Quilting Stencils

I have had "quilter's block". It's kind of like writer's block, but since I'm a quilter and not a writer, it's my quilts, and not my books, that aren't getting finished. I have been unable to move forward from this point. It has everything to do with inspiration and nothing to do with skill. I am perfectly capable of quilting but, I have hit a wall. And I have been standing in front of that wall too long. It's time to climb over it or blast through it. 

I have LOTS of quilt tops that need quilting. Nothing special-just a nice all over pattern to get them finished will be fine. But you can't meander every single quilt in your stash~that's just plain boring! I needed inspiration. Like a lot of my solutions, this one started with my friends. And they don't even know it. :-)  Anne has been finishing one UFO after another this year. She sends her quilts out to be quilted, and sends me pictures of them when she gets them back. Her quilter has been doing beautiful overall patterns with swirls or flowers or whatever suits the quilt. I love them and thought to myself that maybe I should have bought a long arm with a frame so that I could do pantographs. (I'm not confident enough yet to attempt this free style!)

Fast forward to two weeks ago. My friend, Judy and I were shopping together at our favorite quilt shop, A Scarlet Thread, and I spied a rack with some quilting stencils on it. I was hit with inspiration, like I had been hit with a lightning bolt! One of the stencils was a continuous line design with dragonflies. Judy was so encouraging. She said that she has used stencils and "pounce" with great results and that I could do it too. So, I bought it. 

When I got home I decided that I needed more stencils like this.....so I went online to The Stencil Company and found five more stencils that I could use for an overall quilting pattern. They arrived in just a few days and now I am ready to start quilting! Wish me luck! I'll let you know how it goes :)

Happy Quilting!

Grammy 

Quilting with Friends

I love a good block swap.  Quilting with friends is the best! Right now I am trading blocks every month with 4 friends.  None of these friends lives nearby.  One is in South Carolina, one is in Michigan, the third is in Illinois (and moving to Washington) and the fourth one lives in England! Every month I get 2 blocks from each of them in the mail. The beginning of every month I start stalking my mailbox.  I love getting quilting mail.  :)

We are making this quilt from the cover of the Fall 2011 Primitive Quilts and Projects magazine.  It's called Summer's Last Bloom and was designed by Lynne Hagmeier of Kansas Troubles Quilters. 

If you've never done a block swap with friends, you don't know what you're missing.  Before we started we decided on our "swap rules" and monthly mailing dates.  We are now into our 7th month and have 5 more to go.  We will finish our last blocks in August and swap them when we all get together in September. We are doing needleturn applique and everyone is doing a great job!

Summer's Last Bloom 

This is the picture of the full quilt from the inside of the magazine.

The first 2 months we swapped blocks with red blooms.  Here is what they looked like  on my design wall when I sewed each of them together.  I am "auditioning" buttons, so these  are just pinned on.  

I will show more of this quilt as it progresses.  In the meantime, I am hanging out at the mailbox these days. :)

A Little Bit of Sewing and A Little Bit of De-Cluttering

Some days I just can't get into the mood to sew.  I don't know why. I usually have at  least two projects going at all times, so if I am not in the mood to sew on one of them, the other one will usually strike my fancy that day.  But, there are days when I just don't feel like sewing at all. Usually going to my quilt room will get me in the mood to do something, though. Some days I just refold fabric from my stash. Other days I look at quilt books or old magazines. After being there for a bit, I will invariably end up sitting at my machine and sewing!

Saturday I was in the mood to de-clutter.  I pulled out a large stack of old quilt magazines and decided this is the day to tear out any quilt patterns I may ever want to make in the future and throw the rest of the magazines out.  So, I reduced the large stack on the right down to the small stack on the left. It felt good.  I have about two more stacks just like it~I can't wait to get my hands on them too.  :)

Sunday I actually got to sew for a few minutes~with emphasis on A FEW MINUTES. Since our youngest daughter, her husband and their three little girls are staying with us right now there were constant interruptions from young ladies in need of my attention.  I ended up walking away from my machine with the needle in the middle of a seam after having sewn for about 3 minutes total.  Oh well~their visit will be over in the blink of an eye and my quilt will still be there. Granddaughters trump quilting every day. It was fun to sit down at my machine again~the first time since before Thanksgiving! I need to get back in there soon.  I have the itch to sew!!!

Grammy Quilts

I began quilting 12 years ago. Through the years, I have found myself drawn to traditional quilts. I love scrappy, Civil War, 2-color, and primitive projects. Kansas Troubles and Jo Morton fabrics make up a large percentage of my fabric stash. I enjoy piecing my tops and watching my quilt take shape~but when it comes to quilting, I would rather visit the dentist for a root canal than slide that quilt sandwich under my machine needle and have to "quilt as desired". For years I sent my larger quilts to someone else to finish for me and was not always pleased with what I got back. Last year I bought an HQ Sweet 16 sit-down long arm and I am now trying to learn to finish my own tops.

I became a Grammy for the first time 8 1/2 years ago and I have to say~being "Grammy" is more fun and more rewarding for me than quilting will ever be. I have six of the most beautiful granddaughters ever and I am fortunate to live close to all of them. I made each granddaughter a quilt when she was born and instructed their moms that these were "drag around" quilts. I wanted them used and loved-and they are!

I am hoping that by blogging about quilting that I will be inspired to finish my current projects and some long overdue UFOs in a more timely manner. I see other bloggers who knock out multiple projects every month (some even finish more than one project in a week!!) I will never have the time to do that. My granddaughters come first and if I have to pick between being with them or sitting in my quilt room~they win every time.

So, here goes.......my online quilt journal.