WIP Wednesday Week 39 9.26.12

This week simply flew by! I tried to jam pack a lot into it with Dad's wedding on Friday and then catching up at home during the weekend. We're getting ready to move rooms around for the new baby, so my quilt frame has to come down. I decided I wanted to finish up a couple more quilts. Monday night I quilted this Mocha Meringue quilt that I plan to use in the nursing room at work. 

I'm preparing for a UFO class I'm teaching in Oct. so I sorted all my UFO's out and gathered them together in the closet my grandpa built me. This is about 36" high and 12" deep by 24" wide, so it has room for about 20 UFO's which are my most current ones.

I also quilted up this little table topper which is a UFO of my mom's. I plan to give it to my dad. Nothing fancy, but it's his brand and it's done.

I did a gold/maroon/green King Tut on it with a simple meander.


Last night I started taking the frame apart. It was a lot of work! I got the right side taken down and I think we'll leave it like this for now. It will be a lot less hassle. I washed all the leaders for it and it's ready to be moved when we get ready. The machine is all packed up in one of the Tutto's on the floor.


Sunday was my SIL to be's baby shower. She's having a boy the end of Oct. and so I gave her the Trucks baby quilt. She really liked it.

My aunt gave her a blanket made with jeans from my grandpa, grandma, mom, and dad. It turned out pretty cool and she embroidered their names on the jeans. It's a rag quilt.


Finished this week:

Ongoing projects:  (and progress this week on them)
Sign Language Diaper Clutch
Batik Scrappy Quilt - Sewed all the 2.5" squares to the corners, now to trim and press
Hugs & Kisses Batik quilt
Hugs & Kisses Scrappy Quilt
Mocha Meringue Wonder Blocks- needs binding

Quilts Needing Hand sewing on Binding Blush Quilt  - quilted!
Cre8tive Swap w/ Jen - Quilted
LT Table topper

Completed tops awaiting quilting:
Pink/Green Jungle Animal Baby Quilt - Need to make backing
Confetti Top - At the shop
Twisted Heart - At the shop
Merry Go Round - Needs backing made.
Autumn Star Quilt - needs backing

New Projects:

No progress:
Ed's Crown Royal Quilt - Started sashing - Need to get a move on, he's getting married
Dilly Dally Baby Girl Quilt
Swoon - 2 Blocks done

This week's stats:
Completed projects -
New projects -
Currently in progress - 5
Finished this year - 51, 12 Samples

I'm linking up for WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced!

Blogger Quilt Festival Spring 2011

It's Spring Blogger Quilt Festival time and this year I've been so busy I almost missed out. I couldn't think of any quilts that I'd made recently that were really special to me. I've made a ton of quilts in years past, but this year with the birth of my daughter and the death of my mother I realized I haven't made any quilts. It was a shocking realization! I've been sewing and quilting the whole time, just not making quilts. I've made blankets, shoes, burp clothes, pillowcases, and lots of other odds and ends, but no quilts. I finally decided I did have a quilt I wanted in the festival. This quilt is special to me because I made it out of my pink scraps and I hate scraps, so I was glad to use them up! I have a hard time using them. I was pattern testing for Gudrun Erla (GE Designs) new book Strip On back in Sept. of 2009. I made this quilt quickly and really enjoyed the pattern. It wasn't my typical quilt. In deciding what to make I pulled the pinks because my mom was a breast cancer survivor. She loved pinks and I figured I could give it to her. I made the top and quilted it up for her Christmas present in 2009. She received it for Christmas, just days after receiving word she had inoperable brain cancer. The breast cancer had metasticized into her lungs and brain. They started radiation and it slowed the cancer, allowing her to live well for a year.

I quilted it with loops in a dark pink thread on my quilt frame.

I even quilted my name into it, something I've only done on this quilt.

I made the label on mom's embroidery software and then stitched it out on her embroidery machine.


I put all my love into this quilt and it kept mom cozy and warm. The brain cancer came back strong again Christmas 2010 and she passed away on February 11, 2011. This quilt will always remind me of my mom and the strength she had in all the pain she endured throughout her 6.5 year fight with breast cancer.
Check out the other quilters on the blogger festival.

Quilting Darlene's Quilt

Last week Darlene dropped off two quilts to have me quilt for her. They are for two special girls in her life and they love Hannah Montana, hence the fabric. The pattern is called the Katrina Quilt I believe. It was made to make quick quilts for Katrina victims, but works great for large scale prints. The quilts are 61"x73" and there are two identical. She gave me free rein on the quilting. This is the first one. I quilted meandering and flowers.


It's a medium sized meander and then I made flowers to look like the flowers in the fabric.


Here's one of the flowers. I used a raspberry verigated King Tut. I think between Jen and I we've probably gone through about 10 spools of this color thread! I know I've used at least 5 full ones and she used a few for my wedding quilts.


The backing is pieced too.  The light color is really stiff and this is one time I probably would have washed the backing if it was mine. The sizing is making it more difficult to quilt. There are some seams with this fabric that are a challenge too. I started this quilt Sun. night and the first pass through I ran the needle through my ring finger. I was definately in shock, because I forgot how to turn off the machine. Luckily I finally got it off. I was able to tear out the bad stitching too and no blood got on the quilt! I've got the second one loaded and started quilting it, but didn't feel like it tonight. Hope to get back to it tomorrow night. I'm doing loops and flowers on it, so they are a bit different.

It feels great to be quilting again!

What have I been sewing??

Wow, the month is already half over and it seems I haven't shown all the little projects I've been working on. I made a camo/pink baby blanket for Mikaela. She loves these double layer ones for sleeping at night. I also made her a mommy/daddy flannel with purple minkee blanket. She loves the minkee!

My mom had bought about 10 yards total of this really soft satiny material. She was going to make me a night gown, so I cut it out and whipped it up the other night, only to realize there is no way in .... that it will fit. So I'll be gifting it to a relative. I still love the material and plan to make another one when I can get a bigger pattern. It took me less than an hour to make.


I quilted this baby quilt for my cousin Molly's baby boy on Sat. night. I hope to have the binding on when they come for a visit in June. It's Frolic by Sandy Gervais.


I just love the swirls I did in the trees and randomly throughout the quilt. I love swirls but after having done one quilt in all swirls and running out of thread/making the quilt stiff as a board, I learned my lesson! It has warm and natural batting. They live in the Cities, where they get the COLD MN winters!


This was the first quilt I had quilted on the frame in over a month. It sure felt good to get a quilt on the frame and get it quilted!

Quilting Night

Tonight I was very productive on my quilt frame. I quilted up this gray fabric for a bathroom bag for my hubby. He said he'd use it if I made it and it wasn't too ugly. I think he'll like this fabric! I'll make the bag before he needs it next week, but getting the fabric quilted takes the most time.

I also had 2 fat quarters of this green/brown/black fabric, so I quilted it up too. I should have enough to make 2 bathroom bags out of this piece. I'll let Paul decide which one or ones he wants and use the other(s) as gifts.

It was stll early, so I loaded my tree skirt. I'm kind of disappointed in the pattern. I measured it at 47" and the pattern called for twice the fabric length for backing, so I made the backing. I loaded it and quilted it with a very small stipple. The stitching is small and tight, but that's the look I was going for.

I love the look of the King Tut thread on the center.

I got it quilted in a couple hours and I was so proud of it, until I realized that It was only 40" across and 47" diagonally. I didn't need the whole extra yard and 1/4 that I had pieced together for it. So now I have a whole lot of fabric left! I'm definately going to have to use up the fabric scraps I have left and make a tablerunner. After I got it finished I put it on the kitchen table and it makes a great tablecloth. I may be convinced not to make it into a tree skirt now. I'm going to think on it before I cut the binding.


I feel so good with all I got done tonight! I also layed out the fabric for backing the Essence tablerunners and got the thread out too. I picked out the borders for the one tablerunner, but was too tired to work on it tonight, so I'll have to do that later too.

Triple Finish Weekend!

If I thought Thursday night was productive, it was just the precurser to the weekend. Paul and I went out to the new Pizza Ranch for supper Friday night and I ate way too much and felt awful the rest of the night. I definately learned my lesson! Saturday we did our errands and mid afternoon I finally was able to load the teal and brown quilt. I can't remember the last time I've loaded a queen size quilt. I had the backing all ready and a wool batting that I had saved for it, so it didn't take me long to get it all loaded. I used teal/brown King Tut on top and brown Bottomline in the bobbin. This picture is the quilt hanging off the frame.

I did a mid sized meader on it. I did speed up the machine a bit, so it went fairly fast, but still took me probably about 5 hours to get it quilted. I went through 5 bobbins and 1 spool of thread!

I love how the thread looks on the fabric. It's all batiks and I just love how it turned out. It fits our bed perfectly, so I know we're going to love it this winter.

When I got done quilting it Saturday night, it was still early, so I cut and made the binding for both this quilt as well as the zoo animal quilt I quilted the other night. I put the binding on the zoo animal quilt, so all I have is the handwork left.

Today I put the binding on the brown/teal quilt and decided to clear off my cutting table so I could work on some other projects. I knew I had enough candy corn  fabric left to make another table topper. Since Oct. is sneaking up quickly, I decided to finish this one today instead of putting away the fabric. I made the top, put it on the frame, and quilted it today. I used orange/yellow King Tut and golden Bottomline.

I was able to quilt it in about 15 minutes start to finish. I also put the binding on it tonight. While I was cutting the binding, I realized if I was a bit creative I could get another topper out of the scraps, including the backing, so I cut it all out and have it ready to be made. I need a few gifts in the next couple weeks, so I figure I'll have them made up and ready to go when I need them.


This week I'll have plenty of handwork to keep me busy. I have the Halloween Table Topper, the Zoo Baby quilt, and the Queen size Brown and Teal quilt that all have binding that needs to be sewn down by hand. I feel so great that I was able to accomplish all of these things this weekend. In addition, I cleaned house, did laundry, and cooked! Paul's out of town for work this week, so I hope to get a lot accomplished in the evenings, since I do not have school or classes this week!

Merry's Cat Quilt

Last night after I quilted the Baby Sign Language quilt, I had the cat's quilt out and the leftover batting was the perfect size. I had the backing and just chose a verigated pink/purple/blue/green/yellow King Tut and pink Bottomline to go with it.  I quilted a very large meander all over it. It's probably the biggest one I've done, but it doesn't need to be super close, it's for the cat!

My stitches are becoming more and more consistant with every quilt I do. I'm pleased with how this turned out.

I even had enough time to put the binding on. I cut it at 2.25" and sewed it to the front, turned it to the back and sewed it down by stitch in the ditch. All the fabric is leftover or sale fabrics I picked up, except the cat print, which I specifically picked up for her. It's all LQS fabric, so it's a nice quilt. I just hope Merry likes it and will sleep on it, since she hates fleece blankets, but seems to love my quilts. I love a cat with good taste!

This was my 90th quilt on my frame! Oh how I've learned so much since that first quilt. I'm still learning, but I can see vast improvement over the previous ones I've done. My MIL was so excited about Merry's quilt she took it to work to show her co-workers today. I'm just glad to have another UFO completed!

Sweatshirt Jackets

This week I made sweatshirt jackets for mom and I. We had bought the fabric back in Nov. but I just wasn't sure how it was going to work out to quilt it on my frame. I ended up spray basting all the pieces and attaching the fabric and it worked out really well. There was probably more waste, but not as much as I expected. I serged them together and made the binding on Wed. After the rodeo Thurs. night I sewed the binding on to the jackets. Friday morning I got up extra early and sewed the binding down. I threw them in the wash before I went to work and Paul dried them for me. Mom and I wore them on Sat. when we went shop hopping in the southern hills.

The fabric is quilting related. I need to make us bags to match now, but they turned out great and kept us warm all day. I'm glad that I used our shop hop as incentive to get them done.

40th Quilt, Quilted!

In the 10 months I've had my quilt frame, I've learned a lot! This past weekend I quilted my 40th quilt on the frame. I feel like I am still not where I would like to be with my tension, but I'm doing better and each quilt is getting better. I look back at some of my first quilts and shake my head, but that's how you learn. I have several quilts cut out now and I'm ready to start making them up, so I think I'll give the frame a rest for a while.

My quilt frame has really helped me produce more quilts and I enjoy quilting them now. I also have taken on way more than I thought possible. I counted up my UFO's recently and they were over 20! This is so unlike me, that my co-workers at the shop said I was finally starting to act like a quilter. Although they did give me a hard time about throwing too big of scraps in the puppy pillow planter. My current projects... those I'm working on right now are a Professional Tote, Happy Hour quilt, Wonder Blocks' quilt, binding Pop Parade, and designing a charm purse for June Bag Ladies. I don't know what I'll do first, but I won't have much time this weekend as we are heading out to the ranch.