Monday, February 25, 2013

Do-si-Do and Twill Around

Yeehaw - I finshed the snail trail borders and corners and sewed them on to my Do-si-Do quilt tonight.    This has been a long time coming.  I pinned it to my design wall to get a picture but it's a little too long. 

The snail trail borders have 3,520 pieces in them, the corners have 108 pieces and the quilt center has 672 pieces, for a total of 4,300 pieces in this quilt - now that is a lot of cutting, pressing and seaming. 

And now to get it quillted!  The quilt finished at 84 x 96 and that is a lot of handquilting!  This will definitely be "big stitch" quilting.   I want to get my good friend Donna to baste it for me on her long arm - pretty please with chocolate pound cake on top?


I ran out of my brown for the background and decided to just use the 2" squares of the various fabrics in each corner.  Going with the Fall theme, I like to think this looks a little like maize corn.  I literally had maybe 5 strips of the brown left over - about 1 1/2" wide by 8" long.

I also completed my small twilling project. This is the first project that I quilting on my Jasmine frame and was so much fun to do.  I added a few more beads just cause I thought it needed it.  Maybe if you enlarge it you can see the beading and quilting.

Not sure what to do with it now that it is done.  I did put a sleeve on it so that I could easily hang it up, but it is not very big at 10" square. 

Even so...it is a finish and one more item I can check off on my UFO list.

Happy stitching to you all and thanks for stopping by,
Teresa

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Jasmine Quilt Frame




Yea...we finally got some snow - and to top that it was Thunder Snow!  I didn't realize how dangerous thunder snow is until they were talking about it on the news this morning.  My husband and I were babysitting with the grandkids when the snow came - Mom and Dad has gone out for a late Valentine Day Celebration.  We had so much fun watching the kids playing in the snow.
 I have an absolutely adorable picture of Toby (1 year old) holding his first snowball but I cannot get blogspot to rotate it to portrait.   Makes no sense...it is portrait in my folder, but when I import it, comes out landscape. 

Can anyone tell me how to fix this?
 

 
 Yesterday morning my Jasmine quilt frame arrived.  It is just beautiful.  I am showing you the back view here - it will adjust to several different angles - this one just happens to be perfect when I am sitting and quilting. 

I purchased mine on EBAY, but there is a site where you can find them - http://www.hellotrade.com/jasmine-heirlooms/hoops-and-stands.html .  I could not find a price chart anywhere on the site.

 Here is a view of the hoop.  Notice the nice thingie used to tighten the hoop - so easy to turn rather than one of those wing nuts that my regular hoop has.  The wood is very smooth and pretty - a very nice finish.

The hoop will rotate 360 degrees !



And here is where I will be spending a lot of time today - in my comfy chair quilting and watching the Hallmark Movie Channel.  Husband has made a big pot of  vegetable beef soup  - woohoo, gonna be a good day!  Oh hon,.....put some coffee on.

And finally, an update on my klosje progress - well somewhat of an update.  Toby discovered my basket of blocks. 

I think he was sorting them for me, or maybe un-sorting them.  Whatever, he got a lot of enjoyment out of those blocks.

Hope you all have a good day,
Teresa

Saturday, February 2, 2013

February 2

You know, weather can be so unfair sometimes.  We have cold temperatures today (low of 22 this morning) and no snow to enjoy.  Now I am not a big fan of snow and getting out in it, but I do think it is beautiful when it is falling and everything looks so clean when covered in a new snowfall.  So come on Mother Nature, give us one nice snowfall (around 6 inches will be enough) that will last a couple of days, just so that we can find some joy with this cold weather.

This is a little wall hanging I made to demo beading (around the snowflake and the words Kindness and snow) for a recent retreat my quilt club went on.  It was a fun on and nearly everyone finished their project.  My husband made the display stand for me. In case you cannot see the embroidered saying it is "Kindness is like snow - it beautifies everything it covers."




I have been working away on my UFO's so not much new to show you.   I finished the two side borders and the top border for my Do-si-Do quilt and also finished the Hearts in Bloom table runner just in time for Valentines.

 
I also have been working on my klosjes (no picture) and just as a report I now have 30 circle blocks completed ( need 42 more) and 99 square blocks (need 185 more), so I am making progress.
 
I am really anxious to finish up these spools or klosjes as I have another English Paper Piecing project all set to go - the Lucy Boston Patchwork of Crosses pattern, book by Linda Franz.  This one has really captured my interest, I have the pattern, the paper foundations, the fabric and the storage unit to organize all the little pieces.  Anyone out there working on this beautiful quilt pattern? Would love to hear from you.

 
 
So stay warm, keep stitching, and thanks for stopping by!
Teresa