Like 2 Peas in a Pod!

I just finished these darling quilts for my niece.

She had me cut some minky for the back, so I just cut one piece and floated the tops together on the batting.

With the same cream colored backing and similar colors on the 2 tops, I was able to use a golden tinted beige thread that looked great on both of them.  Although I quilted a different freehand design on each quilt, I only rolled the quilts once, working my way back and forth across the 2 tops.  When I got to the bottom, I was done~ 

Quilt #1

Edge to edge meandering feathers. 

Quilt #2

Edge to edge funky flowers. 

Now, that was a fun afternoon!

July Wall Hanging

My favorite so far....but I say that as I complete one each month.

Here is a link to an album with all the months I have finished so far: Monthly Button Ups

I love this clean and simple pattern...another "Button Up" by Joined at the Hip.

Matching Quilts

My sweet customer sent me a large quilt made from a layer cake . . .

. . . and a matching small one made with charms.

The backing was a huge length of minky so I calculated the best way to quilt it making sure there was enough length for both quilts.  I wanted to make one cut, sew one seam in the minky and put it on the frame once.

Here's how all that came together.  With Minky you have to put a seam parallel to the roller bar or you are going to have huge problems with the backing sagging. (I prefer to mount all backings with the seam parallel to the roller.)

I put the large quilt on sideways and when I finished it, I floated the small quilt underneath and against the right edge. This left a really nice chunk of minky she can use for another quilt.

In keeping with the geometrical fabrics, this large one was quilted with a freehand topographical spiral meander. 

 Grey Minky backing.

 The small baby quilt received freehand also with light custom quilting. 

 Both of them have these wonderful modern colors.

Hands 2 Help Charity Challenge

Thanks to Sarah for reminding me to link up with her for a display of all the charity quilts this year.

Here is the link for the party: Time to show off your quilts.

My quilt was completed and sent to Happy Chemo.

Back

 Freehand funky flowers.

 I hope it brighten's someone's day when they are having their chemo treatments.

June Wallhanging

My Mom's June "Button Up" is done and hanging on her door!

 I love folk art applique'.  It's fun and lends itself to funky quilting.  I love these big ol' chunky blue birds.

 As I worked my way down the quilt, I changed to pebbles around the picket fence.  When I was growing up, Mom always had a lot of Hollyhocks around the yard, against the fence, and some grew almost to the eves of the house.  This reminds me of them.

 What a difference it makes to get it hung up on the background!

So, I'm 6 days late getting this finished . . .  my hubby says I really need to start working on July this afternoon.  

Montana Quilt Retreat

My best friend (and fellow quilter) and I headed to Red Lodge Montana last week for a quilt retreat. She and I have been sewing together since we were about 6th grade.  She still lives in Idaho, so I flew into Boise and we took a road trip to Montana!  Sorta like "Thelma and Louise."

Her sister lives in Billings, MT.  She and her quilty friends had arranged this fabulous retreat--

There were 6 of us and we stayed in this "cabin" in Red Lodge Montana.  It was rough, but we managed.

We spread projects upstairs and downstairs! 

The local ladies brought delicious things for our meals and everyone helped out in the kitchen. 

Here is the view out the kitchen door. My friend and I threw on our sweatshirts and had coffee out on the deck every morning, and happy hour in the evening!

We took 2 days to make the 8 hour drive up from southern Idaho, but hey, there are a lot of sweet and unique quilt stores along the way...and we stopped at them all.

There were also fuel stops. I have never taken photos in a restroom, but by golly, there's always a first. I don't know how many of you have ever even seen a thing like this, but I have not seen one since I was a kid.  Ewwww!  Needless to say, we semi dried our hands on our jeans at this stop.

Big Sky country in Montana.  Dry-farm wheat fields on the left.  The snow just melted a week ago here.

Along the Madison River in Montana. 

Island Park, Idaho. 

Island Park, Idaho.

Morning ice under the irrigation sprinklers where my BFF lives in Southern Idaho.

Snow on farm over Monida Pass as we dropped  back down into Idaho.

Typical dust storm as we drove through Idaho Falls, ID. 

Here are a couple of fun wall hangings the ladies made while we were there.  The Kimono quilt is for a daughter who spent time teaching in Japan.

This western wall hanging is going to receive a lot of TLC with hand embroidery and fun embellishments. 

My friend  brought a couple of machines and of course everyone else brought their machine.  On the way up, we shopped for flannels for everyone and I taught them how to make these self-binding receiving blankets. Link with a tutorial for them here: Self binding receiving blankets

I also made up kits for the "sausage roll" pillowcases.

These are some I made a year ago.

I don't know why I didn't take photos of the pillowcases at the retreat.  It might have been "Happy Hour" and I was off duty on the deck about that time, but here is a link that leads to a tutorial: Pillowcases 

First time I every flew for a weeks vacation and only took a carry on.  I did a little load of laundry one evening and still had one clean shirt when I got home.  Why did I always think I needed to pack everything I owned??

Oh, one more thing- did I mention we bunked with John Wayne?