blogger's quilt festival~~~color curves

It is always fun when Amy hosts the Blogger's Quilt Festival!

I am entering my mini quilt, Color Curves, this time around.

  

It all began like this:

While playing with my solid scraps and curve piecing I came up with this:

And from there I decided to stop and make it into a mini quilt called Color Curves.

It measures 18 inches X 20 inches.

I used my favorite big stitches and variegated thread to quilt this colorful mini quilt.

A friend of mine in the OKCMQG is taking some of our guilds small quilts to

Budapest for a show in November.  I am sending this mini quilt for a door prize!

Thank you for stopping by my blog : )

piece,

elizabeth

  

around the world blog hop

Today is my turn to join the Around The World Blog Hop.  

I was invited to participate by my friend Amanda from The Cozy Pumpkin.

We are both members of the OKCMQG and I hope you will check out

Amanda's blog, as well as the OKCMQG blog.

Now here goes….

What am I working on?

I have joined an Instagram swap called Liberty of London Round 1,  because

I am a big fan of LOL fabric.  I visited Liberty years ago on a family trip

to London and that is when my love for LOL fabric began : )  My husband brought

home some fabric from a recent business trip to London, and I am very excited to make

something with my growing fabric stash for this swap!  

Until I receive the information about my swap partner, I thought I'd make

a little project with my LOL stash using the technique I call

"turning charms on point".  It is my most popular post and also one of my 

first posts : ).  You will find the original blog post here.

These 2.5 inch LOL squares are waiting to be turned on point!  I will

blog more about this project later this week.

If you are interested, here are a few posts that contain 

projects using the turning charms on point technique:

journal cover

comfort quilt

table runner

baby quilt

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I think this is a difficult question because I am not unique.  One thing that I

do like to add to most of my quilts is big stitch quilting.  I sometimes machine

quilt my quilts, but I really like the look a big stitch gives to a quilt.

Why do I write/create what I do?

I enjoy making things…I am a maker!  

I absolutely love color.  My grandmother taught me to sew 

when I was a girl and I have always loved to make things.  It is very satisfying 

to finish a quilt but I also love to garden, and I dabble in weaving and knitting.

I want to learn to crochet.  I think creating things is just good for the soul, it is who I am.

How does my writing/creating process work?

I rarely follow a pattern when making my quilts.  I like to buy patterns and I

look at other quilts for inspiration, but I don't like to duplicate someone else's work. 

I usually get an idea, draw it out on paper, and pull my fabrics….a pretty simple process! 

As I mentioned before, I love color and enjoy trying new things and getting out of my comfort zone.
I have made many mini quilts over the years so that I could try a new technique.

I find solid fabrics to be very inspiring, and I am using them more and more in my projects.

I have asked Cindy from Live a Colorful Life blog to join the
Around the World Blog Hop next Monday, September 22.  I have followed Cindy's blog
for years, and her way with using solids has been a constant inspiration for me.
 I bought a darling selvedge pincushion from her
several years ago and there is a picture of it here.
Please check out Cindy's post on the 22nd and be sure to take some time to
look around her blog and enjoy!

I also asked Mary from Molly Flanders Makerie.  She has already been asked to join the
hop, so please check out her post on the 22nd too.  Mary is one of the people
that has inspired me in my big stitch quilting.  She calls it pick stitching : )
When I first started my big stitches, I emailed Mary about how to hide my knots.
She gave me great instruction and encouragement : )

Jacey from Jaceycraft blogs about knitting, sewing and cooking.
I also enjoy following her on Instagram because I love her cat pictures as well as her
crafty endeavors.  She inspires me with all the different projects that she is able
to accomplish…oh, how I wish I could knit like she does.
  And like Mary, Jacey has already been asked to join the hop, so please check
out her post on the 22nd, as well as the others!  You will be glad that you did : )

Thanks for stopping by….
piece,
elizabeth

banner day

The OKCMQG is having a quilt show in October.  We are gathering banners

from our members to hang from the rafters!  We have over 60 members, so if

we each make two banners, we will have a lovely display above our quilts.

I first made these little cuties for "To Boston With Love" that I posted about here.

These are the banners that I made for Boston...

The tutorial can be found here, and believe me, they are a quick project that make quite

a cheerful display : )

For the October show banners, I started with strips of colors that were chosen for us

to use, so that all of our different banners will go together well.  Our local quilt shop,

 Oklahoma Quiltworks, sold bundles of fabric in our colors making it easy for people like me!

I used improv piecing by cutting the strips of fabric at different angles and this

is what I came up with for my banners.

As one of my FB followers commented:  "It looks like they are holding hands" : )

I look forward to seeing what my guild friends come up with when

making their banners!

piece,

elizabeth

in the garden

Not much has been going on in my sewing room, but I thought I'd show

you where I have been….in the garden : )

Ready to plant!

I planted two lilac bushes.

Geraniums for the front pots.

There is still some space for annuals to plant….soon!

Hope you are enjoying your neck of the woods.

piece,

elizabeth

a little improv

I am having some fun playing with solids and improv piecing!

I don't know where it is going, but I am enjoying the bright colors of the journey : )

piece,

elizabeth

little quilt monday~~~okcmqg bom

Little Quilt Monday

June is my month to provide a block for the OKCMQG BOM.

(Oklahoma City Modern Quilt Guild Block of the Month : )

You can find the tutorial for my block here at the 

OKCMQG blog.

I think it will make an awesome pillow or make

four blocks and it will be a darling mini quilt!

I hope you will make this block, and please let me know if you do : )

Now it is your turn to link up something to

Little Quilt Monday

1.  This link-up party is for any small project.  For example, mini quilts, doll quilts, baby quilts, place mats, mug rugs,

wall quilts, table runners, etc.

2.  They can be a WIP(work-in-progress) or finished.

3.  If it is something from the past there is no need to write a new blog post, just link the one that you have already written, and, please link back to my blog post.

4.   If you are interested, you can add your pictures to my flickr group here, or join my Facebook group here. 

Let's inspire each other!

piece,

elizabeth

handkerchief dance

I promised to sprinkle a few of my experiences in South Africa in my blog posts.  Today I am going to tell you about some young girls that returned from several months living in the bush, without their families.  This is a tradition for the young girls when they are around 12 or 13 years old to learn about being a young woman in their village.
(The boys also go off by themselves, but not with the girls.)

We were visiting a Women's Craft Center, where the women of the village sell some of the beautiful things they have made with beads, wood, fabric, and paint.  Some of the women were there, sitting under the trees, working on their projects.  

The girls were there to celebrate their return from the bush by dancing.

I loved all the bright colors in their dance clothes.  Look at the feathers, beads,

embroidery, shells, and...handkerchiefs!

Oh my, they danced and blew whistles at the same time....they were

really making the dust fly : )  They danced off and on for at least 20 minutes.

(I didn't get a picture of the young woman who would beat a drum creating

the beat for the dance.)

It was beautiful.

I enjoyed seeing the joy in their faces and their dancing!

piece,

elizabeth

little quilt monday~~~amish stitching

Little Quilt Monday

I have been hand stitching a little quilt top that I have had in my WIP pile for a while.  I love the Amish design with the bright, bold solid fabrics.  I chose a turquoise crochet thread for the big stitches.

It is about 28 X 28 inches.  It will make a nice wall hanging or table topper.

I hope to have it finished by the end of the week : )

Now it is your turn to link up something to

Little Quilt Monday

1.  This link-up party is for any small project.  For example, mini quilts, doll quilts, baby quilts, place mats, mug rugs,

wall quilts, table runners, etc.

2.  They can be a WIP(work-in-progress) or finished.

3.  If it is something from the past there is no need to write a new blog post, just link the one that you have already written, and, please link back to my blog post.

4.   If you are interested, you can add your pictures to my flickr group here, or join my Facebook group here. 

Let's inspire each other!

piece,

elizabeth

wip~~~hand stitching rainbow trail

I have almost finished hand stitching my table runner called Rainbow Trail.  It is one of the projects from Curves Camp(Rachel called this project Rainbow Road).  I don't usually name my quilts, do you?  I guess I am not very creative when it comes to giving my quilts names : )

I am using variegated crochet thread with my hand stitching.

It is coming along and I am almost finished.  Now to decide what fabric to use for my binding.

It is so colorful!  I wish I was good at naming quilts....maybe I will start giving them names of songs from my youth.

piece,

elizabeth

I am linking this post to WIP Wednesday.

bunting

I am enrolled in Rachel's Curves Camp.  Each week she is going to show us techniques to use when sewing with curves, and she is also giving us some homework : )   This week one of our projects is to make curved bunting.....she is starting us out on an easy, fun project!

I chose fabric from my stash(of course).  I have a yellow sewing room so yellow was the color choice!

The fabric is from my Kaffe Fassett stash...one of my favorite designers.

As you can see, I have the bunting where I can see it when I sew....very cheery and fun!  

piece,

elizabeth