{Post 1,045} Hand Quilting Displayed

I took the plunge last night and UNquilted the 5 Baptist fans I had at the bottom edge of this.  Yes--I love them as much as the next girl, but I think it was too dense for this (that means it would take too long to finish!).

Here is a picture of my progress on this little number (42" square).  The first dark square on point is just lacking 3 leaves from being finished:

{Post 1,044} GFG DONE!

The Grandmother's Flower Garden is ready to hang on the wall!  Fresh from the magic that happens to a new quilt in the dryer!

From the diagonal line side:

The hexagon side:

The whole thing...29-1/4" x 32-3/4".  

I already have the dowel rod cut.  Now I need to wait for my son to come home to hack off the steel rod in the bottom pocket and hang it for me!

Finished is good :)

{Post 1,043} We're Quilting!

Ivy could come over and play today, so she started her machine quilting.  She carefully laid out the ironed backing, batting, and top.  She carefully pinned an all-over grid.  She carefully machine quilted in the ditch around the star inner border.  

Saturday we will *carefully* machine quilt diagonal lines in the blue squares.  She is a careful quilter.  I should know...I am, too, and I am teaching her!

I did NOT get any good pictures of Ryan receiving his quilt, but I did come across these two fuzzy ones that I just realized were on my camera card (obviously candid pictures):

I will have to get a better picture of him with his quilt, with him smiling.  He has a smile that puts the sun to shame.

Check out my secret blog for a new project.

~Joan

{Post 1,042} Ohio Quilt Progress

We got back from Ohio last night...sunburned, sniffly, and exhausted.  Glad to be sleeping in our own beds again!!  Be it ever so humble, there's NO place like home.  I like visiting others, but am always grateful to be back in my own little castle.

My son, Ben, drove all the way there and back, so I had plenty of time to read and hand quilt.  I read a whole book on the way up and a whole book on the way back.  I hand quilted for several hours MOST of one day there.  I went to Jo-Ann Fabrics 4 times!!  There isn't one near my house, but there was one 4 minutes from my parents' house.  I got a great machine quilting book.  I will be sharing from that later.

Here is what I got accomplished as far as the hand quilting.

My Grandmother's Flower Garden wall hanging is finished (the hand quilting, that is!).  I am going to machine quilt in the border (because one would not see it anyway) and add a hanging sleeve, hopefully today.

In the first picture, I had one row of straight line quilting to do.  Can you find the "space"?  It runs left to right (mostly) across the purple, red, and blue flowers.

Remember back when I couldn't decide which way to quilt it--outlining the hexagons or straight lines?  I decided to do both on this quilt.  

One of my sister's girls is a senior in high school.  I told her I'd make her a quilt as a graduation gift.  We went to Jo-Ann's one day and eliminated about 600 quilt patterns!!  She has no idea what kind of quilt she wants.  Then she saw me working on this and said, "THAT'S the kind of quilt I want!!"   I frankly told her what I told Ryan, "I love you, but not THAT much!"  I explained it was hand cut, hand pieced, and hand-quilted, but I'm not sure she got it.  

I also took the log cabin wall hanging (43" square) to work on, not having much hope of accomplishing anything on it.  Well, I not only quilted the stencil I had marked at home in the center, but I also quilted 3 straight lines in the creams and most of a leaf pattern I drew in the next row of darks.  Now I wonder, will I be ripping out the few Baptist fans I've already quilted at the bottom edge?  Probably!  I loved the idea of it being quilted with all Baptist fans, but the other goes soooo much faster and seems to be more in keeping with the quilt itself.

I will be posting another picture of the log cabin later today.

Today will be filled with getting things back in order here as far as stocking up on groceries, cooking, laundry, chiropractor visit, sewing...all the ordinary things of my life.  One exciting thing is taking Ben to Chick-fil-A to finish his paperwork and move ahead in his first job!

DH took Susie to visit his family in GA and will be back Sunday night.  Sure do miss them.

{Post 1, 041} I Spy and Tree of Life

Here is my apprentice with her I Spy.  On to the quilting when I return from Ohio!!  She has done a marvelous job.

My Tree of Life blocks continue to grow:

{Post 1,040} Washed, Dried, and Quadrupled

Here's Ryan's quilt, washed, dried, and quilty:

I will give it to him tomorrow.

And this:

Became this:

Yes--just *that* fast!  These are pieced, but the sashings and cornerstones are just stuck to my design wall.  I think I'll call these the "Tree of Life" blocks.  Read Genesis 2:9.  Part of the verse says "And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food..."  Pleasant to the sight, for sure!

The blocks finish at 8" square, and the sashing is 2" wide.  The quilt has 25 blocks.  Four down, 21 to go!

Off to list a bunch of stuff in my Etsy store...ShelbyStitcher.  Come check it out!

I mentioned to my quilt-lovin' daughter this AM that I'm going to list and sell some of our older quilts (as in several years old, not antiques).  I actually saw her mind go into hoard mode.  What a shame!  I'll be checking under her bed soon ;)  She's already told me the first two she has decided to snatch/claim when the time comes for her to move out.

~Joan

{Post 1,039} Top Finished!

The Bricks top is finished, and it's halfway quilted with loops!  I needed a break from the machine and wanted to update the status on this gift quilt.

I also started another leader/ender project that I've been wanting to make...Crabapples by Bonnie Hunter.  I'd like to call it something else as the name always makes me think "crabby", which is something I'm trying to avoid.  Any suggestions?

Here is my first block:

I keep two boxes under my sewing table for 1-1/2" strips, one each for creams and colors.  These blocks will come together in no time because of that!

Here is the Bricks in the Barnyard top.  I did not carefully press out any "wrinkles" on the top when I stuck it to the design wall, but you get the picture.

Sooo much variety in here.  And yet, when I sewed on the LAST braided border, look what I found (on the same side!). There was no way I was unsewing all those bias edges!!

Notice the light blue/brown plaid near the inner border?  They are touching!!!

Here is the OTHER end of that same side.  But whatever will be, will be!  See the bright green/dark blue?  Of all the nerve!