Whats on Your Design Wall

Whats on your design wall? This is a current picture of mine. I spent a lot of time over the weekend working on this 4 patch Christmas quilt. The rows are not sewn together yet which is why it appears so wonky.

This quilt is being made with all 2 1/2 strips so would be perfect for a jelly roll. When I am cutting fabric and get down to just a little bit left I cut the remainder into 2 1/2 strips. This quilt is being made out of those left over strips, left over binding pieces and just a few newly cut strips.


I did very well with meeting all my goals last week. I don't know if it was because I was more focused or because I set more realistic goals but here goes for this week.

1. Load and quilt twin customer quilt
2. Quilt two table runners and get binding on them
3. Get all rows for Christmas quilt made

I know I will probably work on several other things also but think these are realistic things I can accomplish.

kathie

Shirley's Quilt

I finished quilting the hospice quilt made by Shirley yesterday. Here is a picture of just a part of it, will take a complete picture once the binding is done. I quilted it with scalloped tear drops which is my favorite overall quilting.

So with this completion I accomplished all my goals for the week for a change.

Kathie

Just Ducky

I took my strippy duck quilt (Just Ducky) with me last night to my sewing group and sat and finished the binding up. Nice to have something totally complete this week.

Today I am working on getting the hospice quilt on the frame finished quilting and maybe work on a few 4 patch blocks. I really need to spend time today on essentials like running the vac, dusting etc. but that is SO NOT FUN.

Kathie

Progress

I am making progress on my goals
#1 - I did get the two table runners quilted and the bindings machine stitched down. They are now in my hand sewing pile.
#4 - Pieced the backing for the ducky quilt yesterday and it is currently loaded on the frame along with the batting. I intend on getting the top loaded and quilted today.

I don't have any quilting pictures to share today so thought I would share what my husband is working on. A lady purchased this chair at a local auction for $10 and is having my husband recover it. The fabric on it was so unique I just had to show the picture, doesn't it say 1970's to you!!!


Kathie

Monday Goals and Accomplishments

I did complete all the customer quilts I needed to last week but I never did get around to making the backing for my ducky quilt, does cutting the fabric count? Like a lot of people I come up with an idea of what I want to accomplish but other things sneak in.

I did get these two table runners tops completed over the weekend and started making 4 patch blocks for a Christmas quilt so I was working on projects, just not the one I had intended.


This week I plan on

1. Getting these two runners quilted
2. Quilt a charity quilt
3. Continue piecing 4 patch blocks for the Christmas quilt
4. and to finally get that backing made for the duck quilt.

I wonder how many of these will get done and what other projects will distract me this week.

Kathie

What are you working on?

I did finish the twin customer quilt yesterday so I am taking the next 2 or 3 days to work on whatever I want to.

I decided I needed to get working on some more holiday table runners for my fall craft shows. I am doing three shows this year so need plently of items.

This is one of the blocks I am currently working on. I like this block, because of the way it is made you can't cut off the outside points. I cut out enough pieces to make 8 of these blocks which will become two runners. Even though I cut out enough fabric to make all the points red I am thinking I might make one runner in red and one in green.

Kathie

Comments

A couple of people were nice enough to leave comments on my blog so thought I would answer their questions.

As to Janet's question on the peacock meandering, if you click on the picture it will show you a larger version of the picture and you can see the stitching. This doesn't always work as I checked the Christmas Tesselations quilt and you still can't see the stitching but it is nice and clear on the butterfly quilt.

Sandy asked if Deb had a pattern for this. No there was not pattern she just designed as she went and incorporated fabrics that had special meanings for her and her sister.

I finished a twin quilt yesterday and got another one loaded on the frame. I hope to get working on that later today. Once this quilt is done I am going to take 2 or 3 days to work on craft show items. My fall craft shows will be here before I know it and I need to get busy getting more things done for it. I have a baby quilt and several table runners ready to quilt but I feel like piecing for a change.

Kathie

Butterflies

Deb made this as a comfort quilt for her sick sister. I am sure she is going to love looking at all the bright colors. It just reminds me of summer. I quilted this on monday using a king tut thread in a freehand peacock meandering pattern.

I wanted to show these picture not only because I think it is a very pretty quilt but to give people another idea of a great scrap/string quilt. Deb used butterflies but basically any theme would work great as a center and then build the block using strings.

Kathie

Tesselation Quilting

I was asked how I quilted the Christmas quilt. I guess even when you click on the picture it is hard to see the quilting.

I quilted it with what I call a half swirl, pretty much like the swirl in the border print. I used a gold color So Fine thread by Superior. I use that thread a lot on Christmas fabrics and have used it on other quilts where there is a lot of really light fabrics and a lot of dark fabric. Those you never know what color thread to use. The gold shows up on both but blends in more than a really dark thread or something to light.

I quilted a pretty butterfly quilt yesterday and did take pictures. Since it is not my quilt I have asked the lady that made it for permission to put it on my blog. She fussy cut large butterflies out of a printed fabric making sure they had all sorts of different angles on the cuts. She then put strips of fabric of various widths around and around kind of like making a log cabin block.

I think this is a great way to use up strings. I can picture it done with large flower prints in the middle, maybe flags for a patriotic quilt, animals for a baby quilt or other bright kid prints. I guess like Alex Anderson used to say all the time on her Simply Quilts TV show, the possibilities are endless.

Now so this post has a picture attached to it, my daughter when to a huge party saturday night. It is basically the hispanic version of a Sweet 16 party but it is held on a 15th birthday. This is my daughter Mandy ready to go to Jasmine's party. She has become quite a bargin shopper. This was a $50 dress on sale for $24.99 and then I had a coupon for $10 off. So she was able to get all decked out in a brand new dress for $16 and change.



kathie

Christmas Tesselations

I did pretty good on my weekly goals which was really good considering I was in kind of a quilting funk and didn't really feel like working on anything.

1. I did finish a couple customer quilts
2. Quilted this Christmas Tesselations quilt and finished the binding last night
3. Over the weekend quilted a small string quilt provided by Heartstings group for our Hospice effort (will post a picture when it is totally done) and
4. Quilted two craft show table runners

This week I want to at least get two customer quilts quilted and a backing pieced for a strippy duck quilt.

Kathie

Hospice Quilt #20

I received this quilt in the mail yesterday from Nikki from my online group Heartstrings as a donation to our Hospice House Quilt effort.

She shared the story that hospice had helped out a great deal when her father was sick and that this quilt was made in his memory.

Nikki thanks again for the donation of the beautiful quilt, I am sure your dad would be proud.

Kathie

Whats on the Frame

I quilted a small baby quilt yesterday and today have a small lap quilt/large wall hanging on my frame. Not a big project for the day but thats ok, maybe I will get a few things done around the house after it is done.

I also spent time on sunday piecing a backing for my Christmas Tesselations quilt. I look forward to seeing what it looks like when it is all done. I hope to get that on the frame in the next week.

I guess my goals for this week are to finish the quilt on the frame and the tesselations quilt, catch up on some book work and hopefully get another hospice quilt quilted.

Kathie

Hospice #19

I finished the binding on the Pink Coins quilt yesterday so this makes 19 quilts ready for the opening of our Hospice House next month.

The quilt top was provided by the online group Heartstrings, pieced by Sue F., quilted and bound by myself.

It is such a sweet looking quilt, I am sure that someone will really love it.

Mandy's dance performances are all over with, I fully enjoyed them but glad all the running back and forth to the studio and rehearsals is over. This might be her last year of dance, I am not sure yet. She has been dancing for 10 years so in one way I would hate to see her quit as it is the best exercise and the girls she dances with are all great students and just a wonderful group of girls to hang with.

At times she is thinking that as a rising Sophmore it is time to try something else and then at other times she would totally miss all her dance buddies. Will be interesting to see what she decides. Dance registration isn't until August so she has a little time to decide.

Kathie L.
(on a sunny (for a change) morning in Maryland)

Hospice #18

Hospice quilt #18 is a cute snowman quilt pieced by Mary. I quilted it and she finished the binding. She also put a hanging sleeve on the back so that it can be used on the wall or as a lap quilt.

Talk about a crazy week. My daughters big end of the year dance performances are friday and saturday nights. She has had rehearsals every night till 8:30 at the high school this week followed by trying to get homework done and get ready for finals the next day.

Tonight is dress rehearsal and I am trying to help out by getting all her costumes (7), shoes (4 kinds), tights etc. organized and ready to go.

I am tired from all the running back and forth this week and I am not even the one doing the dancing, but then again it has been a VERY long time since I was 15 and had all that energy.

Kathie L.

Quick Strippy Quilt

I did get the quilt loaded and started quilting on it yesterday. I was just not in the mood to stand and quilt so I didn't work on it that long. I ran a few errands and other things I needed to do and then finished putting together the strippy duck quilt. It was made using Mary's pattern from http://www.maryquilts.com called Quick Strippy.

The pastel stripe fabric I made a little wider than Mary's pattern as I can never seem to make a pattern exactly as written.

I cut some of the pastel stripe fabric for the binding and folded it in the top and put it away for now. I need to make a backing for it and for the Christmas tesselations quilt and get working on quilting them soon.... but today back to getting the customer quilt done.

Kathie

Christmas Tesselations

Thought I would post another picture of this quilt even though I recently posted a picture of some of the blocks. I finished the top over the weekend and cut binding for it. It will spend some time on my finished tops shelf until I have the time and the interest to piece a backing for it.

I had lots of these little pieces all over my sewing room so glad to pack them up and clean things up a bit.

On the agenda today is to get a full sized customer quilt loaded on the frame and to start quilting it. In addition I am making a strippy baby quilt out of really cute duck fabric and hope to get the rest of the strips sewn together today.

Kathie