My-How Time Flies!

I have been doing nothing but play catch-up since coming home from vacation almost a month ago.

No-I haven't forgotten to post

just tied up with quilts, quilting and more quilts.

Here are a few of the things accomplished since my return

• Getting my desk cleaned off

Maybe is wasn't quite THIS bad, but it did take me two days before I found the top of the desk.

• Going thru the quilts piled on the table for me to quilt. Not to mention the couple that I brought home finished.

• A few customer quilts since vacation. 

These are not all of them-some were so excited they were finished, they rushed in to 

pick them up before I could snap pics.

                    
                         This one is going to Diane A's nephew
                          in South Carolina for Quilts of Valor.

 Joan G. made this fall wall quilt to hand in her foyer.  Custom quilted

 Cindy B rescued old blocks, appliqued them to a background, added a center and pieced them into this wonderful top.  Quilted with an edge to edge sunflower pattern.

Small table runner by Dianne L

Quilt pattern matches the flowers on the outer border

 Jan L made this for a nephew's graduation.  He is going on to college as a mechanical engineer.

Quilted with GEARS!  Looks great!

Margaret found this fast and easy pattern for fabrics that you don't want to cut up.

Going to Peyton, so quilted her name and stars as an edge to edge on the quilt.

 Susan S with her circle of 9 design using embroidery blocks.

Custom designed with a new program

 Joan G made this for her daughter's 25th Anniversary.

Quilted with an edge 2 edge in gold metallic thread

Wonderful job Joan

At home after unloading from the lake

I found myself in this situation

Cutting table piled so high with projects, fabrics I had used in current monthly BOM, fabrics I had NEVER used in quilts (just for auditioning, but never put away), new fabrics that arrived while I was away, well, you get the point.

So one thing lead to another and I started cleaning.

These are the things I have at the shop for sale.

Meanwhile I also installed a new computer for my Gammill Statler Longarm.

Upgraded to the new stitching program (also another large binder of things to learn-since they completely overhauled and added a ton of new features).

I also have a new tool to play with.  I can import pictures of blocks or the quilt from my camera and audition patterns right on the screen.

Here is the one I did for Susan's quilt above.

Better get back to quilting.  

Jan

PS - Mention "WIDEBACKS" and receive 20% off one cut of 108-115" wideback

Offer expires on May 22.

 

Spring Is Here!

As the weather gets warmer, seems like the quilting gets hotter--

Busy the last 10 days with lots going on-and here we go!
First is the Pizza Box Block Challenge that was due by the end of the month

Here is the block I made with the fabric provided to me by the box owner.
All batiks in this box.

Ready for the next box in April.
By the way-all boxes are turned in and can be picked up early for April.

Blockswappers
was next.
These spool blocks with 1930's reproductions are due
April 1.
 I am doing two (that's 2)
sets.

Great find - set of blocks 1890-1910 era
in some boxes of misc. quilting items that were brought to the shop and dropped off.

Another set of blocks in the same boxes.
These were more the early 1930's era.




And then-----

There was this wonderful
perfect top of great indigo blues and shirtings from the late 1800's.



And if that wasn't enough---

This pieced top.
What a find!
The selection of fabrics in this top is fantastic!
Again from the late 1800's and in perfect condition.
Not one seam is fraying in either top and all fabrics
are perfect.




The Metro St. Louis Shop Hop is Thursday-Sunday, March 26-29.
As you know, I work great on deadlines and this one was pushed to the limit.
Making the blocks for the two shop hop quilts using our shop blocks.

Here are our Pinwheel blocks we are offering in six different colors.

They will be set together with our 2nd block "Trellis".
Here are both blocks in the bed runner kit we will have available. (The kit will also have instructions for a throw if you do not want the bed runner).

Happy to report that both quilts are quilted and bound.

Also quilted are 7 customer quilts.  Here is one that will just blow you away.
It's made from our Kaleidoscope pattern.

Margaret chose a quilt pattern
that greatly complimented
the fabric in the quilt.

I think I spend just as much time picking out fabrics for blocks than actually making them.

Here are the 7 sets of fabrics I picked out this weekend for the 

April's Civil War Diary blocks.

and here are three set so blocks from that pile.

My niece Erica is expecting a baby girl in June and I found the perfect

quilt to make for her.

Will be working on this at the lake in a few weeks.

Also found time to do some "surfing".  I L-O-V-E Di Ford and her quilts from Australia.

When I found out she was coming to the US in November, Margaret, Chris and I booked her classes.  Traveling to Pennsylvania will be a great road trip.

I also found her new quilt mystery that will be coming out in 2016.  Here is a sneak peak at the center.

 

And YES, I will be doing this one as well.  Even though I haven't finished the 2014 one yet and still working on her Antique Bridal Sampler.

Keep Quilting
Jan

UFOs or WIPs??

We all have them----

UFOs - Unfinished Objects

I like to think of them notas UFOs.  This sounds like I will never get back to them.  I hate the idea of all of those "unfinished" projects just taking up space on my shelf. 

I would rather refer to them as WIPs - Works in Progress!

Now I don't feel so bad about them staying on the shelf--it may take several years before the creative juices are flowing again so that I can finish that particular project.

I have several WIPs.  Most I work on monthly, some just at a retreat now and then and a few just waiting for time to finish.   But everything currently on the WIP shelf is something that I want (intend) to finish at some point.

Besides the monthly clubs and BOMs that I do for the shop, there are some of my WIPs that continually get pushed back and back further each month (ok really every year).  I am always finding other things that I want to start IMMEDIATELY!

How many of you fall into that category?

When I do try and find one of those-I try and incorporate it into a "shop" program.  That way I know I will finish it in a timely manner-I NOW HAVE A DEADLINE!

Each Friday, I am going to try really hard to post about the progress of my WIPs for the week, some new things I found and some wonderful quilts from my customers that I had the privilege to quilt.


Remember those deadlines?
Civil War Diary Club was Wednesday night and I had to piece all the blocks Sunday and Monday   nights.  Got done and here they are:

Gardening in a 6" and 3"







 





There are 4 rounds of square in square triangles before it gets to the size of a dime in this 3" version.
The center is less that 1/4".  No foundation piecing here folks!

Thousands of Diamonds in 6" and 3"

I did foundation piece these, but the center is also LESS than a dime!












 Glorious News in 6" and 3"











 Smuggling Letters
Made these in 9" and 6"









Confederate Flag in 6" and 3"










Closeup of the star-just over a dime size which makes those points about 1/8".
No foundation piecing-I will do anything to avoid it.









Hateful Old Thieves in 6" and 3"
I just love brown and pinks.









Arrest Order in 9" and 6"









Tuesday night found me making binding and doing the machine sewing on them for two Quilts of Valor so Marilyn could pick them up on Wednesday for the handwork.

Customer Susan brings me two antique tops a year that she has rescued.  Susan is not a quilter, but has a love of quilts.
This week I quilted them and finished the bindings on them Thursday evening.

 


A red cowboy print surrounds an 8 pointed diamond scrappy star in the first and a gray print alternate block with
scrappy Monkey Wrench blocks in the second one.  Love all of the shirtings in this one. 


The gray was pretty flat.  But the red one had LOTS of fullness.

 
After tons of steam it was laying pretty flat. The end result was amazing.






The end result was amazing.










I just love this cowboy print.  I even found a reproduction piece in my stash of 30's fabrics.  Imagine that.

 Earlier in the week I worked on this custom "Tall Ships" quilt.
Water ripples in the outer border, wavy lines on the flag strips, a great center motif in the stars and the p2p curves in the points.  Ships alternated with both horizontal and vertical lines in hulls.  Windy swirls filled all of the background behind the sails.  Using a wool bat "puffed" out the sails which had no quilting in them.  Looked like they were really sailing.
A cable rounded out the overall look in the sashings.








 



Next came a scrappy stashbuster batik BOM quilt from Margaret.  She received the kit for the star blocks each month in the mail and then used her own batik fabrics for the surrounding large pieces.  Quilted with miscellaneous overlapping squares and rectangles with a few stars thrown in.


Somewhere in between all of the above, was a small baby quilt.  Adorable, but Dianne picked it up with the hour of being called it was done.  No time for a pic-sorry.

Now on is the Calhoun County raffle quilt.  The 9th Annual Quilt Tour features quilts from Calhoun County quilters.  They are shown in 4 locations throughout the county on Friday/Saturday, Oct. 16th and 17th.  For the past several years I have been donating a quilt to raffle to raise monies for Calhoun County Foundation. 


This year's quilt is my Civil War Love Letters quilt made with 8" blocks.
We will have raffle tickets here later if interested.  




Well, that's all for this week. Please post any comments at the bottom and let me know what you are working on.

Quilt on-Jan