KatyQuilts

Two posts in one day, crazy, I know! But there is a new linky party and I love to see what others have done in the past, so I decided to jump in. This quilt was made around 1998. I remember making this when we lived in France.

Please  excuse the fold lines! I quilted this on my vintage Singer 201. That fancy border quilting was a total waste because it doesn’t show on the front at all! The top was machine pieced and a great opportunity to work on y seams. As I recall, I had to quilt this baby into submission!

  
It was a cover girl for the 2005 issue of Quilt Almanac. 

 I used to do quite a bit of freelance stuff for The QUILT family of magazines. Until they changed editors. Here is a shot of the inside. 

I used to get such a kick out of the “quotes” they attributed to me. Most were things I had never said!  Now and again I would be asked to write the article to go with the quilt I had made, but when I didn’t, it was always a funny surprise to see what I had said.

Linking up with A Quarter Inch From The Edge and Krista Quilts

I’ve been trying to decide on another leader/ender project but I am having a terrible time coming up with something! I would like something more long term than the quick projects I’ve done before. Bonnie Hunter does a Leader/ Ender challenge every year and this year has chosen the tumbler to work on. You can find out the details here.

I love tumbler quilts and I even have a die for my cutter which makes this idea even more appealing. The question is, what fabrics/theme do I want to go for? Daughter #1 bought most of these Downton Abbey charm packs for me for Christmas and I’m toying with using them for tumblers.

The two fabrics on the left were bits I found at SAS Fabrics when I was in Phoenix. I decided to place a tumbler cut with my die on top of a charm square to see how much fabric waste there would be. 

There is definitely some waste there. When I use precuts, I try to use every sliver so this bothers me. But I haven’t come up with an idea I like better. This indecision means that I have gotten out these charm packs and put them away countless times!

By the time I make a decision, I probably could have a whole quilt pieced!

Honestly, I think part of my problem is that I hate to take apart these neat,  little packages until I am sure how I want to use them. And yet, that is likely the only way to be sure. Clearly my OCD is getting the better of me and I am over thinking this.

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation

I feel like I am finally getting back into the groove sewing wise after our trip. I finished off Spider Man (sounds ominous!). I will show him to you on Friday. I need to get him shipped off today.

I got these leftover blocks sewn together and the border added. 

Then I noticed this:  

I hate when that happens! But I am leaving it. This currently measures 52 inches square. I am playing with an ipad app called Adobe Ideas to help me decide how to quilt it.

You are basically drawing with your finger tip with this app. And clearly, I am not good a that! But it does help to visualize the quilting.

Linking up with Freshly Pieced, Sew Fresh Quilts

First of all, thank you all so much for your needle suggestions! I will be needle shopping the first chance I get. Maybe I hated EPP before because I wasn’t using the right needle!

Little E took a great nap yesterday and I was able to get Spider Man loaded and half the quilting done.

See that gray in the stitching lines? Um, yeah. Not supposed to be there. That is the furry back coming up through the stitching holes. I have no idea why this happened or how to fix it. The backing is plenty thick and furry and I used a low loft poly batt. Cotton batting might have helped prevent the fur coming through. This furry stuff has plenty of stretch to it which adds another element of difficulty.

Sigh….apparently this was not one of my better ideas. I have to remind myself that this is going to an 18 month old and I want him to drag it around and wear it out. But it still bugs me when things don’t turn out as I would like them to.

I will get this finished this week and a pillow case to go with. Maybe washing will help. Spider-Man, behave or I will drop you in the washer!

Linking up with Free Motion by the River

I hope you all had a great weekend. We sure did. Hubby is home from his business trip and we spent a lot of time with Daughter #1 and family and Daughter #2. I finished the rest of my lattice blocks and they are up on the design wall now.

I also have the last four leftover blocks from the sister quilt up.

I would like to put these together and add a border to make a baby quilt. I want to really play with my long arm templates and do some custom quilting on this.

But this is the project I would like to start today if I have time. I purchased this panel for big brother Liam when I was out in Arizona.

He loved little brother Lincoln’s quilt with the soft minky type backing. So I bought this throw to use as the backing. It was much cheaper than buying yardage at the fabric store.

I will use a low loft poly batting and see how it goes. I am thinking I will free hand spider webs in the background. I hope he likes it as much as he liked little brother’s quilt!

We shall see if I actually get anything done today with my helper:

If he takes a good nap, I might get Spider Man loaded on the frame!

Linking up with Patchwork Times and Cooking Up Quilts

It has been a crazy, busy week around here! I am so ready for some slow stitching.

I finished appliquéing the hexie ring around this one background piece. I am hoping to get the next ring together today. Not a huge goal but I am really slow at this! I read somewhere that milliner’s needles were good for sewing the hexies together. I went to buy some yesterday and was shocked at how long they were! I usually use Betweens for everything. But if I can find a needle that will make this easier, I’m all for it. I came home with these.

Better than the Betweens but I’m not sold on them yet. Any suggestions?

Linking up with Kathy’s Quilts

After work yesterday, I worked on some more lattice blocks.   

 It was so nice to sit and sew! I tried a couple different layouts. 

 I definitely prefer the first. So far, I have 36 of 80 blocks pieced.  

 Daughters #1 and #3 will be ofer after work this afternoon for some crafty fun. Not sure just yet what we will get up to but I am very much looking forward to it!

I have a really big finish to share with you tomorrow if I can get pictures taken today. Maybe I can con the daughters into helping!

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation.

I would like to thank all of you that left suggestions regarding which books you would like to find in you library. Some I had already ordered and some are on my short list! The give away winner was chosen by a random number generator.

Congrats to Jennifer C who will soon be receiving this mug rug!

Have a great day!