Spring in Idaho

We have finally received some warm weather!  

My old Apricot tree is just full of bumble bees.  These are the "big as your thumb" bumble bees. 

A northbound butterfly stopped by to have lunch.

Funny, it really doesn't look like much from a distance!  This old tree is beautiful when it is all leafed out.

Spring plowing is done and the fall wheat is green.

The days are sunny with a cool breeze blowing off of the snow drifts on Black Pine Mountain.

Spring planting just tall enough to see across the furrows!

This is the view from my deck just outside the kitchen door.

Not much quilting going on, but lots of farming getting done!  Busy time of year for us here in the valley.

Mother and Daughter

These 2 cute baby quilts were made by a Mother and her daughter.

Quilted with Flower Power by Mary Eddy

Chocolate Minky backing.

Woops, I didn't do a very good job of hanging this fun little quilt!

Fay Feathers by Hermione Agee

Cream Minky backing

I just love how the bindings can set off a quilt!

Island Breeze

Y'all like leftovers?  I do!

You might recognize some of these fabrics from my past post.  I dug through my stash and added some other tropical flavor batiks to my leftovers from the last quilt I made.  I needed a birthday gift for a special lady and I had to have it done and in the mail tomorrow.  I love how simple it is, yet it's really cool!

I have seen this modern style all over bloggy land and had yet to try it out!

After sorting through my scraps, I grabbed some of this Riley Blake "Whisper White" solid (top bolt) to add to the quilt.  See, it's really not white at all, but a yummy silvery color. 

Here's where this all started, I measured this chunk of backing left from my last quilt and found I had just enough for a ~60 x 80 quilt plus some for binding. 

Quilted with a large swirly overall, labeled and ready to ship.

It's made with good vibes--pieced, quilted and bound to Jimmy Buffet and James Taylor~

Ocean Tropics Quilt

Pattern inspiration: Pinwheel Cove by Theresa Eisinger
Quiltmaker.com

Yay!  I just got the binding on this quilt this afternoon!  It is a commissioned quilt for a couple that were married on the beach at Catalina Island.  I quilted a variety of ocean themed items in the cream colored centers: shells, star fish, sand dollars and 5 of the blocks have dolphins. 

They specifically wanted some dolphins because when they took the ferry over to the island for the ceremony, the dolphins were running out on the ocean quite close to the boat. 

Since I have been blogging about this quilt for a couple of months:

Info on the piecing progress can be found here.

Info on the design tracing can be found here.

Here is the last block ready to quilt this afternoon. 

I love how the pebbles make the design pop . . . and overall, the pebbles mimic the beach texture. 

When it is done, you just spray the blue markings with water and they disappear.  

Each pebble block took about 30 minutes to quilt.

There are 2 different dolphin designs.

Sand Dollar

Shells . . .

Starfish. 

 . . . and my personal favorite--the seahorse.

The remainder of the quilt is simply quilted in a swirly-watery freehand design.

All the fabrics are batiks. The brown pinwheels represent little swirls of seaweed.

I LOVE the backing!

Such gorgeous color!

For large quilts I like to order "Fat Backs" from Christian Lane Quilters.

A Fat Back is one piece of fabric that is 108 x 117.  They also sell wide fabrics by the yard.

I'm not associated with them, just a satisfied customer.

It's ready to box up and ship . . . and I hate to see it go . . .

Quilt of Valor #53

  This top was sent to me by Kathy from a QOV group in Indiana.

Whoop! I have been waiting for this quilt for a couple of years!

I love all these shades of blue.

Yep, here it is: the solid back I have been waiting for . . .  

. . . to use my "FireWorks" pattern by Debra Geissler!~ 

Wowee!  It's really labor intensive.

I think I will leave this pattern to my quilting colleagues and friends who have computerized machines. 

Am I glad I used it?

Yes! I do like how it turned out.

Will I use it again?

Whew! Not for a long time. 

Hands 2 Help Charity

Hooking up to Sarah's Whoop Whoop! Friday with my progress on her

Hands 2 Help 2012 Charity Challenge

With about 57 quilters signed up, there should be close to 100 quilts sent to the charity!

I have one top pieced.

The binding will be stripe and the folded fabric is the backing.

Quilt #2 is partially cut and will be made from this fun racing fabric with a checkered flag binding.

Both quilts are flannel top and bottom.

Can't wait to get them finished!

Head on over to  Whoop Whoop! Friday to see what others have been working on this week!

Oh, and while you are over there, you will see that Sarah has some blocks and a quilt top made from feed sack fabric.

 Both selections will be auctioned off for the Charity.

Thirty blocks.

Muslin fabric from old sugar sacks.  Isn't this cool?

This top is 56 x 76.

She is auctioning them off for the Charity.