Saturday, December 8, 2012

New Design Wall

We left the design wall in the Idaho studio since it was built right on the wall.
They are easy to make and terrific to use!


This was my old 72'' x 72'' design wall in Idaho.
 Here is my new one in Ohio measuring 77" x 90"
Yep, it's floor to ceiling.  I was always wanting more room than I had on my old one.
Here's how we made it:
Install wood frame directly on the wall.  Here it's on a cement wall. 
I have to digress for a moment.  I have never seen a basement wall done like this--the cement forms were stamped to look like brick.  The previous owner had painted the entire basement and it looks great!  This room is white with silver stripes.  Interesting. Luckily, the quilting room and family room next door is done in a warmer beige.
                                       Anyway, install your frame, we just used a simple pine 1x3 boards.
We bought 2 -4x8' sheets of 1/2" house insulation and cut them to fit the frame.
It's a lovely raspberry color huh?
When you have them both cut to fit just right but not too tight, we used a high tech method to put them together: duct tape.  Used it on the first one we made and knew you can't get it off without tearing the insulation apart.  I already had my flannel yardage sewn and laid down on the floor.  More duct tape ensured a snug fit. 
It ain't pretty, but it works like a charm!
Remember rolling up tape and sticking it to itself when you were a kid to stick your artwork on Mom's fridge?  More duct tape rolled up here to keep the plastic side of the insulation "stuck" to the wall.  Yes, we could spread caulk, glue, or silicone on the wall, but who wants that under neath here some future day?

Once you have the whole flannel-covered insulation slab back in your original frame, nail a smaller board onto the frame with half of it on the frame and half covering the insulation slab. (we used a 1"x 2")  This will keep your flannel board nice and snug.  Took us about 3 hours including making a trip ALL the way across town to Lowes and JoAnns!  In Idaho that would have been a 180 mile round trip just to get supplies!  ugh..
Now, you can simply stick your blocks on the flannel, or if you need to you can stick a pin in the board.  Works wonderfully well!
As you can see, I have a few of my Hereford quilt blocks up here....more to come!

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Hereford Quilt

Here is what I am working on for a lady for Christmas.  
This is for her grandson . . .he loves Herefords!
I am going to use a huge block of the fabric in the quilt center and made 30 fancy cuts for smaller blocks. 
When she asked me if I had ever seen any Hereford fabric, I said no, most "cow" fabric is black and white.

 . . . and I wondered, come on, why is that?  I was raised on a cattle ranch that was populated by Herefords!  We certainly didn't have any black and white cattle hanging around--even our old milk cow was a Guernsey when I was a kid!

Imagine my excitement when I found a yard of this on eBay and traced it to the manufacturer and was able to order 5 yards!  I know that's fabric over-kill for a 75 x 84 quilt, but I now I can say I have it on the shelf!
You have no idea how tempting it was to order the whole bolt.

I will post progress as I go . . .

Yee Haw!

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Baby Quilt

One last cuddly baby quilt done~  
 I used Hobbs 80/20, but the backing is also thick, so it feels like I used a really puffy batting.
The backing is a really thick pile minky.  

Thursday, August 30, 2012

His and Hers

My client made 2 lap quilts for her granddaughter's wedding: His and Hers!
I just finished the groom's quilt:

I used the panto Maori Moko from Meadowlyon.com.
It's actually a tribal pattern, but I like it for masculine quilts as i think it also looks like gears and wheels.

 Black textured Minky backing:
 Here we go . . .  this is the actually color....yummy!

I did the brides quilt sometime back but here it is again:


Pantograph: "Feelin' Groovy" by Michelle Wyman & Terry Watson


Thursday, August 16, 2012

Wedding Quilt

What a beauty this is...
I love the rich colors my customer chose for this Kim Diehl pattern.
She made this for her daughter's wedding. Appliqueing for the first time, she did a wonderful job!
I copied one of the applique flowers for the corner blocks.  This brings the flower border all the way around the center with the quilting.  I also went for a folk art type of feather in the large triangles.

What fun this was to quilt! 

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Quilt of Valor #59 & #60

These 2 QOV tops were made by Fern from WA.
The big mixed color blocks are explosions of stars and ribbons...and provided my inspiration for this quilt.
Big swirling fireworks with a floating ribbon in the outer border.  Folded ribbon candy in the red border.




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This quilt is mostly ruler work . . . 
. . . with spirals in the star centers and curls in the outer border. 
I love all the secondary patterns this quilt makes! 

Thanks Fern!

Friday, August 3, 2012

Quilt of Valor #58

This QOV was made by Lana from Northern Idaho.

I tried my hand at "Dwirling" by Dawn Ramirez.  It's a fun, easy and freehand.
Gives great movement to a quilt. 
Gold thread top and bottom. 
Thanks Lana! 

Friday, July 6, 2012

Time Out for Quilting

We had  little sprinkle of much needed rain yesterday.  Not enough to do any good for the countryside or crops, but it sure did freshen the air!  It was, however, enough to stop me from painting the deck so I put on a quilt!

This customer made this quilt for a grandson's graduation.  Don't you just love it when people are so organized?   Graduation for next spring!
Ack! I should have shut my blinds, you can see the light shining through the back!
Since this is for a young man, I decided to go with an over all back and forth pattern--a different way in alternating blocks.  I don't know about you, but I have a hard time figuring out "masculine" quilting patterns.

When I began, I chose one random repeating fabric block and put large pebbles in just for fun.
I divided up the border into triangles and quilted the same back and forth pattern.

Back.
Nothing frilly about this!
I think he will like it!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Welcome to the WightHouse

OK.  You probably won't see too many quilty things here for the next 6 weeks or so.

We are gearing up for harvest and getting lots of summer jobs done on the farm.  In between helping with everything else, I have been stripping and refinishing our deck.

For over 30 years, we have enjoyed this little piece of heaven in the evenings after a long day on the farm.  In all that time, our deck never looked this sad.  I purchased all the supplies to refinish it in 2009....right after harvest.
Then I had some health problems and it took a couple of years to get back to where I could actually put in a 12 hour day again.
Oh dear, it gets worse.
I have grape vines that grow over the top and provide shade in the summer.  This photo was taken about a month ago so the grapes have not filled completely out yet.  After the leaves are gone, the winter sun shines in and the snow can fall through.
See that old wagon wheel sign on the back wall?

I have a sweet neighbor gal that does awesome woodwork.  Several years ago, I had her make me this sign and then had hubby help me hang it up on this old wagon wheel rim with some coiled barb wire.
I just love it!

Our last name is Wight so . . . 
See how rustic it is?
How can this be cute, shabby chic . . . 
 . . . and this is just shabby?
It just boggles my mind.

The top is done, but I want to wait to post photos when the entire deck is done.

Stay Tuned!

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