Emersyn’s Quilt

I can hardly wait to get this one quilted! Hopefully with Kelly coming to give me some longarm lessons, we can get this one done….This is probably one of my favorite quilts..I love the retro flowers and I love her name on the quilt…I did a blanket stitch around the letters with #8 black perle cotton.

The only problem I have with this quilt, is if one of the blocks jumps out too much. When Wayne, my husband looked at it this morning, he started singing the Sesame Street Song…”One of these things just doesn’t belong here” and I thought if he notices this so will everyone else. It really didn’t bother me until he pointed it out…I still love the block, just wondering now if I should switch it with another one….Don’t know if I have the ‘oomph’ to do it or not….Just in case you’re wondering, it’s the pink polka dot with the cupcakes.

Happy Quilting

Kris

Emersyn’s Quilt and Evelyn’s Album Wool Quilt

I stitched the last stitch in my Evelyn’s Album Wool Quilt last night while watching T.V….Woo Hoo! I love how it turned out and I told it so today! I tend to talk to my quilts while I’m working on them, that sounds kind of stupid but I find myself doing it all the time….this one is pretty small, about 52x66…..

Emersyn’s Retro Flower Quilt is coming along rather nicely. I have 46 blocks made and only need 30 of them…I guess I’m just an over-achiever! I’ll pick the best of the leftovers and make a baby quilt for my niece Hilary’s baby girl that is due this fall.

I might make a table runner with what’s left after the baby quilt…Never will I be accused of wasting quilt blocks!

I’m not completely satisfied with the baby quilt yet….I think I need another bright pink block instead of one of the plainer ones…..I might switch one out of Emersyn’s and replace it with one of these…we will just have to see…..

I’m on vacation this coming week and my friend Kelly from Colorado will be arriving on Tuesday for three days of one on one longarm lessons…I am so excited I can hardly stand it….I’m planning on learning a lot these next few days…Hopefully enough that I can get Emersyn’s quilt done by September 1st…

Happy Quilting

Kris

Emerysn’s retro flower quilt….Will I get it done before her 1st birthday?

I decided this week that I would like to get the quilt I started for Emersyn about 3 or 4 months ago done by her birthday which is September 1st….I’m  doing very well and I have 31 blocks made for it….Now I’m trying to decide how big I want it. The one I made a couple of years ago for Lesley was 42 blocks and of course I want this one smaller.  The two pictures below are of Lesley’s quilt. I free motion quilted this one on my domestic machine which was very difficult…good thing I won’t have to do that again! These blocks are very labor intensive…12 curved seams in each block and I’ve gotten 12 of them done in two days, which is nothing short of a miracle! Each time we visit Lesley and I see this quilt on the bed, I love it more. If the seams aren’t matched exactly it sticks out like a sore thumb, so I’ve gotten quite good at these blocks since I’ve made so many of them so far.

And here are Emerysyn’s blocks…they are made from Aunt Grace’s fabrics, I don’t know how many I’ll use or which ones for sure…the leftovers will be put together for a baby quilt for my niece who is expecting a baby girl.

I’ve just finished binding this Kansas Troubles log cabin quilt, this is the second one like this I’ve made, I gave one to my sister Barb, it’s very special since my mom cut out the flowers and ironed them on for me so I could stitch around them. She did this for me right before she went into the nursing home. I love this quilt too! The label says 4-patch which is wrong,  so I’ll have to change that….Ugh!

I’ve got another one of these wool pictures done…I’m going to have to find some black wool somewhere, I’m running out and I want to make a few more of these. And now I need to get to a Hobby Lobby so I can hopefully find some black frames that will fit these.

Happy Quilting,

Kris

Red Willow County Fair and the arrival of ‘Big Red’!

And this is the wonderful news….Best of Show at the Red Willow County Fair! So I believe these will be Nebraska State Fair bound! And to do it twice is even better! This isn’t the best pictures of my redwork sampler…it’s much better in person….but it makes me happy! I love redwork….and I love quilting even more!

I’ve been so busy at work that when I come home after being in the heat all day I just want to sit in my chair and crash…which I seem to do quite often. I’ve still been getting quite a bit done in my sewing room, but not as much as usual. I had the day off yesterday and a friend and I went to the Nebraska Quilt Show in North Platte ….It was kind of disappointing…only 8 vendor booths there and I only really liked two of them…so I didn’t spend too much money, which was a good thing. I did buy a cute pattern of the nativity and I’ve got one done already….it’s so darn cute…just need a black frame to put it in now….It will be around 5 x 12 inches in the frame. Hopefully I can find something at Hobby Lobby that’s not too expensive. I think these would make  really cute gifts and they will use up my scrap wool pieces, which is good and bad since I tend to be a ‘wool’ hoarder!

And in other news….My Nolting Pro 24 longarm has arrived…I’ve had it now for about 3 weeks and I’ve found it’s a whole different ballgame compared to free motion quilting with a domestic machine….I can tell I will really have to practice, practice, practice! And of course she is red in color! Woo Hoo! Her name is ‘Big Red’, but her nickname is ‘Red’,  she was named after my favorite team….Go Huskers! GBR!

And here is my Evelyn’s Album wool quilt….almost done! Just working on the borders now, so not too far away from being ready to quilt. I had a hard time deciding if I wanted to use red or the tan for the border fabric…I chose tan and then tea-dyed it a little bit to take the yellowish tint out of it…..I like how the wool vines/leaves and flowers stand out with the lighter color.

Here is one of the 61/2 inch unfinished hovering hawks blocks I will be needing to complete the border of my mom’s civil war quilt. I’m finishing this quilt that she  started before she went in the nursing home……I promised her I’d complete it, only 56 more of these to make and I will be ready to sew them together to complete the border. I need a total of 68.

And here is the results of my first attempt at using ‘Red’…this is a quilt top my mom had made that I told her I would quilt for her. It turned out okay…not perfect by any means but it was good practice. Nothing fancy, but it was fun!

Well….off to do some more sewing

Happy Quilting! Kris

I Really Have Been Sewing!

I know it’s been quite a while since I’ve posted, but I truly have been sewing as much as I possibly can. I’ve been very busy at work, and I just finished sewing some baby items for my friend’s twins…..so now I am doing what I really want to do, which is finish some projects that were started long ago!

I’ve had a Civil War Quilt my mom started and she asked me to finish for her…I did pretty good for a while and then I lost interest…..I have never really liked this quilt, so it’s kind of hard to get motivated to work on it…..but since my mom has passed away, it is calling my name and I just have to finish it. I’ve been talking to my mom as I sew on it, and it’s really been good therapy for me…..My mom had completed the center square which is set on point, and I am finishing the triangle shaped corners…quite a bit to do…but I’ve got the large outer blocks done and I’ve got 11 of the 16 smaller 7” blocks done….then it will be making 60 something 6 inch blocks for the border and sew it all together…I can see the end finally, and I know my mom is smiling! Below is a picture of what this quilt will look like.

And here are a few of the smaller blocks that go in the corners….

I’m still working on the wool applique, Aunt Evelyn’s Album…I am on month 9 of 12…this is just fun and very therapeutic to hand stitch around the wool….I like these colors too.

The 2 latest blocks from the Jo Morton Prairie Rose BOM I’m working on….over half way done now…

And the most exciting news is that I’ve gotten the Aunt Grace’s Garden Party quilt finished and given to my sister Susie….This is what she gets for cutting my hair!

……And for THE MOSTEST exciting news….I will have my Red Nolting longarm in about one month from now….that sure does make me happy!

Happy Quilting!

Kris

Farmer’s Wives Quilts are done!

All done except for the quilting! This makes me very happy…I had so much fun making these blocks, some were very difficult, but I persevered! I am so excited about actually seeing them quilted…I am purchasing a longarm in the near future and I’m getting very excited about that too!

The top quilt is the Farmer’s Wife Quilt and the bottom one is the Farmer’s Wife Pony Club Quilt…the top block sizes are 6 1/2” unfinished and the bottom ones are 8 1/2” unfinished. I love them!

Happy Quilting

Kris

5 blocks to go! FWPC

Only 5 more blocks to make and I’ll have my Farmer’s Wife Pony Quilt Club blocks all done…..Making 90 of them takes a while, but I’ve almost got the job done. I stopped at the quilt store in Norton today looking for fabric for the sashing and the cornerstones. I think I’ll use a black for the sashing, and I’m not sure what I’m looking for in the cornerstones. I hope something will just jump out at me and I’ll know that it’s the one! I bought the fabric for the outer border on my Farmer’s Wife quilt that I’ve had sitting around here for at least 6 months, once this border is on, it will be ready for the quilter….It’s always fun to look at a quilt a long time after I’ve made it, I usually like them more and am not as critical as I was when I was working on them…It’s funny how that works!

And here is the stack of 85 blocks that are made…

We’ve been cleaning out mom’s house since she died and I’ve been hauling tubs of fabric home…In the top of one of the tubs I found this pattern and I really didn’t like it at all…In fact I was talking to mom and telling her how awful it was! She was probably laughing at me! Well, anyway I kept digging in the tub and at the bottom I found 10 blocks that mom had made with this pattern. I ended up liking the blocks a lot…So I guess it wasn’t such a bad pattern after all….I’m going to make wall hangings with two blocks for each one of my sisters…since there are 5 of us this will work out perfectly….Thanks mom….

Happy Quilting!

Kris