Quilt in a day update

Well, call me an optimist or call me an idiot, either way, my eyes were opened when I did a test run with 4 participants. So... I have had to revise the quilt we are going to do in the workshop AGAIN! I pieced this quilt this morning and took a picture of the top only, while the sun was shining and the wind would not stop blowing it about. This is a simple ninepatch, with alternating plain blocks. More details will follow, but if you have already bought your fabric, do not worry. I made sure it will still work. In this one, the pink is the dark fabric, the multi is the medium and the pink/yellow is the light.
I will add to this later. I am going to see if I have enough fabric kicking around to make another one this afternoon so you can have more of an idea of how the fabrics work.


So, what did you do on Monday afternoon? I made another quilt top, did a few dishes, brought in the tomatoes that were ripening, had a glass of wine with my husband....

Why don't the colours look as good here as they do at home? This is lovely shades of a cool green. And you can't even see the cool Levi's fabric I used! Boats, cowboy boots and flowers. That really goes together! I was limited by the fabrics I had on hand, but it really does look nice together. The detail one ( guess it might depend on your monitor) is closer to the actual colours. The gray/taupe of the light fabric really brings out the green of the other two.

So you get an idea of where your colours will go. The dark green with little sailboats is my dark. The pale green with little yellow and orange flowers is medium and the taupe Levi's fabric is my light. Your dark, medium and lights will go in the same places on your quilt. The medium is a great opportunity (as in the pink quilt) to showcase a vibrant print.
Enough quilting for one day! Please drop me a line if you have any questions. Click here for the page with tying details.

Quilt in a Day Workshop

OK, Plan D. I guess having made quite a few quilts, I forget what I was like in the beginning! The windmill, which I had planned to do, was a little tricky for beginners. (see earlier ideas in June, July & August)
So we are going to do Irish Chain for the Quilt in a Day workshop on November 3, 2007. There is only room for 6 people, so don't wait too long to register.
IF YOU WANT TO COME... but the date is no good, call and ask to be put on the waiting list. I will run a course the following weekend too (Nov. 10) if there are enough people.














This pattern looks great in shades of the same colour. These are quite bright, as they are just drawings.

Scroll down for actual photos of quilt tops and options to tie your quilt. None of the photos do justice to the actual quilts!

So here we go. I started it at 9:30 Saturday morning and spent a lot of time updating my blog, having lunch and building a fire - mighty cold day today. By 4 o'clock the top was finished. I have to make supper, but hopefully I will have time after supper to finish it. I have called it Fade to Beige. Sunday' s project - another top, took me 5 hours. Hopefully we can do it in the course in about 7. I can't think of a name for this one yet. It looks much nicer than the photo shows. This one is done in denim colours, not denim fabric. I really like the blues with white, it looks so fresh! It reminds me of blue jeans with a clean white t-shirt. I still want to do one more, with the colour scheme reversed. Then I have to get cracking and quilt them!
Alrighty - here is one in pinks. I chose a quite light colour for the medium, and you can see how the diagonals really pop, and the cross in the centre almost disappears. Compare that to the blue one above, where the medium colour is quite dark and blends more with the dark colour, causing the crosses to be more prominent. Here is a closeup of the fabrics I used, to give you a better idea. I have a friend doing another one which has two darks also, but the light colour is running in the diagonal blocks. I know it will be beautiful - watch for it here.

Tying options: It's kind of hard to decide what you want when you have no idea what the different options entail. So here goes.

#1 is three strands of embroidery cotton, hand knotted. I did this in burgundy for contrast so you can see it. If you want to choose this option, please buy a better co-ordinating colour!

#2 is 1/8" ribbon tied and machine stitched on.

#3, 4 & 5 are all done with a machine zig-zag stitch, again in a contrasting colour. For your first quilt, where your stitching is likely to be less than perfect, choose a colour that will blend rather than contrast.

#3 has the width going from narrow to wide and back again to make a little diamond.

#4 has the width going from wide to narrow and back again to make an hourglass.

#5 is just bar tacking at the wide width.

#6 is the way MY sewing machine makes zig-zag, going from narrow to wide and back. Test how your machine does a zig-zag if you think you want to make diamonds or hourglasses. Set the length to as short as possible, and the width to 0. Start sewing slowly, turning your dial or pushing your knob to make the stitches get slowly wider, then narrower again. If you get a diamond like #3, you can do options #3 or #4. If you get a triangle like #6, well, you get a triangle and can't do the other two. As long as you can zig-zag, you can do #2 or #5.

For details on the workshop, visit Sturgeon County and click on Community Programs, General Interest for more information and registration form. Registration begins August 27, 2007. Maximum 6 people. If you have any questions, e-mail me.