Projects that are finished

Well, I don't have much in the way of pictures but I have been busy busy busy quilting up a storm.  I finished quilting a queen sized block of the month quilt for a local shop owner and from her response I think she was pleased.  The shop is Shaffer's Countryside Quilting and Judy has an amazing shop.  Lots of activity going on there.  She was preparing to go to a show and wanted the quilt to be ready to take to it, which is going on right now.  After I finished her quilt, I finished up two small baby quilts for a customer and she also was thrilled.  I got a big hug from her when she picked them up. 

Lindsey's quilt is coming along quite well and I have the most difficult part done.  I have it resting on my laundry folding table the edge hanging off the edge of the table so that as I am working on another project I can take a look up and get some ideas on how to finish it up.  Several ideas have been running around in my head so I just have to settle on something but for now...

 I am working on our quilt groups raffle quilt for this year.  Our group is The IQ Quilters.  We are not an official guild but we do have an annual quilt show which is the last weekend in September.  We are a rather small group, somewhere in the teens in members, and it is an invitation only group.  Anyways, the quilt this year is a gorgeous French Braid design in stained glass colors.  It is beautiful and I feel honored to have been chosen to quilt this fantastic quilt.  I got quite a bit done on it yesterday and am now getting into the fun part of the quilting.  There will be a extra surprise on the back of the quilt as the thread work is going to make an awesome colorful design on the back.

I will have some photos to add soon.  I have been so busy quilting that I haven't had time to do too much else. 

Lindsey and Katie will be home this weekend.  Lindsey is on spring break from the Air Force Academy and will be home to do some wedding preparations/planning, and Katie is throwing Lindsey's bridal shower this weekend.  I hope that we have a nice day. 

Lots to do with so little time to get it done.  I best be getting back to work. 

Progress Report-1

Lindsey's quilt progress report.

I have started to actually put stitches in her quilt.  Actually I have done a fair amount for only starting this week.  I decided that I was going to trapunto the monogram and the 4 corner roses so I used poly batting scraps for those areas.  I put my water soluble thread in the needle and regular Bottom Line thread in the bobbin and stitched my monogram and the roses and then cut away all the extra batting away. 

I originally had a solid white extra wide backing that I was going to use but decided that a white on white backing fabric would be nicer so I stopped by my favorite quilt store,  Shaffer's Countryside Quilting, in Sharpsville, Pa.  to pick up the backing. 

I had bought  Warm and White cotton batting but also wanted to use wool on top of the cotton to give my quilting that faux trapunto look.  I heard that tip at the Quilting with Machines weekend in Aurora Ohio last October.  I am not sure which of the teachers mentioned that but I had it stored in my memory banks so I thought that I would try it out to see how it would work.  I don't know if it is possible to find white wool batting, I have not had any success yet in my search, but I would prefer white so that the top of my quilt would be whiter and crisper looking.  Anyway, I got it basted together on Saturday or Sunday and have started the quilting. 

The center.

The center where I have the monogram, I used a dark pink poly thread to outline my M,  and then I switched to a lighter pink for the background "Diane-shiko"  which is 1/2 inch apart crosshatching.  I put together a half dozen quilt sandwiches of my left over backing, 2 battings and topped with more of the backing fabric as I didn't have any extra fabric from the top.  I marked out several sample sections to warm up and perfect my Diane-shiko.  It took a while but by the end of the second practice piece I felt confident that although it might not be perfect I wouldn't ruin it either.   I took a deep breath and started filling in the background fill.  I haven't taken a photo yet of that. 

I am very pleased with how the monogram "M"  really pops out, even from the back it is nicely framed.  I can get a better picture of how it looks from the back because I don't have the blue marking lines distracting me. 

Next, I did a rather flowing what I would call "bleeding heart" design in the top and bottom portion of the inner oval.

The bleeding heart stems have circles in them and the plumes of the bleeding heart feather are alternating heart shaped and  regular shaped petals  There are 3 stocks of the bleeding hearts, with short offshots coming off to fill in the extra areas.  These offshoots have the heart shaped petals off both sides of the stem. 

I have some more done but at this time that is all I am going to post.  I will be working on it some more tomorrow and will post more updates soon. 

I hope that you will all take time to do something that you really enjoy doing. 

Beginning a new project

Photo of the center wreath.  Wrong orientation,  it goes vertical not horizontal.  Hand appliqued by Rhoda McCartney. 

I am beginning to work on my daughter's wedding quilt.  Lindsey will be married in May, just after, and I mean just after her graduation from the Air Force Academy.  Her fiance also graduated from the AFA several years back.  This quilt is the completion of my mother's work.  She began the quilt top after asking Lindsey what she would like as far as a quilt, she made quilts for all the kids and grandkids.  Lindsey said that she didn't care about the pattern or anything as long as it was pink.  So Mom did a hand appliqued pink rose wreath quilt.  She got the top finished but never got it quilted before she passed away.  So my gift to Lindsey is to machine quilt this for her as a wonderful heirloom from Grandma.  My goal is to post my progress and also to discuss my decisions on what and how I am going to do this special piece. 

I started to mark some of the quilting motifs that are on the top so that I can see them better and also to get an idea of what motifs I am going to  use and what I will need to replace with different patterns.  So I marked off the rose motifs that go around the outside and the scalloped edge border feathered motif.  Those I will do for sure.

Monogram linen hanky for center.

The next thing that I did was to go through some of my mom's old hankies and linens and found a white linen hanky with a corner rose embroidered motif on it.  I will use it in the center of the rose wreath to put her monogram on.  I also have yards and yards of Alencion lace that was on my bridal veil that I might recycle into this piece, I haven't decided yet how or where but that will give the piece a little more texture and richness. 

So this is the beginning of this project.  I will post as I can on the progress.  I will also give credit to those great teachers and companies that help me out along the way.   At the same time as I am working on this I will be making the brides maids dresses.  This is going to be a very busy several months. 

Check out Cindy Needham's blog, she has given me much inspiration and the goal to do this type of beautiful heirloom quality work and has been generous enough to personally answer my questions on cleaning this beauty.  That was one of the first questions I had to find the answer to.  The quilt top has some minor yellowing and small perhaps blood stains on it.  Quilt it first or clean it first?  That was my question.  I have decided to quilt it first and then clean it.  Hopefully, all will go well with that step after it is all done.

Think outside the box

We are encouraged to think outside the box when we are creating art, and when it comes to organizing all of out quilting supplies we need to stop and think about what it is that we need before we go out and spend a lot of money on all kinds of things that are supposed to make it easier to get and stay organized.  Well, I have a thread storage issue and I have been thinking about getting some sort of small chest of drawers that would hold my extensive thread collection.   I wanted something with shallow drawers so that the thread could be single layer, and also that would accomodate the thin spools as well as the larger cones of thread.   I also wanted to be able to put it underneath my counter top in my studio where I use to have the cheap plastic storage drawer units.  The space measured 33" wide x 35" tall. 

This is what I found . 

As you can see, it fits into the space perfectly.   The five drawers get progressively deeper so that I can have the right place to store all the threads that I have.

Here is the top drawer.  Check out the dividers that keep the thread from rolling all around when you open and close the drawer.

Second drawer.

Look how neat and tidy this is.

Third drawer:

These are heavier weight variegated threads on the left and cones of polyester and rayon threads on the right side. 

Fourth drawer:

These are larger cones of Superior Bottom Line and serger cones, along with some other odds and ends that will find new homes later on as I need the space for more threads.

The bottom drawer:

I have put my machine quilting stencils, books marking tools and supplies in this drawer.  This small chest really is the perfect piece for getting some mega organization and it is really sturdy.  The drawers open and close smoothly, no sticking drawers. 

I found this little beauty at the AAA Antique Mall in Ravena, Oh.  It is off of Interstate 76.  Fun little place to spend several hours roaming around. 

So don't forget to look at pieces that you might already have in your home with fresh eyes and think outside the box in how you use them.  Even though this is a dining room side board it works perfectly for my needs in my quilting studio. 

More photos.

I am not sure why the pictures didn't all load before so lets try again.  Here is the photo of the swag and the lint.

Here is the photo of the peach octagon.  The quilting really pops on this fabric.  Lots of nice detail.

My next post will be about my newest organizational find and all the stuff I am able to keep in it. 

Photos Venetian Tile

Here are some detail shots of the quilting done on Venetian Tile quilt.  Here is one of the small squares.

The black border has a feathered swag with a heart.  The lint was a problem showing up on the black fabric.

Jan picked up the quilt today and she loved it.  I am so happy.  I really enjoy machine quilting and then seeing the reactions of others when they see the quilt.

Venetian tile quilt done

I finished quilting my first customer's quilt.  Venetian tile.  I had a lot of fun quilting it.  I repeated several different motifs in the center of the octogans done in purple thread.  In the small diamonds I did a melon motif around the seams.  In the peach half octagons I did the same motif, melons around the seams with a curly-cue in the centers of the wedges.  The focus fabric outside border has a meandering leaf pattern done in a peach color.  The outside black border has a scalloped swag pattern with feathered plumes on the inside and at the upper points a heart motif.   The black borders around the octogans where outlined 1/4" inside in black.  It turned out well I think,  I hope that when Jan comes to pick it up that she likes it. 

Photos to follow.