A Finished Top

     The Churn Dash Checkers top is completed.

I tried it with both the straight set and the diagonal set, but chose the diagonal after all.  I would have needed more churn dash blocks and fewer chain blocks, so in the end it seemed easier to go with the pattern directions.  I did change the border treatment a little.  I had this wonderful print (Sturbridge Village) that worked so well with the background and the black chain piecing, so skipped the patchwork border.  

I have pulled this fabric out of the CW stack many times, thinking to use it.  So glad it was still there for this quilt!  

     Now to move on to making projects for my October 15th update to Early Works Mercantile.  It will feature Autumn and Halloween items as I'm not ready to move on to Christmas yet.  

     On the Rughooking front, I'm trying to get this class project finished as I have a Halloween project I want to work on next.  

     So not only will I keep on stitchin, but will be pulling loops as well.

Judy

Churn Dash Checkers

I've been back in the sewing room this week.  This comes from one of the classes I took at Quilt Camp in May.  It was taught by Quilter Extraordinare, Klonda Lightfoot.  She teaches at camp every year and always has an interesting quilt to tackle.  This was my first year as a student after 5 years as the Mystery Quilt teacher, so was anxious to take one of her classes.  This pattern was in a Quiltmaker magazine and named Churn Dash Checkers.  I do love me a Churn Dash block, so knew I would enjoy making it.  

I have all of the Churn Dash blocks done and about 6 of the chain blocks.  I need 36 of them.

They are pretty simple.  You strip piece the little 4 patches, then put the 9 patch together.

I have two new gadgets to help with the four patch units.  This little homemade thread cutter makes cutting the chain pieced units apart much faster......

And then my new wool pressing pad makes pressing them go faster.  My friend Julie brought me this piece of wool felt from a recent trip, from the country of Latvia.  Apparently, embroidered felt decorations and clothing is one of their traditional crafts.  She found a shop featuring felted wool, thinking she was bringing me something for my wool applique.  She was probably surprised when I pounced on it as a pressing mat.  I have been reading about them and wanted to try one, but they are pretty pricey.  But, after pressing 120 of these little 4 patches, I can tell you that they are definitely worth it.  

     Now back to the sewing room to begin putting this top together.  The directions place the blocks in a diagonal set, but I want to try it with a straight set too.  I  like Churn Dash blocks better in a straight set and think I would like a diagonal chain effect better than the horizontal/vertical chain.  Any opinions on this question?  

Judy




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Quilt Camp

This makes my fifth year to teach a Mystery Quilt at Arrow Rock Quilt Camp. Choosing a pattern is always the hardest part, but I decided on it in November and had it on a bed by Christmas. That is the earliest I have ever finished one. I used the Missouri Star pattern of Quatrefoil, adding a few of my favorite piecing tricks. Here's my version:

Now you know why I was inspired to have it on a bed by Christmas. The fabrics are a layer cake by Barbara Brackman with some additions from my stash. Here are some pictures of some of the blocks made by those taking the class. There was lots of variety in the fabric selections.

I'm looking forward to seeing some finishes appear on the camp Facebook page. Good job, girls!

Just a note to my blog readers:  I am moving my blog to Bloglovin, which is an app which combines all of your blogs in one place.(https://www.bloglovin.com/@judyquilts/quilt-camp)  This app is much more user friendly to post from the I-Pad, which is sometimes more convenient than the laptop.  Also, the Blogger app does not appear to be supported anymore, or maybe just for PC devices.  I've had more and more trouble with it lately so just decided to move the blog to something easier.  I can still send the posts by email, so if you are getting it that way, let me know in the comments and I will keep a list.  You can also follow me on Pinterest, my page is "Judy Smith" and the board is "Picking and Stitching".  I will see how it goes and may adjust as time goes along.  I do appreciate all of you and look forward to hearing how this change works for you.  

Judy
  

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Quilt Camp 2016

     Quilt Camp in Arrow Rock is my favorite time of year.  It doesn't get any better than May in Missouri, then you add in good friends, shopping and quilting and you are getting close to perfection.  I teach a Mystery Quilt class, so get to meet many of the participants.  We had such a wide variety of students this year with even Hawaii and New Zealand represented, as well as many mainland states.  As many of you know, I live in a historic village with lots of 19th century buildings.  My classroom was in the building known as Brown's Chapel.  It is a historic building which served as a church for the African-American residents in the 19th, into the 20th century.

Doesn't it look inviting?

    Here is the mystery quilt for this year.  I call it Village Life and designed it to use a layer cake with a background and a border fabric.  I used a Bonnie and Camille fabric line called Hello Darling.

Here are some of the others in various stages of construction.  There were several who got it to the flimsy stage.  

     I didn't take pictures until the final day, so not all of them made it into this post.  I'll try to do better next time.  

    This is our Challenge Quilt contest  displayed in another of the historic churches.

     This is the inside of the chapel with mystery quilts in progress.  For lots more pictures, see the Arrow Rock Quilt Camp Facebook page.  For information about next years camp, see www.arrowrockquiltcamp.com

Thats all for now.

Judy

A Start, and a Finish

          First, the finish.  We have a great niece graduating in May and her mother and I planned a quilt together.  I blogged about it a couple of weeks ago, while it was in progress, but now it is a finish.  The niece is active in music groups and theatre, so that was the theme.  The border is a very cool theatre print.

Here are some of the embroidered snowball blocks.

Next, my new start.  In fact, there should be no new start.  I have UFO's enough to keep me busy for the rest of the year.  But, I fell in love with this fabric at my LQS.  I talked myself out of it the first time, but when I went back to Second Saturday, I succumbed.  It is Regent Street by Sentimental Studios for Moda.  It is designed to look and feel like the lawns sold by Liberty of London.  I actually visited the store a few years ago and purchased some 1/4 meters.  I had used one of them, but still had the second one, so incorporated it with this Moda collection.  It will be a churn dash block.

The middle and upper right blocks are from the Regent Street line and the other blocks are from stash, but went with them well.  It will be all florals. I forgot to take a picture of the Liberty Lawn.  I'll try to remember to include it next time. 

I'm using my AccuQuilt Go to cut the churn dash blocks.  I have been buying a couple of dies at a time, just to see what works for me.  This is the 9" Churn Dash block die.  It worked well, especially the HST's, the corners are trimmed and they are accurate.  Most of the learning curve is figuring out how to fit your fabrics on the die.

     Arrow Rock Quilt Camp starts next week and I have friends coming to stay with me.  These are the same friends I sewed with in Florida in January.  I have a goodie bag for each of them and this is the mug rug they will receive.  The selvages are from fabrics we bought together on a shopping trip last year.  

We are having a beautiful spring day here in Missouri and the forecast for next week is good.  There will be a lot of stitchin' going on.  Hope you're getting some done too.

Judy

Mystery Quilt Photos

     May was a busy month and this post should have been done two weeks ago, but here goes.  Quilt Camp happens in Arrow Rock the first week of May, thanks to my neighbor, guild sister and friend Paula.  I have been teaching a Mystery Quilt class for her for the past three years.  It is one of my favorite weeks of the year, partly because of the class itself and partly because it also involves some of my favorite people being my houseguests, as they attend camp every year too.  They are mostly the same people I see at Winter Sew-In, so it gets us together at least twice a year.
     This year I taught a version of a rail fence quilt, adapted from a quilt featured in American Patchwork and Quilting a few years ago.  I saw it online and went from there. I try to use precuts in this class, so adapted it from 2"strips to 2-1/2" strips.  It goes together fast and IMHO, makes a good-looking quilt. I called it Country Proud.  Some of my students took my title for it as a patriotic statement and made it in RWB and they were great.  Actually, every one of them turned out wonderful.  Here is my version:

     And here are some of the beginnings from the class.  Finished ones can be viewed on the camp Face book page, Arrow Rock Quilt Camp. I apologize for the quality of some of the photos.  I'm primarily a sewist, not a photographer.

 Black, white, grey and red.

 Desert tones

Brights!

Sunshine!

Blue and yellow

Country Proud!

Made from strip stash!

Pinks!

I hope you enjoyed our little class quilt show.  We had a lot of fun!   I always learn as much from my students as I teach, probably more.  This year, I had all experienced quilters, but in previous years, I have had people new to quilting.  This is the class Paula recommends to new quilters, so I try to keep it simple, so they are not overwhelmed.  Our experienced quilters like it though, because it goes fast and can be a flimsy before the day is over, if there is not too much visiting, snacking and shopping.  In other words, they just have to

Keep on Stitchin'

Judy