Welcome Spring....

Or at least it felt like spring today with temps up to 70...yeah!

What have I been doing lately?

Quilting!!!  I've discovered quilting.  I always knew that I would quilt some day because I love to sew and I adore quilts. 

I signed up for a Kim Diehl class in August.  We meet every other month and make a mini quilt from her simplewhatnots collection.  I totally love it!

These are a couple for the ones I've made.  

I have to say these small quilts have really helped me sharpened up my skills.

This quilt I made from a you tube video from Missouri Star Quilt Company. 

I also finished a block of the month quilt.  I started it in October 2014 and finished it last month.

This is a pattern called "How Does Your Garden Grow?" By Norma Whaley of Timeless Traditions.  I am so happy how it turned out I even quilted it myself.

I am also working on a quilt along called Splendid Sampler.  We get patterns for 2 blocks every week and I think it goes for almost a year.  There are 80+ designers submitting their patterns.  I just hope I keep up :-)

That's all I have for now.  I did put a few pieces on eBay.  The link is on my sidebar.

Enjoy your day,

Leanne

Hello September....

Where has the summer gone?  Time does fly by!

This quilt was made by me!  I still can't believe I made this.  I joined the Kim Diehl club at the Ye Olde Schoolhouse Quilt Shop. This quilt was a challenge!  I'm kind of new to quilting, I know how to sew but quilting is quite different. Cutting accurately all those little squares, marking, sewing a scant quarter inch seam, all those little pieces to stay organized are just a few things I learned how to do. Oh and read directions over and over again.  I am totally hooked on quilting!  I can't wait for the next class :-)

I getting ready for my craft fairs. Making a lot of wool appliqué pieces.

Scarecrows

And more wool.

First fair September 19 @10:00, Holy Hill Art and Crafts Fair in Hubertus, WI.

Now for a tip....

I like my work to have a primitive look.  Sometime when working with wool I can't get the antique looking color I like.    If the color is too bright coffee dye it!

See the difference? The piece on the right is the coffee dyed wool...the perfect color!

Enjoy your day,

Leanne

Rainy Friday.....

So what do you do on a rainy Friday?  

Go shopping for flowers....

I haven't planted them yet because it's supposed to get down into the 30's this weekend.  Right now it's 78.  That's Wisconsin for you!

House clean, laundry done. Check and check.

Now I get to work on my newest quilt.

This one is very time consuming.  Lots of points to match but I love it!  You might think I'm crazy but I really like doing this.  Sew a row, open it up to see if everything matches and if points are sharp.  I think I've done about 3/4 sewing and 1/4 unsewing but if it looks likes this I'm happy!  

Just 5 more rows to sew.  

This pattern is on Bonnie Hunters Blog Quiltville.  It's on the free page. Yes I said free!  She has so many tips and she is a scrappy lover...love it!

Off to my sewing.

Enjoy your weekend,

Leanne

Finished....

Finished this quilt wall hanging and in time for summer.

It's hard to see but I finished off the quilt with a blue print binding.

Now back to working on some wool appliqué...

and I think I'll finish another quilt hanging that I made for fall.  

This has wool applique vine and leaves in the borders.

I am so happy I learned how to machine quilt.  I'm loving all the mini quilts that are so popular now. I have my eye on some new ones I would like to make or try to make.

Enjoy your day, 

Leanne 

Working on Something for Summer and a Tip....

I'm pretty much a beginner quilter but that hasn't stopped me from trying to design a wall hanging.  

It all started with this pattern from Buggy Barn.

I just loved the center flower basket.... perfect for wool appliqué.

 I wanted to make something more scrappy for summer in red, white and blue. 

I found some French General fabrics in the colors I wanted. 

I made the center wool appliqué and did the quilt squares. 

One problem..,

I think these squares are too scrappy.  

I love the fabrics.  

I just think I need more solids or smaller prints to make this block work. 

 I just don't like them for this project.  

So with the left over fabric and buying a neutral fabric I made these blocks.

Now these pinwheel blocks look so much better to me. 

I had the piano key stripes cut so I added them to make the wall hanging larger. 

Used the left over red for a border. 

 I like how it all came together.

I have it all pinned and ready for quilting.

 For quilting I want to outline the wool appliqué and stipple the background on the block. 

I'm not sure how I going to quilt the rest.

Now here's my tip....

I take a picture of my quilt to see how the blocks and fabrics are working together. 

I will do this to audition fabrics for my borders too.  

I don't have a design wall and taking pictures works just as well.

Happy sewing,

Leanne

I've Been Busy....

I've been working on these runners.  

I love how they turned out so much that I had to share some pictures with you.

I just love how perfect it looks on my dining room table but...

It's not my runner.  

I made both of these for a very sweet customer :-). The long runner was made to match a shorter one.  I think I did a pretty good job matching the colors and style of stitching.

The runners were made using a pattern by Ginger Sanchez.  This runner I made is longer than the pattern so I just stretched the pattern a little bit and added more pears and leaves.  I followed the colors used in the smaller runner. The runner looks so different then the pattern when using a light background and red pears. 

I made this bird runner to go in the same room.  

This is my own design and I used the same wools as the long runner. 

I so want to make this with a blue bird and red accents for an Americana look. 

Maybe make the bird into a cardinal standing on a holly branch...so many ideas so little time.

I think I'll spend the evening working on some hexies.  I'm not sure what I'm making but I'll just keep adding on.

Remember this quilt?  

I bought the kit at the quilt show, its a Primitive Gatherings pattern.

I was working on it last night but I couldn't finish the wool appliqué because I need to get some gold valdani thread. Only 6 leaves away from preparing this puppy to quilt.

Take care,

Leanne

Quilt Show and Hexie Love...

I went to the Quilt Show in Chicago!  

I'll share a few pictures.

I love Red and White quilts and the Quilt Show had an amazing display of them.

Don't you just love these positive and negative houses?

The Log Cabin was the first quilt I made and it remains my favorite block. 

More houses...this treasure is a mini quilt.

The quilting is just amazing.  It's so beautiful.

I did my part in keeping the quilting economy going. :-)

I bought some wool and wool projects.

Love Primitive Gatherings!

I have been wanting to do this quilt for a long time so I bought the kit. 

The vines around the quilt is done in wool applique.

I had to get something Red and White.  I can't wait to do this mini. It has tiny red flower shaped buttons to go on the embroidered stems and leaved.  Once I get a triangle square up ruler I'm going to start this project.

My friend Anne told me about the hexies she was making and how fun they were...making hexagons using the English Paper Piecing method.  

She said I know you will like it.

While at the Quilt Show we saw a booth where a woman was working on a piece using hexies.  She showed me how to do it and of course I had to buy the paper for 1/2 hexies. 

The above picture is my first Hexie.

Thank you Anne for introducing me to hexies... I'm hooked! I got Anne hooked on wool appliqué;-).  

Here's my first star.  I did buy some little fabric bundles and added some fabric that I had because I didn't want it scrappy. I do have to tell you this is not a fast process. It's just something fun to do while watching tv.

I happen to have this tackle box which is the perfect place for all my Hexie work. Please note this box was never used for fishing bait. 

I wonder how many 1/2 inch hexies you need to make a king sized quilt? Way too many to count....lol.

Enjoy your day,

Leanne

Trying Something New.....

 Or at least new to me. 

I just signed up for Instagram as leanneatharvestmoon. 

I thought this would be an easier way to show you what I've been up to. It's so fun and easy to use. You can teach an old dog new tricks ha ha. 

I made myself a glasses case for my sunglasses and yes it's made out of wool.  The sun is out, the snow was gone and it started to warm up....yay!

Friday's mail brought me blocks 5 and 6 of How Does Your Garden Grow? by Norma Whaley of Timeless Traditions.  This B.O.M. was offered by Primitive Gatherings...love that shop. It's my first B.O.M. and I am hooked!  The only thing I don't like about it is that I have to wait for the blocks. I now get how some people sign up for two or three or more B.O.M.'s.

I have my blocks all prepped and ready to stitch. 

I plan on stitching these while watching the Badgers tonight.  Go Badgers!

You can see the first four blocks on instagram you'll find the button on my side bar.  I think it's going to be fun for me to watch my progress in pictures.

I'm getting a lot of stitching done this weekend with all the basketball games on. March madness has hit our home. All basketball all the time. 

I also added some things to ebay like

this appliqued heart pillow. 

You can see my things by clicking here.

Enjoy your day,

Leanne

Back In Time...,

I'm done!  I just finished this "Back In Time" quilt.  It's a pattern from Primitive Gatherings. This is another small quilt 16 x 18.  I have to say I'm a little addicted to doing these small quilts.  They are challenging ( which I love) yet you can see them up pretty quick.  Since I got the courage to try machine quilting I want to do more. I can't believe I was so afraid of trying this and now I love it!

Now there are a few mistakes maybe more than a few. 

Can you find them?

The little four patches are sewn with the red squares up except for two of them. I wish I could say that I planned it that way but I didn't. The four patches are supposed to float on the background but not all of them do. 

I am the type of person who learns from her mistakes so if I were to make this quilt again I'm sure I wouldn't make those mistakes.... Ha ha.

I'm currently working on this table runner "Pine and Holly" by Timeless Tradition. 

I also received two new blocks in the mail.  I'll be prepping them today.

Enjoy your day,

Leanne

A Little Side Step..,.,

I just finished something I started almost a year ago.

 I know I'm a little slow but hey I finished it!

I saw this video from Missouri Star Quilt Company...Zipper Quilt.

To find it click here.

I kind of fell in love with this quilt.  I liked how simple it looked.  Hey I can do this quilt....I hope.

I didn't like the pictures I had on the wall and thought this quilt would be perfect!

I just love the fabrics!   

The colors are blacks, greys and beiges.  I love the color red and have touches of it in almost every room in the house so I had to add a little red in my quilt.

I used a variegated black to grey thread with a meandering pattern..love how it looks on this quilt. 

Now this is just the second quilt I machine quilted. 

The first one I did was My Twisted Heart a little quilt for Valentine's Day.  You can read about it here and  here. The heart quilt is 16 inches square.  

This zipper quilt is 41 inches by 47 inches, a lot bigger!

I think it took me almost 6 hours to quilt and a lot of thread.  

Now on to finish my little 4 patch.

Enjoy your day,

Leanne