Quilt Camp Block

I have been playing with a block that will be an option for some of the more experienced participants.
 Everyone will be given the option of making  uneven Rail Fence blocks but those with more experience can opt to add a connector corner. I hadn't made a sample yet but talked to someone yesterday who voiced some concerns about the connector corner. I decided I should at least make 4 blocks to see how they would go together in 4 block sections.

The blocks are 6 inches, finished, and these 4 block sections would become 12 inch blocks.
These are 3 possibilities. I have yet to play with them to see how they work in a full quilt layout. Because of our time constraints we probably would not want to add the extra step of sashing the blocks. Sashing would avoid having to match the points of the triangles  that would come together.  The block in the upper right would probably be the best choice for that reason. I will play with these in EQ a little more after tomorrow.   Today I need to clean up my sewing room a little and get out to the grocery store for some last minute items.

Not much going on

It has been a while since my last post and I have not been doing a whole lot to talk about. I don't want to worry my friends so I will share a few not so exciting things.

Well, one thing is kind of exciting. One of the boys from last summer's Quilt Camp came to our meeting on Saturday for help binding his quilt. He opted to have his quilt quilted on a long arm so he didn't get it finished before this. We always have a boy or two come to quilt camp and they are almost always focused and have good organization skills. It is always fun when the QC participants come back for help with something.




 
 




Here are a couple of shots of the quilting on the Falling Charms quilt that was started last summer at Quilt Camp. It is looking pretty good with the variegated multicolor thread and some ditch quilting with thread to match the Kona bone.  I will have to do some quilting in the "charms" which are really squares of "made fabric"; they are not going to lay flat if I don't.









I sewed two of my made fabric pieces together to make one piece(the bright one on the left) and I found 2 more pieces that I started from light background type fabric. The two light pieces on the right are not together yet but they will be. From the bright one on the left, I plan to cut one 6 1/2 inch square for the center of an Anvil block and five  4 inch squares to make 10 HST's. I have nothing planned for the light made fabric but I will probably use it next month when I do a talk for my quilt guild about made fabric.

Quilt Camp 2013 Day 3

As usual I underestimated how long it would take to accomplish a step. We did not complete all 9 quilt tops by the end of our second day. By the end of our third day (today)  we have 4 completed flimsies, 2 that are only missing the borders, and 2 that are very close to having all the blocks sewed together.

These 4 are the top row are the 4 flimsies. the 2 on the left will be completed by a long arm quilter, the third one in the row is layered up and ready to tie. The one on the top right is ready to layer; it is the same layout as the pattern but she opted for one frame fabric instead of 2 and it gives the quilt a different look. That third one with the yellow background is a little different layout. We argued talked about the layout and in the end let her do it her way, after all, it is her quilt. The lone male in the group supported her choice; when I said it didn't make sense he showed me how it did. OK I give up!

 
The pink flimsy above is ready for borders and though the layout is the same it looks different because of having an extra background fabric. This is a breast cancer quilt and will be donated. The other 3 quilts are further along that these photos show. These shots are from yesterday, one of them has the borders on today and the other two are nearly ready for borders. I'm not sure what happened today to some of my quilt photos; I was pretty sure I got some today of these last 3. I am also not sure what happened to the shot of the one and only T shirt quilt but it is bordered on 2 sides and will be ready to layer up early tomorrow.

Today during our break we had show and tell from the adult helpers.
the top 3 quilts are all examples of quilts made with small scraps.

  The three quilts on the bottom row are examples of different fun things you can do with different techniques and scraps.

These last 4 quilts are also from the teachers. The top 2 are front and back of the same quilt. I believe this is a wall hanging in her home.

The two quilts on the bottom row are possibilities for Quilt Camp another year for returnees.

We are expecting to make good progress tomorrow and hope all of the quilters will be able to make a few blocks for a collaborative quilt before the end of the week.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

More to follow.

Quilt Camp 2013 Day 1

Today was our first day of Quilt Camp and it was a productive day. Most of the teens are returnees and all but one of the adults have been quilting for a long time. I myself got off to a wrong start when I had to turn around and go back home for my hearing aids which made me about 15 minutes late getting there. We were planning for all the adults to be there at 9AM, an hour before the teens but most of the teens came at 9 as well.  Not to worry, even though we didn't have the hour than we planned to go over details with the adults all went along in the usual orderly chaos.

These photos were shot at the end of our first day. The pattern we're using is Warm Wishes and the photo in the upper left is a good example of the original pattern. We had a meeting 2 weeks ago to give some fabric selection guidelines and then everyone purchased their own fabric.

Some of the student quilters opted to use 4 patch blocks instead of  a focus fabric inside the "frames".  One of the girls is making a T shirt quilt. She has been with us for 6 years and has demonstrated that she can follow instructions and get the work done so we took a chance on letting her make something different and it seems to be going well. There are some ways in which a few of the quilts will be customized and that doesn't show up yet on the design walls.
There are 3 more quilts that I somehow missed in the end of the day quick photo shoot but everyone is moving along well and I think by the end of the day tomorrow we will have 9 Flimsies. I wonder if they all know what a Flimsy is.

More to follow.

Quilt Camp Day 5

Quilt Camp is over and  most of the quilts are completely finished. It was a fun week for me and I hope for everyone. There were 10 kids this year and all but 3 were returnees. Everyone made the same pattern but there were some individual design decisions.

Here they are with their finished quilts. They have them folded so the backing is showing. Most of the quilts were tied but 3 girls wanted to quilt theirs and they are coming  to our regular monthly meeting to finish up.

 All of the fabric in the strips is from our quilting closet donated fabric; they purchased the fabric for the backing and the one constant fabric that is in the horizontal strips and the inner border. They also decided how they wanted to handle the borders.

Maybe next year we will have the more experienced kids use some techniques that we haven't covered yet at Quilt Camp. If we have more sewing machines and more adult helpers we can do that and we can also take more  kids.

One of our adult helpers worked on some extra projects for the times when they didn't have anything to do but that didn't happen for most of the kids. The early finishers were the ones who didn't make the piano key borders. A few of the kids worked on something they made up themselves. I did see that some of the girls took the kits that were made up for the extra projects and at least one of them started working on it. One mom told me her daughter made something (by herself) at home this week with pieces of fabric that she put together. This is what we like to hear.

This couldn't happen without the adults who were willing to give up a week of their time. I am retired and  my time is pretty much my own but all of the other ladies have work and/or family obligations. It amazes me is that they are willing every year to give their time. They all deserve gold stars.

Quilt Camp day 4

One more day to go and I think that everyone will finish or come close. there are 2 that have finished and one that is quilting her quilt some that are at the tying stage and a few that are still attaching borders. some of our adult helpers had to miss a day or two and it slowed us down a little. We thought we had it all covered ahead of time with an extra person but life happens; overall things have gone well.

I took a couple of  pics before anyone else got there this morning but once everyone came in we all go busy and I only had time to take a few pics and they are NOT GOOD. Unfortunately I am not much of a photographer (that is putting it mildly). 

One of the girls is having a look at the presser foot. It looks like she is working on her piano key borders that are there on the table. the  photo on the right is her quilt with one of the  borders next to it pinned up on the design wall. 

Here we have someone sewing her borders on her quilt. I think this was before lunch and I am pretty sure she got to the layering stage today. The quilt below belong to 1 of the two boys in the group. He had to miss 2 days but he worked diligently today and caught up. He decided on the border tht the pattern called for instead of piano keys. It is a much faster one to make and I am sure he will get his done tomorrow. The other boy in the group was the first one to finished his quilt. He used plain outer borders. I didn't get a photo today of his quilt as it was neatly folded when I was ready to take  pictures. 

All  but one of the adults put piano key borders on their sample quilts (me included). They look nice and everyone wanted to make their border like that. They took a big chunk of time and made it necessary to piece the backs and batting on some of the quilts which also took some time. I think the piano keys slowed us down more than missing some of our adults part of the time.

Two of the kids just wanted the narrow border that was the same fabric as the horizontal strips in the blocks, no outer borders at all. that was OK with us. It is their quilt and if that is what the  want it's good with us. ....... We told  the same thing to the piano key group. We learn a  little every year; the lesson for us this year: If you don't want them to do something; DON'T USE IT ON YOUR SAMPLES. But you know what? It all works out and I think everyone is happy. It is nice for them to make some decisions about the design of their quilts as long as it is doable.

Quilt Camp Day 3

I had my camera today but no new pics; I was busy and forgot to get any. I know that there were other people taking pictures though.  All of the quilts are coming together and looking good.

We went out to dinner today ( I was pretending to be too tired to cook) and afterward we went to the arboretum. This is a picture of the Feather Reed Grass that lines an area of the pond. It is so pretty and the seed heads have a lavender cast that really shows up from a little distance.

..........There is that same gnome (blue shirt) who is always a little bit ahead of me.

I took a lot of pics here today but didn't get any more of the gnomes.  This red and yellow flower caught my attention it was only one plant and I didn't see it anywhere else and it didn't have and sign to identify it so maybe it is a volunteer. I love the yellow center with the red petals around it. The individual flowers are small, about the size of Forget-me-nots.

I will have more quilt camp pics tomorrow.

Quilt Camp Day 2

Monday was our first day of Quilt Camp but I left my camera at home. I got there early today before anyone else was there yet and I took some pics while everything was quiet. This year our participants are from 6th grade through 12th  grade.  Sixth grade is the earliest they can attend and we have had some college age participants; it is a wide age range but it works!



On the left is our main cutting station which we set up in the center of the room. The photo shows one of the sewing set ups. There are two narrow  tables pushed together with a sewing machine on opposite sides of the table and on opposite ends, and an ironing board at the end of the table. In the background you can see the design walls. we used flannel back table cloths fastened to strips of wood that are held up on the wall with Command Hooks. There are 10 kids and five sewing stations like this one.around the perimeter of the room.  We often have one or two boys; this year we have two.

Everyone has their own design wall so we don't have to walk around the quilt blocks on the floor this year. This is our 5th year and we have been able to improve our room set up a little every year. The room is nice and bright with good lighting, spacious enough for 10 -12 kids and we have another room available for when we start to layer up and tie the quilts. We are very fortunate to have such a nice space to use.

Everyone got there on time and started working and they accomplished a lot today. Yesterday most of the strip sets were finished but not all cut into blocks yet. One of the mom's who came to pick up her daughter studied the design wall a while and asked if there as any rhyme or reason to the layout. I understood her questioning. Today with the horizontal strips added to the blocks it started to come together and make sense. Most of the quilt tops are ready now for the borders. I  think they look good.

We hope that by tomorrow we will be ready to layer up and tie. We have opted to tie instead of quilt for several reasons; the time  restraints, the lack of space to give everyone an optimal setup for machine quilting, lack of experience sewing let alone quilting.  Some of our quilt kids have attended other years but I am not sure if any of them have done any sewing in the time between Quilt Camps. I think  they do very well and for the ones that return we can see a definite improvement in their skills . It is a fun time getting to hang out with them for a whole  week. More pics tomorrow.

Quilt Camp Flimsey

I put the last 2 piano keys borders on the quilt camp sample today.  I was thinking of putting 4 patch blocks in the corners. I tried them and they didn't do anything for the quilt so I opted for more strips as I had  more cut and sewed together anyway. My blocks are 6 x 9 instead of 6 x 11 and I have fewer blocks that the quilt the kids are going to make but my objective as to make the quilt using fabrics from our donated fabric so I could see how it  worked out. I am  not wild  about the darker blue  vertical strips in the blocks and I think that more medium values would work better but all in all I like it. It will make a nice quilt for our "caring quilts" closet. I like the term "caring quilts" better than charity quilts.

I really should finish my block of the month for June.  I chose this Lemoyne Star block because of the set-in piecing and I wish I hadn't. This is as far as I got. Used templates for the first one of the diamonds and then I lost the template. It was right on my table  but it became invisible. I put sticky dots and the other two templates so I wouldn't lose them and I figured out how to cut the diamonds with my ruler. I thought I needed the templates to make the  dots but I found a tool among my gadgets to mark the dots (it is called Quilters Quarter Marker by SewUnique) It's one of those things I bought for some reason and never used. I  also found Judy Martins Ultimate Point Trimmer and trimmed the points and it made things easier. With taking all my stuff to the church and back home Saturday I have misplaced the pieces for the other quarter section. I might just throw the whole thing away. Hmm... or maybe I will just put this together and add a background piece with a stem and call it a  peony. That's what I made for my first  quilt (a sampler) 30 years ago. Sounds like a good plan to me.  I think everyone else is going with one of the alternte versions that don't require set-in piecing.

Long time no post

I just realized how long it has been since I had anything to say. Not having anything worthwhile to say doesn't usually stop me so I guess it must be that I had no photos to post.

Our little group at church has been getting ready for quilt camp. We cut up a lot of donated fabric into 2 1/2 inch strips and let the kids pick there own fabric strips. A lot of our donated fabric just appears in our closet and we now not from where it came. Much of it is older fabric and not current colors or designs but still good fabric. Of course it is not color/value coordinated and there are more small prints than anything else. The good thing is it is FREE. This is the quilt the kids will be making. This one was made from a Jelly Roll. After the kids were all finished picking their fabric I picked out a bunch of strips using the pattern suggestions as a guide. I decided  I better make this one myself if I am  going to help someone else make it.  I picked out red/pink, blue, and white/light. The dark blue horizontal strips in each block, that are supposed to coordinate everything, are from my stash. We are having the teens buy that coordinating fabric themselves.

This is what I have so far; it is still  in thee parts. No matter how much I work with scrappy blocks and move things around I always end up with some things that are closer together than what I  intended. I guess when I concentrate on one fabric something else I am not paying attention to gets moved also.  I am  going to use the blue fabric for the inner border as well and then a piano keys 4 inch outer border.

I cut my strips sets into 7 1/2 inch segments instead of 91/2 as the pattern calls for. Some of the strips were not long enough to get 2 - 9 1/2 inch sections. I think I like the shorter sections better and I can get 4 1/2 inch sections for the border from some of the strips sets. I  think the hard part for the kids will be deciding on which strips to sew together and then arranging the sections will probably take a long time. It should be an interesting week and there are always surprizes.

The other thing I have been doing is doodling. I want to make one or two more small pieces before our play day in July. This particular shape/doodle has caught my interest. I  think the "pods" are called mooka? of course they look different when drawn in order to interpret in them fabric. Some of the background stuff is not what I intend to put in my piece but just there to practice drawing a small shape. I think the main shape looks like an iris.  I decided  to add some color to this  other drawing. I  am lazy and don't really like coloring inside the lines with colored pencils and my markers are drying up. I guess it is time for new markers. I'm sure the great grand kids will agree; they seem to think the markers are for them. Well........ I guess I really did buy them for the GGK's  to use