Mom's Christmas quilt

So, my Mom has tons of fabric. It only makes sense since she has been quilting for most of her life.  I returned this quilt to her this weekend, all quilted and bound. (see pics below)...then she informs me that she has Oh, say FIFTEEN quilt tops that need quilting.  Yes, you guessed it - she is trying to use up ALL her fabric while she can still sew.  Okay, well, I know that won't happen, but, really - fifteen quilts???

AND YES, I'm going to quilt them - probably ALL of them.  And while I'm quilting, she will be sewing....Hmmmm.  I think someone will be quite busy for awhile - especially since said someone likes to sew and quilt a few of her own quilts!!!

Mom's Christmas quilt is filled with feathered quilting, some I marked a spine or a circle to quilt feathers around, others were totally free motion with no marking at all.  Isn't it beautiful? (note, beautiful, not perfect).

 This is a pattern Mom got from Missouri Star Quilt Company's website.  They have tons of really good tutorials.  Then she added a few pieced blocks that she came up with I think?

 I love this little block in the corner.  I thought about it quite awhile before I came up with this one by combining two patterns - this was totally free motion, no marking. >>>>>>

 Do you like the quilting on the poinsettia?
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This pattern was out of a book that has 1000 quilting ideas.  Um, I looked at most of them trying to find something feathery, yet different to put in this space.
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And below, I decided to use the 2 borders as one and quilted feathers all around.  :)  Enjoy!

Hey all, someday I'll post a little more often!  Here's what I've been up to over the Thanksgiving holiday - besides school work!!!

 

I'm trying my hand at a modern quilt with lots of quilting on it - love this part the best.  I have a second one that I will post probably over Christmas break, so check back soon!

I took an online "Craftsy" class for this one.  I have been free motion quilting for about 3 years now and I am amazed at how far I've come with it.  You should have seen my first few attempts (hee, hee, hee!).

Here are a couple more closeups, then the whole quilt.  Till next time.....

quilting in the "negative" space

Love the feather towards the bottom

Don't look too close, some of my lines are not as straight as I'd like them, I'll mark them next time

I just love this quilt.  This is going to a friend of mine...shhh...don't tell!!

 Well... this blog has been silent for way too long.  Lest you think I've been doing nothing quilt-wise, here's a little ditty I finished recently.  Was going to enter it in the State Fair, but I procrastinated one day too long and missed it - next year will come soon enough.

outside edge quilted with straight lines

more free motion quilting 

rainbow design quilted across the center blocks

 The quilting took a looong time!

flowers and vines

free motion quilting around the flowers and on green border

The back is cute too!

The finished product - the pics just don't do it justice!

I'll add more pics soon of some projects that I'm working on....until then - enjoy!

I'm finished!!

Hallelujah!  I finished my project of making all the kids and grandkids a quilt!!  It took 2 years instead of one, but I had a lot of fun and made a few other things along the way.  I believe I'm a bona fide quilter now!!

Here is the next-to-the-last quilt that I finished in November.  It belongs to my daughter, Amy.  I started this one at a quilt weekend in Curtis, Ne in May of 2009. I free motion quilted it  - something I am learning - practice makes perfect (I need a few more quilts to practice on before I get into perfection mode!)

 And now for the grand finale!! I finished this one yesterday and I think this one is the most beautiful of all (no offense to any of the other gorgeous quilts I made the last 2 years!).  It's just that when I put this one together, I was surprised as how nice it all worked together - maybe that's because I just wasn't sure how it would look - I was afraid it might be too busy. As it turns out, it's perfect!  See  for yourself (wish you could see it in person!).

If you haven't already, check out the slide show to see the other quilts that I've made and have a Merry Christmas and a very blessed New Year!

Oh My Goodness!! How long has it been???

I must tell you that just because I haven't blogged in awhile doesn't mean I haven't been sewing! Oh no! School has slowed me down and bit, but I'm back in the swing of things for the holidays (at least).

So, here is are a few pics of the latest makings at my house. Not included (only because I haven't taken a picture of it yet) is the very latest quilt - will update later on that one!

I was browsing online and ran across a pattern for these darling little napkins. They are quick, easy and reversible.

Then I remembered I had a very simple table runner pattern that I had picked up at the quilt shop recently, so had to try that as well.



Then I dug around and found a few more coordinating prints to stitch into a few more table runners.

Then I realized that I could make both a table runner and the napkins - like matching (hello?), so of course that set me in search of more fabric and caused more stitching, so by the time I was done... well, you have to check them out on my etsy website cause there are just too many to include here.

Here is just a teaser for you.

Click on the etsy link (I think it's at the top of the page).

Blessings,
Shirley

Oh my - updating my blog twice in one month, how did you get so lucky?? I've been so behind, but hopefully will get into a routine this year (what is a routine???).

Here is my latest project - a gorgeous wall hanging that I did a lot of free motion quilting on!!! I thought this turned out very well considering that I just learned how to free motion quilt!! All quilting except the straight lines was free motion quilting.


I found this project at our local quilt shop all made up and fell in love with it, bought the pattern and had an employee help me pick out coordinating colors for the blocks and the borders. She did a fabulous job - I'm so glad I asked for help!!

The borders are different colors - not much natural light today, so not a very bright picture, but the left and top borders are a maroon color and the right and bottom borders are a black paisley. This picture just doesn't do it justice, so you have to come over to see it!!!

One of these days, I'll get busy on the birthday quilts - in the meantime, I have another project or two that I'm working on AND I'm finishing (yea - finishing is so good!!) the Christmas table runner and the fall pumpkin table topper that I've posted about previously - they will have binding on them this weekend!!

But first - the vacuuming!!

Oh my!! I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted! Well, here is the final quilt that I made for the year. Not the final quilt that I was planning, but the final one I got done. Still have two more to finish for my birthday quilts project, but hey, I accomplished a lot this year and I would have gotten them done if I hadn't taken that class in the fall which took loads and loads of time - you can teach an old dog a new trick, but it takes quadruple the time and effort!!

Anyway - here it is!

This is William's birthday quilt, the one I promised to show you long ago. I did get it done for his birthday and it turned out beautiful. I planned to make it square - 11 blocks long and 11 blocks wide, but when I got to that point and thought I was done, I didn't like the way it looked, so back to the drawing board I went. I added a row of light blocks on the top and bottom, then discovered that I had just enough blocks (and just the right ones - thank you, LORD! :) to add another row to the top and bottom. I used every single piece of fabric that I had for this quilt - no blocks left over, not enough fabric to cut another single block - amazing and it turned out to be the perfect size for his twin bed!!

This is a rag style quilt - I do love to make them, but the ragging process takes about 4 hours to clip all the seams - wow!! For this rag quilt, I cut 7" blocks of the fabric and 5" blocks of "Warm and Natural" batting, stitched the usual X in the center of all the blocks that didn't have embroidery on them. I didn't want the embroidery to show on the back, so just embroidered on the top block, then sandwiched them together with batting and back block and quilted just a bit in from each corner to hold them together.

The center black diagonal blocks spell out his name, the other black blocks have words describing who William is. The last picture is the back of the quilt.

William loves it :)

What do you think???