Off the machine today and Happy Turkey Day

I finished up Virginia's quilt this morning and it is off the frame and ready for binding.

Get ready, lots of pictures because I love how

this one finished up.  Hope Virginia loves it too.

 

This is a memory quilt for Virginia, a friend's daughter, made from her grandparents clothing.  I made her father, my friend, one when his parents passed away

 within 6 months of each other. Virginia loves it and has to see it every time she visits and she cries every time.

He asked if I had enough clothing left to make her and her brother a quilt for

Christmas.

 

Star in the middle, dark blue is her grandfather's shirt (Hap) and the light blue her grandmother's (Jane).

Nine pinwheels, one for each of their children, along with their names.

Rings for 56 years of marriage.

 

23 quilted pinwheels around the border for the

grandchildren.

 

 

 

The Buttercup is for her Grandmother, who passed

 in the spring,

 

The leaf is for her Grandfather, who passed in the fall.

Maybe better pictures when it warms up so I can take it outside. 

 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

 

linking up with

Sarah http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/

and

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



Monthly Update

Seems like a monthly newsletter, but not really.

I am working hard on Christmas quilts

trying to decide what I can show and what

has to wait until after Christmas.

 

 

 

This is a little peek of one of the memory quilts I made for

a lady and her siblings.  What a special sister to have these quilts made for her siblings out of their father's shirts.

I'm not sure if she reads my blog so I don't want to share too much.  He played billiards, won several championships.  I was able to find some fabric with billiard balls and cue sticks.

This would have been a great quilt for custom quilting but we had to stay within a budget since she had 4 to make.

Turned out great with E2E quilting.

 

 

You may remember this one I made for a friend at work that lost both of his parents last year.

He said every time his daughter sees the quilt she cries.

He ask if I still had the clothes (and I did, see sometimes it pays to be a procrastinator) and could I make both of his children a quilt for Christmas.

One is on the frame now and the other one is being pieced.

I promise those lines are straight and even.

 

Since this one is a Grandparents  (8 point star)

memory quilt

I have 9 pinwheels for the children and 23 quilted pinwheels in the border for the grandchildren.

 

and of course there are names.  Just about through with everything but the background.  Yes, Virginia there is a Santa and he she will have you something special this year.

I think I have enough shirts left over to make a small quilt

for his grandson and one for a grandchild on the way.

We'll see after Christmas. 

 I just think that would be so special to have a quilt made from your Great Grandparents clothing.

 

Just 5 more quilts to make before Christmas, don't think I'll make it this year, but as usual I will give it my all.

 

Well that's all for now, going up to the studio to work a while.

 

Almost forgot.....

my wall quilt

didn't win in the Bloggers Quiltfest,

but it did win 2nd place

in a local Octoberfest show. 

It was also featured on APQS facebook page (thanks for letting me know Ann)

 

 



Passion

While Market is in Houston we, all of us that can't go, have

 

 

Amy at http://amyscreativeside.com/bloggers-quilt-festival/ host

the Festival twice a year.

 

Do you have quilt to enter?

Lots of fun seeing all the different quilts

and when the times comes

you will be able to vote for your favorite

in the different classes.

 

Make sure you grab a drink and a favorite chair because there will be a lot,

 I mean a LOT of eye candy.

Anyone can enter and you can enter up to two quilts, with different posts

of course.

 

This is the second of my quilts, first one can be seen here
http://dewquilting.blogspot.com/2013/10/iq-quilt.html

This quilt was in my head for a long time.  This is all original, my design.
I had a little help from a few tools

Some rulers to help with those curves and lines.
I bought the template on the right, from Judi at http://www.greenfairyquiltsblog.com/
several years ago, first time I used it.  I already had the quilt on the frame so I made a copy
and cut it out, traced around it.  See it there in the triangle area?
Also had help from

All quilting is free hand.  I love how this finished, just like the one in my head.

It was raining the day I took pictures.

I used two layers of batting, the bottom is Warm & Natural 100% cotton and on the top I used
Tuscany Wool that I bought at AQS show in Paducah this past spring.

I've heard so much about silk thread that I decided to give it a try.
It was ok, except the thread kept hanging on the top of the spool
which made a lot of thread breaks.  I ran out before I finished the quilting and didn't have time to order more

 

so I used So Fine#60 and guess what .... can't tell any difference.

In hind sight I wish I had used Glide so that it would have a little sheen.

Other than that I would not change a thing.

 

 

I made this to hang in my dining room, it is 53X53.
 My DH even likes it,

he keeps running his hand over it.

I do like how the wool makes the designs "pop".

You can't tell from the pictures, but I went around all of the applique and it pops off the background.

This quilt has a lot of first for me.

 

Thank you for visiting and check out all the quilts at

http://amyscreativeside.com/bloggers-quilt-festival/

 

 

 

IQ quilt

This is the time of year for the Houston Quilt Market. 

Do you have your bags packed? 

 Airline tickets in hand? 

Money for food?

More important than food, do you have your fabric nest egg in your purse?

No?

Me neither!

About as close as I will get to Houston is to go down the street to

Houston's Meat Market and buy something for dinner.

 

But Amy at http://amyscreativeside.com/bloggers-quilt-festival/

has a wonderful contest for non-Houston quilters.

We won't spend any money, eye candy is free,

our feet won't hurt, sit in your favorite chair,

you might need to get a bib before visiting, drooling is excepted.

 

 

 

 

This is my IQ quilt that I am entering in the Blogger's Quilt Festival.

 

 

IQ quilt you may be asking.

 

IQ stands for Ian's Quilt (very original I know).

 

I made this quilt for my oldest son, Ian, who owns

 ICON Tattoo and Body Piercing in Nashville, TN.

I had planned for it to hang on a wall in his shop after he had to

relocate, due to his building of 8 years was being torn down (to make room for a parking lot, remember that song?)  Probably more than you really wanted to know...

anyway......

 

I did all of the quilting hand guided on my APQS Millie.

I made stencils for the words and quilted  micro lines (I don't know what else to call them)

to make them pop.  Warm & Natural on the bottom layer and Hobbs 20/80 for the top layer.

Love the way this combination of batting makes the raised areas really "pop".

Used Glide thread, has a little sheen to it and the light catches it just enough.

 

 

I used a design out of Karen McTavish's book for the borders.

 

 

A lot of micro stippling and micro lines.

I used a ruler for the

framing and the traced the motifs from Karen's book other than that

everything else was freehand.  Inspiration came from a quilt I saw that Lisa Snipes

http://thatcrazyquiltygirl.blogspot.com/

had made, after a email to her, she said "go for it"  she thought a quilt hanging in a tattoo shop

would be cool. 

Ian loves his quilt and I think he was surprised that his mom could

make a quilt like this.

I love how this quilt came together and love the way the quilting finished it.

 

 

Thank you for visiting and please look at all of the beautiful quilt over at Amy's

and vote for your favorites.

 

 

 

The reveal

I am so excited to share this one with you.

I had a lot of fun quilting this one and

learned a lot. I am getting the hang of it.

This one is mine, all mine, to hang in my dining room. 

 I've had this one in my head for awhile

and finally got to make it.

Wouldn't you know it would rain the day I wanted

to take pictures. I couldn't get the flash turned off and it 

wash out the pictures alittle.

Let me give some of the details.

 

It is 53X53 wallhanging.

The colors are a little brighter in the pictures.

I used W&N cotton batting for the bottom layer and my beloved wool batting that I bought in Paducah for the top layer.

I used silk thread and when I ran out of that, and didn't have time to reorder, I used So Fine.

I wish now I had used the Glide thread that I love.

 

 

I divided up the areas and found while quilting that I needed

to divide more of the areas, based on Lisa Calle's concept.

 

 

The design in the triangle is one that I bought from Judi at Green Fairy Quilts.  All of the other designs are mine made with rulers and some templates I made.

 

 

I just realized I didn't take a picture of the borders but you can see a corner in this pictures.  A lot of feathers, micro stippling, pebbles and McTavishing.  I don't like the thread build up when feathers have a spine, so I quilt mine without one.

 

 

I know a lot of pictures but I am very proud of this one.

I love everything about it and it turned out very close to what I had in my head.

 

Linking up withhttp://www.quiltmatters.blogspot.ca/2013/10/tgiff-lunch-anyone.html

 

and 

 http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/

 

    

Thanks you for visiting.

Have a sewing good weekend.

 

Let me give a peek at what has been keeping me

busy this past week.

Besides taking my father to the ER after a fall

and making sure that my mother and son was okay after she had a wreck, all are fine, (yes on the same day)

I was able to make some progress on this

 

I don't want to show the whole piece just yet,

really can't because it is still on the frame.

 

I have had so much fun working on this.

 

Yes, I mark my quilts with a blue marker,

never had any problems, now watch tomorrow I will.

I have heard so much about silk thread, how great and wonderful it is, so I ordered some for this quilt.

I don't really like it, there I said it.

I wish I had used the Glide thread that I love.

I actually ran out of the silk thread and don't have time to order

more so I started using So Fine #50.  I can't see any difference, so I hope that stays true.  A lot of work to mess up at the end.

I have heard from several teachers and instructors

to develop your own style, so I guess this is emerging as

MY style.

 

Have to have it finished this week( have plans for this one)

so be watching later in the week to see the whole piece.

 

Finally a finish

actually six finished.

Been in my hands way too long.

Some of you may remember late last November

a lady contacted me and wanted 9 memory quilts made from

her FIL shirts.  He had a massive heart attack while on an anniversary

trip.  She wanted them for Christmas gifts.

Yes, you read that right 10 quilts in a month.

I gave it my all but only got 3 finished and another top pieced.

I started working on them again in Feb, but several personal and family

problems arose.  In fact, I could not sew or quilt for about 3 weeks at one point.

I don't know what happened to this year but I was finally able to finish these up.

 

 

A beautiful sight to me.

Since I was rushed in the beginning I had to come up with a very simple

pattern, but I was a little concerned that they were....well, a little plain.

So I came up with quilting words of who he was in the borders, son, brother,

husband, father and grandfather or Pop as he was known.

 

 

 Every one is quilted differently but each has the same words.

I was asked to change the word Grandfather, on the first three, to Pop on the last six.  So three of them are a little different.

 

I tried to use pockets

 

 

or labels

 

Even paint stains and spots

 

Hope to have these delivered this weekend and start on the next group.

 

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