Work In Progress Wed Tanya Style #22

Things Richard is working on:

Still working on Country Blue & Pink ColorBlast Quilt.  More sashings added and three rows sewed together.  Crib size lizard quilt is finished and just in time.  This is the first time that minky was used by either of us for a backing.  The baby (step-nephew) is scheduled to be born next week by C-section.  I need to finish the borders on the gray- multicolored batik quilt, then it will be ready for Tanya to baste. 

(Richard will post more pictures on its own post late wed, as it will be completed in its own post, but here is a sneak peak).

(Yes its sideways (or so for me) in my editor it was up and down.  I am adding pictures for Tanya on our computer set up in the quilt room, but its not being nice to me, but hey here are pictures)

Things Tanya is working on:

More blocks partially done on Meagan's quilt out of the Amelia line. They still need a blanket stitch around raw edge appliques.  There a few without appliques added yet.  10 of 20 blocks are mostly done.  The blocks have a lot of variation in colors, some with appliques, some without.   Once they are done, Richard will sew sashings and add borders on them. Then I will baste them and Richard will quilt it.  Yes, mine seem to be more of a joint project than a personal one. 

Two more of the Beginners QAL blocks are finished that haven't been shown yet.

The purple rag quilt with appliques is frustrating me (Tanya).  Richard makes it seem so easy to sew them together.  After unpicking one row several times, because nothing was lining up, I set it to the side and it has been there for almost a month.

Joint Projects:

Twirl crib size quilt top made by me, has been basted and now Richard is practicing random free motion quilting on it.  Julia seems to be our scape goat for her quilts. 

(Richard here again, jumping in I tried to take some pictures of the FMQ that I did for practice, but it did not show up well, I did my FMQ a few different ways.  We bought some stencils of some waves and flowers, and a larger stippling template.  On each end of the quilt we have the flower - wave - flower -wave -flower pattern. Then I used the large stippling pattern and did 4 of the blocks.  Then I did 2 other blocks by hand stippling and lastly I tried to do pebbles.  On the pebbles I was having a lot of issues holding the quilt (Fat hands and no gloves to hold with need to go shopping).  I ended up just sorta scribbling on the quilt and my wife threatened to pick it out and I would not let her (Remember practice) Any way at a stale mate on it now.  But it is about 1/8 th of the way quilted.)

The first of 3 various purple themed quilts is started.  The first is a quilt top for Debbie (Tanya's stepmother).  We are doing 6 blocks Double Churn and 6 blocks Rail Fence or some modification there of.  I cut the fabric for the first six blocks and Richard sewed the 2 1/2 in strips and  HST together.  Next I started sewing them together.  I finished 5 of the six blocks.  They would have been done,but I ran out of thread in bobbin, just as it was time to start thinking about going to work. 

(Thank you Tanya for making the post tonight.  I have been in a ho-hum mood and been slacking as to my blog posting and she helped me out today.  One last note James took a picture of some of my quilts that are for sell on etsy and I wanted to share them with you as that also is a WIP to try and sell some of the extra quilts we have.)

(Yes he covered every inch of the reclaimed front room floor (my old sewing space) with the quilts)

(Well one more item Tanya wants me to remind you all that we have until midnight Thursday to link up to the LAFF with prizes and get a chance to win 2 of the above FQ's).

Today is going to be a Work In Progress Wednesday.   I will be linking up with Freshly Pieced.  

Time to get serious

 I survived 2 weeks of scouts and it is time to get back to being serious with the quilts.  But first I have to re-cap the last 2 days.  My youngest son Jared is now a cub scout and that means he finally gets to go to Cub Day Camp.  This last Friday and Saturday we spent the whole day up at camp and I believe I can safely say he had fun.  With just 3 pictures I will show how it worked out.

Day 1 don't I look cute and clean.

Crab walking as part of one of the dusty  activities we got to do.

What we have to go home?  I still have a few inches of me not dirty.

When I got back from camp Tanya had 4 rolls of queen size batting that she found on sale for half off (with an additional 20% off coupon) and she asked if I was mad.  I said heck no.  Next thing I know she drags me to another store an I buy 5 more.  I guess all the tops we have completed need to finally get finished.

I did finally get 2 more blocks in the beginners quilt along done, I am still behind.  Tanya has 2 more done and is caught up I will post her's later as I have a lot of items I want to post and still need to take pictures of them (she has been working hard and I want to show it off)

I have also been sewing together the country version of my color blast quilt.  I need to sit down some time soon and make up the pattern.  My plan is to put it up here on my blog and get some advice on how to make a good tutorial.  And then polish it and put it for sell on etsy! Maybe I will get rich NOT! 

John Deere Rag Quilt

This newest quilt of mine has actually been done for a few days now (well like 2 weeks ago).  I finished it the night before my new Janome sewing machine showed up.  Though it took a few days for Tanya to cut it up.  Tanya and I have a good deal going on these rag quilts I sew the rows together and she cuts them.  If you have never done a rag quilt it takes a little bit of time to cut it up.

This quilt has a long history of progress I first blogged about this quilt on my January 22 post named "Some one hide my CC".  When Tanya and I first bought this material we knew that we wanted to make 2 quilts one for her dad and one for her brother.  My wife is from a Rural town (I am from the City) and both of them are a salt of the earth type of people they are no more happy then working out in the fields on one of the John Deere's that they use.

We completed the first of our 2 quilts named Tractors on Patrol for my father in law back in April.  It really did turn out to be a wonderful lap blanket.  It was not quite big enough in our opinion for Cody my wife's brother he is Tall well over 6 feet tall.  Nolan's quilt was 9 rows wide and 12 long.  We decided to do Cody's bigger and when we went put it to gather to sew we realized we were short material.  So we threw all the stuff in a box and latter bought another JD print for the top and another one for back.  I should point out that this rag quilt is flannel on the back and cotton on the top.

When I finished this quilt I realized I have enough left over blocks to do a random baby size quilt so you will see at least one more JD quilt out of me so look forward to that in the future.

Link A Finish Friday #25 with prizes

Welcome to LAFF here at Richard and Tanya Quilts.  This is where you get to show off your finishes

 Each link on LAFF enters you into a random drawing for 2 fat quarters each month. The winner will be picked the Thursday after the last Friday of each month.  The winner have their choice of 2 fat quarters from the 9 pictured. This picture will be updated with current selection, as the two with safety pins were chosen for June.   These are from my stash, but have no current project with their name on them.  Some of them are items I got from the shop hop, others are items that came with materials we bought, but did not make it into a project.










Thanks again for visiting Richard and Tanya Quilts and supporting  our quilting adventures.

So for the rules.

1) Who likes rules. Toss them out.
2) Add a link to your finish blog or where ever you show off your finishes (Not limited to quilts but I like them the most).
3) Visit a few of the finishes and comment or encourage them on.
4) Monthly random winner picked from all of the months linkups to win 2 fat quarters.

Not Required but fun to do

1) Follow my blog.
2) Follow the blog of all those that link.
3) Link back to my blog.
4) No finish, go quilt and stop reading the web.

Raggedy Ann N Andy

Today I want to give a huge thank you to Mary Jacob of Made With Love by Mary. Last month, she linked up a baby swaddler and she had Raggedy Ann swaddled in it.  I struck up a conversation with her about that doll.  When I was a kid my sister had the pair and we would play with them.  She of course with Ann and I had Andy (boys do not play with dolls, but it is OK if its a boy doll, so you see I was covered here).  I have wonderful memories.  Any way I commented asking if she knew where to get pattern or buy them (I want to get them for Julia). It turns out she had a extra pattern for both the dolls and their clothing (pictured above) the patterns come complete with instructions to do every thing, including completing their hair.  Rebecca (my 14 year old) and I plan over the next few months to work on completing these for Julia.  Lucky for us, we have a lot of time.  But I will show you my progress as time goes on.  Right now we have a list of items that Rebecca wrote down to buy at the store.  It includes the buttons for the outfits, the proper fiber fill stuffing and of course the red yarn for their hair.  I look forward to making this project with Rebecca.

Recently I got block 2 of the 2012 Designers mystery block of the month.  I have been so busy with other things the last couple weeks, it has been sitting in its bag.  Tonight I finally got it out and sewed it together.  I had some difficulty with the flying geese, just pretend they are all straight.  I had to do a big set and a small set to complete this 12 1/2 inch block.

In other news, I have now moved my sewing room downstairs.  The bad news is I can't find the floor or even move in it (kids just tossed every thing sewing related though the door). I plan to have 2 places to sew (one table for me and one for my wife), so we don't have to put every thing away so the other can sew each day.  We also have a 3rd table we plan to have just for cutting.  We have been moving the machine and cutting mat back and forth to sew or to cut so I am excited to not have to move every thing around.  We are out of the front room, so we now have somewhere to sit and watch TV or visit with friends again.  

Paying It Forward

Back in January, just a month after I started quilting I was going though the many blogs I followed and I ran across a blog post about "Paying It Forward.  I love this concept.  I am one that likes to give more then I receive.  I found the post over at Grace and Favour and here is the link to that post I signed up and was picked to get something.

While my gift arrived this last week in a very large envelope.  It is a Wonky Tree wall hanging with stars on the tree's and I have to say I just LOVE!!!!!!! It.

Now it's my turn to "pay it forward".  

There are of course a few rules if you would like to participate.

1. You must pay it forward to 3 people within a year of receiving your gift (easy enough)

2. You must have a blog. This is so you can in turn blog about it and pay it forward to 3 more people.

3. Once you receive your gift, you blog about it to keep it going.  Use the "pay it forward" button.

It doesn't necessarily have to be quilted, just handmade. We're not talking a queen size quilt here either.  It could be a little table topper or a mug rug.   If you sign up, I will be stalking  checking your blog to see what you like.  This is fun!!

Soooooo wanna play?  If so please leave a comment on this post saying you want to be in on this and we will pick 3 people to pay it forward too.  And some time with in the next year you will be getting your gift.

Another guild meeting.

I have joined the Salt Lake Modern Quilt Guild and I went Thursday night to my 2nd meeting  I am still pretty nervous to go, as every one other then me is female (yes women can be scary). I took my blue and yellow batik and showed it off along with my soldier's star and my not yet completed gray batik.  But that is not what I want to talk about.  The first meeting I went too there was a lady that was also new and she shared a quilt that she was working on that was built in sections (and quilted in sections) and then completed by sewing those sections together.  It generated a lot of questions from others (and me also as a queen size quilt could be difficult to sew on a small machine.  She brought the completed quilt and showed it off (it was a wonderful quilt with chickens on it) for her son, but she also brought a sample of how to do the quilt.  Above is one half of the sample and below is the back.

Its not a great picture but you can see that flap (the green cloth in middle), you put the 2 parts of the quilt together and sew on the strip above then on the bottom sew one half and the put flap over and sew it down.  I tried finding the name of this technique on the web, but could not find something like it.  Any way I am looking for more info on this, if any one has some links they could share let me know.

Also the last 3 days (Thursday and Friday and over night/Saturday morning) I spent at Camp Tracy with my 11 year old scouts.  So here is a rare picture of me doing my scouting at camp.  100 pictures taken and only 2 of me sadly oh well.

Link a Finish Friday #24 with prizes

Welcome to LAFF here at Richard and Tanya Quilts.  This is where you get to show off your finishes

I am busy this week with my 11 year old scouts at scout camp.  I will tell you about it when I get back for now you know the drill link up your finishes for the week.

 Each link on LAFF enters you into a random drawing for 2 fat quarters each month. The winner will be picked the Thursday after the last Friday of each month.  The winner have their choice of 2 fat quarters from the 9 pictured. This picture will be updated with current selection, as the two with safety pins were chosen for June.   These are from my stash, but have no current project with their name on them.  Some of them are items I got from the shop hop, others are items that came with materials we bought, but did not make it into a project.







Thanks again for visiting Richard and Tanya Quilts and supporting  our quilting adventures.

So for the rules.

1) Who likes rules. Toss them out.
2) Add a link to your finish blog or where ever you show off your finishes (Not limited to quilts but I like them the most).
3) Visit a few of the finishes and comment or encourage them on.
4) Monthly random winner picked from all of the months linkups to win 2 fat quarters.

Not Required but fun to do

1) Follow my blog.
2) Follow the blog of all those that link.
3) Link back to my blog.
4) No finish, go quilt and stop reading the web.

WIP Wednesday #21

Today is going to be a Work In Progress Wednesday.   I will be linking up with Freshly Pieced.  

Completed Projects: I completed Blue and Yellow Color Blast Quilt this week.

In Progress:
Tanya and I designed out a baby quilt to give to her new step brother in law's soon to be born baby boy.  This is a simple baby quilt that Tanya and I designed in EQ7

Soon after I got the above top sewed up Tanya decided that we were going to make one for Julia (I guess she loved the look of it in her crib. Next thing I knew she sewed up her first complete top on her own. (Tanya has helped design and encourage many designs along but this is the first that she has completed her own top so give her a hand).  This is using left overs of the twirl line that she had me make her own quilt out of.

Ready To Quilt:
Tanya basted the above Lizard quilt and its sitting on the couch ready to quilt.  In addition to that I have the below top and a couple others waiting on me.

Ongoing Projects:
I am now interested in making quilts for others if you know any one looking to have a quilt made, send them my way.  I also have a few quilts listed on my etsy shop.  http://www.etsy.com/shop/RichardQuilts.

Also my Quarter 3 Post has many projects on the design list for me to work on if you have not read it you should check it out.

Planned Quilts:

I started writing a list and so has my wife.  With just family quilts I need to make (about 10-12) and the quilts I just want to make because I can I think my list is now near 20 or so of what I want to make.

Totals:
Finished: 3 July, 3 June, 10 May, 8 April, 10 March, 10 February, 7 January
49 Total for Year wow only 6 more quilts tell I meet my 55 projects and I have to set the bar higher maybe I should go for 100?.

One last thing I was the recipient of a Pay It Forward gift.  If you have not seen this before in the soon future I will post about this but the concept is you put your self out to get a free gift from me (3 of my readers) But after receiving the gift you also have to give a gift to 3 more people (so you get one item and give away 3) if you are interested in this please keep a eye on my posts and Pay It Forward.

Blue and Yellow Color Blast

I have finished today my favorite quilt.  While at the HMQS quilt show I bought a pile of batik fabric (you might remember the giveaway I did with them) out of all the batik's that I bought the Blue and Yellow ones were my favorite.  This quilt is made from a pattern I am putting together that I call Color Blast.  It is made using a disappearing 16 patch block.  My plan is to sooner than later post the pattern as a free giveaway.

I have been working on this quilt for some time now.  I finished the top just a month ago on June 23rd.  I have been waiting for the new machine to show up so that I could quilt it, with out fear of messing it up.  When I washed it I was afraid that I would get bleeding all over the place and put 5 color catchers in with it and they came out quite blue, I am glad I added those.  Any one have much experience with batik washing?

This is now my second quilt that I have made using this pattern my first was my Fire in the Sky ,it is my bright orange quilt.  As you can see I am keeping with the bright idea with this quilt being blue and yellow.  I have one more quilt that I am doing with much more down to earth colors, my wife calls it my 80's Fabric.  This quilt has 2 differences.  First that the corners have corner stones (Is that what they are called?) and second  its one row wider and one row longer so a bigger quilt.