{Post 1,493} On The Quilting Front

I have had a few flights and in-the-car-as-the-passenger time lately.  So that means some progress has been made on my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt (do I hear cheering??).

Here is a picture of the top laid on my queen-sized bed.  Keep in mind that I have quite a few more rows to add for the pillow tuck.  In the picture, the top isn't even to the top of the mattress, but it's still encouraging.

My husband, son, and I are leaving in the AM for a flight to Arizona to see the newest family member, my oldest son's first child.  Plenty of stitching time awaits!!

Here are two blocks I worked on while flying to PA this past Monday.  I did a little stitching then, too.  I was so glad my manicure scissors were able to fly with me.  I got them at Walmart in the beauty department.  The tips are rounded.

Here is what is in the soon-to-be-finished stage.  Two of the blossoms are partially finished, and one that is complete is not attached to the mother ship yet.

This is laying on top of my bed.  I have some more rows to piece, but I'm much farther along than I thought!!

Here is the plan for the next five blocks.  I have high hopes, so I cut the strips I needed to the right width to take on the airplane with me. 

I have put piles of coordinating fabric where the next block colors are selected.  

{Post 1,492} Oldie But Goodie

If I have shared about starting to hand quilt this, I can't find it on my blog.  My eyes have evidently changed quite a bit since I last hand quilted anything.  I can't thread the needles of my usual betweens needles anymore.  It's rather depressing.

I finished piecing this in February 2008.  Its time has come to be finished.

Somewhere (of course, with old age comes forgetfulness) I read about "big eye" quilting needles.  I could not find them locally.

On my trip to take my kids to camp 90 minutes west of here, I scouted ahead and Googled a quilt shop one mile out of my way.  Yay!!  And they had the exact needles I was looking for.  Double yay!!  See second picture for needles.  I got the same size I used to use, and they are fabulous.

Here is part of the progress on my Mennonite Mosaic quilt.  I am hand-quilting this to use in my bedroom.  The one with the yellow walls.

I am marking a diagonal line with a disappearing ink through every color and hand-quilting with the same color thread as the fabric.  It's all about the texture.

There was a first for this quilt.  I basted it on my Handi-Quilter for hand quilting.  I had never thought of doing that before.  It sure saved my back.  I have always hand-basted them in the past.  This worked splendidly.

I have a large stencil for the border, which I think is 12" wide.  It's an outlined feather, with corner!!

{Post 1,491} Mysterious Quilt Story

I don't recall if I posted about this, but back in June, I organized a sewing bee for my friend, Colleen.  She was going to Ethiopia to visit her daughter and son, and wanted to take as many pillowcase dresses as she could.  We had a wonderful day with our church ladies and finished nearly 50 dresses as a group.

As the sewing time was starting, ladies were filing into our church to help.  One of the ladies in our church gave me a Ziploc bag and told me she and her sister had had the bag in their office for a few years and didn't know what to do with it, so they wondered if I wanted it.  I glanced at it briefly (it was a very busy day) and was very surprised to recognize some older Thimbleberries prints--ones I had sold, in fact.

After the busyness of the day, I got the baggie out and looked more closely at the fabrics.  They were MY units!!  In 2007, my daughter and her best friend made matching quilted throws.  I cut out one to show them how to piece the blocks and must have laid my pieces aside.  Well, here they were!  Mysteriously, they had migrated to my friend's home.  I don't remember selling them or giving them away, and she doesn't know how they got there.

The 4-patches and star block units were all pieced.  Here they are laid out on my design wall.  I have since sold the book the pattern was in.  If you recognize it, please pass the name on to me.  I remember it was in a book with only 6 or 8 patterns.  I liked many of them.

Each finished block (3 blocks were completely sewn already) measures 15-1/2" square.  I will probably make more blocks to make this a larger quilt.  Maybe even a queen-size for my guest bedroom.  Time will tell.

{Post 1,490} Two Big Finishes

Here is the finished baby quilt.  It measures 40" square.  I love the way it turned out.  The cream is muslin.  The quiltiness right out of the dryer is amazing!!  The quilt pattern is from Christina Cameli.  I forget the name of the exact design.  It quilted up so quickly.

My second really big finish is a pattern from an old American Patchwork & Quilting magazine.  I think it was called Pick & Choose in the mag.  It measures about 68" x 85".  Don't remember exactly.

This is a gift for my daughter that will be married on September 26.

This quilting pattern was found on YouTube by the same woman as above.  I love a good free-motion all-over quilting design.

{Post 1,489} Expendable Labor Coach

Expendable labor coach was one of the hats I wore this weekend.  I was also hostess to 15, B & B manager, and a few other things!

One of my dear friends that is my daughters' age asked me to come with her when she delivered her baby.  Well, labor started this morning at 1:15 AM.  At 8:35 AM, little Everett was happily received by his ecstatic parents.  He is 3 minutes old in the picture.  I waited until he was prettied up.

Much relief and joy right here.

{Post 1,488} Waiting for Binding Fabric

Here is the baby quilt, quilted!  I like the design.  Next time, I'll be sure to get those pebbles traced exactly right.  But I don't think the baby will be very picky.  The design is from a book called Step-by-Step Free-Motion Quilting by Christina Cameli.  I bought the Kindle version of the book.  I like to many of them.

This design reminds me of several things...an abacus, a string of wooden blocks like ones a baby would string on a rawhide strip, etc.  It quilted up soooo quickly.

I ordered fabric to bind this one and the pastel one today on eBay.  

It measures 40" square.

Here is my guest room.  Still needs a lot of work, but my sister and niece are coming Friday to stay, and I had to get something set up down there.  Here are pictures of the side table and headboard in my process of painting them, then a picture of the room as it.  When we were setting up the box springs, mattress, sheets, etc., I forgot to put the bed skirt on.  I haven't planned anything for the walls or anything yet.  The framed star is something I made for my sister, and that is her reminder to take it with her when she leaves.

What we have so far.  The crib is leaving as soon as it's sold.  

In the corner is a twin bed with another twin mattress beneath it.  So the room could sleep 4 adults and a baby.

{Post 1,487} Two New Baby Quilts

A couple weeks ago, I had to drive my children about 90 minutes away for camp.  Before I left, I Googled quilt shops on the route.  There was one less than a minute off the path I'd be taking!!  There I bought a charm pack of Moda's Fresh Aire prints.  They are 30's style.  I didn't realize so many of them were going to be bright!

Once I got it home, I wondered why I bought it.  They didn't all seem to go together. 

We have a soon-to-be-born girl in our church family.  Off and on, I make the new babies a quilt.  So I played around with some of the fabrics and came up with this design with the addition of muslin.  It measures 40" square.  I will quilt it tomorrow, Lord willing.

Then I started playing with the lighter ones in the set.  I came up with this, which is still a work in progress:

Oh, I failed to mention that I bought a second set on eBay or Etsy (can't remember which one now).  I like them both, but the new parents-to-be picked the brighter one.  

Can hardly wait to add some life in these with quilting!