Friday, February 27, 2009

Ami's Cushion

This week I'm working on a picture quilt, but I did finish the last of the half-square triangles from Ami's quilt. I had sixteen left, so made a cushion. Since babies should not have pillows, I will have to make sure "mom" knows that this is decorative only. Btw, this is Ami at five days old. She is now 2 months, so has some growing to do before she will be using that big quilt! What a cutie!

I've also another top ready to quilt, so all the distractions this week haven't been as bad as my complaints!



However, I do have one. I'm noticing that my photos in some of my older posts are not there, just a little square. Then when I click on the square, the screen goes to a view of just the photo. The sunflower one on this blog was gone this morning too, so I put another version in its place, and while I was fooling around, it reappeared, then the new one showed up. Does anyone else have this happening? We should all be quilting, not fighting with Blogger! LOL!!

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Friday must have been a good day!

Friday must be a "quilting day" because many of the blogs that I follow (out of the thousands posted by quilters) are featuring progress or completed work.

Wendy says she hasn't been working on quilts, but her post says she has. Nice pictures of an "older" quilt too.

Margo, with grandsons, made some delightful rooster pin cushions.

Joyce has pieced some imaginative wall hangings and is making wild and crazy colored bags.

Jeanne posts progress in wall hangings, an arm chair caddy, and putting the border on a complex red and green quilt that is now off to a longarm quilter. Wow, she did a lot of work this week.

SewKalico's post says "None of my own work" but she did work on someone's UFO and when a friend wanted fish fabric, she painted the most marvelous fish for her. Go have a look!

Tazzie reports she is busy on a huge stack, but her biggest joy this week is to have one of her quilts in “Australian Patchwork & Quilting” magazine. Way to go, Tazzie!

Quiltdivajulie finished a lovely black and white with green quilt that she calls “Growing Pains” and posted it today. She had two more completions online yesterday.

And Wanda at Exuberant Color is packed up to teach a class about color and making tote bags, but if you go through her week, she has been busy too.

As for me, I finished one and got the label on and entered it in my record book. I also made a pillow out of the leftovers (no photo). Then I started a landscape quilt. It has three pieces of fabric on it so far, so can hardly be called a huge accomplishment, but I am excited because this represents most of the quilts that are in my head but not yet expressed. I'll post some progress pictures soon.

In the meantime, have a great weekend!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Pinwheels and Flying Geese


Finishing Ami's quilt took a bit longer than hoped, but the binding is on. It needs a label and a trip through the washing machine (I usually do that with baby quilts) and then a trip to our grandson's house to present it.

This turned out just a bit over 60" square. I used a light-weight batting, so this is definitely a summer quilt.

I'm really happy with the piecing and the look of this one, but am not going to boast about the quilting. I'm still on the learning curve with this HQ-16. I should have done an all-over pattern instead of in-the-ditch, feathers, hearts, meandering, etc. On the upside, anything that humbles me cannot be all bad!

Monday, February 9, 2009

Another learning curve

Ami's quilt is on the frame, and the first little bit was not too bad... quilting in the ditch while holding a ruler to guide the machine feels awkward, but it works. However, when it come to doing some feathers... well, let's put it this way: they are a bit ruffled! Nothing is more humbling than trying to learn a new thing and realizing this is going to take a while!

I did practice on a white board manipulating the marker the same way the machine is moved (well, sort of) and that is a good way to practice. The feathers were not any easier and I just got tired of drawing and erasing. This is a baby quilt after all... and I know, that is no excuse. I will practice some more before I tackle it again. The feathers are on the flying geese, and the fabrics are prints, so if no one turns this to the back... (sigh) No photo, maybe tomorrow.

On a higher note, my daughter liked her gift bag so much that she (and two others at the table) tried to convince me I should go into business and make these for sale. She was really excited about it. Me? I cannot imagine a person with attention deficit sticking at a production line. Even if every bag was from a different set of fabric, my attention span would fold up after maybe four of them! At least it made me feel good.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

A quick gift bag

In about an hour and a half, I made this bag to hold the gift we will give our daughter on her birthday the end of this week. It isn't quilted (but could have been), but so easy to make. It is 9.5" x 11" not including the handles.

I'm going to tell her if she doesn't have a use for the bag, it is okay to re-gift it. Who knows, maybe someday I'll get it back!

(Sorry about the typo in the title. I fixed it - twice. Sort of like unsewing...)