A Baby Shower, Popcorn and a Handy Tip

We hosted a baby shower for our Pastor's wife here at the house on Saturday. It was a glorious occasion, well-attended and the Mom-to-be was showered indeed! Their little one will be warm, cozy and well dressed for the foreseeable future!

Naturally, I was especially touched to see her receive three handmade quilts! A beautiful string quilt that is meant to serve as a play mat for tummy-time and dragging around, as directed by its maker.

A sweet flannel quilt; oh, so warm and cozy.

I made her a pinwheel quilt from the scraps left over from their wedding quilt four years ago. That quilt had some rose-tones and pinks in it, which I pulled out since the baby is a boy. If they have a girl sometime in the future I can make her a pillow, perhaps a small one, as that bin of leftovers is almost depleted now! There were so many lovely gifts; handmade bibs which I need to see if I can get the pattern for and a gorgeous hand-knitted blanket.

Sew, what else have I been up to? I will report back as there are a few surprises that I can't reveal right now but "Sew Berry Sweet" is loaded on the longarm. This top was made using the Hex N More ruler back in 2018, it was offered as a block-of-the-month at our LQS. It's been hanging in the stash closet for the last eight years and I finally got around to getting a backing fabric and moving it to the the front of the TBQ* line. I deliberated for days on end as to how I would quilt it. I drew up elaborate custom quilting designs and finally decided to ditch those plans and quilt it with the Popcorn pantograph from Willow Leaf Designs. I'm happy with the results, I believe that this is a whimsical and fun design and the popcorn only adds to the fun!

This is my Bernina 125 Activa machine that I take on quilting retreats. It's a perfect portable machine,but as you can see the "case" that it came with is nothing more than a glorified dust cover. It has pockets on either end for the power cord and foot pedal. Very basic and it isn't protected all that well for travel. 

So, I  had seen on Instagram that Trader Joe's had these insulated cooler bags in for the summer months at the almost unheard of price of $8.99. They were being touted as the perfect size to hold, and protect, a sewing machine. I ran by there to today to check it out.

Yes, one followed me home. Does it fit? Like. A. Glove.

Perfection!

I don't know how they can make these and sell them for $8.99

(it seems like I'd have that much invested after buying just the zipper)!

You're welcome. 

Life is Good!

*TBQ = to be quilted

And, Just Like That...

... Christmas is over and, as of today, packed up and put away again until next time! I always wait until Epiphany, Three Kings Day, to take it all down. January 6 was my grandmother's birthday; she's be 120 years old today. She was the one who impressed upon me the importance of leaving Christmas for the full twelve days. When we lived in Puerto Rico we experienced first-hand the true festivities connected with "Los Tres Reyes", the three kings. 

Not unlike Christmas, Puerto Rico's Three Kings Day is a holiday rooted in religion that people now celebrate with social gatherings, food, and gift-giving. Los Reyes Magos, as the locals call it, is Christmas with a Latin twist. The concept of Santa Claus is left behind for Melchior, Caspar, and Balthasar, together known as the Three Wise Men. Traditionally, the island (and most of the Latin world) celebrates Three Kings Day on the eve of January 6. The one thing that I remember most was how Santa evacuated the mall as of December 24 and was replaced with The Kings, the children waited in long lines to tell them what they wanted.  So, happy Tres Reyes to you and yours, however you observe Epiphany today. 

This precious quilt angel was the last removed from the tree today before storing it away. Isn't she just the sweetest? Given to us this year by dear friends, she'll always have a special place on our tree and in my heart!

One more donation quilt off the frame. This pantograph is "Double Plume" by Keryn Emmerson. 

On the stitchery front: I got the buttons added to the Vintage Christmas sampler making that a true "finish", as far as I'm concerned, and began this sampler of New Year's Day. It's always hard for me to write the new year in the beginning, can't believe how it looks in stitches! 

And, just like that... this little fella is thirteen weeks old, weighs four pounds and has outgrown his first harness! We got him the next size up, which he can swim in (!). His Puppy Manners and Socialization classes begin on Thursday. Our boy is growing up, starting school already!

 Life is Good!

Pumping Up The Volume

After getting the Star Flower quilt all quilted and the binding attached, I needed a bit more color saturation to brighten the day. I dug deep into my bin of 4.5" square scraps and after a quick pass through the die cutter I set to work on this scrappy hexagon quilt. It's vibrant and fun. I have half of it pieced as it's shown here on the design wall. It will measure 56" X 72" at completion, containing 280 bright/medium/dark scraps out of the bin. Yay! Waste not, want not! 

So, here's the Star Flower quilt with the binding all basted in place for this evening's hand work. I love this quilt! There's so much to love: the softness, the "Puddles" quilting design, the ultimate binding choice (after load of auditions and consultations!), the pop of color on the backing, the fact that this one has been YEARS in the making! I'm claiming this one and keeping it forever.

Here is a sampling of the binding fabrics up for their audition.  Ultimately, I chose the one on the right.

Once the selection was finally decided upon, it was applied for stitching- a first view of the backing.

Another month has passed and a new one's begun. I'm SO READY for the warmer spring days. A dear friend gave me this Quiltfolk calendar at Christmastime. It hangs right over me desk space in the sewing room and where look at it every day. This month's photograph depicts a stack of stitched squares with this explanation: "my mother, who's battling dementia, finds familiarity in taking stitches on small squares of linen, filling them with circles, sweet meandering lines and and tiny hearts, forming new memories for herself and for her family." 💗

March 1st is my parents' wedding anniversary, this year they've celebrated 69 wonderful years! 💗💗

Star Flower is all ready to curl up under. As winter slips into spring I'm to celebrating with brighter, louder colors! For me, that means back to the scrap bins; I've got well over a hundred more hexagons to cut, that might just make a dent! 😉 Maybe. 

Life is Good!

Holly Jolly Christmas

You might remember those "Stitch Pink" blocks that were published daily by Moda back in October. I downloaded them all and stitched them up in Christmas fabrics instead, this wall quilt contains twenty five of them. The remaining five are destined to appear in a future table runner. After Christmas I got this loaded onto Snowbird and quilted it with a wonderful new (to me) pantograph by Urban Elementz: "Allover Holly". It was the perfect quilting solution for this sampler quilt. The name for this 64" X 64" quilt, "Holly Jolly Christmas" came from a combination of the pantograph's name and all of the cute and happy elements contained in the fabrics. I learned a LOT while piecing these blocks. With as many as I could, I adapted the directions to accommodate using Studio 180 tools for accuracy; that's become my go-to, preferred, method for almost all block construction. 

The tiny elves might just be my favorite little print in this one: they're found scampering about the blocks on white, green and gray backgrounds.

The binding went on yesterday afternoon. After machine stitching it in place I then press it back and hand baste the folded edge (and hanging sleeve) down so that no pins or clips get in my way during the finishing slip-stitching by hand.

I'm all ready for some relaxing handwork in front of the television in the coming evenings; plus, I like to believe that I'm eleven months ahead with this Christmas quilt for 2021. 😉 

Life is Good!

Strawberries and Cream

Strawberries and Cream ~ 60" X 68"

I finally finished piecing and quilting this scrappy quilt from years ago, it was inspired by an antique quilt that I saw at a  Quilt Guild "show and tell" and fell in love with. I drafted the pattern and set to work. This may just be one of my favorite all-time quilts. 
I backed it with this precious strawberry print. Naming this one was a natural. 
I don't usually save selvages but just look as what I trimmed off the backing. 🍓 I can't bear to toss it.

I quilted it with Willow Leaf's "Plumage", a pantograph by Jodi Beamish. 

And remember how I mentioned that I might just round more corners now 

that I'm no longer afraid of bias binding? Well, I couldn't help myself! 

Life is Good!

Up next: A Ride Along

Quilting Day

Well, if the truth were told I would love for every day to be quilting day at my house; wouldn't you? But, as we all well know, life creeps in around the edges and the time we have to dedicate to our favorite passion is often squeezed in where we can fit it. I took a whole day a week or so ago and quilted up these two long-forgotten quilt tops for my Mom. She only recently found them in a box retrieved from their attic space where they had resided for decades. She barely even remembered piecing them! I brought them home with me and promised to quilt them up for her. It was my pleasure to bring them to life; especially after all this time!

This soft and sweet Rail Fence variation was quilted with a Pantograph by Timeless Quilting: "Hearts in Bloom".

This graphic strip pieced lap quilt was quilted with my newest Pantograph: "Diamonds are Forever" by Urban Elementz. I love the texture created by quilting this design on such a linear quilt. 

I finished up the binding for her too; I found the perfect complementary fabrics in a bin of scraps that she gave me recently, they were meant to be reunited!  I do believe that Mom will be pleased. I thought about how happy she will be to get them back with each stitch as I hand-stitched these bindings down to the back.  I hope that she will enjoy them for many years to come.  💗

Life is Good!

Bubbly

It all started, as every quilt does, with a stack of fabric. This quilt was to be a special one for our five year old granddaughter's bed. She knows what she wants. The walls of her room are decorated with painted circles: red, turquoise, two shades of green, yellow and, of course, Lynnleigh's favorite color: orange. My daughter-in-law and I selected the fabrics and the background from swatches while standing in the room where the quilt will live. A flax linen was chosen for the background. I knew what Lynnleigh wanted: lots and lots of circles. Circles of every size. I wasn't certain how to execute this one but I spent much time thinking about it and then, suddenly one morning, I awakened with a plan! I had ordered the background fabric wide enough so that there were no seams. I backed the colored pieces with Misty Fuse and went to my trusty AccuQuilt cutter and began cranking the layers of prepared fabrics through.

I gridded off the background fabric with a thermal-ink pen and placed the circles in what appears to be a random-ish (I can't do true random placement, it's not in me!) design within an outline. 

I fused them in place, one at a time with a dry iron. The ironing fixed the circles to the background and eliminated the placement lines at the same time. I left a little additional length as I wasn't 100% sure how long this needed to be. I would take it to the actual bed for a trial before I trimmed anything!

The quilt lay-out before trimming. The quilt top got two-thumbs up from Lynnleigh after the try-out. (Actually, she wanted to keep it, immediately, right there on her bed. I had to convince her to let me bring it back home for finishing!)

The next step was the applique. I used a straight stitch around each raw-edge. The constant turning and manipulation of the quilt under the presser foot caused some of the circles to begin to lift and work themselves loose, I secured them with safety pins. (My pile of safety pins, removed as I went along, revealed that there are 74 circles on this quilt top!

The quilting began! I decided to use "Curls" a pantograph from Beany Girl Quilts. I loved the movement that this added.

Here it is, with the quilting all finished. I am excited to think about Lynnleigh's reaction to it being on her bed for real. It is backed with fabric from a sheet, white background with tiny gray elephants: her favorite animal! 😉 It is twin sized, measuring 56" X 80". 

Yesterday I prepared a pieced multi-color binding from the scraps; it is basted in position and ready for hand finishing. I showed this photo to a friend and she remarked that it will match my granddaughter's bubbly personality! The quilt was named, right then and there! Bubbly? 

Oh yes, the quilt and the girl!

Life is Good!