Play on the Frame...

I pulled out this UFO to work on last night and of course with two wrong turns I made myself a pile of work.  :)  I have some ripping to do in the center portion and outer border...areas where the stitching got wonky...but I'm still liking this.  I am thinking...fabric paint when it's finished?

Billie's Quilt in Progress...

Guess what's on my frame right now?  Another Sew Spooky quilt!

Here's a few peeks at the progress...

Billie wanted similar quilting to Vickie's Sew Spooky quilt - I'm loosely imitating the style while adding in some unique touches.  I hope to finish tonight or tomorrow, and in my spare moments I'm gearing up for another quilt show.  I am entering something small in MQX midwest in one of the non-juried categories, and another that I'm going to have to wait until the 25th to see if it is accepted.  This will be my first attempt at a juried show.  I'm feeling pretty good and confident, but you never know!!  Wish me luck and send me good vibes!  :)

I hope you are enjoying the lovely weather (at least it is lovely where we are)...getting ready for fall!  Yay!

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!!!  ;)

Gamma by Patrica E. Ritter and Valerie Smith

I am SO psyched about Gamma!!!  Isn't this pantograph awesome!!?!!  So modern and cool!  It's now available over on the Urban Elementz website!!

Billie's Sew Spooky Quilt and Princess Dresses

I am loading up Billie's Sew Spooky quilt today and getting all sorts of "fall" pangs!!  I am ready, I don't know about you.  Don't get me wrong, it has been nothing less than a LOVELY summer.  We haven't even hit 95 degrees yet...and being that it's almost August that is kind of unheard of around here.

Billie really liked what I did with Vickie's Sew Spooky quilt so I'm going to do a loose recreation of that on hers...I have a couple of cute little ideas to make it unique to Billie's quilt though that I think she is going to be excited about.  This was a really fun quilt...I am toying with the idea of making something inspired by it for my own fall decor.

Soccer has started for my oldest and it is keeping us busy.  Five day a week practices!  I am really proud of her putting herself out there though and doing something active.  I fell of my diet yesterday but am back on track today.  I had half an Arby's roast beef sandwich and cheese sticks...and guess what?  I'm paying for it with a stomach ache today!!!  I cannot believe how much better I feel when I eat healthy.

OH!  I'm also making progress on my princess dresses!!  Let's see if anyone can guess who this character dress is inspired by...

It's Drizella!  My oldest daughters want to be Drizella and Anistasia while my littlest will be Cinderella...this is the last year the older daughter will even remotely consider dressing up so it's kind of bittersweet!  :)  It will be fun though...

...I've made a little progress on the Anna dress - well, I guess you could stay I made a lot of progress!  It's pretty much finished except for some details I want to go back and add.  I'm just going to paint the flowers and decorations on making my own stencils....and I need to add some ribbon and trim to the cape.  Needless to say it is near impossible to find Frozen costumes without paying an arm and a leg so my kids are over the moon excited.

The above is Elsa - the bodice and skirt are cut and almost ready to attach but I need to make a pattern for the sheer top and sleeves...I try to make the costumes as close to the original as I can without going too crazy.  I'm really excited about this one...  :)

I hope everyone out in blogland is having a good summer...even though I'm ready for fall!  My littlest is trying to put Mr. Potato Head pieces in my mouth and ears so I guess that's my cue to get off of the computer!

Happy Quilting!

- Valerie

Cindy's Quilt Finished - Deja Vu Panto

I am SO happy with how this quilt turned out!  I have an older APQS and I am not sure if it is an early design flaw or simple wearing from being an older used machine but I have always struggled with pantographs.  Being that Urban Elementz has given me the amazing opportunity to co-design for them, I wanted to use my pantographs and have them come out just as pretty as all my other quilts!  AH!  So I spent some time fiddling with my  machine trying to come up with a solution, and I bought a few aluminum strips that I use as a support so that I can stitch without the table on my machine.  OH what a difference it made!!!  No more womply curves - and a whole new world of quilting has just opened for me!  :)

Here is Cindy's gorgeous quilt (she always sends amazing quilts, truly!) with Deja Vu stitched out onto it...

Oh I am just so happy with how elegant it came out.  I am in love.  :)  I'm so happy that Cindy was also pleased too and I am thinking I might put together a few baby quilts and use some of my new pantographs on.  Yay!

Waiting for my roll of batting to arrive and I will be working next on Bobbie's Sew Spooky quilt - she has been waiting for MONTHS and I bet she is super excited to see some photos!  I am excited too!  :)

Happy Quilting!

- Valerie

Deanna's Quilt - Finished - and an Art Quilt

I don't have much more to share today other than a finished photo of Deanna's quilt!  :)  It turned out really pretty - though I didn't have time to take great pictures as I finished it late last night and it was picked up this afternoon.  Today was eventful as my youngest had a doctor appointment out of town - and as soon as we got out of town my van broke down!  Boo!  It is being fixed and should be ready for pick up tomorrow, but wheew it was quite the afternoon.

After a stressful day I just needed to veg out a bit.  I cleaned for quite a while and then fiddled with the Juki.  I have a frozen screw in the needle plate that I messed with for about three hours.  I still haven't gotten it removed but I was able to clean under the needle plate so I went on and sewed for a while.  This was the final product...

I am really pleased with it for the most part.  I am always trying to find ways to which I can translate paintings onto quilts.  Painting is a passion second to quilts...I would love to incorporate the two without fussing with fabric dyes.  I do like to hand dye fabric...but not for the painting aspect.  I used my favorite Jaquard Lumiere paints with acrylic artist paints.  I need to add binding to two of the sides and maybe some beads as well.

I am looking forward to getting my car back tomorrow.  I'll be loading up Cindy's quilt for a quick all over quilting and then it's on to Bobbie's halloween quilt.  :)  Can you believe it's almost the end of July already?!