First of the Year Post

Oh, I cannot believe this is my first post of 2013. Where did January go? I really have been busy.

The first two photos are two baby quilts for a new grand niece, Sarah Frances, and a grand nephew, Oby.

I fell in love with the material for the first quilt. The material is called 'Lil Rascals. Baby Oby is named after my brother and we loved to watch the TV show The Little Rascals. I just had to make this quilt. This quilt was about 54 x 42, I think.

 

 

This next quilt for my grand niece was a Moda Bake Shop favorite. I just had to make it. It is a car seat quilt. I added ties on each side of the quilt. Size is about 25 x 30. My granddaughter, Josie Clare, just loved this quilt.

 

 

 

Love the back of the quilt.

 





 

Now this quilt is one I saw and wanted to make. My family always ask, "Now whose quilt is this?" I guess it is my quilt for now. The pattern is Hubble. I used Moda Cuzco collection and I had to have this fabric. I could not resist a fabric named after one of my favorite places--Cusco, Peru. I have posted a few photos because it was a beautiful day to take pictures. This quilt is about 70 x 70.

 

 



All the quilts were quilted on my Gammill longarm machine by me.

Christmas Projects

Sharing a couple of Christmas projects. How I wish I would start my projects back in the summer. I so enjoy working in my quilt shack.

I needed a Christmas runner for the table and saw this table runner on a blog (that has since been removed from that blog) and knew it would be quick and simple. I was not quite prepared for the appliqueing--it takes time and patience. I used my Accuquilt to cut shapes but had to improvise the star.

My next project was to be for our "Dirty Santa" but after making it, I decided it looked so "me" and my taste is a little bit "old-fashioned" for my daughters-in-law and nieces. I saw this pillow with red ticking, burlap back, and a strip with an outline of the our state in red paint at Mistletoe Marketplace and thought "oh, I can make that"--and I did.  I may make other strips to change--heart for Valentine, flower for May, last name initial, map of state, etc.

The next project -- I have been intrigued with the painted signs on Pinterest and wanted to give it a try. (My projects never seem to match up to Pinterest photos--oh, well.) Here's my try at a sign. What makes it so special is the wood is from our torn down (fallen down) tractor shed. I will treasure my signs. I also plan to make more signs and will hang in a prominent home in my kitchen. The nail holes and texture add to  the message and makes it unique.

1600 Jellyroll Quilt At Last

I heard about the 1600 Strip Jellyroll Quilt when visiting at my parent's assisted living home. This super lady who owns a quilt shop comes to the assisted living every Tuesday to share with the ladies and just have a good time sewing and talking. Many resident ladies just sit and give their opinions. When the leader of the quilting bee shared the idea of the 1600 quilt, I was intrigued.

So I bought Moda "Hello Luscious" jellyroll that I just loved. I sat down to the sewing machine and had a quilt top in two hours. I was amazed. So here is that fun quilt.

The quilt began by sewing strips end to end--ending with a 1600 inch strip.

 

The process begins-- (if you need tutorial, search Google for 1600 quilt pattern.)

The quilt measures about 58 x 64. I used one jellyroll, 3 yards of fabric (but would buy a little more next time), and 1/2 yard for binding.

Wanted to share my label. I think it is so cute. I chose not to put a large label.

This was such a fun and quick quilt and could be finished in a couple of days--start to finish. I chose to quilt in an all-over pantograph, but one friend just quilted it by stitching on the seams with a fancy/fun stitch.

Good Morning

I decided to post a new comment today because I am get tired of seeing the same post for months. Sonny and I have been busy. I am not sure what we are doing, but quilting is not happening around here. Makes me sad--I have so many projects in mind and started. I really have been working on a queen size quilt, and it has lots of applique, so that has slowed down progress on the quilt. I cannot wait to get it on the quilting machine. Quilt photos later.

You would think I had a "Bucket List" with my experiences since June:

First, Sonny and I, traveled on my fourth (his fifth) Peru Mission (June 2012). We love Peru and our friends there. Here is a photo of me as I arrived at the top of the Sun Gate (8924 feet) at Machu Picchu.



Then in July we traveled to one of my favorite places to visit--Shipshewanna, IN. We met our son and his family there and had a great time. The highlight was having our grandson, Nikolas, traveling with us.

Cousins getting together.

Andrew excited about getting to ride in Amish buggie.

Nikolas exploring on Natchez Trace. 

On Labor Day weekend we traveled to Michigan to camp with my son and his family. First time in a tent.

We spent a day on Mackinaw Island where we enjoyed an 8-mile bike ride around the island on Lake Huron.

Relaxed to sunset on Lake Michigan.

Visited White Fish point on shores of Lake Superior. Loved this star quilt displayed in the LightHouse.

Maggie and I on the shores of Lake Superior.

This is me at the finish of the 5-mile walk across the Mackinaw Bridge on Labor Day. Fun time had by all!

Six days and over 2000 miles in a car -- Home Again!

My Crosses Wall

I have been wanting a crosses wall for a while. Think I will enjoy it. The examples on Pinterest really had no rhyme or reason to them. This arrangement is angled by choice. I may change that as I add new crosses.

The two larger crosses were gifts from two of my daughters-in-law. The rest of the crosses are a collection -- two from a former student who shares her ceramic skills; one ceramic cross made by my daughter-in-law; the rest are from the collection of my mother-in-law who is now with the Lord.

One Day at a Time

I have been absent for quite a while. I have been working on a large quilt that I cannot post or show progress. But I took a little time today to work on a craft.

Have you ever seen items in a store and said, "Oh, I can make that."? Well, a friend of mine received a small towel embellished with a cross. I went to my stash to see if I could make this towel with a cross. The following picture shows my creation. Again, awful picture. I just do not have a skill in photography. Think I will try a smaller cross but you get the general idea. I think I can work on this and maybe makes some for gifts.

Samuel's Quilt

This is a photo of a baby quilt for my new grandson, Samuel. He is so precious!!!

I am still in love with the Farm Fresh fabric and the tumbler pattern. This is very similar (almost a duplicate) to the quilt I made for my nephew, Jonathan. Remarkably enough--the two boys favor each other; hence, similar quilts. Samuel was born in December and Jonathan was born in February.

Not too long ago I found a label I really have fun making. Print or hand write your label, add a border, and sew on a backing then turn it right side out and hand sew to a back corner of the quilt. So easy and neat!!

Jonquil Poster Quilt

I have been wanting to create this quilt for a while. I had a full photo of yellow jonquils (daffodils) to use for this quilt, but then found a photo of the jonquils in the foreground and my parents' home in the background. I just had to create this for my parents since they live 200 miles away in an assisted living home and cannot see the flowers. I printed the photo on white material backed with freezer paper. I did not treat the fabric since this is a wall quilt and will not be washed. I cut the material slightly smaller than the 8.5 x 11 piece of freezer paper and it printed perfectly on my inkjet printer.

I created the word "jonquils" by typing in a Word file. After printing, I then used my light table to trace the words on freezer paper. I ironed the freezer paper to top of fabric, and then ironed the fabric on fusible web. Then cut the words out and ironed on fabric. I loved the whole process. My biggest problem was how to quilt the photos. I chose to only quilt the black fabric.

First Quilt of 2012

Oh, I have forgotten how I enjoy making a quilt. I wanted to make a boy baby quilt for my niece's baby--expecting in February. I wanted a blue, soft color. However, when I went to fabric store I saw this precious fabric called Farm Fresh. The cows and the pigs had me at first sight. I had seen a precious tumbler quilt on Accuquilt and wanted to make one. The Accuquilt quilt was made from 3" tumbler die cutter. My die cutter was a 6" tumbler--Oh, such as life. I still like it. I have added a few photos. Just had to show the back with those cows and pigs. I also "heart" the red and white polkadot binding.

2011 Christmas Stockings

Just took down my Christmas stockings and thought I would post for my records. I have 11 stockings -- one for each grandchild. The 11th was born on December 27.

Happy Day

We welcomed Samuel Easley Coon into our family today. He was born at 8:20 a.m. this morning weighing 8 lbs. 4 oz. and 19" long. We are so thankful he and mother are doing great. God is so good!

Sharing a Little

Just wanted to post a couple of pictures.

Picture 1 -- Sonny made doll picnic tables for the granddaughters. This is a picture of J and JC playing on the stairs with one of the picnic tables. 

The girls played "Dirty Santa" but the gifts had to be a gift made by the giver. We had a nice variety of gifts. This is the gift I made.

Sonny's Quilt

Last year I started a Layer Cake QuiltAlong and began making two quilts--one for my mother and one for Sonny's mom. Sonny's mom got sick about this time last year and went to her heavenly home in February. I put the quilt on hold and recently decided to finish it for Sonny and he loves it. Right now, my grandson, Jase, is snuggled in the quilt.

I took advantage of the beautiful fall day to take my photos with Jase's help. The quilt measures 60 X 70. I machine quilted it in an overall pattern. On the bottom border I quilted the name of each of our 10 grandchildren. Grandchild #11 will be here in December but name and gender will be a surprise so will add name later.

Thought I would add picture of Jase and Josie Clare dressed in their Halloween costumes.

Latest Quilt

This quilt was a wedding gift for my nephew, David, and his wife, Taylor. I made the top a couple of years ago and wanted to custom quilt it but did not feel comfortable quilting it with a sewing machine. So this was my first custom quilt on my longarm. It was so much fun. The quilt was a mystery quilt from Hugs from Helen. This was to be MY quilt. I would pull it out and just look at it. One day I pulled it out and my heart said this quilt belongs to Taylor and David. I hope they enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making and quilting. (Again, my lighting it poor so camera shot is not best.)

Welcome Fall!

I saw this happy pattern and could not resist. After looking a little on Internet, I realize it is a familiar pattern. Oh, well--I enjoyed learning how to do prairie points. I was pointing out the candy corn to my 4-year old grandson. He studied it a minute and then said, "but that middle one is not candy corn, it's camouflage." Takes a child to see your creations in another light.  My one fall creation, next on my list--finish a WIP and make some Christmas items.