A Velocity Finish! (8/17/2013)

Hee hee!  Look what I did - a new finish!

A while back I won one of Sara's giveaways at her blog Sew Sweetness and finally got the nerve to try a bag.  She recommended Velocity Girl as a very beginner friendly pattern so I jumped in.  After the first couple of steps and finishing the front panel, I was hooked -- too. much. fun.

Aren't the little matryoska dolls cute?  It has eight pockets and a zipper pocket too - my first zipper wasn't scary at all!  hee hee - happy dance :o)

And here is some puppy luv with the Velocity Girl - a couple of little dolls who can't keep out of a photo shoot to save their lives!

woof woof meow

Tina & Gabi's Day and Night (4/11/2013)

Hi hi!  This post is long overdue…Tina and Gabi got their quilts a while ago, I’ve just been slow getting the pictures in a post and up on the blog.

Backstory:  I worked with Tina and when she was sent off for her job, I wanted to make her and her daughter matching quilts so that they would have a little piece of each other while Tina was gone.  Yeah, that didn’t happen before she got home.  At first it sat cut in strips.  Then it sat sewed into strips and cut into pieces.  Then it sat sewn in half the blocks.  Then it sat in all the blocks.  Then, they both got put together, on the Gammill and off to them all in the space of a few weeks.  It did all the previous sitting over about 14 months!

Pictures, pictures, pictures.  This is a pretty picture heavy post from here on out.  And, of course if I took pictures of the fabrics, I can’t find them.  So, we’ll start out with pictures of the blocks instead.  I used Eleanor Burns’ “Day and Night” pattern for both quilts.

Gabi's quilt has two colors, light pink and black.  Tina's has three: light pink, dark pink and black.



Here are the two blocks together.





Gabi's top with Tina's block in it.

Tina's top with Gabi's block in it.

The backing.  A pink flannel that screamed girlie girl on it.  Not sure about the "owl" on it though.

Tina's quilt loaded on the Gammill.

The quilting detail on Tina's quilt: loopy hearts.

More quilting detail on Tina's quilt with both blocks.

Gabi's quilting detail: loopier hearts.

More quilting detail on Gabi's quilt with both blocks.

Gabi's quilt finished!

Tina's quilt finished!

Oakleigh trying to help with the binding:  "You finished yet?!?!"

Annie in front of Tina's finished quilt:  "You're finished now Mom!"

woof woof meow!

A finish - Baby Henry's Quilt (2/11/2013)

Yay - this was a fun project!  Josh's cousins had their second child - a boy - in October and when I heard they were expecting, off I went to find a quilt to make for them.  Then, Melissa Corry blogged about her Snuggly Squares II baby quilt.  I knew it was the pattern I wanted to try for this baby quilt.  I scrounged around on the web and found a (very hard to find) Lily & Will II layer cake at Christa Quilts!.  I ordered it and when it got here, I was soooo excited.  So excited, it sat. And sat.  And sat.

Then, when I got to it, the cutting and piecing went really fast.  Then, it sat again.  When it is nice outside, I usually stay at home, go hiking, take the dogs to the river, ride my motorcycle.  So, the quilt top sat on the bed in the guest bedroom for months.  Molly was nice enough to sneak into the room when I could catch her and hold down the quilt top for me.  Sweet child...

Before I finally got to Tigard to use the Gammill, I sketched out what I wanted to do - bunnies, flowers and vines, to mimic the fabric patterns.  I found a bunny outline at Pixabella and sketched them in the centers of the single-piece blocks. 

The flowers went into the pieced-center blocks.

The vines went around the outside of each block and around the border of the quilt.

It went on the machine really easily - normally my lines are crooked as sin!

If I didn't live alone I would think someone else sewed the top for me ;o)

After I took it home, bound it and washed it, I took it over to my MIL's and asked for her to take some photos for me.  The quilting shows up pretty well on the back, but it doesn't photograph very well in the sun.

The front turned out great and Liz's photography made it look even better!

I loved working on this quilt and working on my skills with it.  I hope Baby Henry loves it just as much!

woof woof meow

Pets On Quilts!!! (8/2/2012)

Yay!  It is August :o)  It is time for the Pets On Quilts Parade!!!  Snoodles and Padsworth over at Lily Pad Quilting are hosting the 2012 Pets On Quilts and it is awesome!  Who knew so many pets all did the same thing, yet were all different too!? 

So, here's my entry to the parade (and a bunshof other pics that I couldn't resist when I dug them up):

This is how I, er I mean, WE bind quilts. 

Since all three are on the quilt (and two more under Annie) - I can't decide if it's a cat on quilt or dog on quilt category...any suggestions?  There are two dogs and one cat...

And here are the rest:

A wall hanging I made for the breeder we got Oakleigh from.  This is a Silver Linings Originals paper piecing pattern and I modified the spots to match the ones on her beloved Harley.

A close-up.

O looking at the camera - she's still a baby!

O and Annie looking at me, what the heck Mom?  Still a baby....

All three of them on the sofa with me, O is curled up, Molly is wondering why she's lost her spot to a small annoyance and Annie chillin at my feet.

I wouldn't let O on my lap when I was binding this one, I think Molly is under it in my lap.

Molly cat on a kitty quilt her Aunt Nancy made for her.  The only way I can get her to use it on a regular basis (she isn't a normal quilty kitty) is to put it on a chair in a quiet room, so it's in my sewing room.

Annie found a warm spot under a quilt that just came out of the dryer.  I think O may be under it on the other end of the couch. 

That's the girls and Molly!  Our furchildren.  Just thinking of them makes my heart happy (and I start to worry about my cucumbers in the garden disappearing too).  Make sure  you check out everyone else on the parade - they're all awesome and totally fun :o)

A First, a Finished Project and Fabric

A First:  I got to mow the sod for the first time!!!  It filled the mower bag to the top - but I got it all done without having to empty it mid-mow.  Now I know what my husband knows: what he got himself out of!  That backyard is twice as big as the front!!!

There are a few burn spots from the first few days, but other than that, it looks great!!!

A Finished Project: Ranger's Pride is pieced, quilted, bound, labeled and washed!  It looks fantastic and the quilt poofed-up in all the right spots.  Doesn't it look great outside?  I can't wait to give it to the baby!

Fabric: We picked up some fabric for a few projects at Jannilou's in Philomath on the way home.  Any guesses on what I might be doing with them?

And a photo of Molly talking with Rowdy, the neighbor cat.

Challenge Quilt 2010 - Part Three (11/6/2010)

Here is the finished quilt! It is hanging in the shop in Brownsville with about 14 other quilts.

And it took first place!

Sue's Back! (4/9/2010)

Well, she has slowed down enough to do another giveaway. Sue and Wayne (her DH) are family friends and have an online quilt shop, http://www.alderwoodquilts.com/. While Liz, Nancy and Diane have all had influences on my interest in quilting, Sue really made it accessible simply because she let me sit at her booth and was available for questions.

I started this blog for several reasons, but Sue's blog has shown me what I can do with it. Thanks Sue!

Here is a photo of the first quilt I ever finished that Sue had a huge hand in....I sat in front of a sample of this quilt during the Santiam Scrappers Quilt Guild Quilt Show. Sue has the pattern, "Celebration" by Marilyn Foreman for Quilt Moments (http://www.alderwoodquilts.com/shopping/Category.asp?c=patterns_quiltmoments&p=1) By the end of the show, I had to have it so I could make it for my mom. She cried when she got it in the mail. Hee hee. Love you Mom.

I finished another quilt! (3/8/2010)

So I took a class at Callapooya Quilts (http://www.callquilts.com/) in Brownsville two weekends ago just for fun. I had never taken a class and wanted to see what I could learn/get out of one. The teacher, Judy Clay, was awesome! The shop is great, a great big room with high ceilings and wood floors. They have several "shop dogs" so I didn't feel any qualms about bringing Annie and she was a very good girl. Marty, the shop owner even said she was a delight to have in the shop. *this is me dancing*

Anyways, the quilt we made is from a book called Turning Twenty Around the Block (http://www.friendfolks.com/store-detail.php?ID=1) and is made from twenty fat quarters - too easy! I talked a co-worker and her mom into taking the class with me and we had a really good time. Nichole had never made a quilt before but knew how to sew so I was confident that her quilt would turn out. So between the three of us, Nichole was in good hands. Judy was a great teacher and very patient with all of us - everyone is different and has different styles of working so anyone who can work with all those different styles is good in my book. So after four hours of cutting, the first class was over and we had homework to do! Mary and I put together most of our blocks, actually Mary finished her quilt so she was able to help Nichole with putting her quilt top together. The second class was all about putting the top together and I got all my blocks together. When I got home I put the borders on and was ready to quilt it!

Friday night when we went to Beaverton, I stayed at Tom and Diane's and quilted my quilt on her Gammil longarm. It takes a lot out of you but I think I am comfortable enough to start quilting designs now, I plan on starting this with a foundation pieced wall hanging I am donating to the Owen Denny Chapter of Pheasants Forever (http://www.owendenny-pheasantsforever.org/). Our breeder is a member and sponsor of this years banquet and asked me to donate something. I made her a wall hanging when we got Oakleigh from her.

Anyways, back to the Turning Twenty quilt. I had a lot of fun doing this quilt and I think I am going to do it again, it was super easy and I had some ideas for new color combos. I am going to donate the quilt to our Lebanon Altrusa Scholarship Fundraiser in April as a silent auction item. I hope the $50 reserve price doesn't price it out of the auction though. Here is to another good quilt! I am excited and hope it does well :o)