Fall 2010 Bloggers Quilt Festival

A late entry into the current Blogger's Quilt Festival. Thanks so much to Amy (Amy's Creative Side) for hosting this fabulous display of creativity once again. Right now I'm working on what is going to be my next entry in the Festival, but for now, completed quilts, Neptune (pictured above) is my favorite quilt.

I love all things beach/ocean. I also love Moda fabric. I've only been quilting a few years now and I found this fabric at one of the first shows I attended--Quilters Unlimited in June 2009. The pattern was relatively simple (a design by Cottonseed Glory, an Annapolis, MD quilt shop), and I just knew I had to make it, the minute I saw it.

I whipped the quilt top out right away,sandwiched and ready to go by the end of June 2009, but I was so in love with that project that I did not want to attempt to quilt this baby until I had a few classes in freemotion, and after that, procrastinator that I am, I decided it needed to wait until I had a new sewing machine as well (a Bernina with a BSR).

Of course, I got that machine last October, but I wasn't confident enough to start the quilting on Neptune until this past June, where I was careful, a little daring, and quilted the heck out of it (which is a look I just love).

In the beginning of my quilt experience I made meticulous little signature blocks to put on the backs of each quilt I made (that got old pretty quick).

I'm very pleased with how it all turned out, so was Paco

The most important things I learned from making this quilt are:

1. Have confidence in your ability to freemotion. You won't be sorry. While you can study designs, chalk them on fabric, sew through paper, the best thing (and the one that won't result in looking forced) you can do is to let your mind guide the fabric through your needle. You'll be far less disappointed (and rip out far fewer stitches) if you aren't trying to copy what someone else was feeling while they stitched. Freemotion is not about rigidity and coloring inside the lines. Think about it....free motion.
2. Heavy quilting uses lots of thread :) It also results in an interesting look which has a non-comforter feel to it. I like it. The more it's washed, the more it looks like a comfortable, been around for a long time quilt.
3. Never feel bad about setting something aside until you're feeling the need to work on it. This sandwich hung on my studio door for a year. Had I rushed into quilting it, it most definitely would not have become my favorite quilt, or a project I was proud of in the end. Don't look at something as a UFO that needs to be rushed through. Look at it as a project you're savoring, something deserving of your full, unrushed attention, a quilt top that is waiting for you to decide you're ready to turn it into your current masterpiece. We've all heard 'the best things in life are worth waiting for'. 

Thanks for checking out my 'masterpiece'. I hope you're inspired to create your own.

Good Thing I Picked Up Another 500 Safety Pins Friday

As we can see, I've been busy this weekend. Figured out block placement on the Neptune quilt, pieced it sashed it and it hit the pinning table this morning. Phew! Of course, I love it.

And the birthday quilt for my neice was next up for pinning, right after I finished Neptune. I just love how bright and cheery this one is...very teenage girlish.

Now all I've got to do is strap on the walking foot and get to work, but first a break to run out and pick up a dozen crabs and a few sides for dinner, feed the always hungry dogs and then later I hope to get back up to the studio to finish at least one of these tonight.

If only I were 'bewitched'.....my sister came to sew yesterday and left her Bernina 830 Record (and no, I didn't have to twist her arm, thank you) behind since she's coming back to sew next Saturday. A little nose wigglin' and I'd be done!

Someone posted a comment when I first uploaded my new studio photos asking me to post a photo after I was done working in it. Okay, here you go. This is a photo taken this morning, after I spent last night doing a little quilting and organizing. Yes, I am a neat freak. A clean studio is a happy studio. It takes me all of 5 or 10 minutes to put things away at night and take them out again the next day. Obsessive/compulsive? Not really. Look at it from this perspective...we all cook, but we don't leave everything open and out on the counters because we're going to cook again tomorrow, so why should the workspaces we create in be any different? (It also helps to always have fresh flowers in the room :) )This is a close-up of the lovely orchid on my sewing table. And yes, it is real. This was the second of my orchids to flower for me this year, and this one is stunning. It's been in full flower for about two months now. I think it likes the chi in it's new home. It strives to stay pretty to outshine the fabrics and projects going on in there, and it's doing a great job of it, don't you think?

Oh dear, just as we've left it for a couple weeks, the black/white/green sandwich. I really do love this quilt, but for some reason I keep putting off finishing it.

Oh look! We've found a use for the sewing armoire....it's the new ironing armoire. Again, number two on my 'Top 10 Things I'm Procrastinating About List'.......painting this armoire white (and then getting an embroidery machine to put inside it Ha Ha!)


My darling husband forked over some really nice long wooden golf tees for me to use to keep my thread spool and matching bobbins together.

And yesterday, at the dollar store, I found these ice cube trays (they make sticks of ice to slip into water bottles) and darned if they don't fit the 'teed up' spools perfectly. So when I'm working on a couple projects at one time, I can just lay out the threads I need in this tray so they're close at hand. Of course, now this means I need to buy the small spools of thread so they fit in the 2/$1.00 trays.....
This past weekend's projects.....The Friendship Star Quilt Guild block. Call me a geek, but I'm new to the guild and I intend to proudly wear my block to the meetings. I just need to find a cool lanyard to hang it from that I can put all my show pins on. Notice the hand embroidery. Whatever. I haven't embroidered forever, but I needed personalization and didn't think I could just walk into JoAnn and ask one of the ladies selling sewing machines if she'd embroider my name on this for me. Anyway, the block isn't too large, maybe 6" x 6". And I used my South African Indigo charm squares on it. Note the freemotion on the muslin. I glued on the teeny tiny piecing in the friendship star, and then I needed to meticulously stitch around each tiny piece when they started to fall off. (Duh! That's what I get for using non-permanent applique glue.)


And, in the spirit of finishing what we start (except for the black/white/green :) ), I've sandwiched and started the freemotion on the Maple Leaves of Friendship table quilt I was testing. I'm going to finish that up tonight because I am itching to start.......
NEPTUNE!!!!!!! Went to the Quilters Unlimited Guild show in Chantilly, VA last Saturday and saw this at the Cottonseed Glory (an Annapolis, MD shop) booth. O-M-G....the colors and the nautical prints are pure fabulosity. And surprise, surprise, it's from Moda. (Moda and me, we've got a thing going on).

Bought the pack of 13 fat quarters, a fantastically simple pattern, ordered some backing and borders from the Tula Pink Neptune line Monday (online sale - only $7.13 a yard), and can not wait to start on this. I think I'm going to bump it up in the queue. (Actually, I think I already subconsciously did, if you pay attention to the threads in the new little ice tray organizer pictured above.)