Mid-October the tomatoes started falling off the vines whether they were ripe or totally green. I picked (and picked up) all of them, washed and sorted them and this is what I ended up with.

First, all the ripe ones:

Then, the ones that were starting to turn. These will ripen in the kitchen window:

Followed by the totally green ones that were larger which I sliced to bread and freeze to make fried green tomatoes. These made three layers on a cookie sheet in the freezer:

Finally, the ends and sides of the sliced ones and chunks of totally green ones that were not large enough to slice. These went through the food processor and got bagged for the freezer to make green tomato bread later:

I ended up with enough chopped tomato to make 20 loaves.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PST

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When I was cutting up fabric scraps I did a stack of them cut at 6 inches square. Then I started making all these quilts and realized the math (not my favorite subject) worked out perfectly with 6 1/2 inch squares so they would be even after the seam allowances were stitched.

Harrumph!

So I cut all of them in half diagonally and added a white fabric strip and squared them up. Still more math problems as they ended up 1/8 inch less than what I had intended.

I went ahead with the construction and then added a 1/2 inch white border and finished with a dark blue border.

With all this math fiddling I only ended up 1/4 inch short overall. I'm calling that good.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PST

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I'm still churning out the tops for baby quilts. I pulled out a star-covered white fabric that featured two tones of blue stars plus red ones, all in varying sizes. To this I added a single red and a dark and light blue.

I cut pieces measuring 6 1/2 by 3 1/2 and matched each color to a star. These created square blocks which I arranged to come up with a 36 inch arrangement of diagonal chevrons.

The addition of a 2 inch border brings this up to 40 inches square.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PST

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I had some large squares of red and green to use for one of these baby quilt tops and wanted to try another arrangement of the disappearing pinwheel.

This one trades the corner pieces for the side pieces and then turns them to make the pinwheel into a large spinner.

I added sashing between the blocks to bring the center up to 36 inches.

I gave the outer border another 1/4 inch to achieve the desired 40 inch measurement.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PST

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I took the same idea used in the monkey quilts and translated it into a quilt with puppies.

Someone had given me a print with crowds of dogs on it. I didn't have much so carefully measured to figure out the maximum size of squares I could cut to get 9 even blocks.

Then I calculated the width of block borders needed to bring them up to 12 1/2 inches. These were cut out of dog paw prints - 5 in black and 4 in brown.

I banded the puppies with the paws and then set them in alternating color blocks.

I used a grey patterned fabric border that pulls color from the big fluffy dog featured in the center column.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PST

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Next up in the lineup of baby quilt tops is one created with a variety of patterns in very odd greens and browns. Taken together they give the feeling of wild animal prints although none of them really are!

I used a 36 inch grid to create a variety of block sizes that could be mixed and matched to give a totally random arrangement.

I used a tan 2 inch border to bring this up to 40 inches.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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The second of the monkey quilt tops uses the same fabric, same layout, same colors... but I used a black fabric with tiny colored dots for the border. The dots are the same size as the eyes on the monkeys so I reinforces their faces.

These are so bright and cheerful.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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Many years ago someone gifted some crazy monkey fabric to me. I used some on a Project Linus quilt and put the rest away thinking "when will I ever need monkeys again?"

When I got this fabric out again I calculated how large I could cut the monkeys in order to get 18 blocks. Then I needed to cut block borders to bring them up to 12 1/2 inches.

I decided to use alternating colors (red and yellow) to separate the blocks from each other. Two quilt tops were created from these blocks.

For the first one I found in my stash a black fabric with the perfect large dots in the same blended neons as the monkeys and used this as the border.

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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For the baby quilt tops that will be completed by others I did several sketches of blocks that could be easily constructed into 36 inch squares.

For this one I used red yellow and blue blocks in 6x12. These made larger blocks of 12x18.

A dark blue 2 inch border brings it up to 40 inches. This makes the math easy and ensures that a single width of yardage will complete the backing.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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Here is the result:

This one did not have a predominant color in the blocks. I banded it with a yellow green border.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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This is the third of the quilt tops made from the bazillion strips of 2" widths from piles of my scraps, sewed together end to end, in color order.

When the strip was long enough I brought the ends together and sewed side-by-side the full length. This was repeated until I had one long striped piece 12 1/2 inches wide and cut this into sections 12 1/2 inches long and had enough for 32 blocks. I sorted them based on predominant colors and created four 9-patch quilt centers of 36 inches. Then each one got a 2 inch border to created a completed top of 40 inches.

Here is the third of these:

Although this was predoinantly yellows and golds I chose to band it with a purple. teal that had some yellow in it.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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Judging the strip was long enough I brought the ends together and sewed side-by-side the full length. This was repeated until I had one long striped piece 12 1/2 inches wide.

I cut this into sections 12 1/2 inches long and had enough for 32 blocks. I sorted them based on predominant colors and created four 9-patch quilt centers of 36 inches. Then each one got a 2 inch border to created a completed top of 40 inches.

Here is the second of these:

This one was predominantly blue and I used a blue border to reinforce that.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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A group project has our quilting ladies churning out tops for baby quilts that will go to a reservation with our youth at spring break. Later these will be backed, quilted and bound - but not necessarily by the person who constructed the top. So I am going to show these even though they are unfinished.

I first cut a bazillion strips of 2" widths from piles of my scraps. These were long, short, medium... I sorted them into piles by color: yellow, golden, brown, pink/red, purple, blue, teal, green, yellow green. Then I sewed them together end to end, one from each pile round and round until I ran out of one color (blue).

Judging the strip was long enough I brought the ends together and sewed side-by-side the full length. This was repeated until I had one long striped piece 12 1/2 inches wide.

I cut this into sections 12 1/2 inches long and had enough for 32 blocks. I sorted them based on predominant colors and created four 9-patch quilt centers of 36 inches. Then each one got a 2 inch border to created a completed top of 40 inches.

Here is the first of these:

This one was prominently pink and I banded it with tan.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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One of the card-making lists issued a challenge to create a card with a specific palette:

We could use the feature color plus either the top row of colors or the bottom row. I chose the top row.

The way my computer is set up I have to write down the colors with descriptions and then try to find/match those colors when I get down to the studio. It's harder than it sounds!

I started by selecting the Distress inks that I thought were closest (Squeezed Lemonade, Aged Mahogany, Weathered Wood and Dusty Concord). Then I chose cardstock to match those. In the end, I overestimated the intensity of the purple so my card is brighter than the palette supplied.

I selected a piece of sheet music and distressed it with the yellow and grey. Then I used the mahogany and grey as borders with a torn strip of the grape as an accent.

I stamped a vase of flowers on yellow and cut it out. Then the vase and the leaves were colored with Distress markers.

I used two punches to make tiny flowers out of all four colors of the cardstock, shaped them with a ball tool over foam, and stacked contrasting colors together. These were then glued over the whole bouquet.

I then applied Liquid Pearls (Bisque) to the centers of all the flowers.

I had used one flower as an accent at the base of the vase and needed something to balance that out. So I punched a butterfly from grape and from yellow and stacked them in the upper left. I added the same Liquid Pearls to the body of the butterfly.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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From a collection of fabrics in the stash of leftovers I pulled enough to construct a quilt in the disappearing hourglass. This was a tutorial from the Missouri Star Quilt Company. It is a variation on the disappearing pinwheel that I have done a couple of times but gets the pinwheel turned into an hourglass at the step before the cuts are made.

I have had such fun using these construction methods but it is certainly a challenge to work with so many bias seams.

This quilt gets its name from the flowers in the fabrics and the fact that they have been cut all to pieces.

Although it is difficult to see in the photos I quilted this with the overall vines and leaves.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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And on marches the quilt parade...

I called this one 'Peacock Feathers' just because of the color scheme but also because of the look of the marbled fabric used in the large bands.

I separated the large blocks with narrow black sashing which gives the quilt a stained glass look.

I first bought the marbled fabric for the stash and had it for about a year before I bought the two purples and two teals to go with it. They were all of the same line so the swirls in all four fabrics are the same.

The backing is a soft green dotted fabric that pulls color from the marbled.

Here you can see the simple quilting of side-by-side waves.

The quilting is done in purple verigated thread.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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When I made the lily quilt I stitched up all the hourglass blocks and then discovered I had twice as many as I needed. I couldn't let those go to waste so I cut plain squares from a green batik from the stash to stand in for the square-in-a-square lily blocks.

I used the same layout and then realized it was too plain. I pulled a glittery butterfly print for a wide border and then, from its scraps, I cut out individual butterflies, backed them with Steam-a-Seam² and ironed them onto the pieced top in a rising flight.

I used black thread to 'sketch' twice around each butterfly and connect them.

The background was quilted in a blending thread using free-form butterflies.

The outside border was quilted with large loops.

I didn't have enough of the backing fabric so I added a couple of wide stripes of fabric from the stash to enlarge it.

Whatever thread I was using on the front, I kept the bobbin thread black. Look at how the butterfly quilting shows up on the backing stripes.

Now THAT'S a save from the scrap pile!

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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If you want the back story on this quilt, you can read all about it on yesterday's post.

The second quilt I made with this Chain of Stars pattern from Kimberly Einmo's mystery quilt on Craftsy was made using coral, brown and two green fabrics. I love the yummy combination of these together.

This is the wall hanging size (I call it a lap quilt) like the other and they are about 48 inches square.

I repeated the use of leaves and vines for the quilting as I did on the last one.

This is a beautiful pattern that I may use again (maybe more than once). The hardest part is decifing on the fabrics to use.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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One of the quilting teachers from Craftsy will be teaching TWO of the classes I'm taking on an upcoming cruise. One of those classes is for a mystery quilt.

I wasn't too thrilled with the resulting mystery quilt with another instructor and wanted to make sure this would be a more positive experience. So when I found that she has a mystery quilt class on Craftsy I decided to give it a whirl.

I pulled out scraps to put together a 6-fabric colorway and actually came up with two of them that I liked. I couldn't decide which to go with so I cut all the parts and made two versions of the same quilt.

The pattern is called Chain of Stars by Kimberly Einmo. We had instructions for our choice of baby, lap, full, queen or king size. I chose to make both of mine lap size (although she calls it a wall hanging). Here is the first one that I finished using a palette of raspberry, medium green and chocolate brown. 

I did the quilting with an over all meandering leaf and vine.

I had not done leaf and vine before but really like how it turned out.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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I can't believe we're up to October already with this year-long challenge!

Here is the inspiration piece from Tim. He went with a distinctly Halloween tag, but I am NOT all about Haloween.

I went back to the very basic idea that Tim used and focused on 1) wrinkle-free distress backgrounds 2) layering diecuts made from those backgrounds 3) a word feature. Granted, I used diecuts that are nothing like Tim's and worked on a large showpiece instead of a tag, but the process is similar and led to a project I am proud of (much more than if I had made a Halloween tag).

Here are the steps I used:

- create wrinkle-free distress background in 6 color-ways

- diecut and punch various 'scene' parts from the backgrounds

- ink edges of each piece with Distress Ink using a foam blender

- attach a piece of copper ColorMe paper to a heavy base layer

- use Distress Ink and blending foam to color background

- ink edges using Distress Ink

- add large distressed background over the ColorMe background

- assemble diecut parts into a 'scene' using foam tape to raise in successive layers

- diecut a script word from distress background paper

- layer word over fancy diecut label

- attach to main piece using several layers of foam tape

- use various colors of Stickles to decorate elements of the scene

- add a double line around the main piece with the fine tip of a Distress marker

- present on a picture holder stand

Here is the finished piece:

Ummm, yeah. That is NOT a Zombie Head Tag!

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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