Yesterday I spent a few hours at MAQ's

to work on quilting another UFO!

This is my Blue and funky Green quilt

featuring my favorite ... Amy Butler fabric!

 This is the design I'm quilting.

You think it would be easy tracing the dark lines with the red light!

But NO!

I seem to have the biggest issues with the rounded sections...

Boy do I need LOTs of practice!

A lot of my rounded centers are a bit pointy!

But I selected a nice turquoise blue thread that really

blends in so you can't actually see the quilting!!

I am so loving working on these UFOs,

with each one I'm completing I feel my sewing room

getting lighter and lighter!

I don't think I'll ever be UFO free, but just clearing out

 these few have really helped me get over my stuck feeling!

Where I sew ....reorganized ... AGAIN!

In the beginning of July I decided to rearrange my sewing room (AGAIN!)

So I took EVERYTHING out of me sewing room

(the living room and dining room were a bit of a mess for sometime!)

And then brought each piece in one by one.

What prompted this you ask?

Two things....

First I wasn't happy with the flow of my sewing room the way it was.

I just felt the energy was blocked....

I was in a Quilting Slump!

Secondly a challenge was issued from one of the guilds I belong to.

RNQG's summer challenge was do finish UFOs

(blogged about here)

With my sewing room arranged with a better flow

and all of my UFOs in a bucket by my sewing machine

I now feel like I'm becoming more productive!

I have completed 4 UFOs!!

But I'll blog about them later!

Here is my new sewing space!

This is what greets you as you walk in

my sewing and computer area

A view from the sewing side of the table.

As you can see behind the chair I have

8 plastic storage boxes filled with projects - all in

various stages ... I didn't even count these on

my UFO list!!!!

Another view of my sewing / computer area.

My ironing station - it overlooks my deck, garden and pool -

so I can daydream while ironing and pressing!

The heavy wall!

This has my book collection, TV, stack of storage cubes,

movable cutting table, pull down design wall,

and fabric stash (behind the closed doors!)

I have just as much fabric neatly packed in my basement,

but this is the stash I dip into most often!!

SO there you have it....

my newly rearranged (again!!) sewing room.

Baby Quilt

My nephew and his wife are expecting their first baby ....

I'm going to be a Grand Auntie!

So of course I had to whip up a quick quilt and a box of goodies

for them to open when they visited during our family vacation in Chatham!

I started with this yard of Valori Wells flannel

(I actually had this in my stash!)

Added this fabric for the backing

the baby's room will be Atomic Tangerine!

and I thought this would blend in nicely

Used these color threads for the quilting

Putting it all together it looked like this....

I basted it using the Sharon Schamber's method

and just free motion quilted around each animal and flower!

lots of stops and starts...

but I'm pleased with how it came out.

I paired the quilt up with this way to cute lion found in Macy's!

I put everything into this cute box from Joann's Fabrics

Here are Michael and Nicole opening their baby gift box full of goodies!

Yup.... I think They liked it! 

This was such a fun little quilt to make....

no piecing, just fabric and free motion quilting!

Hmmmm.... I think I should whip up a few more!!! 

VACATION!

What a lovely word V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N!

Two weeks in Chatham!

We saw Dolphins jumping in the Canal,

Horseshoe Crab shells

Old Shipwrecks

Seals swimming up the coast of Turo,



Seals are the tiny black spots in the water!



Whales cresting off Race Point Beach



you can barely see the water spout from the whales blow hole



Moon Rising over Turo

Sunsets!

and Fishing!

Stephen ready for fishing with rod, reel, bait and an Iced Coffee!

Matthew and Michael fishing at Race Point Beach



mom and daughter dressed alike! We did this at least 3 times during the week!



Nephew Michael and wife Nicole with Baby Quilt

my quilting corner of the cottage!

It was a wonderful two weeks spent with family

Me, daughter - Victoria, son - Matthew, nephew - Michael, Nana, sister - Karen

I even got one book read and three quilts bound while I was there!

More on those later!

Now it's time to unpack and do laundry!!



Winter Taupe Quilt Block #7

Before I left on vacation I finished block #7

This one worked up quickly!

I'm half way done with the embroidered blocks!

Dolphins in the Cape Cod Canal

While I was sitting by the canal yesterday doing a little appliqué 

and watching my husband fish (he actually caught something!) - 

we saw an unbelievable sight. 

A small pod of dolphins swimming and coming up out of the water! 

There had to have been at least 20 dolphins swimming around a huge beautiful sail boat - 

I could not believe it. 

Sorry no picture - I was so taken with watching them I forgot to take a picture!

Another top quilted!

About three years ago I had this Christmas quilt top basted!

I had grand ideas of designing a beautiful holly quilting motif

and quilting it all up on my Bernina 440.

Yeah .... so that never happened!

So off I went with my Christmas quilt

to my favorite longarm rental shop - Mad About Quilts.

I selected a holly and berry pantograph,

and a beautiful golden thread -

Mary Ann and Dora got my quilt all settled onto the machine

and in three hours the top was DONE!

This was the first time I've ever quilted on the longarm using

a pantograph - usually I just meander around!

And - OK.... the holly points are a bit rounded in places,

and my round berries look more oval - like the birds ate them!

But I am just so excited!

Another UFO almost done!

Just need to bind and label it!

Quilt Label for the T-shirt quilt

The T-Shirt Quilt Label is DONE -  and I'm loving it!

It started with these pieces

I wanted to make a book that would fit into a pocket.

Let me explain ....

All through high school my daughter was a jeans, t-shirt and flip flop girl

who loved school, sports, band and  LOVED to read!

She was probably the only kid that actually loved to read

the summer reading books!
Even in college she's still reading for fun!

So I took the back pocket off of an old pair of her jeans

and created a book as the quilt label
to slip into the pocket!

Initially I  used some June Taylor Computer printer fabric

but few my water accidentally dripped onto it...

the ink bleed everywhere.

Next I tried TransferMagic Inkjet Transfer paper

(and I remembered to flip the images before printing!)

It ironed on beautifully but leaves a shiny film

that Can NOT be ironed again!

So I worked carefully

and made the book pages using the transfer method

which will be washable!

 I created a book jacket from book fabric

and sewed in the pages

and Viola

a Book Quilt Label!

Here she is from Pre-School to High School

Middle pages

Left side are two quotes from Eleanor Roosevelt

(she dressed up as E.R. in second grade

for a school project)

The right side is my personal message to my girl!

My hubby wanted to know why I didn't include him -

I told him ....  He didn't make the quilt!

For the last page

I used a t-shirt that represents our Mom and Daughter

trip to Nantucket last year

(since it's a whale of a story)

 

I love it ...

I couldn't wait to show my daughter...

she got a little misty eyed!

I think she liked it! :)

I just love making special and interesting Quilt Labels!
Don't You?

Happy Quilting ~J:)

UFO #1 ... the T-Shirt Quilt

This is my most important UFO .... my daughter's T-shirt quilt.

It's filled with t-shirts from all of her activities since she was old enough to

run, skate jump or swim (she never walked!at least I don't remember her walking -

 I just remember chasing her all over the place!)

Each t-shirt was backed with woven interfacing and cut to size and surrounded

by fabrics that represent my daughter.

I've always called her my Athletic, Academic Band Geek -

just because she has always done so much and spread herself

out into so many areas and this quilt represents all of it!

It should be two quilts but she wanted it all in one so it's a two sided quilt ....

a no-no for t-shirt quilt - just too dang heavy ...

but she didn't care ....

so off to the longarmer's I went.

There is a fabulous place near me called M.A.Q. = Mad About Quilts

where you rent space on a longarm (after taking one of their lessons)

it's just the BEST!

You can learn the longarm skill (oh Have I got a lot to learn!)

and Mary Ann and Dora are right their to help you! I love it!

SO off I went last week to start quilting "THE" T-Shirt Quilt ....

I decided just to do a big meandering stitch -

no sense adding more weight onto this puppy!

And in Three HOURS I had it completely quilted!

Thank You Dora!!

I quilted in secret messages on some of the t-shirts

"Italy" on the t-shirt she purchased on her school trip to Italy her junior year

"Shark" on the Monetary Aquarium shirt

"Just have Fun" on one of her softball shirts

"Cookies" on the girl scout fabric

"Camping" on the camper fabric

You get the idea!

I even stitched in

"Athletics ... Academic.... Band Geek"

Oh I hope I spelt it correctly!

If not - oh well she knows I'm a terrible speller

and the longarm just doesn't have spell check -

I'm sure she'll understand!

In the bottom corner I stitched...

"Love Mum"

I've just finished putting the binding and now

I'm working on the quilt label.

Can't wait to show you that ...

it way way COOL!

But that's another post for another day!

Happy Quilting today ~J:)

RNQG Summer Challenge

One of the guilds that I belong to RNQG 

(Rhododendron Needlers Quilt Guild)

gave out a summer challenge that was perfect and Just In Time!!

The challenge is to finish any UFO you have and

bring it to the September meeting.

So I decided to clean out and reorganize my sewing room ....

YES .... AGAIN!

(I'll post pics of the new redo later)

  I pulled out every UFO that was in my sewing room and stacked it up.

SO this is what 17 UFO's look like!!!

Oh and here are 4 more!!

Oh found another one - This one is on my design wall
which is the kind that rolls up - so I'm
always for getting it's there!!!

 And let's not forget the appliqué borders
that need to go on this baby
but no way will this be done in time
for the summer challenge ....
well maybe for Summer 2013!

So that's 23 ... Yes! TWENTY THREE
UFO's that I have in my sewing room!
OMG - when did this get so out of control!!

I took Action and 

stacked them up into a huge plastic bin and

positioned the bin right beside my sewing chair!

THAT'S IT ...

I WILL NOT

start any new projects

 until this bin is EMPTY!!

Wish me luck!!

My fingers are itching with 3 new projects already!!

But NO not until

THIS

is GONE!!!

Block #6 of Winter Taupe Quilt

I spent the month of June working on block #6



This block whipped up much faster than #5!

I'm using two different stitches -

for the snow covered trees and roof tops

I'm using the Stem Stitch to give a fuller snowy look!

For everything else I'm using the back stitch

which just gives a nice crisp outlined look.

I wasn't sure what to do for the snowmen - but

decided to go with the back stitch.

And I think I like it!

Have a Great Quilty Day!

Block #5 of my Winter Taupe Quilt

I truly have been working!

I just haven't been blogging - so here is a catch up entry!

Here is Block #5 of my Winter Taupe Quilt

This one seemed to take forever to do!

It took all of April and May to stitch and ...

I'm happy with the results!

I am so loving the COSMO floss.

Stitches like a charm and the color change is

just perfect for the effect that I'm looking for.

Away too long ... but still quilting!

I've been an absent blogger ... well I've been reading everyone's blogs and working on my projects ... I've just been very bad at posting! Now that I'm on vacation from school I'm hoping to change that! SO over the next few days I will be catching up on all of my postings!