Sunday, December 29, 2013

Feathers!

I tried my hand at quilting feathers today.  Just practicing and trying to learn how though!   I am putting a five inch border on a quilt and am planning to quilt feathers in the border.


I drew a five inch border on this practice quilt sandwich.


Can't wait to get that quilt top finished and start quilting so I can see how the feathers turn out.

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Winds of Change - Finished

I finished the Buckeye Beauty/Jewel Box quilt just in time to sleep under it on Christmas Eve!  Quilting those swirls was very time consuming, but I stuck with it until it was done.


I have been trying to think of a name for this quilt.  The swirls remind me of wind blowing and I finished it just in time for a new year which usually means change.  So "Winds of Change" it is.....


It was a very cold and cloudy day when I took these pictures.  But, the wind was light, which helped with the picture taking.



 
 
 
Here's the scrappy back:


Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Merry Christmas!

I hope you have a very merry and peaceful Christmas! Here are a few glimpses of Christmas in our home.







Wednesday, December 18, 2013

WIP Wednesday

I'm linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced HERE.

My Jewel Box/Buckeye Beauty quilt top has been completely pin basted and sitting in the corner of my sewing room since this past February, 2013. 



So last weekend, after I finished sewing all the Christmas presents I intended to make, I set everything up for free motion quilting.  I put the folding table up to the left of the sewing machine, put the quilting foot on the machine and filled some bobbins. 



This quilt is really scrappy.  It contains every single kind of fabric you can think of, including a few Christmas prints.  I decided to quilt it with swirls, which might not have been the best decision, since swirls are much more time consuming that my normal puzzle piece meander quilting. 



So far I'm almost to the half way point with the quilting.  I would really love to finish it completely, binding and all, by the time this coming weekend comes to an end, but that might be a bit ambitious.  I should at least be able to finish it by the end of the year.



One way I manage to get some quilting done, even when I'm really busy with other things, is to quilt in 15 minute segments.  Sewing for one 15 minute segment out of each hour is slow, but steady.  It keeps me from getting too burned out with the quilting.  The swirls quilting is hard on my right wrist, for some reason, and quilting for long periods of time is not good.  After work, if I can quilt for a couple of 15 minute segments, I feel like I've made good progress for the day.

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Finished All Eight

I had grand ideas of going outside to hang all eight of these mini quilts on the clothesline for a photo shoot. Shoot! Too windy, cold and looks like rain any minute. I tried, but the wind blew them off faster than I could pin them on!



So I had to settle for spreading them all out on the couch in the dim cloudy day light.  But, whatever!  I'm done with Christmas sewing and can't wait to start some non-gift sewing.

Remember this quilt top?  Its the Buckeye Beauty/Jewel Box quilt I worked on in February and March of this year.  Its been pin basted and ready to quilt all this time and I'm going to start machine quilting it before the weekend is over.  This would be a good final finish for the year 2013!


I've already started my quilting "to do" list for 2014.  The projects include a wedding gift, a Hubby throw size quilt, the Road Trip Quilt Along quilt from the Summer of 2012 and a Sunflower/chicken one for me. 

Friday, December 13, 2013

Finished Two More Game Board Quilts for Guy Gifts

This one is for the outdoorsman. I love the browns and greens. Not too much camo, but just enough!



This one is for the ECU graduate. 
 

I quilted it with gold thread.


I ordered checkers, but they are red and black.  I may spray paint the red ones to match the game boards.... maybe not...   We'll see!

Friday, December 6, 2013

Finish it up Friday

Here's another Miniature Quilt that I finished this week. This is number 6 of these that I am making for Christmas gifts. It has appliqued Scottie Dogs on it.



Two more to go!