Lots of Teddy Bears

Last Monday was Guild night and it was the night that we collected Teddy Bears with quilts for Christmas Cheer Fund.

There were over 100 Teddy Bears or stuffed animals collected for needy children.

They will be delivered to Christmas Cheer kick-off next Friday and I'm sure we will end up with more that what is here.  Some people didn't get theirs finished so we are still collecting and will have a final count on Friday.

Peggy.

Hinge Method Demo

This is a technique that Jackie Black from our Guild developed to make it easier to put a large quilt together.  The squares are quilted first and then hinged together by the sashing strips.  I took the course last May from Jackie and a few of the gals missed the class so I said that I would teach it through the guild if there is enough interest.  I have made three quilts using this technique and I really like it since I find it hard to maneuver a large quilt while quilting it.

I am in the middle of putting a baby quilt together for my oldest sister Carole and am waiting for more fabric to arrive in the mail so I have been working on my demo so that I can explain the technique and show how it is done.

I quilted this block and then sewed the hinge on the front 

and lined it up with the hinge on the back.  You can see the blue

backing peeking out at the top of the block.  

I always make my hinges larger than my block

and then trim them down after they are

attached.

This is a 3 inch sashing strip folded in half so the cut edge is hidden.

You can see that I left a 1/4 inch rim of batting and backing

around my square.

I wanted my quilt to grow and this will add a 1/2 inch to each row.

This block has its mate zigzagged to it and ready to 

have the hinge sewn down on the adjoining block.

Click on the picture to see it clearly.

Here I have 3 blocks hinged together.

I zigzagged the hinge onto the adjoining block.

You could use a fancy joining stitch but I just used a zigzag stitch.

Now I am joining 2 rows together.

I matched my hinges so that the sashing will be in a 

straight line, then I zigzagged the 2 rows together.

This is the back of the quilt.  If you click on the picture 

to enlarge it you can see the hinges on the back of the quilt,

and the long hinge to join the rows together.

Since the rows can be long and it is sometimes difficult to sew

on the top hinge and catch the back hinge in the stitching

I usually put some "Heat and Bond" (that is the white strip you see here) on the back

hinge and press it down so that it stays in place

and will be caught in the upper stitching.

This quilt may never be finished as a quilt but it makes a great demo to explain the technique.

Peggy.

Sock Monkey Quilt

 I have mentioned before that our Guild makes quilts for Teddy Bears or stuffed animals and gives them to the Christmas Cheer Fund to give to needy children at Christmas time.  I bought a sock monkey last year after Christmas and found some sock monkey fabric at Beaver Bay Quilt Shop.  I made the quilt top at the retreat last weekend and quilted and put the binding on it today.

My Sock Monkey Quilt

My cute little Sock Monkey with his quilt.

Peggy

Naniboujou Lodge

This past week-end I spent 4 days with twenty four quilter at Naniboujou Lodge on the north shore of  Lake Superior.  We had the lodge to ourselves since it is closed for the season and only open to groups.  The weather cooperated so we were able to go for walks along the shoreline or just sit on the swing and watch the surf on the lake.

Everyone was really ready to spend the days quilting.  I forgot to take pictures of the end results of the week-end but I took lots of the work being done.

And lastly my Sock Monkey which I finished today and will post the final picture tomorrow,

I used a tablecloth for my design wall.

This was the fabulous room that we quilted in.  There's Pat waving to me as I snapped the picture.

Next year I will remember to take pictures of the finished quilts.

Peggy

Going on a Quilt Retreat

Tomorrow I am off to a quilt retreat at a Lodge on the north shore of Lake Superior near the town of Grand Marais Minnesota.  The Naniboujou Lodge is located on 3,330 acres of land 125 miles northeast of Duluth, Minnesota.  

The Lodge

One end of the dining room

A larger view of the Dining Room

What a beautiful place to spend time with friends for the weekend quilting, enjoying some fresh air and not having to cook meals for 4 days.

We will be there from Friday to Monday and hopefully get lots of quilting finished.  I have packed quite a few projects and know that I won't get them all finished but it gives me lots of choice for the weekend.  There are no phones, televisions or WiFi in the rooms at the lodge.  I will have to find a house phone to call home when I get there to let others know that we arrived safely.

I also hope to take lots of pictures and will post them when I return home.

Peggy.

Hexagons and More

I made one of these quilts last year and I cut the fabric for this quilt this past summer while I was at the cabin.  These are so neat because you cut half hexagons and match them up to make whole hexagons.

Hexagon Quilt.

I added half white hexagons along two sides and quarter hexagons on the other sides.  Then I decided that I needed a small border on 2 sides only.  I think it is about 38 x 49 inches.  It looks square but it isn't.  Lots of scraps where used in this quilt.

Dee's Brick Trick

I found this quilt out in cyberspace at the Linus connection and thought that it would make a great scrap quilt, except that the squares were suppose to be 16 inches.  I divided the pieces in half and made 8 1/2 inch squares.  I had to make more squares but I had lots of scraps so it didn't matter.  This quilt is also on Craftsy.  

I have been concentrating on lap quilts about 38 x 50 inches since these are easier for me to quilt.  I have made a few larger ones and since I now know how to use the hinge method I may make them a bit larger.  Dee's Brick Trick was made using the hinge method.  When using this method you can add the borders to your quilt after the quilt is made.  This is great when you finish the quilt and decide that it should be larger so you can add a few borders to accomplish this.  

Falling Triangles Quilt

When I first thought I would make this quilt I chose forty-eight 5 inch squares because I needed forty-eight half square triangles.  After I had them all made I realized that I only needed 24 - 5 inch squares, so now I have another 48 half square triangles that I can use to make another quilt.  I will have to try something different for the next quilt.  I will have to study some patterns and come up with a different quilt.  I may have to add a few since there is a lot of white in this quilt.  

There are so many ideas on Missouri Star Quilt Company if you ever have trouble trying to decide what to make all you have to do is look at a few of the videos.  When she talks charm squares I immediately think scraps.

Peggy.

From Scraps to Quilts

I love turning my scraps into quilts.  My family has all the quilts they can use and many placemats and table runners so I have been concentrating on Donation Quilts for our Guild.

A Nine Patch Quilt

This quilt was one of the ones that was in my daily quilt calendar.  It is a simple 9 patch with squares in between.  The squares are a map from Timeless Treasures Fabric.  It isn't really scraps but fabric that I got from a store that was going out of business.

Scrappy Bow Tie Block Quilt.

I found this block on the internet and thought it would make a great quilt to use up some of my 2 1/2 inch squares.  You can find the tutorial HERE.  

Peggy.

Two Very Talented Quilters.

When I was in California visiting Christine she told me about a quilt that she made but wanted some help with the binding.  She said that it was wavy and asked if I could fix it for her.  I don't consider myself a great quilter but I know how to put binding on a quilt.  When I looked at the quilt, the border was also wavy so I proceeded to un-sew the binding and then took off the borders.  She had white borders and we went to two quilt shops in the area but couldn't find white that matched what she had in the quilt.  We decided to go with black since there was black in the quilt and it matched what she had.  The black also closes the quilt.  I measured the borders through the middle of the quilt so that I squared it up when the borders were added.

Place de la Concorde Designed by Piet Mondrian.

That is me holding up her quilt.

She saw a picture on the internet and decided to make a quilt by copying the picture.  She used graph paper and counted the squares to make the quilt exactly as the picture.  I think the black sets the painting off.  I put a hanging sleeve on the back so that she can hang it if she wants.

The other talented brave quilter I know is Pierina.  She has only been quilting for a few years but is willing to take on any task and she also made a quilt with no pattern but just looked at the picture.

Pierina's daughter is expecting her second child and they were both looking at quilts on Pinterest and found one that Teresa liked but it had no pattern.

Elephant Quilt

I am not a member of Pinterest and it won't allow me to search the site so I can't share the link to this quilt.  She took the picture to a copy shop and had the picture enlarged and then copied the quilt.

She quilted it all on her home machine and I am hoping that you can see the detail that she put into it because the quilting looks like the elephant is spouting water from his trunk.  It is appliqued and done in batik fabric.

Pierina also put a hanging sleeve on the quilt so that it can be hung in the child's room or used as a quilt.

Peggy.

Home from the Napa Valley

I arrived home a week ago and of course the most difficult thing for me is getting over the jet lag.  It took me a few days but it was worth it.  The trip was wonderful thanks to my sister Christine and her husband Gary.  

One of the first things I wanted to do when I got to the area was to go and view the earthquake damage.  We finally found a parking space downtown and only had 23 minutes to run around 6 blocks and take some pictures.  The area was cordoned off with high wire fencing but we managed to get some pictures of the damage.

This building really took a hit.

The poor person who left there vehicle here overnight, major damage done to the car and building.

Part of a roof laying on the ground.

It belongs on top of this building.  You can see the same type of roof here.

Christine and I took a tour up the north coast of California heading for Fort Bragg.  We stopped along the way at Healdsburg because there was a quilt shop there.  Her fabric was very different with large scale prints that I didn't really like but I managed to buy one small piece.

This tree was in the town square where we stopped to have some lunch.

Our next stop was the Coppola Winery where there is a lot of movie memorabilia and his many Oscars.

It is a beautiful place to tour, and there is also a swimming pool and restaurant for you to enjoy.

From there we drove on Highway 128 through the Redwood Forest and I got stung with Stinging Nettle but luckily I had some Hydrocortisone Ointment with me and it relieved the pain.

Huge massive Redwood trees lined the narrow road that twisted and turned through the forest taking us to our motel, the Little River Inn in Mendocino.  We toured around the little town and spent the night taking off the next day back to the Napa Valley.

These flowers grow wild everywhere and line the roadways.  They are called Naked Ladies because they have no leaves.  They are also called Belladonna Lily.

My last days there the weather was a little too hot for me.  I like it to be around 77 F but it was 90 F in the shade.  One thing about this part of the world is that the nights and mornings are cool and then it warms up during the day.  So it is good sleeping weather most nights.

A wonderful trip.

Peggy.

Day One In Napa Valley

   I arrived in San Francisco a half hour early but Christine and Gary were also early so as soon as I picked up my luggage we found each other. We headed north out of the city and crossed the Golden Gate Bridge .

This morning Christine and I went for a walk through a vineyard.  The valley of the moon vineyard. The grapes are getting nice and plump. 

   

The vineyard seemed to stretch forever.  

Next we drove to Petaluma to a quilt shop. It looked like a small shop from the outside but when we went in it was a very large shop with lots of varied and different fabric. 

        

    

I am very disappointed how my blog turned out when I did the write-up on my IPad, because the pictures are blurry and grainy.  

 Peggy

Nautical Themed Placemats

Lynda brought me a panel of 8 nautical squares and I spent a little time trying to figure out what I was going to do with it.  I thought I might be able to make a quilt from them but then I figured that I would have to do a lot of calculating to come up  with something so I decided that the individual squares might look good as placemats.  I have been looking for some male orientated patterns and fabric and decided that these might just do the trick.

I had the pale blue and the brown wood grain in my stash and really liked what they did to the panel squares.

I ran out of pale blue so I thought I would try some orange polka dot that goes well with the brown border on the square and my binding.  These will be donation placemats for Meals on Wheels.

Peggy.