My Own Design

For a while I have had images of quilt designs floating around in my head and I finally bought some fabric and got inspired to come up with my "Prairie Points of Interest" quilt.  I have wanted to make a quilt that represents where I live in the Texas Panhandle.  In this design the center focus blocks represent the wild vegetation that is naturally treeless, the flying geese are representative of the Canadian Geese that migrate to this area over the winter (they are everywhere, and I love it), the circles show the 'Playa Lakes' that abound in the region, the stripes are the furrows of the countless fields that are planted in corn, cotton, sunflowers, or wheat, and the open spaces convey the feeling of openness that surrounds the high plains.  I intended for it to have a modern feel to it and the vertical quilting maintains that feeling.  I am really pleased with it and proud of myself for doing it.  I even put a label on the back, yeah!

Bird Nerd

I am a confessed 'bird nerd.'  I watch birds, I wonder about birds, I take pictures of birds, I make bird pincushions, and now I have some adorable bird fabric I am going to make a quilt out of.  I am not sure what the plan is yet, but I will keep you posted.

Sharlot's Quilts

Sharlot has kept me busy for a couple of months with her quilts and here are her last two.  The 'Perfect Ten' was quilted with the Bombay Blossom panto.  The 'Country Snowmen' was lightly custom quilted that includes a holly berry border and some continuous line quilting in the the checkerboard areas.

Flying Geese Tutorial

One of my favorite quilt blocks is flying geese.  Here is the easiest way I have found to make these great blocks.  This method has zero wasted fabric and it makes 4 flying geese blocks at a time.  Good Luck!

These measurements make (4) 3x6 inch finished geese or 3 1/2 x 6 1/2 inch.  Start with 1 square 7 1/4 in. square.  This becomes your center triangle in the flying geese.  You will also need (4) 3 7/8 inch square these become the side units of the flying geese.

 Draw a diagonal line on all four 3 7/8 squares.

 Place two smaller squares on opposite ends of large square as shown.  Corners should overlap in center. Pin.

 Stitch a 1/4" seam on each side of the drawn line.

 Cut in half on drawn line.

 Press seams open towards small triangles.

 Place remaining small squares on bottom point of each sewn unit as shown. Pin.

 Stitch a 1/4" seam on each side of drawn line.

 Cut in half on drawn line.

 Press open triangle units.

 Whaala!!!  You have FOUR flying geese in a very short time!      Here are some measurements for common sizes of flying geese.
Finished sizes include 1/4" seam allowance:
Finished 1"x2"     Cut one 3 1/4" and four 1 7/8"
Finished 2"x4"     Cut one  5 1/4" and four 2 7/8"
Finished 2 1/2" x 5"   Cut one 6 1/4" and four 3 3/8"
Finished 3"x6"     Cut one 7 1/4" and four 3 7/8"
Finished 3 1/2" x 7"   Cut one 8 1/4" and four 4 3/8"                                                    

Etsy Items

Yes, I finally posted some of my "Wonderful Woolies" to sell on Etsy.  It was very easy to set up as a seller on Etsy and I am looking forward to entering the on-line store world.  Here are some pics of what I listed on Etsy.  I am listed under robinstar quilting and I have posted a link on my blog.

Wonderful Woolies

Here are some more of my Wonderful Woolies pincushions that I make.  I love to work with wool.  I have a dear friend, Nancy, from Midway, Utah, that taught me how to felt with wool and this is where it has taken me.  I have tubs of wool and yarn and old sweaters that get turned into these.  This is a new pattern that I drew up yesterday as we had too much snow to go outside and go to work in.  What do I do with them?...I sometimes sell them, but mostly I give them away to quilting friends.

Sharlott's Baltimore Bunnies

Here is a fun customer quilt that I finished yesterday on our 'snow day.'  Sharlott did a great job with this quilt as there are hundreds of individual pieces that were machine appliqued.  I outlined each piece or group and then did a small meander or stipple on the blocks and a slightly larger stipple in the border.  The red and blue sashing was quilted with a flower/leaf pattern and the large blue/red shapes in the outer border have a curled feather in them.

Jenny's Churn Dash

Here is a picture of Jenny's Quilt made with the same line of fabrics.  See my quilt on the next post.

Grandma's Churn Dash

Two of my sisters, Jenny and Sherilyn, and myself bought charm packs of this fabric line 3-4 years ago when it was on a clearance table.  We bought three packets each and then we figured out how to turn the charms into a "Churn Dash" block.  Two of us, Jenny and I, have now finished our blocks and the quilt, and Sherilyn is in the process of completing hers.  It is fun to see how different quilts can be even though we all started with the same basic idea.  Here is my completed quilt.  I quilted it with "Feathered Curl" panto.  We chose this block because Grandma Gardner had two quilts of this pattern that we liked.

Woven Fabric

Here are pictures of a woven fabric technique that I want to try.  I took pictures of this last summer at Whimsey Cottage in Salt Lake City.  They gave me permission to take the pics and they want people to try this technique so I thought I would share.  It would be great to make a bag out of it or foundation pieces for quilt blocks with applique.