My version of the Improv Star, designed by Christa Watson, for the Aurifil BOM being hosted by Pat Sloan. Christa chose a "crazy quilt" look for her center, but I liked a more structured look.
I delivered this quilt yesterday to a sweet baby boy who became apart of our church family in December. Hope he enjoys the bright colors and flappy caterpillar heads.
Thanks for stopping by,
Teresa
I had to give this pattern a try after seeing it so much on facebook. It's a fun one to do, but I did have trouble when stitching the squares together, which involved stitching through two layers of the foam used in the squares and 4 layers of fabric. My machine kept skipping stitches. I tried different weights of thread, machine quilting needles and a titanium regular needle....nothing seemed to work. So I just sewed the seam twice in an attempt to fill in the skips. Has anyone else made these and run into a similar problem?
Blue caterpillar.....
Red caterpillar
Green caterpillar
Yellow caterpillar
If you think it's the green and yellow you would be right! Time to start unsewing. In addition, I don't like the outer border, so all that has to come off. I will cut it down and use for binding.
Time to put on a movie and start ripping .
Thanks for stopping by,
Teresa
Rounding the first corner on my hand quilting project. This is a spools quilts that I English Paper Pieced quite some time ago, and just now getting it quilted. The top is quilted in the Baptist Fan pattern. The borders are needle turn applique. This is a slow process, but also a very relaxing one.
Thanks for stopping by,
Teresa
Excitement abounds, received the books in the mail today! If you would like an autographed copy, shoot me an email and I will send you the information.
Thank you to my long time friend and quilting buddy, Darlene Beltman, for sharing in the writing of this book. Also thank you to Brenda Reeves, Donna Thurmond Abbott and Donna Sawyer for all you did to make it happen. A special thank you to Fred Justice and Brian Beltman, our husbands, encouragers and supporters to whom we dedicate the book.
I finished a quilt for my granddaughter, Adeline, who is due February 25. My church had a shower for my daughter, Ellen, today and I wanted to give it to her then. I also made a crib ruffle to go with it, but that is on the crib now and I did not get a picture.
I embroidered the quilt label, which includes bluebirds. My Momma always told me that bluebirds bring happiness, and I know they always make me feel happy when I see them at the bird feeders.
I hope Adeline will enjoy many years cuddling under this quilt. It is a little bigger than most baby quilts at 56" square.
Thanks for stopping by,
Teresa
It's a New Year, and I have new granddaughter due to arrive next month. I have been working on her baby quilt for a few weeks now, and have 4 of the 9 blocks completed.
I drew this design in EQ7. This block is in the McCalls Quilting January February 2016 issue, and is made into a table runner called Sunday Sunrise, designed by AnneMarie Chany.
I have not seen this block design before, so could be original to AnneMarie or a traditional block. The table runner in the magazine is pretty and one I might have to make after I finish this quilt.
This is what I have completed so far, and it has been a fun one to work with. The blocks measure 16" square and the finished "baby quilt" will be 56" square. I know a little big, but I really loved the block so decided to go with it.
Wishing you all a Happy New Year,
Thanks for stopping by,
Teresa
Completed row 5 of 8 yesterday and tried my best to get a good picture outside. Did not help that the wind started blowing just as I started setting up for the picture....I even tried taping it to the wall. So use your imagination to see a nice flat quilt. I am seeing so many beautiful quilts on facebook, makes me want to do a second quilt:)
I counted up how many more little red connecting squares I need to complete the final three rows and borders...392!!!!!
So, I cut out the squares and will get them all attached to the papers before I start on row 6. I feel like I have made a million of these little squares already!
It's funny how you see things in pictures that you don't notice when looking at the quilt. I don't like the way the corners look like they have a red W and think I need to fix that somehow.
Some options below....not sure I like any of them. Maybe need to replace the brown piece in the corner with a red one. Oh well, I have time to figure this out.
Today I plan to do some fun sewing, making new Christmas Stockings with this pretty fabric I found at Hobby Lobby. In the past I have had a stocking for each of my children and grandchildren, but we are up to 18 stockings counting little Adeline who is due in February. Hmmmm.. That's a lot of stockings to stuff. So this year I will have one stocking for each of my children to share with their families. That takes 18 stockings down to 5. And since the tradition is changing, I want new stockings too.
Hope you have a good day and some fun sewing I store for your day too. Thanks for stopping by,
Teresa
I have so many pans on the fire, I need more fires......or less pans! I usually have several projects underway at any given time, but seems like lately I have a multitude of things going at once. At least if I get tired of one, I can move to another.
This is one project nearing completion. In my sewing room I have a shelf that holds 15 tubs of fabric similar to this one. They were somewhat organized by color or theme, until I started looking for a specific fabric and then they became an overflowing mess, like you see here. I saw a note on facebook where someone has shown how to wrap small pieces of fabric around cardboard....and I just had to give this a try. So with my patient husband's help, I began cutting boxes like cereal boxes into 4x5 inch squares and wrapping any fabric less than 1/2 yard onto the cards. This takes a lot of boxes, and we even got cardboard at SAMs that is used to separate pallets of boxes.
The end result is a much neater box which is easier to find fabrics. I finished all the boxes on my shelves, but still have to tackle the containers of solids hiding in my closet.
This was also a good opportunity to purge fabrics, that are now set aside for the "playpen" at the guild's next quilt show.
I used a cardboard guide that measured 5x8 inches to fold those fabrics that were between 1/2 to 2 yards. Anything more than two yards went into drawers, that will also need to be organized. So as you see..this is an ongoing project.
In my hoop, is my spools quilt that I made during the Klosje craze that swept the blogs a couple years ago. I am quilting the top with the baptist fan pattern and have 5 rows done (except for the last block on row 5). There are 8 rows in the top so I am getting excited about getting close to the end of the Baptist Fan part of the quilting. I am still a little undecided about how to quilt the border, but I do have an idea in mind....just have to get the fans completed first.
I love starting my day with several cups of coffee and some relaxing hand quilting. I try to quilt at least an hour each morning....the joys of retirement.
A new project coming up is a quilt for my next grandchild, Adeline Grace. She is due to arrive in February so I need to get going on this one. I designed this quilt in EQ as my daughter, the expectant momma, liked the star and this color combination.
I see a trip to Mary Jo's in my near future! We already checked our only alternatives here in town - Hobby Lobby ands Hancocks. So much for getting fabric with a coupon.
Progress continues on the Patchwork of the Crosses quilt. All the blocks are made, and now just assembling them into rows and adding the border as I go. I have rows 1 thru 4 together and have started row 5. This quilt is a favorite to work on, especially with my good friends Darlene and Brenda. We keep each other on track.
With the fabric left over from the PotC quilt, I have started a pineapple quilt. This quilt will be a companion quilt to the PotC quilt and will be a gift to my son-in-law, Adam.
I need 99 blocks to complete the quilt, and so far I have 35 made. These are machine paper pieced blocks, a process I thoroughly enjoy. My grandkids have fun tearing out the papers :)
And just for fun I have been playing with Prairie Points, which will be a future demo project. These are fun to do and a great way to use up some of those fabrics I have been organizing.
Believe it or not, there are a few other pans in my fire, but I will save them for another day.
So what have you been cooking up?
Teresa
On our recent trip thru New England, I came across a quilt shop in Maine called Bolt. I believe it was in Cornish, Me. I thought these would be cute for a baby quilt for my granddaughter on the way due in February. The near solids are Fairy Frost. The prints are Timeless Treasures, Babes in Farmland. There is one more print with little chicks and then a border print. I have ordered more, hopefully enough. Saw the cutest quilt on Facebook, was simply squares with circles appliquéd. I thought I saved a picture of the quilt and the lady that made it, but can't find it now.
So that is the plan, a baby quilt using fairy frost for the background and these darling prints for the circles. Plan to make the background 8" squares and the circles 6".
Also made a stop at Keepsake Quilting in Center Harbor, New Hampshire.
I will be going to White Oak in a couple of weeks for the Quilters of SC Piecable Retreat ad taking a class being taught by Linda Knutson titled "The Low Country Sampler" that involves applique, English Paper Piecing and machine piecing. I am looking forward to the class, learning new techniques and being around women who love quilting as much as me.
While at Keepsake Quilting, I purchased the fabric for the project. Got it all washed and pressed today and so happy with my choices. Debating on the bottom two fabrics on the left for the outer border.
Don't you just love having new fabric to play with?
Thanks for stopping by,
Teresa
This was my favorite quilt at the show this week in Chattanooga. It did not take a ribbon, but believe me, it is a stellar quilt. I thought I had gotten a close up of the name and maker, but it was blurry.
At first look, I did not notice that this is a Patchwork of the Crosses quilt. I have a close up of the corner blocks below and that is when I saw the POTC blocks.
The quilt layout is amazing! I am writing this in the truck as we speed thru Ohio, so I can't get to my show book to look up the quilter,s names, but I will do that tonight and add them to these two pictures.
My class was a lot of fun and I had a great group of ladies to spend the day with. They all got a lot done on their project and were able to sew a few "panes" into their Cathedral Window before they left for the day. The show was outstanding.
One final picture for Julie...here is your friend's quilt on display:
Thanks for stopping by, be back later with more pictures from the show.
Yea, the time has come to head for Chattanooga and the AQS Quilt Week. I am looking forward to meeting the quilters in my class, and as always when I teach a little anxious hoping I will have packed everything I need and be able to teach so that everyone comes away having learned a new skill.
Quilters are great and each class leads to new friends and inspiration.
We left yesterday morning and are visiting with our dear friends Ron and Linda in Maryville, Tn. Enjoyed a game of Mexican Dominos last night, which I won by just a few points in the last round.
I did get in a little hand quilting before we left Rock Hill. It's so relaxing in the morning to sit in my comfy chair with a good cup of coffee and stitch on this quilt. I was tempted to bring it with me.
Thanks for stopping by,
Teresa
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