Leafs Me Happy Blog Hop Begins

The Complete Schedule
Leafs Me Happy Blog Hop begins Monday, Oct. 1 and goes through Oct. 10. My day is Thursday, Oct. 5, when I'll post a unique, fall-themed block, as well as a couple of giveaways.

Meanwhile, please stop and visit Monday's participants:

Fuzzy Hat Quilter

The Cuddle Quilter

Quilts My Way

Country Cabin Thoughts and Crafts

Dream quilt create

Why-Knot-Kwilt

Needled Mom
Quilter in Motion

Sunshine Girl

Meadowbrook

And here is a link to The Complete Schedule.

See you soon!

Debbie

WIP Wednesday 9/26/2012

Polka Dot Dresses

Quilt feels finished

10.5" square

Original design, partly from stash

Completed 8/26/2012

Back

Cut dress shapes were applied to background with couple of drops of glue.

Finished the raw edges of the dresses by zigzag stitching with invisible thread.

Next project, for co-worker (guy) who likes cats.

Have had this fabric for years, seems to have enough masculine colors to be appropriate for my friend.

Possible layout with Puss in the Corner blocks

Here, Kitty, Kitty

Made several years ago for another co-worker friend who likes cats.

Same layout as Electric Quilt sketch, minus border.

Debbie

Dots on Dots Fat Quarter Winners

The winners of the fat quarters from the Dots on Dots Blog Hop are:

White: Rebeckah A.           Pink: Daryl P.

Congratulations, ladies! Your fabric will be mailed to you soon.

Thanks to everyone who left nice comments. I appreciate them very much.

Debbie

WIP Wednesday 9/19/2012

Polka Dot Dresses block

This week I created the Polka Dot Dresses block for the Dots on Dots Blog Hop. About half of the fabrics are from stash. For the moment the dresses (raw-edged) are held to the menswear-looking background with a couple of drops of glue. I plan to quilt by doing a narrow zigzag with invisible thread along the edges of the dresses. I'm also considering binding with the red dot fabric and embellishing with bows or buttons.

More details and photos about how I made the blocks are here.

I'd like to finish the quilt this week.

Debbie

Every Seven Minutes Quilt

Every Seven Minutes Quilt

Inspired by the San Diego Trolley

Railroad Crossing blocks

Original design

Partly from stash

29" square

Completed 8/17/2012

Back of quilt

San Diego Trolley

Car is roughly three times as long as it is high. 

Designed strips in the block to be 3" x 1", like the car.

Red in the quilt refers to the red of the trolley.

This quilt has been in my head for at least more than 10 years. The title "Every Seven Minutes" comes from multiple stays at a San Diego motel which was right next to a trolley stop. The cars arrived every 14 minutes, but traveled in both directions. So about Every Seven Minutes, I'd hear the bells at the crossing. The trolley runs almost 24 hours a day. That's a lot of bells!

Somehow this quilt finished fell through the cracks. I discovered the omission a couple of days ago. I'm picking up where I left off in mid-August.

Triangle (square folded on the diagonal) placed in the corner. Will hold yardstick shaped piece of wood for display. Scissor indicates the open space between the triangle and the quilt back.

Binding folded in half, sewn to the back.

If you look closely, you'll see the pinstripe in the backing fabric. I chose the fabric because it reminded me of train engineer's overalls.

Binding folded to the front, machine stitched.

How it looks on the back. The excess binding fabric will be trimmed even with the edges.

After the opposite side is bound, third binding strip is sewn to the back.

Folded and inch or so of binding back on itself, sewed down.

Binding folded to front, stitched down. No mitering. Not my thing.

Scissors again indicate open space on back of the quilt.

Once more, the finished quilt. By the way, this one is for me.

Debbie

Dots on Dots Blog Hop

Welcome to my blog! I'm so glad you stopped by. I'm delighted to participate in the Dots on Dots Blog Hop. Be sure to check the end of the post for giveaways.

Polka Dot Dresses

10.5" square (unfinished)

Original design

First, a bit of trivia: My late mother's name was Dorothea, but most of her family called her Dot. My kids called her Grandma Dot.

Second, here is a quilt I made for my now-2-year-old granddaughter Piper when she was a baby:

Piper's Polka Dots

Inspired by her bedroom, which has lime green walls and dinner plate-sized pink dots.

Quilt on display in Piper's room

Back to my block

I wanted to do some polka dot dresses and chose an assortment of polka dot fabrics, as well as a menswear-looking background.

Dress pattern

Used dressmaker's chalk to outline the dress on the black fabric.

Used a Frixion pen to trace the pattern to the back of the red and the white fabrics.

Two dresses in each of the three colors

For now the dresses are held to the background fabric with a couple of drops of glue. I could have fused but I was in a hurry. I probably will do a narrow zigzag in invisible thread around the dresses for a permanent bond and as the quilting. I'm considering attaching a few little bows in fabric or buttons to embellish, as well as doing a binding in the red polka dot fabric. The little quilt likely will hang on the wall of my cubicle at work.

Now for the giveaways. You could win one of the two fat quarters below.

White with black dots (approx. 1/2" diam.)     Pink with white dots (approx. 1/4" diam.)

For a chance to win one of the fat quarters, simply leave a comment by the last day of the Blog Hop (end of Thursday, Sept. 20). Be sure to mention whether you prefer White or Pink. For an extra chance to win one of the fabrics, leave another comment mentioning that you are a new or existing follower. Two winners will be drawn on Friday, Sept. 21.

Be sure to stop by and see today's other Blog Hop participants:
Sew Maybe I Can
Yayaquilter
A Stitch in Time
Ariane Quilts
Karen - Briarside Lane
Joanne 9of12
Traveling Quilter - You're here!
Bacon Then Eggs

The Complete Schedule

Hope to see you again soon!

Debbie

WIP Wednesday 9/12/2012

A Few of Sharon's Favorite Things

For co-worker Sharon W. T.

Images printed on fabric

Original design

58" square

Mostly from stash

Completed 9/12/2012

Close-up

 June Tailor Sew-in Printer Fabric

Printed downloaded images onto printer fabric, four to a page, then cut apart

Blue border around each printed image

Wide white-on-white border to make 12.5" unfinished block

Tonight I finished A Few of Sharon's Favorite Things, a quilt for co-worker Sharon W. T., who is leaving our office, going back to the sister office where she worked several years ago - now as Director. Tomorrow is Sharon's last day in our office.

At the suggestion of Sharon's supervisor, the Assistant Director of our office, I gathered images of what I've been told are some of Sharon's favorite things. Most of the images were downloaded from her Facebook albums, so Sharon will recognize those. I added a few other images to represent other interests.

I made the quilt in about a week, and began actual sewing on Sunday. This quilt joins my list of what I call Four Day Wonders - quilts that have come together in a matter of days. Yes, I am nuts.

Also this week I delivered three quilts to Stanislaus Family Justice Center, where each child who visits receives a quilt. All three quilts were part of a box of mostly quilt tops from Marilyn L. of Vacaville Binky Patrol.

This quilt arrived ready to go.

This quilt just needed binding.

This quilt arrived as a top. I removed a section of length, added border all around and finished the quilt.

Using the section I removed from the quilt top, I made this pillowcase, which I safety pinned to the quilt so the set would stay together. 

My next project will be a block for the Dots on Dots Blog Hop. I have an idea. Be sure to stop by next week to see what I come up with.

Debbie

Dots on Dots Blog Hop Begins

The Complete Schedule
Dos on Dots Blop Hop begins today and runs through Thursday, Sept. 20. My day to post is Tuesday, Sept. 18, when I'll reveal my Dots on Dots block, along with a giveaway.

Meanwhile, please visit the other participating blogs each day. See you back here soon!

Debbie

The Winners Are...

The winners of the Bowls with Borders Blog Hop drawing are:

White: Jeanneke W.            Blue: Gabi G.

Congratulations, ladies! Your fat quarters have been mailed to you. Thanks to everyone who left nice comments.

Debbie

WIP Wednesday 9/5/2012

Blue and White Bowls

Paper pieced bowls pattern by Regina Grewe

Original layout, Broken Dishes blocks in the corners

Free motion quilting, buttons

Mostly from stash

11" x 22"

Completed 9/1/2012

Square of fabric, folded diagonally, pressed. Made four for the corners on the back of the quilt.

Backing fabric

Folded triangle placed between quilt top and backing

Quilt sandwich assembled for pillowcase style finish, chosen to avoid binding. Could have chosen an "escape hatch" finish but it would have broken up the teapot design on the back.

Sewed 1/4" inside the edge of quilt top, catching triangle in stitching.

Note several inches left unsewn along bottom edge, which will allow the work to be turned right side out.

Quilt turned right side out

Seen from the back. Teapot design intact. Chopstick indicates open space under the triangles. Usually slip yardstick shaped pieces of wood across the top and bottom of the quilt. Triangles hold the wood in place. In this instance I plan to put a piece of cardboard in the corners to give the quilt body for display on a plate rack.

Did some free motion quilting in the yellow background areas. Clips are holding the little opening shut.

 I usually close an opening by edgestitching all around the perimeter of a quilt, but I didn't think it was appropriate for this design. Forget about slipstitching. So I used some Aleene's Quick Dry Tacky Glue to seal the opening, and let it dry.

Back of the quilt

I decided to sew buttons on the light blue border. Here's a bag I recently got at an antique flea market for $3. Why not?

I pulled out a bunch of white buttons that were about the same size. It didn't matter to me that they weren't identical, and I just laid them on the quilt, not worrying about distributing the buttons so that they were perfectly symmetrical as far as having 2 or 4 holes. It adds a bit of whimsy.

Finished quilt

From the back

How it will look on the plate rack in my living room. There is no cardboard on the back of the quilt in this picture. The quilt was certainly flopsy-mopsy and wouldn't stand up straight, as I predicted. to take the picture I just taped the quilt to the wall with little rolls of masking tape.

I accomplished some other things this week. It helped that I took the week off of work. Not too long ago I received a box of mostly quilt tops from Marilyn L., who is the coordinator of Vacaville Binky Patrol. The finished quilts will be donated to Stanislaus Family Justice Center, a local one-stop center offering help and hope for victims and survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, and elder abuse. Each child receives a quilt.

This music-themed quilt just needed binding.

Back - music-themed fabric

Sports-themed quilt top

The yellow fabric looked kind of familiar. Sure enough, it was a different colorway to the blue fabric I used in All Kinds, a quilt I made for my brother Wayne C.

The quilt top was long and narrow. I wanted to add with to the sides with a border but I didn't want more length. I decided to remove a section of the length. See the black rectangle above. Everything below it will be removed. I'm thinking of using the section to make an accompanying pillow.

Section removed. I like these proportions better.

Sides trimmed

Border added. Note the top and bottom strips are not as wide as the sides. The quilt didn't need more length and there wasn't a lot of fabric left so I made it work.

I did a pillowcase finish and edgestitched around the perimeter of the quilt. I just have to tie a few dozen knots of embroidery floss and the quilt will be done, ready for delivery to the center on Friday.

Debbie