Crafts

Nativity paper-pieced quilt – part six – A basting we will go!

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Our paper-pieced Nativity quilt entered a new phase this week … basting! For non-quilters out there … a quilt isn’t a quilt until the quilt top is sandwiched and secured with batting (the fluffy stuff) and a fabric backing. After basting is complete, the machine quilting part will take several weeks, so you might not see a Nativity quilt post for a short spell.

Noreen, our fearless leader, encouraged her mighty paper-piece team to watch a couple of Sharon Schamber’s videos on YouTube a few days before we were to baste our quilt. Sharon was a guest speaker at a recent Kingwood Area Quilt Guild meeting and also held a workshop. Noreen and Sally attended the class given by Sharon and were impressed. We were going to use her technique to baste our Nativity quilt. The first video is eight minutes and the second video is a little longer. Sharon showcases a herringbone stitch basting technique and shares basic tips. Our huge quilt was perfect for Schamber’s technique. It only took a few hours and we were done!

For the next few weeks, the quilt will travel from house-to-house for machine quilting. First stop … Noreen’s house.

Nativity paper-pieced quilt – part five

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In just a few short weeks, seven very busy ladies, from our Prayer Quilt Ministry, finished piecing the top of our Nativity Quilt for St. Martha Catholic Church’s Parish Festival. When completely finished the quilt will be auctioned on October 3.

My last assignment was a section for one of the angels at the top of the quilt. I have to admit I’m getting pretty good at paper-piecing!

Thanks to our fearless leader, Noreen, for taking all the many sections of the quilt and sewing them together. It turned out stunning! Our seven ladies collectively sewed 833 pieces of fabric which took 170 long hours. And that is just for sewing the top together. Noreen then pulled all the little pieces of paper from the back of the quilt!

But folks … we are not done yet! Next comes basting the backing, batting and top together and quilting the top! Stay tuned for further progress … and pray for us!

Nativity paper-pieced quilt – part four

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Our nativity quilt sections are coming together nicely. One more week and we should have the quilt top totally finished. Lots more to do after that!

Today we laid out the finished sections to get a sense of what our final quilt will look like! There are still a few sections left to piece. I am loving this quilt!

The lovely Clara holds the holy family, which she pieced along with Noreen! Some of the fabric pieces are very small. Check out Joseph’s mouth. The holy family is my favorite section of the quilt. I just love the colors of the fabric and the design.

My assignment this week … the angel. Wish me luck!

Nativity paper-pieced quilt – part three

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This week we had a few fellow paper-piece members out on vacation. The rest of us brought in our sections of the paper-pieced Nativity quilt so we could share our progress. My assignment was a part of a camel. Helaine, Lynn, Liz and myself love show-and-tell … especially when it is related to quilting! Still lots of work to do but at least we are in the home stretch with an end in sight to all the teeny tiny fabric madness that is the world of paper-piecing!

It is all for a great cause for our St. Martha Catholic Church parish festival which is being held October 3, 2015.

Nativity paper-pieced quilt – part two

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Looks like all the paper-piece ladies at St. Martha’s Prayer Quilt Ministry survived week two of our Nativity quilt project! A couple of the ladies are on vacation this week so only a few were available to bring in their finished assignments. How awesome is the cat and the donkey?

This week my assignment was to put together a Shepherd. Liz had the other half which included the Shepherd’s staff. My part of the Shepherd came together much easier than last week’s Kneeling King. And I did not utter one swear word! I swear! But for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out if a Shepherd was really going to appear until all the many little fabric pieces were assembled.

Our fearless leader, Noreen, even had time to put together week three’s assignment. I don’t know how she does it! I got a camel. From the looks of the fabric key … a very bright-colored camel.

Nativity paper-pieced quilt – part one

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Our Prayer Quilt Ministry is getting ready again for the St. Martha’s Catholic Church parish festival. This year it will be held on Saturday, October 3. Along with lots of crafty items for sale, our group has just started working on a special surprise for the silent auction.

The conception of the project began when Lynn brought to Noreen, our resident “Fabric Whisperer,” an intricate paper-pieced quilt pattern called, Advent Nativity, on the Paper Panache website. It is a stunning quilt! But it would be a HUGE project for just one person. I could almost see the wheels turning inside Noreen’s head at the possibilities. It wasn’t long before she was organizing a group of us to make the quilt. Certainly seven pairs of hands could pull this quilt together. With Noreen at the helm there was Sally, Liz, Helaine, Lynn, Clara and myself volunteering for the assignment. No small task, Noreen enlarged the quilt by 190% and put together the quilt sections with fabric pieces into zip lock bags. When finished, the quilt will be 60 inches wide. I don’t recall the length.

Last week, seven of us took home instructions and fabric pieces for a small section of the quilt. I was given the Kneeling King. It had been five years since I’d tackled a paper-pieced project, so I was a little nervous. I have to confess, in the privacy of my sewing room last week, I said a bad word a few times after ripping out the same two small fabric pieces three times.

On Wednesday, everyone brought their paper-pieced assignments in and laid them out. There were lots of confessions of frustration, but you couldn’t tell by wonderful results. I was very impressed! This week will be easier!

Three more weeks of sewing assignments and then the task of sewing the small sections together. This week I was assigned a Shepherd.

Tell me what you think?

2014 Texas Row By Row Quilt complete

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I finally finished my 2014 Texas Row by Row quilt and just had to share! Now just so you know, an official Row By Row quilt has eight rows. But for my purposes, the quilt would have been way too long to hang in my sewing room. So I decided to place five rows on the front and three on the back. I always like it when I flip a quilt over and there is a surprise … don’t you?

The fabulous Kim Norton of A Busy Bobbin suggested the bluebonnet quilting pattern. The thread choice is a light blue and really looks striking against the Texas flags row.

Did I mention that I use Personalize It to make my quilt labels? They are also great to work with and seem to know when I walk in the door that I have finished another quilt! By the way, they have a lovely shop! I bought Jake’s monkey blankie there and they had his name on it the next day. It is great being a grandma!

So the 2015 Texas Row By Row is starting up in a couple of weeks. Basically, it is a shop hop that lasts all summer and into the fall. It starts June 21, and lasts until September 18. Each participating shop offers a free row pattern they have designed with a fabric kit for sale. I have provided the link above if you are interested in participating!

I have been keeping track of what quilt shops are coming up with this year as the website rolls out the rows to see which ones I might want to visit … or “pretty please” a friend, or family member, to visit for me if the shops are too far away. This year the theme is “water.” Sounded like a challenging theme when I am craving cowboy boots and more Texas flags but I remain optimistic!

Kate Spain Christmas quilt all done!

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I LOVE Christmas fabric! I’ve been collecting fat quarters for years. So every now and then I find it healthy to pull some of those pretty fabric pieces out and actually use them in a quilt.

When I saw Kate Spain’s pattern called “Flurry,” I knew what I had to do. If the truth were told though … I really wanted the fabric line that Kate Spain used for the Flurry quilt. OK so I couldn’t find it anywhere on the Internet. Hence … my stash to the rescue!

I changed up the pattern slightly since I didn’t have her “Flurry Panel” which is found in the corners of the quilt and in strategic spots between the rows of “present” boxes.

The fabulous Kim Norton of A Busy Bobbin quilted an all-over quilt design called Holly Jolly Christmas from Urban Elementz with a butternut-colored thread from King Tut.

This quilt is destined to become a Christmas present for … wouldn’t you like to know?

2014 Texas Row by Row Quilt – Part Two

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This is the last of my eight rows for my 2014 Texas Row by Row Quilt. Fabrics Etcetera is located in Webster, Texas. Their row of bird houses was fun to make and I loved their choice of fabrics. I really enjoy putting together a block that represents things like a house, or a boat, or even a jar of bugs. It is fun to see the picture evolve as you are sewing.


Lone Star Quiltworks is located in Bryan, Texas, home of the Texas A&M Aggies. I was not able to get to the shop last summer, so I had to wait until the 2014 Texas Row by Row event was over. They mailed me the pattern and I used fabric from my stash to create the row. Lots of fusing on this row and I zigzagged around the fused pieced. The pieced bluebonnets turned out nice! I was a little nervous. Great directions helped!


Quilter’s Emporium is located in Stafford. Lovely quilt shop! This row’s name is “Regatta!” The row was as challenging as it looks, but I was pleased with the results!


BJ’s Quilt Shop is located in Bay City. They apparently do not have a website so a link is not provided. My friend, Sally, who also participated in the 2014 Texas Row by Row, picked up the pattern and fabric pack for me. The row is called “Harvest Time.” This was the only row I sewed where all the fabric pieces were actually cut to size by the shop. Talk about spoiling your customers! I think it sewed up in twenty minutes. Not so with any other of the seven rows. My favorite jar is the colorful bug jar.

Now I gotta turn the rows into a quilt top. Planning on hanging it in my quilt room.

Quilts … a look back at 2014

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Four entire quilts were cranked out in 2014! Pretty good year for me. Two were gifts … one donated to charity and I’m keeping one. Not sure what 2015 will hold!

The first quilt was for our first grandbaby, Jake. I finished it before he was born and named, so it doesn’t have his name on it. I bought the pattern and kit at the International Quilt Festival in 2013. It was so fun to make and with Kim Norton of A Busy Bobbin to quilt it, I loved how it turned out. The pattern also includes a quilt with a flamingo, monkey and, I think, a frog. A future grandbaby?

The next quilt was donated to the Village Learning Center for their annual gala. I like to make something totally different for them every year. It was the first time I’d worked with so much black fabric. Made me a little nervous. It was sold in the silent auction to a very nice lady who was so worried she didn’t get the high bid at the end of the night!


Santa Baby was the most challenging quilt I’ve made to date! I chalk it all up to not reading the directions carefully. A valuable lesson was learned … and still the quilt turned out great. This is the only quilt this year that was custom quilted and I love the feathers quilted by Kim Norton. I dub her the Queen of Quilted Feathers!


The last official quilt completed in 2014 was the contemporary one for my adorable daughter, Katie! We collaborated on design, size, fabric choices and quilt name. It was an awesome experience! She has the perfect spot in their house to hang it.


I started my 2014 Texas Row-By-Row quilt in 2014. During the summer, quilters were able to stop by participating quilt shops all over the United States and pick up a free row pattern, and purchase a fabric kit, designed by their shop. It takes 8 rows to make a quilt. My sister, Gretchen, picked up a row pattern and kit for me in Victoria, and my friend, Sally, picked up one or two from her Texas travels. The finished jar row is called “Harvest Time” and is from BJ’s Quilt Shop in Bay City, Texas. The quilt shop even had all fabric pieces cut so all I had to do was sew. Don’t you just love the bug jar?


I’m putting together the sailboats now. The block is called “Regatta!” from Quilter’s Emporium shop in Stafford. By the way … they have an awesome quilt shop! This row is a little challenging with the bias edges, but I’m making it work! Only six more rows to go!