Introducing Barbara Ensor: A Back to School Sewer for QM

Several months ago, we announced on Facebook that we were looking for QM readers to work on a one-time project for us. It’s been my pleasure to work with the eight women we selected as the Back to School Sewing Team. I’m happy to introduce them to you this week during the QM Back to School Party.

Today I’m pleased to present Barbara Ensor from Fort Worth, Texas.

Barbara Ensor

Barbara sewed with Tonga Batiks from Timeless Treasures. Here is Barbara’s finished quilt.

Frame by Frame in Tonga Batiks from Timeless Treasures. This quilt was made by Barbara Ensor from Fort Worth, Texas.

Another autumn lovely! The multi-colored batik serves to pull all of the others together. The cool blue is a wonderful counterpoint to the fiery orange!

Barbara penned a few thoughts for QP readers:

When I saw the call for volunteers for the BTS party, my first thought was, “That would be fun.” I grabbed my camera and sent the pictures of my recent project and its quilting. Shortly thereafter, I realized several things.

• The project might be not to my taste.
• I had little chance of being one of the eight selected.
• What was I thinking, adding another project to my WIPs, with only a few weeks of summer break left?!

To my great surprise, I was selected, and the project seemed doable. I had the opportunity to prioritize my fabric tastes, and wonder of wonders I got my first choice, beautiful batiks from Timeless Treasures.

A diagram of the quilt came, and it seemed easy enough. While waiting for the fabric to arrive, I made a test block, and turned it into my label.

 

Barbara's test block

When the fabrics came, I cut them one evening, and started and finished the top on the next day.

I don’t always follow directions well, and I did one thing differently from the pattern.  Rather than cutting and piecing small squares, I strip pieced the ‘film’ portion of the pattern. Plenty of fabric to do so, and it made it that much easier.

I did have one directional fabric, and I chose to place it horizontally in each block, so that required a little extra attention to detail in cutting.

Barbara used a test block to create a label for her quilt.

I finished ahead of schedule, with a few days left on my summer break.  It was a great change of pace for me, and I’m so glad I participated.  Thank you, Quiltmaker!

On behalf of Quiltmaker and Timeless Treasures, I’d like to extend a sincere thank you to Barbara Ensor for a job well done. We really appreciate you!