More stuff…

For some reason that last post left out some of the pics and stuff that I had in there so I’ll put them in this one.

The Lattice quilt.  The second top I ever pieced, followed a tutorial on the Missouri Star Quilt Company site.  This one was made using Folklore fabric, by Lily Ashbury for Moda.  It’s VERY bright!

And the back.

Yes, I cut off the points on the top and bottom in the binding but oh well.  It’s done!

Then there’s this one that I gifted to my sister a couple of weeks ago. Super fast and easy pattern but the fabrics are awesome.

I forgot to get a pic of it after it was bound and washed.  Oops.

And this is a shot of the Liberty Log Cabin quilt that my friend Rebecca quilted for me.  This one is probably at the top of my favorites list.  The contrast between the grays and the Liberty Lawn florals, both in color and hand, is amazing.

I have to get my good camera out and stop taking pics with my phone.  Promise I’ll do that from now on!!

I believe that with the finish on the hourglass quilt last night, that brings me to a total of 9 finished quilts.  In a little over a year of quilting. Not a record I’m sure but hopefully now that I have the longarm things will speed up a lot.

I’m also getting closer to finishing the Flowering Snowball 2.  The first one I made was gifted to my mother last fall.

This one I’m keeping for me.  🙂

Teresa

Yep, I’m still here………

So, wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve been here.  Didn’t mean to be gone so long.  Life gets in the way sometimes.  In addition to going back to work I have been sewing though too.  🙂  The work interferes with sewing time but it also pays for this expensive hobby so, no complaints from me at all.

I’m actually a Certified Professional Coder, a Certified Professional Biller, and a Certified Internal Medicine Coder.  Not sure if I’ve mentioned that detail about myself before, but there you go.  I code and bill for an Internal Medicine Clinic, and am blessed that I am able to do it remotely, from my home.  No having to worry about buying nice clothes, can work in my pajamas if I choose to, no makeup, no having to fix my hair, no gas for the vehicle, no worrying about what the weather is doing.  As long as I have an internet connection, I can work.  Yes, I am very well aware of how lucky I am to be able to do this.  🙂  It also allows me to be home, keep my house up, make dinner (sometimes anyway, since cooking is NOT one of my gifts), do laundry, take care of the dogs, etc., etc.  At the moment I only bill for the one clinic but a hoping to find at least one more to also bill and code for.

I also sew, when I have the time. So, to catch up on that aspect of my life, I’ll start where I left off last time.  The Trip Around the World is finished.

I love how it turned out.  It was quilted in a simple cross hatch grid and is totally awesome.  So smushy and quilty and the colors are amazing.  I actually quilted this on my new Tiara that I bought this past summer.  It’s the only quilt I’ve done on it and it wasn’t easy.  The Tiara 2 is a sitdown midarm quilting machine and does a good job if you can manage the bulk of the quilt in some way.  The weight wants to cause serious drag, which creates too much tension on the needle and pulls the quilting lines off course.  Its actually perfect for smaller things, like pillows and table runners and mini quilts.

I bought the additional stitch regulator to go with it but discovered through trial and error that I can get better stitches without it.  Go figure.  Lol!  I have done 2 pillows and a mini on it though, in addition to the Trip Around the World quilt.

Then there’s this.  The hourglass quilt was the very first quilt I ever pieced and it’s finally finished.  I’m super happy with it!

I used a layer of Warm and White and a layer of Hobbs Wool on the top and the quilty yumminess is amazing on this one.  It’s really heavy and it going to be super warm.

And then there’s this.  The APQS Millennium.  This machine is amazing.  I honestly never thought I’d have a longarm in my house to use whenever I felt like it.  I thought I’d be one of those people that had to be content with making the tops and paying someone else to do the quilting, or worse yet, having to hand quilt every quilt I made.  I’m beyond thrilled to have this machine.  It has all the bells and whistles too. The Bliss Track system, Quiltpath, the Glide stitching, stitch regulator, the automatic quilt advance, a 12′ table and so many other features that I can’t even remember.  I know that I got it with everything that it would come with, including the base extender for ruler work. (Which I can’t wait to do, by the way!)  It’s super smooth and easy and I’m completely in love with it.  Now I’m a quilter.  I didn’t want to be a topper.  I wanted to be a quilter and am so excited to be able to say that I’m a quilter now.  I know that probably sounds crazy to some people but it was important to me to be able to make my quilts from start to finish.  From choosing the pattern I wanted to make to choosing the fabrics I wanted to make it with to choosing the backing and binding to quilting it and then binding it.  The whole thing.  Now I can do all of it and I am so tickled!

This one will be on the machine next.  The Moda Modern Building Blocks quilt.  I’m anxious to try some ruler work on this one.  I bought plenty of water soluble pens to mark it up with first.  Lol!

This quilt is huge.  And was THE most frustrating thing I’ve done to date.  I don’t know if it was just me or if there was an issue with the pattern itself but there seemed to be a problem with the seam allowances on every single one of these blocks.  Several of them had to be made more than twice to get them to work out to the proper size and at one point it got stuck in a box (for months) because I was so frustrated, it was either put it away or throw it away and I didn’t want to throw it away.  So, it’s not perfect AT all, there are points chopped off and seams that don’t meet but it’s done.  My father loves this one, so I’m thinking about quilting it up and giving it to him, on the condition that it comes back to me at some point. 🙂  I worked soooooooo hard on this quilt and was so disappointed with how it turned out but still, I did it, perfect or not, so I’m proud of it nonetheless.  I’m half tempted to make another one just like it to attempt to get the points and seams right, but I’m pretty sure I’d have to jab my eyes out with a fork if I did this one again, so probably shouldn’t.

That big 36″ two tone blue block in the lower right corner had to be made twice.  The first one came out 1/2″ too small all the way around.  Which is the issue I had with most of the blocks.  The one in the upper left corner, the orange and green, had to be made 3 times.  I’m thinking I’ll take that two tone blue one that I have left over and make another quilt using it as the center medallion.  Or maybe just make a bunch of 12″ and 18″ blocks and do my own version.  Not sure yet.  First I have to get this one quilted!

So, that’s mostly everything that’s been going on around here for the last few months.  I’ll try not to let 7 months go by again.  Now that I have the longarm, I’ll be finishing things a lot faster so I plan to have more to post.  Today, I’m cutting fabrics for a 2 color quilt that I saw in Amber Johnsons new book, Vintage Vibe.  Can’t WAIT to get this one made!

Have a great day!!

Teresa

Lots of Stuff….

So, as usual, I’m working on several things at once.  First there was the Liberty Log Cabin quilt.

 I got the batting (it will have a double layer) and pieced the backing and took it to my friend, Rebecca, to quilt on her longarm for me.  If I had added it to the UFO pile it would never have been finished and I really like this one and wanted to see it completed.  I’ve requested it be quilted loosely so that it retains it’s softness and drape and can’t wait to get it back and get the binding on it and get to use it.

Then there’s this one.  The Trip Around the World.  I love it but am having issues with how big to make it.  Right now it’s 6 across and 6 rows down, which isn’t really big enough, in my opinion.  The blocks are 12″.  My problem is that I’m ready to move on and honestly don’t want to make enough blocks to make it 8X8, but, with this pattern, I have to maintain an even number of blocks (in other words, it needs to be square, which I’m not a fan of), in order to keep an even pattern.  Hence, the dilemma.  Here are some of the pattern layouts I’ve played with and still don’t know what to do.

You can see what I mean about needing to keep it square in order to maintain the pattern.  At this point, I’m caring less and less about keeping the pattern uniform.  I just want to figure out what to do with it so I can finish it and get back to my Flowering Snowball quilt.  I got sidetracked when I saw this pattern online and HAD to make it (I know, I know!!! I have zero self control.)

THEN, there’s this!!

I bought a Mirrix 28″ McKinley loom.  I have seen these wall hangings on Pinterest and Instagram and completely loved the way they look and wanted one for my living room, so I bought a loom and made one.  I’ve never done anything like this before and had NO idea what I was doing.  I went to a local yarn shop and bought yarns that I liked, both for the colors and the textures and made it up as I went along.  Considering I was completely clueless, both about how to weave and create this type of thing, as well as WHAT to weave, as far as pattern, I LOVE it and cannot WAIT to get started on the next project on the loom.

So, that’s what’s been going on for me these past few weeks.  Now that the weaving is finished, it’s time to get back to the Trip Around the World quilt top and figure out what to do about it so I can get it done and move on.  Any suggestions??

Have a great Wednesday!!

Teresa

Liberty Log Cabin

Well, I finished the log cabin quilt top.  I LOVE how this one turned out.  The Iron solid really set off the colors in the Liberty fabrics and it’s so soft and silky.  The only issue I had with the pattern that I followed is that it called for the strips to be cut at 2″.  If, or more likely when, I make this pattern again, I’ll cut the strips at 2 1/2″. By cutting them at 2″, in order for the blocks to work out to the proper sizes, I had to use a very scant seam allowance and didn’t like it at all.  Either way, the top turned out beautiful.  I have already pieced the backing and am now trying to decide on the quilting pattern I want to use to finish it off.

Still here……

Yes, I’m still here. It’s been a while since I blogged but I’ve been a little busy. Hubby and I bought a new house, which is always a lonnnnnnnnnnng process. Took us forever to even find the house we wanted, then an eternity to close on it and actually get moved. We were specifically searching for a single level home with 4 bedrooms. Doesn’t sound too awful difficult, right? Wrong. Apparently, 99% of new homes that are being built are 2 story homes. Well, what are all of these people that are buying these multiple level homes going to do when they’re 70 or 80 and have to deal with those stairs?? I, for one, don’t want to have to deal with having half of my house inaccessible because my knees or back or strength won’t allow me to even get up the stairs at some point in my life (providing I live long enough to have to deal with any of those ailments).

Anyway, as I said, we finally did find the house we were looking for and I completely love it. With 4 bedrooms, we have plenty of space for hubbys office, a spare room for company, the master bedroom, plus a dedicated sewing/craft room! 🙂 Unfortunately, it’s not completely put together yet so what little sewing I’ve done is still being done on the dining room table in the formal dining room, but it’s getting there so, hopefully soon I’ll be able to actually use it.

I’m actually working on another flowering snowball quilt.  This one is for me.  🙂  I’m making it big enough to use on my bed in the master bedroom.  It’s coming along but I still have about 25 blocks to make, plus the hand quilting, so it’ll be a minute.  I want to make pillow shams, throw pillows, and curtains also.  Still not sure what to use to do the pillow shams with but I’ll figure that out when I get to it I suppose.  My design wall will be filled entirely when I get all of the blocks needed for this quilt done.  LOTS of blocks.

Then there’s this……….

I started cutting these gorgeous Liberty Lawn fabrics this morning for a new quilt.  Nothing like having a million projects going at once.  😉 I have been stashing Liberty fat eighths for a while now with no idea what to do with them until I saw this quilt that Audrie posted on her blog Blue is Bleu at http://blueisbleu.blogspot.com/   and it’s absolutely perfect, so I decided that the log cabin block was exactly what I was going to do. I ordered a Kona cotton in Iron to use with these gorgeous prints. Not sure of the layout that I’ll use yet, but just deciding on a block is a start at least so I have to thank Audrie for the inspiration she inspires with her beautiful work.

So, that’s what’s been going on in my world for the last couple of months and some of what I’m working on in the next few weeks.  Still lots of decorating and unpacking to do but I’m not in a huge hurry to do any of those things.  I figure I have the rest of my life, so hopefully there’s plenty of time to worry about the decorating later.

Have a great day!!

Mini Star Quilt….

My quilting friend Rebecca, who is an awesome quilter and makes some really incredible quilts, made me the absolute cutest gift for Christmas.  I never expected something so special and was very touched that she took the time to do this mini quilt for me.  Completely hand quilted and bound.  The time she put into this star quilt for me just really made this a very special gift for me this year and I can’t thank her enough.  This will be prominently displayed in our new home once we get moved in.  🙂

Finished!

I actually finished this nine patch last week but had to wait until today to have any sunshine so I could make some decent pictures of it outside.  It’s been so gloomy and gray here in Tennessee this past week.

This was pick stitched with black Finca Perle 8 thread.   Backed with Bella Solids 30’s yellow and bound with the same fabric.  Not a self binding, which is what I initially thought I might do.  I ended up making the binding separate because of the quilting on the back.  I didn’t want the quilting stitches to run out to the edge of the quilt on the backside.  I think it turned out pretty cute though.  It measures 56 X 62 1/2.  The batting is Warm and Natural cotton.

Nine Patch Quilting….and random stuff

I am finally quilting on the nine patch.  Got up this morning and got the backing ready and spent 2 hours in the floor pin basting it (which is my LEAST favorite thing to do).  Once I finally got the pinning done, I had the dilemma of which color thread to use to quilt it with.  I really wanted to use the red Finca Perle 8 but after asking a good friend who is an awesome quilter, the decision was made to stick with the black.  I wanted a traditional, old fashioned look since I deliberately sought out 1930’s reproduction prints and am using Bella solids 1930’s yellow for the backing and binding, so………….black it is.  I’m really happy with how it’s looking too.

So, hopefully it won’t take too long to finish this one.  It seems to be going pretty fast so far, which is a good thing since I’ve fallen behind on the rest of the projects on my to do list.  🙂

I also did some random creating on Friday.  My male dog, Riley, is having major testosterone brain and has decided that he HAS to mark my house (and not the outside of it).  I had bought some boy dog wraps for him but they just don’t fit, they have elastic in them and he just wiggles right out of them whenever he wants to.  So, I fixed that problem.   🙂   No elastic, simple band, with Velcro.   He hates them, as is obvious from his photos, but mom is happier.

 

Nine patch……….

Finally finished the nine patch top!  Yay!  Didn’t think I was ever going to get to sew again at the rate things were going around here so am tickled to at least get this much done.  Now to order the backing and binding.  I’m leaning towards a solid soft yellow or very pale green and think I’ll self bind this one.  Am debating whether to pick stitch this one or machine quilt it.  Will have to think on that a little.  🙂

IPad prop

Had a few minutes this afternoon and have been wanting to make one of these for my IPad for a while now.  I used a tutorial I found online here http://factotum-of-arts.com/ .  I like the way it turned out and it’s perfect for my smart phone but it’s a touch too short for the IPad, I think.  Next time I’ll enlarge the pattern a couple of inches.