Mel's quilting blog: April 2012

Monday, April 30, 2012

Paisley Pattern

OK, normally I have a photo, but I forgot to get the camera out when I had the quilt out and it already went home. :(

It was a yellow and blue jean quilt with black paisley backing (I went and bought some of it). they wanted loops or paisley. Well, trying to figure out what to do, I tried a loop inside a loop with a crooked point to it. It was not a perfect paisley, but it was paisley and turned out OK. Sandy will be able to take it back to CA with her and put the binding on it. That's a good thing. :)

Had a surprise today and got lunch brought in by Lorena. What a blessing. I enjoy her company so much. She watched me quilt Sandy's quilt. Lorena has a computerized long arm and I won't touch it. But, she has not played with hers to do they type of quilting I do. It was fun to talk about how we do things differently.

Overall, a great day. Hoping the chiropractor has started my shoulders, jaw and neck on to recovery.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Fun Day

I had lots of things going on today. No church because of the activities they had outside church.

Went to lunch with my parents.

Dropped off leftovers to son.

Came home to play with straight line stitching on the long arm in this little Jo's Club 9 patch. I am improving, but that is not an easy thing to do. Now I need to bind it and another UFO is done. :)

Then DD had a swim party to go to. I hate just sitting, so I took a top that need binding, a label to sew on and this trapunto to bind. All are finished, except for about 5 inches on the quilt.

Came home to finish the 9 patch quilting and Sandy brought over 2 of her quilts to be quilted. I love the backing fabric on one of them. When I get it done, I"ll post the photo.

Need to see if I have a quilt ready to go for a gift that someone asked me to sell them. I'll look in the morning.

Friday, April 27, 2012

Another UFO finished

Finished another UFO.
This beautiful quilt was done for my DD when she was in love with pink.

But, now pink is an absolute NO NO. So, it will not be going to DD.

It will become a donation quilt for Equessence, the Therapeutic Riding Organization DD rides with. Hopefully they will be able to make some money off it.

Found a new quilt shop in Schertz, TX (behind the old Pizza Hut on Hwy 78)

Very nice people and I love her fabric choices.

Not much sewing done today.

Just finished the binding on this quilt.

Started to load a Jo's club (yet another UFO)

Goal for the weekend, and I'm not sure if it will happen with as busy as we are:

1. Ocean Waves borders

2. Finish the last baby block

3. Sew baby quilt together

4. Sew pink and green strips together to make Mom's pillow shams bigger

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Sampler blocks

This is the new block from Sampler Society yahoo group. Basket Weave. It went together very quickly. I like the effect of it. Shows off the flowers too.

I thought I was done, but I did not make this Carrie Nation block. It went together quickly too. These strips and squares blocks are wonderful.

I think I'm caught up again.

Not much sewing done because of helping at the school. It was good to be back there again.

The baby quilt blocks are almost done. I have 2 more to put together and then I can put the blocks together and get it finished.

I did finish quilting the horse quilt. The one that Ashley is not interested in anymore. It will go to Equessence to allow them to raise some money. Hope someone has a little girl and wants to pay a good price for the quilt. I'll post the photo when I get the binding and label on it.

I'm all caught up with the Sampler Society blocks. Since it is just strips and squares, they are fun and quick to go together. They are hanging on the design wall next to the long arm. Makes taking a photo strange.

Notice the quilt to the left, I only have 4 more blocks to put together for my ugly baby quilt. That is being used as leader/enders for other projects. I think it has been on my design wall for 2 months now.

Lorena decided we needed to learn trapunto. Not something I really wanted to do, but she challenged me to try it. I decided to do a lacy background with a variegated pink. Not too bad for my first trapunto.

The front

The ugly backing. wish I'd picked a better backing. LOL The bobbin thread is a light pink.

Now, Lorena needs to finish her challenge. I gave her the option to make a quilt top with some of my orphan blocks. Gave her options of blue and yellow, pink, or purple and black. She picked the purple and black. They were left over 9 patches from one of Ann's mysteries. I didn't like my color choices, so I ended up making three quilts from those pieces. I used other colors to tone down the Halloween aspect of the quilt. But, because of that, there are a few leftovers. :) So, Lorena needs to be challenged to piece and how do you make something out of less than optimum blocks. Can't wait to see what she makes.

Today I have the borders ready for the Ocean Waves and a blue pillow. I'm helping out at the school today, so I won't get lots done, but some sewing is a good thing.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Quilty Weekend

This is a pillow made for Lana. She had a leftover turning twenty block

this was to be a bed quilt for the extra bedroom, but I could not get the other blocks to play nice. So, it is now a bed runner. I have the binding on, it is green

Cowboy quilt is done. I like the way this one came out. I have a plan to do this with a set of embroidery western blocks

The Sampler Society is doing only squares for blocks. I think I have 6 more to do to be caught up.

It feels good to be sewing again.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Bluebonnet Shop Hop

Went on the Bluebonnet Shop Hop today. Didn't get to ALL the shops, but had fun anyway. I'm in the drawing for the individual shops I got to, but not the big drawing.

I bought sunset fabric for DS's quilt. Blue Horse fabric for DD's quit. A strange yellow/green for a panel I am bordering. Some of the free fqs were blues. 4 patterns for pillowcase borders. A nail file with quilt patterns on it.

Lanna gave me some pretty blue fqs for my birthday!

200 miles later I am a happy quilter.

quilting along

Two more Angel Cover Ministry Quilts

Project Linus only had 3 quilts in my studio. I got the 3 finished and can deliver tomorrow.

Friday, April 13, 2012

Angel Cover Ministries

I've been working to get the quilts done for Angel Cover Ministries. I've had them too long, but life got in my way and I can now make it happen. 3 are finished and now I need to make the batting for 2 more. I'm using the big pieces I have left over from other quilts, because that pile is getting way too large for me to deal with.

Then, the Woodland Oaks Community Center is where my small group meets. We do a quilt for them each year. Lana pieced this and I quilted it for us to donate to them.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Couldn't sleep

I couldn't sleep tonight, so I got up and finished quilting this beautiful quilt.

Mary wanted me to quilt this one. It is wonderful plaids. I don't have hardly any plaids, so this is amazing to me. It is quilted in brown in loops. It was so busy that it needed a rounded simple pattern.

Hope she likes it.

After this, I have a turning twenty quilt to do for the Woodland Oaks Association. They let our small group meet there, so that will be the quilt for the use of the facilities. It is also in browns, so I'll use the same thread on it as I did on Mary's.

Cowboy quilt

I'm working on this one. All the blocks are done. I need to sew the top together and decide on the border. I think I'm using barbed wire brown fabric, but need an inner border first.