Thursday, August 22, 2013

I Spy

It has become a tradition each year to quilt an I Spy quilt for the Family Support Center's annual gala. I don't even know how many years it has been. The first time I did a quilt, I provided a fully finished baby quilt. 

The agency is one that I used to be the Board Chairman of and participated years prior as a board member and provided accounting assistance prior to that. The gala is next week, but feel free to stop by their website any time to pledge your donations. The money is well spent to strengthen families and prevent child abuse in the Salt Lake valley.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Sassy owls

Here is another completed quilt for a family member with a baby girl on the way. The backing is also the sassy owls - that was the inspirational fabric for this ensemble. 

Baby quilts are so fun! I'm thinking I should just go ahead and make some quilts and be prepared for more announcements in the future.

Silly legs


Ok, FINALLY I got around to sewing my Halloween quilt. It was my goal to do it this week. After all, how much time could a little quilt take to do? Haha! I recently bought some new thread colors and was excited to incorporate two of them into this quilt. I used a dark turquoise for most of the background quilting and then a bright green to quilt the witches. My tendency now is to use thread choices that stand out rather than blend in. Even though I used some pretty bold colors, it still worked out well. I especially love the bright green. 

My sister got hers done last year (before Halloween, imagine that) and I was ultra jealous. It was so darling that I couldn't wait until I did mine. I actually bought all of my fabric back then and it has been patiently waiting its turn to be completed. 

The pattern is a Buggy Barn one - where you stack all the fabrics and then start making interesting cuts with a rotary cutter. This is my second Buggy Barn quilt and I just love how they turn out with all of the color contrasts. I added some extra borders in the middle to make my quilt wider. I am also toying with the idea of embellishing the witches shoes with cute buttons or ribbons. We'll see!

I'm hoping to use the extra one I have left (9 blocks are made with the pattern) to make a coordinating pillow and hoping to have it done before this Halloween.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Plus Quilt

I got the necessary motivation to complete this project. The quilt top has been done since January. Just needed to piece the back and get to business!

I have a few projects I need to do before I can think of others, most notably my Halloween quilt. Then I might do a 4th of July quilt.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Quilt block

I have taken a break from quilting for awhile. First excuse was due to finger v. sewing needle injuries and then my machines were serviced. And of course, tax season impacted it a wee bit (I am a CPA)... 

One cute excuse was to put this quilt block (11X14) together for a friend. I used to be Board Chairman of the Family Support Center and became friends with the staff. Kathy, one of the FSC staff, is retiring this month and I was asked by another FSC staff member to put together a quilt block for others to sign and give to her in a frame. Kathy is a quilter so this should be a great memento for her to reflect on her years of service with the FSC.

Please check out this agency and donate to this great cause. They do a lot to strengthen families and prevent child abuse in the Salt Lake valley (Utah).

Now that some of my excuses are no longer valid, I will be looking to complete and quilt some fun projects!

Catching up

 Another sister completed some quilts and asked me to quilt them. The "plus" quilt is one that we planned to all do individually and share pictures. I have mine pieced but not quilted yet (didn't love my color choices). When I quilt it, I will share...
Her chevron (also another group project) was awesome. Love the fabric. 

She did great with fabric she picked up at a garage sale. Crazy!

Thursday, March 28, 2013

So proud

This gorgeous quilt was sewn by my mom. Her mom was a quilter and spent much of her time quilting or crocheting. My mom never took  up quilting (she is a great seamstress) and has always felt guilty about it. I think this is silly because my mom had 8 kids and returned to work to support the family when I was in junior high. She is one busy busy lady and the hardest working person I know.

I am proud of my mom for taking on such a task and doing such an amazing job. Her quilt group friends are opting to hand quilt their quilts. I was happy my mom chose to have me quilt it instead. 

I'm proud of my mom and I'm sure grandma is too!

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

ABC's boy style

 This quilt is so cute. My friend's daughter is expecting a baby boy. She pieced this together and it is so darling. She had the audacity to tell me she didn't sew. Yeah right, job well done. So cute! (decorative quilting)
I wanted to surprise my friend with a coordinating blanket to give to her daughter. I did another strip quilt with some coordinating colors, spinning off the "D" for dog theme from the first quilt. (edge-to-edge quilting w/ borders)
My friend picked out some more cute fabrics (back is striped and darling, too) to do another coordinating quilt, spinning off the "C" for cars theme. (edge-to-edge quilting).

I just couldn't resist and had to use the orange thread on the last two quilts.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Pinch me!

Here's another beauty my sister whipped up in no time. The top two pictures are from the front of the quilt - a gorgeous St. Patrick's Day herringbone quilt. I love the fabrics she pieced together for the back. So fun. 

I got two more quilts in yesterday, so I guess I better get to work!

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Windmill

My sister had another quilt all ready for quilting. I wonder how many more quilts she has packed away. I guess only time will tell! 

My husband thought the quilt looked familiar and then he remembered something that made me feel guilty. Many years back (I'm talking 2 houses ago, so probably 6 years ago) I was toying with the idea of making a quilt for our king sized bed. I had him look at patterns and he chose this very same windmill pattern. Problem is that I never started it! I did buy some fabric but never got the color combination right and then gave up on the idea. I guess I'm going to have to follow through with the promise now. Yipe! (Or maybe I should check my sister's closet first)

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Subdued and wild

Here is another baby quilt for a lucky member of our family. I love the simplicity of the 'strip' quilt. I am really loving grays now. The quilting gives it a lot of pizzazz. I really loved the little blue strip and added this as the border. Love it and it ties in the thread choice (sapphire).

One of these days I'll figure out how to take better pictures of the quilts... 

A little bit o' chevron

I am lucky to have two nephews on the way. One should come any day and the other won't come for a few more months. So exciting!

It is my tradition to give a quilt to each brand-new nephew and niece. I have some nephews and nieces that were born before I started this tradition so I may need to figure out how to make it up to them... 

It is quite a challenge to keep up with this tradition with the size of our families. At any rate... I am done with both quilts. I used a bit of creativity to s-t-r-e-t-c-h some fabric I had into making two quilts which will look very familiar to a previously posted chevron baby quilt.

Friday, January 18, 2013

Let me call you 'Tweetheart

One of my sisters moved recently and is closer to me so I get to see her more often. Yay! She finally got to unpacking the important stuff (fabric) and "found" a quilt top all ready for the finishing touches (quilting).

The quilt was a mystery quilt from My Girlfriend's Quilt Shoppe. It is the cutest fabric shop I have ever been to. I wish I lived closer! I imagine I would need a part time job to cover my addiction.

Back to the story... so I got this beauty from her yesterday. It gave me the motivation I needed to finish quilting some baby quilts (presents for nephews on the way) that have been on the rack and not touched for some time. 

The quilt is so adorable! I love how she "carved" their initials in the tree. This quilt makes me excited about the prospect of Spring when we have had such a COLD winter. 

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Excited!

I am excited about what this NEW YEAR may bring! I plan to quilt much more than I did last year. How is that for a resolution?

I will be opening "shop" soon to start providing quilting services. Stay tuned!