Happy St. Partrick's Day

Hi, and I hope your St Patrick's Day weekend is as great as the one I am having.  We are at North Myrtle Beach enjoying fantastic weather this weekend - just perfect.  My brother and his wife, and very good friend and her husband and my hubby and I are all here, just having a fantastic time.



We started our day by going to a St. Patrick's Day parade.  This was so much fun.  I had not been to this type of parade before, and we really did enjoy the 2 hour long parade.  Lot of bagpipes, fancy cars, bands, horses, corvets, Shriners and most touching of all to me - the verterans.  There were veterans from WWII, Korean War, Vietnam Wars - these brought standing applause from the crowds as they passed through.  I did not see any vets from the recent battles in Iraq and Afghanistan, but they were in our hearts none the less.

While here, I finished the table runner for Debbie, my sis-in-law who is also with us on the trip.  Those of you who follow my blog know I asked for quilting suggestions, and I appreciated each and every one that you responded. 

Here is the finished table runner.  I first stitched in the ditch around the stars, and then did some free motion quilting of a flower in the center of each star and some vines with leaves all around the stars.  There is a flower in the larger brown spaces between the stars as well.

On the outer border I added a simple border design.  I traced the flowers and the border pattern on special paper, I think it is called Golden Threads Quilting Paper . Then I just quilt through the paper, once quilted I pull the paper off.  This is an easy way to get your pattern onto the quilt.  The leaves and vines were free motion with no pattern.  The red ring is a neat tool that I got for Christmas I received as a Christmas gift and I just love it.  Very easy to control your machine quilting with this tool.

I have also been working on an applique project.  This is the top border for a quilt. 

Mostly I have been sitting in the rocking chairs, reading, staring at the ocean and RELAXING - so wonderful!

Thanks for stopping by,

Teresa

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Projects, projects everywhere.....

Hope you are all enjoying the new year and making good progress on your projects.  Progress is about all I can say, since I have not completed much to show.  I did get my class samples done for a workshop I will be doing in the fall and that is a relief to have done.

Here is are just a few things that I have going:

First up is this cute block of the month being offered FREE on the website of Shabby Fabrics (Just click on the name for the link).

This is block one and the new block comes out on the 7th of each month - so don't miss out.  I had to hurry and finish this one last night and the new one is due out today! 

Next up is a table runner for my sister-in-law, Debbie.  She is a real sweetie and doesn't even mind that for her birthday (Jan 30) she just got to see it in its unfinished state.  I have it all ready for quilting but can't decide on how to quilt it.  Any suggestions?? Anyone????  Help!



 Yet another table runner that I finished and just needs quilting. Obviously this one is for Valentines, and just as obvious,  it probably won't get quilted in time  - but it just might.  We shall see.  I am playing with the idea of adding some bead work to this one so might be next year before it is ready to use.

And just to keep myself busy, I am also hand quilting this Be Attitudes quilt for my granddaughter, Taralyn, a big girl quilt.  When the grandkids move from the crib to a bed, they get a big girl or big boy quilt.  Taralyn has a new brother on the way this month (due Feb.29) and will be evicted from her crib in the early summer - I got to get busy on this one.      Speaking of little Tobias's expected arrival, I have not even started on his baby quilt, and then there is Timothy who has been in his big boy bed now for several years (he's 5 years old!) and he is still waiting on his big boy quilt.  What's a Granny to do?  These babies are coming faster than I can quilt!

I have a few products I want to tell you about, but that will have to wait until the next time.

Thanks for stopping by,

Teresa

Oooops

Have you ever done this??

I like to test my tension before I start machine quilting and I just sandwich a small piece to sew on until I get it right.  So, my little test piece, unbeknownst to me, got under the piece I was quilting.  Now you would think I would notice that the fabric had gotten much thicker - but nooooooo.

 I mean really, this was not just one layer of fabric, it was two layers of fabric and one of batting - how did I miss that?? 

 Didn't see it until after I finished all the quilting and turned the piect over to "admire" my handiwork.  Handiwork indeed - more like klutzywork.  Had to rip out all the quilting in that section of the quilt.  Have you ever ripped out machine quilting? NOT FUN.

Live and learn - well, live anyway. 

Teresa

Beaded Applique

Someone on a blog asked the question "What is your favorite Christmas decoration."  I have so many that bring back special memories, but this one is my favorite. 

This is my mom's Christmas tree. When I was growing up, we would always go into the woods and select the perfect cedar tree for our Christmas tree, a task my oldest brother Michael seem to enjoy the most.  Then we would decorate it with lots of pretty ornaments that Momma and Daddy had collected and that we had made.  As the years went by, and we grew up, they switched to a huge artifical tree, that was beautiful with all our ornaments on it.  I would help Momma get it decorated each year.  I have pictures of my children looking in awe at Grandma's Christmas tree.  By the time the great grandkids had started arriving, the big Christmas tree and all the decorations were just too much for my parents.

Momma had this sweet "feather" tree that Daddy had made for her many years before and she put her special ornaments on it.  This was the only tree she used in the last 15 years or so of her life.  I would go down in the mornings and help her put the decorations on and it was so very special to me.  The angel on the top of the tree was "Me" according to my mom and of course I believed her :) at least I knew I was in her eyes. She had choir boy ornaments for my brothers - but I was always on top of the tree! The tree is at my house now, and I feel so very priviledged each year to put my Momma's tree up in my home.

Now for the beaded applique.  In my last post I mentioned a bed runner I was working on.  I am now doing the applique on the borders on each end.  I drew some ornaments and when I started putting them on they just looked like they needed a little bling.  Having taken a beading class at the Quilters of SC Piecable retreat in the Fall, I decided to try out some beading on my ornaments, but I  wanted to incorporate the beading with the back basting applique.

I started by adding a bead with each applique stitch, but the beads were laying on their side, not a very attactive look!

Then I remembered that in class, we took the thread  back through the beads, so I tried this and the beads all stood upright, like soldiers at attention.

What fun!  It takes longer to do than back basting without the bling, but I love the look.  Here is what the end border looks like with all the beads.  I added gold chains using DMC gold metalic  floss - not my favorite thing to work with, and a few stitches at the top of the ornaments to be the ornament hanger. I am having fun with this one!

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas week and a joyous Christmas Day!


Teresa

Designing Applique

I love to do applique, but have never tried to design my own applique patterns.  Well that is not quite right, I have tried and never could get it right.  I am hoping to do a class next year on a Fall table runner, with this applique that yes, I designed.  Its pretty simple, but its my first design.  I will use it to teach back basting applique and thus it needs to be a simple design, at least that's my story and I am sticking with it!


 

Here is a glimpse of the runner.  I don't have both sides appliqued yet and obviously it is not quilted yet - but this will give you an idea of the direction I am headed. 

I am having fun with this and am anxious to get it finished.

In addition to the table runner, I am working on a Christmas bed runner.  I just love the idea of a bed runner to cheer up (or holiday-up) a room.  The applique for this one is still tumbling around in my head but will have applique on each end that drops to the side of the bed - I am thinking Christmas ornaments on embroidered gold chains (chain stitch).

That's my Christmas Beauty quilt that I have it lying on. First year I have actuallly used this quilt at Christmas.  I don't see this runner being on something quite this busy, possibly a plain white spread would be better.

Well - so that is what I am up to.  I would like to say thank you  for all that follow my blog.  I see I have picked up a few new followers and that is encouraging. 

Teresa

Another border idea

In my last post, I talked about various border ideas for my hexie quilt.  While going through some old magazines I came across this quilt in an American Patchwork and Quilting 2005 magazine.

I just love the look of this border and am thinking I could do something similar, but using my little hexie flowers.  Maybe a birdhouse in one corner and a little blue bird or two in the other corner.  I have not done anything like this before, so should be an interesting project.

In the meantime I have been working on a "secret" project and having so much fun playing with beads and beautiful wool.  I should be able to show some finished projects in a couple week or so.

Have you gotten your decorations up?  I have actually completed most of my decorating - just a few more ornaments to hang.  These are my nesting Santas - my grandchildren have more fun playing with these, for that matter, so do I.

Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving, and happy holidays to come.

Teresa

Border Options

I have been on the road again - this time to Washington DC for a business conference.  The weather was lovely, even if I did spend all day (8:30 - 5:00) every day in meetings.  Rather than show you the typical pictures of Washington, I thought I would show you some of the other visitors - the Occupy Washington crowd was there too. 

I took my hexies to work on in the evenings, and this is the stack I completed.  They are smaller than the ones I have been working on for my quilt, measuring just 2.5 inches across.   I want to use them in the border - but how????  There in lies the question.

My first thought was to create a "Posey Chain" around the border since I am calling this quilt Granny's Posies.   But then reality sunk in, that would take almost 175 of these little darlings - not sure I want to go there.

My next option was to create little flowers and with leaves and stems all around the borders, maybe mingling in a butterfly, bluebird, bumble bee every now and then.  I like this option better and it takes about a third of the number of flowers to make.  I just wish I could draw better as creating the bluebird, butterfly and bumblebee are real stretches for me.  I have a talented daugther though that can draw anything, so I am going to have to give her a call.

Have you any suggestions fo rmy border??? I always love seeing all the creative way people border their quilts, but when it comes time for me to do the same I think my mind goes into deep freeze.

My family all came over for homemade soup and cornbread last night.  Afterwards we were in the living room and they saw something that captured everyone's attention.  See that look of anticipation - and even fear on their faces? 

So you may be asking, or maybe you aren't, but here is what they were anxiously awaiting. The cuckoo scared little Taralyn so much she did not even want to go in the living room again the rest of the night. 

My wonderful brother and his wife brought me this clock from a recent visit to Germany.  

Happy Stitching!
Teresa