KatyQuilts

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

I have two Quilty finishes this week. Both are Quilts of Valor. The tops were pieced by members of the Stitching Sisters QOV group. First is this medallion quilt.

Here is the second:

I love the 3d effect this one has!

I have been trying all week to figure out how to quilt this QOV top. I like the first option best but the blocks don’t line up quite right for a perfect grid.

I am using Adobe Ideas on my ipad to “draw” on my photos here. these are screenshots of my doodles. I am probably going to go with the straight lines. I would need a longer ruler than I have to do the angled lines.

lining up with Crazy Mom Quilts, Richard and Tanya Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict

My kids will tell you that I can hear the mailman coming from a mile away. I get the mail every day. Yesterday, I did not. I don’t know why. Maybe it was the grocery store run after work, maybe the cold and snow. This morning I got up and opened my email to a message that said, check your mailbox! So, I pulled on my boots and ran out in my pjs at 6:15 this morning.

And I was well rewarded. With this.

A bloggie friend sent me this lovely bag full of tiny tumblers cut from her stash! She knows my fabric taste really well! Just look at these beauties:

I can’t wait to get home from work today to start laying these out. February is definitely looking up!

Last week, I met up with a member of the Stitching Sisters QOV group. I handed her a few quilts I had quilted for the group and she handed off this box of tops to quilt!

There are 9 in there and I am hoping to get several done before I head out west later this month. The first is in the frame but I had no time to work on it yesterday.

And here is the next one I will be quilting.

Isn’t this stunning? This quilter did the loveliest job piecing this top. It lays nice and flat and she stay stitched the edges. This is a long armer’s dream!
Here I have it folded in half and pinned to my design wall so I can contemplate the quilting of it. I think this design and use of fabric is just brilliant. I want my quilting to do justice to this top.

I’m not sure how much I will get done today with my little helper here.

But really, how can you resist that face?

Linking up with DWMonday at Patchwork Times.