one last Quilt of 2016

I made this quilt top in October-November, quilted it in December and just finished the binding.

Pattern is "Merry-Go-Round" by Missouri Star Quilt Company (again!). Rings are fabrics by Tula Pink. Background is a specked gray I have been hoarding.

I free-motion quilted feathers all over.

Quilted with 40 wt. Signature polyester thread on top and 50 wt. Aurifil in the bobbin. This combination always works for me.

Now to think about what quilts I want to make in 2017!

 
 
 

 

a transition quilt

We have been here a month now, in our new town. We are mostly unpacked, still settling in, working toward normal.I still haven't found a few items, but there are boxes we haven't opened. If we are moving again in a year, it really isn't necessary.

We are getting used to this house. It is not a bad house, it is just not one I would choose in other circumstances. Our lack of space is just something we will cope with. The dogs are still adjusting. They are quite clingy, and exhibit some anxious behaviors, but they are here and safe.

This neighborhood, though, or should I say are neighbors, are amazing! Could not ask for better!
Truly a gift! They greeted us with open arms and open hearts and we are really enjoying being around them.

Working from home is great! My stress level has plummeted. Now that I am on the phone for meetings, I seem to be able to fend of all the negativity of my workplace.  Yes, I have mentioned that here before, and it had settled down, but here comes more upheaval! But really, being on the phone instead of in the room, makes a huge difference!

Okay, chances are you did not land here to read about yet another example of corparate chaos, so here is my transition quilt. I call it that as I pieced the top prior to the move, and now it is the first I have quilted here. So a mixed bag of emotions. May I present, Dreamsicle:

I used Bonnie Hunter's tutorial to make the blocks. I just made them 16" square.

Mixed reds, oranges, pinks with my low-volume whites, adding blacks at the edge to frame.

Free-motion quilted on my Tiara. Feels good to have a finished quilt. Hoping life settles down for a bit!

decamping

The movers will be here in 1 week. Instead of freaking out, I am trying to just do stuff. They will pack everything, except my quilting/sewing stuff. I will do that next weekend. In the meantime, and when in town, I have been doing therapy sewing (isn't it all therapy?).

Finished this:

Pattern is Moon Dance by Villa Rosa Quilts. These are the little postcard patterns. I can not resist them. Fun, well-written, easy, wish I had thought of this?
A detail, mostly Carolyn Friedlander fabric, with this little goldfish thrown in for fun.

I think it makes a great gender-neutral baby quilt to have in my stash.

On my wall, I am designing this:

Can you tell I like orange? This winter has been tough so I am gravitating toward the bright colors. Orange, red and pink just make me happy. And with my traveling for work, I have a lot of time in the to think about quilts. While I appreciate ALL quilts, I realize each of us has a different aesthetic, and for me, I love scrappy! This one is coming along nicely, if I had a batting, I would get to quilting!

Finally, I have done some quilting for hire. Here is a detail of what I recently finished:

A Downton Abbey themed quilt for a friend, she always lets me do what I want. This beautiful quilt really wanted feathers. And it quilted like a dream.

Next post may be from our new abode. Fingers crossed for a smooth move!

so long to February 2015

cold, cruel February. short on days, long on weather. BUT, I have finished a few things!

Andalusia Light. These were the light FQs from the Andalusia Collection by Patty Young. I used the darks in this quilt. I love the saturated pink, red, orange, green along with the chocolate brown. Different!

Bold Glory #3. My own pattern, see #1 (2009) and #2 (2014) here. I developed this as my design to show appreciation to veterans. I really need to get this written!

Our family received a new member this month, a gorgeous baby boy named Everett. He is the 4th of my nephew's children (the first 3 are triplets, here are their baby quilts)

Something different from me: dessert! But these red velvet whoopie pies were easy, fast and GONE when we had family over for dinner!

Last, not least, my newest medallion (I love medallion quilts!)

72" square, I started with piecing the center using templates from Atkinson Designs' "Winner's Bouquet" pattern. I then added the piano-key border. I tried different blocks for the next border, but the half-square triangles just seemed to work (and the math was easier!). The final border was just what happened! This has Tula Pink fabrics from these collections: Prince Charming, Parisville, the Birds and the Bees, Saltwater and Acacia. The back ground fabrics, white and grey, were in my stash.
I love the saturation of colors in Tula's palette. I love how they all work together. I started this in December and just had fun with it. Some detail and in process shots:

In other news, we are preparing to move at the end of the month. Of course, I am going to sew and quilt as time allows, but I am going to use my stash. So no new additions until after the relocation.

love, honor and (a very bold) glory (post 2 of 2)

My other secret project was to make a quilt for a very dear cousin. I knew he wanted one, and I knew which one was perfect for him. I had designed this quilt in 2009 to contribute to the Quilts of Valor program and have always intended to make another. I love how quick it goes together and had the thought of publishing the pattern. I may still.

Bold Glory 60" by 84"

Anyway, my dear cousin retired from the Army last year and since he holds a special place in my heart, I knew I had to make this one for him.

He received it yesterday afternoon, so I can share it now. As this quilt is all about the fabric placement, my quilting takes a supporting roll. I used gray thread and quilted a stipple in the red and blue areas, with a long, curved feather in the white areas.

I love the red, white & blue. I designed it inspired by the banners that families used to hang in their window during WWII, the number of stars on those banners stood for the number of family members they had in the military. For this quilt, I choose 3 stars for balance.

I love how the striped binding frames it. My son and I took these photos at Historic Bethabara Park, one of the early Moravian settlements here in Winston-Salem. Besides being a beautiful spot, I love the connection of history.

And my cousin loves it!

Been a while (post 1 of 2)

How can February be such a short month and yet seem so long!
It has been over a month since my last real post. But that doesn't mean I haven't been quilting. I have done a couple of secret gift projects as well as some commission quilting. Now that the gifts have been received, I can share!
First up is a quilt the Triad Modern Quilt Guild made for a member who had a baby in December.
Said member loves rainbows and robots, so the quilt design (directed by May Chappell) was easy to concieve.
Instead of contributing a block, participating members contributed a row of color. Then it was handed to me to quilt. A robot, naturally! I drew out my robot idea (based on a Lego figure),

marked my dimensions with masking tape, loaded rainbow variegated yarn, and set to stitching.

 It is hard to see the large central figure, so I did a tiny version in one of the corners.

And for the major cute baby enjoying the quilt, click here!

A great project to be a part of!

Introducing...

My Tiara, I call her Queen Latifah. She is beautiful, strong and talented!

I have referred to her a few times of late, but want to expand a bit, now that I've quilted several projects on her.

I had decided, earlier this year, to make a long arm purchase. I love quilting, especially free-motion, and thought I might like to quilt for others in the future.

I began by talking to my long-arm quilter friends, practically interviewing them about their machines. Each person was so helpful, and I received the best information. I asked each what they liked about their machine, what they didn't like, and any advice they had. Several recommended that I test drive a variety of brands in order to find the machine that worked for me. I also joined several different quilter groups on line, they were helpful and informative as well, again recommending test-drives. To that end, I attended the Original Sewing and Quilting Expo in Raleigh this past June. A group of friends went with me, which made it even more fun. One of my friends, Laura, was on the same mission as I so we enjoyed test driving the machines and comparing notes. (She purchased an APQS George).

All the machines were nice, all did a wonderful job quilting. The stand-up long-arm that I fell for? The Juki Virtuoso. I loved the smooth lines, the amazing handling and all the lights! I also really liked the HQ Avante, beautiful, smooth quilting.
Since all the machines I tried were great, and all the people I spoke to were helpful, I had to consider more of my specific needs. At this point in my life, I quilt for me. Most of my projects do not have a time frame, and while I do quilt for friends, it is not my primary business, so the machine I buy needed to fit my style.
I went with the Tiara for several reasons.

The primary reason: I love free-motion-quilting, moving the quilt with my hands, making designs using the needle as my pen. Second: The quilting on a sit-down long arm would not require learning a new way of moving. My mother has a stand-up long-arm, a Gammill, and I have quilted on it and love many of the features such a machine brings. HOWEVER, that would require a learning curve for my quilting, time practicing in order to get my quilting skills up to speed. With a sit-down machine, no learning curve required.
Plus, I can trade in my Tiara for a stand-up long arm if I decide that is what I want in the future.

The extra space under the needle, the bright LED lights (I have added extra lights as well), the extensions on the table, make this such a joy. I quilt as often as I can! I have started trying build up a few UFO's so I will have something to throw under the needle! I am learning ruler work and having fun trying new threads. I have a supportive dealer and am a member of a great user group so I feel I have 24/7 support. But I have had no problems learning this new machine. She is such a good sport and likes everything I have thrown at her. I am very happy with this machine!

Squeezing a project in

The Thanksgiving holiday break is a great time for me to get in some quilting. The cooking, cleaning, feeding, cleaning all hits on Wednesday-Thursday, so while a seemingly large number of people are shopping, I am holed up in my sweatshop, happily stitching away! I was able to begin, and complete a wall quilt, all on Friday.

This is yet another awesome pattern by May Chappell "All Squared Up". It finished at 24" square.

I purchased the pattern as part of a kit from SewLux Fabrics. I swapped out the center square fabric, using instead a fussy-cut piece of "Winter's Lane", and instead of a solid background fabric, I used a low-volume print.

I had a blast quilting this. I used a bright polyester thread on my sweet Tiara & just let it fly!

Yep, that is some insane matchstick quilting in that border.

And some gratuitous back shots!

This will hang in our foyer as our "winter" wall quilt.

Purple Posies in a Basket

I have been quilting this beauty off and on for 6 weeks.

Pieced by Janet, quilted by me

68" by 78"

It was pieced by a family friend, Janet, who learned quilting growing up on a dairy farm. She still lives, and works there. I wanted to quilt one of her tops as a way to honor her, her relationship with my husband's family and as a memorial to my late MIL.

The piecing is exquisite. See, Janet doesn't own a rotary cutter, she cuts each piece separately and pieces precisely. The flowers are not made of carefully pieced half-square-triangles, they are diamond shapes with exact y-seams. Perfect points. Hand-appliqued stems.

I took my time quilting, heck, this was intimidating!

I first did a tight stipple in the white backgrounds (with white thread), then left it as I built up my nerve to quilt feathers in the lavender sections. I had Isacord in a matching lavender for the solid blocks and stitched a plume in each. The border is stitched in a piano-key , it didn't need anything else.

I was happy with it, but a bit anxious to give it back. What if she didn't like it? Thats a lot of stitches to rip out.

She loved it. Her sister and brothers loved it. Her sister-in-law asked for it. (whew)
And we spent a wonderful afternoon and evening with them. And the cows.

This girl was so curious, she kept her eye on us the whole time!

Darma Sunrise

I got a little carried away with the quilting on this one.

Darma Sunrise 46" by 36"

I started the border first on this one. One of our LQS, Sew Original is hosting a "Solids Challenge" and this was originally going to be my entry.

I love how the border looks. But originally I wasn't loving the dark gray I used in the center.

So I decided to lighten it up with quilting. And I quilted a lot. 

Feathers, fronds, swirls, oh my!

I believe this will serve nicely as a teaching sample for a while.

 

The backing is a batik I had in my stash, and the colors worked perfectly.

Last, of this batch, mini quilt

A wall quilt based on the traditional Shoofly block:

23" square

Various fabrics

This is another I really like. I love the turquoise with black&white and yellow. I feels really fresh and bright. I FMQed it by marking overlapping circles in the solid part of the center, then I quilted straight lines in the corners, and finished up by quilting a large loop in the border.

Having fun using my stash!

What a week!

I taught FMQ at Papanana today and had a class full of WONDERFUL students! If you are ever having a bad day, or the news of the world gets you down, I recommend going into a quilt shop.
To quote my mother, my face hurts from smiling! My next FMQ class is April 27 at Sewingly Yours, and I am looking forward to just as much fun, sharing my passion.

Here are the balance of the mini quilts I finished this week:

 Sweet Spring Table Runner 20" by 30"

 Basket Block wall quilt 20" square

Close up to show the straight line FMQ on the setting triangles. I love how this turned out!

Wall quilt featuring Flea Market Fancy and Grand Hotel fabrics

20" by 20"

There is another quilted, but not yet bound. Maybe tomorrow!

These quilts will be for sell by Taproot Artisans in Harmony, NC. The hubs and I were out that way about a month ago and stopped in to see what was in there. The shop is in an old mercantile shop with large grahic barn quilts hanging outside. As we looked around, the proprietress, Janet and I were talking. She asked about my quilts, I showed her the blog, and she invited me to produce some work to sell. Why not? I adore making these little quilts. They go fast and allow me try different things.

Taproot offers classes in painting your own barn quilt (in a variety of sizes) as well as doing barn quilt tours in Iredell County, so it seems a natural fit. I hope they sell!