Grandma's Quilt

This is the name my customer gave her quilt that I just quilted for her.  

For reference sake, I am calling it Crosses in Squares.  

I was having trouble coming up with a quilt design on this one so put it out there amongst my long arm friends and it was suggested I do feathers and some ruler work in the crosses.  Thanks Shirley.  Sometimes when the fabrics are so busy, it is hard to decide what to do with a quilt and then you resort to a panto, but in this case, I don't think the feathers are lost in the design. 

So, here are some  close-ups of the quilting.

Before I had even seen the backing for this quilt, I had decided on using a melon (orange-y) colored thread for the quilting.  (So Fine top and bottom).  Orange just seemed to shine through on this quilt.

Then I saw the backing. 

I guess orange was the right choice.  

Sure hoping my customer likes this one.  

Completed my mission....

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was under some pressure to get a baby quilt made for later this month.  The mom-to-be is doing the baby's room in purple, teal and gray with a theme of stars. So, I made these liberated stars to start with.  

Then with my variety of grays, I started string piecing with  my stars being in various positions within the block.  

I tried arranging the stars (one per block) in a pleasing arrangement. 

Three blocks and I was really liking it. 

This is how I worked around my stars by putting them where I thought they would look best and then doing the strings. 

Sixteen blocks complete.

Top is complete.  Surprising how out in the sunlight you can see how warm some of those grays are.  

Then I got side tracked by my grandson who wanted a baseball pillow.  It was his 7th birthday and I had promised this pillow some time ago, so I thought I had better get it done. 

Got it done on his birthday. 

Thank goodness  I had a stitch on my machine that looked like the stitching on a baseball; otherwise, I could see me having to do hand embroidery work for this pillow.  

Plus, he loves minky, so I had some scrap minky and had just enough to put a zipper in and cover the back of his pillow.  

Ok....back to the baby quilt. 

I got it on the long arm  and did a panto called Patriot, but since this theme was stars and this is going to be for  a little girl, I figured if I stitched this in purple, we can call it little girl ribbons and stars.  Here's a few close ups of the stitching.  

The top is finished.  

....and the silvery gray minky really shows off the quilting in this picture.  

The binding is a gradient gray and white diagonal.  I love stripes for bindings.  

So the quilt is done in plenty of time.  Yeah!!!

Onto some customer quilts now.  

What's On/Under the needles today?

Knitting was to be put on the back burner as there was plenty of quilting that needed to be done.

Well, we went away for a long weekend and I had nothing to do in the way of hand work, so I pulled out a new project for knitting with the knowledge that once home, I would put it away until I was caught up with customer quilts and my own quilting. 

Spindrift is the pattern that I had planned for my alpaca yarn 

and I do plan on adding beads to the eyelet border.  

 I have to say that in the four days that we were at the cabin I got half of it done.

When I pick this project up next, I will be doing the  five repeats of eyelet that runs along the bottom of this shawl......but, like I said, I am going to put this away and it is going to hibernate until I am ready to get back at it (even though I know it will be calling my name to finish it).

Now....as for quilting.....I am under a time line crunch to make a baby quilt for a shower that is taking place later this month.  I have had the fabric for some time.  Also, I am designing as I go on this one, so I hope what I have in my head translates to fabric well enough. 

Here are my fabrics.  

The mother-to-be is doing the baby's bedroom in purple, teal and gray with a theme of stars.  

So here are the stars that I have made.

They are Gwen Marsten's liberated stars.  

There will be one for each 12" block

The plan is for the quilt to end up around 48 inches square with a smattering of stars on a gray background.  

So, I made a deal with myself.....once the stars were done, I was going to get on the treadmill (thanks Sharon!) and then I can get back to working on the background for the stars.  I guess I didn't think these  liberated stars would work up quite so fast.  

Lunch, treadmill and then  cutting out the scrappy (controlled) background.  I feel like I am on a roll now.  

So, stay tuned for the finished quilt.  I am determined and for some reason I DO work well under pressure although I am not really fond of working under pressure.  I guess that is just the way I fly.  

Quilty Chicks luncheon....

Had the girls over today for lunch.

Come summertime, it seems we don't get  together as often since there is so much going on with vacations, working in the yards and just plain old being busy.

#1....I missed them and needed a girlfriend fix.

#2....I had Nancy's quilt finished and ready to give it back to her.

That's Sharon on the left and Nancy on the right.   I think she liked her quilt.  

#3...Everyone's been on vacation and we needed to catch up on all the exciting happenings.

#4....We did a little show and tell which is always motivating.  

I get so caught up in all the motivation that I forget to take pictures of everything but one of the things Nancy brought is her teeny log cabins that she has been making for quite a while.  She is starting to put them together.  

Love her sashing.  

I looked back in my posts to find out where she was showing us her little log cabins and you can find them  here.  You'll see how really small they are, but definitely gorgeous.  

Sharon was starting another Bonnie Hunter quilt, but I forgot to get a picture of that.  It was in my favorite colors....reds and creams.  It will be a beauty. 

Nancy, also, dropped off another quilt for me to do.  Here's a close up  I am going to ruminate over this one before loading it on the Millie.  She has such good taste in fabrics.  Love everything she does.  

The flip flop quilt, also, got picked up today. 

I think Mary was pleased with it, so that makes me happy.  

So..... I am going to take a little break from the long arm as I have a baby quilt that has to be made by the end of the month so I have to get busy with that. 

When I come up for air from the sewing room, I should have a baby quilt to show you.  

Have a good one!

Need to knuckle down.

Just finished the last customer quilt that was in the house.

Not sure how long that is going to last, but I have a baby quilt that I have to make before the end of the month and I really need to knuckle down and get it done and wrapped. All I can say is that I have the fabric purchased.  

But before I could start it, I needed to get my obligations taken care of first.  

Mary dropped off this quilt  a week ago.  I hope she likes it as she is coming from using a gal who used a computer on her long arm.  I don't have that and so my work is all hand guided. 

I chose a pantograph called Chantilly.  

You could almost use these flip flops as an I Spy quilt.  Cute fabrics. 

Cute backing, too. 

Ok.....that's it for customers right now.  Got to get busy.  

Stay tuned.  

Stack and Slash Halloween quilt

For this quilt, my  customer  used some great Halloween fabrics some of which have glow in the dark features.....like eyes, bones, pumpkin faces, etc. 

It is a Stack and Slash (not Stack and Whack) and I felt the spiderweb pattern on each block was the best bet for this quilt.  I did piano keys on the border or maybe I would suggest an eerie organ playing some spooky music instead.  

This was a lot of ruler work and working with black thread on black fabric is enough to make one go cross eyed, but I do love how it turned out.

Just looking at this quilt made me smile.  It's a fun, happy quilt.

So here's a picture of it as I pulled it off the Millie.

It 76 x 86.

Here's a peek at the backing.

I, also, put a little surprise on this one.  You can't have spiderwebs without a spider. 

Hope Maria likes it!

Just a hint....

Just a hint of what's on the Millie right now.  

I would have had this done today if I didn't have so much company, but I would rather visit with family any old day.  There is always tomorrow for this quilt.    

I WILL finish this tomorrow.