Floral Applique

This is the second applique quilt I have quilted for this customer.

It's all needle turn applique and it is gorgeous!

Scrappy Baby Blocks

While most of the quilt is done in black thread, I used gold for the blocks and the blue borders.  The blue fabric has a gold wavy print and the backing print has lots of gold color.

Perfect print for the back.

Elmo in the Jungle!

This client put together a fun toddler quilt based around some Elmo fabric:

She used zebra, giraffe, minky for that awesome "touch factor," and a great dot that really packs a punch.

I quilted a freehand viney jungle leaf.

Front

Back

How fun is that?

Red, White & Blue Log Cabin

This customer quilt is not only beautiful, it is beautifully made. 

Pantograph: Sunny Daze, by Debra Geissler.

 Back.

~Happy Flag Day~

Just What are These Thingies?

- Thread Garages

- Shims

- Mothers

- Piggies- 

Bunnies or Bunny Tails

- Leaders & Enders

- Anchors

- Herman

- Thread Buddies

- Spiders

- Leads

Some of you may have been doing this for a long time, but it was new to me~!  I tried this for a couple of weeks before I shared this idea with you....and I can honestly say...I will NEVER be without them again.

Marcie Baker of Alicia's Attic sent this idea in her newsletter.  She posted 22 different reasons why these are useful.

The newsletters #34, 35, 36, 37 containing this great information are archived here:

Alicia's Attic- Issue #34, 35, 36, 37

I hope you find this as helpful as I did.  Wow.  I swear, I learn so many things from other quilters online.  Marci also has great binding videos.  She can teach you how to bind any angle corner.  You can find this on her site.  If you ever get a chance to take a class from her, do it!  I am not affiliated with her in any way, but she is a great teacher and well worth the time and money.

Viva Las Vegas!

Mexican Bird of Paradise

Last week, I was in Las Vegas, NV for a few days.  My daughter flew in from Minnesota.  I drove down from Idaho.  It's an 8 hour drive and I arrived at the Vegas airport to pick her up around 7pm.  We had 3 great days there.   The next day, my sister and family flew in from Pennsylvania.  That afternoon, we walked over 5 miles!  We pulled a 20 hour tour of the strip that night.  Four miles the next day....how do I know?  My daughter always carries a pedometer in her pocket.

Our daughter lived there for 3 years and knows her way around town pretty well.  However, our first stop is always the Ethel M. Chocolate Factory.  Ethel M is owned by Mars Inc. and was named after the mother of Forrest Mars, Sr.

Of course, the chocolate tour includes a sample at the end of the short tour.  Over the years, I have noticed that the samples are getting smaller and smaller....hmm...  But the highlight for me is the Botanical Cactus Garden that is on the property.  I have been there 5-6 times and it still fascinates me.

Mexican Bird of Paradise behind rocks

Cow's Tongue

Dwarf Joshua Tree

Mojave Yucca

Nevada Ephedra

 

Baja Cholla

Boojum Tree

Saguaros 

I didn't have a ruler with me, but when I got home this pen cap measured 1.5 inches.

It's a beautiful exotic place!

18 years of "Play Ball!"

This quilt has been so fun to make.  Pieced, quilted, bound, boxed, and in the mail for graduation on Saturday~!  Justin has been an athlete all his life.  He is graduating from Eastern Oregon University after enjoying 4 years playing football for the EOU Mountaineers.

His Mom has saved T-shirts from his pre-school T-Ball Baseball games through high school.  He added a few "Mountaineers" shirts.  I didn't plan it, but here is the beginning and the end side by side in this photo.

Pantograph: Hurricane by Kristin Hoftyzer

This block was a sweatshirt with a couple of sweatshirt appliqués from other parts of the shirt.  Who knew "sweatshirt" and "appliqué" could play nice?  Quilted up just great.

My favorite part.  I pieced his name on the back.

This is a great book if you want to piece letters.

Some of the older shirts had wonky numbers.  You can follow the generations of iron on/screen printing techniques and see the improvements over the past years.

The older shirts had those thick plastic numbers like this shiny black number.  While they don't give you any problems, you have to make sure you don't run out of thread on one of these numbers.  Any needle holes made in this plastic stuff are there for ever and ever.

See that patch I took from the sleeve and sewed on here?  Here's how I sew over it...

If you have something that your hopping foot might hit up against here is what I do: (If I am doing a freehand design from the front of the machine, this step is irrelevant.)  When I get to the area where the "bump" will be, I mark a spot with some painter's tape on the table over the pattern so I have a visual cue where to slow down.

Then, on the quilt top, I put painters tape over the "bump."  You can also use the sticky plastic wrap: Press and Seal by Glad. I have a roll of it in my studio that I used every once in a while for different things.  But, for a small area, I think tape works better.

This allows your hopping foot to glide right up on the patch and you simply slow down and continue sewing when you get to this area.

The needle perforates the tape and you simply pull it off when you are done.  Easy peasy.

Here is a link to the beginning of this quilt:  T-Shirt: work in progress .  I forgot to take photos of cutting and stabilizing the shirts.  However, I have a couple more t-shirt quilt to do and will share that process later.