Bee Block, Log Cabins, and a Winner!

It's been a very nice long weekend for me.  I got to attend a sewing class, I went for a drive with my husband up into the mountains, and I'm finishing up some little projects.  Plus, I have selected a winner for the Grow Your Blog Giveaway.

The first order of business was to make up a block for my Stash Bee Hive 4 group #stashbee. This is a fun, modern block to construct. It was easy and I love the way the colors in the fabric played out. Queen Kathy wanted navy blue or dark yellow on one side, and modern neutrals on the other side.  Hope she likes this one - it's going clear to Australia! Super fun, fun!

The class I took on Saturday was to learn how to use the Curvy Log Cabin Ruler, created by Jean Ann Wright (former editor in chief of Quilt Magazine).  Jean Ann and her sister, Janet Houts, are now pattern designers, and Jean Ann has been having fun designing quilting rulers, too.

I didn't have time in class to get the other 'set' done. If I had, you could see how the curviness of the blocks comes into play.  In my block, the white background is smaller than the printed blocks. When put together, it gives an optical illusion of curves.  I need to make a mere 57 more blocks for my quilt, so I do believe this quilt is my long-term project!

These are 6" blocks, and four blocks make one larger block. Very scrappy!  I thought about doing each one the same, but that taxes my brain too much. So I chose to go scrappy.

Yesterday, I didn't sew or quilt a single stitch. Nope, not me. My husband and I drove up north about 60 miles to see how the Stanley Basin in the heart of the Sawtooth Mountain Range was fairing this year.  While our snow has melted in the valley (elevation 5,500 feet), there hasn't been too much snow melt up high.  We have a cabin that sits about 7,200+ feet, and the peaks are 10,000 or higher in these photos. So lots of snow in the high country. Which is a good thing for our drought-stricken state.

View from Galena Summit looking north across the Sawtooth Range.

This is the view from our cabin. Kinda hard to take, but someone's gotta do it!

The Sawtooths and Mt. Heyburn and McGowan peaks. Redfish Lake sits on the other side of the trees.

Oh! My winner!  It was a fun month to get responses from the Grow Your Blog Giveaway.  I met a lot of nice people and followed several new blogs myself.  When it came right down to it, the winner of four fat quarters of wonderful Kaffe Fassett Collection fabrics is:

Diane Wingo

Thank you, everyone, for participating, and thank you Vicki at Two Bags Full for hosting this event. It was a pleasure to participate!

I'm going on a road trip soon, so I have this strange sensation that Fabric From Far Away is calling my name. Perhaps there just might be some Stash Collecting in my near future?

Quilting with a smile,

Barb

February Goal Finished for A Lovely Year of Finishes

Trying to tie up loose ends before I head out for a business trip and then a vacation in the warm sunshine!  I'm glad to report that I completely finished my batik quilt as my February project for A Lovely Year of Finishes.

It sure is a bright one.  Here's some photos of the finished quilt. I think I will list it in my Etsy Shop.

Short and sweet post today because I have a WHOLE lot on my To Do List.  But I really did enjoy working on this quilt, especially the quilting!  What are you working on this week?

Quilting with a Vacation Smile!

Barb

Modern Curvy Log Cabin Designs

I had the most fun last month! I was fortunate enough to be asked to quilt two sample quilts for pattern designer Janet Houts. She was making quilts for her sister, Jean Ann Wright, to demonstrate the versatile use of Jean's new Curvy Log Cabin ruler. 

Designed and pieced by Janet Houts and quilted by Barb Neiwert

The design of the ruler creates a pleasing visual slant that gives the traditional log cabin a modern twist. What fun!

Rainbow Swirls designed and pieced by Jean Ann Wright

And here's Janet showing off yet another version of the Curvy Log Cabin. This one is called Wiggly Worms Log Cabin.

Janet Houts with her Wiggly Worms Log Cabin Quilt. Quilted by Barb Neiwert.

This new ruler can create such a diversity of fun, modern designs. I just had to learn more about, so I've signed up for a class that Janet and Jean Ann are teaching locally in Sun Valley on Feb. 14. If you're in southern Idaho, I think they have a few seats still open for the class.

This Wiggly Worm was such a fun piece, I just did a swoopy sort of double circle motion throughout the body of the quilt to give it some movement. The border was a fun "S" swoop.

Circles, circles everywhere!

The backside of Wiggly Worms Log Cabin

I'm going to make the Rainbow Swirls Log Cabin - I love the carefree feeling this quilt evokes!

This quilt was made with the 8" Curvy Log Cabin Ruler. I love the neat patterns it creates!

Kaffe Fassett fabrics play well on this Curvy Log Cabin lovely.

Well, that's about it for pictures.  I just wanted to share these lovely quilts with everyone. In case you'd like to make your own, the Curvy Log Cabin Ruler is made by Creative Grids and both the Wiggly Worm and Rainbow Swirls patterns are published by Cut Loose Press.  You can also get them from the Sun Valley Fabric Granary in Hailey.

For now, I'm looking for the perfect bright fabrics to use in my own Rainbow Swirl quilt. Hmmm......Kaffe would be perfect!  Or wait! How about some great Hoffman batiks?  Looking forward to the class!

Quilting with a smile,
Barb

February ALYOF Goal - Batik Beauty!

I was organizing my fabric last week and ran across a Layer Cake of batiks from Moda called Make Waves.  I didn't have a good place to store them, so I decided right then and there to cut them up and work them into a quilt.

I happened to remember a little video from Missouri Star Quilt Co. about slashing up a layer cake. However, I altered the slicing a bit and instead of cutting the first sewn block into half, I cut it into a 3.5-inch section and a 6.5-inch section, just to give it a little variety.

Here's the layout:

When putting together a scrappy quilt, I've learned to snap a photo of the layout, look at it on the computer, and I can see if something seems out of place.  After looking at the pic above, I rearranged a little bit, and then sewed it all together.

My goal for February will be to get it quilted, bound, and finished!  I actually got the quilting finished yesterday, so I'm well on my way to meeting February's goal - go, me!

I used a large, swirly rectangular echoing quilting motif. I also used purple variegated thread - how fun is that? It was a fun one to freehand quilt.  It actually reminds me of topographic lines.

I hate to speak too soon, but I'm feeling accomplished. Now to work on the binding!

Quilting with a smile,
Barb