Thursday, January 29, 2015

Crazy Quilt block and new quilt class

I have completed the piecing of my crazy quilt block started at the Workshop I attended on January 3.
Overall I am happy with the results despite the haphazard way it was pieced, I have read a few books and received some great tips from members of a facebook group I joined and they all suggest adding the center piece and working in a clockwise direction when adding the other pieces, so my next block I will give it a try. I did begin adding some embroidery which I will post soon.

The beginning quilt class began last Friday and we are piecing fence rail or rail fence blocks as the first blocks for the sampler quilt we will be making.
The photo above shows the two methods we used to piece the blocks, I am enjoying the class so far and have learned a few nifty tricks using the rotary cutter and cutting strips, amazing how quick the pieces pile up and my hands didn't ache one bit.

The last blocks were homework I pieced them together yesterday finally feeling better after being down with a head cold all week and just miserable. Of course while sewing I hit a snag and my bobbin jammed, I was baffled as I stitched 6 pieces without incident and then grrrr jam, I fiddle around undid the jam and made a test line of stitches with no problem started to sew the last pieces to the block and you guessed it jam, this went on for an hour and after re-threading the sewing machine, tweaking tensions and bobbin, I was able to get the last pieces added, no more jams.
I have to press the blocks and later this evening I will do another test stitching and again tomorrow morning before I leave for class, I was just about ready to buy a new machine yesterday. This is the sampler quilt we are making in class


Oh new stamps for the first letters I will be mailing out in February's A Month of Letters Challenge.
I just love the simplicity of the design, they would look nice on a pretty little Valentine, don't you think?
Not sure what the letter challenge is, if you like to write letters, if you want to make a new pen pal or two, you can click this link here http://lettermo.com/  and see what its all about.

Here is the progress of my Greenman hand embroidery piece I am working on

Friday, January 9, 2015

A Crazy start to the New Year

So here we are nine days into 2015 and things are moving along nicely, weather wise here in Florida we are having a cold snap with temps dropping into the low 30's. brrrr! Anyway let me move onto more interesting topics.

I may have mentioned in an earlier post my plans to make 2015 a more creative year for myself with plans to kick off the New Year attending a day long Crazy Quilt workshop,  I had a wonderful day, the other 10 women attending the group created some beautiful blocks. I am only sorry I forgot to pack my camera it would've been nice to show off their blocks too.

Celeste Viale, our instructor was encouraging and shared her knowledge with the group, as well as her love of quilt making.  As the day wore on and stitching got under way I could feel the stress and tension of December melt away, this in part to the crazy quilt making and the idyllic setting at the Crones' Cradle Conserve.

Fabrics, trims, buttons, threads and floss were plentiful and shared among the group, tips, ideas and many questions along with some laughter soon gave way to the silence of nearly a dozen women heads bent reverently stitching their crazy quilt block.
Here is the start of my first hand pieced Crazy Quilt block, I will be adding more pieces if I can decide on the fabric placement, I changed my mind 5 times yesterday.  In the meantime there are other projects waiting like the Greenman I drew onto fabric waiting now patiently to be stitched, I am planning to use it in a greenman crazy quilt block.
I began reading Spell Booked by Joyce and Jim Lavene for the 2015 Witches and Witchcraft reading challenge.
If you are interested the challenge info can be found here:http://melissaseclecticbookshelf.com/2015-witches-witchcraft-reading-challenge-sign-up-post/