Long time no post!

Sooo busy..... here are a few quilty and not so quilty things I've been up to since my last post.


Made a quilt for Willow.


Really love how the quilting came out on this one!







Bubble bath on vacation. Nice!



Family reunion. Three of 4 sisters.

Had my fortune told in New Orleans! How goofy is this guy? Like my hat? Searched high and low for a hat to fit my big fat head. This one was 'perfect'!

Did some sewing with the girls.

Summer chalk art.


Got a booth at the antique mall! Check out The Flying Phoenix. www.theflyingphoenixartisans.com


Went to the lake.



Got a swingset! Lovely Assistant is breaking it in.


Customer quilt.

More later!

More practice

More practicing! I'm getting better.


This has an aztec feel to me.

I really like these double stitched flowers! Will try them in two colors sometime, too.

Dragonflies! Almost Dawn Ramirez (aka Pajama Quilter) style.


More flowery, leafy things.

I think it's a little too big.....

New quilting machine!

I have a new quilting machine!


There it is! Love, love, love the machine! Not thrilled with the frame. The best thing about the frame is that it would go down to the basement. Other than that, it has no redeeming qualities whatsoever.





Some practicing with the new machine. It's nice!!



This is one of our recent estate sale finds. Husband has been wanting a butter dish with a handle. Normally I just keep butter on a small plate. Butter dishes just get all messy. Well, we found this at an estate sale and couldn't resist! It has a handle like he likes and green pigs. Yes, green pigs. Why? I don't know. What do pigs have to do with butter? Who ever heard of a green pig? Too funny!



And here's our big snow. Haven't seen this much snow ever, and this was a pic before it was said and done. It's been a big snow year for us!

Fore!!!

Check out this guy! Found him at a thrift store for a dollar. He was all fused and basted to his backing/batting. All he needed was to be stitched around his pieces and quilted. Since he was already basted, I figured the stitching around his pieces would serve for the quilting. I may change my mind later. He may hand in my husband's office, or he may get donated.


I can't figure out how to make blogger turn him, so you'll have to turn your head!

This is the best part! He just had 3 curved lines for eyes and a mouth. My husband turned his face into this! Isn't that amazing? He touched up his tie and collar, too.




He also drew in this hand. He's so cool.

Happy New Year!!

A finish!

This is a BIG quilt! I think it turned out nice. Here it is on my bed. Can you tell underneath it is all the stuff that lives on my bed?


When there isn't a ton of stuff underneath it, that inner border lays along the edge of the mattress and the applique falls over the edge.


A close up of the applique and quilting.




The 'label', which is actually on the front in the corner.




The artist's signature :)!!!

And now for my mistakes.


In order to quilt the applique the way I wanted to I had to turn the quilt on the frame. My machine only has 10 " of throat space. Apparently, I need more practice turning quilts. I ended up with some puckers on the back. Here's one that I stitched down. Can you find it? It runs horizontal in the middle of this pic.


Here's a small one I left alone.


Here's another large one. This one runs up and down and I stitched it down also.


Another small one that I left alone.

Other than these puckers, I think this quilt turned out really nice. I have decided I need a new quilting machine. 10" of quilting space is just not enough. Also, I need a better track, a lighter machine and maybe a stitch regulator. I think if I had a more cooperative machine I could have done a much better job with this quilt.



And here is my lovely assistant entertaining the parakeet. Notice the backwards clothes. It's a fashion statement.

More quilt progress!

Running a little behind on this one, but making good progress of late. Here are the borders.




And here is the center.


Just a little applique left on the borders and they'll be ready to put on the center. Then applique the corners, put on the last border and the top will be done.

Quilt progress and some pics.

Here's what I've got so far:




All the blocks, all the applique pieces, large border pieces, bias for vine and fabric for small borders and binding. Since I took this picture I actually have all the blocks put together into rows and about half the rows stitched together, just haven't taken a pic of that yet. When I get the rows all done I'll take a pic.

Someone asked if I made my own pattern - nope! This is from my favorite book Quick and Easy Scrap Quilts - I think. I've actually lost my copy and had to borrow one from my friend to do this! I still can't find my copy. Can't imagine where it is! Anyway, the pattern in the book was for a wall hanging size quilt. I'm making this quilt for someone else and they wanted a king size quilt. The pattern called for 3 inch 9 patch blocks. A king size quilt of 3 inch 9 patch blocks seemed like a mountain of work, so I re-drafted them into 6 inch blocks - a much more doable size and more like what I prefer to work with. I realized I probably needed to redraft the border as well because I was afraid the bigger blocks would overwhelm the border design if I didn't, so I made it twice as big as well. I think it will work out nicely. My plan is for the blocks lay on top of the bed and the border to fall down the sides. We'll see how well I planned when I get the blocks all pieced! When I laid it out on the bed it was looking pretty good....

Here are some pics of the people at my house.


My daughter. Just decided to take a picture of herself with my camera. Just because.


My lovely assistant helping daddy take a nap.


Lovely assistant entertaining the parakeet.

Happy Halloween, all!