Cartwheel Finished

i am happy to report that i have finished my Cartwheel quilt.

if you are a reader of my blog you know i started this at a class at Sisters that Tula Pink taught.

in 2011.

better late then never.....

right???

i used Tula's Prince Charming fabric for this quilt.

i quilted this myself.

quilting something different in each one of the spokes in the wheels.

i quilted swirls in the background fabric.

i love this quilt.

not a little love but a lot of love this quilt.

the back.  i love pieced backs.  

a little whimsical fun for the back.

the binding.  simple.

i love this quilt.

seriously love this quilt.

just in case you didn't get it before.

i love this quilt!!!!

happy sewing

Space Dust

hey there.  i will be in St Louis for work when this posts.  i flew out Sunday at o'dark thirty.  so, again i have a week with no sewing.  it should be criminal.  the fine should be mandatory time spent at the sewing machine.

i wanted to post something sewing related today even though i don't have any WIPs to share.  so, with out further ado i give you.....

Space Dust by Tula Pink

you all know that i was at Sisters this past year & that i took a class from Tula while i was there.

i had a couple of pics of Space Dust in my Sisters post but i have been meaning to go back and share the others that i took as well.

some showing the amazing quilting done by Angela.  see the space ship.

the star.

the ladder with the little guy.

the rocket booster.

the falling star.

i love her swirls.

an amazing quilt put together by two amazingly talented ladies.

maybe in the next 7 days i can serve my sentence & spend sometime at my sewing machine.

Finally.....

if you are looking for the giveaway click here.

finally......

its finally finished.  i finished my Opening Day quilt.

its not quilted.

but the top is finally finished.

after.....  2 plus years & what i am sure was a million pieces.

its finished.

i think i got the pattern on my 1st trip to Sisters.  i got the fabric on maybe my 3rd trip to Sisters.  its made with fat quarters & i am very pleased with how it turned out. 

Cartwheels Class With Tula Pink

you all know by now that i took a class from Tula Pink when i was at Sisters this year for their Outdoor Quilt Show. i have been wanting to get this post up but time & issues with Blogger it has taken me longer then i wanted it to. but here it is.

the class that i took was her Cartwheels quilt pattern. she brought her quilt with her. not only is the pattern amazing but the quilting on it is amazing as well. it was quilted by Angela Walters. the detail in the quilting is wonderful & it really accents the pattern.

the back of one of Tula's quilts that has her Parisville Hair Spray Can label on it. Love It!!!

one of the quilts that Tula brought to share with us was this one that she had played around with removing color from the fabric. as you can see above the pink/red has been removed from the flowers. this was done with Rit Color Remover. Rite Color Remover removes the red dye from the fabric 1st.

this whole quilt has had the fabric altered either one way or another. Tula told us that she also uses bleach to change the coloring of fabric. we all gasped when we heard that. she said that she starts with 2 cups of bleach in a medium to full washer. bleach removes yellow dye from the fabric 1st.

again, here is a pic showing the normal fabric on the left with the pink feathers & then the color removed fabric on the right with the neutral colored feathers.

another quilt that Tula brought to share is her Spiked Punch pattern. she said that this quilt was made mostly from scraps & that it is her most popular pattern.

Tula also shared her Modern Alphabet quilt with us. she was teaching that class the next day. she showed us the fabric that she was going to be using & she had picked a navy for the background. i wonder how that quilt turned out?

taking a class from her is great. i learned a lot from her. one of the greatest things i learned from her is how she pins her fabric. yes. she pins her fabric. Tula said that she is a traditionalist when it comes to the sewing part of making quilts. anyways, back to pinning. most people pin their fabric like i have the pins on the top half. Tula pins her fabric like i have the pins on the bottom half. i asked her why & she told me that they are easier to take out as she is sewing. she just uses her right hand & flicks the pins out as they go by before the needle. i tried it in class & its now how i pin. it really saves time because you don't have to stop & remove pins. you just keep sewing & flicking them out as you go. i then used my magnetic pin holder to gather them all up.

a few other sewing things that i learned from Tula during the class is that she sews most everything with grey thread.

she also sews standing up. yep. we talked a lot about that one because i have back issues & that is the reason she sews standing up. its easier on her back. she just uses bed risers to raise up her sewing table.

oh, she also has 3 machines that each have a project on them at all times. that way if she gets board with one she can move onto something else. brilliant idea. now i just need a couple more machines.

Tula is great to take a class from. she helped me put my fabrics together for my Cartwheel quilt. Tula has a great story of how she got into the business & you can tell how passionate she is about what she does. she cranks out the quilts as well each year. i think she told us anywhere from 80 to 100 each year.

i know i already shared these but this is what i got done in class with her.

i am getting caught back up on some sewing stuff & hoping to get back to this quilt soon. i really would like to get it finished because i love Prince Charming & i want to get it done to see it all together.

if you ever have the chance to take a class from Tula Pink don't think twice about it. do it. it is well worth the time. she is a wealth of knowledge & a blast to spend a day with.

thanks Tula for the education, the fun & the memories.

WIP Wednesday

i'm back. i think. for awhile there i thought i had lost my mind and then someone told me 'you haven't really lost your mind. you may have stopped paying attention to it, but it's still there.' very true statement. so, i am going to start paying attention to it & maybe i will get some stuff done.
so this is what i have been up to with regards to sewing.
a few bee blocks for the different bee groups that i belong to.

i am caught up with my July blocks & now i need to get to work on the August blocks.

i have also been working on a baby quilt for a gal i work with. its roughly 48" by 48" so i went to my scraps of batting to see if i had something that would work. i didn't but i did have 2 pieces that i could sew together to make work. have you ever done this before? i just put the 2 edges together and zigzag down them.

it works great for using up those scrap pieces of batting.

i found this fabric on my trip to Sisters & knew it would be perfect for the baby quilt.

i did simple squares just alternating the 2 fabrics. i had lost the light by the time i got it quilted last night so its a bad picture. once i get the binding on i will take another one to share with you.

the backing is flannel except for 1 corner of it. somehow i did the math wrong on that trip and was short. that was the 1st part of July when i had lost my brain. now that i know its still there i shouldn't be having issues like this. right??????

hope you all are having a great week!

Sisters Bag

ok, so this is my 3rd attempt at this post. 1st it posted last week without pics. 2nd i re-did it this morning & went to post it & the words were gone. grrrrrr.................. i am not loving Blogger right now.
each year i go to Sisters for their Outdoor Quilt Show. i go with with a group of friends & i have a rule that you must make a bag to take to Sisters. so this is my bag for our 2011 trip.

the fabric is Prince Charming by Tula Pink. laminate on the bottom and regular cotton on the top.

i used the Teardrop Bag pattern from this Amy Butler book. i mainly followed the pattern with the exception of the pockets on the inside. i did those a little different.

i love how the 2 frogs show up on the sides of the bag. this was my 2nd attempt at this bag. the 1st time i had the frog in the middle & with the pleat you couldn't see him. so i cut a 2nd bag & like this much better.

a shot of the inside of my bag. i used a magnetic closure on the bag. i like the kind that are sewin in on the wrong side of the fabric. with these you are not pulling at the fabric each time you open your bag.

so there you have it. my 2011 Sisters bag. i got a lot of comments on it while i was at Sisters. people liked it because of the colors & shape. then they realized that there were frogs on it & liked it even more.

i use the bag often & really enjoy it. i have a couple more posts from my trip to Sisters that i hope to get up this week.

on another note. the quilt top that i made for Venezie Designs was featured here in a blog post. also, you should go check out Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict & see all of the quilts that were made for the H2H Challenge.