Wanda's Lone Star Wall Hanging

A little late to sharing this one as I've been so crazy busy here.  (I always say that - I'm sure it's annoying by now!)  The Husband surprised our little family with a trip to Niagara Falls over the weekend...just a quickie over night stay on the New York side.  We have gone several times to the Canadian side before they required a passport to visit...but now it would cost a small fortune for our entire family to go so - New York it is!  It was actually really fun to see the American side of the falls and there was no shortage of things to do.  This week football has started for my 9 year old and the 4 year old will be a little cheer leader.  School starts next week and tomorrow is the Husband's birthday...and of course I have to do school shopping yet and a full schedule of quilts...so as I said...BUSY!  LOL!  :)

Here is the quilt I finished up right before our mini-vacation...this belongs to my quilting friend Wanda who I met through Connecting Threadz...she is a wonderful lady and her quilting is just beautiful!  You'll have to take a peek at her quilts in her albums when you find the time...

I free handed the little swirls with disappearing ink in each of the corner blocks - then stitched over them and pebbled around them to give a trapunto look.

As with most of my custom quilting I used Bottom Line thread by Superior Threads...it is my absolute favorite thread for quilting.

Wanda provided me with Warm and Natural cotton batting...I was actually really  happy with the texture we achieved!

A little sneak at the back because I rarely show it.  I try to keep things neat as possible - but I'm human and hiccups happen.  My backs are much cleaner and neater than they were in the beginning...I make every effort to keep them as clean as the front!  This is a bit like showing my underwear in public...  :)

I really had fun with this one.  I am kind of obsessed with modern quilts at the moment but I won't deny that I adore traditional quilting.  These sort of really traditional patterns are my absolute favorite to quilt.  :)

...and I'll leave you with a photo from our trip!  If you haven't noticed...I've lost quite a bit of weight!  I'll do an update on that when I have a moment.  For now, I'm working on two quilts for my client Darlene that I know you'll love to see!

Feathers in Progress on Cindy's Quilt

Just a shot of some in progress feathers...  :)

R.I.P. - How I Murdered My Long Arm Motor

Many tears of frustration and anger have been cried over the last week - my quick fix that had my machine down for over a week soon turned into a nightmare - when I broke it!  Opening up my motor to check on an issue resulted in my accidentally snapping the main power supply.  Oops.  This was a day I was really happy to be my own boss...but also really sad to be too because it was my own $300 that had to be spent to replace that motor.

Ugh.

The good news?  Eunice the long arm is up and running!!!  Thank goodness, I was really in a panic for a few days there!  I'm so impressed with APQS and how quickly they got that motor out to me - especially since I had the free shipping (which usually  means - SLOW shipping) and it was the week of Thanksgiving.  I didn't however realize the motor wouldn't be ready to install right out of the box - so that set me back about half a day, but I did get it installed and quilted for several hours yesterday without issue so I think *thank goodness* the problem is solved.

My new super awesome RUNNING motor.  :)

I am so grateful for those who have quilts here who have been extremely patient with me!  I will be working extra long hours and all quilts currently in house will be finished by the end of the week.  Barring no further issues with Eunice - since she now has a brand new motor the hopes are that she will be running well for another decade and a half - and I will be quilting up a storm this week.

In other news - since little machine quilting has been going on due to my down machine -I did pull out this quilt...

...and have been working on the finishing details.  It has a few trouble areas that I want to correct before showing it anywhere.  The biggest being that bias tape around the edge that I should have ripped off and reattached.  Since I didn't...I had to think of a way to improve the wonky stitches...I had planned to either add cording or piping of some sort around it when I designed the quilt...but instead I have been adding seed beads....boy are they doing the trick!  I don't know if I'll get it completely perfect and flawless ...but at least to where I can stand to look at it!

I love that the seed beads add a pretty sparkle and really add to the character of the quilt...if you click on the bottom photo of that bias tape edge you can see where the beading stops - and what an improvement they make to evening out the lines.

I am going to try to get this quilt finished for Lake Farm Park Quilts 2015 in Kirtland, Ohio - our local show that I have yet to enter...but if I cannot get it ready in time for the deadline I'll shoot for the NQA show in Columbus, Ohio.

Happy quilting all - and many more photos to come now that I can actually QUILT again!!  :)  I hope all who are in the States reading had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Monica's Christmas Quilt in Progress

It sure is feeling like the holidays around here!  Our light dusting of 1 to maybe 3 inches turned into about 8 yesterday...and another 6-9 is predicted for this evening.  Wheew!  I would say it's going to be a good weekend for quilting.  :)

Just a few in progress shots of Monica's Christmas quilt.  A quick shower, some hot cocoa...and back to work.  :)

Santa Baby! Another of Monica's Beauties

I have been so down and out with morning sickness (all day sickness) the past few weeks that it feels AMAZING to be working again.  I couldn't even sit for long periods of time at one point without getting nauseated.  Like clockwork I'm moving into the second trimester and morning sickness is starting to disappear.  THANK GOODNESS!  I don't know how much  more I could take!  :)

A bit later than planned but still within the time frame I allotted myself, I finished Monica's Santa wall hanging.  Today I load up a larger Christmas quilt she sent me and I'm all sorts of motivated as the tree is up and lit and the Christmas music is playing.

I used Glide in sand on Santa's hat brim and cuffs...just enough color but not overwhelming.

Again I tried to give Santa a happy face but one with character and a little age....all that's missing is a bit of rose color in his cheeks!

Santa's boots received a similar quilting design as the background - holly leaves and swirls.

These triangles in the border were a little tricky but I got them done!  I think they are half square triangles cut in the traditional matter with the bias on the outer edge...it proved to be a real stinker when trying to baste this quilt and keeping the lines straight.  I think we did alright!  :)

Pictures in the next day or so of the rest of Monica's quilts.  I'm on a roll!  :)

Here I am! Quilting Update

Wow - it's been ten days since I last blogged!  It sure doesn't feel that way!  Things have been busy but slow if that makes sense.  The morning sickness has been nothing short of brutal.  Today is the first day in about two weeks that I have felt somewhat normal - the past two days I've spent on the couch with nearly unbearable waves of nausea.  I think the dear Lord above is making sure that my last pregnancy goes out with a bang!  I have always really enjoyed being pregnant, but this time I'm positive that I don't want to go through this again!  LOL  I keep thinking about the prize at the end, cuddling with a new little member of the Smith family.  In any case I'm having a good day - and I'm going to take advantage of it and try to get as much accomplished as I can.

What I've been working on this past week - has not been much!  I altered a mermaid costume for a friend of my Mother in Law's, and another friend's daughter asked if I would make her a Minnie Mouse skirt for a school event on Halloween.  This was the final skirt that I'm really proud of considering I'm far more a quilter than a seamstress!

She asked for tulle underneath so I did my best to keep it from being bulky around the waistline but full in the skirt portion.  She is going to wear leggings underneath and I'm not sure what the rest of the costume will look like - she's a Majorette so something for her performance.  I asked for a picture so I will share if she sends on over.  I thought it turned out really cute!

I've made little to no progress on my pumpkin mini!  LOL  The measurements are totally off as I've been making it up as I go along.  Knowing I have to go back and do math is causing me to procrastinate.  Don't be shocked if this goes in a baggie to work on next year!  I'm already in Christmas mode!  ;)

I am also planning to finish up these cuties today for Monica - woohoo!  She sent me a box full of adorable quilts that I'm going to have a good time working on.  My two favorite holidays all in one!

She was also generous enough to send me the pattern for this quilt that I quilted for her some time back...

Isn't it SO SO SO cute?!  It's totally my taste too - I am excited to start putting fabrics together for it.  :)  Thank you for sharing Monica!

Barbara's Roseville Album - Finished!

I am thrilled to share that I am finally finished with Barbara's Roseville Album!  Here are a few photographs...

I think it turned out really fantastic - I am thrilled!  I have a few small details to touch up before it returns home - it has been a HUGE undertaking but I'm thrilled with the results.

 I used gray and white Invisifil thread by Wonderfil for the entire quilt...I went through five water soluble markers.  Marking the quilt top took me an entire day - around 10 hours - and another day to day and a half to bury threads, remove markings.  I'm running on coffee and diet coke at the moment so it's time to take a rest!!!  Wheew!  But I was thrilled with this so I had to share.  :)

Linda Brunner's Quilt Wins Again!

I'm so excited to report that I received another email from my client Linda Brunner today - she won AGAIN with the quilt I long arm quilted for her that she affectionately calls "Big Red"!  This time around she took home first place!  Woohoo Linda!!!  That is exciting news for you AND for me!  I'm thrilled to be a small part of her win...below is a photo of Linda with her ribbon and some shots of her multi-award winning quilt.

Linda's Ribbon Winner! :)

Linda B reported to me a few days ago that the big red beauty I quilted for her several months ago was awarded a ribbon at her county fair!

This is the second ribbon winner I've quilted for Linda - she's on a roll!!!  ;)