🌟 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



Anniversary, a Yarn Shop, a Top Done, and Pets on Quilts!

John and I celebrated our 5th anniversary last Saturday, and mainly chose to just spend time together.

 

 

 

We went to the Tri-Cities, which is the closest thing we have to a big city in this corner of Washington, and wandered around the mall, Craft Warehouse, the motorcycle shop, and even went up to Prosser and visited the Sewing Basket.  I am pretty excited about the pillow case kit I bought, it's Coca-Cola fabric.  Their kit selection has grown immensely!  I only noticed because I managed to trip over a pile of them at one point.

 

As we were driving around I spotted a strip mall behind an Albertson's in Richland, and John said we should go explore the shops, as there was a specialty bicycle shop as well as a yarn shop.  The yarn shop was amazing!  Check this out:

 



 

They have a fabulous variety of color and type, I highly recommend visiting their website.  I linked the photos so you can click on any of them to be taken there.  And if you're nearby, I stop in and visit with the ladies and Winston the shop dog.  Nothing beats handling the fibers in person, or seeing the vibrancy of the colors.

We met Debra and Holly Folger when we stopped in, and Debra taught us about drop spindles, which I had not heard of before.  It was fascinating for me.



 

These vases and bowls are being made by a friend of Debra's (Robert Skiba is his name) and she's selling them for him.  I guess he was going to just throw them away... NOOO!  I'm so glad she talked him out of doing so.  I love this white and black one.  I ended up buying a skein of Merino Wool, the tag says "malabrigo" as the brand name.  I am not well versed in yarns, but I do crochet on occasion and this wool is SUPER soft, so I am making a surprise for my mom.  I have decided I want some red and green for myself, maybe enough to make a small lap blanket with, I am loving the feel of this wool.

 

My sister's birthday was Thursday, and I got the top of her quilt complete and given to her, as well as a pillowcase.  She got to keep the pillowcase, I made her give me back the top...

 

It was really windy after dinner, so this was Jen's initial way of displaying her quilt top.

She is only showing half of the quilt, it turned out to be a great size!  Lengthwise it will cover a person head to toe, sideways it can cover two people on the couch nicely.  She's excited for it to be finished up.  I just need to work on cutting out the pieces for the back.

 

Belle was helping me work on the layout for the back of Jen's quilt a few weeks ago, which reminds me...

 

Coming in August!  Click the picture to visit Lily Pad Quilting to learn more about the sponsors and their giveaways.  All you do is take a photo of your pet on a quilt, submit it to the linky party in August, then vote for your favorite after the linky party closes.  They also do random drawings for winners.  I was so fortunate last year, I was a random drawing winner for a $35 gift certificate to Abbi Mays Fabric Shop!  My favorite parts of the Pets on Quilts show is reading the funny stories, seeing all the different Quilt Inspectors, and all the amazing quilts.  Hopefully you will join in the fun this year!

 

Ok, I have laid in bed all morning, and the cats keep coming in and telling me to eat, so I best get on my way.  I'm surprised John has let me stay in here this long, he knows I have quilting to get done!

 

Let's all get out there and sew!

~Brandy

 

Or go soak up some sun!

The fastest I've ever made a quilt (so far)

Some background:

John and I had been planning a visit to his hometown of Eureka, CA for over a year before we were finally able to make it happen this last weekend.  It had been 5 years since we'd last been down!  It's a 12 hour drive, and we knew it would cost at least $400 just in gas, thus the wait.  Then gas prices dropped, and his grandmother offered to host us at her house, and we said let's do it!  So we drove down Thursday, and came back Sunday, then suffered all this last week from lack of sleep and exhaustion.  The price you pay!n

 

Now, one of the things I was most excited for was to meet our niece, Eryka, for the first time since she was only 1 month old the last time we saw her.  I decided the Saturday before we left that I wanted to take her a quilt, as her 5th birthday is next month.  Since John and I are working on keeping our budget under control I decided to try to work completely from the fabric I have on hand.  Turns out I had a charm pack from Southern Fabric called Textured Basics that I had ordered with a sale-priced charm thinking I would like the colors more, and it turned out it was a different palette than I care for.  But it is perfect for a 5 year old!  I like bright colors when used with black borders, so I used up the rest of the black yardage I had on hand.  I see why people invest in solid jellyrolls, it would save quite a bit of time in the assembly process.

 

 

We had all sorts of things happening that weekend, so I was squeezing in 10 minutes here and there throughout the weekend and the 3 days at work.

 

 

I tried using my bodkin to help keep the fabric in line all the way to the needle, and wow!  All those people on YouTube really DO know what their talking about!  LOL  Seriously though, when I tried leading the fabric in with my fingers it kept wandering off course, and with the bodkin it stayed where it needed to and I was able to keep my seams laying the way I wanted them to.

 

I had some assistance, they were quite confused about this "thing" in the middle of the racetrack (aka our living room)

 

  I had the top finished by Tuesday, then started on the back, which I had decided would be made with recycled jeans so she can use it outdoors with confidence.  I completed the back Wednesday morning, and ended up spray basting because I had just used all my basting pins on my log cabin quilt.  Turns out, spray basting is really nice!  It also doesn't stick to denim as well, FYI.  I assume it was because I didn't use quite enough, or just because the weight of the material.

 

I asked John to take a couple photos of me quilting, as proof that I really did do this :)

I used black Aurifil thread on top and in the bobbin, remembered to put in a denim needle, dropped my feed dogs, and lowered my tension to 2.  It is really nice not having to work around basting pins.

I have learned a lot from following Lori at The Inbox Jaunt, and highly recommend her site.

You may notice that I am wearing gloves that are not the ones you may normally see for quilters, that's because this is what I had on hand (ha ha), they are gardening gloves that are form fitting and they breathe.  I feel like they are a lot of help with maintaining control of my quilts as I move them around.

You can see thought that I didn't have problems with the back tucking on me, it actually held tight pretty well!  So I started the quilting process at 2pm on Wednesday, and finished putting the binding on (completely by machine) at 11:30pm.  I did stop to help pack suitcases and made dinner too.  I tried to add up the total hours on this quilt, 2.5 hours cutting strips and the jeans out, 3 hours piecing front and back, 5 hours quilting, and 1 hour for the binding.  Of course, all those numbers are approximate, I may have been even slower, or maybe faster!  It's so hard to keep track when you're doing all these other things in between.  But still, only 12 hours total to bring together a great picnic quilt for a 5 year old?

 

You can see here how I used the legs of the jeans to create the backing.  After I cut them apart, I sorted the pieces into two piles in a color order so it was kinda dark-light-dark etc., then sewed them end to end.  Then I cut I so each row would be the same length and have some extra for the quilting process.  I ended up having just enough, it's as if it were meant to be!

And here's pretty little Eryka, being a good model for Aunt Brandy.  She opened it while we were driving to Sequoia Park, and I loved it when she started tracing the quilting and said "Oh, I just love the pretty design"  I finally understood this statement: My heart sang when she said that. :)  Complete validation for my hard work (and last minute decision making).

 

Here is John and Joe (his brother) as we walked down the jetty.  Joe is his younger brother, and Eryka's daddy.  We were so glad to see him as a father, he's doing such a great job.

And Uncle John getting some fun times in with Eryka!  The trip went well, we got to see his parents in a healthy state of mind (recovering drug addicts) and visit with his grandma and her sister, Aunt Margaret, who is 92, and also spend quality time with Joe and Eryka.  We even saw John's best friend from high school for a little bit!  Also, the guys let me visit the local quilt shops, so here's a shout out to Bunny Hop, Ocean Waves Quilts, Fortuna Fabrics & Crafts, and Eureka Fabrics.

 

I am really proud of myself for making this quilt all with things on hand, I didn't even have to purchase batting for once!  I made sure to buy a large batting with a Christmas gift card while it was on sale at JoAnn Fabrics so I would have it on hand for my table runners and such, and this took a good sized chunk of it, but it was totally worth it.  For future reference, use at least 2 layers of batting if you are having jeans as the backing, the seams are quite thick and poke through a single layer easily.

 

This quilt measures 45" x 45" finished, and I signed it on the front, with a dedication to Eryka and the date.

 

I will sign off with a photo of our celebratory pie in honor of Pi Day (3/14/15 aka 3.1415926) which John and I ate at 9:26 this morning:

Have a super sparkly day!

~Brandy