Funny Farm quilt

Here is the main quilt "Funny Farm" patttern by Karen Snyder.
I chose to use contrast fabric, blue and white.  Really like the results.  What do you think?

Now I will add the border..  Should be ready for the quilter on Monday.

Funny Farm quilt

The "Funny Farm" quilt, from the book "Fat Quarte Fun" by Karen Snyder, is almost done. Despite the flu invecting our home and the grandkids. I should complete the quilt top today. I must say it is beautiful.

Check back later to view the picture...maybe late today...but it will be dodone.

Living Organized: Proven Steps for a Clutter-Free and Beautiful Home

Scrap piecing tip

Scraps
Use foundation pieceing to make 2", 4" or 6" strip sets from fabric scraps. Then use these strips to create a one of a kind border for that special quilt.

Create these from left over fabric from your one of a kind quilt.

Choosing the fabric

For my "Funny Farm" quilt, I have chosen a blue and white color scheme. Today, the fabric is being organized and the cutting will begin. Maybe, if I am lucky, I will even start the sewing. The quilt pattern requires cutting strips of 2 1/2 inches. Author, Karen Snyder, recommends placing a strip of masking tape at the required length on a ruler. This will help cutting each strip the same length.

It is so exciting to start a new quilt. I am not sure how long it will take to complete, but, it is still exciting. The excitement builds as the blocks are completed and combined into rows. What a great feeling to be this creative.

The finizhed block will be 8 inches and the the finished quilt will measure 68 x 94 inches.

Next Project

My next project has been chosen..I plan to make "Funny Farm" from the book "Fat Quarter Fun" by Karen Snyder. MS Snyder uses black and white fabric to make this criss crossed pattern.

Will I use the same contrast colors? Or, will I use left over fabric to make a scrappy quilt?

Time to chose the fabric.

Foxy Quilts - May Book Review

I have chosen the book for Foxy Quilts May review. It is "Fat Quarter Fun" by Karen Syder.

When doing a book review, I work some of the projects in the book. This gives me a feel for the authors ability to state clear directions. Also, it is necessary to examine the tips provided by the author. I am always looking for new ways to do things. You never know where you will find a new tip.

Hand Piecing

I did it. I completed my hand piecing class and love the results.
We conquered curves and triangles. Triangles have always presented a challenge to me. This class taught me to match the sewing lines. This keeps the angles and points on target.

Spent a portion of my day organizing my sewing center. You have to keep your sewing center clear of clutter. Now I can prepare for my next class.

Tomorrow starts another class. It is an overnight tote. Can't wait.

Hand Piecing

The plan today was to complete my hand piecing class project.
The plan has not materialized.
I am far behind in my project, but commit to having it done by Sat AM.
Lots to do.

I can do it.

New fabric arrives every day.

The beauty of owning a fabric business is that you get to play with fabric every day.
Check out this colorful fabric.
Each day new fabric arrives and I seem to love each one.
Creative juices start flowing at the sight of each piece. Should it be a quilt, a purse, skirt, dress, or an accent piece for my home.
Love working with fabric, can you tell?

6 new Christmas fabrics

Even though we are 8 months away from the hectic Christmas season, it is never too early to begin your Christmas projects.

Foxy Quilts has added 6 new fabrics from Makower of the UK and Laura Burch. These fabrics are perfect for your quilted wall hangings, quilted purses, laptop quilts, quilted table runners..or how about a bed runner. Check them out.

Kaffe Fassett book signing

Kaffe Fassett has a new book, " Simple Shapes Spectacular Quilts", on the market and he was in St. Louis today for a book signing. Luckily I was able to attend and meet the famous designer. Also,at the signing was Liza Prior Lucy. Wow is she a fantastic quilter.

Several of the quilts, from the book, were displayed at the signing. Each quilt was more impressive that the one before it. I am in awe of Fassett and Lucy's quilting skills. It is humbling to be in the presence of such talent. Observing these quilts makes me aware of my shortcomings as a quilter. However, I am inspired to reach deep inside and improve one day at a time.

Hand piecing with templates

Saturday was my hand piecing class. So dismayed am I. We make a template of the pattern piece cut to the stitching line only. Then we make a template of the pattern with 1/4" seam allowance added.

Working with templates is difficult, to me. I usually have to remake at least one template.

Practice makes perfect and I will be a pro at templates. I promise.

Totes with Zippers

While on a recent trip to Boston, I picked up a pattern book for totes. The book is called "Easy to make Totes with Zippers" by cindy Taylor Oates.

As a lover of purses & totes..I could not resist this booklet. Plan to make one of these totes this week end.

I will post my results next week.

My Bag..pocket purse

I love to make purses and thought this design by Vanilla House would make a great addition to my collection.

The design is not working out to my satisfaction, so I am altering it a bit.
As soon as I finish I will report my findings.

4th of July quilt

Designed a new July 4th quilt for my website, however, I am still working on the the quilt. Some days things just work the way we want.

Will work to have the quilt on my website by 4/17.

Finished projects

Just finished 2 projects and it feels so good.

Both are blocks in the Kumiko Sudo book, East Meets West. Both were a real challenge. Why? The blocks have 5 or 6 fabrics in them. As hard as I tried to coordinate these fabrics to make a wow statement. They fell short.

If I can manage the photo part, I will get these on my website by Sunday.

Visiting NE quilt guilds

Traveling around Boston and visiting quilt guilds in the area. Loving it and learning lots.

Designed 2 new quilts

I designed a new quilt for my business Foxy Quilts. Love the design, but it is difficult. It looks simple, but so far, it is not coming together as easy as I want. So I will spend more time making it work better for the quilter.

So, I designed another quilt, which is simpler and every quilter will be able to put together with ease. The new quilt will appear on FoxyQuilts.com in early April. Watch for my progress.

Hand quilting

Recently I accepted a commission to hand quilt a baby quilt. Hand quilting is so relaxing, but also very time consuming. When I accepted the commission, I gave myself 2 weeks to complete the project. The 2 week time frame was based on quilting 2 hours per day. It turned out to be a 3 week project and some days 6 hours per day were needed to finish the project.

The result..I loved the finished project. Better yet, the owner loved the finished project.

After all of this work, I forgot to take a photo of the quilt. I called the owner and she said she had a photo of the baby laying on the quilt. I hope to have this in the next week and will post on my website.

Strips N Curves

Started a new project from the Strips'N'Curves book by Louisa Smith. Creativity is a passion of mine and strips n curves sure give you a chance to be creative. I will need some time to finish this project, but plan to enjoy every minute of it.

In the meantime, I was commissioned to do a hand quilting project. Hand quilting is tedious and time consuming, but, I am very pleased with the results so far. As soon as it is done, I will post it on my website. My target date for completion is 2/21.

Darlene

I recently saw a pattern for a vest in the magazine "Threads". I loved the pattern immediately and had to make it. This I did. The original pattern called for wool with the raw seams on the outside of the vest. I made mine of cotton. The vest is reversible and consists of 4 coordinating fabrics. While having dinner Sat night, 3 women asked me where I bought my vest. I smiled and said it is an original.

I love this pattern and plan to make it over and over again. A photo of the vest will be placed on my website on Friday. Check it out.

New Article

Submited my latest article "A Quilt with a Soul" for publication. This article describes the feelings and connections I have to the "Dear Jane" quilt by Jane Stickle. As you know, this quilt is a masterpiece. I will keep you posted on its publications.

Current activities

Currently I am working on Lori Smith's "Sampler Magic: A Sampler Quilt". There are a lot of small pieces. But, I am enjoying building my skill level. This quilt pattern also requires you to pay attention to fabric prints. I am using prints, stripes, plaids and tone on tone fabrics. It is fun working on this quilt.