Christmas Quilts

Grab your favorite drink and maybe a leftover piece of Christmas pie and let me show you what I've been up to and why I've been so quiet.  I finished piecing the Texas Star quilt (sorry no picture yet), but decided after it was finished that my DH probably wouldn't like it.  Not the design, the colors, although it is a beautiful quilt.  I will quilt it and keep it for myself, and no I didn't plan it that way.

I did finish the quilt for my oldest son and for once he loved it.

The pattern is Bleachers, an Angela Walters design for Empty Bobbins.

This is the lap size.  My DH saw this and ask for one, which is very unusual.

I bought his fabric but was unable to make it because something else came up, more about that a little later.  So my DH received fabric in a box. LOL

My son holding his new couch quilt.

He has a red couch (yes, red leather couch)

so I thought black, grey and red would look great in his new apartment. 

One more because I just love it.

Secret, I bought Little Black Dress fabric to make me one.

Thanks Angela for a great design.

You might want to grab another drink, because this might be a long story

Now for that something else that came up...

 I received a email from a lady, around Thanksgiving, asking if I could make

10 quilts, yes 10 quilts, for her.  Her FIL passed away very suddenly this year and she wanted quilts made from his clothing for his children, wife, mother and sister.  She wanted them as Christmas presents.  Okay did your mouth drop like mine did.  My first reaction was...

WHAT??? You want them when??  I was trying so hard this year to do my shopping early so I wouldn't have so much stress.  Relax and enjoy family time.  But (there's alway a but) as I went to sleep that night I dreamed about those quilts (I say dream but I know it was message from someone above).  I emailed her back and told her I would attempt it but I didn't know how many I could finish but I would do my best.  I knew I had to use a pretty simple pattern, so I choose Amanda Jean's Fair and Square pattern. 

 I had 6 pieced, enough for the children, and I decided to quilt those before I pieced the others.  I had told her I would only be able to quilt them with pantos because of the time issue.  Well something happened when I went to sleep that night, yep you guessed it, I had another awaking and knew how they should be quilted.

Forgive me now because I think there are going to be a lot of pictures to follow.  I love how they turned out. 

    

This man was a husband, a son, a brother, a father and a grandfather.

I wanted these quilts to reflect that, since these were memory quilts made from his clothing.

 I quilted the words "son", "brother", "husband",

"father", "grandfather" in the borders. One has feathers, another I used pebbles and swirls, another had a motif.  The quilting on the bone fabric doesn't show up very well but it did look good.  I think the sun has forgotten to shine in Tennessee so no outside pictures.

I love how they all turned out.  The one I was working on was my favorite until I worked on the next one and then that one became my favorite.

Each one has his birth year and the year of his death.

I have so many more pictures, I'll show more in my next post. I had to make them in three different background colors.

Just one more of the whole quilt.

How did I do?  I was only able to finish 3, I was disappointed I didn't finish all of them, but I thought it was worth the extra quilting.  She was surprised and happy with them and understood why I couldn't finish all of them.  I will get back on them right after Christmas.

As one of my Christmas presents I get to go on a Retreat this weekend.  My very first and I am so excited.  It is actually a 4 day retreat but I have to work on Monday, so I will go for 2 days.

Thank you for visiting with me and I hope you enjoyed your drink and pie.

See you next year.

Linking up with Sarah at http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/

and AmandaJean at http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/

Thanks AmandaJean for a great pattern.







Made some progress on my Texas Star quilt this past weekend.

 

Just three more blocks and the pieced borders.

 

 

A friend ask me to make her granddaughter a tutu

 

and t-shirt for her birthday pictures.

 

Can you guess how old she will be?

 

 

I didn't get a picture of the tutu, maybe later.

 



 

PEEK

Just a peek of what I have been working on.

 

This is what is on the frame right now.

 

 

 

I have finished most of the background fill.

 

Now working on the sashing.

 

Loving how it is turning out.

 

I love it most of all because it will be MINE!

One of those "to me from me" presents.

 

This is up on the design board

 

 

I bought this kit in Paducah.

If I can get it finished it will be DH's

Christmas present.

The pattern is Texas Star by Whirligig Designs.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

 

 

 



Connecting Threads' give away

Connecting Threads, a super great online quilt store, is giving away a $50.00 gift card.

All you have to do is set up a wish list and e-mail it to Santa or since he is busy, maybe a good friend.

Share on your blog or Facebook. 

Here is the link if you are interested

 http://www.ConnectingThreads.com/cfCart/viewWishlist.cfm?wishlistid=E1D567FB-0831-2643-0A5E4B0645A1AA0F&media=WLBL. 

I put EQ7 on my wish list, it will probably still be there after Christmas,

but of course it is a "wish" list. 

Connecting Threads  has great shipping (no shipping cost if your order is $50.00 or more),

great customer service.  Check them out.

So glad it is Friday

I was never able to take more pictures of the wedding quilt.  Sandy's winds

would not calm down enough.  I can, however, share more of the blowing in the wind

pictures.  I love how this quilt turned out.  In my last post, I explained this quilt was a

wedding present for a couple that were married on the beach. 

A friend of mine asked me to make the married couple a quilt in earth tones.

I threw a little black in to the mix, just because I like black. 

 I found

some wonderful batiks, although it may be hard to see, some of the fabric have sea shells on them.

My friend, Ann at http://bunkhousequilts.blogspot.com/, had made a quilt from this pattern and I just loved it.  She had quilted shells, dolphins,etc in the light squares.  I asked if I could use hers for inspiration.

She was very sharing and answered questions along the way.

This was the best picture without the wind blowing the left side

around my quilt holder upper's legs.

Close up of the quilting.  I really enjoyed quilting this one.  Just had fun.

Had to include the couple's initial.

The pebbles got easier as I went along.

The couple loved it

and plan on using it as a wall hanging.

(Hope they have a large wall.)

Like so many, they don't want to

"mess it up".

I hope it will always remind them of their

wedding day on the beach.

Just one more, because

I love looking at it, love the colors, love the quilting, and love that they loved it.

Thank you, Ann, for sharing, inspiring

and helping. (Ann is in the middle or at least at the end of a cross country move.  I hope she is doing well and I can't wait to see her blogging again)

Linking up with Sarah

http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/ and

Amanda Jean http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/

Since I have no remodeling jobs this weekend, hoping to finish quilting the one on the frame.

And you know what, it is MINE, all mine.  Can't wait until it's off of the frame.  I thought I had a picture

on my phone and was going to give a sneek peek, but it must be on my camera at home.

Have a good weekend.  Hope everyone on the East Coast is fairing well.

I know cleaning up and rebuilting is a hard long drawn out process.

Been there, done that.

I am still having problems responding to comments,

I do read every one and appreciate them very much.

Thank you for visiting and take care.

Where did it go?

Wow! What happened to the month of October?

 I finished helping my oldest son remodel his house.

Then my parents started having more medical issues and Stevie has had some

medical issues and on and on and on.  The whole month gone.

I did find time here and there to work on a few quilts.

I made this commission quilt for a Tina, a lady I work with, as a

wedding present for her friend.

The wind was blowing so bad that it was impossible to get a good picture.

I'll try again when Sandy (hurricane) goes away and the wind dies down.

Tina wanted me to make the quilt in earth tone colors and she wanted it

to be beach related.  Her friends were getting married on the beach in Florida.

The first thing that came to mind was a quilt my blog friend, Ann at

http://bunkhousequilts.blogspot.com/ posted.

I e-mailed her  and ask for the pattern name and asked if she minded if I used her quilt

as inspiration, in other words make one very similar.  She used beautiful blues and greens, I used

earth tones.  I had so much fun with the quilting.  I outlined the design in the middle and then quilted the pebbles, all of the browns are quilted in swirls.  At first I thought, OMG what was I thinking this is going to take forever.  I might have this finished for their 10th anniversary.  I kept at it and the more I did the faster and better the pebbling got.

I love the way it turned out.

Funny story, I showed it to my DH and he said "Alright, finally one (quilt) for us"

I felt good he could actually tell there was a  "W" in the center square.

He was so disappointed the "W" was not for us.

Don't feel too sorry for him, he doesn't know it but Santa will be

delivering a quilt to him.  He has no clue the one on the design wall is for him.

Here is a little close up of the quilting

Promise to post more pictures.  Thanks to Ann for sharing her quilt and giving me the inspiration.

I hope everyone in Sandy's path is okay.  My sister was here last week helping me remodel (yes, another

remodel, I think I need to turn in my controller hat for a hard hat) our parents bathroom.  She was suppose to fly back to NY last Friday, but we ran into some problems ( rotted sub floor) so it took us longer than we expected.  We replaced the sub floor but that put we way behind.  She changed her flight to  yesterday so that I would not be left to finish up.  Then here comes Sandy.  Her flight into Baltimore was canceled on Sunday.  She worked it out to fly into Cleveland, OH and rented a car to drive to NY.

She made it fine, no major problems, although I think she probably looked silly in carpi's

and sandals in the snow and rain.

Catching up

So much has happened, I don't even know where to start.

The doctor says my collarbone is healed but I wonder why my

arm and shoulder still hurts and I can't move my arm certain

ways without pain that takes my breath away.

Maybe time for another doctor's opinion.

 

My father and Stevie has also had some medical problems.

We are supporting our local medical personnel.

 

While my collarbone was mending I did find a way to sew.

I discovered if I raised my chair real high my arm would be level

with my sewing table.  I had to use my left hand more than

usual but it worked.

 

I managed to make yet another Dr. Seuss baby quilt.  I think I might have enough fabric to make one more.  Yipee!!

Elizabeth's mother loved it.  It was used as part of the Dr. Seuss baby shower decorations.  Worked out perfect and I found out later that yellow is the mom's favorite color.

My oldest son is moving and I've been helping him.  Painting, remodeling, painting, cleaning carpets, painting, flooring, painting, did I mention painting.  This coming weekend will hopefully be the last weekend and I will get back my sewing time.  I have enjoyed being with him even though we worked hard.  Good to know he still needs me, sometimes.

 

I have a few more things to share but I'll wait til later.

Thanks for stopping by and letting me share.

 

 

Step, Step, Splat

You know how normally a person walks down steps one at a time. 

Do you know what happens when one of those steps are missed by the

person who is trying to desend down them?

Well it is not pretty sight,

unless you are trying to win the $100,000.00 on AFV (America's Funnest Videos),

ask me how I know.  I think the next time I think about doing something stupid

I will ask DH to follow with a camera so at least I might have a chance

to win something or give someone one of those tear jerking laughs. 

You know the kind...tears running down your face, side hurting from laughing , 

 and seems like hours before the laughters stop and someone says "Are you ok?"

Last week I was on vacation, well not really vacation,  I didn't go to the beach or to the mountains

or camping, etc. ,heck I didn't even get to go shopping, I just didn't have to go to the office.  I did , however, take Stevie to Nashville Shores,( a water park about 10 minutes from our house), several days.

Anyway, Sunday I was going down the stairs into the garage and I missed the last step

 (of course I am still debating if this would have happened if I had turned the light on)

So I didn't step on the bottom step, instead I chose the more physical route.

After missing the last step, I flung into the passager side of my car and instantly bounced

off and went splat on the concrete floor of the garage.

It was a HARD hit, not quite as flexable as I used to be.  DH was still in bed but I knew Stevie was in the family room I yelled and yelled for Stevie, but he couldn't hear for the wrestling he was watching,  the dog did however hear and was whining on the other side of the door.  I had to lay there for a while and slowly pulled myself up.  Knew my shoulder hurt a bit and I scraped my right ankle.

Stevie and I went swimming and I was a little sore but thought nothing about it.

I had gotten on to my mother for not going to the doctor when she fell the last time, so I thought I had better set a good example and made a doctor appointment for Monday afternoon.

The doctor prodded and poked and took xrays.  I ended up with a sprained ankle, sprained back (?) and a broken collar bone.  Sling on right arm, wrap on right ankle.  Yes, right side and yes I am right handed, so no sewing, no quilting for 3 weeks. Yeah, right, someway somehow.

I should take pictures to share but they would be left handed and I don't think they would be very good.  

I did finish some things before my date with the floor, will share those shortly.

Take care and watch those stairs.

Oh and today is my birthday so maybe a giveaway.

Check back later to see what that may be. 

UFO finished

Our church was contacted about an out of town mother

and her 6 month old daughter, Lily.

They are at Monroe Carroll Childrens Hospital (Vanderbilt) awaiting open heart surgery for Lily.

As many of you know, my son Stevie had open heart surgery

when he was just 6 months old.

How I wished I had had someone to talk with.

I wanted to visit but wanted to do a wee bit more.

No time to make a quilt for Lily, but wait...

I have a UFO that was suppose to be for Zoe.

See it over there in my UFO list.

I found Zoe/Lily's quilt hanging in the closet almost finished.

Don't know why it was never finished, I think I ran out of thread.

Anyway, I finished quilting it and sewed the binding on.  Rolled it up and tied with a ribbon.

Turned out pretty cute.  Sorry, Zoe.  Lily's mom was sleeping when I went for a visit and I didn't want to wake her.  I left the quilt with a note.  I said a prayer with Lily and left.  Please say a little prayer for Lily.  Her surgery was postponed because she developed a fever.

I had a lady ask me to make a quilt for her soon to be here granddaughter.  She wanted it to be pink and brown.  First thing I thought of was the Lily and Will I had in my stash.

I started piecing pinwheels but didn't like the way the quilt was going together.  She wanted the baby's name, first and middle, on the quilt, which was a bit long. 

Then she wanted a little bit of green.

 I finally came up with a plan, by accident,

 and finished piecing the top yesterday.

Stopped by my LQS, The Quilter's Path, and Marita helped pick out the backing.  Decided a ivory on ivory was the best.

Loading it on frame tonight.

Perfect for a little girl.

A little seek peek at what's on the design wall for next week.

Hope you had a nice 4th of July.

Whoop Whoop it's Tuesday Friday.

linking up with Sarah  http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/

and showing off a finished UFO with

Susan at http://blackberrycreek.typepad.com/



Finished and delivered

I finished baby Natalie's quilt

and delivered "Tickle Me"

on Monday.

I shared the front last week

but look how cute the back

looks

 

The design on the back was quite a surprize.

How cute is that?

I think I took more pictures of the back than the front.  I didn't even take a picture after I washed and dried it.  

Humor me, just one more...

 

I asked Ann at http://bunkhousequilts.blogspot.com/ for her opinion while I was quilting it and she suggested a micro stippling around the feathers to make them "pop" more.

Thanks, Ann. 

It did make them pop.  I didn't think it would make that much difference, but it did.

Another baby quilt on the design wall using

Will & Lily's pinks and brown.

Thanks for stopping by.

Still quilting feathers

A slow week here,

not a lot of new

happening.

I was hoping to have Natalie's scrap

quilt finished but it was not to be.

I have come up with a name...

I think.

Actually, I have thought of two,

the first is "Tickle Me" or

"Tickle Me Pink"

because of the feathers design I quilted

on it, but it does have green,

so maybe just "Tickle."

Maybe I haven't come up with a name.

Oh, let me show you,

now remember this is my first time to quilt feathers.

They're not show quality or exact

but I'm very pleased with the way they

look.  Still need practice, but I'm getting there.

I still have one border left and some filling in and then I will

be ready to bind it.

I found a piece of pink gingham in my stash

just the right size,

and couldn't remember why I bought it, so I thought

it would look cute for the back.

That's all for me this week.

See what everyone else has beeen working on

linking up with

Sarah at

http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com

and Susan st

http://blackberrycreek.typepad.com

My first

I've been working on Natalie's scrap quilt (must come up with a better name).

Since this is a bonus quilt and no one knows I'm making

another quilt for the new baby

I decided to play a little.

If it didn't work out I could ditch the quilt and no

one would be the wiser.

I'm not finished with it but I

have to share with someone.

My first feathers on a quilt !!

I have been drawing and drawing

and finally decided to go for it.

I am so excited.

Are they show quality? No.

Is every one perfect? No

But I don't think they're bad for the first time.

I'm trying to decide whether or not to do a little

micro strippling around the outside.  There's not a lot of room

so I don't know if it would add anything.

One more so you can see the borders.

Beading in the white narrow border

and freehand feathers on the outer border.

I pieced together the Hobbs wool batting I had left

from Stevie's teachers quilt and added a layer of Warm

and Natural.  Love the effect.

Hopefully, I made pictures of the "good" feathers.

So exciting.

  Thanks for visiting and letting me share.

DH doesn't quite get it.

Sister doesn't know what a quilted feather is.

So glad I can share with blog friends.



Sorry, just one more

Can't wait until I finish.

Natalie's here

I finished up Baby Natalie's quilt just in time for her arrival.

 Her grandmother, Jennifer, wanted pinks and greens to match the nursery.

She went to her daughter's house one day while her daughter was at work and

stole borrowed a blanket. 

We matched the colors in the blanket using my Kona

color chart

Jennifer likes this pattern, so I made

another one...

I quilted flowers in some of the squares.

each one had a different background filler.

I quilted loops all over so it would be

 nice and soft

for the baby girl.

For the back I found a cute pink and green paisley print.

This is on my design wall tonight and I am hoping to finish piecing it tonight or at

least by tomorrow morning so that I can quilt it on Sunday and deliver

Monday.

A little quilt I'm making for Natalie using some of the scraps.

Small enough to use now while she's small. 

That's all for me this week.

Have a fun weekend.

I have to work at my oldest son's house again this weekend.

See what everyone has been working on over at

Sarah's  http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com

and

Susan at http://www.blackberrycreek.typepad.com/

Down memory lane...

My friend Ann, http://bunkhousequilts.blogspot.com/

came across some vintage fabric through a friend.

Remember when the large dept stores carried fabric, JC Penney's,

Castner Knotts, Sears.

Check out that price tag.

 4 yards for a dollar and made in the USA.

Who won't go for a deal like that today!

Ann is very involved in Quilts for Valor program.

She is keeping the fabric to make QOV and charity quilts, but

she came across a stack of goodies also.

check it out

Stacks of Wedding Rings "stuff" (Ann called it that, not me)

She is going to auction off the Wedding Ring blocks and strips and

use the money to buy batting for more QOV quilts

Check it out, wouldn't it make a beautiful quilt.

The auction will be open until Sunday.

Visit Ann  http://bunkhousequilts.blogspot.com/ and read the wonderful story.

Remember I am still having a issue with replying to comments but I still love them.

I have a new toy

First I would like to thank Sarah http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com for hosting the H2H challenge again this year. My NOLA Project quilts delivered to Sarah, Happy Chemo quilts mailed to Emily.  I saw some of the beautiful quilts when I dropped mine off at Sarah's house, and believe me they were beautiful. 

Now for my new toy.

When I was at the Paducah quilt show I saw a new product

being debuted.

Ron and Sharon with R&S Designs have developed

a product called

Quilt Cam.

I bought one and it was delivered last week.

I finally install it this weekend and let me tell you

It is better than slice bread.

I guess I really should explain what it is.

See the screen above the HQ screen.

That is the Quilt Cam.  It is a video camera

that hooks up to HQ machines (right now that's the only make of machine that this works on)

and allows you to quilt pantos and groovy boards from the front of the machine.

Talk about a cool product, I love it.  It is so much easier to follow the panto.

I never used pantos very much for several reasons.
 One, I didn't like looking down at the table, put stress and tension on my neck and I didn't have a lot of room behind my frame.
  Second,  I didn't like staring at the red laser light.  After 5 minutes my eyes would be burning and hurting.
  Third, I had trouble following the pattern especially if it went all over the place.

None of those problems anymore. 
You look straight ahead. the screen tilts and is large enough
to see exactly the area where you are quilting. Even though it has a color screen
the laser light does not bother my eyes.  Great instructions for installation and
 very easy to install.
And the really great part is you stand in front of the quilt frame. 
You see the quilt the whole time.

I am not affiliated with Ron, Sharon or R&S Designs in any way.
I paid for my Quilt Cam just like everyone else.
I think it is a great product and I love it and wanted to share an outstanding product.
You can find out more at
www.quiltcam.com

One other thing,  Thank you to everyone who left me comments.  Since Blogger
changed it's format several weeks ago, I am not able to email a thank you back to you.
Trying to figure out why, until I can figure it out I do appreciate all of your comments.
I received several comments and emails about my Dots and Dashes quilt.
There are no real instructions but if you would like to know the process
just email I will get back to you.

Thank you for visiting.