Birdie Stitch Blocks....

I have just finished my 12 Birdie Stitch blocks!

Since I LOVE blue birds....

I stitched my Birdies in blue and a red/pink color!

Here they are....

For the pattern check here

I just loved these way too cute little birdies!

Now onto deciding what to sash and boarder them with???

Hmmm... time to go Stash Shopping!

I just love swimming in fabric!

If  I'm not back soon - I've drowned in my fabric...

please send a quilty life raft!!

Another new project....

Yes I know ... I need another new (long term project)
like I need a hole in my head!!
But I just could not resist!! I'm a sucker for hand stitching.
I found this pattern from Crab-apple Hill

last year at A Quilter's Gathering and was just taken by the beauty of it.
This year I saw it again and made up my mind to jump in and get it started!

The pattern uses Seasons (#8049)Cosmo

embroidery floss by Lecien ... made in Japan.

I love this floss it is a variegated from a

light taupe/green to olive green to a darker silver muted evergreen color.

Absolutely beautiful!

Here is block #1

If you notice on the edges the pattern stops ....

Once it is sewn in next to a pieced block

 the embroidery will continue onto that pieced block!

I used two different stitches
the back stitch was used on the
 evergreen trees to give a fluffier look,
like they were covered with snow.
For everything else I used a running outline type stitch,
to give a thinner crisper look.

Fabric selection for the pieced blocks....
well it just had to be from my Japanese Taupe collection!!
 

I searched my stash of Japanese taupe's

and selected these for the project. 

I just love it all stacked up!

All though I hate to cut into these fabrics

I think this is the perfect project for them.

I want this quilt to hang in my dining room

during the winter months.

New England winters are full of cool crispy snowy air and

I think this quilt with these colors will be perfect!

I hope to have it done for next Christmas!

A Busy "Quilty" Fall

 October and November have been  very busy "Quilty" Months for me!

Three of my quilts were accepted into

The Quilter's Gathering Quilt Show in Nashua NH!

That is always such an honor -

to have your quilts accepted into a show... and to have three!

Oh My Gosh I was so thrilled!

SO of course my Mom and I drove up for

the weekend to ogle at all to the beautiful

quilts and do a little shopping!

This is Mom and I in front of "Fiesta" - now this is

a quilt that will definitely wake you up in the morning!!

 "Experimental Iris" looked a bit lonely way up there!

Received lots of compliments on my "Blue Hibiscus" quilt.

I think she's my favorite! 

The Yankee Quilters of Franklin and

The Proper Bostonian Quilters of West Roxbury

asked me to come and speak at there guilds!

How cool is that!

What a thrill it was to share Sashiko with all of the women of these guilds,

best of all - they really seemed to like it!

I so did not want to be one of those "boring" speakers!!!

This piece I designed using two different patterns,

minimizing one and blowing up the other!

For transferring this pattern onto the indigo fabric

 the pattern was traced onto "Golden Threads" paper - I like

this paper - I can see through it and that way I can get good placement.

Using Clover's Chaco paper and a clover Tracing pen

the design was transferred onto the fabric - worked like a charm!

Everyone in attendance received a small kit of a moon flower.

Each guild member got to do some hands-on Sashiko

Lots of fun!

and once they finished they could take it home and make

a way too cute Mug Rug!!

This is what it looks like start to finish!

I had been stitching up these squares that I purchased at

the Lowell Quilt Museum and wasn't sure exactly how I

would use them .... until I saw an idea in a magazine....

now I have a beautiful table runner!

This was supposed to be the side of a tote bag,

but just could not do it ... and I'm a bag lady!

So I made a small table topper and gave it to my

sister this past spring for her birthday ...

she let me borrow it back for my lectures!

She also sent it with a note that said it was strictly a LOAN!

Gosh Darn It - I guess I'll give it back !!

Plus .... I finished up 2 Tahiti Totes pattern from Pink Sand Beach Designs

for a class I'll be teaching this winter at Quilter's Stash

This one is Mom's she picked beautiful Fall purple leave fabric....

and then I told her she couldn't have it until the Spring!!

Mine of course has the jazzy colors and trim!

Now it's time sit rest up and get ready for

Thanksgiving and Christmas - my favorite time of the year!



Blue bird of Sunshine - Applique style!

I love Bluebirds! They make me smile!

Not sure why ... maybe it's because they are ... blue!

And with winter coming to New England I definately need

my little Bluebird of Sunshine

My brother-in-law takes Fabulous photo's

and this photo of his

was the inspiration for my applique Bluebird below.

Last spring I took an applique class from Marie Lage

(she is fabulous) and I have finally (almost) finish my little Bluebird

(except for his feet!)

Not sure what I'm going to do with him now, or how I'm going to quilt him ...

Maybe just leave him as a mini quilt for my sewing room.

That way I'll have happiness and sunshine all year round,

even during a freezing snowy New England winter!!

Silver City Quilt Guild Show

Wow - we had a wonderful quilt show. Lot's of fabulous quilts made by some incredible quilters! And my little quilts did very well for themselves - receiving 6 ribbons! I was so excited!!

Blue Hibiscus received FOUR ribbons! Oh My Gosh!

We had the opportunity to have our quilts judged by Holice Turnbow  

two ribbons were from the judged category!

First Place Small Bed

Best Hand Quilting

First Place Viewer's Choice

Second Place Guild Choice

This quilt was a true labor of love - it took a year and a half to do all of the

needle turn applique and hand quilting (Hawaiian Echo style)

Fiesta Won a Third Place Small Bed - Judged category

 Sashiko Bamboo and Hibiscus won 

Second Place in the Judged Wall hanging division

 And my little Experimental Iris was just so darn Cute!

But her binding needs work!

So I plan on removing the binding, re blocking her

and reattaching the binding on a bit better this time!

Even my Mom's vest won a ribbon!

Second Place -Other in the Judged Category!!

She was so excited!

As she put it ... "I'm 86 and this is the first ribbon I've ever won"!!

It was really special!

Now that the show is over - I'm taking a small breather!

Lining up my next few projects.

But on the top of the list is my daughter's T-shirt quilt

which I MUST have done by Christmas!!

Summer Vacation and Quilting

I've taken some time away from my blog to enjoy the summer (and quilt)!

This summer we spent 2 weeks in Chatham - very relaxing. 

I love the beach ... I love walking the beach, watching the waves and collecting shells.

Stephen and I saw the whales and seals off shore - no sharks.

This is a photo of three seals swimming next to each other off of

Light House Beach in Chatham.

All though my son Matt, caught a 12 inch baby sand shark while fishing off the beach!

Yes - we had been swimming there earlier!

And I thought it was a crab that was nibbling at my toe!

Victoria and I had a wonderful day on Nantucket

With vacation over the rest of the summer has been spent getting quilts

ready for the Sliver City Quilt Guild show in September.

I'm working on a hand quilted Hawaiian quilt my "Blue Hawaiian"

I'm down to the very edge and almost done - then it will be time to block and bind!

This has been a two year project and I've loved every minute of it!

I love the ease of applique and hand quilting - no machines ... just me and the fabric!

OH ... and cheater glasses and a good light!

Then machine quilting my "Fiesta" quilt which is made up of mostly all
New York Beauty blocks - which I of course had to machine quilt myself!

Unfortunately my Bernina's BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator) and I are not getting along!

After many attempts and many skipped stitched I took it off my machine and

threw it across the sewing room - well in my mind I did!

Anyway it's off and I'm trying to get into a quilting groove....
I think my stitches are coming out OK.

Here is one of the blocks .... What do you think?

This block is my favorite it looks like little Christmas trees!!

Only a few more blocks to go!!!

But I have time ... 3 weeks!

No problem ... I just wont sleep!

Oh I just realized this is my 50th blog post!

Whoo-Hoo!!

Hope you all have enjoyed them.

Happy Quilting!



Lowell Quilt Festival Entry

I was very excited to have one of my quilts accepted into the Lowell Images Quilt Show!

The show runs August 11-13, 2011. You can check out the details here.

Moda Flowers and Geese



She's a soft pink pallet of Moda flowers, with a splash of blue, green and yellow -

the pattern came from a McCall's Quilting magazine.

Just loved the pin tuck flying geese fabric and the

flower shaped button embellishments at the tip of each goose!

I had an "interesting" time doing the mitered corners

so they flowed together and kept the little green line

in the inside of the boarder print nice and straight !

I think all in all she came out just fine.

I hope everyone enjoys her soft sweetness!

If you do happen to go to the Lowell Quilt festival -
please stop by my guild's raffle table!
The Silver City Quilt Guild put together the most beautiful Crazy Quilt -
with TONS of embellishments!
The blocks were created and embellished by guild members
and then set on point with maroon velvet.
It is absolutely stunning!
The picture just does not capture it's true beauty!
Yes we are selling tickets!!!

 

Try out Longarm Quilting

I am now officially on vacation from my full time job - Yippee! I started my vacation with something for myself ... a class on longarm quilting! I always like to try new things and pick up new skills - and although I have done my own quilting on my Bernina - I have never used a long arm. They seem so intimidating!!

My class was at  Mad About Quilts and found it to be ... FABULOUS!

Mary Ann and Dora are excellent teachers - very patient, soft spoken and knowledgable.  For a very reasonable fee they provide a 45" x 45" sample to work on (2 pieces or muslin and batting), 3 zippers to attach to their machine, 4 white bobbins (which they will switch out for other colors if you need them too) and 2 needles! Everything to get you started on your own longarm adventure!

First they showed me how to pin the zippers onto the backing and then the top ... thank goodness the zippers have directions printed right on the zipper tape!! Then it was time to load the sample onto the machine. Yikes - not sure if I could do that again ... but they assured me that when I come back to work on my own project they are right there every step on the way - just in case I forget what to do!! That little piece of information set my mind at ease .... now it was time to have fun!!

I started out with free motion quilting ... first I had a mind blank .. . "Oh No what do I quilt??" SO I just started with meandering, loops and leaves .... I think the meandering is the easiest and I like my leaves!

Here you can see the zipper pinned onto the sample.

I did find the machine has a horizontal and vertical pull and you really need

to get used to the flow of the machine....

some of my rounded edges got a little squared look to them ...

I need practice, practice, practice.

The water look was fairly easy, you just have to keep track of where

your going to make sure you fill everything in ...

and then I went back to my comfort zone of meandering loops!

My attempt at flowers and flowers with flames ....

again not being used to the machine my edges squared up a bit....

OK I've decided to stick with the meandering loops and an occasional leaf and flower!

The it was onto trying the other side of the machine ... pantographs.

One would think that tracing the little red dot over the lines

would be a piece of cake .... you would be so wrong!!!

It was tougher than I thought it would be - definitely something that I would need to practice.

By practicing you train your muscle on the design.

Dora and Mary Ann gave me two great tips...

1) get a white board from the local office supply store and practice drawing different

designs over and over and over ... this will train your muscles and...

2) with out actually stitching on your fabric just trace the red dot over the pantograph lines

a few times - this will also train your muscles ...

I need that Muscle Memory ... I need lots of practice.

Mary Ann was so nice - so told me I did such a good job my first time out -  she's so sweet!

But somehow I think my flowers look more like those small dinosaurs

with the pointy spikes that run down their backs!!!

So that was my adventure into longarm quilting!

I highly recommend you try it and I HIGHLY recommend Mad About Quilts.

They offer a great beginner class and reasonable rental time on one of there machines,

and they are right there to help you every step of the way!

I've put a button on the side of this blog to direct you to their site.

Give them a try - give longarm quilting a try - I think you'll like it!

I already have two tops ready to take back and quilt ...

and I'm sure for my first few I'll stick you what's comfortable ...

meandering loops and leaves!!

Girl friends Block

I can now post about another project I've been working on! It was a secret and had to be kept under wraps until it was given to my Quilty Gal Pal Joan! One of my Monday night quilting Gal Pals came up with the idea to make this way to cute Girl Friends Block for one of our Monday night quilters who just needed to know how much we are supporting her!

The block consists of a little girl holding half a heart in each hand and when you sew the blocks together the hearts come together ... very cute. Check out the pattern here. It works up quick especially with Steam-A-Seam2! I'm usually a needle turn applique kind of girl but boy this Steam-A-Seam2 and machine blanket stitch works up pretty quick!!



Here is the original pattern showing the two styles of blocks



 I of course had to make mine with lots of bling (Joan knows I'm an embellishing Queen!)



She actually looks more like me than Joan ...
at least she'll know which block is mine!!

  

Just a little hair embellishing and of course a big Quilty Smile!





Let's not forget dangle earrings!




 the Cape Cod bracelet !



and toe nail polish!!

Needless to say I think she liked everyones blocks -

she turned red and was speechless for a few minutes and then hugs for everyone!