Quilt of Valor

One more Quilt of Valor pieced by a group in Columbus, Indiana.  I quilted an over all pattern called "Allegiance" by Kristin Hoftyzer using red, white and blue variegated thread.

 

Gray thread on the back. 



Quilt of Valor

I love the jewel tones of this quilt.

This quilt was pieced and sent to me by a QOV group in Columbus, Indiana.

Back

We All Sew!

There are lots of great places on the web to find information, tutorials and ideas.  Head on over to We All Sew where my blog will be featured for the next week!

We All Sew is sponsored by Bernina--a machine that I have been sewing on for over 10 years.

I thought this would be a good time to post some photos of a few of my sewing machines.

This is my main workhorse when I sew.

It is a Bernina Virtuosa 153 Quilters Edition and it is 11 years old.

My serger is a Bernett 800 D. 

I have had this for about 15 years.  Back in the day, I used it a lot when I was making kids clothes.  I still make most of my husband's shirts using this little gem.

He loves flannel shirts for winter.

I learned to sew on my Grandmother's "modern" Singer.  

As I grew up, all my clothes were made on this machine.  From the 8th grade on, I made most of my own clothes.  This was before fancy finishing stitches or even zig zag stitches.  It only sews a straight stitch.  I learned to sew French seams and Flat-Felled seams to prevent fabric from unravelling and fraying inside garments.  I keep it tucked up here on the window shelf above my APQS Green Millennium.

My Dad gave this Singer Featherweight to my Mother the first Christmas they were married.

I have made a few garments on this machine also.  I know there are lots of quilters that like to use these for piecing.  It still works great; but, I have never pieced a quilt on this machine.  I like my free hand system to raise and lower my presser foot and my needle positioner on my Bernina too much.

I keep this little machine up here on this window shelf.  Along with my Mom's tapestry sewing bag, a wooden bowl of silk thread wound on their original wooden spools and a stuffed animal that Mom made for me before I was born.  A few months ago, I blogged about my Grandmother's Sewing Basket that sits up here also.

I love repurposing and recycling!  These sewing machine covers are made from black cotton panel curtains.  Originally, I made the curtains from a new black bed sheet with white piping trim for my son's bedroom.  It matched his black and white checkered flag/race car theme he had in his room. 

When I first got my quilting machine, I practiced what ever I could find in my fabric storage.   

I took a cone of Rainbows variegated thread that came with my machine and started to doodle.  This was one of the first times I ever used my machine.  Now, every time I walk into my studio I find it empowering to look at these beginning doodles and realize how far I have come in the past 4 years. 

Here is the original panel with all my doodling before I cut it up to make the sewing machine covers.

Old Fashioned Sampler

This sampler is quilted with 100% cotton batting and a muslin backing.  When is is washed it will look just like it came out of Grandma's cupboard!

 Front and Back.

 

Here are a few of the blocks. 

Front and back

Front and back.

Front and back

Front and back.

Front and back.

Front and back.



Oh My Stars!

I love patriotic fabric and really enjoyed quilting this top.

Since the stars are tumbling and twirling all different directions, I quilted the entire background of the stars with wavy streamers.

I outlined each star with a funky freehand stitch and put a swirl in the center.

The back fabric has miniature blue stars.

Plowing up the fields

My client made this quilt for her grandson.  He will graduate this spring and has been in the field helping his Dad and Grandfather since he was able to walk!

I loved the look of Shannon's contour design I saw over on her piecefulkwilter blog.  I love everything this lady does and check out her quilt blog almost daily.  She calls this her topo meander.  I think it's a perfect fit for this "farming" quilt.

John Deere Tractors, green, yellow, brown and black.

The prints reminded me of tractor wheels, planted rows, and assorted fields: green- growing crops, yellow-ready to harvest, brown-ready to plant.

The back!

I quiltied the top and bottom with black thread--interesting that the thread hardly shows at all on the back, even close up.  I guess the eye is too busy looking at the checkered fabric!