feathered finish... sort of

I was able to take my quilt to the quilt drop off today. The quilt show is this weekend.

It's not completely finished but close enough for display I think. There is a special Red and White exhibit planned and I didn't want to miss out.
I managed to get all the large red triangles quilted but the small squares and triangles will have to wait until I get it back - that's all that's left to do.

The center was my favorite part to do. Drawing the design and seeing it come to life was very fun.

I put the last stitches into the binding last night at 11pm. This morning was lovely and sunny - I had about 10 minutes to get some pictures before taking the kids to school.

Here is how I turned the corner. I used the flower motif from the red squares in the corner and added a couple feathers to "hold hands" with the rest of the border design. The circles filled in the space.

I quilted my initials and the year into the the border as well. This is the 3rd quilt I've done this way. I rarely get around to putting labels on my quilts. (too eager to start the next project :0)

The grass is long and uneven in our back yard - makes the edges look wavy - but it was a beautiful morning and I love the morning light in our backyard.

I am so relieved to have made the deadline and so very ready to work on something else! My Mom is coming to go to the show and my 2 oldest daughters will accompany us. I'll take some pictures to share.

Happy Quilting!!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! It is such a beautiful day here today!! My daughters got up early and made me such a lovely breakfast-in-bed this morning - freshly baked muffins even - YUM!

These placemats I made for my Mom for Mother's day. A few weeks back I was wanting to start a new project. This was just the perfect thing to get that out of my system :0) My very talented friend Darlene showed us at our guild night how to make these fast fused, raw edge applique , free motion quilted placemats.
A complete departure from all the needle turn applique and handquilting I've been doing lately. The applique is fused on and then you free motion quilt around the shapes with black thread. It was so fun I had to make 2.

My Mom is from Holland and she just loves tulips. I hope these will brighten her table today since I can't be there to make her breakfast-in-bed.

Happy Quilting!!

vine panels with sashing

Finally I have some progress to share of my version of Susan McCord's Vine quilt that I am making with Janet's pattern. It took some time, but I now have my 2 completed panels trimmed and sewn together with the sashing. The panels were not easy to trim as they are so full of applique.



Here you can see the whole thing - so long and skinny. It will take some time to grow this into a full sized top :0)

I just love this project! Only a couple thousand more leaves to go :0) I have only just started panel 3.

I hope to grow my vines more quickly once I finish hand quilting my red and white quilt. With the deadline less than 2 weeks away I need to stay focused only a little while longer.

Happy Quilting!!

a good day for mail

Yesterday there were 2 fun packages stuffed in my mailbox.  I love mail like that  :0)  

I have enjoyed this star project with my Quilt Patis so very much.  I was running out of the neutral background fabric but I wanted to keep going.  It is the perfect project for stitching at soccer practice, the playground,  waiting in the car...   I thought I'd call the shop where I bought it and see if they had more.  It was last July - I wasn't optimistic.  But, with only my phone number and an approximate date they were able to identify the exact blot I had bought from and they had more!  Thank You Village Quilts in Lethbridge!

The other package arrived from the  Fat Quarter Shop.  It's the fabric I ordered with the gift certificate that I won.  I had a lot of fun shopping.  Apparently I like red - a lot.  :0)

 I want to share some pictures from a walk I went on with DD#3 last week.  We went looking for the wild crocuses. 

 It doesn't look too much like spring here yet.  You wouldn't expect to find flowers blooming here.  But, if you look close they are all around on the hill by my daughter.

 I love the soft furry look of them and the pretty purple color.  It always amazes me how they push up through all that dead grass. 

We even saw bees!  It was a beautiful walk!

Happy Quilting!!

learning about borders

I have been busy quilting on the borders of my red and white quilt. I don't think I will have it completely finished in time for the quilt show in May. However, I thought if I could just get the borders finished I could bind it and include it in the special Red and White display they are having this year. The center is mostly done. I still need to add more quilting in the red triangles and squares but at first glance the center has the appearance of being finished :0)

I spent a couple weeks trying to figure out what to quilt in the border. It is just too narrow!! Nothing I wanted to do fit well in the space. The deadline was drawing near and so I went to the local fabric shop and bought a stencil. A design I liked and thought would be dense enough for this quilt. Unfortunately I quilted halfway down one side before I decided it was NOT the right motif for this space.

I decided to drive a little further - on the other side of the city there is a quilt shop that stocks a good selection of quilting stencils. I found this one and am much happier with how it looks. With so many feathers in the center the border looks like it matches better with feathers too. Don't ask me about the corners - lol. I haven't figured out how to turn them yet but... I will.

Somehow I just can't seem to plan ahead with my quilts - projects are always evolving in their own direction. A more organized person would have drawn out the entire quilting design before they started and wouldn't get stuck this way. I was just too excited to get started on the center square. Will I ever change??? Now where is that seam ripper...

Happy Quilting!!

groom block

It has been a very long time since I had some progress to show for my Bird of Paradise quilt. Finally last night I got back to working on my groom block. This is the first block of 6 that I am personalizing to make this quilt my own. I hope I get better at drawing them - the ideas in my head don't get on the paper easily.Once again I am going to procrastinate about the embroidery. I plan to put on a face and some details to make his coat look more coat-like.

Here he is with his bride. He's supposed to be helping her pick apples. I don't think many will fit in his pail - lol.
Next I plan to work on a block with DD#3 and DD#2 on it. They both want to wear pink dresses and carry pink flowers - oh dear! I shouldn't have asked their opinion :0) I have the flowers and leaves prepped and ready to start this weekend. There will have to be some negotiation over the dresses.

Wishing you a very Happy Easter!!

holiday panel 2

We are back from sunny, hot Florida. We had a lovely holiday. I found the Trailing vines project just perfect for travelling. Vine #2 is complete and I am excited to trim and sew it to the 1st piece of sashing and vine panel #1.

I was in a bit of a hurry when I prepped the last 90 leaves to bring and was dismayed to find this leaf with not enough seam allowance.

Oh well - I just left room and kept going :0) It was easily fixed when I got home.

We enjoyed Disney World. We found a booth there selling funnel cakes. A couple people had posted about Funnel cakes last summer and so I was very curious to try them. Delicious!! Good thing they don't make them here!

So were are back to regular life at home. I am itching to start something new and will likely cave soon - maybe even today :0)

Happy Quilting!!