Yesterday, I was fortunate to take a class with Ann Shaw, a wonderful quilter who teaches the Ruth B. McDowell style of quilting. I have always admired Ruth's quilts, and dreamed of taking a workshop from her. Unfortunately for me, she retired last year. But Ann is a great substitute, and she's okay with that designation.
Our class was all about chickens. Meet Fred.
I'm calling him that, even though the pattern is named Gallus Gallus,
available through Fiddlesticksquiltshop.com. Ann has many other chicken patterns, plus other animals and flowers.
After prepping the pattern, the day was spent auditioning fabrics. Starting with the eye, then the head,
and working around the body,
to the tail,
Fred (as I'm calling him at the moment), began to take on a personality.
He appears quite majestic, struttin' his stuff!
Today, I'll work on the background, for which I've chosen pale lavenders, plus the bold print to ground him.
Then comes the sewing. He's just pinned to a foam board, in case I want to change any of the fabrics. I'm sure he'll look a bit different after backgrounds and seams. Come by again to see him finished! Happy Quilting!
The last three rows for the Row by Row Experience are now complete.
Row 6 has lots of components--a paper pieced truck, pinwheels, and dresden blade sunflowers. First time making a dresden anything!
Row 7 is so cute! The background is made from nickels I cut down to 3", and the rest is fused applique. Adorable!
And my last row, composed of log cabins, a fused hive, and fused flowers was super quick to put together.
Now for the proposed layout.
Notice anything? This quilt is really long, and narrow. I think I'll be adding something to the sides to increase the width. Off to the stash to see what I find!
The last two days have produced lots of progress. My Metro Rings project is quilted and bound, and just needs the sleeve sewn on. Here's a couple of sneak peeks
I finished the edge with the piped binding technique I used on ABC 123. It gave the quilt such a nice finished look. I wish I could show more, but it will have to wait a few weeks. Also got another row done for the Row by Row Experience, easy fused applique leaves.
I chose to do this in a brown batik versus the suggested black, because I really didn't want black in my cheery quilt. The rows are coming together nicely--just three more to go! I'll post as I finish them. Until then, Happy Quilting!
Just finishing up my Metro Rings project, and it's turning out very well! Here's a quarter of the star. Not bad for winging the star design! I did take pictures of my process, and hope it's not too overwhelming. Let's start with the inside rings. I wanted the inside star points to match up with a ring seam line, and the outer points are at a point where it looked good. The background pieces were marked, and a wide enough strip of fabric was cut to cover.
In the picture, I'm showing my seam, then it pressed. I left the background on to help with trimming the straight edge, and the curve, then trimmed it off. Now on to the other side. The curve was traced on the piece, and points marked, again a bit of a guess. Then the strip fabric was sewn on.
The background was left on for cutting guidance. Put it all together, and it makes a beautiful star!
I would like to say I have really enjoyed this ruler, and the pattern. I give Jenny a 10 on 1)ruler design, and 2)clear instructions. I can tell a lot has gone into making these patterns, and she has done a terrific job! I definitely would recommend giving this a try. Now I must get back to sewing, as I'm hoping to finish up today, and start the quilting tomorrow.
Made more progress on my July Project of the Month, Metro Rings, using the Quick Curve Ruler, (affiliate link) though I'm not sure how much I can show, for two reasons. First, this is a gift, and I don't want the intended recipient to see the whole thing. Second, I'm working from a pattern, and don't want to give away this designer's hard work. But I'll do my best and give a peak! For this project, I've chosen several batiks. A lovely gradation strip set
and a coordinating background.
Following the pattern, I've cut out my curves with the QCR
and sewn in the background pieces, again following Jenny's hand placement suggestions.
Unfortunately, my eyesight is not the best for fine print, and I could not tell which 1/8" mark the pattern was referring to. Well, I found out after I cut all of the left side pieces. Oops, too narrow!
Fortunately, I had enough strip set and fabric left to redo those sides, and get back on track! Phew! Today, I'll tackle my next challenge, which is not in the pattern, so I'm totally winging it. Wish me luck!
This month, I need to make a departure from the Book of the Month series. Instead, I'm calling it the July 'Project' of the Month for this month, and this month only! But I plan to resume pulling from my bookshelf come August.
I've had company visiting for the last three weeks, not to mention my kids out of school for the summer. That all adds up to a lot more cooking and less quilting! Quilts are slow to get done, I haven't touched my beloved Tess (Innova machine) in three weeks, and a deadline for a quilt is now looming. So, for July, I have broken down and purchased the Quick Curve Ruler and the Metro Rings pattern. (affiliate links)
I'm planning to make a small version as a gift, and just don't have the time to figure everything out using another curved ruler that I have. And having a pattern should help too. Time is such a precious commodity! I'll show what progress I can, but I don't want to give it all away in case the recipients follow my blog. I want there to be some surprise! Happy Quilting!
