Carlene Foster's Gallery : Spring

Grandmother's Flower Garden made modern

Carlene Foster — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 12:30:52 GMT

Most of us have, at one time or another, gotten the English paper piecing bug, if for no other reason than a multitude of scraps and a curiosity about the process. I had done several flowers and they had set around for a few years waiting for me to address them. So.....I used mine in a quilt as you go setting, separating each flower into its own block, then surrounding the garden with a picket fence. Now, I don't have to feel guilty about not tending to my flowers. :)

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.

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.

Iowa Star Scrap Quilt

Carlene Foster — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 14:25:22 GMT

This was a pattern created by a native of Traer, Iowa. This is just up the road from my sister's house, and I didn't even know there was a quilt shop so close to her...guess where I am stopping my next trip? This is the kind of quilt you do when the partiallly used fq's and the scraps outnumber the full pieces. It used a lot of scraps, and a lot of those fq's that I just didn't know how I was going to use them anywhere...ever. Loved the effect....and there will never be another one exactly like this one...ever. Next one I make, I will keep the neutrals very light and not use so much yellow on a focal block.

Double wedding ring

Carlene Foster — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 13:38:33 GMT

This is a king sized quilt done with the Simple Curves ruler and pattern. It worked up really fast, as none of the curves are full and the curves are all one piece of fabric. The thing I really like about this pattern and the ruler was that there was minimal waste, unlike many other patterns I have seen. In a 9.5 inch square, only two corners (less than 1.5 square inches) were not used. There is triming to be done after the block is put together, however, I have seen worse waste on those types of blocks as well. This is definitely a "let's do that again" pattern.

Pentagon prototype

Carlene Foster — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 18:23:27 GMT

This wasn't a pattern, per se. The stars were made with a specialty ruler called "Jewel Box Gems 5 and 10". I had bought the wide border fabric a few years ago at Hancocks when it was on sale (of course), so there was no chance of getting more. I had enough of the wide border fabric to fussy cut the spokes on the stars, and then found out there was enough left to do a border around the outside. The pink fabric around the stars was the only piece I had leftover from another series of fabrics, also not a current line. It was my limiting factor, as there was only enough of it to do 6 of these pentagon shaped medallions. The blue......controversial choice, but I was tired of the muted colors and didn't have a green that would match the swirls in the border fabric, so I went with the turquoise. The connecting wedges......eek.... I didn't have any more of the pink fabric and I didn't have anything that would match any of the rest except the turquoise, which I had already had some resistance to. So, I went to the quilt shop, took the pieces, explained what I wanted to do. The owner majored in engineering when she was in college, so she figured out the angles for me and we picked the dark pink fabric from her inventory. It took me about 4 months to get the courage to decide to complete this endeavor. My first task was to find my Squedge ruler, which is the 18 degree one, because I needed a 36 degree angle. Freezer paper template was made, I was in business. Lucky for me, there was enough of the dark pink to bind the quilt when it was done, too. That is how this quilt came to be. All because I wanted to (1) use up some fabric that was already in my stash and (2) to finally use one of those specialty rulers that I "just had to have". This is the first quilt I have hand quilted in a few years now. Pentagon.....probably would fit a double bed, but I'm thinking it would drape better off a single bed. I could see this pattern done with red stars, white insets and an entirely navy blue background, blending the wedges into the background pieces.

Wildflower Rhapsody BOM 2011

Carlene Foster — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 11:37:36 GMT

I am usually in two BOM groups at a time these days. This was the 2011 project, and I just now got the finishing kit done. I love the use of the wide boarder fabrics in the overall design. It made the finishing that much easier.

I feel like Monnette!

Carlene Foster — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 11:26:50 GMT

I've had these Eleanor Burns Quilt in a Day fusibles for a couple of years now, not knowing what to do with them. I finally found the book that went with and used a bunch of my muted florals to finish it out. Your eyes are not deceiving you......I set the blocks at 3 different widths to change the pattern and some areas are more oval in shape. Not sure I like the technique, but the results were good.

Circle of Blooms

Carlene Foster — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 19:30:20 GMT

This is my rendition of a pattern by Pam Bono that was published in Quilter Magazine June/July and August/ September 2011. I instantly fell in love with the finished product. The process in getting there was a little more "painful"......I'm not certain if I just was so excited to be doing it that I failed to carefully read the directions, or what happened, but I did a lot of unsewing and a lot more piecing when I thought I was ready for actual construction. This was the first large Pam Bono project I have ever done, so it is hard to say why I just couldn't get things to come together as the instructions stated. I love the finished product, though, and I'm ready to do another of her patterns. :)

In the meantime, Bonnie K. Hunter: Please excuse the fact that I have not completed the Orca Bay Mystery quilt steps 7 or 8 yet. I was a little preoccupied. :)