Monday, January 31, 2011

I have a whole town now (mostly)...


Here are the 12 block-of-the-month blocks of "All Around the Town" (Sue Garmon) assembled into the quilt center.  Woo hoo!

Before adding the "road" stop border (with appliqued cars!) and the outer border, I still have some yellow stars to add and applique and a few more tiny embellishments (lawn art).  I needed to get the hunks of houses pieced together and get it up on the design wall so I could see what other little touches needed adding to make the top feel balanced to me.


I've made some doodles of little tiny things I want to applique...I want to add a sheep or two, a garden gnome, a pink flamingo or two and a cart of fish with a fishing pole.  There are some other little characters running around in my head, but I don't have them on paper yet.


I had to stop and do some quilt cave maintenance.  Remember this?

I needed to sort and put away some scraps that have been piling up.  The bigger pieces get sorted by color (or type) and go into art bin containers.


The tiny bits get sorted into one of four larger bins of wee bits...warm (yellow, orange, pink, red), cool (green, blue, purple), brown/.black, or neutral/white.


I use these bins a lot when working on an applique project like these houses.  Sometimes a small bit is the perfect piece when I am doing really small scale applique motifs.

And I always say, if you want to be a better quilter, hang out with great quilting friends!  Here are a few show and tell items made by my friend Kathy F. (no blog).  She is amazing!  These free pieced houses are just two in a series of Island structures standing on her coastal Maine property. 



 She also made this cool liberated architectural quilt (don't you love the Seattle space needle?!?).

And here is her finished "Roll, Roll, Cotton, Boll" top, the latest mystery quilt from Bonnie Hunter over at Quiltville.com (that is Kathy on the right).  Yep...now that I've seen it up close and personal, I want to make one, too!



It is just stunning!  I don't know how Bonnie keeps coming up with such awesome scrap quilts!!

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)


17 comments:

  1. Love the progress of your Towne quilt but really love to see that pile of scraps...that looks just exactly like mine...ironed into those neat looking piles. OK! I'm going to organize my scraps! Thanks for the inspiration :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your Towne quilt is great...and gnomes! Blue jacket or red?

    I am slowly working on my RRCB...30 minutes a day. So maybe I'll be done in the next year? Your friend's look gorgeous...sigh...someday....

    ReplyDelete
  3. Woo Hoo!! I'm so happy to see some Flamingos will be adorning the quilt....a must have IMHO LOL. The quilt is looking WONDERFUL!!

    I'm not so sure I want to be up on the Space Needle with that skinny join and the tilt LOL.

    Crispy

    ReplyDelete
  4. I've just finished the border for RRCB..it was a fun quilt to piece. Now if I can just get it quilted and on our bed.. You should give it a go.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AMAZING! I am impressed with your quilting skills and envious (in a very beneficial way) of your organizational skills. Something to attain to. THANKS!

    ReplyDelete
  6. great post!
    Your town look fabulous and I like Lindas houses very very cool! The space needle is awesome

    ReplyDelete
  7. Your town quilt is stunning. I just love seeing your progress. Thanks for the wonderful quilt show too. Your friends quilts are gorgeous!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love your Sue Garmon town quilt. I alwys wished I had joined the Quakertown Quilts BOM when they offered it. Thanks for showing Kathy's liberated structures. I met her and saw some of her structures while at the Gwen Marston retreat this past fall. They were really impressive as was her bouy quilt.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh my goodness.. I'm lovin your gnome! Totally cute!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Your town quilt is looking great Teresa, I just love all the personal touches. Looking forward to seeing what you've got for us this month in the Bee Balm..?
    Lizzie
    xxx

    ReplyDelete
  11. I just love your town quilt. I have never attempted to make houses..I guess that will be a project I will need to start.

    I would like to make an architectural quilt like the one your friend made. I need to start thinking of ideas for houses...and more

    beebee

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love your town quilt. I've spent all day sewing on my Roll Roll Cotton Boll, and it feels like I'll never finish. Your scraps are so organized.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Well done on your quilt. You are so efficient when it comes to your fabric.
    Great show and tell from the other ladies.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Teresa, when you say wee bits, how wee are you talking?
    Your Towne looks awesome! I love Sue Garman's patterns.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I just love your All Around Towne. Beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  16. This is beautiful Teresa. You are one organize lady! Love all the bins neatly labels - I'm impressed! Hugs Nat

    ReplyDelete
  17. Town center -- just too cool! Loving the idea of you adding garden gnomes and flamingos and can't wait to see the "border" streets.

    You are right, Kathy makes great stuff, her work is inspiring. Tell her kudos on her RRCB!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for stopping by the quilt cave...I love your feedback!

I am sorry, but you need a Google account/Profile to pose a question or leave a comment. That is very easy to get (FOR FREE) at Google.com.

Of course, you can click on my email and contact me there any time!

I am no longer able to accept comments from Anonymous readers...too much weird spam!