Carlene Foster's Gallery : Machine Piecing

Amish with a Twist-BOM

Carlene Foster — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 23:21:56 GMT

My last two weekends have been consumed with the finishing kit for this quilt, including some applique along the edges. My sewing machine did not play well with the blanket stitch on these appliques, so I ended up unsewing them and doing them all by hand. I will really need to watch the quilting process to make certain that flowers and leaves get permenantly set, as I am not a proponent of hand stitching for heavily used items. I am just glad to say that this is done. The blocks were way too simple, some of the colors in this fabric line were really awful. We were supposed to go until May, and the BOM ended in February due to lack of continued interest. I would do the second Amish with a Twist, but not as a BOM. Just send the fabric and directions for me to do it at my own pace, and I'd be fine.

Hanging Gardens

Carlene Foster — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 15:55:50 GMT

This quilt is called "Hanging Gardens" and was designed by Georgette Dell'Orco of Cozy Quilt Designs. It is meant for 2 1/2 inch strips. I ran across a 30 strip 5 x 22 bundle of cuts from a quilt show I had attended a couple of years ago and thought it was time to put them to use. This is a twin size quilt, as I only had a potential of 30 full strips after I cut them in half, one piece was black, so I took it out of the stack and was down to 29. The border fabric was in my stash for about the last 4 years, so it was time for it to go as well. It's a fast quilt to piece...I started Friday at 5:00 pm and finished Sunday morning at 12:35 am. (Let's say I was possessed and let that go! LOL) The background has a very light beige print on it, but I think the quilt will have more character if I have the long armer do it with a varigated thread.

Strings!

Carlene Foster — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 15:26:09 GMT

I cannot bear to throw away those strings: the cuts left at the end of the fabric that are less than 2 inches wide down to 1/2 inch wide. I sew them to 7 inch mujslin backs and then trim to 6.5 inch squares. This quilt top is 84 x 84. That is a lot of strings!

St. Louis Star #3

Carlene Foster — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 15:49:52 GMT

I did mention that I love this design, right? This was made with 8 inch finished stars, which I thought afterward were entirely too small (meaning, I didn't feel like making 50 of them to make a queen sized quilt). I put a 3 inch border of the background fabric around each star and set them on point to make them appear larger. :) Necessity is the mother of invention, right?

St. Louis Star #2

Carlene Foster — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 17:47:39 GMT

This is my second St. Louis Star quilt. The centers are fussy cut, and since there are only so many motifs available on one piece of fabric, there are some variations in the group. Different color pallate than the first, but equally visually interesting. The nice thing about the St. Louis Star is that there are no Y seams in the construction, although it certainly appears that there were several. I love it when someone figures out the easier way to do something for me ahead of time. :)

My first St. Louis Star Quilt

Carlene Foster — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 12:34:00 GMT

This is one totally versatile design and can be done in many different sizes and arrangements. I have done.....4? I saw this first published in a quilting mag and used my own red/green/black and wow fabrics. As it turned out, the original quilt was done in kind of a rusty brownish red and a kind of olive green. I took a class from the designer a couple of years later to learn how to do the glorified 9 patch. It was an experience I won't soon forget. :)

Buggy Barn teapots

Carlene Foster — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 12:25:04 GMT

Ummmmmmm....in my typical buggy barn fashion, I forgot to shuffle the bases for the teapot, so I had coffee pots instead. I took the dainty little bottom off the cups and made them coffee mugs to go with my newly formed coffee pots. It was a way to use up a fat quarter bundle I got from Connecting Threads.

Sampling sampler quilts completed

Carlene Foster — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 23:04:25 GMT

This is how I finished the blocks into a completed quilt top. You would think I shouls be finished with these fabrics by now, right? I found another 4 yards of the wild rose in the house after I had ordered 3 more yards (that brought the total to 15 yards purchased outside the original finishing set for the original wildflower rose BOM. And, I find myself with a bunch of the other fabrics left as well. Might be a lap quilt or more left in this batch....we are beyond bonus. Now we are into the "challenge phase" of how to use up this fabric.

Bonus blocks

Carlene Foster — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 16:01:15 GMT

What do you do with the parts of your hst that you cut off? Do you throw them away, or keep them until you have enough of them to do something else? I save mine. These are leftover from quilts I have made in the past 2 years, with a basic filler fabric to calm it down a bit. This is already a large lap without any borders. And, basically, it was a free one for me...I like those :) I have 3 more large collections of free quilt blocks, just need to decide how to group them into something that will resemble a finished project. :)

Meet me on Sesame Street

Carlene Foster — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 15:39:58 GMT

This was just a fun quilt that I did for a friend's upcoming grandchild. I just love the bright colors! The pattern is a free one online and could be used for several adaptations just by using large preprinted panels with some coordinating fabrics. It is fast and fun!

Scrappy stars

Carlene Foster — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 21:56:42 GMT

Never give me a batch of scraps and think I'm never going to use them...I find ways of putting them to some sort of use! Just need borders to finish this one. The star blocks finish at 8 x 8. I just used neutral sashings and scrappy cornerstones to keep the background from swallowing the stars.

Stonehenge BOM 2012 (full picture)

Carlene Foster — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 16:04:52 GMT

Daylight allows me to take a picture of the entire quilt, as long as it is not raining or the wind is not blowing excessively. A little wind today, but not so bad temp wise, and no additonal snow (yet) I love the full effect of this quilt....more than I liked some of the individual blocks. If you make this one, watch the color combinations. I had a couple of blocks that were brown on brown with the biggest contrast being another shade of brown. I substitued the orange to liven it up a little.

Snap bags

Carlene Foster — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 19:35:59 GMT

Did I mention I have a lot of scraps to work with? Snap bags....held shut by two pieces of 1 inch wide tape measures cut to length. You would be surprised how stout the closure is...Pull tabs on the sides are recommended. Handles are optional. You can make all 3 sizes from two coordinating fat quarters, one to serve as the inside lining, the other to be the outside. Fast, easy and a certain gift giving wow factor. When my scraps were a little too narrow, I used coordinating fabrics for an extra strip on each side. No one said extra piecing wasn't allowed! LOL

Christmas Pillow shams

Carlene Foster — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 19:28:13 GMT

Ever want to just decorate a pillow for the holidays, and then be able to go back to the normal decor? I made two of these shams to adorn a holiday seating arrangement. When the holidays are over, they can be stored with the Christmas decorations until next year, without having to dedicate special space for the actual pillows. Just slip over the throw pillows you already own. I could think of making these with someone's favorite color schemes for birthday celebrations as well. Marti Michell template set L and her Encyclopeida of PatchWork Blocks, Volume 4 were the inspiration for this creation. (That, and my obsession with Robert Kaufman's Christmas fabric from last year that I still own a bag of scraps from <grin>)

Christmas Place Mats

Carlene Foster — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 19:18:02 GMT

I had a 20 fq pack of coordinating Christmas fabrics that had been in my stash at least a year (more likely 2 years), that I couldn't get inspired to use. Quilters World December 2012 issue solved that problem for me: Stretched Nine-Patch Place Mats. If I were to do it all over again, I would use the Buggy Barn stack and whack, then reshuffling the order of certain stacks. Sometimes, I don't stop and plan that part so well. LOL I had leftover pieces of batting and backing was from Benartex...the line was called "dreamline" by some vendors. The idea was that the pattern was on the background in water soluable ink, you sew on the lines from the back and then when you wash the piece, the lines disappear. Loved the product, cannot find it on the Benartex website now. I bought mine through fabric.com and Amazon. From 20 fq's, I have a total of 30 placemats. I have actually completed all but 8 (due to lack of extra batting now!) Love the pattern.