Design Ideas

Hello Everyone,

Here's a little bit more of the new design using the Blueberry Crumb Cake fabric by Blackbird Designs.  This is a real change for me using so few colors, no stripes, no polka dots, no plaids.......what's a girl to do?  I could incorporate the browns, but then I feel it won't be a true "winter" quilt.  I'm definitely out of my cozy quilting comfort zone with this color palette, yet I'm having a good time working with this beautiful fabric. I'm actually cutting up a large floral print to create some shadows in my squares and rectangles in the border.  It's amazing just how far you can s-t-r-e-t-c-h  a fat quarter!  I'll get just as many blocks made as I can until the yardage arrives at the shop. 

This is the first time I designed a quilt around the quilting.  I'm going to have a combination of cross-hatching and feathers in the border.  At Pacific International Quilt Festival I purchased a new curved cross-hatching ruler that I want to try out on this quilt also.  I can't wait to get this quilt on the machine and start the quilting!

 

Through the magic of PowerPoint, I copied, pasted and rotated the blocks and border to see what this might look like in a few weeks.  Now if I could just "twitch" my nose and do a little Halloween magic, the rest of the blocks would be finished in a jiffy!  This is far from the final version.  I may add an inner border, or not.  I haven't figured out the corners yet.  I may even make it larger.  Who knows??? I've been known to change my mind a time or two!

I hope all of you have a great Halloween weekend.  We are having everyone over tomorrow to help Mr. Joe a.k.a. 'Poppy' celebrate turning another year older on the calendar.  With all the grands around, he will always be forever young.

As always,

Lynn

Blueberry Crumb Cake Fabric....YUM

Hello Everyone,

The delivery driver brought one of the best boxes ever into the shop on Monday. It contained Blueberry Crumb Cake by Blackbird Designs.  My mind immediately started designing and dreaming what this fabric could become.

This is what I came up with so far.  Lots of nice open space to quilt a feathered wreath.  There is also a putty-color in the line.  I may incorporate it....or not.  I want to see how this color combination plays out on the design wall first.  I only have fat quarters to work with, so I added the white and blue paisley from my stash, which is a perfect match.

Be creative today and Blueberry Crumb Cake anyone?

As always,

Lynn

New Virtual Classroom

Hello Everyone,

Just a quick post this morning to show you a picture of Penny's Country Charmer block.  Penny would like to have taken my Country Charmer class, but you see she lives in Oregon, which is a long drive from In Between Stitches.  She purchased the pattern online HERE, and is making the quilt along with the class.  Her block is gorgeous!  She said she wanted to make a quilt for Christmas this year, and this is going to be an impressive quilt.  Just look at the Chrismas plaid material.  Love it, love it!

If anyone of you are making this pattern, please send me a picture to patched55@comcast.net and I'll post them.  I'll start a new virtual classroom section, and everyone can join in the fun.....or the trauma of working on an 8-1/2" block with 53 pieces of fabric! There is a block layout sheet included in the pattern which is making it much easier to construct this block.

Penny has her homework assignment due November 15th for the next class meeting.  Prepare to be impressed! 

Happy Saturday to all.

As always,

Lynn

Welcome Wagon Yo-Yo Quilt

Hello Everyone,

I do believe I over-dosed on quilting over the past few months and I feel the need to slow down and work at a more relaxed pace.  Time to pull out the yo-yo quilt designed by Kim Diehl.  I've been making yo-yos in the evening and just toss them in a bag.  I need a total of 524 small yo-yos and 64 large yo-yos. 

The bag was getting pretty full and it was time to start putting them together in groups to see how many rows I had.  I need a total of 64 blocks, 8 rows with 8 blocks in each row.  I'm on row #7.  You don't have to think too hard while putting these blocks together......just what I need!

Three "quilty" friends are coming for lunch tomorrow, so it's time to pull out some decorations for autumn beginning with this Summer Wind quilt by Miss Rosie. There is a definite chill in the morning and evening air which lends itself to a nice bowl of soup, salad and a loaf of fresh bread.  Now that I've gotten myself hungry, it's time to go to the store so I can make all of the above!

Take delight in your day and be creative while enjoying your bowl of soup!
As always,

Lynn

P.S. Penny from Oregon, please send your email address to patched55@comcast.net   I couldn't reply to your nice comment about Country Charmer as your email came to me as a No-reply status. 

Country Charmer Class is in Session

Hello Everyone,

Just because I took a few days off from blogging doesn't mean I wasn't involved in quilting.  I've been working at the shop and teaching....so now it's time to get back to blogging. 

Yesterday was the first class session of my new Country Charmer pattern. I told the girls they were my Pattern Test Dummies! PTD's for short, which is better than being a Crash Test Dummy.  They all came through with flying colors and are on their way to making a beautiful quilt.

Madonna had a wonderful assortment of reds and greens for her quilt.  She transformed her fabric from this...

...to this.....

....to this.  Since there are 53 pieces of fabric in the 8-1/2" block, I included a block layout sheet in the pattern.  Once you cut your pieces, you just place them on the layout page.  All is well with the world until you sneeze, and 53 little pieces scatter across the table.

Barbara is starting with a beautiful selection of Jo Morton fabrics. She decided to make the "chain" alternating in red and blue.

Barbara also decided to have two different background fabrics.

I liked the way the girls were thinking outside the box.

Kaye also had a great collection of red and greens.

Kaye loves plaids as much as I do and take a look at her center. 

Lisa is turning her fabric collection from this....

...to this.  A sweet little block.  All of Lisa's chains are going to be yellow/gold.

Here is Lisa's sashing/border fabric.

The girls have their homework assignments which are due on the 15th of November.  It will be so much fun to see their creations when we meet again next month.

Thank you all for the fun day.

As always,

Lynn



More Pacific International Quilts

Hello Everyone,

A few more pictures of the amazing quilts at the show.

This one was really something.....remember it's a quilt, not a picture and it won several awards.

This quilt was (I think) best in show.  There were always so many people around it that I couldn't get a good shot.  The quilter machine quilted it on a 20-year-old Bernina!

Lots of bling on this one.

There were a few traditional quilts there.....but not too many.

Someone had a sense of humor!

I'm off to the shop today to fill-in while the owner's are at the show.  Have a wonderful Saturday everyone.

As always,

Lynn

Pacific International Quilt Festival

Hello Everyone,

My friend Yvonne and I were among the thousands lined up at 10am sharp, waiting for the doors to open at Pacific International Quilt Festival.  If awards were given for the best, most inviting booth, In Between Stitches would win the prize.

Leslie made a fireplace mantel out of cardboard from bolts of fabric and egg cartons.  Look at the cute stocking hanging by the chimney with care.

Gee, I don't think you've seen this quilt before!

I walked through the show twice to see the 150 vendors and the hundreds of quilts. By 5pm, all I wanted to do was curl up in this little bed covered with a new design by Bunny Hill.

Now to some of the quilts.  There were hundreds of quilts and I took pictures of only a few.  The quilts entered in this show go above and beyond creativity.  The pictures just can't do justice to their beauty from the design to the machine quilting to all the 'bling'.  Many of the quilts were painstakingly embellished to the max.  Bling is not my thing, but I appreciate the time involved.

This is a quilt....really.  Just incredible.

I felt as though I was in an art gallery.  The use of textiles in every way, shape and form was mind boggling.

I'll post more pictures tomorrow for another mini show. 

Now that all of my deadlines have been met, today is my play day!  I'm sew inspired.

As always,

Lynn