Another Quilter in the House?

As I have mentioned before, 

I have two daughters,

neither of whom have had any desire to

follow in my quilting footsteps.. at all.

Until this week.

My oldest daughter has Down Syndrome

and fine motor activities are difficult for her.

A dear friend is getting married in October

and my daughter decided she wanted to make

this friend a table runner for a wedding gift.

Off to the quilt shop we went

and found some gorgeous fall fabric.

I cut the runner out and we layered and basted.

Then DD began to quilt it.

(My sewing machine has a speed button...

perfect for this situation!)

SLOWLY stitching the lines across the runner...

stopping to smooth and straighten.

The runner is finished and DD could not be more excited!

 (I sewed the binding onto this first runner.)

The quilted lines...

She LOVES the squiggly lines on it!

"It's perfect!"

 

Now she is making a list of people for whom 

she will be making runners for Christmas.

This is how the obsession begins, right??

It's exciting.

I did finish the second little heart quilt.

(Story found here.)

I'll put this one away until I need another happy gift.

Happy Quilting everyone!

A Holiday Gift Quilt

My one SIL and I have very different tastes,

so when she went to a quilt shop with me

on vacation this summer

and mentioned that she loved a bundle of fabric and

really liked a pattern,

I jumped on it!

I cut all of the pieces for this quilt one afternoon

and began putting the blocks together.

While the fabric is beautiful,

it is too neutral for my taste.

I am pleased with how the quilt turned out, though.

My Design Wall was occupied,

so the Design Floor was put into use.

 

One thing I came to realize making this quilt....

I used a jelly roll for a lot of the blocks

and did not enjoy sewing along those pinked edges at all.

I had the hardest time getting an accurate 1/4" seam.

This one was sent off to my Long Arm Quilter

and will be ready to give at holiday time.

Happy Quilting!

Share the Love...

Last week Lea Anne at Podunk Pretties

posted a challenge being given by

Julie at The Crafty Quilter

using this free pattern offered by

Fat Quarter Shop.

 

The Share the Love Challenge challenges us

 to make one of these quilts and give it to

someone in need.

Lea Anne Double Dog Dared me to participate.

Well,

It just so happens that a dear friend of mine is having

surgery tomorrow after a long medical ordeal. 

He is one of the kindest, most generous,

loving people I know and this little quilt will go to him.

I started piecing the heart yesterday

and finished the first one last night.

My little heart is being made with

2 1/2" squares instead of the 5" squares

used in the Fat Quarter Shop pattern.

Chain stitching the HST's

 

Cutting the HST's to size.

 

Top all pieced and ready for quilting.

 

My finished Heart Quilt will be delivered this week.

 

 

This whole process took about 3 hours.

My second one is on the wall,

waiting to be sewn together.

 

This little heart will be put away

until another person needs a little love.

Join in on this challenge!

I Double Dog Dare you.

:)

Please visit Patchwork Times to see what others

are creating.

Happy Quilting!

Knitting Friday

During the past two weeks I had pockets of knitting time

since I traveled to Washington state and back.

It baffles me how people can just sit and not do anything,

whether it's in a doctor's office, waiting for a car repair

or on a plane.

Thankfully I always have something to keep me busy!

:)

This pair was finished on the trip back.

I actually turned the heels on these instead of using the

Afterthought Heel.

I think this way takes longer,

but when the toe is knitted,

the sock is finished.

:)

This yarn is so soft and squishy!

I started this pair for an art teacher friend of mine.

The yarn is called "Crayon Box."

:)

We spent a day in Vancouver, BC

and found a shop that had this beautiful "yarn."

It's recycled Sari silk.

I had never seen it before.

The colors are just gorgeous and I'm looking

forward to working with it.

Has anyone else used this in a project?

Please visit Patchwork Times to see what 

others are knitting.

Happy Friday!

Ready for Quilting

The latest Christmas Tree Skirt is

ready to be quilted.

I was rolling along with the set-in seams....

even getting a little cocky about how well they were turning out...

And then the last one came.

I had to rip it out twice!

 

Hopefully this will be basted today or tomorrow 

and quilted over the weekend.

Happy Quilting!

What a Difference....

... a day and a new group of fabrics makes!

This Christmas Tree Skirt is MUCH

calmer on the eyes!

(Compared to this disaster!)

Festive and "Christmassy."

Hopefully it will be a completed top by tonight.

Happy Quilting!

Oh No!!

Today was NOT a good day in my

Hidey Hole!

I haven't had a quilting disaster in a while,

but....

today it happened.

I need to make a

Christmas Tree Skirt for a wedding gift

for the beginning of October

and today I was able to work on it.

The fabrics looked nice together...

I cut the pieces....

and sewed them into a tree skirt.

YUCK!!

There is WAAAYYY too much of the orangy/red...

And the fabrics fight with each other in this design.

I love all of the fabrics, but not together in this pattern!

 

At some point I'll take it apart and change one of the fabrics,

but for now...

I need to start a new one!

Let's hope this doesn't happen again for a long time!

Happy Quilting!

Design Wall Monday

Since I was gone all of last week,

my Design Wall is a little 

light this morning.

.

While I was away,

I did get six of my flower blocks stitched.

I have six more to stitch and will then they will become the centers

in blocks for another red and green quilt.

 

We have another wedding next month,

which means another Christmas tree skirt needs to be made.

I cut the pieces for this and hope to get it together this week.

It will be a bright one!

This past week found me here...

In Northwest Washington.

Mt. Baker from Picture Lake.

Sunset on Birch Bay, WA

With scenery like this...

who wants to stitch?

Please visit Patchwork Times to see what others

are working on this week.

Happy Quilting!

I have been incommunicado because.....

....I was on an adventure!

To the Great State of Washington.

We were there for a week and saw some

absolutely gorgeous scenery!

Sunset on Birch Bay, WA.

This picture has not been altered at all.

The sky was on FIRE!

 

Going up to Mt. Baker

We have mountains here in Virginia,

but

They have MOUNTAINS in Washington!

 

Driving over Deception Pass looking at Puget Sound.

I did find a few quilt shops and yarn shops to visit

and came home with some treasures.

What a beautiful part of the country!

Back to normal operations tomorrow.

:)

Happy Sunday!

A New Handwork Project

These little squares are hanging on my

Design Wall,

even though they are only 5" square.

I am really enjoying working with wool

and have these blocks prepped for stitching.

There will be a 12th block,

but I ran our of Heat-n-bond!

It will be prepped once I buy more.

:)

I am definitely into the red and green quilts this year!

The colors aren't really this dark....

Bad photo day.

The stems will be stitched and the pieces need to be

appliqued.

Then they will be sewn into the block design.

Please visit Patchwork Times to see what others

are creating.

Happy Quilting!

Friday Knitting

On Wednesday I spent waaaayyy too much time

waiting for my car to be serviced.

The good thing was that I was able to finish my bright socks!

I LOVE the colors in this yarn!

It's Schoppel Wool and was great to knit.

My next pair of socks is being knit with

Schoppel Wolle Ambiente.

This yarn is so soft and squishy

and WONDERFUL to knit!

This is a sport yarn and feels so good in my hands.

I really like these colors, too!

Please visit Patchwork Times to see what 

others are knitting this week.

Happy Friday!

One done, one to go.....

One of the tops I am making from the 

blocks I had cut for a bed-size quilt is done.

I decided I didn't need another bed quilt now,

but could use these two smaller quilts as gifts.

This is still a good sized top.

It will make a nice tablecloth

or lap quilt.

 

I have gotten so I do enjoy sewing with the

reproduction fabrics.

They are softer and more soothing to the eye, for the most part.

 

I am in the process of sewing the rest of the blocks now,

and will make a square quilt with these.

(I had cut the blocks out about a year ago on one of my

cutting days, so they are ready to sew.)

It's hot and humid this week in Virginia.

Summer had to make a short appearance, I guess.

:)

Happy Quilting!

Design Wall Monday

About once a year I take a couple of days

and cut out quilts.

I gather my fabric,

iron it all,

decide what quilts I'm making with the fabric

and cut away.

Then, when I have a bit of time to sew,

but don't feel like cutting

I pull one of my pre-cut quilts out to work on and 

just sew away.

Well,

I'm down to my last pre-cut quilt

from my cutting time about a year ago!

I started sewing the blocks over the weekend

and have half of them sewn together.

(I see that a few blocks need to be rearranged.

Photos are wonderful at showing what isn't working!)

It was so nice to pull the pieces out of the bin,

begin chain piecing and have a bunch sewn together

in no time.

This is half of the blocks for this quilt.

(Please excuse my crooked placement on the DW!)

What I'm trying to decide now is if I am going to make the

bed size quilt or divide it in two and make two smaller quilts

the size of the one above.

I don't need a bed size quilt at the moment

and

two of these would make lovely gifts that could be used as a 

wall hanging or table topper.

Plus....

I could machine quilt these smaller ones myself.

I think the decision has been made.

:)

Please visit Patchwork Times to see what others have on their

Design Walls.

Happy Quilting!

Knitting Needles Friday

There has been some clinking of the

Knitting Needles lately!

It's been a while since I picked up a pair,

but being in the car as much as I was last week

allowed for some knitting to be done.

I finished a pair of socks!

These were made with Kroy yarn and are 

So Soft!

A while ago I had started another pair, but had not done much on them.

One sock is done, waiting for the Afterthought Heel

and the other is well on it's way.

This yarn is BRIGHT....

and I love it!

I thought I had randomly started the second sock

so the stripes would fall together, but

that won't happen with this yarn.

It is all different...

These will give someone some

Happy Feet!

Please visit Patchwork Times to see what

others are knitting.

Happy Friday!