Sweet Little Table Topper

Fun retro fabrics are in this 48 x 48 table topper.  This is the 3rd quilt I have done for this client and they always arrive well pressed and flat.  Working on them is a joy.

Back

Denim and Flannel

My client made this for her son-in-law.  He has a trucking company and this is for his sleeper.  It's heavy and cozy with denim and flannel patches on the top.  The backing is also flannel.



Roses for Mom's Birthday

 Today is my Mom's 87th Birthday

I made this little lap quilt for her.  She is in a wheel chair and lives in a care center.   I think this will brighten up her room!

It is a simple pieced quilt that is all about the quilting texture.

This all-over wild rose pattern is just what it needs.

It will be washed in a commercial washer and needs to be sturdy.

No wonder they call an unquilted top a"flimsy!"  Doesn't look like much from here~

There were wild roses along the ditch banks where I grew up.  They were always pink and had 5 petals.  Mom used to have them in a little glass vase on the kitchen table in the summer.

Just in time for Football

Another fleece blanket for a customer.

Just in time for those chilly football games this fall.

Freehand spirals.

Logging Miles on the old Bernina

The months of July and August are pretty much spent on the farm.  However, I have spent some chunks of quality time piecing quilts this summer.  Also, I have been waiting for some new wheels for the under-carriage of my quilting machine.  Now that harvest is over, I am ready to put in some long hours in the studio.
 

Here are 3 tops I pieced in August.

Last winter, my husband built a wide ladder for me and attached it to the wall so I have a place to hang my quilt tops waiting to be quilted.

I have a separate place for quilt tops that customers have made.  When I receive them, I hang them with their backing on padded hangers, cover them with plastic and pin the quilting orders on each quilt.  I try to quilt them in the order as I receive them, new quilts always go in the back so the next quilt in line is always right up front.

I think I will be busy till Christmas!



Harvest in the High Desert

Harvest is over for the year.

Thanks to Ben, Josh, Bryce and Becky.

Photo by Becky Campbell

My husband in the field at sundown.

Photo by Becky Campbell



The upper fields are all cut and we are bringing the dozer back to the yard.  Since we have to make our own roads, might as well clean off the edge as we are travelling home.  The dozer is always taken up to the upper fields in case of fire.  This old girl has built many a fire line around the county over the past 50 years.

Summer kitties are big enough to play outside the wood shed.



The last and final crop of hay is stacked.

Plowing up the alfalfa hay fields.

They will be planted with wheat next spring.

The fall dry-farm planting is done . . . 

 . . .and next year's wheat is growing.

This old wooden grain bin has stood here on the hill for 3 generations.

Wonder what it would say if it could talk?

It's been a long summer!





Thinking Outside the Box!

I have 2 king sized quilt tops to quilt, but am waiting for some batting to be shipped.  So, while my Millineum is idle for a few days I decided to put some miles on my Bernina.  I bought this flannel kit early this spring (on sale!) and it's been sitting there on my shelf all this time.  I have a love/hate relationship with kits.  I love the fact that someone else has already done my fabric shopping, but hate it when they make a mistake on the yardage.  So this is where I had to get creative.  As my 8 year old Granddaughter, Jordan, says, "Grandma, you have to think outside the box!"

The pattern was strips cut from 45" fabric and there was hardly a fraction left over.  Now, many of us know that actual 45" fabric hardly exists anymore and then you still have to subtract the 1 inch selvages.  Today's 45" fabric really measures somewhere between 40 and 42 inches.  So, I had to downsize the blocks 1/2 inch to begin with.  No problem.

Close up of quilting.
Edge to edge freehand swirls gives it lots of texture--flannel front and back.

After I got the top pieced, I took out the backing fabric.  This quilt was 50 x 50 and my little handy dandy fabric calculator told me I needed 3-1/4 yard of fabric to piece for the backing.  Hmm.....I only see 2-1/2 yards. . . and I need an additional 16-18 inches for the binding!  . . . hmm . . . thinking outside the box . . .

So, I dig through all the leftover scraps to see what I can come up with to make this work.  I refuse to even look online to find more matching fabric.  I figured if I took the backing yardage and put in a 10 inch splice to make it wide enough, then I will have just enough width to make the backing and have just enough length left to make the binding.  First, I tried to come up with enough scraps for a pieced binding, but the width and length of my scraps didn't lend themselves to that; and I still would not have enough backing . . . outside the box  . . .

So, here is what I came up with . . . it's a "Design Element!"

Close up of back.

 

I carefully quilted this with only one inch of backing on either side of the quilt sandwich.

 . . . and look at all this I had left!

Thanks Jordan~  For reminding grandma to think outside the box!

Self Binding Receiving Blankets

I have seen these awesome little receiving blankets, but I didn't know how to make them.  I found a great tutorial over at Piece N Quilt.  While you are there, they have lots and lots of tutorials, cute patterns, quilts, and more.

You can make them any size and it only takes about 30 minutes to sew them up!

Top stitching around the self binding.

Stitching on the backside.

Now, just watch my stash of baby flannel dwindle . . .

I just love learning new techniques and I learn something from someone every day!