Thursday, May 27, 2010

The Sun Came out Today!

I have had a relatively lazy day today, but hurrah! the sun came out and I got a picture of my new quilt! So here it is in all it's glory~






Isn't this a pretty one?




I finished up my challenge quilt for my local Etsy team - OCEAN (Oregon Coast Etsy Artist Network) We were challenged to come up with a fashion themed item. I had a whole different idea until I came upon this paper pieced shoe pattern this weekend. I had a great time trying to choose four different shoes to feature. So many fabrics, but not all of them look good as shoes, you know! I actually pieced the blocks last night, and quilted and bound it this morning. It really cam out nice, and I think I will use the block to make a quilted journal cover later this week.




I missed going to my OCEAN team meeting today because we are switching our satellite TV provider. We got a DVR and are having a good time figuring out the new technology. It was fun being able to rewind as we were watching our show tonight - So You Think You Can Dance. I found a couple of quilting shows to add to my list, so we'll see if I like them. So a good day and very restful, tomorrow will be busy as I work all day at the quilt shop. Probably not much quilting for me, but who knows what will inspire me as I spend the day in the midst of all the fabric!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Quilting the Chocolate Cherry Quilt!



I've been busy quilting my latest masterpiece - well at least I think it is! I absolutely am in love with the fabrics in this quilt.

Instead of just doing an allover design all over this quilt I decided to play a little. I did a paisley kind of a design in the heart. Love the feathery look it has to it. I enjoyed doing this, it was fun, and easy to fill the area with quickly. I used the same red thread for the top and the back here.







In the light background for the heart I quilted a loop and heart desing. Or are they leaves? I'll never tell. This has become my signature overall design, and works well on a lot of different quilts. It's a little fancier than a plain loop or meander, but I can do it easily. I used beige thread on the top and red on the back. I got a little color show on the front, but it didn't matter because I like the slight color it gives. It will probably disappear when the quilt is washed.



For the narrow border I did an up and down loop like a Christmas Candy Ribbon. A little tricky around the corners, but it wasn't too hard to work out. I like that it holds the border down, but is nice and curvy.

The outer checkerboard is done with an x in all the dark squares. I find this type of quilting to be tedious because of all the starts and stops. Luckily they are all in the binding area, so I don't have to worry about the thread ends. I used a darker red than the back thread for these. All the thread I used for this project is Aurefil 50 wt. My machine loves this thread, and I love the look of it.






Last, but not least, in the wider borders above and below the heart I decided to to a freehand feather design. I was a little nervous about it looking right, but it's really not bad! My feathers are improving vastly, and I'm feeling more confident using them in areas where it shows. I marked the center spine of my feather with a chalk pencil, and drew my idea out on paper before I did the quilting, but didn't mark the actual quilting lines.







Thursday, May 13, 2010

Chocolate Cherry - Yumm!

I have a definite sweet tooth. My favorite sweet is anything chocolate, but my very favorite chocolate treat is chocolate covered cherries. I have a hard time not eating the whole box when I get some! A couple of months ago I had an extravagant treat from my secret sister at quilt guild of a bag of hand dipped ones. Soooo good!

What does this have to do with quilting, you may ask. And I will answer! I am scheduled to teach a strip class (fabric strips, people, like jelly rolls!) in June. The class I am teaching is my Candy Heart quilt that was published in Jelly Roll Inspirations. We are out of the jelly roll I used for my original quilt, so I needed to make a new sample and was very inspired by some lovely brown and red fabrics. In fact they look so yummy together I decided to name my special selection of strips Chocolate Cherry.

After a grueling week of altering prom dresses I treated myself to an evening of quilting and got the center part of the quilt pieced. I think I am liking this one even better than the original quilt! Tomorrow I hope to get the borders done and hopefully quilt it. Then it will go to the quilt shop for a few months. I hope everyone else likes this one as much as I do!







Tuesday, May 11, 2010

I am tired!

I can honestly say for once that I am tired of sewing. I've spent the day working on prom dresses (finished three and one more to be done), then working on burgundy satin flower girl dresses, finishing up with hemming a pair of pants and making a cover for a keyboard. I can honestly say I have had enough and am looking forward to going to work at the quilt shop tomorrow where I won't have to do any sewing! At least I hope not, I have been known to be assigned the task of binding quilts during my work there!

I had a lovely walk this morning - it started out foggy, then the fog lifted and there was beautiful blue sky. Funny thing, though, it clouded up after I got home and the day was mostly cloudy after that. I guess things don't always go like you expect them to! Even the weather. It seems no matter how I plan my day the unexpected tends to take over and things don't quite work out the way I plan. Well, inch by inch I do make progress, so I keep putting one foot in front of the other - eventually the "have to"s will all be done and the "want to"s can begin!

Monday, May 10, 2010

Time Goes by...

I can't believe it's been over a month since my last post! I feel badly for being so negligent of my poor blog! It's not that I haven't done any sewing, I've actually done quite a bit. I've also done a lot of sitting at track meets (rainy ones and sunny ones!). I've been altering a lot of prom dresses, so fun to see the different styles and pretty colors. I've been working on patterns (and actually finished one:






In other words, I've been pretty busy. But I promise I'll make more time to talk about it from now on! Sorry for my absence, rest assured I will make every attempt to be a better blogger from here on out.

Tomorrow I have some flower girl dresses to make (from scratch) I'll take some pictures and show you how they come out!