Catena Quilt

 As I was walked around taking pictures at the

IQF Long Beach Show

I heard  a group of women

ooohing and aaahing over

Catena

by Timma Tarr

of

South Hadley, Massachusetts

 "This is a Happy Quilt!" one exclaimed.

The others enthusiastically chimed in 

in agreement.

 Timma wrote

"Catena means 

'a connected series of related things'

 This quilt is my interpretation of an 

Endless Chain quilt from the 1940's

that belongs to my mom.

That quilt is full of fabrics on a white background

and has yellow centers.

I kept the yellow circles, but changed the colors

of the blocks so that they are connected and not random.

 The pattern for the blocks can be found in the

Dec/Jan 2013 issue of Quilters Newsletter Magazine."

 I personally was especially drawn to

Catena, because I have a

work in progress

of the very same design.

*I'm in the midst of hand appliqueing 

all of the circle centers :)

 Another reason I love

Timma's design is 

her use of Kaffe Fassett fabrics.

Love those Kaffes!

Bumble Bees In Flight Quilt

 It must be Spring

because I have been drawn 

to quilts

sharing the theme of

bumble bees

lately.

 Bumble Bees In Flight 

by Clarene O. Smith

was on display at the

Arizona Quilter's Guild Show

 I really like Clarene's use 

of yoyo clusters through out the quilt.

Very striking  

3-D effect

 set against the black background.

 Clarene wrote:

"This quilt is scrap yo yo's, 

miscellaneous squares,

and leaves, 

and my first attempt at machine track quilting"

 I think another reason I really liked this quilt

is because the layout is very unique

and quite different than anything I've seen before.

 The yo yo's along the bottom

form a hexagon shape.

A very original look.

I'm not sure how Clarene came up with the name 

for her quilt,

but I can tell you that

as I stood there viewing her work,

I kept humming

parts of

Flight Of The Bumble Bee

October Show and Tell/ Part 2

More fun quilts from the Nimble Thimbles Quilt Guild 



Summer may be over for most of the people in the United States, but we are just dropping below 100 degrees here in the Phoenix area.

Winter is our season to go outdoors and enjoy pleasant sunny days.

We will be able to picnic clear until May or June.





I fell in love with this wonderful Hexagon watermelon quilt!

Pinwheel quilts are timeless, and a favorite for all.

 From a distance, this might look like a panel quilt.

 

 But upclose, you can see a beautiful example of Broderie Perse, with the entire piece hand quilted.

wow.

Pink and blacks that will become a gift for a grand daughter's bedroom.



A lot of beautiful quilts shared by talented guild members.

Grandmother's Flower Garden Class

Years ago, one of the first quilts I made was a Grandmother's Flower Garden.
Since then, I have taught many classes the wonderful method of English paper piecing, where each hexagon is sewn by hand.

This may not look like a quilt a beginner could make, but trust me on this one.
Time consuming yes! But easy enough to construct that even a 10 year old can master.

I taught a class last night at Quilted Works here in St. George, Utah, and had everyone wave hello. I had a few new quilters in the group and they agreed that this is a really easy and fun quilt to make. In fact, as they finished their first flowers, many said "This could be addictive!"

My pattern came from the book Grandma's Quiting Bee, which can still be found on Amazon. (for as little as .84 cents)

Grandmother's Flower Garden was the most popular pattern of 1925. Many women who never made another quilt finished a GFG.
(One lady laughed and said it was probably because this quilt took a life time to complete!)

Hexagon templates have been found from as early as 1770, and considered to be one of the oldest quilt patterns.
The original roots of GFG came from 18th Century England, brought to the United States by immigrants as early as 1807.
Grandmother's Flower Garden is also thought to be the first published quilt pattern in America.

So fun to see the enthusiasm as students finish their first flowers.

Some were well organized before they even came to class.

Dare I mention that there are 2,277 hexagons in the queen sized quilt I made?
Not wanting to chase everyone out of the room, I did show the class many alternative hexagon projects that do not require as much time and effort.

Hexagon Needlebooks

Tonight I am teaching a class that involves hexagons, so I've been looking for various ways to use the shape.
I found a great tutorial for Hexagon Needlebooks over on My Three Sons.

These little notebooks are easy to do and are a fun way to use scraps of focus fabrics.

Hexagons are the perfect shape to do a little fussy cutting.

The inside of the needlebook is made of wool.

This fat quarter was a gift from a friend,

that contained wonderful designs that could also be used for the back.

I'm sure you can find D-rings in many places, but I found mine at my local quilt store, 4 for around $1.50

Pentagon Flowers

I have done my best to resist signing up for the Hexagon Quilt Alongs that so many have been joining lately.
For a person who would love to "do it all" in the quilting world, I've had to prioritize and set limits.

Then I saw Sarah Fielke's (The Last Piece) Pentagon Flowers, and was immediately taken in.

Don't you just LOVE how these scrappy flowers are set in black?

Years ago I made a Grandmother's Flower Garden using the same technique of English Paper Piecing. All sewn by hand, and a labor of love. I don't know how many hours I put into this queen sized quilt. Maybe several hundred? I really didn't think I would ever sign on for another quilt of the same magnitude.

But then I found myself ordering a few packages of paper pieces.

Justification: a great hand project to take along on summer road trips.

And another great way to use up scraps.

Come on over to my house. I can rationalize just about any quilt project.