the next few weeks.

 

I can't wait to get it back and finish it for entering it into the Lake Farm Parks 2013 Quilt Show.

 

 

 

Free Motion Class with Barb Shambaugh

Spent today at Cottonpickers taking a Free Motion Class from Barb Shambaugh. 

If you get a chance to take a class from Barb, do it!!!  She also teaches for Pins and Needles.

 

She taught us alot about the different thicknesses of thread, needle types and sizes, and machine tension.

 

Also the importance of stabilizing your pieces by stitching in the ditch.

 

She had us practice drawing loops, as in crucif e's and l's.  Then we transfered that to the sewing machine.  I had a poorly wound bobbin so that caused some issues.  It was interesting how I was able to actually hear my machine no the right speed for good stitches.

 

I haven't found my sweet spot with my machine yet, but I will keep trying.

 

She said I would need 10,000 hours of practice!!!

 

Which means that Becky at Ruby Blue Quilts doesn't have to worry about losing my business any time soon!!!

Feathered Star Quilt - Completion of Chapter 1 - Judy and Brad Niemeyer

I have determined that Wine and paper piecing doesn't always go together!! 

Thursday night Jim and I had a wonderful Birthday dinner and shared a bottle of Wine!!

I came home wanting to finish Part 2 of Chapter 1 so I sewed on one of the sections and realized Friday night that they were on wrong!!  Of course I had already trimmed all of them but one!  Which meant using the seam ripper and cutting new pieces!!

 

I was able to finish Part 2 of the Chapter 1 Friday night!!

 

 

I laid them out at Cottonpickers so that I could get some suggestions on the fabric for Chapter 2.  Beth's daughter, Becky was there to give me a hand.

 

Looks pretty good if I do say so myself!!

 

 

These are the fabrics we selected for the Chapter 2!!

 

Today was the From Marti and Me Club and Sit and Sew of the Super Saturday Stitchers.

These women are very talented and will be working on their own Judy and Brad Niemeyer patterns soon!  I was able to complete Chapter 1 and start cutting out Chapter 2!!

 

 

I love how it is coming together!!  The next chapters fabrics are a little darker, so I'm hoping the center star will pop!!!

 

 

 This one of the 8 wedges in Chapter 1

 

 

This shows 2 of the wedges with the different colored centers.

Feathered Star Quilt - Step 2 - Judy and Brad Niemeyer

I have cut out the fabric for the 1st Chapter of my

Judy and Bard Niemeyer Feathered Star Quilt!

 

Thanks to Beth's help at Cottonpickers I have a great center star!!

 

 

 

It always amazes me how ugly the pieces are prior to final trimming!!

 

 

 

Much nicer now that they are trimmed!!  They still have the paper on the back.

 

 

I think Chapter 1 is going to look awesome when all the pieces are done!!

 

6 more of these wedges to go and then on to the second part of Chapter 1.

 

 

Feathered Star Quilt - Step 1 - Judy and Brad Niemeyer

Judy and Brad Niemeyer released some new patterns last week at the Checker's Open House.  I left a message for Beth at Cottonpickers Quilt Shop and requested that she save/order one for me.  Cottonpickers is now a certified Judy and Brad Niemeyer quilt shop!!  This means that Beth and Becky are working on a number of patterns so that they can offer classes this Winter!!!

 

It's the Feathered Star which is 60" x 60"

 

 

When you first look at this quilt you don't see a number of fabrics, but there are actually around 13-15 different ones.

 

The pattern is divided into 5 chapters and each one includes detailed instructions.  You start in the middle and work your way out.  All paper piecing is to be completed before any units are sewn together. 

 

I started looking throught my batik fabric stash last night and selected fabric for the 1st Chapter which includes the inner accent star.

 

 

Each chapter seems to include dark, medium and light fabrics.

 

I will be using a number of the fabrics from my Desert Sky quilt with some additions.

 

My biggest fear when starting a pattern is the selection of the fabrics.

 

This image is from EQ7 and uses the 4 fabrics I selected.

 

 

I think my selection of the star fabrics will work!!!

 

I will continue to update as this quilt comes together!!

New Long Arm Quilter and some Beautiful Quilts

The morning I found out about Jennifer's passing I was meeting with my new Long Arm Quilter.  I think Jennifer would be pleased with my choice.  Becky Silbaugh of Ruby Blue Quilts in Madison, Ohio.  Becky is the daughter of Beth Safik of Cottonpickers Quilt Shop in Chardon, Ohio.  Becky is a grapic designer, pattern designer and a great quilter.  She has won awards at the Lake Farm Park Quilt Show and has really added to her longarm skills.

 

That day I dropped off 3 quilts for her to complete.

 

Two of them where Day and Night Quilts by Eleanor Burns



 

The third one was my first Judy Niemeyer Quilt Desert Sky

 

 

I selected Fireside for the backing of these 3 quilts to make them all soft and cuddly.

 

I picked up all 3 quilts last Saturday and I can't wait to get them all binded!!

 

 

 

 

Becky did a great job on all 3 of the quilts.  You can see more pictures of these quilts on her 

Ruby Blue Quilts Blog

Desert Sky Steps 6 and 7

I started removing the paper from the blocks earlier this week.  The process went pretty smoothly.  The pattern suggests reducing your stitch size by 1 to allow for easier removal of paper.  The important thing is to not pull so hard that you pull stitches out at the same time!

Yesterday was the first meeting of the Super Saturday Stitches at Cottonpickers Quilt Shop in Chardon, Ohio.  It is a group of quilters that met attending the From Marti and Me Club meetings.  Now we stay on Saturday afternoons for 3 hours to work on our projects.  I packed too many things and Jim was wondering if I was leaving for longer then the day!! 

I had some quilts that needed backings, so I had those in a bag, and backing for my Let It Snow quilt to stitch together.  Then I had 2 of my ArtBin Double Deeps filled with my Snail Tail and my Desert Sky projects.  I love these boxes, they help to keep my project organized.

Beth at Cottonpickers was having a Ping Pong ball sale, so I used my 30% to get backings for 3 of my quilts.  I need to contact Becky at Ruby Blue Quilts to get them on her schedule.

I spent part of the afternoon working on removing the paper from the blocks and then I used 45 minutes to put the blocks on my design wall so the other quilters could help me with my color placement.

I completed removing the paper today and I'm now ready to cut out the final six 7 inch blocks and complete the placement of the border blocks.

As you can see Nermal is helping me!!

My Spinning Sampler quilt received a Red Ribbon!!!

One of the items on my 'Bucket List' was to win a ribbon at a Quilt Show. 

I'm so excited that I can cross that off of my list!! 

I found out today that my Spinning Sampler quilt received a 2nd Place Ribbon in the

General Pieced, Mid size category of the 2012 Lake Farmparks Quilt show!  The General category is for those quilters that pieced their quilt and then someone else quilted it.

If I was to give an acceptance speak I would have to thank the following people:

My Dear Husband Jim for putting up with quilting projects all over the house.

My friend and longarm quilter Jennifer McCann for her great quilting and support.

My friend and fellow quilter Leita Shahan for suggesting that I enter this quilt and coming up with the great name.

Marti Michell for teaching the class I took in 2010 and providing a tool that helped me to improve my piecing.

Gayle Norman instructor of Cottonpickers Quilt Shop Marti and Me Club, for her encouragement.

God for giving me the time and talent to improve my piecing.

Below is the story I submitted with my quilt.

I took a class from Marti Michell using her Perfect Patchwork Templates at the 2010 Lake Farm Park’s Quilt Show. She displayed a number of samplers in class in 12” and 6” sizes. So I started one using my Scarlet and Gray stash that includes twelve 12" blocks on point, with a 24" Carpenter’s Wheel center medallion block.

Starting at the top the 12 blocks used in the quilt are Rising Star, Weathervane, Northern Lights, Rosette, Pieced Star, Hidden Star, Rolling Sawtooth Star, Ohio Star, Dutchman’s Pinwheel, Sweet Sixteen, Martha Washington Star, Wild Goose.

I used a layout I found in Electric Quilt’s EQ7 and then added a border that includes 200 Flying Geese. I’m not sure what really possessed me to make that many Flying Geese??

Jennifer McCann’s quilting really adds to the final overall presentation of this quilt.

So I have a question. can I now say that I'm an award winning quilter??

 

2011 Spring Bloggers Quilt Festival

It has been a busy year for me here at I Quilt Scarlet and Gray.  I started blogging last year and also started pattern testing for some great quilt designers.  I have tested 23 patterns for 16 different designers.  In addition I have been participating in a Marti and Me Club at Cottonpicker’s Quilt Shop, created by Marti Michell, so each month this winter I have been working on a different project.  So it was a little difficult to pick out just one quilt to enter in the Bloggers’ Quilt Festival.

I have decided to share my Bali Breeze quilt which is the first project we did for the Marti and Me Club.  I made the quilt using Batiks from my stash.  The pattern gave us options for a tablerunner or quilts.  I actually made three table runners into a quilt.

What I haven't decided is that if I choose to hang the quilt what direction I should use.  Any suggestions?

Thanks to Amy's video I took some pictures of the quilt outside after I got it back from my wonderful quilter Jennifer McCann.

I really like the backing I use for this quilt.

Can you see the bubbles that Jennifer quilted?

Bali Breezes blowing in the wind!!

Thanks Amy for giving us the opportunity to share our love of quilting with the world!!



Celebrating my Blogs 1st Anniversary

I can't believe it has been a year since I started blogging.  I have really enjoyed sharing my quilting projects with my followers and those of you on Facebook. 

I have been keeping busy testing patterns and attending the From Marti and Me Club sessions at Cottonpickers Quilt Shop this winter.

This is my Seven Sisters project.  The girls at the club suggested that I keep this a hexagon and use it as table quilt.

I'm currently working on a Scrappy Bear Paw wallhanging.  Made from Holly Taylor's Dargonfly Summer by MODA.

Spring is actually thinking about making an appearance in Northeastern Ohio.  Once the rain stops falling I will have a lot of grass to mow.

Since I started writing my blog I have met some wonderful quilters from around the country and even world!!  Reading about their lives and their quilt projects is a very special part of my day.

It's National Quilting Day!

I visited the quilt shop that moved into Geneva, Ohio called A Quilting Affair.  While there I found Sweet Liberty designed by Pat Sloan and distributed by P&B Textiles.  It's a great patriotic fabric and I purchased a Fat quarter pack. 

I'm a member of the From Marti and Me Club at Cottonpickers Quilt Shop in Chardon.  Our current project is Seven Sisters.

Gayle had mentioned during our class that you could use Fat Quarters so I decided to use my Sweet Liberty ones.  I picked out seven of the ones I thought would stand out the best against a cream background.

I have completed the first three blocks.