Contest at Mequilter!

I tried to give a picture of the fabulous give away posted by http://mequilter.blogspot.com, but the picture wouldn't upload. She is giving away a beautiful Christmas wall hanging. I hope you will go visit her blog.

Steeple Rock Stitchers BOM #2

This is the block we are making for December. I am the teacher, so I have it made early. I hope the stitchers like it. I was pleased with how it turned out. It took about 1 1/2 hours from cutting out until done. It is called the Lemoyne Star. As you can see, it is just half square triangles and four squares. The fabric combinations were endless. Deciding on fabric was the hardest part. Click on the photo for a closer look at the fabric.

Steeple Rock Stitchers BOM #1

The Steeple Rock Stitchers have decided to make a Block of the Month Quilt. This is our first block.

It was a little difficult to make with the applique basket handle. I did a machine blanket stitch to finish the basket handle. My quilt is a cowboy themed quilt. Click on the photo to see the fabric prints better.

Northern Solitude Charm Bag

This is my Northern Solitude Charm Bag. I made it for DIL 3. She chose the charm pack by Moda.

The handles are also made from charm squares. I put dark ones at the top to help hide dirt. The bag I am carrying now has while handles. It needs to be washed often. I decided not to use light colors for handles again. (I hope I remember.) I also did several lines of quilting on the handles. I like the look.

The inside of this bag is the best inside pocket job I have ever done. I helped my sisters make bags from a diaper bag pattern. I liked the pocket style so much that I used it in this bag.

I included a closing pocket in this bag.

I am a beginning quilter. This is my first project with this pattern on it.

This is the other side of the bag.

Side one view. When I went to the quilt store to buy a coordinating fabric for the top band, I found this. It wasn't the color I went to the store to buy, but when we put this color by the charm squares that were sewn together, it was the color that gave the bag it's POP.

Side two view. As with most things, it looks better in person. Click on some of the pictures to get a better idea of the color and "charm" of this bag.

1st Quilters Annonymous Meeting

There were three of us quilting for several days in a row. One of the other quilters got a text from a friend that read. "You aren't answering my texts. You must be at that Quilter's Annonymous Meeting." We all got such a laugh. It is an addiction, but I don't think any of us want to be cured yet.





This quilt top was started by one of the other girls. She had the middle done when she came and we helped her with the borders. It is her first quilt. It is made from a l"Love is in the Air" layer cake.










This is the back. This panel comes with the "Love Is In the Air" collection.








Click on this photo to see the quilting.
This was quilted by Merlene at Nelda's Quilt Shop.











Another shot of the panel.













Here is a closeup of a square. As you can see one layer cake is surrounded by another layer cake cut into four strips. The corners are 4 1/2" squares.




We added a 1 inch quiet strip, a 6 inch border and a 6 inch corner stone. I really like the look that the quiet strip and corner stone add to the quilt. I have never used a corner stone on any of my quilts. I think I will use more in the future. We got the idea from a class my dil took. I know it is an old established way of making quilts, I just haven't used it myself.

Here is another quilt from the same pattern. The same girl made this one and completed it at our retreat. She has only just started her quilting journey, but hasn't she done a great job.


Here is her label.

The same quilter made these two rag quilts before she came, but added the borders and labels at our retreat. The quilts are for twin boys.

Our third quilter took her quilts home before we could photograph them. One was her first pieced quilt. I hope to get picture to show later. My role in the retreat was just as a teacher. I didn't do anything for myself.

Music Quilt

I made this quilt for my son who loves music. He says I haven't posted about it yet, so here it is. He is at college now and is just loving his music classes.

There were originally striped blocks where you see blue blocks. This is the Strip Tease pattern. The striped blocks were to busy, so we took them out and added the blue. It softened the look of the quilt.

Here is the quilting up close. The quilting was done by Kathy Wolfe.

This is another view.

As always, I like to label.

Day and Night Christmas Table Runner

This is my Christmas Table Runner made at the "Quilting in the Country" Quilt Retreat. My teacher was Carla Carpenter, who teaches quilting classes for Eastern Arizona College. She is an amazing teacher. I really appreciated her knowledge and her help. I hope to take more classes from her in the future.
It was made with the Eleanor Burns pattern, Day and Night. It appears very hard to make, but is actually strip pieced using Eleanor Burns normal techniques of making an easy quilt look hard.

This is a closeup of one square. I would try to explain how each square is made, but it took Burns a whole book to explain it. Never the less, it was relatively easy.

This is a much closer look. Notice my gold metalic thread. I loved the look it made, but I had trouble with the threads breaking. Please click on this picture to get a closer look. The metalics really stand out if you do. It was hard to capture the metalic sparkle of this table runner on camera. It is really sparkley in real life.

Here is the back. You can see the quilting better with this view.

The room was dark because of an overcast sky, so I had trouble getting a better picture. It is actually very bright and colorful.

This was an amazing pattern to make. I love this table runner.

Asian Kalidescope Quilt

This is me at the quilt retreat with the Kalidescope Quilt top. The pattern is really simple. The trick is in the cutting of the fabric, which isn't hard either. I think I probably have 10 to 15 hours into my top. (This one is Carla's.) You need to consider that I do things slower than other people though. I think it is prettier in the distance than up close.

I will show more pictures when I actually get mine quilted.

Quilting in the Country Quilt Retreat

We had our "Quilting in the Country" Quilt Retreat at the first of the month and had an absolute ball. My cousin, Louise, came and stayed with me and we attended the retreat together. It is held at an old church building in Virden, New Mexico. There was three days of quilting. I signed up for three quilts and two table runners as well as a class on quilting tips. I loved every minute of the retreat. All the teachers were awesome!! That includes Brenda, Cindy, Carla, Deanna, Gyanne and Karen. I thank you all for your help and for the knowledge you shared.

I am including a photo of Louise and I standing near a sample of one of the quilts we made. I will include more pictures later of some of the quilts that were displayed and also my finishes from camp.

So You Sew Fun Lantern Bag

This is my latest bag. My friend, Kathy had a bag like this. I just loved hers. I love my new bag too. I made a larger version than she did. I love the way the pink fabric peeks through the pleats on the front of the bag. This fabric is from the So You Sew Fun line.

I made a larger version than Kathy did. I didn't realize how big it would turn out. It is actually a very good size for a diaper bag. See the 12 inch ruler by the bag.

These inside pockets have a flap with velco to shut it. I find I like a few pockets that close. Maybe next time I will try a zipper pocket.

You can also see the snap closure. See the loop I added to clip your keys to.

The black pockets are lined with fusible fleece to keep sunglasses and phones from being scratched by whatever is inside the bag.

I lined the straps with one layer of batting and one layer of craft pellon. I learned this from a pattern by Lazy Girl Designs. I am hoping it will create a soft strap that holds its shape. The one I made with just batting is losing its shape.

Once again, I just love my bag!

Heart Wall Hanging

I was looking at the Internet one day and found this pattern. I just loved it. I thought - I have some scraps that would be perfect for this pattern. I used my Friendship Star scraps. I sure got a lot of use out of those scraps.

This is the quilting. I am just learning so there are some mistakes, but nothing that really matters from the front. I did pretty good on it though for a beginner.

Table Runner From Scraps

Quilting in the Country Quilt Retreat is coming this week and I am trying to finish all the projects from last year. This table runner is from a class on using your scraps. Some of the scraps in this table runner are from my Friendship Star Quilt.



Here is a picture of the quilting on the back. I am trying to learn to machine quilt using my own sewing machine. I am actually quite proud of how this turned out. I think the hardest part of machine quilting is coming up with the idea of how to quilt it in the first place.

This is a picture of my living room with the Friendship Star quilt and the table runner.

My First Doll Quilt

This is the first doll quilt I have ever made. It was inspired by a need for a birthday gift. The little sweet heart loves dolls. I had always wanted to make doll quilts - so wa la - my first doll quilt.
The quilt is made from charm squares. I did the machine quilting myself. This is one of the first things I have quilted on my machine. It is the first stippling on a quilt of any size. I had trouble with the binding. I tried a straight stitch which didn't turn out very straight. So I tried this decorative stitch and it turned out perfect.
The backing of the quilt is from my late mother-in-law's stash. I thought it went well with the colors of my quilt. I think it is also nice to be able to tell the little girl that the quilt fabric was from her great grandmother.

No quilt is complete without a label, even a small one.

Thanks for stopping by to see my things.

Sports Backpack

I needed another birthday gift. Here it is. I also recruited my newest bag model!

Butterfly Fling Quilt

I just love this quilt! I know I feel this way every time I finish a quilt, but this one is really fun. I think it is because I love butterflies. This line of fabric is called Butterfly Fling from Moda.
I used a layer cake to make the front of this quilt along with 15 inches of fabric for the pink squares. I saw this quilt at our "Quilting in the Country Quilt Retreat" last year and several of us wanted to make it. I think at least one other person from the retreat has made this pattern. It is an easy pattern. You choose layer cake square and then match it with another square that you will cut in 4 pieces to outline it with. I actually cut all my pieces first and layed them out before I started sewing. I changed the pattern slightly by making my pink square different from the original pattern. One of the hardest parts of making this quilt is deciding where to put your fabric. It is fun arranging the colors, but sometimes difficult to arrange everything so it looks just right. It was also a fun task though.
This is the quilting done by Merlene from Nelda's Quilt Shop. I asked for daisies and butterflies to match the fabric and this is the design she came up with. I love it, don't you? The color in this picture is wrong. See the next picture for a more true picture of the color.
I am a firm believer in labels. Sometimes I feel like I am writing a book instead of a label, but I want to include all the information. My labels are made by Nelda at Nelda's Quilt Shop.

I hope you have enjoyed this quilt. Like I say, I just love it.

Buzz Saw Quilt

I have finally finished my Buzz Saw Quilt. I started it at "Quilting in the Country" Quilt Retreat last October. I am so happy to have finally finished it. I have worked all year at completeing the projects from retreat, but I get sidetracked with other things I want to make. I am trying to finish everything on my UFO list before I start something new, but a birthday or something comes up and there go my plans. It is fun anyway.
If you have never made a buzz saw quilt, this is a nice quilt to make. It takes only a small piece of many different fabrics. You take a 6 inch half sqaure triangle and cut it into 4 strips. You also need one full strip of the color you are using. You reverse the order of the strips and sew them back together. (It is really hard to describe something that is easy to show in person.)
The piano border is made of strips from the same fabrics in the quilt. I did add one extra color to make the border big enough. I also used that color for my backing. I wish, however, that I had used white muslin as the backing. I will remember that the next time I have white on the top.
And as I always do, I added a label. I try to give as much information as possible. I also have included washing instructions because I want my colors to last as long as possible. I may not be the person washing it. I have also read some terrible quilt washing stories. Go to this site and read a really sad one: http://kimsbigquiltingadventure.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-08-02T03%3A13%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=5

Frog Backpack

Sometimes it is hard to find the right bag model for your creations. I needed a two year old. I didn't have any. I did find a model out in the storeroom. He did a lovely job. Isn't this backpack cute? I just love it. It is just two squares of fabric sewn into a bag with grommets on the bottom and a casing at the top to thread the cording through. My squares were about 13x13 inches.

I love my labels. I want to have my creations labeled so the receiver remembers where the gift came from. I also think it makes the gift more valuable.

Mystery Quilt

Finally, I am posting the finished Mystery Quilt. I showed you pictures of it months ago. It is finally finished. Notice the black binding. I think it sets the quilt off quite well. This is one of the quilts from the Quilting in the Country Quilt Retreat which is held in Virden, New Mexico each October. Virden is on the Arizona/New Mexico border near Duncan, Arizona.
I really love the quilting on this quilt. It was done by my friend Merlene from Nelda's Quilt Shop. She chose a beautiful rose pattern. She quilted the inside of the quilt with roses and then put the same rose pattern around the border of the quilt. As you can see, it turned out beautiful.
I did my label like I have been doing many lately. I really like this style of label. You only have to hand sew one side, it is anchored into the body of the quilt, and you have a beautiful label when you are done.

Extra Large Buttercup Bag

This is the extra Large Buttercup Bag designed by Rae. I took her advise on how to enlarge it. I have made all three sizes of her bags and I like this one best. I just like to carry lots of stuff. Some friends of mine helped me choose the lining when we were visiting Tubac, AZ. We drove to a quilt store in Green Valley. I would have never chosen this lining without their help. When they put it next to the outside fabric I had chosen, I knew it was the perfect match.
This is the first bag I have made with a magnetic snap. I do like them. They are easy to install and will make the bag a better bag. I also lined the glasses pocket so the glasses wouldn't get scratched. I put elastic in the tops of the pockets. I saw it done once on someone's blog and I like the way the pockets lay. I think things will stay in the pockets better. This is the nicest insides of a bag I have ever made. I think I am getting better at this bag making.
This is the inside of the bag. I really like the pockets I made. Notice the quilting on the inside of the bag. I used fusible fleece to line the insides of the bag and then quilted a diamond pattern.

Baby Sister's Bag

My sisters and I had a sister's reunion. Somehow during the event we eventually started making bags. This is the bag my baby sister made. She hasn't sewn since she was a little girl. She did a fabulous job on her bag.


This is a side view of the bag. There were pockets on the sides as well. The pattern was for a diaper bag, but if you change the fabric, it makes a perfect adult bag as well.


All the sisters loved the inside pockets. There was a pocket for everything. Baby sister even made a pocket large enought to put her laptop in.