Another Dress

Last night I cut out another dress for my granddaughter. It will be the same pattern as the cherries dress below. The new dress is in a medium turquoise with floral splashes of orange, pink, green, yellow and purple.

I couldn't decide between a pink or orange sash, so I bought 1/3 yard of both. I'll let my daughter-in-law decide which she prefers. I can always use the runner-up fabric for quilts.

Cherries Dress Finished

I've been working on (or should I say at) this little dress for my 3-year-old granddaughter Reghan for a while. Okay, a couple of months. I finally finished it tonight. She's going to look cute in it.

My Latest Matches from eHarmony

I found this card at the grocery store. It made me laugh.

And, just so you know, those guys are way too old for me.

Cool color scraps sorted

I finished sorting my cool (blues, greens, etc.) color scraps. It took less than an hour. (I watched a one-hour TV show that I'd recorded, skipped through the commercials and had time leftover at the end of the sort.) The fullest bag is 2.5"+, probably because I use that size for my bindings, so I have lots of long strips leftover.

I feel a little more organized now. Next time I want to make a scrappy quilt, I can go straight to the bag that contains the fabric width I need. That's better than my old method of pulling out a dozen different pieces from a big grocery bag, hoping to find a large enough sized scrap.

I will probably transfer the fabrics to 1-gallon plastic zip bags, which are more durable than the paper bags. During the sort I did appreciate the way the paper bags stood up straight without collapsing. However, the plastic bags are flexible enough to rummage around in without tearing, and I can see the contents much more easily. I've been storing my fat quarters and larger pieces in plastic zip bags for years--sorted by color.

Stashbusting...Sorting Scraps

Last night I got the itch to sort my scraps. These scraps are smaller than fat quarters, mostly strips, some chunky bits and a few triangles. I've been storing the scraps in two ordinary plastic grocery bags, one for warm colors and the other for cool colors. They're mainly solids and tone-on-tones. I love novelty prints, but I get tired of them once I've finished a quilt. (I donate those scraps to places like Project Linus. I'm sure the quilters love the cute pieces, and some lucky kids will get adorable quilts from them.)

Based somewhat on Bonnie Hunter's Scrap Saver System, I created my own categories to suit my personal quilting style: less than 2.5", 2.5"+, 3.5"+, 4.5"+, 6.5"+, and 9"-16". To save money and to get started right away, I sorted them into containers that I already had--brown lunch bags!

Last night I sorted the warm colors: red, pink, burgundy, orange, brown, yellow, etc. I started to trim the pieces to the nearest quarter-inch but many needed to be ironed first and I didn't want to get bogged down, so I "scrapped" that idea within a few minutes. I finished sorting the warm colors in about an hour.

The fullest bag was the 4.5"+, and I will probably start there for the next scrap quilt. I had a hard time getting to sleep last night, thinking about what pattern to use for the quilt. At lunchtime I took a look at Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville website for inspiration. I'm pretty sure I'm going to do a Maverick Star--a Liberated Quiltmaking version of Sawtooth Star. I'm thinking about a palette of red, white and blue for the Fourth of July.

Tonight I'll go through the cool colors: blues, greens, turquoises, purples, blacks, etc.

Repeating Quilt Patterns

A member at Stashbuster asked the question of the group: Do we make the same quilt pattern several times, or do we try something new with each quilt?

As a beginning quilter, I made dozens of scrappy checkerboard-patterned quilts. For the last 10 years or so, I've made mostly one-of-a-kind quilts, designed by me specially for the recipient. Each has its own distinct pattern and look. However, for one recent quilt I made a smaller companion quilt for charity, so I suppose that's a repeat. For my charity quilts, I usually do the same pattern over and over. The Turning Twenty style I use is quick and easy, and I can churn out several quilts in a hurry.

Freemotion Quilting

Today I'm practicing freemotion quilting from a DVD by Patsy Thompson. I did four small samples: meandering and loop-de-loops (with and without stars). They aren't too bad for a first-timer. I'm going to make a few more practice pieces, then begin a summer-themed wallhanging to quilt on "for real".

My Little Monkey Done!

My Little Monkey - Finished

Monkey Print

I finished My Little Monkey this afternoon, and delivered it to my granddaughter Reghan at our Mother's Day gathering. Her mom and I agree that this is a quilt that Reghan can drag around the house and get dirty. (The poodle quilt I made last Christmas is more of a keepsake, and my granddaughter isn't allowed to use it much.)

The quilt is based on Hoffman's Patchwork Jungle quilt pattern, but uses no Hoffman fabric. I inserted Monkey Wrench blocks in several of what would be plain fabric areas.

I get to cross another project from my WIPS and WHIMMS list. Yippee!

Enjoy your quilt, My Little Monkey.

Border On

I've got the border attached on My Little Monkey. Tomorrow I'll do the binding and finish.

QuiltUniversity.com

I signed up for a class at QuiltUniversity.com, which hosts online quilting classes. There is no face-to-face instruction or video; it's all written. (I do well with written instructions.) Although there is no live contact, you can post questions at the class Discussion site. The instructor answers questions within a day. The lessons are viewable 24/7, so you can work when it's convenient for you. The format allows quilters in any time zone to participate, and it's normal to see students from around the globe in a class.

I've taken several classes at QuiltU, mainly about design, and I've enjoyed them. Right now I'm taking Multiple Magic, yet another design class. From the description, you choose blocks that work together well with each other, and use different sizes to create an interesting pattern. I love to design my own quilts, and I'm hoping to pick up some new ideas.

Here's a link to QuiltU, where you can check out the many classes available:
http://www.quiltuniversity.com/

Some Progress

I cut the strips and batting for the border last night, and got one section of border attached. Yippee!!

Stalling

I missed the mark for last Saturday's delivery of My Little Monkey at my granddaughter's birthday party. I brought the quilt as is, still in need of border and binding. I got to show it off to family and friends, so that was good.

Since then I've been stalling around, and didn't get to the quilt again until last night, when I cut the backing part of the borders. Tonight I'm working on it again, hoping to get the borders attached.

My goal is to deliver the finished quilt on the weekend.