2014-12-24

035 Christmas Eve Delivery ~ Neve

 Zebras, Black & White, Hot Pink & Hearts
 
That was this little 6 year old girls request, when I asked her what kind of quilt she would like.
 Well I found Zebra print for the background, a variety of pink (some hot) for the daisies which I appliqued with raw edges. The short piano keys border alternated the pinks with another zebra print, that shows a herd of zebras.. They were her favourite part, she said.
 
For the backing, I used an Ikea fabric that seemed so appropriate. It's refreshingly colourful, with a variety of birds and wildlife. Not quite enough for the back, so I chose one of the colours in the back, a pink to extend the fabric.
Free motion is my favourite quilting, and for the centers of the daisies I did a pebble quilting, to make them stand out better. (it's quite cute on the back)
Bundled with a Zebra ribbon, ready for delivery.
Within minutes, she disappeared..... to put it on her bed.
How rewarding is that??
too sweet!!  Measures 60" x 77"


2014-12-21

While Making Pie today...

I heard an awful crunching sound...
 oops.... i forgot about the pins on the back... strong  needle though.

 The tops with lattice top "pie crust"
 trimmed 
and Done!! Two hot pads!!
a Perfect Hostess Gift.


And for the Host....

034 Merry Christmas 2014

I'd love to make a Christmas quilt or two...each Christmas.
This year was interesting..
I got suckered into making a queen sized quilt.
Oh My!!!  ....anyway....

 The lint roller after cleaning up the cutting mat once the trimmings were done. I thought it had that candy cane look..
 This is the Backing fabric that was 'given' to me.. It's gorgeous, but I needed to add a bit to make it fit; I used a solid navy blue from my stash along the bottom and side. It worked!
Oh My!! It wouldn't fit on my design wall, (no floor space) so we did the sandwiching on the wall in the hallway.
 Oh My!!!!  This is the top (part)....the bottom is actually on the floor, but the top is DONE!!
 Binding, I actually don't mind attaching binding. Since revamping the sewing room I now have an extra table that I can move to the side of my sewing table - which holds the weight of the quilt while I'm binding....so much easier.
 There it is.... DONE!! 
Not only is she a Christmas fan, the recipient of this quilt has two cats - named Star & Noel....  so if you click on it to enlarge this photo you'll see the captions from two Christmas Carols, done free motion quilting.
I thought the navy blue worked well with the backing.

I told DH if he ever hears me talking of making a queen sized quilt for anyone other than for US.... 
to have a serious talk with me!!
If I had more room in my sewing room, and my quilting frame was extended to it's fullest (not enough room for that) a queen sized quilt wouldn't be an issue...... one day....but Oh My!!!!
My faithful helper.... Maxim....he  l-o-v-e-s to help!!
Measures 79" x 110"

2014-11-22

033 A Baby Girl ... selah

Who can resist a baby quilt??
This one was done - start to finish - this year!!!!
I had a collection of polka-dotted fabric, and this pattern just called for the polka-dots.
measures 44" x 54"


The daisy fabric with the daisies fit right in as backing.          Smiles..

I bought a Janome Horizon last year, and for the first time tried a funky machine quilting stitch.
It looks so good, but I'm not sure I'd want to do this on a larger quilt.
Maybe one day....



I created a new label for my quilts.  I had been using a patch about the size of a business card, and attaching it to the backing. With my one year + sabbatical I found out how that could be a problem; if I attached the label to the backing, and then didn't complete the quilt - it could sit with an outdated label for way too long. 
So my new label is not only smaller, but gets attached IN the binding (which is the last step of the quilt finish) so it doesn't become outdated info. I can easily make a new label if the year changes.


And of course, a flannel receiving blanket with a couple of burp cloths. Complete!


032 Back & Forth ... Rainer

Also one I finished in 2013, but he finally received it this year..
Back and Forth  or Up and Down....
depending which way you look at it.

for my BIL who enjoys Nature.

 The backing fabric jumped out at me, when i saw it in the store...
Nature.

031 ... Odin

Somewhere in the chaos of 2013 I made 
a baby quilt for a lovely little fellow.

Log cabin is a great quilt block, and it's perfect to make 
my favourite kind of quilt (scrappy).
It was easy enough to work just from my stash of kids fabrics.

'

And a flannel receiving blanket made the package complete.


030 It's not quite a year ....Kaleidoscope


Well it's not quite a full year since I posted....
I am so far behind with this blog...  
here's hoping this will be the beginning of more constant blogging.

I have a couple of excuses. 
Besides the full time job, I took on a part time job as well - which turned out to be more like a thankless volunteer thing albeit quite the learning experience.   
I also retired from my full time job; more than 30 years was plenty.  
I now have a bit more time, stress is virtually non-existent .
DH and I have revamped the sewing room (which sat neglected, 
and became a dumping ground for far too long) so things are more streamlined, better lit up and organized (for now).

This Kaleidoscope quilt was completed at the end of 2012. 
I think it started out as a string piecing, and the colours created a kaleidoscope look. I liked it.
Measures 77" x 89"

 The backing, I've seen many pieced backs and I prefer the look of them over a solid back.