Tag Archives: Quilts

Lemoyne Star Class at TQG Spring Fling

I just got home from teaching a Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star class at my local quilt guild; the Tidewater Quilters Guild in Virginia. Every year we host a Spring Fling by the guild members for the guild members. It is an all day celebration of classes, food and prizes. We had a blast. I taught the Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star to 17 lovely ladies and 1 brave gentleman. I wore a shirt I made incorporating strips that would be used to make a Lemoyne Star on the front and embroidered directions above each strip: “Strip A, press toward the background, Strip B, press toward the star point. I had a finished lemoyne star on the back. It was a really fun day, with great students who learned a new technique.

Big Star Block

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I was on YouTube looking at quilting tutorials and I saw one being demonstrated by “The Missouri Quilt Company called the Big Star Quilt. I thought it would be a great quilt for beginners to expand their skills. The block is 24″ finished and is made from Layer cakes or 10″ squares. So, I went to my stash. I don’t have a lot of layer cakes so I decided to use some of my Wizard of Oz stash (I only have about 6 tubs of Wizard of Oz fabric stashed away)!

I love their method for half square triangles. Place two layer cakes right side together and sew a 1/4 inch seam around all 4 sides of the square. Then cut diagonally, twice. You now have 4 half square triangles. I am in the process of making a lesson plan for this quilt. I’m making twelve – 24″ blocks with sashing. This quilt will measure about 94″ x 120”. Each block requires 6 layer cakes, 2 light, 2 dark and 2 background, plus four 5″ squares for the snowballs. The only part I hate is squaring up the half square triangles. I had 144 half square triangles, it only took an hour and a half. The quilt will be so much happier because I took the time to square up, and of course using the Tucker Trimmer makes it easier. This quilt can be made in miniature also by using charm square packs.

Eeeeek! An Obituary Quilt?

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Every time I mention I’m making an Obituary quilt people shiver. I love my family and my family’s history. Finding obituaries is finding a treasure trove of information. I get really excited when I find information that tells me what they and their lives were like. This is how I remember them, how my children and grandchildren will get to know them.

Remember Me! This was truly a labor of love and a learning experience! I have a tendency to jump into projects feet first and figure out the details along the way. My sister and I had collected so many wonderful obituaries that one day I said “I know, I will make them into a quilt”. I started entering the information into my lettering software and began embroidering them. Some took over 3 hours to embroider. Then I had to figure out how to connect them into a cohesive top. I’m not sure if I was successful or not. I just started playing with them on the design wall, measured the negative space and figured out how to join them. The star blocks are Rapid Fire Lemoyne Stars (my favorite). I know it looks a little weird, but I kind of like the randomness of the top. I had real trouble with the borders. The embroidery shrank up the fabric, so I had to rip out what I could and add fabric to try to square it up. I got one end of the top square but not the other. I couldn’t take off the whole border as part of the embroidery went into the seam. I did not want to start over so I just went with it.

These obituaries start in 1900. That’s amazing, 113 years ago!!!

Spilling the Beans a Little Early

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My wonderful daughter-in-law Pam is having a birthday next week. I’m spilling the beans a littler early. I made her this King size quilt to celebrate her birthday, she loves red! It measures 100 inches by 120 inches, phew, that was work! I always make a gift bag for the quilts I make, but this one is too big to fit in the bag. I love Pam, she makes my son very happy! Now they have a lot to be happy about, they are expecting a daughter in August. I’m so happy for them (& I’m happy for myself, a new grandchild to play with and love)! Happy Birthday Pam! I’ll see you next week!

Telling Stories with Machine Embroidery

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I made this quilt for my sister in 2010. While we were searching for family graves and information we found a story on the Town of Vienna, NY’s website. it was full of information about our ancestors. It contained great stories and Civil War information. It was a treasure trove of information, so of course I put it into a quilt called “Yankees in Tara”.

Playing Catch Up before Hurricane Sandy Gets here

Inside the Twister

Inside the Twister Locked and Loaded

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I’m still trying to catch up from teaching all last weekend, but in between embroidering quilt labels, etc. I loaded Inside the Twister on the quilt frame. So I would quilt a row, then run to the embroidery room and check on the embroidery machine. Status: Inside the twister is quilted, waiting for binding, 3 quilt labels are done and half way through a job for my friend Jennifer.

Tomorrow I’m off to teach the Lemoyne star class at Sew E-Z in Portsmouth.

The Spiderweb Top is Done (but not quilted yet)

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My Halloween Spiderweb Quilt top is together, but it is not quilted yet. Life keeps getting in the way of my quilting. It measures 88″ X 104″. I ordered some “Nevermore” by Michael Miller as a tribute to Edgar Allen Poe for the back. It required a special backing. This is my 5th spiderweb quilt. I will be teaching this in November at What’s Your Stitch N Stuff in Virginia Beach.