Merry Christmas

We had a little Christmas here on Wednesday with Kierra and her husband Will since they both have to work today on Christmas. Let me just say the quilt was a hit!

Opening the quilt

They both said nice things such as "look at that design", "how cool", "I like this color for the thread".  I forget the other comments.   

Admiring the quilt

I think Mr. B. was making Kierra a little uncomfortable because he kept telling her the quilt cost $2000 and each time he would say that the price went up by $500.  Will caught on to him and said, "The price keeps going up."  He was including an hourly wage for me to make the quilt. 

They also like the little PS I love you tab and how I signed the quilt.  It sure makes you feel good when all the work is appreciated. 

I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas!  I hope it is a safe, happy and blessed day for you and yours.  And with all the fun stuff take a moment to remember the joyous gift we received this day.   

 

Double Irish Chain is Done!

About an hour ago I finished Kierra's & Will's quilt. All 432 inches of binding sewed on by hand.  It is a good feeling to get it done and not to being sewing on it at midnight on Christmas Eve. 

Every night that I worked on the binding I had company from my cat. She would sit on the quilt that was in my lap and she made it hard for me to lift and move the quilt as I sewed. 

Rosie on the quilt in my lab.

Rosie really shows up good on the orange fabric. I placed a little extra touch in the binding of the quilt. I think these little PS I love you tabs are so darn cute!!

PS Tag

I didn't add a label because she wants to use it as a reversible quilt. 

But the quilt is labeled.  I wrote with my Pigma pen between the bats.  To Kierra & Will Christmas 2011, and a little further I wrote with Love Mary, Mesa AZ.  

No label label

I can't wait until she sees it all finished!! I only have to wait until Wednesday since we are meeting then to celebrate Christmas.

Happy Stitching

Quilting Update

I finished my little twister wreath project.  I found the perfect ribbon to place on the wreath. Here you can see some of the quilting, I used iridescent thread and it really looks nice. 

The pictures hardly do it justice. I only quilted the background so the wreath colors would pop. 

Wreath Center

Here it is all done and on the wall for Christmas. I bet this would look good in spring floral print for spring.  Just what I need another idea for a quilt to make! 

The other big news is Kierra's Double Irish chain is back from the long arm quilter and I really like how the quilting looks.

Celtic Scroll Quilt Design

I think I am pretty safe posting pictures here, I don't think she looks at my blog.  I didn't post any pictures on Facebook because I know she looks there.  I do want her to have some surprise on Christmas.   I love the quilting and there is just a little puff.  She doesn't like the flat look of cotton batting so this has a poly batting. 

Here is with the backing showing.  The binding has been sewed on by machine all 432 inches of it, and about 150 inches have been sewed by hand, many more to go!

Happy Stitching!

Have a Merry and Blessed Christmas!

Good News Night

Tonight while out running errands I received a call from the Quilt shop that the quilt was on the frame. I wasn't expecting it to go on until next week.  I am not complaining.  Matter of fact it cheered me right up after a hard day at work!  They needed a batting that is why they called, they didn't have what I needed in the shop.  So I ran down and took them a batting and took advantage of the moment and took a picture. 

Kierra's Quilt on the frame

I wonder how long it will take to quilt it.  Next job, doing 500 miles of binding!

Happy Stitching!

Kierra's Quilt Top is Finished

I spent Saturday adding the last two borders and picking out stay stitches that missed the seam allowance and pressing and pressing.  It seemed to take forever to press that top.  Kierra and I meet at the quilt shop and we picked out the quilting design, which is Celtic Scroll and she picked out the backing. 

Kierra's Backing

She saw the fabric in a quilt and like it and there was just enough left for the backing so I purchased it for her.  It makes her happy.  This was the first time she was in the quilt shop with me and I think she saw some interesting things.  She made a lot of observation while I was showing her different things.  I doubt she will ever go back with me, but I enjoyed the moment.

I am glad to have this top done. When it comes back I will have 500 miles of binding to sew on.  :-)

Happy Stitching!

Seminole Borders

Yesterday, Saturday I sewed on four framing borders and two Seminole borders.  Here it is with Rosie doing her cat inspection.  She likes it!

Three borders are on, and two mitered corners are done.  I was going to add the two last borders today but I ran out of steam.  All that stray stitching on the edges of the Seminole borders and cutting off the extra triangles.  Intense!

It is a little bunched up in the middle so we can see both mitered corners. I hope I have time tomorrow after work to add the last seminol border!  I am so ready to be done with this quilt!!

Happy Stitching!

How did I make that Seminole Border

I thought it might be fun to post some pictures of how I made the Seminole border.  You saw the strips in the last post, they are 2 1/4 inch strips.

Here they are cut again, these are also 2 1/4 inch strips.

Next you lay them into pairs and notice they are off set by one square.

Here they are sewn.

You keep sewing the pairs together until they are all gone.

Each one of these are from one set of strips cut from selvage to selvage.  I made eight of them.

Well some of these pictures where from Friday the 11th and the last one from later in the week. 

Happy Stitching!

Border Progress on the Double Irish Chain

It never fails when I have lots of stuff to post about my hard drive experienced a failure.  It is only an eight month old computer also.  Lucky for me Mr. B is a desk top engineer and he was able to find the un-fixable problem, and since it was still on warranty he ordered a new hard drive and installed it.  He was also able to save all my files and load them onto my new hard drive!  Thanks you Mr. B!!!
So now to catch up on all I have been doing.  I have being seeing red, grey and black all over. 
I have been taking lots of strips of fabric...

...and making border sections.  After you sew those strips together you cut them again and sew them off set to make the Seminole border.  A fun process.

I even had lots of company but no help from my cat Rosie.  She is the only cat I have ever had that sits in my lap and not on the table but the machine.  She doesn't usually stay long because I am not paying her attention.

This is how things were on Thursday Nov. 10.

Irish Chain Update

I spent Saturday teaching EQ7 Beyond the Basics Class, it was a lot of fun.  My students where all having fun and saying a lot of, "I didn't know that", "Really" and "WOW that is cool".  It is so fun when the class is so enthusiastic. 

I was able to find some sewing time on Sunday & tonight.  I think I did a couple of other evenings of sewing last week, but I forget how many. 


Center completed


Well this might not look different then last weeks picture but it really is, the 8th column was added on and all eight rows were sewn together. 

Tonight I moved on to the border and completed the first section of 10.  I wasn't sewing in a hurry just relaxed and watching TV.  When I plan to do some more I am going to follow the directions in the book closer so I can save some time.  I have a date with the long arm quilter to get this baby quilted and I don't plan to be late.  This quilt is way to big to place on my frame. 



First border section



Progress Made on the Double Irish Chain

Look I made some progress on our daughter's Double Irish Chain!!  Yesterday I had four rows done today I added three more rows.  I only have 8 more blocks to add.  All the blocks are chained stitched together.  After I sew on the last eight blocks, I'll start sewing the rows together in the other direction. 

I am planning on doing a Seminole border.  This will be a king size quilt.  I haven't done a quilt this big in awhile.  It is big!
It has been fun to get some sewing done.  Back to work tomorrow.

To take this photo, I draped the blocks on a mattress that is in our soon to be guest room.  The bed is leaning against the wall, so we can remove the popcorn ceiling and replace the carpet. A project to start next year.

Happy Stitching!

Double Irish Chain Update

All the blocks are done!  They have been done for a week and it took me evenings during the week to give them a final press.  They are all nicely pressed and I will start squaring them up, but I am going to do that one row at a time.  


All the blocks are done!



Saturday was my Scrapbooking day with friends and I made a few more pages. Here is one here and you an see the other 3 here.  I have about four more pages in an almost completed status.  



Memories

  I thought this page fits in well here on my quilting blog.

Have fun what ever you do!

Saturday in the Park

Block 2

Well not really it was still too hot out today.  I made ten of these instead of going to the park! Plus I run errands and went out to dinner with Mr. B.

On the Design Wall

This is what it is starting to look like.  This is when I wish I had a bigger design wall.  This baby is going to be a king size when ti is done.  The colors are growing on me, this is so way out of my comfort zone.  One of my friends saw it today and feels the colors are very rich.  It is funny how sometimes the right words can make you see something in a different light.

Happy Stitching!!

Friday Night Sewing!

I like Friday Nights! 

It is the end of the work week and the beginning of the weekend.  Tonight after dinner and watch a show with my Mr. B.  I went to my sewing room and made 8 of these blocks.  After running errands tomorrow I hope to get some more done!  I am wishing I had a design wall big enough to place this quilt on. 

Happy Stitching!

Mini Quilt Weekend

Well here are today's results.  Tomorrow it is back to work as normal.

I made more strips and blocks.  As you can see I still have more to make and a few more black centers to cut.  I also called my quilt shop to place this baby on the wait list to be quilted.  There is no way I am tackling this on my 9 inch machine even if it is on a frame.

Quilting Update

Well I have done some sewing and some more Family History scrapbook pages in the last two weeks. I put the scrapbooking away for a few days. I usually go to quilt camp the weekend after Labor Day but I wasn't able to go this year.  Long story and I am not going there.  So I decided that this Saturday, Sunday & Monday I would get as much sewing down as possible. 

First I need to catch you up what I finished last week. 
I finished appliqueing the scallops down on the fourth border of Fresh Picked Flowers.  It is all nicely pressed.  Now I am thinking of how to quilt it.  I think my idea is to do something in each white area so the flowers and colored areas pop more.  We shall see.  I hope to work on that on Monday.  No picture because it won't look at lot different then what you have seen.



Almost empty box of Yo-Yos

I also tacked down all the small Yo-Yos I had finished and started making more.  I didn't get far, I only made 5 more.  I think I need to put the Yo-Yos away for awhile and work on finishing Fresh Flowers and Kierra's Double Irish Chain quilt.  I have to make more blocks to finish off those large Yo-Yos but I am not making more blocks until these are finished.


Yo-Yo blocks



Yo - Yo Tally:

25 Blocks finished

9 partially done

Saturday I started our daughter's and her husband's new quilt.  She loved the black and red one I made for her when she was 15, She wanted black and red again this time, and the same pattern was fine.  We did add a third color.  I cut a lot of my strips yesterday and started making Block A.  Today I was bored with Block A and started some Block B.  Just to mix things up a bit. 



Double Irish Chain



I placed some blocks up on the design wall to see how they are going to look. The piles of blocks are on the ironing board.  In front are my mock up for making my strip sets.  I think it is going to look very nice.