quilting in the heat

Welcome to Autumn!!!
I love all the seasons and the changes brought by each.
I always think that my favorite season is the one that's here now...
then the next season comes in and it's my favorite! lol
89 degrees and humid here today, so definitely NOT Autumn-like.
In preparation for the change of seasons, 
I've not changed out a single bed quilt or quilted wall hanging, either.
With all the heat, it just doesn't feel like the time to do the change over to Fall.
But still nice to have the warmth and sunshine,
even at more than 15 degrees above normal.

My machine quilting slows down a little because of 
the aforementioned heat and humidity -
as my long arm machine is in the back sun room.
But just beautiful, early in the morning:

Even with the extreme heat, 
I do have a couple of customer quilts to show for the last few weeks, though.
First is a baby quilt that I got to meander over for Janet:

Just perfectly made and oh, so cute!!!

The second quilt is a larger-than-king-sized that I got to quilt for Jackie:

Flannels front and back.  And it was so large that it was hard to photograph - I had to take it out to the back deck!

It's pictured a little in the shadows, so the colors are a little dulled in the brighter areas, but you can see the great fabrics used.  She used the Disappearing Nine Patch pattern.

That's all for today... Hope you've had a nice welcome to the first of Autumn!!

surprise, surprise...

more quilt pictures!

I can now share the wedding quilt
that I was commissioned to make
as a surprise from parents
to their son and new daughter-in-law
for their wedding:

 Larger than queen-size, with pillow shams,

in navy and coral, their wedding colors.

The Crazy 9-patch pattern was chosen, and I used 36 different fabrics in the blocks, plus the border and backing fabrics. 
It was fun to make, and they loved it!
So nice to make people happy,
and doing what makes me happy!!! lol.

Now getting ready for the annual family reunion,
so back to work for me!
Hope your week is wonderful!!!

more secret sewing done

Fun, fun, fun!
I finished the Secret Wedding Gift Quilt!
Not to be confused with the 
Secret Anniversary Gift Quilt 
that I did last month 
and shared about a couple of weeks ago. lol

This quilt was requested for a wedding gift,
from parents to their son, for his upcoming nuptials.
I won't share all the pictures of the finished quilt, 
because I don't want to give away the 
surprise!
They are going to use it at the wedding venue 
(in a couple of weeks),
as part of the decorations with the flowers!
Isn't that an awesome idea?
AND, I was finished a few weeks before the date!

The pattern is the uneven nine-patch, 
and finished a large queen-size.
I also did pillow cases to match
(I'll have to share the picture at a later date, because the close-up picture of the pillowcases shows the wedding couple's names/date that I stitched into the quilting).
When the parents of the groom picked it up,
she, the Momma, said she was going to cry -
it was exactly what she wanted!
So good the hear that she loved it!!!
And nice to have it finished and delivered.

Hope you all are having a great month!
Hot and steamy here,
already feeling like it's August. 

Blazing heat, computer crashes, secret stitching,

and did I mention blazing hot? LOL
With the temps in the high nineties, 
and the heat index to be well above 100 degrees each day this week,
THAT is a little much.
It does probably mean a little more stitching time indoors 
in the air conditioned coolness, though, and that is good.

My computer has been in the shop.  Again... Which really is a blessing in disguise; being able to have it repaired means I didn't have to purchase a new one.   I'll try to take a few minutes at lunchtime each day this week and visit all my blog friends and try to get caught up on all the fun.

Secret stitching:
Sweetie's nephew asked me to create a quilt gift for his wife, in honor of their 12th anniversary.  They are such a sweet couple and family, and I'm proud to claim them! lol
He told me the some of her favorite colors, I chose the fabrics, sent secret messages and pictures back and forth, and got to work. Delivered ahead of schedule, so just had to wait out the gifting before I could share with you all.
Their anniversary date has passed, so I won't ruin his surprise if I share now.
Queen sized, teals and corals, Crazy 9 Patch pattern:

Hard to make out, I know, but he asked for his/hers initials with wedding date, enclosed within a heart:

 I also made a couple of large pillowcase/shams with leftover fabrics:

 And probably my favorite picture - the trimmings from squaring up the blocks:

 Binding time:

I'm off to have some lunch and do some MORE secret stitching! 
Hope your week is wonderful!!!
 

more quilting and meandering fun

Have I ever mentioned that I love my job? 
Earning a living, 
being creative and 
doing something I love, all at the same time!
The job that isn't really a job 
is that I get to quilt over the most adorable fabric creations, ever!
This past week I did a couple more 'jobs'...
fun times with fabric and threads!!! 
The first one to share is an adorable quilt for a baby arriving soon,
from her Great-grandma Louise!

 
With the sweetest hand embroidered roses throughout:

Next, I got to meander over this one:

Almost king-sized, for a son from his momma, Jackie!

It was made of flannels and oh, so soft.

I also worked on some of my own creations, and I'll share those at a later date.
The sun is shining and the humidity is relatively low, so I'm heading to the pool with the grand-kiddos!

Hope your weekend is wonderful!

 

quilting to share

Here's another baby quilt that
I didn't get shared in the last couple of months
(when I was having blog-access-troubles).

Well, actually, it was TWO baby quilts that I was
able to meander over...
But since the two were exactly the same, 
I guess I didn't think I needed a picture of BOTH of them. LOL
So here's a picture of the ONE that I did photograph!!:
THE cutest little Owl families!!!

Just adorable fabric! and wonderful piecing by Janet, too!

I've also been working on a couple of commission quilts -
so no sharing those right now...
One for an June anniversary gift, 
and the second for a wedding in August.
Such fun sewing and quilting!
And a little pool-side fun with the Grands, thrown in also!

baby forest animals

I was asked to quilt this beauty of a quilt
from a grandma to a new grand daughter,
and I just LOVE it!
Elaine has carried on her family tradition of
making an applique quilt for each new grand baby...
She says she's not very good at hand-applique,
but I very strongly disagree!!!
She's even drawn her own animals and made her own layout!

I wanted to share a few close-ups of the baby forest animals:

And how she wanted it signed:

I don't recall the exact size, but it was about 40 by 60 inches.
Such a pleasure to quilt this beauty!

another meandering

My friend, Janet,
I swear is trying to make me look bad!
Not really -
but I just quilted another quilt for her
and it's for her Christmas gifting!!

Yep, she has a whole stack of quilt tops ready for me
to quilt for her and her gifting this year!!
This is the most recent one I got to meander over:

Isn't it a great one??!
I think the fabric was Monsters Inc.
and was SO nice to quilt, with perfect piecing and pressing!
Makes my job fun even more fun!!

Happy Autumn to you!!
and hope you've had some stitching time (or relaxing), also!

meandering love

Meandering after the lightning and thunderstorms have passed:

 

The quilt that I had loaded on BigDD (the long-arm machine) last week

was a BIG one!  Big and beautiful! 

Bev did a wonderful job on this one for a Granddaughter's wedding gift.

It was king-sized, all batiks and perfectly pieced!

The colors reminded me of the ocean.

 So much fun to quilt for others!  I do have a hard time not wanting to make my own quilt exactly the same after I see how beautiful these quilts are that I get to meander over for others!

I hope you are enjoying your stitching time also,
and happy Monday!

more making hay while the sun shines

Last week when I shared my lack of
accomplishments I made in the sewing department
during all the bad weather we've been having,
I forgot to share that I did get another quilt loaded onto
BigDD - the long-arm machine:

The long-arm is one of the machines that I don't plug in while the electrical storms are visiting.
But, when the storms left town,
I was ready to start meandering.

flower fun and another meandering

I recently saw this great display at a local nursery, 
and had to share the smile:

Makes me want to go round up all the old wagons I have stashed in the barn, and find a place to hang them! :)

Also, I got to meander over another baby quilt,
this time for Bev:
 
I think she chose great colors and prints along with a whole bunch of white-on-white fabrics.

I really liked the fabrics and colors and will have to remember this color scheme for a later date!

Thanks for visiting!
Hope your day is great!

Baby quilt meandering, and a party without rain!

Last week, I got to meander over
a baby quilt that Louise made for another
great-grand baby:

Such cuteness!
Here's a closer picture of the fabrics, 
her perfect piecing, and my quilting:

On another note, 
the party I spoke of...
that's what the grandkiddos called the
local village's Independence Parade on the 4th-

'It was a great party!  And it didn't rain.'
(You know it's been raining too much, 
when even the little kids mention that it wasn't another wet day!)

'Where did that tractor go?'

I say it was a great party, too!  
A great salute to America.  
And the rain did clear - for TWO days!

We are back to another seven days 
of forecasted showers and storms.  
I feel sorry for the local farmers and their crops (or lack of).
Though that does mean for me
another indoor day of fun - 
sewing and quilting.

I hope your parade didn't get rained on
and you had a nice weekend.

Oops!

I did it again...
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah.

Sorry to put the lyrics to the Britney Spears song 
into your head for the day,
but, I did it...
I've started another quilt project.

I think it's a problem condition that I have...
this start-another-project-thing.
(: By the way, I don't think I'm the only quilter that has the same condition. :)

I promised myself that 
I WOULD NOT START ANOTHER QUILT PROJECT until 
I had finished up some works-in-progress (WIP).

Please note the word 'until'.
 
It was a difficult few weeks, 
but because I am aware of my condition  and I'd promised myself,
I DID quilt some commission quilts;
I also started the PROMISED working-through-the WIP-stacks
on my sewing table and ironing board.

As an example of a WIP, 
I had cut out a stack of red, white, and blue tumblers last Summer.
I don't know why they were never sewn together. 
But that's the first WIP that I attacked:

After I finished piecing the quilt top, I readied the backing.

Then, I finished piecing two baby quilts  -

the one on the left for a little boy (already a month old) - it just needed the rows sewn together, and the one on the right for a little girly (that will be here in August) - (it needed it's borders):

I went ahead and prepped the backings for them.
Lastly, I finished piecing the wedding quilt
that I've had in progress for at least two years

 and made the backing for this one, too.


That is four, yes I said four!! 
quilts ready to quilt!
The tumbler flag quilt will be layered, pillow-case-turned and then quilted.
The two baby quilts and the large blue/brown star quilt will all go into my queue for BigDD, the long-arm machine. 

Which brings me to this: 

Farm Girl Vintage and my chosen fabrics
[the bundle is Sprinkles by Red Rooster Fabrics, 
across the top is mostly Swiss Dots/Riley Blake for backgrounds, 
and other fabrics (from various lines) that will be my piecing fabrics]

Like I said, :)

Oops, I did it again,  
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah.

Hope you are getting some of your projects tackled also,
and Happy Thursday!

meanderings

This past week I've meandered on a couple more quilts -
this time they were Beverly's.
This first quilt that I meandered 
was her guild's 2014 Year in Blocks, pattern-a-month Challenge...

different gals within the guild designed 

a different block pattern each month.

If participants had at least one block pieced 

from the previous month's pattern, 

they got the next pattern free.

She said they could make as many blocks as they'd like from each block pattern, and put them together as desired - also part of the challenge,
so she made herself a Row by Row quilt:

Beverly added this project to this year's guild UFO-challenge-list
and it was 'picked' as her quilt to finish for July meeting,
therefore, it jumped up in my quilting rotation 
so she can get it trimmed and bound for the July meeting.
It was a fun one to quilt...
as I got to play when I meandered each row:

  I did free-motion butterflies, water,

 swirls, wood grain,

  breezy curls, sand, and others.

 Here are a couple more pictures:

I also got to meander over this gorgeous, purple floral quilt of Beverly's:

She used up some purple stash and has another UFO off her list!!
I'd say it was a good quilt-guild challenge year for Beverly!

Also makes me think I should get more motivated 
with my own UnFinished quilt Objects!!!

I did do some hand-stitching this past week, 
and had a nice lunch out with a friend - 
pics of that next time.

Hope you have an enjoyable weekend!

a little quilt meandering

I did some quilt meadering a couple of weeks ago for a friend,
but haven't shared the pics because I hadn't delivered the finish.
I finally met up with her and delivered one of her latest quilts after I got to "work my magic", as she says.

She always has such perfect piecing and pressing!  
And, such fun, bright colors!  
(I think the fabric line was called Kitty Picnic by Lakehouse.)

Isn't it just so cute?!?!  Vintage kitties and picnics!

I'm just a little jealous (and a lot in awe) of her - 
as she is working on her Christmas gifts!!
I asked if she knew it was only May. :)

I don't know about you,
but I've not EVEN considered Christmas gift quilts!
Have you thought about Christmas quilt gifting already??


I am still working on the handful of baby quilt gifts -
with almost two down, and three to go. 
My goal was to have all five completed by the end of May,
so the time frame I set for myself is now about half gone,
though I don't have half of them completed!!
I'd better get motivated.
Focused. 
Something-ed. :)

Happy Thursday!