Another finish - Shakespeare In The Park

My Shakespeare quilt is finally finished! Pieced, Quilted, and bound! Yea! When I first started this quilt I loved it! After I finished the piecing, I still really liked it. Once I had it quilted, I didn't like it so much. Now that I have the binding on it, I really don't like it. Maybe I'm just tired of looking at it and maybe it will grow on me. It's hard to believe that you can put that much money into a project, invest weeks of your time and not be totally thrilled with the finished work. Oh well - on to the next project.

A fun, busy week - teaching Hannah to sew

My eldest granddaughter has been asking for some time with Grandma to "learn to sew". So, this week, she spent 3 days with me. We started out sewing on my old Singer 301 - a machine so basic that you could never hurt it, with no thread. First off, the rules. 1) never put your fingers in front of the needle, always beside it. 2) Pay attention to the needle and the machine. Not singing, not watching TV, not playing with the dog, etc. 3) Never sew faster than you feel you can control. 4) If you are in trouble - STOP - then holler for help! She sewed on the lines of writing paper to get the feel of the machine and to learn to sew a straight line. Then I drew swirls and squiggles for her to sew! She is a natural! In no time at all, she was using thread and real fabric. Hannah then moved on to Grandma's new Babylock Ellisimo to piece her first quilt. Of course, now was the time for a little lesson on pins and irons. I elected NOT to introduce the rotary cutter this lesson! The quilt was a kit from "Quilts for Kids". She did a wonderful job. And the quilt will be sent to a hospital to be given to a sick child. The Ellisimo has the added function of sewing with on ON-STOP button instead of a foot pedal. It also can be dialed down to a very slow speed. What a nice job she did! Then, while the quilt was actually "quilted" on the quilting frame, Hannah discovered my scrap bag, my bin of pre-cut squares and my design wall. I have created a monster!



What a fun week!

1930's Summertime Quilt

Another finish! This quilt was made from Moda's "Hello Betty" line of 1930's reproduction fabric. When I finished the top, it looked kind of plain to me. And, the fabrics made me think of old-fashioned laundry. So that's the way I quilted it; Wash basins, wringer washers, clothes pins and things hanging on the line. Now I love it! I am slowly but surely whittling down all of those quilt tops that I have finished.

Mountain Lodge quilt finished

Last night while watching TV, I finished sewing the binding on my latest quilt. The quilt is "Mountain Lodge" by Janet Page Kessler for Bernatex. The fabric is from Bernatex' fabric line called Montana Modern. Here is where you can find the pattern.
http://www.benartex.com/uploads/Image/quilt-gallery/54H/montldg.pdf

The quilt, except for the center panel and the outermost wide border were cut with my accuquilt GO! The precise cuts made the quilt top go together very nicely. The quilting is edge to edge - bears, deer and pine trees. This is the first time that I have used Quilters Dream batting for one of my own quilts. This stuff feels great and quilts up "like a dream". I may not be buying any more huge rolls of my old stand-by cotton batting. This batting has certainly won me over! The quilt was made for one of my sisters as a "thank you" for using some of her vacation days to drive to Florida with me last winter. I hope she likes it!

Simplicity Bias Tape Maker Machine

Wowser! I am impressed! I finally took the time to use all of my latest gizmos to put the binding on my latest quilt.


I cut PERFECT 2 1/2" strips with my Accuquilt cutting machine, sewed the strips together and ran them thru my Simplicity Bias Tape Maker machine ( with the new binding tip) and wow - perfectly pressed binding - about a mile of it - in just a few minutes. As the perfectly pressed binding came off the machine, I wound it around an empty cardboard roller and it was ready to put on the quilt. I love these new gizmos! They make my quilting life so much better!

As Time Goes By - finished!

Finally a finish! I like it, but I am not really loving it yet. I quilted it on my HQ16 and did my first real "Custom Quilting" on it. Needless to say, I now have a ruler base on order, for my machine. SID without one was a nightmare!

On my design wall

I have been working on a sampler quilt for MONTHS! I now really MUST get it finished because it will be gift for my nephew and his bride when they marry this summer. The name of the quilt is "As Time Goes By". The blocks are all done and I am working through putting all the parts together.

I will be backing the quilt with a wide cream floral. I will use Warm and Natural batting in order to get a nice drape when it's on the bed. This quilt just screams for custom quilting so once it is together, I will get it on the frame and start designing the quilting.
As pretty as it is, I am at the point where I will be glad when it's done. Or, at least ready to be quilted. (It doesn't seem to me that these colors in this picture are very true. The colors are rose, burgandy, cream, light and dark forest greens.)