ARRR8 Round Robin Complete! (Except the binding)

So I finally finished my ARRR8 quilt from Around the Bend and Across the Pond group on Flickr this week. I am going to machine bind this one since it is so massive and I want it on my bed now!  I think it turned ou amazing!

Love how it looks quilted. I like it even more now!

Here is a picture if the quilting up close. I love it so much! 

Can't wait to do the Bee Free round robin quilt! Stay tuned for that one. 

Been busy around here lately

I've been more productive in the sewing room lately. I finally made my baby's quilt now that he's four months old! I used Reunion by Sweetwater as the fabric and the pattern comes from Camille Roskelley's book Simplify. I made it a little bigger than the original so I used two charm packs instead of one. I think it turned out perfect! Next up to quilt it.

Stash building

It's been so long since I've purchased fabric that I kinda went a little crazy this week. I love all the new colors and designs coming out. I even have some other fabric in mind too. It's about time my stash is updated. Can't wait to cut into this lovely stack.

Madrona Road Challenge almost complete!

I finished quilting it today! Yay! Now I just need to bind it. I've been crazy busy around here because my husband is running for city councilman and I've been helping him with his campaign. Making it almost impossible to actually sew anything around here. But I wanted to share my progress thus far. The binding will be put on this week because I have to take it to my guild meeting. What do you think?

BQ3 Quilts

BQ3 Butterflies

BQ3 Space

This December I was hired to make these two beautiful quilts for my friends grandchildren. I picked the BQ3 pattern because it was fun and you could lay it out in so many ways! These two were the same pattern but I laid them out differently so that the kids wouldn't feel they had the same quilt. They were so fun to do and it was down to the wire in the end because of how crazy December had been.

In my haste to get these sent to her, I forgot to take pictures of them all bound and completed. Don't you think they turned out pretty cool? I may have to make more with this pattern.

Thankfully, both kids LOVED their quilts! Phew....a job well done.

Next up on my agenda...scrapy trip around the world! What about you?

Paisleys!!

My friend Cassie asked me to quilt paisleys on her quilt for her. I was nervous at first because I hadn't done them yet and I was stalling.....until she texted me and said the baby that this was for came 2 weeks early!! Now the pressure was on!! So, I practiced on some fabric and went to town! 

I think it turned out really awesome! I hope you like it Cassie!! (she drops in my blog from time to time) :)

 

Not to bad.....what do you think?

 

Not perfect, but that's what makes it hand done...right?

Baby boy quilts galore!!!

Scraps I received!!

 

All ironed and ready to use...

 

I'm making simple log blocks for this quilt...but as you can see I have a TON of fabric! 

 

I'm just making these simple log blocks and it is so fun! There are SO many combinations that I can do and I am pretty sure I will be able to make at least 4 quilts with all this...maybe more. This is what I am working on right now. I will show you what  I come up with each day.

I think I may even donate a couple of these as well as listing them on my Etsy shop.  What are you doing today??

 

My ARRR8 Quilt top has come home!!!

Can you believe this started out like this:

I made this center for my round robin group thinking that I would need to add a border or two at the end for it to fit our Queen sized bed.....but, as you can see from the first photo, it is so big I don't have space on my floor to display it! I'm super excited and in love with the evolution of this quilt. My only dilemma now....to make the backing. I don't have enough fabric to finish it quite yet. I am going to see, I may be able to use all that I have left over from the front to piece a fabulous scrappy back. That might be the right thing to do. I will update on the progress for sure.

Now, to add to this special mail day, one of the lovely ladies in the group (Susan)  made these burpies for me and sent them with the quilt top....she was the last to add to it. They are so perfect and I can't wait to use them. 

They were wrapped up so cute.....she made me two of them and here is a picture! 

Tomorrow I will show you the other surprise this group made for me! You aren't going to want to miss this one believe me! :)

my FLiQS2 finished

my FLiQS2 finished, a photo by The Desert Quilter (aka..HardyPartyof5) on Flickr.

Okay, so I made this cute little mini for someone in the Fab Little Quilt Swap over on Flickr.com and it turned out so cute!

I hand quilted the chevrons....my first time ever...and I think it turned out okay. I hope she likes it! :)

Like the Doll Quilt Swap, our partners are secret, so I cannot say who she is in this post just in case she reads my blog.

My Random Charms finally have a purpose...

This pile I accumulated last year during a pork chop swap....

I really wanted to do something with them but just haven't until now. I put them all together in a scrappy quilt for my etsy shop. When they are all together, they actually look pretty good. 

I'm using this fabric to do the back. This is being loaded on my long arm today! 

I think this is going to turn out pretty nice. What a perfect picnic or grass quilt! I told you I was organizing my scraps.....I'm trying to use what I have so I can restock! :)

What scrappy projects have you done lately?

Baby quilt with granny squares!!

I am in love with this pattern. I made this for a friend of mine and gave it to her at her baby shower this weekend. She loved it! (thank goodness) But I want to make one of these for our bed......I have the squares all cut out and ready to go....now, if I can only find the time to do it.

Isn't is just so Fresh?!

I chose a pattern of a sleeping bear with stars to quilt it and I think it turned out so cute!

Here is another angle of it finished and bound...

I love dots and stripes for the binding on any quilt.....

The binding and the back is from the Barenstein Bears Collection.....too cute!!

One memory quilt finished....

But let me start from the beginning.....my grandpa past away in December and after living 91 years on this earth, he had accumulated a LOT of stuff.....I took a ton of his shirts and pants so that I could make quilts for some family members......I cut 9.5" squares from each shirt as you see here:

Next I took a shirt he had that was white and red checked and cut up 2.5" squares (this shirt reminded me of his table cloth that he ALWAYS had on his table for as long as I can remember) And the white squares are a pair of painters pants. (he was a painter)

 

For the sashing I used his jeans....this looks awesome but is WAY hard to keep it flat when quilting....but it's SO grandpa!

Before I get to the quilting of this first one, I have to tell you that all the cutting above and ironing on of the interfacing took a LONG time! And, since my grandpa smoked since he was 12, my iron is kind of ruined from the tar....but, it was a good cause....right?

This photo I'm about to show you is pretty cool I think. I just did a basic stipple because I had to make sure the puckers weren't too bad. This picture is awesome though, because if you look at the solid blue square you'll see paint....this was from a sweatshirt he used to wear while working.....cool huh?

Here it is finished...almost, just need to sew on the binding.

Here is the front of this quilt. This one is for my cousin who took care of my grandpa the last 12 years because he was the only one that lived in the same town. Something special for one of my favorite cousins! :)

I have a few more to make, but they will come along slowly because I really wanted to finish this one for my cousin. What do you think?

Progress on Round Robins...

Lovely Round Robins.... here is an update on what I've been doing lately. (partially) I joined two round robins....I know, but I just can't help it. I LOVE sewing and making quilts...besides, it's not like I'm making a whole quilt all at once...which I have just finished one for someone special. 

Anyway, this lovely little piece here arrived at my home at the beginning of the month and I added the two baskets on the left. This one is the "Free Form Robin". One with flowers blooming out of it and the other filled with apples. I'm sending it off next week to the next lucky lady in line to add to it.

....Next we have the The Round Robin which goes around not free form like the above picture. I added the triangles and the white border.....thought it looked cool...what do ya think?

 I just received the next one for the month of March....can't wait for you to see what I have up my sleeve for that round..... :)

 

Some Sewing Therapy

This has been a tough week around our house and I was desperate to get some sewing in to distract myself. So, the Holiday is over all the kids are at school, I am STILL in my Pajamas and I have completed both my starter blocks/centers for the Round Robin Groups I just joined over at

Around the Bend and Across the Pond. 

This is the center/starting point for the group Awesome Rawsome Round Robin Group! What do you think? It's 31" x 31" and comes in just under our max of 36" sq.

This is my signature block that will be accompanying my center in the mail so that each lovely person that adds to my center will be able to sign it.

This is my center/starting block for the Free Form Robin Group B

The block on the left is my starter piece and the one on the right is my signature block

I have been holding on to these fabrics for over a year now wondering what to do with them. I just love how happy they are and looking at them makes me happy!

Now, time to clean up my mess on the table here and get on with my day.

I Love Giving Quilts to People I Love!

So my sister in law loved her quilt! I was supposed to give it to her last year for Christmas, then I thought I could give it to her for her Birthday in May......and then I finished it the week before Christmas....this year! :) It was meant for her many moons ago and it is now in her hands! She was so cute, she said she was going to display it only....I told her....No Way! Quilts are meant to be snuggled under! I think she'll use it...when there aren't any little sticky fingers around.

Isn't it perfect! It really suits her, don't ya think?

New Year Projects

It's been crazy around here with the Holidays wrapping up! I had the opportunity to quilt a gorgeous quilt for a customer and it was fabulous! She actually did two of them and I'm getting ready to quilt the second one too! She paper pieced this beauty and this has inspired me to take a paper piecing class so I can learn this skill. I have a lot of goals for the New Year and this is one of them...to take more quilting classed to improve my quilting skills. Another one is to run a half marathon this year.

 

 And if the front isn't fabulous enough....check out the back of this quilt!

A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

                                                                                

So, besides the quilting, I have been working on another project. This project is a special one! My Grandpa pasted away on the 4th of December and I took as many shirts and pants as I could so that I could make some memory quilts for some people in the family. This is what I cut so far and I am trying to use as much of my Grandpas clothes as possible. The only part that won't be his clothing is the backs of each quilt. I modeled each quilt out of one I quilted for a customer.

Below you'll see the "sashing" I'm using for each quilt....all cut from Grandpa's jeans.

This is only 2/3 of the pile I have cut! These are all from his shirts.....and it's going to be awesome!!

These are from his painters pants and I will add some from a white shirt and a red checkered shirt as well.

This is my inspiration for the quilts I am making....cool huh?

I'm super excited for these quilts to be made....I'm almost ready to assemble them....only a few more 2 1/2 inch squares. So, see the blue squares in this quilt? That will be my small white and red checked ones, the white sashing will be the jeans and the shirts are the centers. I think it's going to be awesome! Stay tuned for the updates on these.....

Till then.....

Happy New Year!!

Lattice and some Roses.....

Here I am blogging about a quilt that I just finished today and sent it off to it's owner. Greta made this beautiful quilt! It's a lattice pattern and she had me quilt roses to make it look like it is the Roses are climbing it. Can I just tell you that this quilt turned out so beautiful! It's stunning!

Here is a picture of the quilting up close....

Another beautiful quilt to admire from pictures and to inspire me to make one too!

The colors on this quilt were soft yellow for the background and mostly yellows, greens, browns and light colors. I used a pale yellow thread to quilt it and her back was a really pretty floral with green and yellow. I have to add that her piecing skills are outstanding!