Sunday, September 20, 2009

Doorway to China Pattern

I am working on my third Doorway to China quilt. I have completed two of them
already.
This one that I posted previously







And then this one. I call this one Doorway to Koi Pond.



My 3rd one is almost done. They are so fun.

If you use a panel you can fussy cut it to all match and it would look really cool. Since I made a challenge to myself to use my stash this entire year and not buy for any new project, sigh, I didn't have a complete panel. So I cheated a little on all three of mine, but I do like the way they turned out. I got the pattern free from one of my sites that I visit. I cant remember which one so I could post them there, but if you want it, I can let you know where to get it- Best of all, it is FREE!

I can't stop making them, they are more addicting than pistacios! (as Abby on NCIS would say) Well, have you only eaten just one pistacio?!?

Friday, September 18, 2009

End of Summer

I cannot believe it is the end of summer. Here in the Kern River Valley it is still in the high 90's low 100's, but the nights are cooler, and our two or three days of fall are coming.
I also have some more finished tops! I haven't really been finishing up my previous projects as planned, but started and finished several new tops this summer. Here are my two latest.

Frogs in a Thimble










Gateway to China Gardens




Now to catch up my longarming with my clients so I can quilt some of my many, many, tops! Happy Fall Y'all!!!

Monday, September 7, 2009

Without leaves :(


As promised, here is a picture of the quilt without the leaves. It left me a little blah.
Of course neither pictures actually does the quilt justice! I took them with my phone, lol.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Math, it is not for everyone!

Okay, I admit it, I really suck at math. I dont understand it, it doesnt make any sense to me what-so-ever but it is a necessary evil, that I have to live with.
In school, I memorized to pass tests. As a banker for 30 years, I used a calculator, the last 5 years as a bookkeeper, the calculator works.

But as a quilter- whats a girl to do?

I do a lot of art quilts, e-quilter is not an interest to me- yet :) And on my other quilts, I muddle through.

When making my quilt for Kona Coffee Quilt contest held in my favorite town- Kona! I took a pattern from a magazine and re-designed it. Not to hard, right? I redesigned the center, and the borders and the entire size of the quilt to fit the requirements.




I drew up the flower, and the leaves and berries, all to the redesigned size requirement.




And I started sewing, and laying out, and sewing. When I got to my 6" borders I realized two things.
My leaves were cut for 6 inch borders, and my borders totaled 6 inches......
Yes, you are right- each border could only be 3 inches!
I really hate this math thing!
Now, I have a finished quilt top, within the requirements and need to put on 3" borders all around, but what to do with the 30 6" leaves?!?
I tried every layout I could think of, and came up with this...



Whatcha think? Even someone who messes up math gets lucky once in a while!

I am sew happy!