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Especially the quilty kind!
I've been following Angela's blog, SoScrappy, for some time now. I knew she lived in FL, but didn't realize how close she was in proximity. Then we met in person at an EduQuilters gathering when I thought I recognized her from her picture on her blog and introduced myself. We never really had an opportunity to just sit and chat because we were so busy sewing charity quilts. But it was neat knowing that another blogger lived in my area.
Well, a few days ago she blogged about her finally fixed Bernina and how she had a new table for it. Since the table for my Bernina has been broken for some time (good ole painter's tape), I asked her if she had gotten it at a local quilt shop and whether she knew if they sold them individually. She wasn't sure, but mentioned that since she had the new one, her old one was available to a good home. How sweet was that! So, I took her up on her kind offer and we finally truly met yesterday when I popped by her house to pick it up. Since this is the weekend with my grandson, he was towed along as well. But he wound up a very happy camper because Angela has a son around the same age and they seemed to bond quickly. Kids are so great like that.
So while the kids played, I got to peek into Angela's "lair" and see her stash and several of her beautiful quilts. It was like a private little quilt show and so fun! Her mini blocks are to die for! Plus, she's also a Bonnie Hunter fan. Then we mentioned that since the boys got on so great, maybe we can get together and sew/quilt while the boys played. I think the kids aren't the only ones who made a new friend. :o)
Isn't it funny how things happen in life,
Suzy
Yesterday it was merry little 9-patches. Today it's happy little hourglasses. Actually, last night it was happy little hourglasses. My Accuquilt GO! made fast work of these little suckers. One crank for all the ecru pieces and one crank for all the black pieces. They went together like magic with the little corners already notched. :o)
You'll notice I didn't use polka dots -- nothing in the stash I liked. But I did scrounge up these Christmas prints as a compromise. I like them a lot. They play together well.
Today I sewed the 9-patch and hourglass units together and the center is now complete.
Next up -- the borders. There is one block border and two strip borders. I'll probably spend the remainder of the day in and out of my sewing room constructing the block borders. But first I have to cut them. Back to my GO! cutter. Wheeeee.
Hope you're having a quilty day too,
Suzy
Aren't they cute? 28 merry little 9-patches that will measure 3" finished. Hey, Merry Little 9-Patches...sounds like a cute name for a quilt, huh? Funny how things come about... Of course, the picture is supposed to be oriented sideways, but Blogger is acting up again...ugh.
Anyway, so, I played in EQ7 yesterday and came up with this little quilt.
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| 32" x 32" |
Not committed to it yet, as I haven't dug through my stash to see if I have the polka dotted fabrics, so if I go with it, there may be fabric changes. But this is what I have for now. What do you think? Good thing is, this quilt only needs 25 of those merry little 9-patches. :o)
To future possibilities,
Suzy
Hi all. It's me again. I know I've been MIA for awhile now. Went through a little depression, and just wasn't up to blogging. I've been quilting though. We all know that quilting is good therapy. I'm back to my usual self and should be good to go now.
I've got a few projects to share with you all. Hope you're all in the mood for picture overload. :o)
First, after spending a year and a half on and off with my Farmer's Wife quilt, with the months of August and September pretty much focusing on that solely to get 'er done for our upcoming show in March, I needed a quick and easy project. Here is Cuzco.
Isn't it pretty. I used a jelly roll from Kate Spain's line (Cuzco, duh) and had a blast. This pattern was from the book Jelly Roll Dreams by Pam and Nicky Lintott. It was exactly what I was looking for as far as a fast and easy project.
Next, I had precut strips for log cabin blocks in Civil War fabrics that I bought at Houston in November 2012. I put those together for a table topper.
Love those fabrics.
Then, this past November, I bought myself an early Christmas present. A Baby Lock Ellissimo Gold II.
I wasn't in the market for a new sewing/embroidery machine as my Designer Diamond works perfectly fine...but I fell in love with the camera feature for embroidery placement. You see, I want to be able to quilt using my embroidery machine, and with Baby Lock's camera feature for P-E-R-F-E-C-T placement, it takes all the frustration, angst and time out of having to perfectly hoop your project. I'm in LOVE! Only thing is, I now have a Husqvarna Viking Designer Diamond and all it's accessories for sale. Anyone in the market? LOL.
Anyway, my first embroidery project? My log cabin table topper!
Let's put it this way...I quilted this baby the DAY AFTER I bought my Baby Lock. It turned out PERFECT in record time. Yes, I had to hoop it 12 times (for each of the 12 blocks), but there was no down time involved in having to place it in the hoop exactly. I just hooped it however it landed, and the camera found the center perfectly EVERY TIME. Can you tell I'm excited? LOL. Yes, I still need to put the binding on it. :o) By the way, I digitized the quilting motif using EQ's new EQ Stitch program. I highly recommend it -- especially for beginners.
Then, with the coming of the New Year (Happy and Healthy New Year Everyone!), I realized after attending a party at a friend's home in late December, that I absolutely have no, none, nada, Christmas projects/quilts made by me in my own home. Yep, I guess everything Christmas I've ever made has been given to family and friends. Well this year is the year to spoil myself. I have officially declared the year 2014 -- Christmas Throughout the Year. Especially since I have three bins full of Christmas fabric! Soooo, I am aiming to make one project a month for the entire year. Then I shall have 12 wonderful, fun projects to decorate my home with at Christmas this coming year. So, if you love looking at Christmas projects no matter what time of the year, this is likely the place to find some. *giggle*
My first project? Why yes, I have it right here...
The 12 Days of Christmas. The past two days have been so fun embroidering the blocks and putting it together. Yes, I used my EQ program to design the quilt. Love that program. And just to let you know (disclaimer, here), I am not affiliated in any way with any of the products I have linked. I just wanted to share the information with you in case you are interested in learning more about them. :o)
Anyway, back to my 12 Days project. Got the top done in only two days...even taking my time. But I found I had several strips left of my rail fence borders...soooo...
I cut them up and now have 68 units ready for another project. I'm imagining making opposite units to make them into 9-patches. Needless to say, I'll be spending some time today playing in EQ coming up with another Christmas project for next month using 9-patches. *grin*
May you all have a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year,
Suzy
Yes, it's been awhile since my last post. Bet you can guess what I've mainly been working on... Yep, my Farmer's Wife quilt center is now complete! I absolutely adore it! Pictures just don't do it justice. It sparkles!
A girlfriend met me at the quilt shop this morning to hold my hand while I selected the border fabric. Now that that step is done, guess what I'll be doing today and tomorrow? Yep. Good guess. LOL.
Also, I'm leaving on Thursday to go up north for three weeks to visit family. I'm really looking forward to it. I miss them terribly. It's been almost a year since I've seen my sister. This time of year is very difficult for me emotionally, as it will be three years since my Chris passed away and also October 6 was our anniversary. It would have been 34 years. Sigh.
Anyway, I need to get cracking on this quilt. I have to get it put together so I can drop it off to another girlfriend (and amazing quilter who uses her domestic machine!), who will put the finishing quilting touches on it. It is going in our guild's Quilt Show this March. My first quilt to put into a show ever. Bit nervous here. :o)
Quilty hugs,
Suzy
Happy Dancing here! This is one of the projects that has kept me from blogging more frequently. My Farmer's Wife blocks are now DONE! I'm so happy; yet kinda sad at the same time. Silly, I know; but I have really enjoyed working on them.
Get ready for a block show:
Blocks 51-60
Blocks 61-70
Blocks 71-80
Blocks 81-90
Blocks 91-100
Blocks 101-111
If you missed the first show, you can click here for the first 50.
I went to the quilt shop the other day and purchased the fabric for my sashing, cornerstones and setting triangles. I am going with a nice brown for the sashing, but wanted to brighten the quilt a bit by using a pretty gold for the cornerstones and a gold tone-on-tone for the setting triangles.
I don't know yet what I will use for the borders. I want to construct the center first and then take it to the shop to see what speaks to me. I used all civil war repros in the quilt, so I know it will be a repro fabric for the border.
I see a lot of cutting in my future...as well as figuring out what blocks will go where in the quilt. I think my first step will be organizing the blocks by colorway and then just playing on my "design floor" (otherwise known as the great room floor). LOL.
Wish me luck,
Suzy
First of all, I can't believe it's been almost two months since I last posted. Where the heck has the time gone?!? I know I've been busy doing stuff, so I will post soon about all the happenings around here.
For this post, though, I wanted to share a quilt with you all. It really brought back a lot of memories... I have recently been helping my elder daughter (33) redesign her condo in a sort of beachy/shabby chic vibe. (One of the many things I've been doing these past two months. LOL). It is coming along nicely. We play ideas off of each other really well. :o)
Anyway, I was there today running through final touches, and she mentioned that the quilt I made her when she was 19 would look really nice with the décor. Terrible mother that I am, I couldn't for the life of me remember the quilt. She even told me I had written a really nice poem on the label. Man, was I ever scratching my head. I know I've made many, many quilts since I started quilting in 1997, but you would think I would remember the ones I've made for my own children! Jeez. What a bad mommy.
Anyway, I asked her to get it for me, and as soon as she brought it out all the memories came flooding back. Some were still a bit foggy, but we're talking 14 years ago, right? Of course, I wanted to take pics. So I'm sharing them here for posterity. The pic of the quilt isn't very true to color. The yellows are much brighter and happier, not so cheddar looking; and that's a pretty minty/sage green as the contrast. I'm so glad she still loves it all these years later. :o)
May I never forget...
Suzy
Wanted to pop in and show you a little quilt I'm doing for an auction held by NQA. It measures 18" square and I just need to stitch on the binding. The puzzle technique was taught in a class given by our charity guild -- Coastal Quilters. We all did one and we were told to bring a coloring book drawing (I used a drawing from EQ -- I'm not sure if it came with EQ or was an add-on program--I'm thinking the latter). Once in class, we traced the drawing onto freezer paper, then just drew random lines around the drawing, cut out all the freezer paper pieces on the drawn lines, and fused our chosen fabric, etc. I'm sure I'm not explaining it correctly, but it was easy and fun. I did mine in a quilt-as-you-go method, using satin stitching to hide the fused section joins.
Everyone's is different, depending on the drawing they used and their individual fabric choices. Didn't it turn out cute, though?
Feeling fishy,
Suzy
