Thinking About My Next Quilt

I LOVE the design phase of quilting, possibly more than FMQ.  I love dreaming up all of the possibilities. So here is a sneak peek at my next quilt.

Fabric for the top (including the "Mushroom" Kona on the bottom)

Fabric for the back. I will also add some of the "Mushroom" from the front.

I'm really excited about this new project. I have a simple design in mind, but it will push me to try some new techniques.

I'm linking up today with Making Rebecca Lynne for Think Tank Thursday!

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

WIPping on the Stripes!

Who doesn't love stripes? Okay, so maybe there are people that don't love stripes, but I adore them, especially for binding.

The binding on my Koi Pond quilt is almost complete.

Not quite halfway around. I decided this quilt deserved a hand stitched binding. I glue my bindings before I stitch them so much better than pins.

Yesterday, I finished my Sweet Little Orphan Baby quilt, with a striped binding. Not bad considering last week, I had just completed the top! This was my first project using a longarm machine to quilt - lots of fun!

So one finish this week and one almost finished. WOW, my list is kind of small! Guess I'm going to have to get some new projects started!

Here are this weeks stats:
In-process: (2)
Elephant quilt
Koi Pond quilt -  Finish the binding

New projects: (0)

Finished (1)
Orphan Baby Quilt. - done

   
I'm linking up with  Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday

 

Color Me Quilty!

 

Pat

My Sweet Little Orphan Baby Quilt is Finished!

 The binding is on and sweet little orphan baby quilt is complete. I love striped binding and I have the same stripe in the quilt.

I will definitely be using Quilters Dream Puff batting again. I love the "Puff"!

Back was pieced from stash

Finished size 40" x 50". A generous sized baby quilt.

All ready for some future baby, this quilt is going into my growing stash of quilts.

I'm linking up today with A Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday and Free Motion by the River for Linky Tuesday. 
Also linking up to Cat Patches for January's 2013 NewFO Challenge, because this is a January start (and finish)!

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

First Time On A Longarm!

I am a lucky girl! A friend just got a longarm machine in October and let me play with it yesterday. So the little baby quilt that I put together last week from some orphan blocks was just the ticket to use for this practice.

We had a little trouble with the thread breaking at the beginning. We added some fabric on the edges to practice. Just like on a domestic machine, it's best to use the same thread top and bobbin. Once we did that, it was smooth sailing.

I used Quilters Dream Puff batting and it gave me almost a trapunto look.

The hardest part was around the blocks. It was hard to stop the momentum of the machine in the smaller areas.

The back was pieced from my stash. By no means is the quilting even close to perfect, but I think it looks pretty good for a first time.

All in all, I had a good day. I'm not sure I'm ready to jump into longarm quilting, though. I like sitting at my domestic machine, I feel like I have better control. But I really like having the longarm option for certain quilts, it's a huge bonus. A big "THANK YOU" CHRIS!

Now I just need to trim and bind it. Yippee, Skippee!

I'm linking up with Leah Day for UFO Sunday at the Free Motion Quilting Project, since this quilt is using up some orphan blocks.

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Woohoo! Finished Quilting!

Oh Yeah! I finished quilting my Koi Pond quilt and I am in love with it. It is my "current" favorite quilt, of all of the quilts I've made so far.

I have never done straight line quilting and thought it would be a good time to start. So that's what I did with the outside border. I think it is a good contrast with the "fish scales" on the navy border.

The quilt is approx. 58"x78", pieced and quilted with Aurifil thread. Now I just need to trim and bind it.

I'm linking up with Leah Day at The Free Motion Project for FMQ Friday and Nat at Made at Home for TGIFF.

Color Me Quilty! 

Pat

First Little Finish for 2013!

Okay, so it is just a little finish. But a finish is a finish and my Pond Pillow is complete!

The front of this pillow was December's Sew Cal Gal FMQ challenge. It will coordinate with my Koi Pond quilt, once that's done.

FMQ detail

The back! I found this gilt FQ the other day and just loved the sparkle.

"Antique" mismatched buttons - my husband thinks I'm crazy for intentionally using different buttons, but I love it.

I did work on a few other projects this week. I continued to quilt my Koi Pond quilt.

I love my little fishies.

I also made this little baby quilt top from some old orphan blocks.

All in all it was a productive week.
Here are this weeks stats:
In-process: (2)
Elephant quilt
Koi Pond quilt -  continued FMQ

New projects: (1)
Orphan Baby Quilt. - make back and quilt
 
Finished (1)
Pond Pillow

   
I'm linking up with  Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday

 

Color Me Quilty!

 

Pat

Gallivanting in the Name of Quilting!

A little FMQ fun on my Koi Pond quilt

Saturday was a beautiful, warm day, at least for the finger lakes area of New York state. So I decided to go gallivanting in the name of quilting. I went to three quilt shops! The problem is to get to them. I ended up driving the entire way around Seneca Lake. Seneca Lake is the largest finger lake, which is about 40 miles long. One of my stops was O'Susannah's  in Watkins Glen. It is a lovely little shop, made even better because they sell Aurifil thread. I picked up a few more colors, so that I could continue quilting my Koi Pond quilt.

I've played around with variegated thread, but this is the first time I actually used it in a quilt. I like it.

A few more little fishies and quilting around the flowers.

I have to have a well stocked pond, so a few more fishies.

My machine, a Pfaff QE 4.0, is a bit temperamental to say the least, but this thread is running through my machine really well. I am having so much fun quilting this quilt. Unfortunately, my long weekend is over and I'm going back to work.

Today I'm linking up with A Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday and Free Motion by the River for Linky Tuesday.

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Sweet Little Orphan Baby Quilt

 

I was cleaning up my sewing area and I came across these sweet little orphan blocks that were in my mom's stash. I have no idea why there were just three or when they were made, my best guest would be the 1990's. In the back of my mind, I've been searching for something to practice on a friend's new longarm machine, that she said I could try out. Then, if that wasn't enough, I found this coordinating fabric yesterday at my LQS.

I found almost a perfect match to the darker pink in the block.

Quilt is approx. 42" x 48"

Leah Day had mentioned that you should make up a few spare baby quilts to have on hand. Well, I think this will qualify, for a girl that is!

Although I don't really count my mom's UFO's as seriously as I count mine, I still count it as a UFO. So I'm linking up with the Free Motion Quilting Project for UFO Sunday!

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Water and Seaweed!

At least that's what I'm imagining when I FMQed a little more of my Koi Pond quilt.

My imagination sees this line of paisley as a rope of seaweed.

Three little minnows swimming in among the seaweed

I don't think I have ever enjoyed FMQ as much as I have been on this quilt. One more day at work (today), then a lovely three day weekend. Yippee, Skippee!

Since I cleaned up the majority of my UFOs last year, I feel like I can give my imagination permission to create. It feels so good!

I'm linking up with the fabulous Leah Day at the Free Motion Quilting Project for FMQ Friday! What have you been quilting?

Color Me Quilty!

Pat