Blogger's Quilt Festival entry--Fall 2010 edition

Holly's Wedding Quilt........

....for this Fall's entry, I have to herald the great change that has taken place this year, namely my introduction into more free-motion machine-quilting. 
Rather than repeat my earlier blog post, I will link you to the bulk of the story and photos of this quilt.

It was alot of fun, and yet, quite challenging, coming up with different quilting designs for the different blocks.

Let it be said that I have gained an immense sense of freedom from Christina of A Few Scraps' blog's Free-motion quiltalong, and her shared techniques for letting yourself go and play at the finishing of your quilts.

I left the quilt at the wedding reception for my niece, as I had to leave before getting to toast the couple and watch them open gifts.  I hope that they like the quilt.

I also want to note this year's finish of the over 20-year-long project of making my Feathered Star quilt !  It's hand-quilted.

What I'm working on......

Jodie, I must apologize if it seems like I misled you.  I said that I wasn't taking anymore commissions for awhile, but this one was a special family request.

My daughter's mother-in-law asked me if I would see what I could do about helping to halt the damage occuring on a quilt that she inherited from her grandmother.  It was a wedding gift to THAT grandmother from HER grandmother on her wedding day.  That means that for my grandchildren, this quilt goes back 6 generations in their family on their Daddy' side.

The quilt has never been washed,

 but some of the fabrics are fraying.

 Also, termites found their way to the back of the quilt, when it was in storage, and have chewed a couple of small holes there. 

I am currently in the process of appliqueing strips of tulle over the fraying fabrics so that they are still visible, but are contained to prevent further fabric loss. 

This one dotted fabric is frayed everywhere that it appears in the quilt.  But it shows up nicely through the tulle that is overlayed upon it.

This green fabric is another one that is frayed wherever it was used.



I left this photo bigger so that you could click on it
and view the finished, repaired block much more closely.









I am planning, LORD willing, to make a label for the back that will cover some of the termite damage, while at the same time adding a record of the history of the quilt.  Sandra, Kelley's mother-in-law, was able to buy a fat-quarter of solid red that almost exactly matches the quilt's backing.   This was no small feat, since the quilt was made in 1932 or before.









The cross quilt is finished !

Need I say anything?

I'm in love !
More channel-quilting to come, I'm sure !

Our visit

We had a wonderful visit.
My newest grandson is just'
so wonderfully healthy
and happy and open to
us.......he claimed PawPaw immediately
for his own !
Zoe is so cute with her missing
front tooth, and T.J. is so analytical,
studying how things work.  He can
fool with a transformer toy for an hour
and never get tired of changing it.

KELLEY,

I will never forget the effort you put out

 to drive all this way for us to see you guys,

 when you were right in the middle

 of one of the

biggest events

of your life.

TIM,

 thank you for letting us borrow them

for a little while,

and for working so hard while they were

 gone to prepare the new house

 for their arrival back home.

CONGRATULATIONS

 on your first home purchase !

Blessings and prosperity on your new little nest !

MY BABIES ARE COMING !

Today's the day !

My daughter will be driving all day from Oklahoma to Tennessee........please send up prayers of protection and safe travel for Kelley, Zoe, T.J. and Seth !  I'm meeting my 17 month old grandson, Seth, for the first time !

I should get to hold them all in my arms before I go to bed tonight.........LORD WILLING !

Praise the LORD !

Now........gotta get a little more work done......strip the beds, fill the pantry and fridge, mop the floors.............

If you miss me......

......I'll be around.  Just busy preparing for what I hope will be a very special visit this week.
Zipped up a little sumpin to make the babies feel welcome.


pillowcases for the grandbabies

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the meantime, this 'baby' is awaiting a binding.

What channel are YOU on?

I'm CHANNEL quilting, thank you very much, Christina of A FEW SCRAPS.........until I joined her quiltalong, I never thought of 'straight' line quilting as an activity that you could do by free-motion.  Now, understand, the lines are REALLY NOT straight.......and that's part of the LOVE !
No more walking foot, which didn't work right and distorted the quilt.

sneak peek at the back

This is wonderful to do........yes, your channels get wide and narrow, but it's still much easier than figuring out where to 'meander to' next !  And I think it's easier on the arms, too.  I'm sewing forwards and backwards alternately, and I don't think that there's much distortion going on, if any.  I was forewarned after reading the post that inspired this quilting, and I made sure that I basted very closely........I did threadbasting.  I know it'll be a job to remove, but I'd rather do that than stop and remove all those clanky pins, and I think it prevents shifting better than the pins, as well.

Are you having any trouble inserting pictures lately? 
If I have a good night, I can insert ONE photo, and then the browse button is frozen !
I have to publish the post, and then go back and edit it to insert another photo !
INFURIATING !

Anyway, there are 5 rows of blocks in the quilt, and I've quilted 3, so I only have 2/5ths of the quilt to go !  And I'm loving it, praise the LORD !

OOPS ! My bad !

I just spoke with someone from Shutterstock, and I CANNOT use that photo of theirs to make a design for my quilt, so off it comes ! 

Excuse me, I have a little UNWORK to do.   Anyone want to draw a dove for me, just email it to me quick !

I"M back.

I got the quilt basted in my front yard.  I found a place (thank you, LORD) where there were no leaves falling and the wind was mostly blocked off of me by the trailer.  There's no dove or anything appliqued on the back now, but it just would have been machine-quilted over from the front anyway.  Sour grapes?  Maybe.


Got my pap smear results in the mail this morning and got a clean pass !  Hooray and praise the LORD.  30 years without a checkup is a long time, but the LORD is good !

One week until the hubby's 60th birthday, LORD willing !  Hope it's really great !

We finally got some rain !

Wow........we haven't had rain since back in August, I think, so we were REALLY, REALLY dry !

Yesterday afternoon we did get some, Praise the LORD, and of course, there was a little thunder (I love that sound now, after being so afraid of it as a child!)....

and a little hail, (twice in one afternoon--tiny balls), but no damage here. 

My driveway attempts to pretend that it is a river, but thanks to the new load of 'crush and run' that the landlord and wife spread on it, there's no problem there either.

I'm having to upload photos one at a time !

I delivered the purple shawl this morning....that went well.

I got my backing pieced for the cross quilt, and it looked very plain in the middle.  I know that the quilting will take care of that, but I wanted to add SOMETHING of interest back there anyway.  I just appreciate being able to GOOGLE things, don't you?   I got it into my mind that I wanted to applique the silhouette of a dove and, there you go........so many images to choose from at my fingertips.

I'm awaiting permission from the source before sharing the image with you.  I've already appliqued it onto the quilt back, so I hope I don't have to remove it !

I don't know how she does it !

My pal, Jodie Ann, stays at this piecing and quilting day IN and day OUT !

Jodie, you're 8 years older than I am, and I am beat !   What's your secret.........a lifetime of working both outside of the home and there, too?

Phewwwww.....

Anyway, I'm piecing a simple little quilt for another gift, hopefully.  I made all of the blocks and couldn't satisfactorily arrange them in a scrappy, random manner.  So, after playing around with them a bit, I came up with this design and I'm going for it.  The recipient I have in mind spends alot of time not feeling well, but studying her Bible or watching television evangelists.  The quilt should finish about the right size for recliner snuggling, around 50 x 60 inches.

I got the rows pieced before wearing out, so I can sew the rows to one another tomorrow, Lord willing. 

'See' you all tomorrow !

A PURPLE finish !

This week seemed to be composed of one waiting room after another.......

Pap smear, mammogram, welcome to medicare exam, flu shots

......so, I was very pleased that I had prepared some "take-along" work. 

Waiting for the pap smear, the nurses were kidding each other that I was going to finish the persimmon quilt, as I had to wait SO LONG.

But, no, I just got a little of the center done.  Everytime I thought about starting to quilt, I was afraid that they'd call my name, and I'd have so much to put up, what with the snips and the thread spool, and the thimble, and, of course, the hooped quilt, that I procrastinated.   Then, sure enough, I'd start to quilt, and they'd call me.   I highly recommend it, if you don't have time to wait......going ahead and actually quilting, I mean.  It'll either get you in quicker or you'll get a lot done.......you win either way.

After that experience, I started taking the knitting.....it was much quicker to pick up and work,  only having to get out the instruction sheet occasionally to mark my progress.

Thusly, with some home-time night-knitting thrown in, I have finished the shawl. 

 

It turns out that I had changed the stitch pattern for the one that I made myself,.......well, actually, both shawls I've made are changed from the original pattern........anyway, I thought that I was making this with the same changes as before, but I didn't. 

So it looks a bit different.  

 

See how the cream one is balanced, knittily, (my own word !) on each side of the row of holes?)  I really like the pattern that resulted this time too, though, but I wish that I had felt like making it from superwash wool, like my cream one.  This is RedHeart, and the acrylic yarn has a springiness, as opposed to the nice drape of the wool.  It's kindof like a polyester batting as opposed to a cotton one. 

Good evening !

I'd love to share a photo tonight of the package full of knitting needles I received yesterday from Leah over at 365 days of Freemotion Quilting Filler Designs.    If you remember, last week I won her giveaway on the Pat Sloan radio interview, where she was giving away a copy of her new book and DVD.  Well, a couple of evenings later, before I went to bed, I noticed a new post from her.  She was cleaning out her quilting studio area and wanted to get rid of some things.  She asked anyone who wanted them to PLEASE leave her a comment letting her know what they'd like.  Well, I spoke up for the knitting needles, because I've been wanting to put together a 'knitting box' for Zoe (soon-to-be 7 year-old granddaughter) to grow into.  Well, Leah put it all into a box together, my giveaway winnings and the needles.  So generous ! 

 And her book is really great.....it's a small 5 x 7 inch spiral bound that you can keep by your machine for easy reference of new designs.

I've already put the 40-inch, size 13 Addi circular needle to good use, with the purple yarn, making this prayer shawl. 

 This pattern is a freebie from Lion Brand's website that I found online last year, whereupon I made one for myself in natural colored washable wool.  I hope that this Red Heart yarn will have a nice drape and will feel good against the neck.  It's intended as a gift at this point.

Now, Kelley (that's my daughter), I know that you read my blog to keep up with what's going on over this-a-way, so I'm going to ask you NOT to follow this link, while I share a photo of a Christmas gift that I finished.  PLEASE don't click over, 'cuz I know how you hate it when you find out what the gift is ahead of time.  No, it's not for you, but I know that you still like to be surprised.

Everyone else, here's the link if you'd like a peek.........

Cute?

Busy day !

Well, 2 days, really.

 Night before last, when I had put the finishing touches on the wedding-gift quilt, hubby asked me to make a new quilt for Piper, our granddoggy.  So I whipped up a top that night, and yesterday morning I got it quilted with a cute back, using the inside-out construction method to avoid binding.  I machine-quilted it simply with the walking foot which behaved FAIRLY well.

Then, last night, I got out some RedHeart yarn and started an attempt at a 'beehive' type of hat for one of the grandsons..........who gets it will be decided by how big it comes out !

This morning I started the day by basting a wallhanging for a little cool-weather hand-quilting.  This is another top that I've had made up for about  20 years (sorry about the upside-down photo).  The design, from an old book of designs for a wallhanging celebrating every month of the year, reminded me and hubby of the persimmons we used to taste in the Fall of the year, growing up here in Tennessee.  Neither one of us has seen a persimmon tree until today when I basted it.........this afternoon we went to look at a property for sale, and THERE was a Persimmon tree, loaded to the hilt with fruit !

I also bought a couple of SuperSaver hanks of RedHeart yarn in a purple shade to try knitting some kind of shawl or wrap.

I really wanted to get atleast one more 'something or other' basted today, for machine-quilting times, but the day got away from me.

I did score this glider/rocker for $10.00 at a yard sale, though, so now I have a place to sit in my sewing room besides the hard-back chair.  I can do my hand-quilting there if Piper and China ever give me a turn in it.  It's gotten BOTH of the animals' approval.  I do need a good stand-up lamp, as these old trailers DON'T HAVE overhead lighting.

Oh, and here's a shot of the other one that I'd really like to baste for hand-quilting soon.   I promised Jessica that I would show her a picture of it, so it's in my header too. It reminds me, a bit, of the value quilts that are being made from half-square triangles all over the 'net.

So, it looks like I now have some ready-handwork, and can be figuring out my next piecing project !