Monday, August 31, 2015

‘Whirlygig’ by Lisa Foslien

Title:  Whirligig by Lisa Foslien

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I wanted to make it 3 dimensional with the pinwheels. 

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Once I had the quilting finished, it just did not pop as much as I wanted, but when I accidentally pinned one of the flaps back, it all came together. 

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So I ran off to find beads today for the finishing touch.

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‘August Reflections’ by Anna Montgomery

I chose red for this month, and in early August, I was thinking of carefree summer days in my Grandmama's sandpile and this little red and blue shiny pinwheel I had out there under her oak tree.

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But then, Christian Taylor was killed, and terror began again in Ferguson, and I though...you know, I get to choose whether or not this matters to me simply because I'm white.  20150831_185828That I have a choice is a privilege.  But I'm going to continue to choose to be concerned for the lives of my brothers and sisters until those children of God also have the luxury of daydreaming about a simple pleasure on a hot August day.


Pinwheels: Piecing With Triangles

‘Disappearing Pinwheel’ by Susan Kerr

My project is called disappearing pinwheel. I was struggling to make my ideas work with no luck then I was inspired after seeing a tutorial on making the block. I made the biggest block I could with the pieces of blue that I hadn't already chopped up then made four small blocks showing the steps to make the disappearing pinwheel and put them on the side.

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I used some crazy fabric that I had used for a project for my granddaughter and the pinwheels disappeared on their own but not in a good way. After talking with my forever friend I decided to go ahead with some of her suggestions and quilt it. It started to behave finally. It's a little puffy due to the fat batting but it actually it has sort of a retro 70's look.

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Re-Piecing the Past: Civil War Blocks Then & Now - $29.99

from: Craftsy

‘Floral Memories’ by Laurel Hewitt

A little rushed due to uninspired month of trying to plan this one.  I call it 'Floral Memories'.

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Pinwheels remind me of windmills, windmills remind me of time spent in The Netherlands, which of course always reminds me of my favorite flowers - Tulips!!

created by Laurel Hewitt


Marcus Fabrics Make it Intriguing Quilt - $99.99

from: Craftsy

‘Evening at the Beach’ by Roxy Pike

This quilt's inspiration was a photo of two of my Grands on the last evening of their beach vacation at Clearwater, Florida. Granddaughter and Grandson are both 15 years old, but not twins. She was adopted from Russia as a baby and he became part of our large family 1 1/2 years ago.

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They are friends and siblings taking in the beautiful colors of nature and knowing the next morning they would be on their way home to Georgia. I took artist's license and added the kites and sandcastle.

I used Cherrywood 's indigo, a SkyDye by Mickey Lawler and the water fabric is from Lunn Studio. The sky was created using a technique from "Radiant Landscapes" by Gloria Loughman. I folded/scrunched the Lunn fabric and added embellishments trying for waves.

Focus Through the Prism Pinwheel Challenge

FreeSpirit True Colors Sedimental Quilt

It’s Never Too Early To Panic by Nancy LaPorte

The pinwheel block this month just screamed Ferris wheel to me. And there's nothing spookier at Halloween, or any other time for that matter, than a creepy carnival. I used green because I wanted to name the Ferris wheel after one of my favorite movies, "Reign of Fire", about dragons taking over civilization.

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I loved using dark green for many of the places I might normally have used black. I'm going to tuck that in the memory banks for future quilts.


"It's Never Too Early To Panic!"
Nancy LaPorte

Free-Motion Quilting With Lines, Curves & Loops

‘Next Door Neighbors’ by Linda Kowalski

Block is Next Door Neighbors by Debbie Kratovil. ..couldn't find anything so went with a great block I found!

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for the Focus Through the Prism Pinwheel Challenge


Free-Motion Quilting Essentials

from: Craftsy

‘Windmills of my Mind’ by Evelyn Larrison

When I saw the block was to be pinwheels, the song "Windmills of my Mind" became the only possible quilt to do. windmills of my mindIf you don,t know the song there are several versions on YouTube.

by Evelyn Larrison

Craftsy

‘Lazy, Hazy Days of Summer’ by Leana M

Lazy, Hazy Days of Summer
By Leana McCutcheon    


Late summer - long hot days - you feel like nothing changes, then the very next day you learn your best friend has left this life behind. 

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Shock, disbelief, pain, anger, loss... You cycle thru all the feelings, then a couple years go by and you realize that the long hot days of summer are upon you and you remember only the good times.

Sunday, August 30, 2015

‘Golden Wind Farm’ by Marsha Friou

I am so enjoying this challenge.

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This my July challenge Golden Wind Farm.  Quilted by Marcia Wachuta.

 

25% off holiday greeting and invitation orders using the code FIRSTLOOK25, 8/12-8/18

‘Poppies’ by Deb

Poppies is bases on a van Gough painting of a vase of poppies. The pinwheels are from left over blocks.  They worked perfectly al the centers of the poppies. I used wool batting to make the poppies really stand out. 

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Created by Deb Silva for the Focus Through the Prism Pinwheel Challenge

Will it go ‘Round in Circles’? by Stacye R

Will it go 'round in circles?  I had a chance to use these wonderful hand painted fabrics in combination with our challenge green.

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Reminds me Fall is just around the corner.
Stacye Richardson
Memphis, TN

‘Pinwheels in a Pumpkin Patch’ by Zeeda Magnuson

Pinwheels in a Pumpkin Patch
Zeeda Magnuson

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Halloween is my favorite holiday with cool breezes, the beautiful and bold colors, and pumpkins galore.  So, when I saw the August block was pinwheels, I knew I should create a pumpkin patch.

Saturday, August 29, 2015

‘BREEZY’ Made by Liz Mandelkow

‘BREEZY’ Made by Liz Mandelkow

Created in Idaho

My entry for August, the pinwheel block and my focus color is yellow.

Focus Through the Prism Project Quilting Challenge.

I live in Idaho. An area that is high desert.

This month it has been hot, very dry, smokey from hundreds of fires all around us, and windy.  Lately our local weather man has started to use the word "breezy" in his forecast.  This makes me giggle.  Cause I look out the window and the wind is stripping the flowers off my garden plants, the lawn furniture is tipped over, and the dog has to point his nose into the wind to do his business or he will tip over.  So my pinwheel is "flying apart” to represent a day in our hot Idaho wind.  The good part is it keeps me inside so I can sew and quilt! 

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I really had a hard time with my design this month.  But things finally started to come together.  

I tried a new quilting technique … pebble quilting.  I like how it looks and can’t wait to try this on something larger.

I am working outside my comfort zone with off center designs and attempting a more modern look overall.

This has been a great challenge for me and I am learning as I go! 

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I am really loving the pebble quilting!!!

Craftsy

Thursday, August 27, 2015

‘Pinwheel Farm’ by Linda Syverson Guild

“Pinwheel Farm” by Linda Syverson Guild

This month’s challenge took my mind to the windmills that are scattered across the plains.  I wondered what-if, the posts rising from the ground below the edge of the quilt supported a field of pinwheels.

I set to work sketching possible layouts and settled on one that worked off of a 20 by 20 grid.  The sketch was so fun that I transferred the idea to a 20” square grid. 

Dimension was created by make the smaller pinwheels appear to be in the distance seemly emerging from the 4 background pinwheels that comprise the sky.  As they move closer to the foreground, the pinwheels get larger and darker. 

Finally, they were all edge stitched to suggest that the pinwheels are being pushed by the wind.

‘Whirlwind’ by Sharon Scott

This is my August Quilt entry using green Cherrywood fabric.  I really tried to showcase the Cherrywood fabric again.  The name is WHIRLWIND. 

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My summer has been very busy and even though one is lucky enough to be retired and able to choose the things you want and love to do it can still get hectic. 

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To illustrate that idea I have used the pinwheel designs and a variegated quilt design that Jacquie Gering calls fractured. I call it pick  up sticks. I also used a variegated green, purple and yellow shiny thread.

‘Pinwheels & Polka Dots’ by Mary Kay Turner

Pinwheels & Polka Dots
It's orange even though it kind of looks red in some light :)

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Looking forward to September's challenge.
Mary Kay Turner

“Red Pinwheel Flower’ by Sherri M

Here's my story.  Red pinwheel flower.      This month is a simple design. It started out complicated and I kept making mistakes. 

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Angles are not my friends.  Basically I ran out of fabric. So I made it simple with simple quilting.

By Sherri Moening

‘Just Very Red Pinwheels’ by Karen Golden

JUST VERY RED PINWHEELS by Karen Golden

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guess I am just a traditional quilter....do love playing around with the block and making my own arrangement tho...now on to September's  block

Craftsy

“Whiskers & Pinwheels’ by Cheryl S

After many delays this month, I've finished my August Pinwheels block. Once I finished piecing the block & looked at it, it seemed to be missing something. I decided to add the block name to the front, "Whiskers & Pinwheels." Can't wait to see what is in store for Sept.

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I used the orange from the Cherrywood fabric pack as my focus fabric in case it isn't obvious (ha!). Cheryl

Monday, August 24, 2015

“Early Autumn Sunset’ by Audrey Manning

"Early Autumn Sunset" because I think it looks like a sunset and my husband said it looks like early fall. I had planned to use more colors but fell in love with the stripe.

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Focus Through the Prism Pinwheel Challenge

Sunday, August 23, 2015

‘Pinwheels in the Sand’ by Susan Reeder

My friend in Pennsylvania got me interested in this challenge; since I moved to NC, this is a way for us to continue to quilt together. She chose the color this month for pinwheels. 

Pinwheels in the Sand

Since I live at the beach, I decided to put my pinwheels in the sand; I added a little ocean and even quilted ghost crabs into the sand. 

Pinwheels in the Sand ghost crab quilting

Since pinwheels are such an old toy, I decided to wash my quilt prior to entry to give it a more vintage look, and I also rounded the corners.

Focus Through the Prism Pinwheel Challenge

Sew a Reversible Hat
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