Monday Making

After getting my snowball quilt basted....finally.....

...I began some hand quilting this week.

Yeah!!!

Getting all those ugly basting stitches in

takes time...

but it is SO worth it!

I am using Perle cotton....

And hoping to add another color or two as I go.

One snowball at a time!

I posted about basting and quilting this quilt on my you tube channel.

HERE.

What are YOU making this week??

Monday Making

There are so many WONDERFUL quilting books!

This week I will be searching through mine

to find some inspiration for another

TABLE MAT!

I will also work a little more on hand quilting my

"H" quilt.

:)

What are YOU making this week???

Thanks to all who link up each week!

Monday Making

My knitting is taking a back seat this week

as I try to get some more hand quilting into

my "H" quilt!!

SOMEDAY it will be a finished quilt...

but it's hard to imagine WHEN that someday will be!

If I leave this quilt out and HANDY.....

I'm more likely to add stitching.

What are YOU making this week??

Quilt crossings

This quilt just returned home  

from a traveling exhibit

"Crossings"

I'm happy to now hang her up in MY house!

It is very minimalist and contains

LOTS of recycled even some "ancient" fabrics.

I say ancient because the OLD old muslins

I included are stained and probably

100 years old.

I LOVED adding that element to this quilt!

The old fabric gives this quilt a quality

that Joanns just couldn't.

The hand quilting adds so much TEXTURE!

Hand quilting.

Old fabric.

Piecing scraps together.

Just SOME of the reasons I LOVE to quilt!

Red Blue Pink

I finished this quilt recently and found out...

It was the PERFECT quilt to hang as we welcome a wee one

into our home for the next few weeks or months.

I did a lot of hand quilting on this with white, blue and pink thread.

I love this design so much...

I'm very tempted to pull out another color scheme and begin AGAIN!

My sewing room is a little bit busier than usual...

and that's JUST fine with me.

;)

Monday Making

It's Monday

and It's CHILLY at my house.

Woo hoo!!!

Quilt making weather...finally!

;)

I'm hand quilting

and hand quilting SOME MORE!

An art quilt exhibit deadline is looming.

One thing I LOVE to use when hand quilting 

is Thread heaven.

(That little blue box on the left)

It's a thread conditioner and protectant.

The best thing about it is that it helps reduce

tangling and knotting.

Well...

that's my little tip for the day.

What are YOU up to this week??

Monday Making

I've been sewing!

Sewing by HAND.

Hand quilting to be exact.  ;)

One little stitch at a time.

It is a peaceful and productive activity

that I love!

Hand quilting while camping

is the definitely the perfect combination!!!

Finding my dropped thimble or needle in the dirt

is NOT so perfect though.

LOL!

What are you making??

Inspiration

I don't know about you...

but old quilts like this one INSPIRE me!

The old fabric.

The lack of FUSSY piecing.

The idea that a square in a square block was the jumping off place...

but the square in a square block is never SQUARE!

;)

of course...

the string pieced squares make this one EXTRA special.

I LOVE string quilts.

I mentioned recently that old quilts have been finding their way to my house.

I can't say NO to old quilts...

but I am NOT a collector.

They may not STAY at my house...

but I enjoy touching....

Looking....

admiring them for a little while.

This quilt is UNfinished.

Someone began quilting it a long time ago

and I JUST might finish the job!

What do YOU admire about these old GEMS???

Wednesday

I found this quilt yesterday at the thrift store....

and....

I had to bring it HOME.

;)

Love the way this quilter signed her quilt!

Lulu SHOULD be proud!

The blocks and hand quilting are AMAZING!

Happy Wednesday friends!!!

Monday

Hand Quilting usually takes me a long time.

It doesn't happen when I'm at HOME!

It happens when I'm in the car...

or sitting in waiting rooms...

or confined in a meeting...  :)

This sweet baby quilt, FILLED with little pieces of

someone ELSE's leftovers, is now D.O.N.E.

Thanks to a VERY long car trip.

I didn't wait to add some binding!

I added it the VERY night we got home!

Hah!

Guess I was missing my sewing machine!

This baby quilt is small.

I pieced it about 6 years ago on ANOTHER family trip.

I was forced to USE WHAT I HAD!!

That's ONE thing I LOVE about quilting.

USING UP.

Not letting ONE little scrap go to waste!

Especially when they're CUTE little scraps.

This is a REAL use it UP quilt!

The little strips came to me in a small baggie.

OOooh! I LOVE little bags of SCRAPS!!!

Here's my NEXT "use it UP" quilt!!!

Also known as

DUMP and SEW!

Soft scraps.

Some SUPER sweet little baby prints!

Another quilt has BEGUN!!!

A Little bit of slow stitching

Last night

after a VERY big day

all I wanted to do was SIT and watch something....

knitting in hand.

 

But my knitting skills are not UP THERE yet.

I totally forgot how to increase at the end of each row.

:(

I did not have the patience to figure it out....

so I pulled out something that did NOT require

BRAIN power.

;)

 

This is one of my very first dump and sew quilts.

A little tiny baby quilt.....

Put together on a ski trip (I wasn't skiing)

about 5 years ago.

 

DUMP and sew is the technical term

for sewing random pieces together

in a random format.

It's always nice when the random pieces

have a theme.

These scraps were mostly 30's looking prints.

 

It was a very small baggy of scraps...as I recall.

I added batting and an old piece of cotton to the back.

Quickly spray basted and gave myself a LONG line to quilt.

Pulled out some BRIGHT green thread.

THEN...

I was able to sit down after my LONG day

and STITCH.

;)

I have a few lines done.

Yeah!

I KNOW this little quilt will be calling my name

 from the dining room table

ALL day long as I do my chores.

 

I will try NOT to listen.

;)

 

Mellow Yellow

Before leaving to help my relative last week,

I prepared this quilt for a little hand work!

 

I machine quilted diagonal lines through each of the bigger squares.

 

Then I packed it up.

It was the perfect project to have along.

 

I chose a few different embroidery floss colors...

and just did a simple little stitch around each of the small squares.

I used three strands.

 

A little HAND STITCHING

goes a LONG way!!!

 

I THINK it adds SO MUCH!!!

LOVE the backing on this one!

It's all rolled up.

Ready to be given away!

Do you know as many

MOMMIES-to-be

as I DO?????

Hand stitching

I spent a LONG day in the hospital waiting room yesterday.

My Godmother requested I be there for her surgery.

I'm so glad I could be there for her....

And...

 

I'm so glad I had these orphan blocks to work on.

I am quilting them up

and will be donating them as table toppers

for a fundraiser coming up!

 

I hope to make at least 10!

Thought they'd be MACHINE quilted.....

but don't they look nice with those big stitches???

 

The ONLY problem.....

I RAN OUT of thread!

 

 

Sewing Solids

Today....

While sewing with friends...

I put BIG. UGLY. STITCHES.

Into my quilt.

 

I was dreading this job,

so I waited until I had friends to talk with!

It made a tedious job go MUCH faster!

Basting this quilt is the FIRST step

to a hand quilted FINISH!

Here's the backing.

Isn't this GREAT fabric???

IKEA to the rescue!

;)

Glad I found some fabric that I REALLY, really like

since I'll be spending LOTS of time with this one!

I put a few quilting stitches in....

It's now ALL ready to be my

TAKE along project!!!

Just in TIME!......

 

Soccer practice is TONIGHT!

;)

Quilt.....check

Needle and Thread....check

Scissors.....check

I'm set!!!