Sunday, July 29, 2012

More On The Dresden Plates

Sewing yesterday at Meredith's with BJ we were all quite productive! I was able to construct this little case for my iPod which sometimes falls out of my pocket and I am very much afraid it will eventually break. Since it is in use almost daily for audiobooks it would be sorely missed, it's great company while quilting or sewing, at the gym or performing the many prosaic household chores.
In the absence of a pattern it was all trial and error!
Meredith makes a lot of small wallets and totes and she had a couple of helpful ideas, so at her suggestion I used metal tape measure strips cut to fit for a "snap" closure - you will find a tut here for this snap closure technique. The pleated pocket that stores the earbuds and cord has velcro to secure it, left over scraps of Dream Green batting provide just the right padding and it all works nicely.
 If I made another I would be likely to attach some sort of snap to secure it to a belt loop, and a couple of small triangular tabs below the "snap" closure to make pulling it open a little easier.
The same day two quilts also got their bindings sewn to the front, I still need to turn the bindings  and stitch to the back-another day!
The other project this weekend was completion of the Dresden Plate blocks for Craftsy's BOM, the next block comes out Wednesday so I wanted to have these finished. I am pleased, they look like very cheerful batik sunflowers.The first four I made turned out about two inches too big, they would need to be trimmed for this quilt so they will be set aside for another day, another quilt [unless they are incorporated into the backings].

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Spring Mystery Quilt

The predominant print in this quilt has been in my stash for some years. It has already starred in another quilt and I am happy to say that its presence in this quilt has made room for new purchases on the shelves in the studio!
 With the addition of some coordinating fabrics from the stash I am quite pleased with the result.
 Graceful, flowing, spineless feathers meander over the body of the quilt and around the borders. 
 The backing is pieced, using up the rest of the print.

There are five tops of my own remaining to be quilted, but there are three more under construction, LOL!

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Personal Challenge Quilt

 The majority of these fabrics were long overdue for use, they must have been in my stash ten years at least so I challenged myself to make them into a quilt!
I can't imagine what induced me to purchase these "interesting" fabrics they certainly do not appeal to me now!
 The light colored geometric I particularly disliked, and of course I had yards of it, the balance was used up for the backing. With the addition of a small amount of the gold and green to coordinate, these despised fabrics became quite an attractive quilt, much to my relief.
With some semi custom quilting, meandering feathers in the body of the quilt and a feathered border, surely now someone will want to give it a home! I will add it to my "Quilts For Sale" album.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

The Crown Royal Quilt


 The first of these I have quilted and it took me a while to decide how to do justice to Andee's cutting/piecing. I want to make a quilt with these Hunter's stars-someday!
Quilted with a gold embroidery thread that highlights the purple. 
Spineless feathers in the two borders .
Line Dancing for the stars and tiny peacock feathers in the open areas.
It will make a nice conversation piece.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Andee's Doc Schnibbles

This sweet little quilt is ready for Andee to bind.

 Line Dancing around the borders.........
 and double feather wreaths in the blocks, using a cream thread.
I have always wanted to make a this block but it's still on the "someday list"!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

In Loving Memory

Matthew C. Atwood

Still missing you son.

Another Fourteener!



DH on another Rocky Mountain High!

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Sewing With Meredith

Drove over to Meredith's lovely home to sew with her yesterday and we were so busy sewing I forgot to take any pics!
Meredith was working on a table runner, I keep forgetting the name of the ruler, but I have the instructions so I can try it-someday!
My task was to cut and begin to sew the Craftsy BOM's for July. This month there are two versions of the Dresden Plate.
 First the traditional block with the pointed ends, I got carried away & cut waaaay too many pieces, and there are even more still to sew together!
Then this more contemporary look with the blunt ends. Because the fabrics are all batiks these blocks look less than traditional anyway, but I do like them very much and they are fun to make! I didn't try to micro manage the colors just making sure there was some contrast.
Haven't yet decided what to use to for an applique base, perhaps Kona muslin, it has a similar tightly woven texture to the batiks and I used it for a base in some earlier blocks in this BOM.
Haven't been much at the LA because of my back issues, but after the second radio frequency ablation Thursday I am hopeful of some improvement. Meanwhile I can sit and sew.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Happy Birthday, Sons

Many happy returns to our son Lucas.............
happy birthday in Heaven to his twin brother, our son Matthew, whom we miss so much.
We love you both and are so very proud of the fine men you grew to be.

Shamrock Quilt

 Kathy's quilt for her Dad, a very masculine quilt.
The actual color is somewhere between the very blue/green and the yellow green!
Quilted with Superior Art Color green, with freehand three and four leaf clovers.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Sixty Arrowhead Blocks.


Here are the remaining Arrowhead blocks, all 60 now completed today when Meredith came to sew with me. BJ is still getting over the upper resp. thing she caught from someone on the plane returning from Minnesota! Maybe we all need to wear masks when we fly!
Linda's quilt came off the LA this evening, and I will mail it back to her next week. It's a beautiful quilt, the Art Color thread from Superior was just the right shade. As you can see it's quite large and I had a difficult time trying to photograph the entire quilt straight on, the furniture was in the way.
Leafy wreaths in the blocks.
The borders.
The backing is a Moda marble in a dark blue, the true color is nicer than this I will try to get a pic in daylight.
Using iPhoto this was enhanced to try and get the color right but now it's too bright, LOL. It is a dark blue marbled, somewhere in between the two above!

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Let Freedom Ring

Many Happy Returns to our Great Nation

The Gettysburg Address
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
November 19, 1863
 
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

On June 1, 1865, Senator Charles Sumner commented on what is now considered the most famous speech by President Abraham Lincoln. In his eulogy on the slain president, he called it a "monumental act." He said Lincoln was mistaken that "the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here." Rather, the Bostonian remarked, "The world noted at once what he said, and will never cease to remember it. The battle itself was less important than the speech."

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Two More Quilts

These two quilts were completed on the longarm the past two days.
 This first one is the pink and brown diamonds,
 that quilted easily with pink So Fine thread from Superior and a freehand design of flowers and leaves.

The second is Andee's Spring Mystery, also quilted freehand E-E [Edge to Edge] but this time with variegated Signature brand cotton.

Now there's a large QS batik quilt on the LA, and as it has two wide borders separated by a smaller border, I am still considering how to quilt those! Any ideas.

 This is the thread I have chosen.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Sunday Swim

Matthew had a great time in the pool this hot AZ afternoon.
 His cousins helped out.......
 and there's nothing he likes better.....
 than to fly through the air.....
 and land with a big splash!