Strips and more strips

A handful of 2 1/2" squares and a bin full of 2 1/2" strips and you get a pretty, fun, queen size quilt top. Then, if you add in a perfectly behaving HQ16 quilting machine and the newest update for Pro-Stitcher and you get this quilt! I must admit that I loaded this quilt on the frame yesterday. But today, I quilted it from start to finish in less than 3 1/2 hours. And this is a huge quilt! I couldn't be happier! Tomorrow it will get a binding and it will be a finish! Then I'll be off to cut more squares and strips with my Accuquilt GO! This is such fun.

Miranda Bag in Heirloom Garden by Marie Osmond

I've completed a new Miranda bag from the fabrics in the Heirloom Garden collection by Marie Osmond. This was my very first magnetic clasp. I also made a small change. Instead of cutting the fabrics for the outside of the bag and the batting and then quilting them, I put the fabric and the batting on my quilting machine, quilted them and THEN cut them out. It worked very well for me and I would probably try that again! This bag is probably for me! If I had it to do over again, I would place the prominent design from the darker paisley differently on the flap closure. And, I may add the hooks to the inside to keep the sides tucked in. All in all - a nice bag.

Accuquilt GO!

Love to quilt - hate to cut quilt pieces? My problem wasn't that I didn't like to cut, or even that I have problems sometimes being really, really accurate with my cutting...... my biggest problem is that cutting quilts really makes my shoulders and arms hurt, so this is my new toy!
I did purchase a number of the available dies for this machine and I have been having a ball, cutting the fabric in my scrap bins into usable tumblers, nickel squares, 2 1/2 inch strips, etc. The accuracy of these die cut pieces is amazing and I'm hoping will make things easier for me when putting together a quilt top. Just this morning I started cutting out the pieces for my next quilt. Actually, it's not for me, it's for my niece as a wedding gift. The quilt will be very pretty, but it has about a bazillion half-square triangles. I am going to put this Accuquilt GO! to the test with this project! I'll be sure and post pictures when I get it done! Here is the link to the Accuquilt website

A Jelly Roll + A Layer Cake+ A Jelly Cake

Look what you can make with a "Jelly Cake" and an extra yard or two for borders! And, it's big enough at 68" x 78" for some real snuggling in this cold weather! This is the quilt that I showed you on the frame a few postings ago. Quilting really makes a quilt!

My geometry teacher would be proud!

My geometry teacher would be so proud! Actually, he would probably be dumbfounded because I think I failed 9th grade geometry. :0(


Look - take a stripe or border print.... add one 60 degree ruler

And, you get a neat table runner!

Directions for this are found here:
http://www.ttfabrics.com/images/patterns/StripedRunner.pdf

I understand that border prints are becoming hard to find due to the popularity of this table runner! Ionia Quilt Works has several border prints and stripes that work well for this project!

Been feelin' a little down, so spent the day cleaning

I've been feelin' a little down lately. Business is worse than bad, it's non-existant! It's cold, cold, cold outside, etc. So, I decided to spend the day cleaning and organizing my studio and little shop.

Ignore the dates of the photos. Must be I need to make a few minor adjustments to my camera :-(

Here is where I sew, and press. This is where my sewing machines and sergers are. This is allos the area that holds my own personal stash of fabrics.

This is my cutting table and where my store products are.

This is my quilting room.

So, now every thing is clean and put away and all of my containers are labeled! I still have a lot of scraps to go through and to sort out, but I feel like I made progress today!

Heritage Collection from Moda

This is what Moda has to say about the "Collection for a Cause - Heritage"....

"Heritage is a gorgeous collection of Civil War Era parlor prints ~ the first in a series of "Collection for a Cause" prints. Moda is donating the proceeds from the entire series to the Gildas Club ~ a charity that assists those suffering from ovarian cancer, and their families. This first in the series ~ "Heritage" perfectly depicts the parlor prints of that era. Muted tones of popular colors of the day ranging from tan to gold, to blues, burgandy & brown are artfully blended."

The last few days, I had the delightful opportunity to work with a jelly roll and a layer cake from this collections! A Jelly Cake! I did add a couple of yards of fabric from the bolt of this collection.

The first thing that I completed was a quilt top, inspired by the pattern "Candy Bar Road" from SuzGuz Designs. With a little bit of luck, I'll be able to get this top on the frame in the morning. I can dream all night about what kind of quilting to do!










Then, with the left over jelly roll strips I made a neat bag. I used the pattern "Purse-onality Plus" from The Teacher's Pet
The bag has oodles of pockets inside and out and a nifty draw-string closure. Having no hardware, it kind of reminds me of a "prairie bag". And, just a nice size for all of your "stuff".

Snowing Again....

Can you believe it's snowing again? Sheesh! I did finish the binding on that huge quilt and it is so pretty. It was brought to my attention that the quilt clashes horribly with the walls in the spare bedroom. Uck! Good thing this particular quilt is not for the bed in that room!

I've received another whole shipment of fat quarter bundles from Moda this week. I'm just dying to make something out of the new "Love Is In The Air" bundle. I need to keep repeating to myself..... "This is NOT your own personal stash......this is NOT your own personal stash!"

I have about half a top finished out of Moda's Heritage Collection. A portion of the sales of all of this fabric is being donated to Ovarian Cancer research. It's a good cause and I am having a ball working with this top quality fabric. This is also the first time I have done anything myself with a "jelly roll". It's such fun to have perfectly cut fabric strips. It makes me really want to invest in one of the new Accuquilt machines for my shop.

First Quilt Finish of 2009

Happy New Year, everyone. I have my first finish of 2009! I have to admit that I have been working on it for a few weeks, but just finished putting the final stitches in it this afternoon. As soon as I allow my shoulders a rest from getting this huge quilt off the frame, I'll start the binding. The quilt measures 86" x 110", so I will need to make about a mile of binding! Wrestling this thing while putting on the binding will likely do in my shoulders for weeks! :-) Hmmmm lilac binding or green binding. Let me know if you have a vote!

All in all, I couldn't be happier with the quilt. It is made from fabrics of the Sophia collection that I carry in my shop. I did the quilt as a "sample" to show off the fabric line, but I will sell the quilt after a bit. The fabrics are gorgeous to look at and the quality makes them a real dream to work with. I used the "Take 5" pattern as my inspiration and used EQ to make it Super Queen Size.

The quilting was done with feathers in the borders, stippling in the inside border and edge to edge "Tapestry" from Designs by Vickie.

Now on to the next project! I have samples to make from 3 or 4 new lines of fabric. I think I will make some quilts and some bags.

I also need to make some "dolly" bedding. My granddaughters received new beds for their baby dolls straight from Grandpa's work shop. Now the beds need little mattresses, pillows and quilts.