Monday, April 28, 2008

Hubby's birthday quilt from split 9-patch exchange



I used a beige cat print for the back and bindings. These blocks came from an internet exchange of split 9-patch blocks from "block swappers" a Yahoo quilt group.

I am totally happy with how this came out. I used Quilters' Dream cotton blend batting and a Signature thread color called Woodlands. I used open loops and swirls totally freehand. It only took 5 hours to quilt from loading the machine to finished product.

Purple/Gold quilt


Middle of quilt destined for donation to my 40th class reunion this summer.
I will need to hide this from daughter #2 as purple is her favorite color.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Laura's BD quilt is now complete

It measures 72x64. I had to hang it sideways as my design wall goes that way. (I need to get hubby to move it. )

A nice size for my home quilting machine. I have a B-Line frame with a Janome 6500P.

Hubby thinks the little pointy things should go all around but I followed the pattern. I even mitered the corners of the last border. That used to scare me so much...now it is just another way to do borders.

Pearl on her leopard pad

Pearl is asleep on the backside of my sewing machine. Looks as if I wore her out! Isn't she beautiful?

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Laura's Birthday quilt

This pattern is from March 2007 Quilter magazine. And the quilt will be a total surprise for Laura. She had admired this fabric and even touched it with reverence. Then I knew I had to make her a quilt from it. I have been sewing on it solid for 4 days now. It is now ready for final assembly and borders.
This is the little block I made NOT using the Easy Angle ruler. Then the most wonderful thing happened. Bonnie Hunter e-mailed me and gave me precise tips on translating my pattern into "Easy Angle" language. Too late for me this time. I plan on making another quilt from this pattern and will use the Easy Angle this time.


Don't you just love the little raindrops on the teal fabric????????????????

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Pearl and Macy on my Twisted Strips quilt

These are two of my 4 sewing kitties. They always have to test drive finished quilts. Especially the dark ones so they can leave white fur on them.
Pearl is a Lynx-point Siamese. She just turned 1 year old in March. She is a Pisces as I am.
Macy is a Tortie-point Siamese. (a wedgehead) She is 3 years old.

Second set of step#2 for Orange Crush Mystery quilt

I was playing on the design wall and came up with this possible arrangement.


I sewed these last night and today. I made 168. I just made as many as I had the light pink batik background. It was an end of bolt purchase from Equilter.com. I had only 27". It has little seeds scattered. And you know how batiks just have the most luscious spread of colors.


The little square is a spotted brown batik. The triangle was another end of the bolt buy at my LQS. I love the Easy Angle ruler. I think it rocks a bit so I leave the cuts around the strip to lay the ruler on. Works for me!



Wednesday, April 16, 2008

My 4-patches for Orange Crush

Yes, I am an overacheiver. I made 426 4 patches

Orange Crush step#2


SO far I like the Easy Angle ruler. It is tough being so old and learning new tricks. But I am happy with the quality of the blocks. They are square and a true 3 1/2".

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

OC sewer in action


Yes, I confess to being obsessive and compulsive when it comes to sewing and chain piecing. I love to see the pile at the back of the machine when I am done. These were all for the split 9-patch exchange

a few Bowtie blocks for exchange


I have made 36 blocks (3 sets) for the exchange. They are all in black/whites.

ironing board "catbed"

Here are my sewing kitties. They love the bigboard as a ledge to watch me and really do not like to leave it when I need to press fabrics.



I moved my sewing machine

Can you see the snow outside the window? I used to sew in a little tiny room. It was so small that I could not fold out my cabinet. And if I did I could not get out of the room. So now I am under the front picture window and can see the world go by as I sew. See my stacks of squares, sandpaper and the pile out the back of the machine? I was working on the Split 9-patch blocks for the Block-swapper Yahoo group.

Log Cabin almost done hand quilting

Here is my log cabin quilt. I guess you can tell I love browns from the rugs and carpet showingfrom behind.