Happy to report that the Twister Quilt is on the longarm. It has been a while since I have quilted on my Gammill. I hope that I remember how to! This quilt is for my former Department of Natural Sciences at Northeastern State University in Oklahoma. When I was chair of the department, I had one of my quilts hanging in my office, However when I retired as chair, I took it with me. After all, it was my first quilt. I did enjoy seeing it every day at work, and many people commented on it, but I couldn't leave it there. I wrote about this quilt in a former post.

Anyway, this quilt is a Lil' Twister Pattern made by CS Designs. I saw a quilt made from the pattern, using their ruler, at a quilt shop in Shreveport, Louisiana. I just had to give it a try. The fabric is from Connecting Threads. I have had it in a my stash for a while. I really like the variety of the line. In addition, green is a university color. So it seemed perfect.

I have finished making the quilt top for my State Flower Quilt. As you may recall from a previous post, I have been working on a quilt that uses the Deco State Flowers by Tiffany Lerman  for In the Beginning Fabrics.  I was really drawn to the fabric because I wanted to make a quilt honoring all fifty states. I also liked the old fashion look of the deco flowers.

The evolution of this quilt was guided by many factors. This seems to be the way that I work best. I do not like to completely plan a quilt before start. If I do that, I seem to lose interest in the quilt and not finish it. I am more motivated by design than I am by the completion of a project. Therefore, I tend to continue to plan the quilt as I sew it. I have completed many more quilts since I started doing this. If you find yourself losing interest after planning a quilt, you might give this a try.

I purchased 50 fat eighths for the quilt. I decided on a hexie quilt using the Honeycomb Quilt pattern from Eleanor Burns. I have been wanting to make this quilt as a part of my Quilt in a Day Trunk Show and as a sample for a future a workshop. However, I wanted to use as much of the fabric as I could since I would not have enough left-over to make another quilt. So, I increased the size of the quilt. 

I cut out the hexagons and equilateral triangles using my Accuquilt (affiliate link*) cutter. I had small pieces of fabric left so I cut those scraps up into half hexagons that had the same size edges.. The remaining fabric was cut into smaller hexagons, equilateral triangles, and half hexagons. I am not sure how I will use the smaller pieces, but I thought as long as I was cutting fabric, I might as well do it all at once. The process went very quickly because I have the Go! Big Electric Fabric Cutter (affiliate link*) It is wide enough so that I can cut using more than one die at a time. The photo shows the various sizes of hexagons, half hexagons, and equilateral triangles that were cut.

I am happy to report that I have completed the Flower Power table runner. It is a kit from Connecting Threads, but the main reasons that I purchased the kit is that it included the Flower Power pattern from Quilt in a Day, which was one of the few patterns that I did not own, and I really liked the fabric that was in the kit.  Photos of the completed table runner are below.

I could not let National Sewing Machine Day go by without sharing a photo of my first sewing machine. 

Next September, I will be giving a Trunk Show and a Workshop for the Miami Quilt Guild in Miami, Oklahoma. I am really looking forward to it. The Trunk Show will feature quilts that I have made using Quilt in a Day patterns, the philosophy of Quilt in a Day patterns, and a little about my quilting journey. As I wrote in my 2017 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop feature, I credit Eleanor Burns with teaching me how to machine piece accurately and efficiently. In addition, I am a Quilt in a Day Certified Teacher. I earned that distinction last September in Paducah, Kentucky. I do not receive compensation from Quilt in a Day. However, the training has prepared me to offer quality workshops using their methods.

​I see that Eleanor is offering new certification workshops, so if you are interested, Here is a link to more information. I highly recommend the training, I see that the 2017 Paducah Training is sold out, but you may be able to get into the California training later in the year..

​The Miami Quilt Guild has requested that I teach the Apple Bag workshop. In this three-hour workshop, they will learn how to make the Apple Cake block from Quilt in a Day's Apple Cake Quilt pattern by making an Apple Bag which includes one of the blocks. Then they will know how to make additional apple blocks for the entire quilt on their own. (I can also teach the entire quilt, but that workshop is more than three hours in length.) The Apple Bag would make a nice gift for your favorite teacher! A photo of my sample bag is below. 
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If your guild is looking for a Workshop or Trunk Show, please contact me. I am located in Oklahoma, but I do travel!

​This post was originally published at JANDA Bend Quilts.

​I am linking up to Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday. Click on the link to see what other people are finishing this week!