Working right along, I'm getting quilts done and still having time for some 'Me' sewing. I wasn't going to take so many quilts this year, but who do I say no to? There's a queue, and it is my own fault. Let's take a look at what I have been up to.
I made this quick and easy quilt from a layer cake I got at a sale. I thought it was bright and cheerful.
The pattern is from one of the Villa Rosa postcards.
The panto is Alfresco.
I bought yardage of this fabric at a big sale in Hayesville, NC. They have a wonderful sale room in the shop, as well as good sales throughout the year in the shop fabrics. This is a charity quilt.
At the same sale (in Hiawassee) I got annother layer cake of beautiful small florals. Using another Villa Rosa pattern, I made loads of blocks
The pattern was really scrappy, but I chose to use two colors in each block to have some order in the quilt.
This is the pattern. For $2, these are a bargain!
Here are the blocks on the design wall. The quilt is sewn, quilted and finished. I gave it to a neighbor lady who really reminds me of my late mother-in-law. She took photos of the quilt on her bed with her iPad and came over to show me. I was thrilled to see the pictures, as I had forgotten to take my own. I tried to email them from her tablet to myself, but something went wrong and they didn't get here. Rats! Her antique furniture with the white bedspread looks lovely with the quilt on top, or folded at the foot.
These blocks were sewn yesterday. I had a bundle of four one yard pieces of Jane Sassaman fabric from years ago, and used it to make these rail fence blocks. The focal fabric (big purple pitcher flowers) will be the outer border. The inner border and binding are cut and ready to go. They are a solid red-purple. I'll get it sewn up today.
Customer quilts are also getting finished. Here are the ones I finished this week.
This flannel child's quilt is my Mea culpa of the year so far. The customer told me it was for a young child, made from her late-sister's stash. She made it for her sister's grandson. The backing she sent was dark blue solid with a wide swath of American flags down the center. The top and back were such polar opposites, I tried to phone her to say I had flannel that would look great and be soft and cuddly for the back that I would give her. Got the answer machine and left a message. Meanwhile, I made the flannel back and quilted the project. Thank goodness she is a kindhearted and sweet woman, or I would have really taken a tongue lashing for what I did. It turns out, the kid wasn't wild about the baby looking fabrics in the top and said he wanted flags on his quilt. My customer made the flag back, hoping he would accept that. I messed it up. No charge to the customer, and she is making a totally flags quilt to replace this one. I'm sick over the whole thinng and have vowed to never do anything to a quilt that the customer didn't approve!! What a dope I am.
I used a loose meander to keep the quilt soft. You can see the baby print of the focal fabric that started my mind wandering.
The backing is pieced from flannel monkeys, and woodland animals in two colors. The whole quilt is soft and cuddly, but not what the customer wanted. Never again!!
I worked on this huge custom job for a week. If I had quilted it free-motion on the Gammill, it probably would have taken four or five days. The customer wanted Celtic knots and quilting, and I knew that was something I couldn't do successfully hand guided, so I bit the bullet and used Pro Stitcher to get the job done. It was a definite learning experience. I hope the customer likes it. It is for her bed.
There were two celtic knot patternns for the blocks, and three patterns for the borders.
The inner border got piano keys, the dark green borders have rows of circles in green thread, and the center border has a celtic knnot pattern.
The backing is this gray swirly fabric.
This little table runner was a nice respite after the behemoth Irish chain quilt.
The focus fabric is bright, cheerful sunflower and countryside fabric, so I used a sunflower and butterflies pattern for the quilting.
This is the backing.
The photo of this exciting quilt doesn't do it justice. The customer made it from my Seminole quilting row-by-row tutorials last year. The fabric combinations are genius and compliment the peacock print border perfectly. I love it!
I used the panto Chevrons to add texture without distracting from the patterns going on in the various rows. The thread is a fuschia Glide, to add a bit of shine.
Her backing was mostly this saturated blue Ruby Star fabric
But the zinger was the piecing on the back from all the fabrics showcased on the front! What a nice surprise.
Here is a hurry-up baby quilt for a baby who is already born.Grandma got it pieced in a flash and I quilted it the same day so the babe can snuggle with it.
The fabrics are soft pink flannels with sloths? and daisies prints.
The back is another flannel; this bright marbled print. I used the panto Bubbles.
That's it for this week. I took a slew of pictures of the studio (as it usually looks...no clean-up done beforehand) as a challenge in the longarm group. Everybody's photos will be a slideshow at out next meeting.I'll post them in a couple of days so you don't get Wazoo overload!
Off to the studio!
