"TREE"-mendous Fun!

Here is my first border of Kim's Trees of the Four Seasons.  With this quilt, I'm starting with dessert first--the borders.  Since I still haven't found a wall large enough to photograph my completed Roseville Album top (working on that), I decided I'd better downsize Trees so it would fit on an available wall.  Of course that means working with some extra-tiny circles and leaves, but this border takes care of most of those.  Working on the Kaffe Hydrangea Spots background is pure pleasure; I just love it.  

The Bizzy Bird Farm @ Denver National Quilt Festival

Hi Everyone,
   It has been a long time since I've posted on this blog and thought I would toot my own horn.  For the people that couldn't attend the Denver National Quilt Festival you can look at a slide show on The Quilt Show website, http://www.thequiltshow.com   My Bizzy Bird Farm (aka Roseville Album) was juried into this show but was not a winner.  Search the Denver Quilt show part 2 you can see my quilt along with 3 closeups of it.  My quilt also received Judges Recognition Award from Judy Simmons at the Mid Atlantic Quilt Festival February 2013 and also is in the AQS desk art calendar 2013.
  I've yet to finish the Medallion quilt by Kim, hopefully later this summer, will post when I get back to it.  I have been very busy with finishing up other projects.  I have taken a couple of classes on how to machine quilt on home sewing machine as I have always been and still doing hand quilting.  I actually entered one that was machine quilted at the Denver Quilt show, wall quilt done in wool & embroidery called One Little Red Bird so I could get a critique on it....judges said the machine quilting was very well done....yeah...thought this was great for a beginner at it.  Sounds funny to say I'm a beginner at something since I've been quilting since 1974 !!!  This quilt along with another large applique hand quilted will be shown at the MN quilt show in June if any of you are going to this show and want to look at them. 
  That enough about me, got to get back to my machine sewing....had 20 wall quilts on my list 'to do' and have knocked off half of them.  I've been saving all of these until I learned and had confidence in machine quilting. 
Have a good summer.
Julee

Aine's Farm

I call this "Aine's Farm", made for my great-niece Aine Tenoch --she has both Celtic and Aztec ancestors.  It's 36 inches square. I'm getting pretty good at selecting parts of Kim's designs and using them in small quilts-- more manageable for me.  I know I'm never going to make a queen- or king-size appliqué quilt but I get enormous pleasure working on these smaller projects.  These handsome animals are from Pandemonium.  Fabrics by Kaffe of course.  It is hand-appliquéd and hand-quilted.  I can't wait to start another one.

Lollypop progress

It's been over a year since I posted any progress on my Lollypop project.  I still love it but got sidetracked by several other projects (wedding quilt for my daughter among them).  As you've probably experienced, once you step away, it's sometimes difficult to get back on track.  However, I finally focused and finished my third block.

Am I the only one who finds the selection of fabrics to take more time than the handwork?

As I've mentioned before, I was inspired to use the red background after seeing Francoise's version.  I haven't regretted my choice for a minute.  Hopefully I'll be back with another finished block sooner than this one took!

~ Jan (Be*mused)

FLOWER BASKET MEDALLION & PINE TREES

Sunday April 28th was a day of celebration. I finished FBM !  Sorry about the photo quality. I had to pin it to a Kaffe quilt on my dining room wall to get a photo of all of it.

I started FBM October 2011 and worked hard on it ......until Pandemonium appeared on the scene! ...and it was left in a box until recently. I think I became "leafed out" there for a while.  I promised myself I would not start Trees of The Four Seasons (T4S as I call it) until FBM was completed. But of course I cheated a little and cut all the templates, decided which fabric goes where for the T4S leaves, and I started making set-in triangles for Kim's "Pine Trees" (Quiltmania). I'm using "leftover" Pandemonium animals, birds, plants and circles plus a few extra shapes made from my huge scrap pile to fill in LOL ; )    I'm having a lot of fun and that's what life's all about, ain't it?  

 

33 Pine Tree blocks - I need at least 33 more but they are fast and fun to make.

Happy sewing!

Sylvi, Texas

lollipop tree block #2

prepped and ready to stitch.

I had made such a mess with the first one, I figured, why not continue?  

This one went much faster, and I thought much less about the fabrics, fussy cutting and placement.

Much more fun and much more relaxing that way.

These trees are addictive and fun to make, but alas, I tidied up so I can begin stitching on tree #.  Don't think it will take long before I begin on number 3....

FLOWER POTS

Sarah Barkley is a member of our Kaffe Fassett & Friends Club in Stafford, Texas. She finished her Flower Pots and brought it to Show&Tell at the last meeting.  I would like to share it with you.  It's interesting and fun to see all the different versions of Kim's designs! Enjoy!
Sylvi

Lollipop Tree block #1

prepped and ready to be stitched.

It wasn't easy!  Although I've worked with Kaffe Fasett fabrics before it was in a different context, for a different sort of project.  Now I had to look at them in a new way, to try to see new things.  New color combinations.  Fussy cutting is fun, but....I like surprises too and just letting the quilt happen.  So lots to think about as to the approach to this quilt.  Still not sure about the peach large leaves.....

When all the pieces were complete and I saw the block in its entirety, I decided to glue the pieces down rather than to baste them onto the background.  The leaves are pre-basted, and for the circles I used Karen Kay Buckley's Perfect Circles.

At least I'm ready for Saturday's Bee.

Now back to my clamshells....