Monica's Christmas Quilt

I finally finished Monica's 12 Days of Christmas quilt!

I am so happy with how it turned out!  Next on the frame is Cindy's scrappy BOM!  :)

Monica's Crazy Stitched Cross - Finished!

Well - if you follow me on Facebook then you know that while my long arm motor is running beautifully, the belt snapped!  Gah!  I think it's just one of those times - you know where everything goes hay wire?  Ahh!  Well, luckily I have very little left on the Christmas quilt and while I wait for a belt that should be here in a day or so, I'm going to finish up the quilt on my Juki this afternoon.

I had to walk away and look at something else for a bit so I finished this little quilt of Monica's this morning.  I think it turned out so pretty!  I still need to remove the blue markings but other than that it is finished...

Will be back hopefully this afternoon or this evening with photos of the Christmas quilt!  :)

A Few More In Progress

 I am just having such a good time with this one that I thought I'd share a few more photos of the progress.  I've moved along farther down in the quilt but the appliqué is finished in this one and it looks so nice.  :)  Next photos of the finished quilt! ;)

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!  :)

Halloween Wall Hanging and Modern Pinwheels in Houston

It is hard to believe it is the day before Halloween already!  Where has the time gone?  Well - at least I was able to finish this wall hanging of Monica's before Halloween...so technically it's right on time!

I think that since it's been a few weeks since I have touched my long arm I really got into this one!  There were so many neat little shapes and spaces to play in so I had fun.  Monica is always really fun to quilt for because not only does she send me really cute quilts, she gives me a lot of design freedom and that is the BEST!

I don't know why that shirt screamed pinstripes to me!  I thought all of the different textures really bring this witchy gal to life.

I wanted to do something in the face that gave the idea of a wrinkled face...but nothing too scary because this witch is cute!  I think the kind of cheek/chin swirls really worked well.

This triangular border was my favorite to work on!  The quilting design is very geometric and Judy Madsen/Green Fairy inspired!  She does wonderful things with filling negative space with simple lines and fills.  What an inspiration to the quilting world she is.

I was going for sort of Victorian witch shoes with those swirls in the top of the shoe!

Even the back turned out pretty neat!

I took this off the frame to photograph but will load it back up as the same hunk of backing will be used for the Christmas wall hanging - up next!

I also wanted to quickly share a photo that my friend Mabel from Connected Threadz shared with me!  She is meeting with a group of the gals from CT in Houston and was kind enough to think of me and take a photograph of my quilt Modern Pinwheels hanging in the Meander Publishing booth!  That just meant the world to me and she took such a fantastic photo to boot!  It is SUCH a huge honor that my quilt was chosen to decorate the booth - some of my most admired quilting idols are there and to have just a small representation of my work a part of such a huge event...and for one of my favorite quilting magazines!  It's a big deal!  Woohoo!

Thank you again Mabel!  If you are in Houston this week for Quilt Festival you can view the quilt in booth 202 OR in the latest issue of Modern Quilts Unlimited along with instructions!