Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Susan's Nine Patch quilt

My good friend Susan's 2nd daughter Samantha get married recently (the 1st daughter Liz was  married a year ago) and of course another wedding quilt was created.  Sam's style is more subdued than her older sister's and she requested an all gray and white quilt.  This is the result.
I like to take a "before" picture (if I remember) to show just how much the quilting does to enhance the piecing and truly "finish" a quilt.

Unfortunately there was a ton of rain when it came time to take the pictures so I had to do them indoors instead.  You can still just how gorgeous this quilt turned out.
All that pretty texture just danced across the top.
Susan again chose the Hubby Love panto but she wanted the quilting to show a bit so she requested Glide Medium Gray thread for the top.  So Fine 408 Silver was used on the back.
It's tough to tell from this picture but the backing is a white tone on tone print.
Given that this wedding was a mere 9 months after her sister's wedding, Susan had to work fast to get this done on time and she did a fabulous job.  I know that Sam and her new husband will cherish it for many years to come.
Susan is busy working on another quilt that will be ready to be quilted soon..... her oldest daughter Liz recently made her a grandma by giving birth to a baby boy.  I know that Susan is over the moon thrilled and I can't wait to see what she created for the precious little one.

Friday, September 6, 2019

Courage Under Fire quilt for Pete

When someone a quilter knows is diagnosed with a serious illness, that quilter gets to work immediately to make a quilt to comfort them over the coming days, weeks, months and hopefully years.  That's exactly what I did for my husband's friend, fellow firefighter and coworker Pete when we heard the news early this year of his cancer diagnoses.  This is:

Courage Under Fire

This is the "before" quilting picture.  I created this entire quilt with leftover fire department fabric scraps from Jammer's To The Rescue quilt along with Kona Zen Gray for the sashing.
On the day of the photo shoot, the wind proved challenging but thankfully it was only blowing the quilt back and forth so I was able to get some good shots as the wind died down.
The Ebb and Flow panto was just the right design for this.
After hunting online for what seemed like forever, I found this fantastic fabric for the backing.  It is "Firefighter Words" by Timeless Treasures.  My husband loves it so much he wants me to use it for the backing for his fire department t-shirt quilt.
Pete was thrilled when he received his quilt and was thankful to have it to take along to his treatment sessions.  As it typical with cancer patients, he gets cold and I'm so happy that he now has a special quilt to help keep him warm.
Pete is one of those really good guys....always helping others, serves his community as a volunteer firefighter, always happy and upbeat and an all around great person.  Courage Under Fire was the perfect name for this quilt as it sums up him and his situation.  We know he'll win this battle and will have this quilt to comfort him for many, many years to come.

Monday, September 2, 2019

Colleen's sweet cars baby boy quilt

I'm embarrassed that I've neglected my blog for the past 6 months but between a insanely busy cookie season, family vacations and multiple Girl Scout troop activities, I've been really busy.  I've done a small amount of sewing, other thank Girl Scout badges and patches, so I'll be posting about those projects in the coming weeks. 

The most recent customer quilt completed was for Colleen.  She made this sweet, simple little quilt for her grandson's 2nd birthday which is coming up soon. 
The main print is adorable and the border colors she chose compliment it well.
Colleen wanted to keep the quilting design simple so she chose the One Cloudy Day panto. The thread on the top is So Fine 493 Pale Green and Glide Turquoise was used on the back.
She brought a Turquoise print fabric for the backing.
With the matching thread choice, the quilting on the back just shows as nice texture.
I'm sure Colleen's grandson will cherish this quilt for many, many years to come.


Friday, February 22, 2019

More mini totes for January birthdays

January brought 2 more birthdays for girls in my troop.  Here are their mini totes.
 First up was a mini tote for a girl who's favorite colors are bright Orange and Purple.  I don't have much Orange fabric in my stash so I was happy to find this piece to fit the bill.  The handle fabric guided the choice of the Purple print for the front pocket.
 There's no doubt that this one is bright and colorful!
 I even extended the brightness to the lining with a rainbow print.  She loved it!
 The 2nd mini tote for January was a bit more subtle, for a girl who likes Blue and Green.
 A few fat quarters in the coordinating prints (I can't remember the name of the fabric line) and a green mini polka dot for the handle worked well together.
 I had one more fat quarter from the same line available that I used for the lining.
Both girls were thrilled with their gifts which made me happy.

There are 2 more troop birthdays in February so you'll be seeing those mini totes soon.

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

December's birthday mini totes for my troop girls

I haven't been very good lately about writing blog posts as the Girl Scout cookie season is underway but I'll try to catch up on what's been going on lately in my studio.

I'm continuing to make the mini totes for the girls in my troop as their birthday gifts.  These are the ones that were gifted for December birthdays.
The first one happened to be for my own daughter.  She is a cat-fanatic so the cat fabric was the perfect choice. 
I had intended to use the cat fabric for the outside and the pink for the front pocket but I goofed while cutting out the pieces.  Oops.  She still loves it just as it is.
The handle print was a leftover bit from making the first batch of teacher quilts many years ago and the lining is a bright Turquoise star print that I found in my stash drawer.
Next up was the mini tote for my daughter's BFF who also had a birthday in December. 
I had plenty of leftover bits from my recent Moda Bakeshop project Charm Pack Shuffle so they were the perfect choices for this girl.
A solid Turquoise for the lining and this tote was complete.
The girls all know now what they'll receive when their own birthday comes around but they have no idea what it will look like.  I'm really having fun finding just the right fabrics in my stash based on their favorite colors and tailoring each mini tote to each girl's personality.

January brought a couple more troop birthdays so I have a few more mini tote finishes to share next.


Sunday, January 13, 2019

Open for business!

Do you have tops that need to be quilted?  If so, I'm here to help.
Until now I haven't formally opened my longarm quilting business because I was still working outside the house but now I am able to do just that.
 Basic meandering is $.015 per square inch.  I also have over 125 Edge to Edge designs for you to choose from, everything from open and simple to more complex and dense. Turn around time currently averages between 2 - 4 weeks.  At this time I am not taking any custom quilting orders.

You can see examples of my work on the Longarm Quilting Portfolio page.

Quilters Dream 80/20 White 93" wide batting by the roll is available (you pay for only what is needed) as well as many Quilters Dream Cotton Select packaged battings.  I can also get any other Quilters Dream battings you may wish to use.

If you hate to do the binding, that service is available too.

This year is the year to turn all those unquilted tops into completed quilts.  Email me to discuss your project and to schedule your spot in line.



Friday, January 11, 2019

So what comes next?

This is the current state of my longarm frame.
I have way too many larger scrap pieces of batting that were just being stuffed into a bin and now I'm sorting and measuring it all so that I can piece it together as needed and get it used up.

Lesson learned!  From now on I will mark which brand/type and the size it is immediately to avoid this mess in the future.

There hasn't been much sewing going on at all over the past month due to the usual December craziness plus a lot of extra stuff. Thankfully life has calmed down with the kids back in school and the regular routine has returned. Added into the mix of holiday bedlam was the monumental task of  helping my boss pack up and clean out his office space. You see....after  45+ years he closed the business to retire and we had to vacate the space at the end of the year. It was a ton of long intense days but it's all done.


I have a bunch of badges and patches to sew onto a few Girl Scout vests and I'm behind in making the mini totes for troop member's birthdays.  These are the fabrics in line for the next 3.

Plus my house still needs to be de-Christmased which hopefully will get completed over this coming weekend. Hauling all those boxes up and down the stairs isn't a thrill but it has to get done.

So......
 
 A lot of people, including my hubby, have been asking what's next for me? I've got some things in the works that I'm keeping my fingers crossed will work out as I hope.  I've been researching and working out details and will be making it all official very soon.

Until then, I hope your 2019 has started off well and I hope that this coming year brings lots of sewing and happiness to your life.