Design Wall Monday

A lot has happened in the last week. First, the design wall:

I'm still working on matching up the "sand" strips for the wedding table runners. I did get one completely finished. The final measurements are 13" x 40".

My friend, Chris, snapped this photo while she was helping me on Saturday.

The Sonoma Marin Fair was this past week and while I knew my entry won an award, I didn't see it until this afternoon. Danielle Couch pieced this and I quilted it. We entered it in the group category and won first place. We also won the Joyce Gross Award of Excellence, sponsored by the Petaluma Quilt Guild. Joyce was a well-known quilt historian and a member of our guild.

To see more design walls, visit Judy's blog.

Design Wall Monday

I spent the weekend cutting and matching fabric for the wedding table runners. I went a little crazy. I have 27 sets so far and I only need 17. I will probably make them all and give the extras as gifts.

This is the final design:

I used two fewer colors and left off the two outside rows on each side. This makes them about 13" x 40". This size fits the table better and takes less time to make.

Design Wall Monday

Finally something new! This is a prototype of the table runner I will be making for my daughter's wedding. The wedding theme is the beach so I was trying for a "surf and sand" feel. I think I nailed it! They are a little big. I have never done bargello-style before so I followed the instructions exactly. I think the final product will need to be narrower to fit the tables better. The second picture shows it on my work table which I think is about the same size as the reception hall tables. Now to make 20 more!

 

Design Wall Monday

I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted. I really should write my posts Sunday evening. Once Monday comes and I have to go back to work, I forget.

This is still on the wall but I have made some decisions about it. I was unhappy about how bright the large outer petals are. It's even more annoying in person. A comment was made that it looked fine. My only "rule" in quilting is that if something bothers me, it must be corrected. I considered making this smaller and leaving off that row. A few weeks after the original post I had a dream that I finished this in it's original size, with different red fabric. That seemed like a sign I should finish. So I headed down to the LQS and purchased a different red but I haven't had time to work on this. I've been to the spring quilt retreat, had lots of customer quilts, started my daughter's wedding quilt and I am currently quilting my Easy Street for a show in early June. I probably won't get back to this until after the show.

Design Wall Monday

The giant dahlia is back on the design wall. I had to take it down to work on a project I can't show yet. Now that I have the next row of red added, the fabric looks too light. I don't like it enough that it needs to be changed. I have two choices, find a replacement fabric or leave off the row entirely and make a smaller quilt. I will have to think about it for a few days.

 

Now a sneak peek of my next project, my daughter's wedding quilt:

 

This is a variation of Double Wedding Ring called Pickledish. I hoped to get 120 of these done by the time I went to the quilt retreat at the end of the month but I forgot how much I hate paper piecing. It took me two hours and three pieces of paper to finish one! The next one only took one hour, but that's still too much time. A fellow quilter gave me some tips Friday night so hopefully this will go faster. I need to have them finished so I can put the top together at the retreat.



Design Wall Monday

I started my quilt for the  red and white challenge hosted by SewCalGal. . I've been wanting to make a giant dahlia for a long time. I was fortunate to find the Marti Michell templates on a cast off table as they are quite expensive. They are well made and the pieces are fitting together perfectly. I so rarely use red in my quilts I had to buy fabric for this project. I'm not sure why I feel compelled to make a red and white quilt. There are other projects I should be working on but this one was speaking to me.

See more design walls over at Judy's blog.

Design Wall Monday

I actually took this picture a few weeks ago, when I finished this for Judy's January Scrappy Challenge. I finished this quickly for two reasons: I really like this block and I was able to reuse some half square triangle units leftover from another project.

For those of you who find "scrappy" a challenge, try this: make each block with different fabrics, with the same fabrics for the individual units. I call it "controlled scrappy" and I got the idea from a Judy Martin book years ago.

I'll get this quilted as soon as I get my longarm fixed. One of the switches is broken and since I'm not sure which one, I'm going to have all 4 replaced. That should be done this week.

For more design walls, check out Judy's blog.