Needs Must......

Happy Friday - Nine Patch Swappers are welcome to send their packages anytime.  I'm excited to see your patches and send them back to you.  Deadline is still Oct. 1st.

here is a little quilt i made ages ago with 4 orphan nine patches

Thank you all for your encouragement while I'm tackling the King sized  George quilt.  I have worked on it every day this week.

I am sad to report that many of your concerns about my marking choice was well founded!!  Many of the lines have worn off before I got to them :(
boo hoo boo hoo boo hoo   and also ^@#(* and also   $#%@&%^&^!!!!!!!

Needs Must - Right?  So while sitting at the machine I am remarking some sections.  You can see to the left where few lines are visible.

Sometimes I have are mark the ENTIRE CABLE -  now you might think me crazy for using the chalk here, but it's the fastest and best way with the batting and backing behind it.

Oh, the humanity, unpinning all the pins, marking, then pinning again before continuing......

Thank goodness Pride and Prejudice was on demand.  I like to watch movies that I've seen before.  I can just listen until it's time to watch the ending or a great scene.

I'm back in the "cockpit" - here is my set up.  The quilt is being held up by my big ironing board which I lower to match the sewing cabinet height.

I'm even employing my quilt filing drawer to hold the pin bucket, the all important REMOTE CONTROL, lol.  What my big scissors are doing there, I can't say.

I sewed between 5 and 6 hours 5 days this week and finished 7 out of the 13 columns of quilting.   Whew!

I'm loving how it looks and feels.

Now to prep the second half for quilting.  I'll start that tomorrow, in the meantime I'm off to the movies for a treat.

Fun For Friday:

What's better than my daughter finding a clearance dress for $10.00 at the outlet mall?

Hanna realizing the houndstooth print is CATS - She is an unapologetic Cat Lady.

Happy Labor Day to my US readers and Happy Weekend to everyone else!

How to Eat an Elephant

....or make a king sized quilt.

Finally, I'm ready to start machine quilting my King George quilt today!   I'm sharing the steps I've taken to prepare this for quilting half at a time.

Here is the backing.  I just LOVE this fabric.   I bought it years ago when I first designed this quilt.

It sure is great to have a railing to hang 10 yards of seamed and pressed fabric.

I decided on this cable pattern for the machine quilting.  I taped 2 of them together so I wouldn't have to move it as much.  I wish they made these border stencils longer!  I marked a line on the stencil to place on the seam so it would be centered correctly.

I used the pounce marker that erases with steam.

I used my buffet table and started pinning in the upper left hand corner.  I checked, checked and CHECKED  all the measurements of the top, batting and backing and thought this was the best way to approach it.  (I usually start in the center and work out).  
 

I moved across to the next section.  I decided on a good 1/2 way point to stop.  I felt it best to stop mid-block not too near a main seam.

I folded back the top, took a deep breath then I carefully cut the batting away to reduce bulk while I quilt the first half.

I folded up the backing and top of the other half and used binder clips to keep it neat.  It was too thick to use safety pins.

After about a week preparing everything we all took a rest.

I plan to start in this afternoon.  Wish me luck!

A drive to Ohio this past week gave me a chance to work on my "car trip" doll quilt.   I've been working on it for over 2 years, lol.   I can't applique' in the car, but I can quilt.

I am taking a real casual approach to quilting this - no marking - no fuss.  If it looks a little crude, it will be just right for my little doll bed.

Good Luck to Hanna and her housemates - have a great semester!

I'll be back soon, hope you all have a great week.

A Banner Day

Happy Friday!

I've been wanting to try making a bunting and finally gave it a whirl.  There are a lot of ideas here on Pinterest.

Here is mine made with a Kaffe fabric.

I made a paper patterns until I found the size I liked.   I made a cardboard template to mark the pre-fused fabric.

I fused a solid on the back and left the edges unfinished.   It would be really fun to make it two sided and hang it in a archway.

I used dritz single fold bias tape.   I pressed it in half to make a channel for the pennants.

I arranged them and held them in place with binder clips.

I stitched them in the channel close to the edge.

Waa-La (as Norma and I like to say :)

Aaahhhh.....spent a day at the beach last weekend with a great book on my ipod, an iced tea and applique'.

You just can't beat the view.

Happy Friday!  Grab a little summer before its gone!

A Rose By Any Other Name.....

Greetings from the dry tundra of southern Connecticut.  I hope we get the predicted rain tonight and tomorrow!

I was inspired to share this quilt after reading Barbara Brackman's wonderful post about Rose Krestsinger and her unfinished rose quilt.   You can read the post here.

The Rose Quilt - 1998   Is it wrong to say that I still LOVE this quilt?  I even changed my header in honor of it.

Here is a blood stain when hanna lost a tooth while it was on her bed.

This is the ONLY quilt that I had quilted by someone else and I still regret it.  It's lovely quilting, but not mine.

Here is Rose's work:

And mine.  I forgot how much I simplified the flowers.

I used only a few fabrics in this quilt.  The tiny berries are my favorite part.

I was struck today by how much it has in common with my Jubilee quilt.  I am back to quilting a little every single day and have just finished the top border.

coco looked on with her usual enthusiasm and confusion.

Our poor little Starbuck had 2 teeth pulled today and a cleaning.  If only he would have flossed more.... We get to pick him up early this evening :(

Anyone else do this block?  Or have another pretty rose applique' quilt to share?  I'd love to see them.

Checking In

Hello - I hope you are enjoying summer!  I've been very busy and not blogging much (or sewing either).

A couple of weeks ago I went to the Quilt Odyssey show in Hershey, PA. with a few friends.  It is a wonderful show, but they don't allow photos to be published on the internet.  You can see some on this blog (I know....but they haven't posted them on their site yet....)

I was very honored to have 2 quilts in the show:   Mother's Garden and Frankenstorm.

The show is small, but the quilts were what I would call "next level" in terms of quilting and technique.  I'm actually surprised my quilts were accepted.

They sent me these nice certificates and I had an exhibitor ribbon and free admission to the show.  As a big bonus I saw Kelly of Pinkadot Quilts and Sujata of Root Connection.  It is always such fun to see bloggy friends in the real world.

I spoke with Cindy at the Stencil Company about my fan design and she asked me to send artwork.  I'm encouraged that they are considering manufacturing it.  I've made 3 different versions and sent one other design.  Fingers crossed.  Here is my homemade stencil.

A couple of weeks ago I sent Katy of  KatyQuilts a nice comment about this adorable doll quilt she finished and she offered to send it to me.  I literally could not believe it.  How generous and unexpected.  Thank you Katy.

 The backing is a feed sack - super sweet - and the drop diamond quilting is just perfect.

She sent me this lovely note, which I appreciate so much.  Thank you so much Katy!

  I've hung it on the way into the sewing room to remind me what nice people I have met through blogging.

Check out her blog, she is always doing something creative!

Hanna and I had  "Day-cation" to the Maritime Aquarium.  Along with all the fishy and Jelly things we saw, we got to feed Lorikeets!  They are small tropical parrots.  Their coloring is so beautiful.

I think you can tell how utterly Delighted I was!

Sorry for such a long post - I just haven't found the usual computer time lately.

Happy August~