Thursday, November 28, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just popping in for a quicky to wish you all a
 
Happy Thanksgiving. 
 
Hope you get to spend your day with family and/or friends.
 
Don't eat too much!

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Just took another one off the longarm.....

 
 
Just took this one off of Millie Faye.  I did straight line stitching using Pam Clark's 1" stencil with the blue chalk pounce pad that I just purchased. 
 
You'd think straight stitching would be super easy, but I did have my problems.  Maybe I didn't have it mounted on the machine as square as I thought I did, but hey...it's done and ready to have the binding put on. 
 
Wedding quilt is next.  I intend to have that one done in less than two weeks and have it to the kids and outta here. 

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Doing some measuring....

Ok, there is no place in this house that I can lay out this whole quilt to get good measurements. 
 
I am going to have to measure it folded in half (which I haven't done yet), but #1 I did want to make sure I had enough backing fabric; and #2 I don't see any blatant misshapen edges that will need major trimming to get it squared, so maybe my measurements per section have served me well.  
 
So here is a better look at the left side of this quilt.
 
 
close up....
 
 
Flipped over to see the right side...
 
 
close up....
 
 
And here is the backing....a full three widths.
 
 
Just ordered some stencils to help me make my straight line quilting along with some chalk and pounce pad; and I am leaning towards an orange-y thread to quilt this one. 
 
Next time you see this quilt (unless I can find somewhere to lay out the whole thing) will be when it is on the long arm and/or quilted.  Wish me luck. 
 
 

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Crazy October and quilts.....

October could not have been busier.
 
Baby Jude was born to my youngest daughter.

 
 
My son was married two weeks later.

 
 
So, as you can imagine, between visits to the hospital, staying with my daughter for a week after the baby was born, dinners with out-of-town family/friends prior to and after the wedding, rehearsal dinner, the wedding and throw in a funeral for the bride's grandma who passed away two days before the wedding, I was behind on getting the wedding quilt done.
 
If you remember, my son and his fiancé had given me a picture of a quilt that they wanted me to replicate.
 
They chose these fabrics for their quilt (oranges and grays)
 
 
Prior to retreat in June, I cut up all of the 11+ yards into strips and while at retreat I stitched all the strips together.  
 
 
I made a grid to lay on top of the picture of the original quilt.
 
 
 
and then on a piece of paper, I worked out the sizes for each of the sections for the quilt plus I added one more row to make it a queen-sized quilt.
 
 
As I got a section done, I scratched it out.
 
Tonight I finished the top, but it is so big and the edges should probably be stay-stitched so that my seams don't open up, but for now, it is folded and hung on my sewing room door.
 
 
So, this picture just gives you a sneak peek. This is probably just about a quarter of the quilt.
 
Now I have to say, I have very little fabric left over. 
 
 
There's a few loose strips and I have 13 butt end strip sections that I "maybe" could get out 9" cuts that could be used for pillow case edges.  We will see though. 
 
I will have to do some measuring to make sure my quilt top is square and then I have to piece the backing fabric and once that is done, I am going to put it on the long arm and get this thing quilted.  I am debating whether to use a solid orange of a solid gray for the binding. I may ask the bride for her opinion on this and I am thinking of using an orange thread to quilt straight line stitching to give it an even more modern look. 
 
So stay tuned.  I am hoping life slows down a bit here but with the holidays coming, I may just have to wait until 2014 to come around. 
 


Michigan quilters, take note

  Come see us at our first Quilter's to Quilter's sale.   Don't know what that is?  Well, it will be 28 quilters/vendors selling...