Sunday, April 17, 2016

Introducing Myself!

Hello fellow lovers of color and quilts!

My name is Janice and I am a new quilter!  I'm ready to plunge in!  I have been reading quilter blogs for months now and my mind is boggled at the talent out there in quilt land!  Wow!  As soon as I figure out how to work this blog thingy, I'll add links to the blogs that I love to read.  I can tell you a couple right off the bat that inspired me.  First is Kelly of My Quilt Infatuation.  I can't believe how many quilts this talented lady puts out, not to mention how much I enjoy the bright colors she uses and the patterns she creates.  Scrumptious!

Another one is Leah Day.  I just learned how to free motion quilt on my own machine and have been devouring all the information on her blog that I can.  I joined the Free Motion Quilting Project and am so looking forward to learning more quilting techniques I'm probably going to make two different color ways.

Here are the fabrics that I chose to use for this project.

Project 1
Project 2

I'm kind of puzzled at why I chose these colors because I tend to be drawn to bright, rich colors and neither one of these fit that category!  Curiouser and curiouser (my daughter's drama class just finished performing Alice and Wonderland so that just seemed to fit).

So you're going to see all my projects, warts and all and hopefully I can share what I learn as I go!

Another project I have is a small quilt with western themed fabric made from 2 charm packs and 2 mini charm packs.    This only made 21 blocks which is kind of an odd number for anything!     Anyway, I'm trying to decide what I want to do with these.  Sash them with something?  Just sew them straight together?  Make a checkerboard with alternating blocks of something else?  Make another whole set of blocks to make a bigger size quilt?  What would you do?


Here is another exciting thing that I'm going to need help deciding what to do with!  I was given a quilt top by my mother-in-law that is very old and has been completely hand pieced.  Unfortunately, she has no idea who made it or where it came from.  She said it might possibly be made by her grandmother but there was no way to know.   I did not recognize the pattern but after asking someone more knowledgable than I am about quilt piecing patterns, I was told it is called a bow tie quilt.  It has bright happy colors with lots of yellow.  I wonder if anybody could tell me about what year you think these fabrics are from?  I am guessing about 1940's??  What do you think?

Another decision I am going to have to make with this quilt is how to finish it and how to quilt it.  As you can see in the following picture, there is a yellow border; however, the border is only on three sides.  For some reason the fourth side was removed.  I would either have to find some yellow to match this color, or take off the three borders that are already there and replace them with something else.  Decisions!  Decisions!


I was also given this quilt  which is BLEHHH!    However . . .

the back is scrumptious!!  And I think would look pretty wonderful folded up in a display cabinet with some other colorful creations.


Well, that's probably enough for now!  I was actually going to write more but apparently there is a limit on how much space you can use for one post.  So I'll save it for another day!

I would love to hear from anybody who happens  stumble upon my blog.  Please introduce yourself!  would love to meet some kindred spirits and hear what projects you are working on.

Thanks for stopping by!

Today, I'm linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts

Janice



18 comments:

  1. You did it! I'm so proud of you! You will have to bring those quilt tops over on our next sew day!

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    1. You KNOW you are the one who inspired me to do this. :) When I come over next, be prepared to be interviewed!

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  2. Oh My girl!!! I am going to love this. I want to learn to quilt so bad. Do you give lessons?

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    1. Yay!! I love that you are going to love it! I don't know about lessons but I am happy to share what I know. Are you interested in the piecing part of it or the quilting part?

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  3. Both. My mom can't quilt anymore and she has one started for a nephew and asked me to finish it. UGH, It overwhelms me to even look at it. Then I found a really nice quilt top and thought I would finish it someday for a new grandbaby. :)

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    1. I would be happy to help! In fact, it would be really fun to document your progress on my blog! Breaking it down into bits will take the intimidation factor out of it. You can do it! How fun. Let's talk on Sunday. Bring 'em with ya!

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  4. Hi Janice, welcome to blog land. I found you via the Lets Bee Social link up and I'm a new blogger too, since January this year. This is a great first post, I didn't have any pics in mine, and speaking of pics yours are lovely quality. Linking up is the best way to get to know other quilters I found, and just everyone is so friendly and helpful. If there is anything I can help you with please let me know, after all I have all of three months experience LOL.
    Smiles
    Kate

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    1. Hi Kate! Thanks so much for the warm welcome. You made my day and I sent you an e-mail. :)

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  5. Hi Janice, Welcome to Blogging! Great choice in fabrics for your next quilts. I am kind of a newbie in quilting too, I have jumped in with both feet and I am Loving every minute of it. I too follow Leah, I just am confused on where to start with her videos, if you have a suggestion I would appreciate it.

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    1. Hi Heide, Welcome aboard! If you are talking about where to get started on Leah's Block Party, go to this page and scroll down a bit and you will see a bunch of videos to watch. Watch the Introduction, Picking Fabric Colors and then just start watching the others in the order they are posted. You can piece block 1 and then watch the videos on how to mark and baste. A little further up on the page you will see a link on where to go to purchase each block pattern which will come in a PDF format and you can refer to them as you're sewing. It's easier to do that than referring to the video. But I would still go ahead and watch the video on piecing at least once. Hope that helps!

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  6. I forgot to give you the link in my other reply:
    http://www.freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/p/machine-quilting-block-party.html

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  7. Well you are starting off with a bang Janice. My very first time joining a linky party was with Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts. She is so wonderful!
    Great idea to do Leah Day's block party! That should be a lot of fun!
    The fabrics you chose are really nice combinations.
    I am really curious too about what time period your bow tie quilt comes from and who made it. The bow ties are different than any I have ever seen too.
    Welcome to Quilty Blogland (QBL)!

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  8. Well hello! And what a lot of yummy projects you are starting off with! Love the bow tie quilt, quite different to others I've seen. And that peachy backing fabric is a great find, maybe even worth considering unpicking the ties?

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  9. Have you thought of reaching out to the quilt historian about dating your quilt? They have an eye for fabric and can tell you when a certain print was produced. If a print was produced in 1930, for example, you know your quilt is newer than that.

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    1. Yes, I have actually tried that but so far nobody has responded. I'll keep trying! :)

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  10. The quilting world is so wonderful and it sounds like you are off to a great start!
    I love the little western blocks. How cute!

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  11. Great first blog post! The top from your mother-in-law is such a treasure. The colors are so vivid. From the photo, it looks like they just added the border and cut off the blocks. If you didn't want to make more of the five and dime blocks, it would make a great baby quilt for a boy.

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I LOVE meeting new quilting friends and always respond to comments so I'd love to hear from you!