Uncle Tom & Aunt Helen's Barn Wall Hanging

Back in April '06 when mom and I were on our quilty road trip, I saw all kinds of beautiful old red barns in MN, SD, IA, and NE. I think they are absolutely gorgeous. My cousin Tommy had bought an old barn and had it moved to my Uncle Tom's ranch that year and they were in the process of fixing it up and I was always taking pictures of it. I bought 3 or 4 patterns with barns and lots of barn fabrics on our trip. In the bottom picture you an kind of see that the red fabric was printed like red painted wood. It was so cool and I found the green grass which I loved too. This barn was paper pieced and it was a pain in the neck to match all the "red wood" and get the right angles. I fussy cut the horses next to the barn too. The pattern was horrible, but thankfully I had learned the Carol Doak way and was easily able to figure out how to do the paper piecing. I didn't want to do the corners the way they said because they were half square triangles, but I was at Sit and Sew and mom "made" me do them. They actually made this turn out really cool, so I'm glad she did. I gave it to my Uncle Tom and Aunt Helen for Christmas in 2006.

Dad's Christmas Quilt

For Christmas 2006 I made everyone on my gift list something. This is the rag quilt I made for my dad out of his old jeans and a pheasant fabric. I used 8 1/2" squares and did an X through them with a verigated brown thread. I ran out of three spools before buying the large cone. My dad did get a new chair that year, so this quilt stays on the back of the chair as it matched.

Heather's Home!

I don't think this day can get any better than it has been already. I just read Heather's blog and she is safely back in the US! I'm so thankful for her military service and the freedom I have because of women and men in uniform. For the last 5 months I've been thinking about her and praying for her safe return.
The Prolific Online Quilters members sent 12" blocks to me for a friendship quilt for Heather. Over the course of Aug, Sept, and October, I put this quilt together. With the help and support of my quilting buddies, it went together rather quickly. The requirements for the block were 12 1/2" unfinished block, Red, White, Blue any shade, and a star pattern. With 21 people participating, I was surprised the every block was unique and original. When they arrived, I put names on them with my 6600 and added the sashing and borders. I quilted it on my frame with stars and loops using a Isacord verigated red, white, blue thread. It's bound in a flag fabric. I made a pillowcase using the Navy themed fabric, blue with white stars, and a red flange.
Here's the quilt we made for her:

Here are the close ups and hopefully I remember who made each block. Please correct me if I have yours wrong. I'm doing this from memory. I put them all on the label, but forgot to take a picture, so hopefully Heather will take one.
My South Dakota star from Carol Doaks 50 States Stars book is on the left and Cindy -MI. is on the right, Jen B. (Cre8tive Quilter) - WI lower left, and Nancy (Heather's mom) - CA lower right. Jen did a bunch of writing on her block as well as her moms, so click to enlarge the photos for the detail. Heather's mom cross stitched her block and I added the border to it.

Jill - OH top left, Michelle - IA top right, Regina A - NY bottom left, Regina S - MI bottom right.

Jennifer - IN top left, Connie - IL top right, Michele B. - MD bottom left, Carla - AL bottom right
Deb - VT top left, Gina - Wales top right, Colleen - NE bottom right, Mine bottom left

Cindy W - WI top left, Suzan O- PA top right, Cindy L - MI, bottom left, Bethany - NE bottom right

Nancy - CA (Heather's Mom) left, Kristie - KY right

Rhoda - MI left, Jen B - WI right

This is the fabric that was donated by my boss for the borders. I used to work at Mt. Rushmore and feel it is one of our nations greatest symbols of freedom.

I'm so happy Heather is home! Once she gets settled in I'm sure we'll hear more from her, but right now I'm just glad to she is safe and sound and surrounded by her friendship quilt. Thanks for your service Heather!

Baby Boy Car Quilts

In the summer of 2006 I knew several people who were pregnant and I knew I wanted them to have quilts, so I used this super simple 3 1 yard cut = 3 quilts pattern. The Cars movie was very popular at the time and to that point all my friends had had boys, so I thought three boys quilts were in order. The next 4 people I knew had girls, minus my friend Angie who did have a boy, but I wanted an extra special quilt for him. I quilted them with lightening bolts across the quilts.
I ended up giving Billy, my cousin's little boy one for Christmas '06. He was the ring bearer in our wedding. He was more thrilled with the back, which was solid cars, than the front! In '07 I gave his new little brother Tyler one and made a Car's pillowcase for Billy. I still have one left to give when another little boy comes along. I know my friend is having a boy, but I'll do something more personalized and special for him.

Smoke & Roses

Last week was super busy with class, Sew & Sews club, a mom and me night. I was out Tues, Wed, and Thurs. By Friday I was completely exhausted! We had supper and were planning to go shopping for T-Day food, but instead came home and Paul went right to sleep at 7:30! I can't go to sleep then, so I worked on cutting out the bags for my Sunday Sewcial Demo and organized my sewing room a bit. I still haven't put everything away from when I sewed with mom a few weeks ago. I finished up the label and attached it with SAS2 to my Cafe Bistro quilt.
Sat morning I got up early and hand sewed the binding on my quilt. I took it to work and hung it up. My goals for the day were Apron Kits for the apron I made from the same line and to kit the fabric for Cafe Bistro. I was able to get both done and just had to finish the pattern. Jenn came in with a friend and showed me the aprons she made. They turned out way cute! Her friend wants to make a t-shirt quilt, so I gave her a few hints and things to think about.
My check engine light had come on, on the way to work, so I went to have my little bro look at it after work. He thought it was okay and fixed the fan, so it came on. I went to Walmart and as I was going to get on the interstate, the fan motor started smoking, so I headed right over to the shop (less than a block) and he came and look at the smoke billowing out. The fan motor is shot for my blower fan. I knew it was pretty close to needing replaced, but wow the smoke was horrible! When I finally got home Paul had bought me roses and was cooking a meal of filet mignon, potatoes, and corn. I was so surprised! He made me go take a shower because I stunk. My bags, purse, coat - everything smelled like smoke! It was horrible. I febrezed everything! I'm so thankful I didn't have my machine or sewing supplies with me.
We had a nice candlelight meal and watched TV together. It was so nice to be home alone together without anywhere to go and nothing that had to be done. So no sewing for me, but that's okay, it's not often we just do nothing.
I got up early Sun. morning and worked on my bags for the Sunday Sewcial. I still wasn't done, but Paul took me to work where I finished preparing. The day just kind of flew by and Paul brought me my favorite - Qdoba - for lunch! I couldn't believe it! After work he picked me up and we did the grocery shopping for T-Day. When we got home I worked on organizing a few more things and took Elaine off the frame and decided I was going to use her in my table for a while. The newness of Marie has worn off and I was ready to use Elaine again. I talked to my mom for quite a while, with my bluetooth on, so I had my hands free. I pressed all my stratas for my Crazy Eights table topper and then I drew out the appliques I'm using for Christmas presents. I have one cut out and the other still to do. I want to get those whipped up so I can take at least one thing off my list for Christmas.
Last night I had a migraine, so I got nothing done! I laid on the couch and watched Dancing with the Stars and when I finally felt better I wrote up our wedding announcement for the paper and submitted it. Nothing quilty done at all! I'm hoping tonight will be more productive.

Jocelyn's Baby Quilt

My boss Marcie and her hubby Chris were having a baby due in Oct. 2006, so in September I made this quilt for them. They didn't know if it was a boy or a girl, so I wanted something that could be used for either. I absolutely loved the print and ended up doing outline stitching for the quilting. Now on the frame I would probably do FMQing in the water. I have a panel, borders, backing, and binding to make another when the right baby comes along. Jocelyn was born in Oct. and I think it's the perfect little girl quilt.

Fall Wall Hanging

In August 2006 I took this class my mom taught at TSC. It was basically an applique technique class, with a bit of thread play in for good measure. I don't remember who the pattern was by, but it really was pretty simple compared to how it looks. I'm not a fall person at all, so this was really out of my comfort zone, but it was the perfect size wall hanging for my office cubical. It was the first wall hanging in my new office. I have a private office now with lots of room for quilts to hang, so I'm moving them around a bit more often. I threatened to take this one down after the blizzard last week, but I haven't yet. It'll stay up until the end of Nov.

Jerry's Quilt

The same week my grandparents passed away I found out one of my bosses was retiring and moving to NE. I really liked him and he was super supportive and friendly. My new co-worker friend Karen and I decided to make him a picture quilt. She did half the blocks, I did half and quilted and bound it. We had our marketing department take thepictures of all the departments and I used the June Tailor sew in fabric for the pictures. We put white on the back so everyone could sign it at the party. It turned out BIG for a wall hanging, but he has a big office at his farm house, so that is where it hangs. We made it in under 3 weeks. This is when we presented it to him. I'm on the left, Karen is on the right. We did a green grass border because he's a golfer. He still works for us on occasion and I see him about every three months. He's actually the one who encouraged me to apply for my current position and I'm so thankful I did. He's awesome and I sure miss him being here.

Woven Star Table Runner

Back in 2005 I helped mom teach a class called Woven Star. It was the first time she taught it and it was a challenging class. I never made the tablerunner, but I helped a lot of ladies do their weaving. She taught the class several more times because it was so popular. I finally got a chance to take the class on mom's birthday August 2, 2006. Paul's mom took the class with me. It was her first taste of quilting. With the funerals and everything else going on it was the end of Aug. before we actually finished the table runners. They are tubes that are woven together on a "loom" and then sewn together on the sides, thus making them reversible with very little quilting. This is my top side.

This is the other side. It's a very easy pattern once you get the hang of it. The tubes take the longest to make. I have since made several varieties of these, but this is still my favorite one.

My Godparent's Wall Hanging

In July 2006 I made this wall hanging with the scraps from Amy and Joe's wedding present. My godparents are Amy's parents, so I made this photo wall hanging with a picture of me with them at Amy and Joe's wedding. I was able to give it to them when I was home for my grandparent's funerals. They were the host and hostess at our wedding reception.

Crazy Eight Table Topper Class

Last night my friend D and I decided to take my mom's class for the Crazy Eight ..... Tease Table Topper. We had bought our fabric on Sat. and were both really excited about taking the class. We both chose blues from the winter fabrics. Mine lean more toward the silver and hers more toward the golds. We were supposed to have made our stratas before the class, but we didn't realize that, so last night we cut them all out and sewed them together. Everyone else had their triangles done and were ready to sew the top of the quilt by the end of the night. We still had a great time and learned a lot. Looking back we should have sewn the strips Sat. night when we sewed together, but we didn't so we'll have to finish them another time.

Mom's Birthday Quilt

Since I made Dad a quilt for his birthday I decided to make mom a quilt for her birthday. I whipped up this quilt a week before her birthday. My brothers, dad and I went together and bought her a stove for her birthday, but I wanted to make her quilt. I used the Gentle Breeze pattern by Gathering Friends and it went together fast. She wasn't so fond of the fabric since she didn't want to admit which birthday it was. I gave it to her at a sewing class we had that Thurs. night. I had brought cookies and we celebrated. We'd planned to take her out to supper Sat. night as a family, but our plans were severely changed.

Mom called me on Sat. while I was shopping at Wal-mart. Her dad had taken a turn for the worst in the hospital and she was leaving to be with him. She picked up up and I went with her. My grandpa died on Sat. and we were able to be with him that day in the hospital. I went home Sunday to get clothes, pack for the funeral, and went to work on Mon. I was planning to leave and pick up Grandpa's sister when her plane flew in Mon. Instead mom called to say my grandma (dad's mom) had just passed away. I ended up leaving work and met my brothers so we could go home. We had the funerals on Thurs. and Fri, so it was a very stressful week. We snuggled under this quilt in the hospital while we waited, so I'll always remember making it.

Fishing Wall Hanging

I wanted to try the Gathering Friends Blackberry book pattern for a wall hanging that matched the Gentle Breeze pattern, so I used the leftover scraps and made this wall hanging which matches Paul's quilt, the throw, two pillowcases, and the other wall hangings I gave away. This one hangs in our room when we are using his quilt. I didn't have the hanger sewn down when I took the picture. I was short of fabric, so I skipped the last row and just did a real narrow border. I made the second one using pinecone fabrics which I gave away for Christmas 06 to a co-worker. She used it as a tabletopper. I love the pattern as it is easy and makes up fast.

Jake & Janelle's Wedding Present

In July 2006 Jake and Janelle got married. I made this wall hanging as a wedding present for them. Janelle and I work together and have always gotten along really well. She loves purple as much as I do and her wedding colors were the same as mine. I wanted to make the heart shaped log cabin blocks from Log Cabin Fever, so I made two blocks and made a table runner for them. I used my heart shaped decorative stitch and verigated thread to go around it. I used my scraps for a scrappy purple binding.

Cafe Bistro Unveiled!

My Cafe Bistro quilt is almost complete! I finished quilting it at midnight on Friday night and got the binding cut out and squared up. I was up before 7 AM Sat. morning to put the binding on it. I glued the binding down at lunch time at work on Sat. and now I'm working on the handsewing of the binding on my lunch breaks this week. The squares were fussy cut and then I added two fabrics around the fussy cut centers to make the blocks. The picture is pretty dark, but the next one shows the more accurate color.

I quilted small meandering around the center squares and used a wool batting so it would poof. I used a brown/teal King Tut verigated thread top and bottom and used the entire spool! I used a size 14 titanium needle and I had no thread sheading whatsoever! I used 6 full bobbins which kind of surprised me, but it's the first time I've quilted this small on such a large quilt. It measures 62" x 83".

Sat. after work I went to supper with my friend D and her friend. Then we went back to D's house and sewed for the evening. She bought a new sewing machine on Sat. and was anxious to try it. We sewed for a couple hours before I went home. I got about 6 blocks done of a quilt I'm making out of the leftover 3" of my Bistro fabric. I have enough to make 20 blocks for a 4x5 block set quilt. I think it will be a Christmas present if it turns out okay.
Paul got home yesterday around noon and we did a few errands and then we helped him hang the buck he got on Sat. and the buck Ed got on Sun. morning. I got to run the wench on the 4-wheeler to hang them up. They are hanging in our garage ready to be processed on Wed. night. He's pretty excited to have gotten it. They still have their doe tags and the season doesn't close until Nov. 23, but they both have to work. They are going to use them on the second season when you can only get an antlerless deer, Jan. 1-9.

Mom's Bathroom Wall Hanging

My mom did the Sew & Sews club presentation in July 2006 and she made a curtain, toilet seat cover, tank cover, tissue cover, toothbrush holder, fabric wall paper. The whole nine yards for a complete bathroom remodel. I told her I would help, so I made this applique wall hanging using her stash and pattern. Paul made the wooden hanger for it.

Dad's Picture Quilt

In June 2006 I made this quilt for my dad's birthday/Father's Day. I took all the family photo albums and scanned in pictures of my two brothers and I and throughout our early years, high school, and more current pictures. I printed 72 different pictures of us and then used all the scraps/stash of fabric I had to make this quilt for my dad. All the pictures are about 3x5 or so. I printed 4 to a page on printer sized fabric sheet from June Tailor. I used the sew in variety. I got it all done, right before Father's Day and washed it, not realizing the washer was on heavy wash instead of delicate, so the pictures faded, but he still loved it and so do I. The back is all scraps put together and I sewed around each block on my 3050, so a very small harp, for a large quilt.

Nettie's Wall Hanging

In June 2006, my friend Nettie was battling breast cancer. I made this special wall hanging for her. Her husband and I worked together at Mt. Rushmore and we became friends.

Bistro is on the Frame!

Last night I was bound and determined to get Bistro on the frame. I had to put on the last border and then make the backing. I figured out the measurements pretty closely and I am really hoping I have enough backing or the border may get a little smaller. I just didn't see any sense in waisting another 1 1/2 of fabric for the backing. I may be mad at myself tonight. We'll see.
I have about three inches of each fabric left and some squares, so I'm thinking a wall hanging or a small baby quilt may be in order. We'll see after I get this one quilted. I got it all loaded on the frame and made the first pass across the top. I was extremely happy with my FMQing skills and the tension. I turned up the speed on my machine and did smaller meandering and it looks great. It was after 10:30 so I decided to call it a night as my eyes/contacts were really drying out with watching it so closely. I think I must not blink when I'm quilting because at the end of each row my eyes always are so dry.
I'm using a wool bat for this one which is something I haven't done before. So far I like the poofiness of it. Has anyone else done a lot with wool batting? One lady I know uses it exclusively because it doesn't cause the crease lines when you fold it or so she says. We'll see. I have two that I thought I would try the wool on. I also saw the bamboo batting, but it was $54 for the crib and I thought that was way too much.
I'm using King Tut brown/teal verigated in the top and bottom and it matches perfectly. I absolutely love it. I've been using my second bobbin case with the King Tut in the bobbin and that works so much better. I also started using some new Titanium needles and I love them. They simply pierce the fabric with a smoothness I haven't found before. I didn't have one thread break or any shreading issues either. My tension issues are improving with each quilt I do, so I'm really happy with how this quilt is turning out.

Nic & Becca's Wedding Present

In May 2006 I made this wedding present for my friends Nic and Becca who got married at Mt. Rushmore. They both worked there and Becca was my roommate for a couple years. My little bro graduated the same day, same time, so we only made it to the reception. They divorced this summer and Becca kept my wall hanging. I still miss her so much now that she has moved to MO. She was a personal attendant at my wedding.