Time to Sew!

Do you find it difficult to find the time to sew?  I do around special holidays etc.  Priorities change with the seasons. . .But now it is sewing season.  Finishing a couple of projects for the Minnesota Quilt Show in June is a priority right now.  I already committed to the finished quilts.  Luckily they are small.  Just thought I would show you a picture of something else I have been working on lately.

I have the top almost finished for my St Patrick's quilt.  It is big, huge, humongous!  At least as far as anything I have ever made.  It's ending up about 90" x 100."  I have the pieces cut for the final border and may sew those on yet today.  You can find a link for the blocks in my previous post .  The Center is a Georgia Bonesteel technique called over and under.

St Patrick's Day Quilt belonging to Janet Hartje

I haven't ever made a quilt using black sashing and I really like how this is turning out.  I also plan to "scallop" the edges of the quilt.  I've never done this before so I asked around for a good tutorial.  I'm using a youtube video by the Missouri Star Quilt Company (use their search for the scallop edge tutorial) and the Quilt in a Day template for scallops, vines and waves.

Now I need to figure out how much fabric to buy for the bias binding for a scallop edge quilt.  Anyone have a quick easy method to figure that out?  I think I will bind it with a green fabric.

Have a Creative Day,
Janet

Have any of you heard about Bloglovin?  Google reader will be disappearing in I think July of this year, so if you tend to read all your blogs in one spot, you may want to check out Bloglovin.  I was entering a giveaway to win aurifil thread (who wouldn't want aurifil thread) and one way to enter was by following the blog on Bloglovin.

I'm wondering now if there are other options as well?  Have any of you discovered other ways to read your favorite blogs?

I need to enter some text in my blog in order to have my blog connected, so here I go. I hope I'm doing this right.
Follow my blog with Bloglovin
Janet

Not to late for a bit 'o green

Seven Lucky Shamrocks Block

I am trying to think of a new name for my blog.  I figure since it has been so long in between posts, it is almost like I am beginning again.  I want something a little more concise and inclusive of the variety of arts that I attempt.  If anyone has any suggestions let me know.

Celtic Twist Block

Fairies and Flower Petals Block

40 Shades of Green

Treasures from Ireland Block

Fairy Ring Block

Lucky Clover Block

I'm working on a St Patrick's Day quilt.  I have no holiday quilts at all!  Actually, I only have one or two homemade quilts.  I decided I need to change this lack of comforting color.  I'm thinking I will make a quilt for every other holiday this year. So an Easter quilt will be made in 2014.

Irish Cross Block

Connemara Flower Block

I'm combining two different designs.  McCalls gave some free patterns for Irish blocks on their website.  These were designed by Laura Roberts.  They are almost finished, I still need to edge stitch a couple of the designs and cut them all to 12.5".

I Left My Heart in Ireland Block

Celtic Knot Block

In the center of my quilt I have a design on point.  It is a Georgia Bonesteel pattern.  The person who helped me learn how to do this technique called it "over and under".  I thought it fit with the Irish design.

Here are all the pieces laid out on my floor in the arrangement I would like to make.  I just need to figure out the right size for the background fabric.  I'm planning to use black with kelly green stitching.  White was the obvious choice but decided to try something a little more dramatic this time. I think it's time to dust off my EQ program and see if it will help me put my quilt together.  Any tips appreciated, this is new for me.

Have a creative day
Janet

New Show

This post is long overdue.  I was having problems with my ability to add photos.  Just didn't seem worth posting without any photos.  I finally figured out what was wrong.  I'm a little slow with all this stuff but eventually I figure it out.

Rosie Quilter's Show at Woodbury City Hall

The Rosie Quilter's have a new show.  The theme for this show was found by Kathy Tuominen.  She discovered a site for photos on the web called morgueFile.  It has some free photos and some at low cost "by creatives, for creatives."  In the free photos is a picture of some geisha's.  We used this photo for our inspiration and took that inspiration in whatever direction it lead us.  Here is our show, hanging at City Hall in my home town.  

Rosie Quilter's Show at Woodbury City Hall

We only had 5 participants this time so we added a few extra small art quilts that fit the theme.  The art quilts for this show were created by Judy Lewis, Melissa Nellis, Kathy Tuominen, Stephanie Forsyth and Janet Hartje.  The three in the photo below are all made by Stephanie Forsyth.

Stephanie Forsyth

I quilted my geisha with my longarm which I hadn't been using because I was having tension issues.  I'm afraid it is a little wavy right now because the amount of my quilting varies throughout the quilt.  When I get it back I may add more quilting to try to flatten it out a little.  I liked the tree not being as quilted as the background because that made the tree have more dimension and pop out of the quilt a little.  But, it also made the quilt not hang straight.  Anyone have any good solutions other than more quilting?

Janet Hartje geisha

Now I am working on old quilts, trying to finish up UFO's while practicing 'new to me' skills on my longarm.  I am working on a block of the month from JoAnn Fabrics that has to be at least 15 years old!?  Not really sure how long ago I bought this and pieced it.  I don't even really like it very much any more which makes it perfect for practicing new skills because it doesn't matter to me so much how it looks when it is complete.  This one has a real variety of blocks in it so will give me lot's of opportunity to try different skills.

Have a Creative Day

Janet

Quilting in the Limelight by Philippa Naylor

I'm feeling a little guilty this post has taken so long to be written.  What can I say!  Life happens when you least expect it.

Sometime in September I signed up for a chance to win one of three free books.  Honestly all three books looked so inspirational to me.  The Fiber Arts/Mixed Media group on Facebook was giving away 1 copy of each of these books:

Quilting in the Limelight by Philippa Naylor

Patchwork Sassaman Style by Jane Sassaman

Confetti Naturescapes by Noriko Endo

This was sponsored by Dragon Threads.  I get the Dragon Threads emails because I find all of the fiber artists in this group to be inspirational.  I have a number of their books already but did not have any of these.  I won Quilting in the Limelight by Philippa Naylor.  I am also a member of The Quilt Show and a friend reminded me that Philippa had done one of their shows.  I just went back and watched her show and am inspired to try her technique.  If only their were more quilting hours in the day!

Have a Creative Day
Janet