Quilt Fiinish

Only 2 years in the making but this one is finally finished.  I got the quilting done last week but I didn't get the binding on until today.

The quilt is a jelly roll adaptation.  I would sew the 2 1/2" strips together and then every 3 or 4 strips would get a batik piece.  I love the splotches of color amidst all that black and white. 

The quilting came from someone online.  I knew who showed it when I first had it on the frame in September 2014.  But all the time that as gone on in-between has driven that information right out of my brain.  Anyway it is all free motion quilting and fun to do.

While I was quilting I was looking for the binding I remembered preparing.  I hunted and hunted in all the wrong places but after the quilting was done I had an idea and went right to where the strip of binding was resting.  Yesterday I pressed it and wound it into this nifty roll.

Then today I put it in this basket that I bought at a quilt show a couple of years ago.  I love how it rolls off of the spindle and right on to the quilt. The basket is also great for holding those little bits of binding that are leftovers.  Someday they will join together for a fun quilt.

Not only did I have the binding done for two years but also the label.  It is now sewn into the binding and the quilt is done.  It is going to our great granddaughter, Scarlett, who will be 2 in January.  Fortunately this quilt is a full crib size so she will be able to use it well into a twin bed.

Tomorrow we are having a family get together.  There will be at least 14 adults, 3 children, and 6 dogs (4 are ours).  Our son-in-law is doing the cooking and he and our daughter are in charge of the food.  Eric and I have decided we will contribute fresh fruit and a green salad.  This will be the third time this kind of gathering has happened at our house in the last year.  It is always lots of fun: we are all fun people.

I have been looking at different quilts, looking for something that I think I would like to make.  I want something that is not too difficult and doesn't involve a lot of fabric cutting.  I still am having difficulty standing unless I am holding on to something.  I saw a quilt in the new Love of Quilting magazine that may be just the thing.  I would only have to buy one focus fabric and then use a bunch of leftover strips and other stash fabrics.  I feel the quilting juices flowing.   Gari

BOM’s and a Finish

The first thing I got done was this month’s teapot.  I was really excited to get this done because when next month’s comes out I will have them all and be ready to plan the quilt’s setting.















Then I looked at this temp. wall I have set up so I can make sure I don’t use the same fabrics over again.  And I counted and only came up with 9 finished teapots.  Now, I have looked “everywhere” for it but can’t find it.  I couldn’t believe I had not made all of them but finally went back through my blog to find which one wasn’t on my wall.





After a blog search I found this picture of the missing pot.  At least I know I made it, now I just have to figure out what I did with it.  I am usually so good at keeping everything together, I wonder what happened.  Anyway, I will keep looking until the next one is done and if it hasn’t been found, I guess I will make it again. 







The next thing I worked on was the binding for this Jelly Roll Quilt a Long quilt. 











I am so glad I decided against borders.  I think the binding right on the blocks is just right.










And it even looks great with the backing fabric.  And now it is ready to give hugs to a teen girl in foster care.











This is a fuzzy picture of my next project.  This is a “BOM” being featured at the Fat Quarter Shop.  Actually, I think they post a new segment every other week, but I am three weeks behind so I am not really sure. 






So here are all of the parts cut for the gingerbread men.  Mine will all be the same fabric with some differences in the bows.  All that being said, I really don’t like having to cut up all those little pieces (1 1/2” squares), but it had to be done.





Now with all those little pieces in hand, I started sewing gingerbread men.  This is how far I got yesterday but I hope to actually see gingerbread men by the end of today.












Part of the reason I didn’t get more done was because Sadie made me spend time on the hammock with her.  Puppies can be so pushy. 






And the most important thing this morning is that today is my mother’s 91st birthday.  And I am hoping that she has received my package because I am going to share her gift on the post.  But first I must tell this story. 

I had a plan for her Mother’s Day gift.  I got ready to make it and the device I needed to make it all work, the printer, didn’t work.  It took me a month to get it working well enough to print pictures with the right colors.



So finally the pictures got printed, first on paper and then on fabric.











What I made was this little pillow.  It is to be an attachment to a pillow I made for her a few years ago that had pictures of her two children, our four children, our then six grandchildren, and one great grandson. 






And I put pictures on both sides because I just love this one.
The bowl is a chicken and is her birthday gift.  Mother collects chickens and this seemed perfect for morning cereal and/or lunch/dinner soup. 

     Happy Birthday, Mother!

Studio Time Found

But first I must share the fabric I bought at the quilt show in Atlanta last weekend.  These are half yard pieces of batik that may be used for owl blocks.







And my coolest purchase was this basket.  The maker put that stick in the handle and I immediately saw that it would make a great binding basket.  The lady that makes them is not a quilter and really liked my idea.  Since I already had the binding ready for the quilt on the frame I was very excited to see that my idea will work. 












Then I got busy and finished the blocks for the backing of my Funky Chicken top.

















 Next, while shopping for something else, I found this fabric, on sale, that I believe will be perfect for the rest of the backing.  I am hoping I will be able to get this put together next week, I just have to plan it out.








Then I returned to the HQ to see if I could get this quilt finished.  



















When I last left the frame it was breaking thread both from the cone and from the bobbin.  I spent quite a while playing with both tensions until I finally got them to work together.












So I was back to quilting and now only have 1 1/2 rows to go.  I find that if I quilt only one row and then go on to other things I get several things done, just not as fast.  And, I don’t get bored.








So I put together this month’s owl.  Right now he is on wax paper but later this week he will be on the background fabric.  I still need to start stitching these owls down before I get too far behind on them.










I also drew and cut the fusible for the latest teapot BOM.  Right now I am auditioning fabrics so I have nothing more to show here.











The last thing I worked on so far this week is this pillow for DH.  He picked out this fabric and said he wanted a pillow so a pillow he is getting.  He doesn’t read my blog so it is easy to talk about it here. 

I did finish one other project but can’t show it yet.  I had a great idea for Mother’s Day this year that involved printing.  Well, my printer decided to not print red and it has taken me all this time to get it to do what I wanted.  Yesterday I finally got it to work and today I completed my project.  Mother does read my blog so I can’t say what I was making but it will be in the mail tomorrow and should be with her on her birthday, Monday.

Well, that has been my week so far.  I’ll probably nap for the rest of the week. 

It’s June Already!

This is the only thing on my Design Wall this morning.  He is Block 4 of the FatCatPatterns BOM.  He is much larger than the previous owls so was much easier to put together.  However since he was last month’s block, I still have one more owl to do this month to be caught up.










This is a picture of my next project.  I have decided to use these barns for part of the backing for my Funky Chickens.  The current plan is to make five (they are 14” finished”) and will be the center of the back.  I will make the 6” blocks for the barn sides and then the barns themselves.  My barns, I think, will be gray (weathered) and the quilt blocks will be bright, like the chickens.  At least that is the plan right now.









What I mostly have been doing is the quilting on this. 

















I continue to be impressed with this panto.














And how great these flowers look with the flowers in the fabric.











The little bit of actual sewing I got done this weekend was to get the binding ready for this quilt.  I really like to have it waiting when a quilt comes off the frame so I can get it finished right away. 






Today I have laundry, pool cleaning, and computer work (this post, draw barn blocks in EQ, EQ drawing lesson #2, and grocery list prep) to do plus grocery shopping before I can find my way back to the studio.  Wish me luck in getting it all done so I can play. 

I’ll be linking up with Patchwork Times and What A Hoot.

Blank Wall

Right now there is nothing on my design wall.  To see what I had there until Friday check out my last post here.

I have, however been busy. 

I belong to a Yahoo list, Homequiltingsystems, and their Frame Friday encourages me to keep something on my HQ.  So on Friday I put this QAL from two years ago on so I can get it ready to give as a comfort quilt. 




I got everything loaded and set up and began quilting.

Then, suddenly, everything came to a stop and I couldn't move the machine forward.  I checked the wheels, if there was something on the track, if I had left something on the panto table, if a cord was caught up on something, and anything else I could think of. 




And here is what I finally found.  The track on the carriage had moved.  Can you see how far off of the carriage it has gotten.  Only the back part of the track is off so the first part was still in place.  And, I couldn’t pick up the machine and move the tracks.  Besides, I would also need to figure out what to use to more permanently stick the track down before I put everything back.  So I packed it in for the night.












Saturday DH and I spent spending money at Lowes: pool supplies, plant supplies, weed eradicator supplies, and metal to metal glue.  Then we went home and glued.  The directions said to wait 24 hours before using so I spent some time stitching applique teapots.





Sunday afternoon found me back to quilting.  Yea!













I am really happy with how this is looking.














This is the panto I am using. I like how it is showing up in the large white spaces and then seems to disappear when it comes to the blocks.  I am using a very soft pink.











Here is the name: it comes from Urbanelemtz. 












This is my Walmart gardenia bush.  I am so happy with it as it almost died the first winter and now look at all those blooms.

















Beauty and scent, what a wonderful combination that is greeting me every morning. 










And, of course, this is just above that beautiful bush.  Life is good.

Have a great week.

It Was A Very Good Week

This past week was a really good week.  I’ll start with the last part when I got another Funky Chicken (#10) ready for applique.



Isn’t he cool? 














This is going to be such a fun quilt.  With only two  more blocks to come it is about time to start thinking about a setting for them.  I want it to be unique so I will need to give it some thought.
I also got Teapot #3 drawn and the fabric chosen but that’s as far as I got when DH invited me out for lunch and some antiquing.  How could I resist?








I got the backing done for the first of the Christmas quilts.  I sewed these strips together while I was embroidering the back of a shirt (see below) so I had two machines going and loved the sound of being productive.








The black fabric has been in my Christmas stash for a couple of years but never has suggested what it wanted to be so I used all I had as the center of this piece.  The outside “borders” are what is left from the front.  I’m not doing stash busting but if I were this would really be a coup. 
This backing made it to the quilt frame but that’s as far as I got. 







This was what I was working on while I was sewing the backing.  Isn’t it great?  I was so pleased with it while it was sewing out.

Until………..












This happened.  Can’t see what I mean?











Take a closer look.  It seems the shirt “jumped” onto the embroidery bed and got itself stitched into the embroidery foot.  Stuck good and proper.  I finally got it off the bed and finished the embroidery but there is still a big lump of fabric sewn together that I will need to do something about, later.

I did stitch out two owl t-shirts, see the last post, and I really like these designs.




Friday I went to a machine embroidery workshop where Mary Alice Smith was teaching some great software.  Can you see her face there in the center?








I was sitting way in the back but could see what was going on because of the monitors which were connected to her computer.  Ain’t technology grand?














Well, I had decided that I could use my time well by working on the hand applique for The Dragon.  I didn’t get a lot done but that was a whole lot more than I had done in the last couple of months so I felt pretty good about it.  Once I had it out again I realized how much I really want to get this quilt done so it will be on the top of my “to do” list soon.









Lastly, I finally got the label sewn onto the quilt I am sending to Gene Black for a children’s charity he is donating to.  This is a Jelly Roll Race quilt I made last Spring but hadn’t decided to whom it would go.  I love the cheerfulness of it and hope it brightens the heart of the girl who receives it.

Oh, one last thing.  Last week I finished the 22 lessons in EQ7.  It was a lot of work but I learned a lot.  Mostly, I learned that the program does a lot more than I knew and that there is still a bunch I still need to learn.  Maybe I will begin this next stage in my learning while I design my new chicken quilt?