Quilting Projects

I'm going to be doing a demonstration and workshop for my quilt group on Tuesday night about Prairie Points and realized i really need a project to show what they look like. You see, i've never made a quilt with Prairie Points! I've only figured out how to make them *g*. I started a quilt in June at the Vermont Quilt Festival (VQF) that i plan to finish with Prairie Points (i posted pictures of the work in process here) but despite a good start, it's still not done. So i needed something else. What to do? I remembered some blocks that i started in a workshop at VQF quite a few years ago, and thought i could finish one as a mini quilt...it seems unlikely i'll ever finish the quilt that they were supposed to be part of, especially since i've misplaced the directions for the project!

Prairie Points are triangles of fabric that are folded (several different ways to fold) and traditionally applied to the edge of a quilt instead of a regular binding. Here's the 13" square (from brushed cottons), quilted like a mini-quilt, with Prairies Points sewn down on three edges and pinned on the fourth to show how it's done.

Another thing i've been working on is getting ready for this year's quilt retreat, at the end of April. My friend April volunteered to help out on the committee and i told her i'd be glad to lend a hand, just not get too involved. Famous last words! I got the idea that given the theme (shhhhh...don't tell anybody, we won't be making the announcement until Tuesday, but the theme is "Sweet Treats Retreat"), it would be fun to make pillowcases for the Friday night project. I'm calling it "Sweet Dreams." I've been making kits for each person at retreat, with a main fabric, cuff fabric, and trim fabric...gave me a chance to purchase a lot of interesting cupcake and other "sweet" fabrics!  It was perfect timing to decide on a pillowcase project, too, because American Patchwork and Quilting is sponsoring a Million Pillowcase Challenge to encourage quilters and crafters to make and donate a million pillowcases locally. Each person will have a colorful and cheerful pillowcase to remind her of retreat, and i'm hoping that everyone will then turn around and make pillowcases for the challenge. This box is filling up with pillowcase kits.