Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Borders On

 
Yesterday I got the borders onto my little sample FPP mini quilt. There won't be any sewing going on for the next two weeks or so. I've got some paperwork to do and preparations for Passover to work on. Family is here and more will be coming. But, I still want to try to get that Shetland Pi Shawl blocked. If I do, I'll post a photo. Maybe tomorrow I'll get to tell you about a family event that we're having today and post a few photos.




Enjoy!


Debbie

Monday, April 11, 2011

Made the deadline, barely

 
So, I got enough of the top done to be able to send it in. It's just the middle without the borders. What you see is 8" square, without the seams. Today I'm going to try to get the borders done. I hadn't done any miniature paper piecing for quite a while, so this was fun.
 
Before trimming  


After trimming
Sewn together, without borders


This is a free pattern that you can get on Carol Doak's site in the Free Patterns section. If you join Carol's yahoogroup of over 7,000 (!) members, you can get even more free patterns that Carol designs especially for those subscribed to the list.

Enjoy!

Debbie

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Today's Progress

I went to the hardware store today (it's right across the street from us) and was given a suggestion of a heavy duty packing tape. I bought it and tested it and it seems to work on the styrofoam. Now the problem is that I won't have the time or space to do the blocking of the shawl until sometime next week. :(


I did, however, get all the pieces cut for the class sample that I'm making. Let's hope nothing happens on the way to Sunday to keep me from getting it done! I only want to finish the top, not the quilting, so the students can see it with the paper on the back.





Till tomorrow,

Debbie

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Progress reports

So, the styrofoam that I'd been waiting for in the last post is here. I need to figure out how to attach the pieces to each other. Tape doesn't stick to it.


In the meantime, I managed to finish Lesson One (only three more to go) of the EQ7 class that ended a few weeks ago. These are the blocks that I drew and colored in.





I've been following the blog of Judy, the Virtual Quilter, for a while. Everyday she posts a new design of hers made in EQ7. It's a very interesting blog and fun to keep up with. Do you know of any other similar blogs or sites that share EQ designs, besides those related to the EQ site and the EQ blog?
 
Now I have to make a sample for a class that I'm hoping to teach at the workshop retreat here in the summer. I need to send in a photo of the sample by this coming Sunday! This is as far as I got:



The colors I chose for this project have no connection to the block drawings above. I just like the combination.

Enjoy!

Debbie

Friday, April 1, 2011

The Pi Shawl

 
What you see here is the finished, not yet blocked, pi shawl that I wrote about a little while back. I'm waiting for my husband to buy me some styrofoam boards that I can put together for blocking the shawl. After that I will be using the boards for a portable design wall. I don't remember, but I think the shawl is coming out about 1.7 meters in diameter. When it's blocked, I'll measure it again.


Back when Electric Quilt came out with Version 7, I bought my first quilt design program. In the fall, I started taking the Quilt University classes that they offer for the software. Fran Gonzalez does a fabulous job teaching how to use EQ7. Last week the 2nd set of four lessons ended. I got very behind and am almost finished with Lesson 1! I thought about what would make me more likely to push ahead and get moving to work on the lessons and decided that writing about my progress might help. I would want to most more often, so I would need to keep working on the lessons so that I have something to show.

This class is called Building Blocks and here's the last block that I finished while in Lesson 1. Those experienced with EQ will laugh, but this is great for me! It's called Fancy Spools and it's made up of a four patch and Four X Variation.


Hopefully, by Sunday, I'll have more to show...

Have a great weekend,

Debbie