I purchased this quilt top from Donna Poster when she was selling some of her quilts and supplies. It is a beautifully pieced quilt and I wanted to quilt it myself. I quilted "in the ditch" of each block on my machine to secure the layers. Then I handquilted, using the "big stitch quilting" method with pearl cotton, to embellish the plain blocks and setting triangles. I wish I had used a little darker shade of peach/coral, but I still like the overall outcome of the quilt.

Happy Halloween

In the Fall 2010 issue of Quilts and More there is a pattern for Tiny Treat Bags. They are a little work because they are lined have a sewn-in handle and flat bottom, but are they cute! I've made 18 so far. I'm done for Halloween/Fall, but may make a few more for Christmas. Like all things they go faster the more you make.

A Rainy Day in September

It's a rainy day in Pennsylvania and I just finished a project, so I'm taking the time to take the pictures and update the blog. The Star Wall Hanging was made from a kit from Fons and Porter magazine. It is small, but took quite a while to make because of all the small pieces. I quilted it on my Bernina copying the quilting shown in the magazine as closely as I could. I'm not good at designing the quilting myself, so I just copy what I see. The second project is a Rose Tote Bag that I'm donating to the Rose Society. We will fill it with gardening or rose items and donate the filled bag to the Penn Cumberland Garden Club for their Benefit Auction in November. I'm working on some little Halloween tote bags now. Love to sew on a rainy day (also hot days, snows days, and beautiful days!)

Lots of Projects

Yesterday I went to the Pennsylvania National Quilt Show. It was a nice show and I bought a few small projects. I bought a Schnibbles quilt pattern and a Charm Pack to go with it. I bought a kit that makes 4 tree-shaped Christmas napkins. I bought some more fabric to make comfort caps for Brenda, and I bought a quilting stencil. The stencil if for a UFO. It is a Folded-fan quilt made by Donna Poster. I have quilted it "in the ditch" and now I am hand quilting a fan pattern in the plain blocks, with a pearl cotton. I think it is working out very nicely. I'll post a picture with this blog post when I have one block quilted. I also have fat quarters to make some Halloween goodie bags.

Love, Love, Love This Quilt

Because this quilt was a Block of the Month, I was willing to tackle something that I would probably never have taken on as an entire project. Each month, one of these beautiful Star blocks showed up in the mail and it was only a few hours to complete one. They were each so beautiful that I could not wait for the next one. After 12 months, I opened the "finishing kit" to find that there was one more LARGE star in the center, then a sashing with stars. By this time I was so excited to see the finished quilt that I worked on it until it was complete. Then I took it to Laurel Cook, an excellent Longarm quilter, and she quilted a custom design onto the quilt. Each block is quilted to match the pattern and the borders and sashing each have unique, custom quilting. I think she did a lovely job of bringing out all the details of the quilt. The Block of the Month is the 2009 Designer Mystery Block of the Month from the Fat Quarter Shop www.fatquartershop.com. The fabrics in the quilt are the Glace Collection from 3 Sisters by Moda.

Finished a Batik Pillow

I bought this batik fabric a couple of years ago at Hershey Quilt Odyssey. I thought that it would make a nice pillow, so I quilted around the design and made an envelope pillow case. Came out very well and very easy.

Well, I couldn't do it

My plan to do no sewing until after Labor Day did not pan out. One evening when there was nothing to do, nothing good on TV, and I didn't even have a good book to read, I decided that not sewing was a bad idea. So far this month, I've gone on two day trips, read several books, gone to the movie, did some cooking and gardening and gone to visit family, but there is still time for sewing. It seemed crazy to not allow myself to sew. So, I've finished a little "cheater" quilt. My sister wants this one, so I'll give it to her. I think it's very cute!

Batik Panel

I bought this Batik Panel at the Hershey show in 2008, I think. I never finished it until about two weeks ago, when I got it out and quilted it. I really love the way it turned out and now it is hanging in the powder room. Much better than laying in the UFO tub. It feels great to get things finished.

Quilting Vacation

I have decided to take a month off from sewing/quilting. I love it and become so obsessed with finishing things that I don't do other things in my life that I also love. I am going to read, visit friends, entertain, cook, see some movies, take walks, and other vacation activities. I have finished several projects before my hiatus and I'll post those pictures soon.

My Block of the Month

Hey, Last June I signed up for the Fat Quarter Shoppe, Mystery Block of the Month. I just finished the last border. Each month you received a package to make one 12 1/2" block. The finishing kit included fabric for the large center star, the star sashing, and the borders. I really love the quilt. Now I have to decide how to have it quilted. But my part is finished! I'll try to have someone hold this up so that I can get a better picture.

Carlie's Quilt

I made this quilt for Carlie for Christmas last year. But she came to sleep over with Gram and I last night and she brought it along. I had not taken a picture of it, so I took one and here it is. Pretty cute scrap quilt, I think. Not as cute as Carlie, though.

Project Complete - Chris & Sui's Quilt

It didn't take long to finish quilting the baby quilt for Mary's nephew and his wife, Chris and Sui. Here is a picture. I quilted around each of the dinosaurs in the panel.

Stalled projects don't keep a good quilter down

I was working on the final border of my Block of the Month and ran out of fabric. In trying to do a good deed, I took left over fabric to my sister's to make a purse for our other sister. Turns out I needed some of that fabric and so I had to order another half yard. Just a $10 mistake, but it stalled that project. So then I started working on a panel quilt for Mary's nephew's upcoming baby. I was quilting the background of each block of the panel. I thought I had finished with about 8" of the varigated thread left, but when I showed it to Mary, I had missed one block. Now I needed more of the thread - stalled project #3. My next project was a baby quilt for my niece. I had the panel, but had never ordered fabric for sashing and borders, so I ordered that and chalked up stalled project #4. Could I wait until something came? NO, I had to start a quilted headboard cover. So that is started and now, I have replaced the thread and received all the fabric, so now I have FOUR projects to work on. So you should see some completed pictures soon. I'm moving on.

Thanks to Arlene for getting me going on this, yesterday I quilted it and put on the binding. And, guess what, I love it. Partly because I had a piece of beautiful, tropical, Phillip Jacobs fabric that was perfect for the back. I love the back almost as much as the front. It's going to be on the dining room table for summer.

Road Trip

Today we took a road trip to Ladyfinger's Sewing Studio in Oley, PA for Sue's 'Birthday Road Trip'. We were very lucky because Gail Kessler, the owner, happened to be in the shop today covering for employees on vacation. Gail is the Marketing Director for Andover Fabrics and is not often in her shop. She was so interesting and nice. She told us about how she got involved in fabric design and marketing. We bought some of her beautiful Dimples fabrics. On to the Cheesecake Factory for a great lunch and a little more shopping. It was a great day and a nice way to stay cool on a very hot, 102 degree, day.

Getting Help with UFOs

My sister is running out of projects, so I asked her if she wanted to finish off a couple of my UFOs. She is a wonderful sister, who never says no to me, so she said she would work of them. She put the binding on a snowman runner for me, so that one is done. She also put the border on a small lone star. I'll have to quilt that one now. She is a great sister and I'll soon have two more UFOs done.

How many hours do you sew?

Yesterday I took my machine to Hinkletown Sewing Machine Shop for it's annual service. On the Bernina, they can tell you how many hours your machine has on it when they service it. I asked them to tell me how many hours I had. While it was being serviced, we were trying to guess how many hours mine had. I guessed an average of 5 hours a week for two years and came up with an estimate of 500 hours. I knew, or course, that it was only actual sewing hours, but when I was told that my machine had only 58 hours, I was shocked. The girl said, "it's only when the needle is going up and down." Still this seemed like nothing. But then last night I went up to the sewing room and was piecing some flying geese and making sashing strips. Everything was cut when I went up, so I was just putting the pieces together, sewing a short seam, pressing and repeating. I worked about 75-90 minutes. Then I thought about what I had done and I figured that if I was just sewing on seam the length of all the little seams I'd made, it would have not taken me more than 5 minutes, if that. So, in 75 minutes, I had probably 5 minutes of machine time. At that ratio, my 58 hours would equate to 870 hours at the machine. I think I'm losing it, to even be thinking about this. Help, I'm obsessed !

Apple Core Quilt

I'm making great progress in getting things finished up. I finished this Apple Core quilt. I think I may give it to our neighbor, Mrs. Levine. This quilt was made using the Quiltsmart foundation. It produced a nice quilt, but I did not really enjoy the process and would not recommend it. You begin by making a quilt top of squares, 8", I believe. Then you use the Quiltsmart foundation to make about 100 finished edged apple core shapes, that have a fusible backing. You then press the finished apple core shapes to the pieced background. As you press these on, they create an apple core shape from the background fabric. This is hard to explain. After all the apple cores were pressed onto the pieced background, I went over every seam with a zigzag stitch to hold the appliques in place. Then I was confounded as to how to quilt it. I was not looking forward to trying to do it on my machine, but my machine quilter was not inclined to do anything "in the ditch" and I really did not want an all-over quilt pattern. I had the sandwich all basted and so one day I decided to try a decorative stitch over top of the zigzag and try doing it on my machine. Once I started, and really liked the look of the decorative stitch, I was motivated to keep sewing and within a day or two, I had it done. Then all I had to do was sew on the binding. I really love the quilt, but did not enjoy the process.

Chubby Charmer Bag

This tote bad was made from charm squares. Simply quilted along the seam lines. It is lined and has a solid bottom for structure. Two more UFOs are now FOs. Yeh !

A Little Gift

A young couple in my neighborhood recently had a little baby boy. I made this little cat to take along when I go to see him one day soon. I cannot get this rotated right, but I'm going to leave it up here anyway.

Completed Kaffe Fassett Brown

I just completed the binding on the queen size Kaffe Fassett quilt, made with ivory and browns. I plan to make a cover for the headboard to match the sashing fabric. The quilt turned out great, I think.

Best Design Baby Quilt

I was thrilled tonight that my baby quilt was voted Best Design. I am really proud of the little quilt and I hope that some child gets it and it is warm and makes the family happy to see it.

My Challenge Quilt

My quilt guild is having a President's Challenge due this month. The Challenge is to make a baby or youth quilt for donation to a local charity. The quilts will be judged in several categories and prizes awarded prior to donation. I have finished my Challenge quilt and here is a picture of it.

Getting Organized

Today I spent some time cleaning and sorting things in my quilt room. Based on a suggestion from one of the podcasts I listen to, I decided to take picture of kits, patterns and fabrics that I have purchased and not used. I'm not taking pictures of my "stash" fabrics, just those that were bought for a specific pattern or purpose. I certainly forgot some of the things waiting to be made and this way I can review the pictures and see what is out there and what I want to work on next.

I also started some lists to the side of this blog with UFOs and Favorite Links. I now plan to add a list of projects that are somewhere in the future. Some of these may be started (UFO), some are things I definitely want to make sometime, and some are maybes.

I'm writing a blog, wow !

I am a quiltmaker. I began sewing quilt tops and quilting some of them in 2003. I like to keep a journal of my quilts and their stories. I also like to keep track of ongoing projects and projects I'd like to start. So I decided to keep all this information in a blog. My first 5 years of quilt making (2003-2008) were documented in a Shutterfly photo book and I don't plan to repeat that information here, so I plan to start blogging my projects from today on, but also pot pictures and information about projects made in 2009.

Today I'm machine quilting on my Bernina, an Apple-core pattern quilt made from Quiltsmart foundations. I really can't say that I enjoyed the Quiltsmart process for this quilt. It was quite tedious, but the result is very pretty and as I finish up the quilting I really love the quilt. I'm going to bind this quilt and another quilt made with Kaffe Fassett Browns and then I'll post pictures of both.