Farmer's Wife Wrap Up!

Last Saturday was a delightful day.  The women who had followed along on the Farmer's Wife quilt-a-long, all got together to see everyone's project.  Lots of fun, laughter and encouragement was shared by all.

Sonja's quilt is simply stung.  She choose 1930 reproduction fabrics.  The border is pieced cone shapes.  What a treasure.  Unfortunately It was hanging in the window, so it was hard to get a good picture.

JoAnn used scrappy whatever she had, then tied it all together with her blue sashing and cornerstones.  A beautiful quilt made from what she had on hand.

Linda used 1800 reproduction fabric for hers.  I have seen it on her bed where it looks stunning.  It perfectly compliments the decor in her bedroom.

Roxy used batiks and then set them together with dark sashing and light insets.  Wow!

 Betty has great intentions of making two of every block.  With a little encouragement, she will get there.  You GO Betty!

Deanna also used batiks, but used light sashing and darker cornerstones.  What a contrast from Roxy's. Both are stunning, of course!

Carla is well under way with hers.  She has used a Kate Spain fabric with white background and sashing.  A very modern take on Farmer's Wife.  Simply smashing!

Last of all, my quilt.  I am so pleased with how it turned out.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the quilt-a-long, and thanks to the women who came out Saturday to cheer us all on!  The quilts will be hanging at Katja's till tomorrow afternoon so hurry on out and check them out.

Farmer's Wife Sneak Peek!

Tomorrow the show begins!!!!!  Those that followed along with my Farmer's Wife quilt-a-long, would like to invite you to a showing of their quilts.  We have set them up in Katja's classroom and will leave them there till next Thursday.  If you get a chance, pop in and check them out.  I will post more pictures  after the participants have seen them all.

Laundry Basket Quilts "Seasonal Silhouettes"

Laundry Basket has done it again.  They have come out with a new line of silhouettes that represent all twelve months of the year.  I couldn't wait to get started on them.

The block kit includes the background and all the appliqué pieces.  You will need to buy the book if you want the placement diagrams.  To start I pinned the background to the placement diagram then set both on my light box.  Each appliqué piece comes with the fusible backing already attached.  Peel the paper off the fusible web, and set the piece in place.  They are slightly tacky so they will stay in place but can be moved if desired.  Once everything is where you want it, remove from the placement diagram and use a dry iron to fuse the pieces in place.

The book called for two borders however, I felt one was sufficient.  I layered the front, batting and backing together.  On a piece this small I used straight pins to hold it together until I could quilt it.

Since the fusible pieces were so small, I used my domestic machine to quilt it.  Yes, I do occasionally quilt with a regular sewing machine.  The book calls for quilting just inside the appliqué pieces to make sure they stay in place.  The background fabric has a design on it that is a perfect marker for quilting.   Since the block has a lot of quilting on it, the border had to be quilted just as intensely so that the quilt would lay flat.

This is the front of two of the blocks.

And here is the back.  A great opportunity to practice freehand quilting!

The blocks will be available at quilt stores this fall.  I have four done, eight more to go.  I'll show you more pics at a later date.  Happy quilting!

Another Quilt from Scrap-Basket Beauties

This quilt is from Kim Brackett's latest book, Scrap-Basket Beauties.  I used a few scraps I had hanging around, and a little Snap Pop fabric, and my Granddaughter's quilt is done.

My diagonal lime green doesn't stand out as much as I would of liked, but I'm sure Hailley will love it.  I put lime green minky on the back so it will be extra cuddly.

I think I have finally come to terms with working with minky for the back of quilts.  The main pointer of note for longarm quilters is to mount the minky so that the stretch is going sideways.  If the texture of the minky is extra long, there is a chance some of the strands will pull through to the top.  My suggestion is to quilt with a thread on the top, that matches the minky on the back.  That way any strands that pull through, will blend with the thread.
While in Portland I talked to one of the women from Shanon Fabrics that had quilted one of their samples.  I noticed that some of the back fabric had pulled through to the front.  She said that it pretty much always happened, and she didn't worry about it.  It made me feel better that it happens to her as well, however, I do worry about it and try to finds ways of not having it show.

Back to quilting I go.  I'm currently working on another Farmer's Wife quilt.  Don't forget about our show June 22 of all the quilts from last years quilt-a-long.  See you there!

Featherweight Frenzy

A group of friends invited me to join in on making a quilt, using our featherweight machines. First I had to dig my machine out of storage.

This machine was a gift from my Dad.  I had asked him to watch for one when he went to the local auction. When he was bidding on it, the lady next to him was trying to convince him to stop.  She mentioned that it didn't sew, my Dad said "my daughter says that doesn't matter." She then said parts were missing.  Once again Dad said "my daughter says that doesn't matter."  Dad was the winning bid and this little machine became mine.  All she needed was the needle turned the right way, and a little oil.  Thanks Dad for the great gift!

Now, this machine has been languishing in my basement for quite some time.  Doug noticed that the wires were bare in spots and needed to be fixed.

A little wiring adjustment and she was safe to use.  Great to have a handy husband.

So off the machine and I went, to my friends house for a featherweight sew in.  It was great to here the little machines hum.  Mine only had two bobbins, so Linda was kind enough to share a couple of her bobbins with me.  Thanks!

At the end of the evening all three of us had all the cutting done, and one block finished.  Since then we have all finished our tops but I will save the reveal for after the quilting.  We are going to get together one evening and quilt them all with my longarm.  Talk about one extreme to the other.  Can't wait.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and that the sun is shining on you!

Back In The Swing Of Things

Finally, I'm back quilting.  With the trip to market and all the yard work that this time of year brings, it seams like forever since I finished quilting a quilt.

This quilt is one that my friend Sylvia made for her grandson's school as a fundraiser.  What an awesome Grandma!

I was told to quilt whatever I wanted.  Sweet words to say to a long arm quilter.  The mix of straight lines and swirls was just screaming to be done!  The border fabric had very faint straight lines that I could use for reference for the herringbone design.  All I needed to do was mark the centre with one of my friction pens and I was in business.  A quick iron to remove the friction pen finished off this quilt for Sylvia.  We were both pleased with the results.

Market Wrap Up!

What a glorious holiday!  Yes, I know Market is supposed to be work related, but how can you call anything that fun work?  Last night I was just too tired to post pics so I waited till I go home today.

All the booths were amazing, but this one by mo bedell really caught my eye.  I found out later that she won first prize for booth by first time exhibitor.  She had but a lot of work into it, and it paid off big time.

Part of the fun at market is meeting authors of some of our favourite books.  Here's Sharon posing with Katie Pedersen and Jacqui Gehring of Quilting Modern fame.  This two women were so excited that we were lining up to have them sign their book.  The came 20 minutes early to chat to us all while we all waited.  What a delightful pair they are!

I took a class with Pepper Cory on embroidery with perle cotton.  I find Pepper is such an elegant woman, and just love listening to her teach.  After the class we had a discussion about her first book "Happy Trails" that I had bought when we were both much younger.  Lol.

As great a time as I had, I am happy to be home where I can play with all me new stuff!  I picked up a Stella light while I was there, and can hardly wait to try it out.  The fabric and thread that jumped into my bag are calling my name.  But first, I need to sit, relax and read a few of the books that I just had to have.  Have a wonderful evening everyone!