🌟 My Favorite Quilt Block 🌟 Blog Hop

Hello everyone!  Welcome to my stop on the My Favorite Quilt Block Blog Hop hosted by Carla at Creatin' In the Sticks.  Thank you so much Carla for letting me participate in this hop!  I hope you all will be sure to visit Carla's blog to enter the drawing she has going after you have visited and commented on the blogs today!

I have had a lot of fun checking out everyone's favorite blocks the past couple days, and no surprise, there have been a lot of star blocks.  I am here to share even more with you!

I am highly attracted to all the star blocks, but really love Lonestar quilts.  I looked the block up in Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns (1993) and it says the name Lone Star first appeared in the Ladies Art Company catalog sometime between 1028 and 1934, as well as in patterns from Ruby McKim and Carlie Sexton in that same time period.  It's quite fun to look through this book and see that the Lone Star name was used for 8 blocks that all look very different from what I associate lonestar with!

It is no joke when I say I am very attracted to this block.  I even use it as part of my business logo!  (For those of you who are new to me, I am a longarm quilter in Walla Walla, WA.)

The logo was inspired by the first lonestar I made, which was for the Picnic Blog Hop a number of years ago.  John (my husband) said he felt I had truely become a quilter after I finished that quilt, and thus felt it is a good representation of me and my business.  Isn't that sweet?  Here is my patriotic lonestar with a denim star backing:

I made a flannel baby quilt for a family friend a few years ago:

This is closer to a Lemoyne Star but it's so similar that I am including it; a tree skirt that I made for my Aunt Carolyn:

Just last year I made this beach quilt:

I recently finished this denim backing for my sister's quilt, only to realize I made the top entirely too small!  So, borders will be happening soon... lol!

The Christmas runner is one I began last year, it's a work in progress.  The tiny blue and white star will become the centernof a spool block for a spool quilt that I have in progress, it's so cute!  The diamonds are about 1/2" big.  And the pretty block behind them all is the barn quilt I painted this summer!  I hosted a class for my guild and we had a lot of fun painting our favorite blocks to hang on our houses.  I believe one even was hung on a barn!

In case anyone is wondering, yes, I y-seam all those corners.  It was one of the first techniques I mastered when I started quilting about 7 years ago, and I have since realized I prefer less seams if at all possible.  We will see how long that lasts!

Thank you so much for visiting today, I hope you will visit my fellow bloggers today and please be sure to leave some comment love!  I would like to know, have you made a lonestar quilt?  If so, what colors?  I am always on the lookout for more star goodness in my life!

Thursday, September 12th

Websterquilt
Cynthia's Creating Ark
Nutz 4 Redwork
Quiltsbyjoanne
Ms P Designs USA
Pampered Pettit
Hill Valley Quilter

Have a wonderful day!
~Brandy

Thomas helped me get our newest addition to the sewing machine family in place this last weekend.  This is my great-great-grandmother's machine, a White treadle that I was told was used to make my great-grandma's diapers.  Seems likely, as the patents listed on the machine range from 1877-1890 and Great-Grandma turned 95 this year... I feel quite fortunate that Grandma said I was welcome to have it as I was the only one to recognize what it was!

Henry Glass & Co. Desire to Inspire and other things happening

Hello friends!  I just realized I haven't been on here to tell you about a number of exciting things that have been going on in my life.

 

 

 

First off, John and I officially started the longarm business in January!  How exciting is that?  Our business is called Blue Spool Sewing Room.  I am having a lot of fun with my Handi Quilter Infinity and will definitely be getting pictures up.  If you want to check out our business page please visit www.bluespoolsewingroom.com.

 

Secondly, I was chosen to take on the challenge over at the Henry Glass Fabrics blog and I had so much fun working with the Just Beachy collection!  I finished a beach quilt, a swim bag, and a pillowcase.  They put up my projects this morning, you can click this link to see what I said there and the photos I sent them.

 

Here are some behind the scenes from working on my projects:

 

 

I decided I wanted to make a star quilt and make it octagonal like the pink one in my header picture above.  I auditioned fabric and attempted to fold in into the shapes so I would have a fairly clear idea as to what it would look like.  You'll notice that I ended up not using the colorful dots after all.

 

 

I decided early that I wanted to use two layers of batting since we plan to sit on it.  I also tried to think ahead as to what I would do for quilting.  I knew I wanted to give an impression of a starfish so after staring at photos of starfish I figured a ribbon candy pattern would look neat on the black and give the texture I wanted.  Also, as much of a pain as it may be, stitching-in-the-ditch is definitely important for making blocks look right after quilted.  I made it my goal with this quilt to not use any computerized designs, so all of this quilting was freehand!  I am glad to see that I am getting better everyday.  Practice practice practice!

 

I used jean yardage to back this quilt and I just love how the turquoise thread looks on it.  Also what looks like a huge wrinkle in the upper left-hand corner is just from me holding up the quilt while I took the picture. :)

Super excited when I reached the halfway point!

 

John and I had planned a trip to Eureka, CA a couple weeks ago which worked perfectly for me having a deadline to get my beach quilt finished.  We were able to get out and take some fun pictures first thing in the morning and only had to fight the wind a little.  We found this spot that had a nice tree and quick access to the water as well.

 

I caught John sneaking a peek...

Superstar!

 

This is me walking into the wind, considering how heavy this quilt is with it's two layers of batting and jean back it lifted in the wind pretty easily.

When we got home I went to work on my new swim bag for water aerobics.  Mom and I are still trying to attend every Monday and Wednesday.

 

I wanted zippered pockets on each end so I can put my keys and wallet away and not have them floating in the bottom of the bag.

 I chose to use mesh as the upper portion of my bag so I can see what I have in there easily, plus it looks neat.

 



Thomas helped me make the tops of the bag, I wanted to plush them up a little so the mesh doesn't wear down on the fabric, at least I hope that is how it works.  Plus it gives a nice finished look.

I was so excited when I finished and the bag stands up by itself!

It holds everything I need and more!  It will also be perfect the next time we go to the beach to hold two towels and the beach quilt, plus sunscreen, shoes, and water.  I am pretty happy with how my bag turned out.  When I get some instructions written up for it I will be sure to let you know.

 

It didn't take long for Belle and Thomas to find the quilt when I brought it home from working on the longarm, but if it is kitty approved it must be good!  Oh, and that gray stripe there under Belle is a burp rag I made for my sister-in-law, we have a nephew coming in June!

 

I hope you enjoyed some of these behind the scenes photos, I still have quite a bit of fabric left from what was sent me so I am going to crank out some more projects over the summer and I will be sure to share with you.  Thank you for stopping by!

 

~Brandy



Two UFOs down!

Woo!  Let me tell you, it's not easy for me to not start new projects.  But I've been trying really hard to focus on these UFOs, and so far I'm doing pretty good!  I got the Attack Cat and the bright star baby blanket finished, and will be passing it on this evening to Cathy.

 

I made the above nice and big so you can see how my quilting made some great snuggly crinkles :)  I am so please with how comfortable this quilt turned out after I washed it.  I will definitely use more flannel in the future!

Neat label I made, it's a hexagon while the quilt is an octagon, let's see how long it takes baby's family to realize it!

 

Finished at 36"x40" with the 2" green border added to it.

This is pretty much the first time I've worked with a panel, as far as I know, and I decided to do basic outlining.  Not as easy or quick as one might think!

 So, I get the Attack Cat finished in ~5 hours right, and take it to guild Tuesday night to turn in.  Remember, it was a challenge put out to the members to take the panel and practice our quilting/piecing for borders/whatever then bring it back this month and we'd vote on who's was best liked.  Well, I was the only one who grabbed one, and since I actually finished it they gave me all the rest as well as the original prize of the 3 fat quarters!  I'm excited because they said I can keep one of the panels for myself, which I plan to do and create a larger lap quilt with it.  And my favorite color is blue, so it was a perfect prize for me, plus now I get to create 3 more donation quilts to practice FMQ on again.

 

I did deviate a little in starting a new project, HOWEVER, it was because John and I travelled a total of 16 hours this last weekend for a vendor event for his job, and then we were sitting at said event for 12 hours.  So I made a soccer ball:

 

And here is an idea of the Diesel Dyno Days at Adrenaline Performance this last weekend:

Our booth, my husband designs diesel exhaust systems for Diamond Eye Performance and they allow him out for a couple shows a year, our other show was at BD Diesel in Abbotsford, BC (Canada) about 3 weeks ago.

 

Cam and Terra are the owners of Adrenaline, and they are the most wonderful people.  This was our third year of attending, and I have decided they deserve a quilt.  Turns out their colors are red, black, and grey, how awesome is that!  I've seen some amazing quilts with that color scheme.  Pretty excited.

 

We stopped ~20 minutes outside of Baker City, OR at this abandoned factory to take photos of the show truck, just for the heck of it.  It was amazing, but also 95 degrees so we look forward to returning at a later date for more exploration.

 

 

UFO Challenge List:

1. Bright start baby quilt FINISHED 6-5-15

2. Ashley's quilt

3. Attack Cat FINISHED 6-9-15

4. Football Pillow

5. Fabric Basket

6. Big Fish Little Fish

 

Loving the progress, yay me!  I hope some of you are also encouraging yourselves to have that sense of completion.  I am definitely struggling with not starting something new, but find if I jump a little from one UFO to another (as long as it's on my list) I get enough variation in routine to satisfy most of the cravings.  Now if I could just stay away from cookie dough I'd be great!

 

Oh!  And I completed my Snapshots apron quilt block two days after they released the pattern, I just spaced putting it up a couple posts ago:

I have more to say on the theme of aprons, but really need to get to eating some lunch now, so I'll tell you about it later.  I'll tease you with a number though: 8. 

 

Have a wonderful day!

~Brandy

Belle says it's too hot, I'm going to take your sewing chair, hope you don't mind...



September Activities

Welcome back!  Oh man, this last month has been busy busy busy at work.  I am the National Rodeo Secretary for the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association, (aka college rodeo across the USA) and the beginning of the school year has a lot going on for our office.  I kept thinking I wasn't getting anything done because of how very fast the month went by, but I actually accomplished some sewing!  One thing I practiced was getting into the habit of going to my mom's house every Wednesday to work on the quilt my Grandma Linda asked me to finish, and I'm so happy to report I've nearly half the blocks together already!  Here's an idea of what I started with:

 



And sadly I don't have a progress picture, but I will remember next Wednesday to have my mom take one of me working on it.

 

We had the Walla Walla Valley Quilt Festival mid-September and I volunteered for a few hours Saturday at the front door.  I had a blast hanging out with Lianne (our guild president) and one of the other girls who I just can't remember her name to save me.  John and I walked around Sunday for about 2 hours examining all the amazing works.  Here's my quilt hanging up, and my block challenge on the wall with the others, there were some really creative blocks:

 

I'm on the bottom row with the black background

 



I also participated in the APQ Pillowcase Challenge Sew-a-thon and using some fabric from Grandma Linda's stash made this awesome pillowcase:

 

This is made using the "burrito method" that is a free pattern on APQ's website (link above)

 

My amazing piecer: the 1954 White

 

Ta-da!

The most exciting thing was you could enter at some of the sponsors websites and win fabric to make more pillowcases, and I won!  I received an email from Shannon Fabrics a few days ago, and I plan on donating all the cases to children in Walla Walla, hopefully the children's ward at the hospital.

 

I have been so fortunate, won 4 drawings in 2 months now!  Can't wait to pay it forward in the upcoming blog hops.  By the way, I'm participating in not only the Black Cat Crossing, but also the T'was the Night, yay!

 

Here are photos of the items I won from Carol's drawing at Just Let Me Quilt:

Two yards (!) worth of solid and two fall panels

 

 

 

And then I received the package from Sew Lux Fabrics who I had won a $50 gift card from:

 

Ooo!  What an unexpected surprise!  I love presents within presents.

 

It really struck me how much more special this nice wrapping made my prize seem.  I am going to start prettying up my giveaways, because I can!

 

 

For the most part I ordered things I would not normally buy for myself, such as fabric with no plan or a bag pattern...

 

For some reason I was really drawn to purchasing this pattern after seeing all the amazing ones people have made and hearing how tough it can be.  Sometimes I like a challenge.  I'll probably take this on in a couple years.  I hear you also need ~$100 worth of materials to make it, so I'll start saving up too.

I also bought a spool of white Aurifil thread, because I go through it!  I really enjoy how smoothly it works in all 3 of my machines, I must say.

 

Ok, here's one last thing we did in September, we hosted a rock crawling event for remote control vehicles.  Some are very lifelike, some look like bugs, but everyone has a good time.

Getting in some stitching while at the track.

Our youngest competitor (pretty sure he's only 3 years old) driving a scaled truck through the course and doing really well.

John giving Terry some direction over a tough log section.

One of the competition (aka bug like) crawlers crossing the bridge John built.  I helped paint it.

 

See, John's working hard and I'm supervising.

 The event went really well, and we're hoping to keep building awareness over the next couple months for a good turn-out in Spring.

Thank you for visiting, see you again soon!

~Brandy