So Like I was Saying ...

It HAS been a while, hasn't it?  So let's get all caught up. 


HAPPY EASTER to you!  I love the licorice jelly beans and I've been good so far this season.  Only one bag has crossed my lips.  Look at my tongue!  Oh, mom, that is sooooo gross!  Can't you just hear them now?


First of all, I've been busy.  Could have guessed that, couldn't you?  


Check out what I 'presented' myself with:  NEW SHOES!  Woo Woo!  I do love a new pair of shoes!  And the neon green is spectacular!  I just love looking down at my pretty shoes!


OK, these are 'magic' shoes, see?  They get me up in the morning, and get me to the Y, and get me on the treadmill, and get my feet moving ... yeah, that's the ticket ... it's the shoes!  Let me tell you, I bless the day that someone came up with the idea of putting a TV in front of me while I'm on the treadmill!  I get so darn bored just walking walking walking ... and no, being outside wouldn't be any better!  So I've had them for 2 weeks and I've been to the Y ... no, that can't be right ... six times??? What the ....???  Maybe if I wear them to bed ...


So I have earplugs in to listen to the TV, my Kindle Fire in front of me in case the TV bores me, and my phone at hand in case someone finds it necessary to talk to me at 6:00 in the morning.  It could happen ... 



So ... quilting items:


Terri handed me her DIL's grandmothers vintage quilt to finish off for her.  I think this is a belated birthday present for her DIL.  Anyway, this is one gorgeous quilt. Look at that zig-zag border.  She said it took 12 yards of binding (not fabric ... just binding) to finish it off.  Anyway, as I worked on it, I started to appreciate just how precise this piecer was in getting all these odd shapes to line up correctly.  This was all HAND-PIECED, by the way.  I know, I know ... it probably should have been finished by hand, but then again ...  so I tried to find a pattern that would just let the quilt do the talking.  A sweet panto fit the bill.  The backing is a cream muslin.  Vintage in its own right ...

And then I offered to teach one of my small quilting groups the Spicy Spiral Table Runner.  These are absolutely awesome!!  Check out our motley crew and their beautiful creations.  And these table runners are just the ticket for SID'ing (if that's your cuppa tea ... not me, baby!  I'll throw mine on the long-arm and get 'er done!) on your domestic machine.  I've seen the work that some of you do using your DSMs and I'm in awe!  There's Pat, Elaine, Jerrie, Ashleigh, Anita, and Rose.  Hi girls!!  They didn't whine too much and I think they had a good time.  I think they were amazed that they actually walked away with a finished table runner ... well, Anita ALMOST got hers finished!!  Well done, ladies!

So now we have MIL visiting and I'm trying to get some different projects done plus a trip to Savannah coming up.  Life is always interesting, isn't it?


So next up will be a T-Shirt quilt, a blue/yellow quilt, a batik ... another blue/yellow, and several more batiks ... and ... and ... I just LOVE this stuff!


Happy Easter!

Cross and Crown Vintage

This is this years last of the vintage quilts.  I researched the pattern and found that it is called Cross and Crown.  MeMaw got a little wild with all the patterns so doing any custom quilting on this just wouldn't show at all.  So customer Kim and I decided that even though it is hand pieced, the best thing at this point in time would be to do an all-over on it.  No matter which way I photo this quilt you just aren't going to see the quilting.  So just enjoy the craftsmanship of the design and the piecing.  

Close-up of the Cross and Crown.

 The quilting pattern is a meandering feather.
 

Last photo is showing the vintage-type backing that we found at one of our LQS.  It is absolutely perfect!  Thanks, Linda!

Vintage #3 - Road to California

This is Bobbie's 2nd vintage quilt that she gave me to quilt for her.  It is called Road to California.   We believe that these particular vintage quilts were done in the '50s.  Again, think of MeMaw sitting and stitching these blocks together without the use of our modern tools. Didn't she do a great job! 











Since this is going to a boy/man for Christmas I chose to do a non-floral/feather motif, but something that would give it some swirl and curl.














The 3rd picture down shows the backing that we chose for this quilt.  It picks up both the blue and the red from the quilt top.  Yummy!

Some Vintage beauties

I may be a geek/techie but there's another part of me that is a traditionalist and in this vein I truely love anything vintage.  I've had the wonderful opportunity to quilt several vintage quilts recently and here are a few.  Just sit back, enjoy, and remember "MeMaw" sitting and piecing these wonderful quilts.  Remember that MeMaw didn't have all our wonderful rulers, templates, patterns, etc.  She probably used newspaper for her patterns, and a pair of scissors that may have been used by everyone in the house, and a canning lid for a template for making circles.  So give reverence to these wonderful piecers who moved us to where we are today.  OK, now off my soapbox ...

Bobbie had me do this one and it is called Double T.  It is a BIG quilt!  I did Swirlz on it and it came out great.  We decided to piece the back with a blue/red/blue piecing and these two fabrics were found at Kiwiquilts in Powder Springs.  Thanks, Tracy!  Isn't it a beauty?

Kim came with this quilt and several others.  We were laying them out and found that one of the quilts was paper-pieced with newspaper and all the paper had not been torn out.  We searched and finally found the dateline of the newspaper - April 1948!  So we figured that all the quilts she had stored in a cedar chest were probably made in the same time period.  This is a big quilt also, and I didn't get a full-size picture of it but even from this small photo you can get a sense of this oldie-but-goodie.  Look at the randomness of the rectangles!  Just so cool!  I did a Baptist Fan on this one, trying to keep with the vintage look.  I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture of the back.  It is a vintage  small floral in red/blue/yellow/green/white backing and it is absolutely perfect for this quilt.  I had a great time quilting this one.  Thanks, Kim!

Hooray!  Kim sent me a picture of the quilt with its backing folded over the top.  It is just so perfect!  You really have to see the whole quilt top to fully appreciate just how perfect this backing is for this quilt.  A big Thank You to Linda at Little Quilts here in Marietta for helping to choose this backing.  


It's just so pretty ....
















I have to give both Bobbie and Kim wonderful credit for taking such good care of these family heirlooms.  I believe both kept them in cedar chests/closets, out of plastic bags.  They came to me in wonderful shape which made my job so much easier.  

So remember to pass on to your customers/quilting friends the importance of storing your quilt tops properly.  And I know you have some quilt tops laying around, right?  Don't we call those UFOs??  Keep them out of that plastic crap - wrap them up in a clean pillow case, so that when your daughter/granddaughter pulls them out for her quilter to finish up, she'll be proud of YOUR work.  

Have a great evening!  

7 days to baking frenzy!  want to join me? 

It's Cyber-Monday so what else are you reading other than a computer screen? LOL!

I'm doing a lot of quilting this week, but for relaxation (? huh?  i thought quilting WAS relaxation!) I read and I tend to read a lot.  I don't do the Danielle Steele stuff ... read 1 or 2 of that and you've read them all is my opinion - I'm allowed my opinion, you know.  Anyway, I've gotten entranced with what I call the Icelandic genre.  It started by coming across the books by Karin Fossum.  I absolutely love her books because the stories are so interesting and the characters well fleshed out.  The subject may be strange but I like books and movies that sort of grab you by the collar and shake you up a bit.  My newest author is Ruth Rendell - A Sight for Sore Eyes - and The Vault.    And an old favorite is Henning Mankell - the Det. Kurt Wallander series.    Just go to Amazon.com and type in Icelandic mysteries and a whole list will pop up.  Go with those that have been reviewed by readers and have at least 4 stars.  You can't go wrong!

And just this past weekend I finished Rules of Civility by Amor Towles which tells a story of 1938 Manhattan.  I love New York and this book didn't fail me.  Great story, great characters.  Wish I had been there!

So I've been giving my K-Fire a good workout this past week.  I love that I don't have to have a flexible light on it - it is backlit like your computer so no extra lighting is needed.  So I just cuddle down into the covers and read away ... 

Ok, back to Max.  I have another vintage quilt on the machine and its so pretty!  Pictures at a later date.  

Happy Cyber-Monday!!