Happy New Year to all my blogging buddies. I hope your Thanksgiving Day, Christmas and New Year holidays have been wonderful. It has really been that long since I last posted!
Over the holidays, I finished my Gifts of Grace quilt. The stitchery in this quilt is from a 2010 block of the month offered by Val Laird on her blog. She has the pattern for sale now if any one is interested in purchasing one. Check out her BLOG as she has some really lovely patterns to choose from.
The blocks are based on the Bible verse Galations 5: 22-23.
Here is my version of the quilt. My setting is quite different from the design of Val Laird. I hand quilted the top, which only seemed right considering all the hand work in the stitched and appliquéd blocks. I have close ups of each block at the end of this post if you are interested.
(Blogsby is not cooperating with me and I could not get it to upload the close up of the Kindness block which is the wheelbarrel block. Unfortunately my patience is wearing thin, and before I lose my joy and peace, I will just leave it as is.)
I do need your help with getting out quilting marks. I used General's Sketch and Wash marking pencils to mark my quilting lines. For the most part it washed out great. But after two machine washings, I can still see some of the markings shadowing my quilting. Anyone know how to get these markings out?
Thanks for any helpful advice you have to offer!
Teresa
I have finished the piecing of my mantel wall hanging and now just need to get it quilted and bound in time to hang it over the mantel in January. Hopefully it will add some color to a house that appears so drap after all the Christmas decorations are packed away. I named it Northern Lights for no reason other than that is what popped into my brain when I looked at this picture and wanted to put a title to this post.
I am struggling on a quilting pattern. I want to do quilt this on the machine and therefore have to keep it fairly simple, but then I don't think this quilt needs anything very complex as the colors and the pattern are rather complex enough. Maybe complex is not the right word, but hopefully you know what I mean.
Any suggestions?
Here is a picture of some flowers on my deck. I have been reading a few sites that talk about getting color inspirations for quilts from pictures and I like the red, yellow, dark green, brown and splash of bright blue in this picture. I think the would make a lovely quilt. Maybe even with a white background. That brick red paint on the steps was painted this summer, on our front porch as well as the deck and I am very interested in how it sets off other colors.
Isn't this a beautiful quilt rack? I was so surprised when I got home from a meeting a couple evenings ago to find that my neighbor, Marty, had brought this by the house and given it to me. He makes furniture items with that beautiful natural wood.
And here is a picture of my new windmill wall quilt on the rack. They look like they were made for each other, don't you think?
Thank you so very much, Marty!
I also received this cute charm pack and scissor fob from Kathy over at Kathy's Quilts. Check out her blog at http://kathysquilts.blogspot.com
I have been working on my New York Beauty blocks and am liking this freezer paper paper-piecing technique. Since you don't actually sew on the paper, you can use the patterns over and over. Would you believe I have made all these blocks with the same paper foundation piece and I am still using them!
Thanks Jane Godshall for teaching this great technique!
Don't ya just hate a summer cold? Seems like they go on forever. I have been battling this one for almost two weeks now, and the only good thing I can say about it is that I am home bound and able to get some sewing done - in between sneezing, coughing, complaining......
I took s class in New York Beauty quilts by Jane Godshall, and it was so much fun, which just happened to be the day I also started getting sick. Jane's method uses paper foundation pieces but you do not sew on the paper, therefore no time wasted pulling paper off your block, now I like that. I am making a "mantle wall hanging" to go over my fireplace after Christmas and did the design I wanted in EQ. This is the version I opted for, but I have several others drawn up, so this could change. I am using all batiks , but I need some sparkle!
These are the blocks I have made so far. The pucture is a little dark, but no flash on my iPad so not sure how to lighten them up unless I go outside, but it is pretty dreary out there too. They are a little wonky in size but Jane told us not to square them up. I just hope they are going to go together ok.
As Mary Fons would say, I got some "scooching" to do.
I have also been quilting on my Gifts of Grace quilt. I am using Masking tape to mark the grids on the appliqué blocks. I have one more appliqué block to do and then I can start the background.
Hallmark movies, BBC shows on DVD, Candy Crush, Nelson Demille novel "The Lion" and hand quilting fill my days and evenings.
I found another use for the masking tape. I use the stab method of quilting and when I pull the thread through, I use the side of my little finger rather than pulling with the needle. While this keeps from weaking the thread, it was wearing a painful groove in my pinky.....so...
Please meet my new sweet granddaughter, Tori Elizabeth. She is a doll baby for sure. Sitting beside her with a protective hand around her is Toby, who is no longer the baby of the family. He seemed so little before Tori came along, and now, at 17 months, he looks the part of big brother. Tori will be well watched over with two big brothers, Timothy and Toby, and two big sisters, Tess and Taralyn. Of course there is Mom and Dad as well.
Tori's other grandmother is Japanese and told me that Tori means songbird in Japanese. I think that is so special and to this Granny her strong, healthy voice was sweet music.
I am in Washington at a business conference and sure wish I was at home holding this little one!
I have finished another Pathwork of Crosses block. I believe this makes 5, but I am losing count.
This one has not been pressed yet. The hotel room comes with an ironing board, but no iron. The ironing board does make for a good sewing table though .
She included these two sweet patterns as well. Thanks Marlene, I love the bag!
I have been sewing on my Patchwork of Crosses (PoC) blocks and have completed two more. I enjoy the hand piecing, but I think it takes me longer to pick out the fabrics than to make the block.
By the time I have made twenty of these blocks, I will probably not be s o particular about what goes with what.
These blocks are put together with English Paper Piecing. They really do lie flat, but the outer row of pieces still have the paper in them, so they looked kind of crinkled up.
Anyone that has followed me for long, knows how much I like to organize things. Here is my stack of project boxes for the PoC project.
The bottom box holds fabrics for the crosses, next box is the shirtings fabrics and pattern, then my neat organizer for blocks I have cut out and ready to sew (holds 16 small boxes, each with a block). The blue box holds finished blocks and the top unit has all my sewing supplies and papers. The little pink tub is for snips of thread and fabrics. All this for one quilt!
Put on the Hallmark channel for movies, get a hot cup of coffee, settle into my comfy chair and enjoy a little hand quilting. Life is good!
Well, here it is. I finally finished my klosje quilt top and appliqué border. It will have to wait a bit for quilting as I want to hand quilt this one and I have one ahead of it to be done.
So, for now it goes into a drawer until its time comes , which hopefully will be within the next year.
And this is what I will be hand quilting next. I have it basted and ready to quilt and can't wait to get started. Feels so good to see projects that have been around for awhile getting done!
Here is my first block in the Patchwork of Crosses pattern. I am making mine with English Paper Piecing, and following the pattern as presented in Linda Franz book. It's available on Amazon, selling new for $19.98 and used in good condition starting at $111.98......and that is not a typo! What is up with that???
I purchased my first batch of paper pieces from paperpeices.com but quickly realized I was going to need a lot more pieces...close to $1,400! So out came the graph paper and I drew my own. If you would like a copy of my template I will be happy to send it to you via email. ( I could not find a template on line.)
I am excited about this quilt, especially since two of my good quilting buddies are working on one too. We are meeting once a month to keep us on track....hmmmm..wonder if they have their first block done? We need 56 for a queen size quilt.
I completed my quilt top using Val Laird's Gifts of Grace blocks. These blocks are based on Galations 5: 22-23. Val offered the patterns as a free block of the month a couple of years ago, and now you can purchase the pattern on her site . My setting is very different from hers. I have always wanted to make a quilt using neutrals for a background and this just seemed to work for me.
Val Laird is so generous to share her talents with us and normally has a free block of the month every year. Check out her beautiful blog!
It was shady where I took the picture, so here is a close up of one block so that you can see the colors better
I plan to hand quilt this one, so it may be awhile before you see it completed.
And one last picture of my Chubby Chicks quilt, pattern by Black Mountain Quilts.
This was a fun quilt to make and I quilted it on my Janome with daisies and loops. I modified the pattern just a little, making it a baby quilt size and leaving off the final border.
Now to get a label on it and its all set for Tori's arrival next month. This will be the first one I have finished before the baby arrived!
I have been working on a quilt for my granddaughter to be born in July. The pattern I am using is Chubby Chicks by Black Mountain Quilts.
These are cute little appliqué blocks and I thought I would share with you how I am doing the appliqué. The pattern calls for fusible appliqué, but since this will hopefully be a much loved baby quilt, I have chosen to turn the edges under and do blanket stitchI
I begin tracing the appliqué pattern on freezer paper, cutting the pattern out on the traced line and then placing the freezer paper pattern on the back side of the fabric, shiny side of paper facing up.
Trim away excess fabric leaving approximately 1/4" fabric to fold over around the pattern.
Using a mini iron, fold the fabric over, pressing until the fabric adheres to the paper. You can do this with a regular iron, but the iron must be hot enough to cause the fabric to stick to the paper, just be careful you don't burn your fingers!
Once all edges are turned under, flip you appliqué over and give it a good press on all the edges.
My next step was to prepare the background fabric. I am using a Kona solid that has the look of unable ached muslin, but the wonderful feel of Kona fabrics. The only problem is that it ravels like crazy. My finished block size is 6", so normally would cut my squares at 6 1/2"' but since this is raveling and I have a good bit of handwork to do, I cut the squares at 7".
Using the placement guide in the pattern, I lightly traced the appliqué placement into the right side of the fabric, using a regular pencil. You will have to look closely to see the lines, but they are there. I used a brown micro01 pig a pen to trace the legs as these will be embroiderd after the appliqué is finished.
Remove the paper from the back of the appliqué piece, and pin in place on the background.
I simply love the small appliqué pins for this process. The white heads make the pin easier to pick up and I find that they do not get in my way when sewing.
Now the next step is something my Mom always did and I find it a big help, plus it adds strength to your appliqué. Using a thread that matches your appliqué (I am using black so you can see the stitches), sew the appliqué folded edges under, very close to the folded edge. Do this with a running stitch and a single thread of 40 or 50 wt thread of your choice. I use Coats & Clark Dual Duty, mainly because of all the colors I can easily find it in.
These stitches will remain in your appliqué, so keep them neat. The blanket stitch will cover them up so they are not noticeable, but they can be seen if you look closely and you want them to be neat.
I recorded a video of how I do the blanket stitch. This is a video of just a couple of the stitches but easier to show than to explain in writing.
I have used two strains of embroidery floss and chose to mach my thread to the applique.
The finishing touches to the chick are embroidered eye and legs.
I used a plastic washer from the hardware store as my template for the eye. Embroidery is the satin stitch with two strains of embroidery floss. Once the satin stitch is completed, I do a stem stitch around the outer edge to give it a smooth finish.
The legs are back stitched using three strains of embroidery floss.
And now my little chick is ready to join the flock. I hope you enjoyed the dscription on how I did this little chick.
Teresa
I finished my twilled table runner just in time for Spring. This was so much fun to do, and thank you Cyndi over at BeetreeDesigns.blogspot.com for designing this cute pattern.
I am teaching a class on Twilling in May at a guild meeting and all in attendance will receive a kit to "twill" a red basket - that's 130 kits I have to get assembled...YIKES! It will be fun though and will be great to have others enjoying this technique along with me.
I had a run in with a coffee cup this month and ended up with a cut tendon in one finger and stitches in two fingers. I could show you pictures, but they really are rather gross. This has limited my sewing a good bit (right hand) but I have managed to do a little appliqué in addition to hemming the binding on the table runner.
I have made some progress on the appliqué border of my klosje quilt. This one makes me smile as I think of giving it to my yet-to-be-born granddaughter as her "big girl" quilt.
I have lots of time to finish the appliqué and get it hand quilted, but doesn't it look so sweet -just like I know she will be.
I have started a baby quilt for her using the Chubby Chicks pattern. Got as far as cutting out the chicks for appliqué when that darn coffee cup attacked me. Hopefully my hand will be well enough this weekend to finish cutting out the blocks and I can start on the appliqué.
Before the coffee cup attack, I finished house two of the Cottage Grove pattern. I still want to add a little embroidery - maybe some daisies along the sidewalk, but that will have to wait until the bandages come off. I also need to add something in that center gable, but I just can't make up my mind as to what. Maybe a round window? What do you think?
Isn't this a beautiful view? Fred and I have escaped for the weekend to Pipestem in West Virginia. This is the view from outside our balcony this morning. The weather is mild and there is a fog rising from a stream in the gorge below us. A flock os Canadian geese flew over and I do love the sound of their "honking" in early morning and at dusk.
We did a little site seeing yesterday with me getting pictures of numerous quilt barns in the area, and Fred getting pictures o
...well....cemeteries. His genealogy hobby follow us everywhere, kind of like me looking for quilt shops. I have not found any quilt shops yet....but we have two more cemeteries to check out today.
This is my first post with my iPad, a learning curve needed for sure.
I hate to see google reader is shutting down. Have any of you found a replacement yet?
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