One Wandaful Quilt

      Wanda sent me a top to quilt for a comfort quilt. It is pretty unique and beautiful. She staystitched all the edges so it was a dream to longarm. I did outlining in the butterfly blocks, stitched the shape of the log cabin in that block and did a locking curved motif in the light print blocks. Mocha Glide top and bottom. I think it came out terrific. I auditioned a dark blue and a gold dotted dark red fabric for the binding and chose the dotted one. I usually don't use gold printed fabric, but it looked perfect with the mood of the quilt. So now it is waiting for a referral to make a special person extra comforted. It was such a treat to quilt such a wonderfully sewn and pressed quilt top! Thank you, Wanda!

Border auditions at sides

Back

Back detail

It bloomed!

     My colorwash, that is. I finished the seams and now have to hunt for a backing. I will  quilt this on my Singer 301, not the longarm. Not sure how yet. This was a result of Wanda's Colorwash 360 online class. Sign up for her blog. 
     I have been collecting floral squares for a long time. I wish it could have been bigger. It is 17 rows by 17 rows, so about 34 x 34 when finished. And a bizillion hours.
     I am happy with it. It is staying with me.

Columns clipped on tray

Spring Colorwash

     I had so much fun in the last colorwash class with Wanda, that I am doing it again. I have enough batiks on the trays I think to make another one, but since it is spring (real slowly around here), I want to use florals. 
     When I did not know exactly what I was doing a while ago, I did make one, but it was sold at a show. I seem to be lacking a lot of colors and values I need, so I will have to really scrounge through all my fabric to find enough- especially oranges, greens and blue greens. 
     I love florals and Debbie always inspires me as I keep going back to her gallery of floral quilts. I need flowers. I paint flowers, I just love them and all their shades, shapes, and textures. My intial efforts here will have to be mightily tweaked and added to.

 

Summing up- quilting next!

     I was so fortunate to be a part of Wanda's Colorwash 360 class. I made a small colorwash a while back, but I know I needed to have better information and techniques. I have long admired Wanda's work in color and her colorwash quilts of all kinds. 
     Once enrolled in the class, we were given a very specific schedule for lessons, real time conversations, and a very well designed class page- the best I have ever seen. Every lesson had wonderful handouts- excellent layout and instructions for beginning, continuing and finishing. The were lots of videos, examples, and extra materials to make this a deep experience on colorwash. The videos were crisp, specific, information saturated, and so very helpful.  I knew exactly the time frame and how each lesson would unfold. 
     I also had bought some batik squares from Wanda to enrich what I had been collecting. There are more squares to make another one after Christmas. I need more cafeteria trays- they stack so well and the fabric does not slip on them. Here is my tall stack.

    Due to my son's addition (fraught with delays) that causes the grandkids to bunk and eat here, I have not been able to get the quilt basted and quilted. I did pick out and iron a batik for the backing (shown below under the quilt) and am trying Quilters Dream that I bought at Houston for the batting. I also bought Invisifil thread for the quilting there. I even bought basting thread and needles to baste. 

     So I can't thank Wanda and her daughter enough for all the time, details, professionalism, and feedback they poured into this class so that I could learn from the master. I have spent triple to take a class from national teachers plus lodging, travel, food, patterns and fabric and not learned nearly as much and been so thrilled with the quilt. I hope to make many more. Thank you, Wanda!

The colorwash top- sewn

     I used the webbing method from Wanda's class and sewed the columns that way and it is great. Everything stays put and is ready to sew the rows.

    And then, I finished the top and pressed it well. Ready for quilting, found a backing. I don't know whether to longarm it, Singer 301 it, or big stitch. I bought some Invisifil thread at Houston I am going to try.

Painted Quilt Tribute

     Ever since I saw the photo of Wanda on her blog, I knew I needed to paint it as a tribute. I knew it needed some of her quilts in it. It took a lot of time, thought, and "piecing", but I am very pleased with the tribute to Wanda- one of the greatest influences and star of my quilting life.  It is watercolor about 11 x 14. I hope I don't have to watermark it to keep it from being pirated.
     Thanks for looking at my "quilts". I notice a thread on the painting after it was all cropped and all. I will have to reshoot it when the sun comes out.

Small steps in starting some new ideas

    Because I love Wanda's colorwash quilts so much, I decided to try to collect and cut squares for this. After a lot of collecting, I am still woefully under the different fabrics I need if I am going to make a quilt at least 40 x 44. I started putting them in shoebox lids, but now, I bought those aluminum cookie trays at the dollar store and am stacking them in single piles. I probably have 120 out of the 150 different fabrics I need. The squares are 2.5" and I am having a hard time getting mediums. I can't really even lay them out on the design wall yet.

     Earlier this summer at QBL, I won a charm pack from Patchwork Plus in Marcellus, NY. I paired it with a black and white charm pack from Missouri star quilt company and made half square triangles that I showed trimming in another post. The next time, I will try to use the Easy Angle ruler to cut these and not do the two lines and cut down the middle approach. Hate cutting slivers off. I put them on the wall and rearranged a number of times. The last photo I think is it. I have to label and take them off the wall tomorrow.

Work, work, work = fun, fun, fun

   Lots of different things going on. I labeled and bagged all my UFOs and put them standing up in a bin under the counter. I sewed all the blocks for the You've Got Mail quilts. One layer cake made 2 quilts, 4 blocks by 5. I tried to use all the cool color ones in one, and the mostly warm in the other. It was grey today, so I don't know how well I did. I used blue painters tape and labeled all the rows so I could stack them for sewing. One fit on the design wall, and I had to lay the other on the floor.

The warmer blocks

Cooler blocks

      All finished quilting Emma's Star! Ready to put in a tote bag and wait for someone who needs it. I have another one (Emma's Star) all cut out waiting to piece. I used patterns from Free Motion Quilting. Thank you, Leah Day. I would never be able to be the quilter I am today without your tutorials and blog! The designs I used were Bubble Wand, Flowing Lines, and Basic Chevron. I bought her book and use it to plan out what I am going to use on a quilt. Then I go to her site and watch the video to practice it out. I started using Isacord because of her, but now I also use Glide because it is USA made and works so well.
     I also want to thank Lori from The Inbox Jaunt for excellent FMQ tutorials that I have used at times.  And for sheer production of comfort quilts, Sarah is the queen to me at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Emma's Star

     I finally found fabric for my daughter's tote. It is probably not the first color choice she would take, but I think the design is and I think the color goes with her hair and being a chemistry college professor at Allegheny College (read proud mom).  The tote is going to be a challenge for me. It has a zipper (gasp) and I have to change up the pattern (yikes).

Local Quilt Store fabric comes through

     Last, I would like to show I finished the Christmas cactus watercolor. I always enjoy Wanda's photos of her cactus and I told her I would post a photo of this when done. I owe her gratitude for her knowledge and kindness to me.