KatyQuilts

I mentioned yesterday that we went to Ikea over the weekend. I love that store! We first learned of IKEA way back in the late 90’s when we were living in France. We were so excited when one opened up in Michigan! Here are some of the quilting related purchases I made this weekend.

Above is a roll of newsprint that I will use to practice and plan quilting designs. Next are hooks to hang quilts for photography. I actually bought six of these.

I found this towel bar set in the clearance section for $2. I will use it for hanging small quilts in the sewing room.

This duvet cover set was on clearance for $10. It will provide backing for two Quilts of Valor.

This flat sheet is queen sized and I bought it in the clearance section for $8. It is queen sized. Being a polished cotton, the quilting will look great!

This fabric is 100% cotton and it is 54″ wide. I bought 7 yards of white and three yards of red for $2.99 a yard.

And lastly, I bought this light that plugs into a USB port.

I have a USB port in the handle bars of my long arm. Anyone who quilts will tell you, there is no such thing as too much light!

Last summer, I bought all the components of my cutting table at Ikea, as well as my button rug. The cabinets under my long arm came from there as well. If I can’t have vintage, give me IKEA!

Linking up with Connie at Free Motion By the River for Linky Tuesday.

I have so much to do before my trip out west, but I do have a little something on the design wall.

These are the leftover bits from the Graffiti Heart quilt I made a few weeks back. I will gift the heart quilt to Daughter #2 and this will be a little matching quilt for the grand dog.

I have been wanting to try quilting with a soft, minky type of backing. I have a scrap just big enough to go on the back of this little one so it is the perfect project to experiment on.

I got a little bit done on my tiny tumblers.

Saturday we took a trip down to Ikea with Daughter #1, SIL, and little man. He loved it when Papa set him in the bin of stuffed bunnies!

Yesterday it was so very cold here that I didn’t want to move away from the fire! So I did a bit of knitting and nearly finished a dishcloth.

Linking up with Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday.

I almost forgot to hang my Valentine quilt! Pardon the wrinkle. I made this a number of years ago. The pattern came from American Patchwork and Quilting. Shocking that I followed a pattern, right? Except that this was supposed to be applique, not red work, and I think I changed the setting as well. I can never leave anything alone!

Have a great day everyone!

Here are the last two QOVs for this batch.

Both tops were made by the same person. One of these days, I want to feather to death one of the Carpenter Star quilts! But this week, I decided done was better than fancy.

And my delightful problem of yesterday? I had coffee and a lovely chat with my Friend and MIL and then I pieced 6 more stars.

And then, I just had to piece one row of tiny tumblers!

Happy Friday! I’m linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?, Richard and Tanya Quilts for Limk a Finish Friday.

I have finished quilting all of the Quilt of Valor tops for the Stitching Sisters group. I will meet up with one of the members tomorrow to hand them off so they can start binding.

Now I have the delightful problem of choosing what to work on next. First world problems, I know!

I need to figure out how to quilt this top that I finished last month and started last May!

I have a lot more sawtooth star blocks to make.

I would like to get this vintage top quilted.

There are those log cabin blocks that I stalled out on in January.

I am thinking about cutting into these bundles that Mr. Wonderful bought for me.

And I am itching to start stitching these tiny tumblers together, even though I promised myself they would be my Arizona project.

Think I can wait?

Yeah, me neither.

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation for NTT.

I thought I was finished quilting another QOV this morning, but when I pulled it off the frame I found this:

Sigh….

After some picking and reloading, I was back in business and all is well. Things happen, you just have to deal with it and move on!

Someone on Instagram  posted a link to this YouTube video called, “You can Quilt That Out.” I don’t long arm as a business but I found this video pretty funny nonetheless. I have seen some amazing fixes by experienced long armers but it is very true that the better the top, the better the finished quilt.

This is true of handquilting/piecing as well! And I think it is the reason so many tops are found in antique shops today. I present this example:

No amount of fancy quilting will get this top to lay flat. Well, someone might be able to quilt it into submission but I am not that good yet! And apparently, neither was the maker of the top. And so it goes.

Hope your day is wrinkle free!

I have had some fun playing with my tiny tumblers. Instead of putting them on the design wall, I decided to lay them out on scraps of batting.

I haven’t started sewing yet as I have been trying to get as many Quilts of Valor quilted as I can before going to Phoenix. Then today I had the idea that this would be a fabulous project to take with me! I may take a sewing machine this time to leave at my daughter’s house. We hope to make some curtains while I am out there.

Here is another wonderful QOV top made by another member of the Stitching Sisters QOV group. I started this yesterday and finished the last row this morning while little man napped.

The pantograph I used gave it so much texture that doesn’t show well in these pictures. So I tried taking some in low light.

Now I am off to start loading another before my little cutie wakes up!

Linking up with Patchwork Times for DWMonday.

Yesterday was the 2nd National QOV Sew Day. Groups and individuals across the country set aside this day to sew for our service men and women. I had to work but managed a few hours of sewing as well.

I finished the quilting on this quilt.

I loved this top so much and in the end, I was not thrilled with m choice of quilting. Not looking for compliments, just keeping it real here. This top was beautifully pieced and yet I struggled with some pleats on the back. Quilting designs I thought would be perfect, were not. I did a lot of ripping on this one. In the end, you mostly notice the piecing and I did want that to happen.

After I pulled this off the frame, I decided to load the next. Then I decided to just quilt one row.

Then one more.
You know how this goes….
I had three rows left when I went to bed and finished it this morning before getting ready for church.

Just a simple pantograph (Fern Gully by Lorien Quilting), but perfect for this top.

Sometimes, I just try to make things too hard. The next one is ready to load after church.

We did take a walk through the local antique mall yesterday with Daughter #3 and her BF. Mr. Wonderful bought me this:

I am looking forward to spending some time with this book!

Hope your Sunday is filled with good things.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
~ Psalm 34:8