After finally deciding which Celtic patch I wanted to use for my Fall quilt, I imported a block from the Internet into Electric Quilt 5 (QE5) to re-size it for the medallion. While in QE5, I also checked to see if it contained other Celtic blocks. The very same block that I had found online – can be found in QE5! – Why didn’t I look there in the first place?

It is very easy to re-size the block in QE5. Just by clicking on the block after it is placed in a custom quilt setting, it can be resized using the Graph Pad or adjust tool. No hassle with copy machines or hand drawing.

Looking at the template, it occurred to me that I could use bias strips to complete the design. Having some strips left over from another project, I decided to test them on the template. This should work out fine.

Now to audition the fabric. I definitely  want to use the green background – and now only have to decide which fabric or combination thereof will work the best. I’ll keep the fabric on my design wall so I can view it in daylight and artificial light before I make a final decision.

Quilting at Home!

Now that we’re back in snow country and “all our worldly possessions” have been taken out of the RV and are back in place at home, I can start working on my new quilt.

I bought the fabric for this quilt at Sew Studio while visiting Naples FL last month. The colors are very much the colors of Fall. I’m sure that’s probably why I liked them so much.

The fabric has all been washed and now I am planning color placement for the rail fence and 9-patch blocks in the Meadowsweet pattern by Barbara Campbell (January/February 2009 issue Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting). I plan to use a Celtic patch as the center medallion.

Looking for a Celtic pattern I searched the internet for “Celtic appliqué” and came upon a great website, The Online Quilt Block Pattern Library.

Five hundred free patterns are available for download and I located the perfect Celtic Patch.

What a find!

Quilting at Home!

I was able to catch up a bit on some reading, while we were RV’ing in Florida these past two months.  One of the novels I read was Sea Glass by Anita Sherver.

At a local craft fair in Ocala, I came upon a vendor who was selling jewelry and noticed a necklace that she had fashioned out of sea glass.  Sea glass is actually a broken shard of glass that is smoothed and develops a patina as it tumbles in the ocean and sand.  I didn’t actually believe that people really collected “the trash of the sea.”  Of course I had to check it out on the web: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seaglass.

Now I am the owner of a necklace made out of a shard of green sea glass. The artist thinks that this particular piece of  glass was originally part of a beer bottle. Go figure.

Well our first trip in the RV for an extended period of time (53 days) is over. We consider this our trial run – and things have gone pretty well. We not only enjoyed January and February Florida temperatures, but I was able to finish two quilt tops; a wool candle mat and begin a wool wall hanging. I also used my design wall, set up my sewing area at the booth table inside the camper and outside the camper on a folding table; as well as converting the kitchen counter top into the ironing and cutting area. The only thing I haven’t tried is cutting yardage in the RV.

I found the solution to the limited RV space when Tom and I were checking out some campgrounds for future visits to this area. Walking into the campground’s activity center, we met a woman who was cutting fabric on one of the 6-foot tables in the center.

Of course curiosity got the better of me and I had to ask her what she was doing. She was in the process of making a king-size quilt for her son who is getting married in June. The quilt, batiks framed with black sashing, will be hand-pieced and hand-quilted. She had made a test block with cream sashing – the block had no interest. It wasn’t until she framed the block with black fabric, that the colors began to “pop”.

This reminded me of a recent meeting of the Thumbstall Guild in Marcellus, NY with  Genie Barnes, who demonstrated this same concept. Working in groups, we choose four fabrics that we thought would go together in a quilt. For accent we put cream, white and black fabrics on top of the groupings. It was easy to see that black fabric was very often the choice to make the main colors pop!

This resourceful quilter was also painstakingly marking the black sashing with chalk and a ruler because she had forgotten to bring her rotary cutter. She planned on cutting the strips the old fashioned way – with a scissors! If it had been me, I probably would have had to go to the quilt store to buy a new cutter. (As though I really need an excuse to go to the quilt store!)   In addition, she told me that she normally likes to have 18-months to make a quilt.   She needs 18-months because she and her husband are full-time RV’ers – My hat to her! I can’t imagine finishing a quilt done entirely by hand in that short a time.

Unlike her, I normally cut fabric as I assemble the quilt blocks; rather than cutting all the fabric at once. Bringing kits and/or cutting fabric for a large quilt before leaving home seems to be the most convenient way for me to quilt as I travel in the RV.

Looking forward to our next RV trip!

We’re headed back to snow country tomorrow. We left Florida on Friday, spent Saturday in Savannah, GA where we enjoyed a Valentine dinner at a local pub. On Sunday morning we headed for North Carolina to spend a couple of days with my son and granddaughters.

At a gas stop, another truck pulled along side us and as the woman in the passenger seat got out, my husband noticed her folding up quit. Of course I had to introduce myself and look at her project. She was hand stitching the binding to the back of the quilt. We agreed that this is a great way to pass the time while traveling.

We quilters seem to think alike on so many things – and quilters are so friendly.   I’ve found that having  quilting in common is  a quick and easy way to begin a conversation with a fellow traveler.

Lucia, Quilting from the Road!