Carlene Foster's Gallery : Queen, Teen

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!

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.

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.

Insanity in reds and greens

Carlene Foster — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 15:12:46 GMT

Carpenter's star and filler blocks. This was the third quilt I did........ever. I had a hard time figuring out how to put the rows together because of the fillers, so I did a lot of partial seams as I traveled down each row. Now that I know a little more of what I am doing, I wish I could find this pattern again! You could do this in any color combination you want....I just chose various shades of red and green because that is what the one in the picture looked like. I am kind of a visual person. :)

Catch the Rainbow!

Carlene Foster — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 22:52:32 GMT

What do you do when you find yourself with a rainbow of scraps? Make a rainbow quilt, of course! This was a controlled paper bag pieced quilt. Each block had no repeats of fabrics, but the order that the block went into the design depended on which order it got pulled from the paper bag. So, each block got sorted by color, then thrown into the bag and pulled out one piece at a time.

Strip Therapy Kaleidoscope

Carlene Foster — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 04:07:21 GMT

One jelly roll, background fabric and border.......easy quilt. Strip Therapy Book 4, "Kaleidoscope".

Strip Therapy Stars

Carlene Foster — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 04:02:20 GMT

one Jelly roll of choice, some accents, some backgroiund fabric....a quilt. :) Stri Therapy 6, "Seeing Stars"

Strip Therapy Log Cabin

Carlene Foster — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 14:00:28 GMT

This quilt pattern, using an uneven log cabin arrangement, can be found in the Strip Therapy series of books. It used one jelly roll and about 3 yards of border fabric to make it a large queen sized (it only fit the top of the mattress on a king sized bed). Fast and fun and you can use whatever kind of jelly roll fabric you want. This was Moda Marbles in the Warm colorway.

Disappearing 9 patch with hearts

Carlene Foster — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 14:18:55 GMT

I did this from a pattern I got online. What a way to use up some of those fq's that you have no clue what to do with them! I loved it! Half a heart was 6 inches x 3.5 inches, so these were not small pieces. Just watch where you place the dark and light colors when you make your nine patches (before you slice and dice into individual blocks again.) Simple, fun, fast.

Pinwheels

Carlene Foster — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 13:52:43 GMT

This pattern used half of a jelly roll (20 strips), and made enough pinwheels that I had two left over to make a throw pillow to go with the lap sized quilt. You can quilt as simply as I did (using my 1956 Singer 301) or more elaborately. I saw one that was done in queen size, using two packages of pinks/purples with a pink background. It was really pretty. I can see a lot of use from this very simple pattern. The pattern comes with directions to make several different sizes.

Sampler

Carlene Foster — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 20:23:04 GMT

Sometimes, for inspiration, I need to do a sampler quilt. Then, I can decide if there is a block I like better than the others...something to inspire the next project. This was one of those quilts. I had a lot of fabric left over from Marty Michel's Wild Rose fabric line. So, I just went to town making this quilt.

Roll Roll Cotton Boll Pattern by Bonnie K. Hunter

Carlene Foster — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:35:38 GMT

Someone asked if I have done a Bonnie Hunter quilt before.........this was my first one. I have to say, when I hit about step 7 and was told I was going to be making 600 half square triangles, I about choked. However, I endured the excercise.......I mean, afterall, the first rule of a Bunnie Hunter quilt is "NO WHINING"! LOL I love scrappy quilts.