WIP Wednesday

I have decided to name this quilt - Vintage Charm.  I cannot keep calling it my "crap load of applique quilt" or "that one quilt with the blue birds on it", so, because I'm going for the classic, vintage, old feel...I think Vintage Charm is fitting.  I know it's getting a little bit cheese ball...I have this thing about people who take their quilts way too seriously and give them ridiculous names that nobody understands but them.  LOL!  Eyeroll.  Vintage Charm is getting a little geeky pants but at least it makes sense.  :)

I absolutely love the personality this quilt is taking on.  I haven't added much, but what I have added was time consuming.  I finished stitching down all four birds, and also the flowers and leaves in all four corners of the pink center.  Those were several hours of work because with pieces this small I prefer hand applique to machine.  Believe it or not I enjoy hand applique...it's peaceful, and kind of spiritual.  Yes, I went there and got even more cheesy.  It IS spiritual...when it's quiet...and it's just me and my cup of coffee sitting by the kitchen window and watching the snow fall.  When three kids are barreling through the house it's more like a pain in the...you get the picture.  :)

I am still going to add some sort of vining or bias tape or something along those leaves.  I have decided I just don't like the way they look just floating there, with no anchor...nothing to make it make sense.  I have toyed with the idea of cording, piping, thin bias tape...no decisions yet, but it's getting down to the wire so today or tomorrow there will need to be something there.

I also spent about six hours yesterday stitching down the crocheted lace that I had thought I would use on my stockings.  Remember those diamonds that I thought at first were brilliant...then I hated them...and now I love them again!  LOL  I have some ideas for quilting those areas...and if they turn out as lovely in real life as they are in my mind then I'll be thrilled!  LOL

I love how this is looking but I think once it's all together and the quilting begins it will really come alive.  After cleaning up my sorely neglected house after a day of sewing yesterday, I have designed a few applique overlays that will set over the lace and tie in the brown from the Celtic knots.  I can't wait!  I want this to be loaded on the frame and in the quilting stage by next week...this weekend even.  Time is dwindling and quilts will be rolling back in soon - I need to get busy!

One last thing I thought I would share...the Husband and I ordered my Christmas gift a few days ago and I get to know about it early because I'm paying for a good portion of it!  LOL  His gift to me was a good hunk of the down payment on a Juki TL - 2010Q....eeeeeeeeeep!!!  I'm so excited!!!  This is the slightly  newer version of the TL-98 that some of my quilting super heroes use...like Sharon Schamber and Cindy Needham to name a few off the top of my head.  It sews almost double the speed of my Brother and it's an all metal straight stitching machine...with no computer...and I'm super super psyched about it!!!  It can be framed later which I'm planning on doing, and if I take care of it, it should out live me.  Woooooohooo!!  I cannot open it until Christmas but as soon as I do I'll do some comparisons of it with my other machines and maybe some videos on how it sews.  I'm beyond thrilled!!

Stockings Finished!!!

I hope all of you in the States had a wonderful Thanksgiving Thursday!  I know I certainly did!  Thanksgiving day we usually spend with my Husbands family and then we get together usually the following Sunday with mine.  While waiting for the family to get ready for dinner I was able to get the last of the stockings finished, and I have to say, I'm thrilled with how they turned out!!

Now, are you ready for lots and lots of photos???  LOL

Here is a shot of the backs - remember how I chose to go with an all over feather on the back?  The only thing I might do differently if I did this again would be to choose a similar pattern for all of the feathers rather than just randomly stitching them.  I like order!!!

To finish the edge of the stocking I used vintage lace for a binding.  It is a wide lace that I think may have originally be intended for lingerie...but we won't tell!!!  I hand stitched it to the front first, then fold it over and under to the reverse side.

The ruffles were made from some leftover French General jellyroll strips I had laying around.  I wanted something that added a little interest but didn't take away from the quilting...because the star is definitely the quilting!  I stitched it down on the inside, then flipped it up so that the seam would be enclosed and the ruffle would be peaking out of the stocking.  Now just imagine some pretty sparkly wrapped presents peaking out of there too!  I can't wait!

An up close shot of the back...I decided to bead only the pumpkin seed quilting.  I contemplated crystals...I love the look of crystals on all those fancy show quilts you see, and these will never be washed...but there is just something to be said about simple beading.  I love the very Victorian flavor of these stockings.

My dahlia quilt is at a standstill...mainly because I've become sick of looking at blue and black!!  All the quilting on muslin has put me back in the mood to work on this quilt...yesterday I made another twenty or so feet of bias tape to add some more fun details to this.

I ended up not using the vintage crochet'ed bits on the stockings but found a PERFECT place to incorporate them into this quilt!!!  I appliqued all the birds on last night and started adding flowers.  After that I'm going to put the crocheted lace on and I'll share with you all...I REALLY can't wait to start quilting this!!!  :)

Almost to the Finish Line...

I hope you haven't gotten sick of photos of my stockings.  I am almost finished with them...

I just can't get enough of that texture.  I love it!  I thought the back looked SO pretty with all of those feathers and textures.

I cut all of the stocking shapes out and have started beading them...it will take me a while so they may sit on the back burner as I dabble in other projects.  I have a short attentions span!  I think I will work on these in the evenings...beading is perfect for watching listening to the tv with Hubby.

Below is how the third stocking turned out.  I sprained my wrist the other day so I had a little bit of difficulty controlling the machine for the orange peel/pumpkin seed design.  It got a tiny bit sloppy!  But I'm hoping the beads will help to make up for that.

I am going to play around but I think that the plan will be, after I bead these, to add a floral cuff to the top and drape over that the lace pieces.  I will have to fiddle and experiment and see what works well.

This will be a busy Thanksgiving week for us, but I'm looking forward to it.  My favorite time of year!  I will be doing a lot of cooking and cleaning, but in between I have pulled this quilt back out and am going to get to work.  Playing with muslin again has given me ideas!

Stocking Three Front is Finished - Woohoo!

Wooooohoooooo!  I finished the front of stocking two and three...and just have one more feathered reverse side and I'm finished.  I get bored quickly so I'm ready to pull these off the frame and start something new...

Above is the front of stocking two, finished...below is number three.  I wanted to try something different since I did a lot of different textures on the previous two...so I tried doing the pumpkin seed/orange peel all over in the background...and now I think I like it better in sections!  I will add beads to it, but it's just kind of boring all on it's own.  Looks like plaid.  Bleh.  It'll be pretty though with sparkly beads on it.

I really like the filled feather spines.  Don't they look like peas?  LOL

I have a mountain of laundry to do and I suppose I ought to shower.  LOL  So I'm off...  :)

More Progress on Stockings and Laura's Quilt

Making more progress on my stockings.  This is one I am working on this afternoon while the baby is napping...

The last of the customer quilts for the year is being shipped off shortly...and I'm looking forward to working on some of my own projects over the holidays!  My first goal is to get these stockings finished.

This is the first stocking and to the right, the reverse side.  I decided I am going to just do all three stockings backs with feathers...and each front will be a different design.

Above is another shot of the backing of stocking one. I just can't get enough feathers I tell you!  :)

I also finished up Laura's quilt yesterday...it is a very special quilt.  I'll let her share the story on her blog...but it truly moved me to tears.  What a beautiful quilt and what beautiful friends you have Laura!

I really really love ribbons...if I get some time here in the coming weeks I'll show you how to quilt them.  They are very simple but they are so cute and sweet!  I thought they complimented the fun whimsical nature of this quilt.

So much to do and so much to say!!  I want to get in as much sewing time over the next few weeks as I can so I am going to run.  This is truly a magical time of year...I hope you all are enjoying family and preparing for the coming holidays!  :)

Heirloom Stockings

Eeep!  I broke down and decided to play this evening.  I have been wanting to make these fancy quilted heirloom style stockings for my daughters for a while.  My favorite way to quilt is just goofing around...winging it and playing as I go along.  So that's what I did.

I really like how they are coming out!  Of course after I posted pictures on Facebook I discovered I missed a spot.  Whoops!  LOL

This is two layers of batting - something I'm really really liking.  I love poofyness.  I bought a roll earlier in the year of Quilters Dream Poly Request...it is their lowest loft polyester batting.  I bought it because it is inexpensive but gives the look of cotton.  I have since learned that if I want the look of cotton...I'll just use cotton...however...polyester has some great benefits!  This batting doesn't wrinkle like cotton when folded...and layered up...it is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!!  Two layers of poly request is seriously my new favorite batting!!!  :)

I pulled all these bits of lace and tatting - is it tatting??  Anyhow I pulled it out with a few linens and had originally planned to put them on the stockings...but now that I've finished quilting one...I like it so much I don't know if I want to cover it up with lace!!  LOL  So we'll see if I can figure out a way to incorporate these or not.  I am kind of thinking maybe the fancy quilting side will be the front...and I'll do a pretty floral quilted backing with bits of lace incorporated.  I definitely want beads...these are completely Cindy Needham inspired stockings!!!  :)

What are you up to?

Cindy's Quilt

Cindy's quilt finished!  I'm feeling on a roll.  :)  I'm having a good time too!  Just a handful of quilts before I'm on a break for 2013...and I can't say I'm not looking forward to it.  I have so many of my own projects on hold that I'm looking forward to working on!

Cindy's quilt made of Fig Tree Quilts fabric turned out so pretty...and I have found there is nothing that shows off quilting better than afternoon sun...

A project the Husband and I will be working on in the upcoming year will hopefully be to move my long arm over to the North facing wall of this room so I will have the sunnier areas for photography!!!  I'm looking forward to that...

We went with simpler quilting for this quilt - though I adore feathers - simply because of all the busy prints and I knew anything more complicated wouldn't show.  I love this fabric and have a big bag of it partially sewn into a quilt somewhere in my sewing room!!

Cindy sent me a new batting to try out that I've never quilted on before...a nice thick cotton and it really did quilt up lovely.  VERY linty though, as with all cottons, but this quilt is going to keep somebody very warm!  Good thing with winter just around the corner.

This week I'll be loading up and finishing another of Laura's quilts!  :)