Month: March 2017

Wildflowers, Willie, and Me

by Chela's Colchas y Mas

The mailman must have thought I was crazy when he saw me jump up and down, hooting and hollering!
He delivered the package from my friend, Nancy Reynolds.
Check out her Etsy store.
She has some lamps that have lamp shades made with photos of Texas Wildflowers, butterflies, and landscapes.
Absolutely gorgeous lamps!

I now have the final fabric I need to start the Texas Wildflower quilt.
Plus…just look at these beautiful wildflower photos by Richard Reynolds.
The photos give such dimension and detail of the flowers.
The fabric upon which they are printed is so much better than photo fabric I have used in the past.
Now, I need to clean the machine and prepare my room.
I am playing some Willie Nelson to set the proper Texas setting for piecing a Texas quilt!
 _Photos by Richard Reynolds

 Moda Wildflower VIII

Getting Ready

by Chela's Colchas y Mas

Spring time in Texas is beautiful and inspiring.
The wildflowers are a lovely sight.
I finally got to the Quilt Haus today, and purchased the Moda Wildflower VIII.
Apparently, this fabric is selling off the shelves at the local quilt shops.
Even the online companies have sold most of the stock on this line of fabric.
As I was purchasing the fabric, there was another customer waiting for some of the same bolts of fabric I had on the table.
There are past years of Moda wildflower fabric, and other lines.
However, my opinion is that the Moda VIII is a more natural design.
It gives more of a feel of the wildflower fields gracefully blowing in the wind.
I was not able to find the white background with the multiple colors of wildflowers, since the shop had sold out.
Luckily, my friend, Nancy, bought some for me at A Quilter’s Folly.
Before I start on this quilt, I need to finish some small projects that I started.
I am also waiting to receive the fabric from Nancy, and the wildflower portraits from Richard Reynolds.
Hopefully, I will be able to start on Saturday.

This is quilt I designed on Pattern Jam.
I already changed the fabric choice for the three strip blocks.
There was too much green in this design.

 

Spring Fun

by Chela's Colchas y Mas

Today I took a break from my usual day activities and visited Camp Verde with my walking buddies.
The camp opened in 1855 and is most famous for the camel experiment, for hauling cotton to Mexico.
The food at the General Store is delicious…especially the dessert!
Our original purpose was to take in some history and a walk.
We spent more time enjoying the restaurant.
The wildflowers along the highway and fields are beautiful.
I must go to New Braunfels to get the Moda Wildflower VIII!
We are expecting a hail storm tonight, so I will see what tomorrow looks like.
I think it should clear my early morning.
Camp Verde

Cute Camels are everywhere at Camp Verde!

A delicious chocolate camel decorated the yummy peach cobbler!
The chocolate camels are made fresh each morning.

I love rocks, so I could not pass up these beauties.

I also had to have this cute little good luck pig.
The card tells of the German saying:”Ich habe Schwein gehabt!”; “I have a pig.”
It probably dates to the hard times when you were considered lucky if you had a pig to feed a family.
I will place it next to my other luck pig, Chanchito, from Chile. Chanchitos are given to friends as a toke of goodwill and love.

When I returned home, I was hit by the smell of lavender.
The pound of lavender that I ordered is overpowering!
I told my friend I was choking from the smell, and she said that in my case, crafting is dangerous to my health! 🙂

 

In Progress

by Chela's Colchas y Mas

The Quilt Haus in New Braunfels carries the Wildflower Moda VIII collection.
I had tax business to take care of today, so I will be going to New Braunfels tomorrow.
In the meantime, my sewing room has become Grand Mess Central.
All but three of the sachet bags are sewn and ready to fill, but the lavender has not been delivered yet.
So, I started making some Banded Baskets, using the pattern by Crossroads.
I borrowed this pattern a few months ago, and I want to get these baskets done so that I can return the pattern.
Unfortunately, my supply of fusible batting was not enough for this basket project.
This is as far as I have gotten today:

    

I am making one small sachet with polka-dot flower petals.

Go, Spurs, Go! Basket in progress.

Impulse Sunday

by Chela's Colchas y Mas

After making the Autobot pillowcase, I found myself with nothing to do.
I am still in the designing phase for the Texas Wildflower quilt I am planning on making.
My friends and I are still working on the design for the Brackenridge Park quilt.
My friend sent me a Pinterest link to different types of applique, and this got me thinking.
I decided to make some lavender sachet bags decorated with appliques of birds.
The linen remnants I had were black, so I decided to go to JoAnn’s.
I found the linen, and then I saw the section with AccuQuilt Go! die cuts…big mistake!
A bolt of impulsiveness hit me and I bought a template for cutting birds.
I was so excited, because I had a JoAnn’s 50% off coupon.
It just so happens that this coupon does not work on AccuQuilt Go!
This almost made me say no…almost…

I have had so much fun cutting birds…I feel another bird project coming on.
In the meantime, I am making some sachet bags.
I just ordered Lavender from Amazon.
I need to make two more bags.
The legs on the birds were my first attempt at using the zig-zag stitch to free draw.
The legs look a bit funky…but oh, well.
Now, I need to figure out what to do with the rest of the birds I cut!
  

 

Texas Quilt

by Chela's Colchas y Mas

I’m sure quilters have heard of Pattern Jam, but I just ran across it a few days ago.
It is free, and it does have some good features.
But, it is a bit limited as to designing.
I have been trying out a few things for the Texas Wildflower quilt.
Pattern Jam allows you to upload your stash, so I uploaded Moda Wildflower VIII from Country Stittches .
My friend purchased some Moda Wildflower VIII from this site.

I don’t have a final design, but these are a few of the first drafts.
It will probably be all together different from any of these.:)
My plan is to use photographs of wildflowers from Richard Reynolds.
Check out his website…BEAUTIFUL!


This seems to be too washed out.
The photos would be in the white squares.


I like this one better than the first.


Wildflower photos would be in the white squares.

Wildflower photos would be in the white squares.

I found many Texas Map quilts on Pinterest.
I used this pattern from Must Love Quilts to help me draw up my own variations of the pattern.

      

I also order a Texas panel from eQuilter.com . I am thinking of using it as a center of the back panel.

Next Project

by Chela's Colchas y Mas

Today, I completed putting the borders on the Transformer quilt.
There are three borders: red, blue, and black.
I was short ONE black strip, so I had to go to the Mesquite Bean to get what I needed.

Yesterday, I went on a tour of Brackenridge Park.
I have lived in San Antonio since I was two, and the park has always been a special place for me.
The tour was sponsored by the Brackenridge Conservancy.
Three of us were invited to this tour by a very special friend of ours.
The tour was so informative and enjoyable.
We were also able to see so many beautiful ducks and birds.
The morning ended with a picnic lunch.

While enjoying the day with my friends, I suggested we make a quilt to donate to the Conservancy.
The Conservancy  is just setting up a new office, and the quilt can be part of the decorations;
or they can choose to raffle it at one of the many events that they sponsor.

We would include photos that tell the history of this beautiful park.
But first things first.
We need to ask if they would like a quilt.
If so, we will set up our sewing days again.
We had stopped meeting for sewing.
This is on the list of possible projects.

My friends and I love to go birding.
So, it was an added treat to be able to see these beautiful creatures while on our tour.

  Black Bellied Whistling Duck

  Yellow Crested Night Heron

 Egyptian Geese Family

Next Project:
Today, I have spent some time designing a Texas Wildflower quilt.
I am planning on using the Wildflower VIII fabric by Moda.
My friend, Nancy, showed me some of this fabric that she purchased, and I think it would be perfect.
She and I are still working on a design.
 Moda Wildflower VIII

 

Bean Bags

by Chela's Colchas y Mas

During my years as an educator, I used small bean bags for many activities.
The activities ranged from fine motor skill games, to games for the older students to use during question and answer sessions, and conversation toss.
I will be taking some days to be with my  youngest grandson, so I decided to make some bean bags.
In my stash, I found a quilt block that I made last year.
I thought it would be perfect for a tossing game…toss the bird into the nest activity.
I also had some leftover keyboard strips, canvas, and bird fabric remnants.
I used the canvas for the bottom in order to extend the life of these bags.

They are different sizes and different weights, in order to use them in balancing activities.
I am tempted to keep the quilted bird block for a fabric weight for myself.