Done quilting Birdies Stitches ....

Finally finished machine quilting

my Birdie Stitches Quilt.

Now onto the next step...

Blocking!

I gave it a bath in cold water to get rid of

all of the quilt markings

and starting measuring and pinning

to square it up.

so here it is

pinned to my bedroom floor!

Yup - the bedroom floor!

It's the largest spot to block my quilts ~

Poor hubby has to watch where he walks

so he doesn't step on any pins!

It will stay there for a few days with the ceiling fan running,

and once dried it will be beautifully squared.

Just wondering how everyone else squares up their quilts?



An Evening with Kaffe ...

I've Loved Kaffe fabrics .... well forever!

When I started working part time at my favorite local quilt shop

the obsession  collection began!

It's not a huge collection ...

really trying to restrain myself!

Made up this quilt a few years ago to

feature the pink crackle pottery fabric

Just loved the stripes so it makes up the entire backing.

This quilt is so soft and cuddly everyone fights over

it on the chilly winter evenings in New England!

So this brings me to last night....

when myself and three of my Quilty Gal Pals

had the pleasure of attending a lecture / slide show

by Kaffe Fassett!

He was extremely Inspirational, Creative and Funny!

Telling stories about his beginnings in Carmel California,

attending Mass Art in Boston and onto England

where he lives and creates.

I'm not one for autobiographies, but I found him just so

interesting I had to pick up the last copy!

Don't you just love the Cover of his book!

I started flipping through it this morning and was so

drawn in I just couldn't put it down!

The housework can wait!!

Here he is signing my book!!

 Love the shirt - he designed the fabric and

notice the ribbon going down the front!

Will have to pick up some of that!

This is one of my UFO's

mixing my two favorites....

 Batiks and Kaffe fabrics! 

Can't wait to dive into his new fabric line....

will have to add it to my collection!

Block #9 of my Winter Taupe Quilt done

Another block completed!

Only 5 more to go!!

Still Quilting my Birdie Stitches

SO this is taking longer than I expected!

But I'm liking how it's coming out so far.

I'm using the Sharon Schamber's quilting halo and really liking

the control I have with moving the quilt around,

much better than the quilting gloves I was using!

Finally photos of my VERY productive summer!

Remember this pile of UFO'S?

I stacked them all into a bucket and put them by my

sewing machine with the vow to finish the UFO's before \starting anything new!

Well here they are now....

I FINISHED 10 ....

Yup ... TEN UFO's this summer!!

Here is a little show and tell 

Lobster on the Rocks Table Runner
with  Alfred my horseshoe crab from
Chatham Pottery

Baby Quilt for Maggie

The FRONT of Victoria's T-shirt Quilt

The BACK of Victoria's T-shirt Quilt



Fabric Box with slip pockets inside and zippered pockets outside



LIME
don't know why but I fell for the color Lime this year

Rodeo Donation Quilt for SCQG

Christmas Quilt

Silver City Quilt Guild Mystery Quilt

Navy and Lime

Mini Landscape
from a Jo Diggs workshop

So there you have it ... how I spent my summer!!

Still working on my Birdie Stitches Quilt

This is definitely a work in progress!

I finally selected sashing and boarder designs

 Love this book - so inspirational

Used Golden threads to draw my boarder print

 then used the light box to draw the design onto the quilt

 No worries I remembered to use the

Fine Point Mark-B-Gone by Dritz.

For the sashing I selected a rope pattern

and started quilting away...

here is the back ...

But as I'm quilting away I realize somethings wrong...

It's just not coming together very well

Hmmm...

OH MY...

I selected the WRONG batting (wool)!

What was I thinking ...

it was just too puffy and shifting everywhere

So ... I Frog-Stitched it ALL out!!

Yup I had to take it all apart and start over!

The one good thing ....

I decided I didn't like the rope design in the sashing

so it changed to a sashiko flower design!

Now I'm ready to start re-quilting !!

Winter Taupe Block #8 completed

Today was a beautiful day at the Canal,

the sun was out, the boats were going back and forth,

I worked on block #8,

the only thing missing were the fish!

My poor hubby - no fish for him today!

Yippee ... finished block #8

(bad picture ~ sorry)

I know I said I wouldn't start anything new until

 all of the UFO's in my bucket were finished.....

Well since block #8 was done and we were

still fishing (not me just hubby!)

I had to do something!!

Technically this is a UFO since I traced out the

sampler pattern onto the fabric over a year ago!

Once done it will be a small table runner.

 Love Sashiko.

I find the stitching very relaxing...

now if only the wind would cooperate!