Back to Work!

I finished another quilt for Amber last week. It was one that she has worked on for quite awhile off and on (what with the move and all). It was one that she wanted to give to Kerry. She thought he would particularly enjoy it and so chose an extra soft batt so that it would have that all important "Hug" factor. Hope he enjoys it!

Amber to the rescue. These are two pictures posted on the APQS website and taken by Dawn Cavanaugh at the show. I'm glad Amber put them on her blog so I could get them on mine. It was such fun to work on such a beautiful quilt and such a thrill to get a ribbon!! I'd say we make a pretty good team.

Well, I regret to say that I don't have any pictures of our beautiful red star quilt all finished and hanging at HMQS with a ribbon on it. It was a very exciting moment! We received a "Teacher's Choice" ribbon and boy were we pleased. Both of us tried to get our cameras there and when that failed we even borrowed a camera, but the fates were not with us, and we came away with no picture. How disappointing! However, we were not disappointed in the results of our efforts. There is nothing quite so rewarding as walking down that long isle and seeing your quilt in the distance and then realizing that it has a ribbon on it! How fun!

Final Stages

Add a few details, remove all the blue markings, finish the borders,feather all the scollops and (only three months from start to finish)I am DONE! What a lot of fun! What a lot or work! What a great feeling to have been part of creating something so beautiful!

Finished At Last!!!!!

Months ago, I started quilting the biggest project that I have done so far in my experience. I have done larger quilts, but not anything with more designing, planning, sewing, unsewing, resewing and so forth. I told my daughter that I wanted her to design a quilt with lots of quilting space so that I could actually design and try things that I have never been able to do before because this kind of quilting is out of the norm that usually is done on customer quilts.

Here is the first step with the loading of the back of the quilt. This back was one of the challenges of the quilt. The back is red and the front is cream. That presents a challenge with two different colors of thread - red on the back and off white on the front. I learned a lot about tension that I had never really had to learn before. Fun!

Then the design work started. It was so fun. I decided to make the stars the center of each block and design aroung that.

From there is was just completing one area at a time and trying to keep all the design elements balanced and coordinated so that the quilt looked like a harmonious whole. There were times when a whole new area had to be redesigned so that it looked right.

One For Me

Actually finished a little quilt for me this last couple of months. I wanted to try curved crosshatching on it. I had never done it before, and even tho it did not turn out perfect by any means, I was pleased with the way it finished up. I really learned a lot on this quilt, and it is so beautiful. My daughter made the top and she has a real talent with color.

Well, about time to post again. I know I say every time that I am going to be better, and then I'm not, so I won't say it this time. I finished three little quilts for the same customer that the froggy quilt was for. She is expecting three new grandchildren this summer. The first one was a girl, then next was a boy and the last one she didn't know yet, but she did have all the quilts finished ahead of time, although the first one was finished just in time.

The last one was really fun. If I ever have a great grandson, I hope I can find the same material. I loved it.

I have done several others this spring too, but that is a post for another day!!

I'm seeing Frogs

Just finished a quilt that has frogs all over it. It turned out pretty fun, but I am seeing frogs in my sleep. This is a quilt for a customer's grandson. I think it is just the kind of quilt that a little boy would like.









When you look at the back, you see froggies, froggies, froggies and the lilly pads they love to jump on all over the place. What fun!

I did a quilt for her earlier this year and it was a jungle theme. It was fun to quilt and is one of those stack and whack kind. I loved it. I have quilted some others for her grandchildren this year. They are supposed to be Christmas presents. I think they will love it. Kids always love cuddly minke quilts. Just wish I had remembered to take pictures.

Wow! Does Time Fly!

I can't believe how long it has been since I posted anything. Life just seems to keep on rolling along, even if you wish it would slow down a little. My husband retired, and that seems to have taken time with the planning and all. We went to a family reunion and planned on an extended vacation, but then he hurt his knee and had to have surgery and needless to say that has kept me extra busy.

Inbetween all the regular life stuff I have quilted some fun quilts and just haven't had time to post them. I did a couple of Cancer quilts. The first was for a lady who pieced the top last year and I volunteered to quilt it for her. It was kind of fun to do.

My daughter and I also quilted a quilt together again this year. The blocks were done by a lot of different ladies last year and then she put them all together in a really fun quilt and I quilted it. I hope the ladies like it and that they sell lots of raffle tickets for it.

I didn't get very good pictures of it, do guess I won't add one. We love "Quilting for the Cure!"

Newest Grandchild

February brought our newest grandchild, and so a new quilt was in order. I just used a yard and a half of printed fabric and a jazzy color on the back. Then with a flowered overall quilting pattern I was all set for the new little one in no time at all. Actually, I hate to admit it, but it took me a month to get it done.

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Another Grandmother was getting a new grandchild as well, and so I needed to finish her quilt first. She opted for a hearts over all pattern with a soft minke back. What a nice was to say, "Welcome to your new home!"

Heritage Quilt

Did a fun Heritage quilt in the last little while. I woman made it for her mother-in-law. It had a wedding picture and the pictures of all her children on it. It was a lap quilt for her to use in the evenings, etc. It had that really soft Minke on the back. I hope she really enjoys it.

Finally!

I have finally finished a quilt I started last fall. It has ended up being a lot more work than I thought it would be, but it has turned out beautiful. I can hardly wait to see it all bound and on a bed.



It was started in Oct. or the first part of Nov. and had to be taken off the frame so that I could finish up all the Christmas quilts. Even after I got that finished, there were the two wedding quilts to finish. Finally I got it back on the first part of Feb. and got it all finished last week. Thank Goodness!!

I love Weddings!!!

I just love weddings - Especially family weddings. And granddaughters are probably just as fun as daughters and not quite as much work. All I had to do was quilt for about a month solid. It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun.


This is granddaughter #l's quilt. It is very graphic and bold and modern. Quite matches the girl. She is the oldest and the first to be married - on Friday.

Since the bride loves purple, I put purple on the back and the flowers and leaves and swirls showed up quite well.

Granddaughter #2 was married on Saturday. It was quite the week-end, but at least family that had to travel from out of town got to attend both weddings with only one trip. It was well worth the effort and enjoyed by all.

Granddaughter #2's quilt is more traditional, but just as colorful and fun. She really loved it. I had so much fun quilting this one.


I'm sure they will have many cozy evenings cuddling under the quilt! I love you both!

More Christmas

Way Past Christmas Time

I know it is way past Christmas Time, but I did want to post a couple of pictures so you could see what I worked on in December.

I am working on a quilt for my daughter, and it is taking way more time than I thought it would. (Why do we always do that to ourselves. Anyway, I had to take it off in order to get to the Christmas gifts.) I'll post more pictures after I finish it up.>




This is a quilt that my youngest daughter made for her husband's Grandmother. We were both pretty proud of her efforts. It is her first quilt (other than a baby quilt). Grandma really liked it.





This is an adaptation of the same quilt that I made for my brother and his wife for Christmas. I quilted all over holly and berries.


Here is a fun quilt made from a panel. It was for my husband's brother and his family. I love Christmas and snowmen!!! Don't you!