My Longarm and I!

I've been encouraged about using my longarm the last few weeks...I've been watching You Tube videos/tutorials on free motion longarm quilting every morning when I take my walk and I think some of it is starting to sink in! So I decided it's time to just 'go for it' and get that longarm a stitchin....I've been having fun! This is the wool table topper that came from Kim Diehl's book 'Simple Appeal'...I enjoyed quilting it, and experimenting as I went along.

Karmon's table runner all done! I did a geometric pattern on this one which I think I will do on the baby quilt for my new grandson when he's born. It's also a circle quilt. I'm happy with how this one turned out.

This is 'Snow Days', a pattern by CrabApple Hill...I've had this top done for a few years, but just never have gotten it quilted before now, hopefully it will turn out good enough to enter in the county fair.

January and February  from Buttermilk Basin...these are shown in the pattern as small wall hangings and one for every month...I think I'm going to put them all together and make a large wall hanging/small quilt. I think I'll embroider under each one of them, the month they represent.

 The 9th block in the 'Summer Gatherings' wool quilt by Lisa Bonjean....This is fun! Only 5 more months to go until it's finished...
Happy Quilting!
Kris

Sewing for Baby Weekend

I decided that this weekend would be the time to get a bunch of stuff made for the upcoming baby shower this coming weekend in St. Joseph Missouri, (that will be a long drive for going down on Saturday and coming home on Sunday.) I'm looking forward to seeing Lesley and Emersyn though! It's hard to believe the baby is due in about 6 weeks...I'm wondering where the time has gone. 
So far I've made 3 blankets , 3 crocheted caps and 3 burp pads...so not too bad....the quilt is almost done but again, I can't do anything with it until I know the baby's name....I'm thinking it won't get done till after the baby is born. I've let my 'stash' of baby things dwindle and I really need to get some extras made...So I've decided that this week before work, baby items would be my sewing projects. I'd like to get several boy and girl things made to just have on hand.
Happy Quilting
Kris

I WILL FINISH more UFOs!!! (and I really do mean it!)

Circles! And Set-in Seams to Boot

My daughter Lesley wanted a circle quilt for my grandson who will be  born the end of July, so I started researching the best way to go about doing this. I was debating between appliqueing and set-in seams, and I really didn’t want to applique a whole bunch of circles. I found a tutorial and that began my journey with the circle quilt, the baby quilt is done and waiting for the baby’s name to be stitched on…and since I don’t know the name yet, it will just have to wait a bit longer. I just finished piecing a circle table runner for my daughter Karmon…she picked out the colors…I had fun making all different size circles…it’s getting easier and easier to do. Now to figure out what to quilt on this! That seems to be my stumbling block right now. This picture does not do it justice...the colors are much brighter in real life.

Here is part of the circle baby quilt and my Wool Block of the month from Primitive Gatherings, I’ve got 8 of the wool blocks done and I’m now working on the four patch block that goes between the wool blocks. I love the colors in this quilt!

 
Three of the latest wool blocks I've done. 

 

The hexies are coming along pretty well, I’ve got all of the purple ones made, I just need to get them sewn on to the quilt. Again, another decision to make…what color hexies for the next row?

 My favorite fabric for the moment…American Jane by Sandy Klop for moda…Most of it is out of print and hard to find…But I’ve been on a mission and I’ve accumulated quite a bit of it. This pile of fabric puts a smile on my face! I love to get it out and just play with it…I’ve started to worry about my fabric hoarding tendencies…and I’m serious about that! Serious that is,  about the hoarding and all of the fabric ‘petting’. I LOVE my fabric.

My new favorite book: Farm Girl Vintage by Lori Holt. I love the fabric used in this book and I love the patterns. I've been looking at it every night and getting ideas. It was worth the $30 just to look at it! Thanks for thinking of me Regina and Jamie from Stitch up a Storm in Norton Kansas. Those girls know what I like! 

Still plugging away on my mom's civil war quilt...I've only got 32 more of these 6 inch Hovering Hawk blocks to make for two of the borders...So I'm more than half done with these. I know my mom will be smiling down from heaven when this one gets done! I can hear her asking me if I've been working on it and how much I've gotten done on it...Well, mom it's almost done.

Happy Quilting

Kris

Obsessed with Hexies!

Ok….I will admit that I tend to be a bit OCD….I’ve started working on my Hexie quilt again and I just can’t seem to put it down, it goes everywhere with me. Oh well, I’m having a wonderful time with it! I have no idea how big it will end up being…it’s about a yard across so far. These are very small 1/2” hexies, the flower’s finished size is about 2 5/8” across…lots of work and very slow growth in the size of this quilt…It will be worth it when it’s done! Anyway that’s what I keep telling myself. So…what color do you think the next row should be?

My ‘Love Covers’ embroidered blocks are all done….This didn’t take me long at all, 14 small blocks and 12 large blocks. I have all of the fabric collected to finish this, I’ve put it all away and will get this done another day! Very happy with how these blocks turned out.

And here are the ‘rejected’ circle blocks that were my practice pieces…I’ve decided it would be a nice table runner…it’s on the longarm right now and I’m stumped on what to quilt on it….Hopefully something will come to me.

This is the circle quilt for my soon to be born grandson….I will add white borders and put his name on it… I can’t do much more until I know what his name will be. I really didn’t think it would be this easy to do set-in circles, but it didn’t take long at all. Very happy with this one!

These are a few of my purchases while I was in Iowa with my sisters; the wool pattern is one I’ve wanted for years. It’s funny how when on vacation I’ll buy things I normally wouldn’t buy any other time because I think they’re too expensive…I guess I tend to splurge a bit when I’m in another town. I have a big plan for the fabric…I’m trying to hold off on starting on it though. I really need to finish a few other quilts first! My vow to get my UFOs done is starting to blow away in the wind….I’m straying off the straight and narrow path! I think I might need some kind of an intervention…Help!

Here I am with 3 of my sisters…Val wasn’t able to be with us because of some school obligations. We sure missed her, but we had a wonderful time together. I would do it again in a heartbeat.  I love you Susie, Barb, Val and Wendy! And as our theme song goes….’Sisters, Sisters, nothing can come between sisters’! Except maybe some Quilting! Just kidding!

Happy Quilting!

Kris

Long-arming, Embroidery and Circle Blocks

I bought an embroidered/pieced/colored quilt pattern a couple of weeks ago called ‘Love Covers’ by Tricia Cobbs. It’s got quite a bit of embroidery and very bright colors, I like the Scripture in the embroidery so I was drawn to it…..I’ve got all 12 of the large blocks embroidered and have 2 done of the 14 small blocks….You also use Crayola crayons to color in the blocks…It’s been fun so far…I’ve got quite a bit of bright colored fabric collected to get started on piecing the blocks…Fun!

My Prairie Rose BOM by Jo Morton is done! It’s quilted and off the frame now. While I was quilting it I thought I was doing a horrible job and was kind of in the dumps about it, but now that it’s off the frame I really like it. Now I only need to add the binding and it’s completely done!

Here are my Wool Spring Gathering BOMs from Primitive Gatherings…the top one is the latest one and the center block will go between all of the wool blocks….I’ve done 6 of them now.

This is the start of my grandson’s quilt…He is due July 29th, and my daughter wanted a circle quilt….It’s really not too hard to do…I found a tutorial on-line done by Dale Fleming and it really makes sewing the circles easy…I did not want to applique them so I thought I’d give this a try. My circles get better with each one I do.

Happy Quilting

Kris

Finishing UFOs…..woot woot!

I made a promise to myself that after the first of the year, I would finish projects that were half started and almost done…or else. I’ve kept that promise and am very happy with the results, many projects are completely done! I even allowed myself to start a new project last week.

Amish with a Twist is ready to quilt….last I knew my sister Wendy was going to take this one. I’ve tried to make a quilt for each one of my sisters, and Wendy is the only one who hasn’t got her quilt yet. I’m really at a loss as to how I’m going to quilt this one…I may need some help from my friend Kelly Kreft….

‘Grand Illusion’ Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt, pieced, quilted and bound…started this one the first of December and it’s completely done….I’m very proud of that. I changed it up a bit, but it’s pretty close to what Bonnie Hunter suggested. This is a very large square quilt.

And another quilt that I finally quilted and bound…My 2011 Calendar quilt, this is so much fun for me to just look at…It has a different strip of fabric for every day of the 2011 year, whatever I happened to be working on that day was the strip I sewed on to this quilt. I did the applique flowers  and embroidery since they were in some quilts I did that year too….I think I’m going to be doing this again in 2016. My grandson Walker is helping me hold up the quilt.

 

Block #5 in my Wool BOM from Primitive Gatherings….I love this quilt!

I’m still doing a bit of crocheting too…I have a grandson on the way so I’ll have to start making some boy hats as well.

A flannel baby blanket that a friend wanted for a baby gift, I really need to get busy and make a few of these to have on hand….I usually do, but right now it’s pretty slim pickings. I have a stack of flannel literally at least 3 feet high, so that’s not the problem.

This is the new project I’m working on….coloring and embroidery…what a fun combination! I love the scripture verses too…don’t know who will want this one, but I’m sure someone will, and then again I might want to keep this one for myself.

This is the border for my mom’s Civil War quilt she started before she went in the nursing home…she asked me to finish it…Not my favorite quilt, but I will eventually get the job done. Mom had done the center of the quilt and I finished the 4 corners…I wish she were still alive…she would love to see the progress I’ve made on this quilt. Now to make 68 of the Hovering Hawk blocks for the borders…Lots of half square triangles…I WILL FINISH THIS!

My haul from the quilt store this week….75% off! What a find….got enough for 5 quilt backs…This puts a smile on my face.

Happy Quilting

Kris