Fabric Postcard Exchange

November 27, 2014November 27, 20141 Comment

Brandy (at www.brandylynndesigns.com)

has organized a fabric postcard exchange

once again. You can sign up online (although

the date may be over now)and she sends you

an address that you send your fabric postcard

off to, while you anxiously await a fabric postcard

from someone else.

And I am planning to participate this year. The

theme is “Snowflakes” and here are 2 fabric

postcards that I am working on.

I love the color of the blue fabric and the metallic silver snowflakes. I am

undecided as if I need to add more embellishments or not. I did

stitch around the snowflakes with metallic thread. Maybe some

swirls are needed?

I like the snowflakes here too but it definitely needs something.

I can’t help myself, I have to stitch something on this one too.

And I had to show you one that I made after Remembrance Day. I

think that it is a great way to use up those Poppies. What else

do we do with them?

And the words were stitched on my Janone 6600.

This one won’t be sent off with the other 2.

A little twist in the road here. Dale made this huge quilt.

I really like the colors in it. It even has some metallic fabric

in it-a little bling never hurt anyone.

She wanted a swirl feather, designed by Sharon Schamber.

This quilt measures in at 120″ x 120″ -whew!

I used a light grey polyester thread on the top and backing.

It does show up nicely without overtaking the piecing.

A close up of the panto we used.

And the backing. The stitching really shines on this side.

No pun was intended there, they kind of slip out

of my mouth sometimes.

This next quilt was made by Susan. She did a phenomenal

job with the piecing. I have never seen a quilt lay so flat and

square.

Because it is a traditional Log Cabin, Susan decided that she

would like feathers on it. What a great idea! I love feathers.

You will have to wait until next week to see the whole quilt.

It is finished but close ups look so much better.

Have a great week.

Around The World Blog Tour-Pt 2

November 17, 2014November 19, 2014Leave a comment

Once again, I would like to thank Kerry, at Simple Bird Applique,

for the invitation to participate in this Around The World Blog Tour.

She does incredible applique and is quite quick about it as well.

I have to answer 4 questions in this post, so let’s begin.

1. What am I working on?

Good question. I seem to have a few UFO’s lying around but this

one is at the forefront. This pattern was designed by Roxane

at Scrap, Quilt, Stitch.

It is an adorable pattern and I joined up for the BOM.

Thus far, I have only 2 blocks done.

SONY DSC

I found thin white suede at The Dollar Store and it makes

a great pole for the umbrella, as well as chair legs for the

chair. I learned this trick from Kerry, at Simple Bird Applique.

I recently finished this quilt for Isabel. She hasn’t

even seen it yet. Because it is such a traditional

pattern, I had to quilt feathers on it.

Feathers really show up in this photo.

This fall I was asked by Patti Carey, of Northcott,

to quilt 5 pieces for her upcoming show in Houston.

What an honor! This was my favorite Quilt of Valor

that I quilted. The color in this quilt was stunning!

I was really surprised that I liked the orange and

cream in this table runner too.

Carol made this quilt. What an intricate design and the

stitching on the backing looked great too.

I am beginning to realize that I love the texture that

the quilting creates on the backing. It has only taken

me 10 years to figure this out.

My first modern quilt. It went together quickly but

the quilting took a bit longer than I had anticipated.

All the open space does take a long time to fill in

with quilting.

This is Lily of Rosenberry, designed by Sue Garman.

There are over 1,000 berries on this quilt. Yes, I am

crazy! And it took over 60 to quilt it up. Desley,

at Addicted To Quilts, gave me permission to use

her quilting design for the quilting.

And who can resist fabric postcards? I first discovered

fabric postcards on Monika’s blog, at My Sweet Prairie.

This one did take a bit of time due to all the thread

sketching and painting on it.

This is a photo I took of hay bales in a farmer’s field.

And here is my fabric postcard I made.

2. What makes my work different from others?

I think my work naturally differs from others because

I have different likes and dislikes than others. I am

an unique individual and that makes me differ from

others and what I create different from others.

3. Why do I create?

I create out of trying to remain sane while taking care

of my family and home. I also create because I enjoy it.

4. How do I create?

Depending on what I am creating, whether a large

quilt or an art quilt, this will dictate how I make the

piece. A few years back, I made a Judy Niemeyer quilt.

Because her patterns are so complicated and precise, the

only way to make it was by paper piecing. That cured me

of paper piecing too, by the way. So, it depends on what

I am making. Kind of an elusive answer, don’t you think?

Sometimes I get frustrated with myself because I like so

may varied types of quilting. Maybe if I narrowed it down

to one or two I could be more proficient. But then again,

I get bored easily (I know , I am a little OCD) so variety

keeps me interested.

Thanks for stopping by and don’t forget to check out

Lorette at Spruce It Up Quilting. She is next on The

World Blog Tour. I met her online and she has recently

opened up a quilt store in New Brunswick. Distance

seems to be no boundary for the Web.

Around The World Blog Tour- Part 1

November 11, 2014November 16, 20142 Comments

Kerry, over at Simple Bird Applique has asked me to participate in The Around

The World Blog Tour. She posted yesterday and I am due to post next Monday,

November 14th. Thank you Kerry for the invitation. I will say more in my post

next week….stay tuned.

Lynn has been a very busy little beaver. She is such a quick and very talented quilter.

Her applique quilts are always amazing and she has the best fabric out there.

This is a quilt that uses a panel but it is divided up into 3 sections. What a great

design idea!

Lynn chose a panto- designed by Cheryl Barnes- for this quilt. I used a taupe

polyester thread for the top and backing.

Another picture of the dragonflies. I love the pieced border on this quilt.

Who can forget the backing. It is a light yellow color. The stitching shows up

beautifully on a solid backing.

The second of Lynn’s quilts. The material in this quilt is so rich, colorful and

beautiful. It has metallic thread running through it as well.

The angle is a little wierd but there is a peacock in the middle of the panel. Again,

another panel that was taken apart and stitched back together so creatively. The

piecing really adds another dimension to the top.

The peacocks are gorgeous. This makes up the center panel.

The borders also have gorgeous fabrics in them. Lynn did tell me where she

bought the fabric but I can’t remember what she told me. If you want to know,

let me know and I can find out from her again.

The backing was a light blue color. We used a light polyester grey thread for

the top and the backing. It did match well. A panto by Linda Taylor was used

as well.

Here is a little change in scenery for you. This is a BOM I am doing

through Spruce It UP Quilting, in NB. The title of this wallhanging is From

Deauville to Cape Cod. The designer lives in France. I saw it on her blog

“Quilt, Stitch, Scrap.” This is the 3rd block for the year. I found some faux

suede strips that were all different colors. Because they are so thin, it works

well for the umbrella pole and the chair legs.

See you on the World Blog Tour next week.

Quilts of Valor

November 5, 2014November 5, 20144 Comments

Here are several of the Quilts of Valor I recently quilted for Patti Carey and Northcott.

This picture shows beautifully the piecing done on this quilt top. Wow! And the colors are terrific too. Eye catching!

The outside border consisted of stars that were pieced. I did alot of ruler work in the blue section, as well as in the individual stars themselves.

The center of the quilt consists of a panel with the large eagle on it. I did alot of meandering in the panel so that the eagle and flag would stand out.

The outer border was pieced as well. I quilted in straight lines but wanted to add a little more interest so I broke down the star shape and quilted in one branch of the star. Everything seemed to fit nicely.

This shows a close up of the outer border. The striped border was an easy choice as I followed the straight lines but only every other line.

The backing of the quilt. I used a polyester 40 weight thread. Patti always gives me her thread so I don’t have to make any decisions regarding thread choice. The blue polyester thread was also variegated so it blends perfectly with the back.

The second quilt is pieced a little differently though.

The inside panel is the same as the first one but the borders are different.

A Chevron border was added and I merely stitched in the ditch around it. The two
smaller borders around it were quilted with straight lines but if I had to do
it again, I would have followed the lines of the chevron. Then the quilting
would have been made up of diagonal lines-it would have added a bit more interest.

This quilt also had a few stars in the border. I quilted straight lines to frame
the inner panel. Again, in hindsight, I would have quilted in several stars for
interest. Please remember that all of these quilts were on a time frame. I
received them on Tuesday morning and they were to be done for Friday morning.
The schedule was tight but they were completed on time.

Here is the backing of the quilt. I used a 40 weight variegated polyester
thread again. The top thread matching the backing. Easier to control tension
and less issues for sure. The only thing I don’t like about this thin thread
is that it shreds when you cut it.
You have to make sure it is knotted well before burying the threads.

Have a great week.