Denise's medallion

YEAH!! Check off another thing done!

This is the border I added to Denise's medallion. We're doing a round robin with www.thequiltandneedle.com. We are almost at the end... I will be getting one more medallion to work on before mine comes home :) !!!

This round had a fabric sent with it that I REALLY wanted to see added to the quilt... it's the flower fabric in the center of the circles. I didnt want to use too much because I was afraid it would get to busy but I wanted enough so that when Denise gets it back, after one more border, she will have the fabric somewhere else in the quilt. She plans to add a final border using her flower fabric. I cant wait to see this one finished! It's going to be a beauty.

Weird weather up here!

What a spooky looking sky we had the other day... It was beautiful blue until this big ugly cloud moved in. No rain but lots of wind. Blew a few branches off a delicate maple tree. 

More sewing room storage...

This is my template/ruler shelf. I had Al cut slots into the bottom of this shelf so that I could insert my rulers, squares and templates. I LOVE THIS SPACE!! This is a hutch I bought at a resale shop. I needed more storage and wanted something pretty. I have three nice drawers for tools and papers... plus all these great shelves. I keep pictures of my online friends and letters from them on the one shelf... like having company when I'm sewing alone :) I also keep one of my first quilts (a UFO) on the top shelf. I am VERY SLOWLY hand quilting it. I started in the 80's and the stitches are toenail catchers. I've improved some since then...

This is more storage... under the cutting table. I have boxes with Xmas fabrics, solids, SCRAPS (a very important box) and more.

The sewing closet...

We were talking about sewing rooms on BC and I thought I would post pics of mine. I have to label everything... my family thinks I'm nuts (maybe I am) but I love to be organized. It's so much easier to find what Im looking for ... gives me more time for important things like quilting! This is my closet and all my cottons. I have them boxed up by color... at least the smaller pieces are. The large ones are in boxes marked "backing" or "large pieces".

I hang up some of the quilt tops on hangers at the back of the closet... plus shirts that will be cut up and used in "Green" quilts.

Vacation is over :(

Well, the vacation is over. Taking mom home today and back to work for me. We had a wonderful break... lots of shopping, eating and walking around by the water. The weather wasnt all that warm but comfortable... in the mid 70's mostly. We had one really rainy day so mom hung out in my sewing room... she read cookbooks and I sewed. PERFECT vacation day.

This is the start of the rose quilt (happy blocks from blockcentral). I made every other block... the 4 patches surrounded by white. I have lots of pretty rose fabrics that I wanted to add into this quilt. I received MANY pretty blocks and this is only a small portion of them...most of these have solid fabrics bordering the roses. I have more that will be going into another quilt. 

The other quilt will be for my mom... It will be more floral which I think will be something she'll like. Mom's father grew roses and we've always loved them. She really likes pink and yellow so that will be the main colors in the next quilt. BUT for now, I have to hide this quilt top. I may change my mind and give her this one. Depends on how I decide to border it... Mom is coming for a visit. She lives downstate and gets only a few weeks a year to come up and stay with us. 

Americana Picnic quilt is done :)

The picnic quilt is done... just in time for the festival. This is made from all the 10" squares we swapped on the quilt and needle. You cant see the center patch well but it's part of the Declaration of Independence... I got the "July 4th" part to show along with the words "America".. and some signatures. Love that center one :)

I went to the beach last night while Al worked and finished up sewing the binding down. Still need to add a label. That's Lake Michigan in the background. This is my favorite beach... it's about 4 miles from us. I took the picture early this morning ... later in the day it will be PACKED!

I made a list of UFOs/WIPs (I prefer the latter term) and Im up to 16! YIKES! I really need to get going on these projects. And STILL I browse the quilt magazines for more ideas....

I think I'll add a list to the side of this blog to keep track of my progress... It'll help to keep me working on my wips instead of starting more.

Top of my list is a western quilt for my brother-in-law. I designed it during the winter when we stayed at his house in AZ. I bought MOST of the fabrics and started the center (it's medallion style) and that's as far as I've gotten. I want to be able to give this to him this winter when we head there again.

Sewing up a storm!

I won the "happy blocks" this month on www.blockcentral.com !!!!
These are the ones I made for the swap and now there's going to be more of them making their way to my door... This is going to be such a beautiful quilt. I'm going to make it up for mom for mother's day. Im sure she'll love it.

Not sure what kind of setting I'll use. It looks pretty just as they are so I might not add much. Maybe just a white sashing?.. Maybe not...hmmm

Just have to add the borders on this and I'll be ready to quilt. I cut out the navy border today and then sewed up another one that goes on after that. I'll add them on tomorrow. Glad it's going to be done in time for the festival up here. We do a lot of picnics and hang out at the beach, PLUS we have fireworks at night. Lots of company ..we're always needing extra quilts...

I finished the happy blocks for the August swap, the "my favorite block" for the July swap and now I'll start on a border for the round robin. Im tossing a few ideas around for the round robin... I havent decided which idea will look the best. This is such a fun swap and I plan to do it again. We have a lot of talent on www.thequiltandneedle.com. Check out the album with the pictures of all of the beautiful quilt tops. There's quite a few I would love to hijack :)

Ready to Quilt!

Well, Im off to the sewing room to quilt this. FINALLY! I havent decided exactly what Im doing yet... kind of decide as I go along. I think there will be lots of stipple since this is such a small quilt and not a lot of quilting area. I've asked the opinion of DH and DD1 on the binding. They want the aqua floral that is in the center square so thats what it'll be (unless I go for the gold check last minute). I dont want the binding to stand out too much... need it to sink into the background.
Hopefully, this will be finished tonight, it's due tomorrow! I saw some of the quilts today at the lqs and there's lots of competition out there... lots of wonderful quilts! This has been a lot of fun... would be wonderful to win but either way I have a nice quilt (or DD1 does). :)

Still working on the challenge quilt....

OK... I've finished the next part... the applique in each corner. NOW, on the the final part (before the quilting). I need to add scallops that connect to the corners. I wasn't sure I would add that... depended on how much time I had left but since it's not due until Tuesday, I figure I can get the scallops done today ... quilt it tomorrow... bind it tomorrow night. 

The machine quilting shouldn't take me too long. It's only a 24 inch quilt. Not sure what color to make the binding but it may end up being just something soft and simple (yellow or white) because the scallops are so dark. I'll REALLY be happy to get this done and off to the quilt shop. 

Pretty soon I can check off one more item on a HUGE list of WIPs! :) 

Lately I've been working on a challenge quilt. My LQS gave us 4 pieces of fabric with instructions to create a 24" quilt. The fabrics are the burgandy, the aqua with flowers, one of the greens in the leaves and a larger floral (not in this part). This needs to be done by June 30th so I REALLY need to get going on it. This part is 16" square... the next part is an appliqued border plus a few extras.

Our quilt show was this weekend... we had some beautiful quilts in it. I meant to take pictures but I was so busy working, I forgot to :( I worked on counting up votes for the viewers choice. This was quite an eye opener... it's fun to see what everyone loves. We also had a quilt appraiser on site. She had a few quilts that she was working on in the backroom and THEY WERE WONDERFUL! One was in almost perfect condition form the late 1800's. I took a little time to study it. The binding on it was on 1/8" wide (well, actually it was the backing turned to the front). This one is going to get a high appraisal... it's museum quality.

Back to the sewing room for me... I am determined to meet the deadline for my challenge quilt. I think I'll start using this blog now that my other blog has disappeared ONCE AGAIN. They have been having trouble with spammers and I just dont want to keep starting over again. Hopefully this blog will be around for a while.