Antique Half Square Triangles

This is another antique quilt that lives at my Mom's house.

Another of my Mom's Lovely Quilts

The fabrics in this one remind me of the calm, sepia tones that are popular in Japanese quilting right now.  Right before I posted this, I found the cute brown fabric with the little colored red balls has been almost exactly reproduced by D's Selection fabrics from Japan.  What a crazy coincidence that my friend, Mary, just happened to purchase some of it the day I was writing this post!

Anyone know what the name of this block is?  I found one similar to it called "Birds in the Sky," but it only had 3 half-square triangle blocks.  This one seems more like the entire flock of birds, not just a few... (I admit, I'm too lazy to look through hundreds of blocks to find the name, but I'd love to know!)

Completed: A Couple of Different Basketweave Quilts

I'm teaching a new class in June and made a few quilts to demonstrate the pattern. 

A bright and springy green and white quilt

A moodier green and white quilt

Same blocks, mostly the same fabric, really different quilts!

Yeah Bloggers' Quilt Festival Time!

Teaching: Student Success!

One of my quilting students brought in her completed Split Log Cabin quilt.  Isn't it great?  Can you guess where she might have gotten some inspiration?

Gail with her split log cabin quilt.

I love her quilting. She did this on her home machine!

Interested in making one of your own?  See my list of classes to see when I'm teaching next!

Making: Scrappy, Scrappy, Scrap, Scrap

I've been working on a new quilt.  Or maybe it's two or three quilts.  I haven't decided yet.  All I know is that my scrap "pockets" are overflowing and need to be thinned out.

I love using this shoe organizer to store scraps.

As you can see, the pockets are just getting too full!

So, here's what I'm working on.

I can't decide if I should make several small, more monochromatic quilts, or just go rainbow crazy and make a really large quilt.  I think I'm leaning towards small and monotone....ish.

A sweet and simple boy's quilt.

I've noticed lately that "sweet and simple" keeps slipping into my quilt titles.

Bouncing Blue Balls Crib Quilt

Bouncing Balls quilt detail

*This quilt is for sale in my Etsy shop, Peppermint Pinwheels.

Thank you, Amy!

Amy Ellis has featured me on her blog, Amy's Creative Side today!  You might know her from such accomplishments as her book, Modern Basics, her involvement with The Sewing Summit, and not least her wonderful blog which features The Blogger's Quilt Festival,  an online quilting gallery that coincides with Quilt Market.  The next one begins May13th.  Mark your calendar!

Thank you, Amy!

Teaching: A wonky good time!

I'll get back to the quilt-making rampage I referred to in my previous post tomorrow (or perhaps the next day!) as I have 2 new quilts to show off, but first I want to share some pictures from my last improvisational quilt class!

Lots of sewing!

And designing!

These ladies were so much fun.  I'm always amazed at how each person interprets the class in a different way and each quilt is so unique to the quilt-maker.  One of my students, Elena, started a quilt in the first class and had it finished (mostly!) AND selected for a show by the next class!   

Elena's selected quilt is in the center, the one to the left of it is the one she started on between class sesssions!