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Sewing Room -UnFinished ObjectS

This is a gallery of projects that are either in-progress or have been languishing in my sewing room.

Click on a picture for a close-up view.


Kimono Blocks	These kimono blocks were made for a member of my round robin group. Sadly, she passed away a couple of months after joining our group. One of the members took her starter block and turned it into a quilt and opted not to use these kimono blocks in the finished quilt, so they were given back to me. I have a total of 4 blcoks and I think they might make a nice wall hanging. Each block is about 8 inches square. The pattern comes from Fantastic Fabric Folding: Innovative Quilting Projects by Rebecca Wat.

Christmas Table Runner (half of it anyway!)	This pattern (Holiday Treats Table Runner) comes from Diana McClun and Laura Nownes and I purchased it after they gave a talk at my guild in June 2007. I took a picture of just half of it since it's really big (finished size is supposed to be 26" x 75") and both halves are the same. You can see a complete picture of the pattern on Diana and Lauras web site. I shortened the runner a bit since 75" is longer than my table! It's pretty cute and I'll probably keep it for myself since I really don't do much in the way of Christmas decorating. Completing this top was Christmas in July for me...but I probably won't quilt it until closer to Christmas. I am happy to say that I used nearly all fabrics from my stash to make this, I just had to purchase some brown fat quarters for the gingerbread men and some of the background fabric. So why is my stash still just as big???

Harmonic Convergence	This pattern comes from the book Ricky Tims' Convergence Quilts: Mysterious, Magical, Easy, and Fun by Ricky Tims. I've had the book for some time, but had kind of forgotten about it until June 2007. A friend made one and seeing it in person spurred me on to finally make one of my own. I had a tropical print fat quarter that I really liked and used that as the starting point. I've managed to find some more of that print on line so I'm hoping to be able to use that in some way to make the borders more interesting. This was a quick quilt, it went together in about 2 1/2 hours and it was really fun watching it as it went together.

Maternal Grandfather	This is another sample I started for an online class with Linda Schmidt via Quilt University that I started in February 2007. The instructions were to "paint" a face on fabric using pastel chalks. I started this copy of a picture of my maternal grandfather from 1938. One day, when I've gotten a little more practice, I'd like to get back to this project and complete it.

Fire Dancer	This is a sample I made for an online class with Linda Schmidt via Quilt University that I started in February 2007. The instructions were to make a dancer figure out of flesh tones painted with pastel chalks and then clothe her and give her hair. The only background I had was one that I had previously painted which looked like a fire, so I made the dancer into an angel "dancing" above the flames. I have plans to add two more angels in other positions.

Cherrywood Jacket Fabric	This is a Cherrywood Fabrics jacket pattern that I think I started in 2005. I have just a few things to say about making quilted garments: a) It's just dumb to make your own fabric for a garment b) By the time the fabric is created, you won't like it anymore c) After spending time to complete the fabric, it's scary to cut out the pattern pieces d) By the time the garment is actually finished, it will either be out of style, the wrong size, the wrong season to wear it or it just won't look good on you So this may never be finished due to the reasons above.

Circles and Curves	This quilt pattern comes from an Amador Valley Quilt Guild workshop taught in Oct. 2006 by Don Linn, a.k.a. "Mr. Quilt". The name of the pattern is "Circles and Curves " and it's actually much easier to make than it looks. One of my goals in 2006 was to use more curved lines and circles in my quilts, so this pattern fits that goal nicely. The background is pieced and then when I decide where to put the circles, a corresponding circle is cut out of the background (gulp) and the circle is set in. I've only sewn in one circle so far (the one with the big pink flower) and I am moving the others around until I'm happy with the layout. Thanks to my sewing friends suggestions, I decided that the quilt design looked much better turned on it's side than in it's original designed direction.

Tulips	These blocks come from a pattern called "Aunt Maggie's Tulips" from Brandywine Design. There are supposed to be 42 blocks in all and I have 16 done so far. I think I may stop there! I started working on these in June 2006. The idea with this quilt was to use up a lot of my small scraps of fabric left over from other projects. Why, then, do I still seem to have just as big a bag of scraps as I started with?

Winding Ways I & II	I made these two quilt tops at a trip to Asilomar in September 2005. The pattern is Winding Ways and it comes from the book "Winding Ways Quilts: A Practically Pinless Approach" by Nancy Elliot Macdonald. The quilt centers are actually exactly the same, but look very different due to the different fabrics which were used. These were fun and also quick and easy to assemble.

Moda Marble Challenge	My husband purchased a collection of 7 Moda Marble fabrics in very bright colors for me at a quilt show. He challenged me to make a quilt using only the fabrics in the collection. It was very difficult for me as I am not used to working in all solids or in such bright colors. I started out by making 16 small 9-patch squares and from there I just kind of played with the setting until I found something I was happy with and had enough fabrics to do. Towards the end, the dark purple and black fabric was perilously close to being used up too soon!

Kaffe Fasset Compass	I had lots of Kaffe Fasset striped fabric left over from the striped quilt top so I started making compasses with it just for fun. I used one in a springtime quilt and I'm not sure what to do with the other one just yet. Maybe a fall quilt!

Purple Log Cabin	I intended these log cabin blocks to make a bed-sized quilt. Unfortunately, I made several of the blocks and then put them away for a year or so. In the mean time, I got a new sewing machine. When I picked up the project again, I forgot that I had started it on the old machine and made a bunch more blocks with the new machine. Sadly, my 1/4 inch seam wasn't quite identical on each machine and I was unable to use the blocks together. Since I had more of the new blocks, I put them together into a wall-hanging sized top. I think it looks a little plain in the middle and it could use a border of some sort, so I'm still thinking about what to do.

Kitty Cat Charm	This is a quilt top that was made for me as an end of year present in 2001 by my "secret pal" in the Piecemaker's Quilt Guild. I was given some extra plaids to make the border, but I put away the quilt and kind of forgot about it until a trip to Asilomar in April 2007. I finished piecing the border there. Next up is actually quilting the quilt. Hopefully it will not be another 6 years before that happens! The pattern is Kitty Cat Charm by Robert Callaham.

Stained Glass Quilt Blocks	These blocks were started in a stained glass appliqué class that met once a month at the home of a guild member. My enthusiasm lasted a couple months, until I realized that the fun part was laying out the block and that making and hand-stitching the bias bars was just boring. There were supposed to be 12 of these blocks, a large center medallion and a couple fancy border pieces. I'm tempted to just make a small wall quilt instead. However, my husband really likes these blocks and I saw a beautiful finished version at the PIQF show in 2005 so I may have to finish making all the blocks after all. I believe the pattern was a block of the month pattern from Connecting Threads.

Compass / Round Robin	Several years ago, I made a 16 inch compass block in a class I took with Judy Mathieson through the Piecemaker's Quilt Guild. I was never really sure what to do with it and the color palette isn't my favorite. At the beginning of 2006 I joined the Threadheads round robin friendship group through the Amador Valley Quilters quilt guild. I decided to hand over the compass block to see what they could do with it. Six other women worked on the quilt, switching every other month and I just got the top back in May 2007. I'll probably add a little more applique to bring some blue into the borders before quilting it.

Irish Chain II	I made this Irish Chain quilt from Eleanor Burns' Quilt in a Day Irish Chain book after finishing an Irish Chain quilt that was made with tiny squares. This time, I used strip piecing and it went together in a day. Unfortunately, it's really boring. I have plans to put a fancy appliqué border on it and do some fancy quilting in the open spaces, but frankly I am lacking in motivation.

Magic Pinwheels	I made this "Magic Pinwheel" quilt at my first trip to Asilomar (1998?). I no longer remember where the pattern came from. The pinwheels are created by sewing together squares of each color into a plain patchwork quilt. Then, a template is drawn onto the quilt and you (gasp) cut apart the quilt you've just sewn. This was a leap of faith as I kind of liked the original quilt top. The pieces of the original quilt are sewn back together so that the pinwheels are formed. I don't really care for the color palette anymore, so it will probably never be done unless I decide to donate it.

Page Updated: 06/10/2008