Archive for the ‘Quilted’ Category

All 9 HeartStrings tops that were here on January 1st have now been quilt ( or tied ) I love it when I meet one of my goals.

I thought this one was pieced by Sue or her Mom from group blocks but the blocks are oversized at almost 15 inches so I need to go back through my email to see if it came from someone else.

I was in a meandering kind of mood but never do just plain meandering so I quilted some loopy leaves.

These leaves aren’t just pretty, they’re easy to quilt too.

Another close up.

I’ve got 7 of the 9 left to bind so that’s what I’ll be doing in February.

My goal this month was to get the remaining 9 HeartStrings tops quilted or tied before the end of the month and #8 is finished.

Quilted with what Dawn calls Fern Ziggle (I call it blob quilting) from the Pajama Quilter DVD, the top was pieced by Sue or her Mom from HeartStrings blocks sent in for group quilts.

More fun than plain meandering but basically just as easy. My version tends to be a bit linear because of my smaller throat space but it still works well.

I should have made myself quilt first and THEN start the new quilt but I started piecing first. It was hard to make myself come downstairs, load and quilt a top but I’m determined to finish quilting all 9 of the HeartStrings tops I had here as of Jan 1st before the end of the month. Just 2 left but you know what I’ll be doing in February right? — Yep, I’ll be binding!

This photo doesn’t do this one justice at all – it’s too dark down here at night. The homespun HeartStrings are one of my favorite variations and this one was pieced by Tish. It’s such a pleasure to quilt a top that is well pieced, pressed, and without a bunch of loose threads needing to be picked off. Tish does a lovely job with hers.

The pantograph is seaweed.

After a trip I always have so much catching up to do but I’m also eager to get back to work. So a little piecing this morning and this afternoon, I loaded and quilted this group HeartStrings top — blocks were sent to Sue and the top assembled either by her or her mother and passed along for me to quilt and bind.

Quilted with my freehand Baptist Fans (check the How To tab at the top of the blog if interested in how I do these freehand).

A view of the back — if you decide to try these — don’t worry that they’re a bit wonky. On a string or scrappy quilt it won’t be noticeable or if it is, it just adds to the charm.

These can be such fun to quilt — either a cute motif or just something with texture — I always encourage people to give it a try. The HeartStrings quilts are busy enough that mistakes won’t show so it’s OK to practice!

I quilted butterflies and loops from the Pajama Quilter DVD on this one pieced by Sara. And just for the record, Dawn has more complicated butterflies on the DVD but I go for the simple ones!

See – nice texture and then when you get closer — butterflies! And yes, I’m showing you the back here so it’s easier to see my butterflies.

I’ve just got one more top that I want to get quilted before my next trip – definitely on track for hitting my goals this month.

I decided to toss UFO #5 on the longarm and get the quilting done – after all there’s no need to wait until the last minute every month!

First some quick drawing practice of the Pajama Quilter’s Wonky Stars in Space in Adobe Idea’s

And then I got the top loaded and quilted — luckily it’s a small one so it went quickly. While my spacing could be better, I’m not unhappy with this. It adds another layer of cute to this little donation quilt. It was very hard to capture a photo tonight — a disadvantage of working at night but you get the idea.

This one pieced by Tish – like the one from yesterday it was from our last HeartStrings project using black centers with bright strings. It has some fun fabrics so I decided it needed a fun pantograph.

One of my favorites from Lorien Quilting called Bubbles.

And would you look at this bin of batting leftovers? I’ve used up all the pieced battings I had here but this will have to wait — I won’t get to it this month.

I have one more task to do before I get to relax and read….

Another top sent by a group in CA, this was the 2nd and last one that needed tying. The other ones will be quilted.

Tomorrow I’ll actually get downstairs to the longarm.

It’s so hard to photograph the quilting on a red top. This still needs binding but I slipped it on the longarm and quilted it this afternoon.

My favorite wonky flowers from the Pajama Quilter DVD and some hearts. I know it’s blurry and you can’t see anything but with luck when it’s done I’ll get a good photo outside.

Seriously, you’ve heard the myth of Amish quilts including a humility block…well this is my humility quilt. I think the top is probably 8 years old and it waited all these years for me to improve my quilting skills….let’s just say I felt very challenged quilting this one. AND let’s all give thanks to 100% cotton batting which will crinkle up and hide at least 300 of those errors

In spite of it all, I love the quilt and am so appreciative of Mom piecing this Irish Chain for me so long ago. Tomorrow will be spent binding it and I should come in under the deadline for finishing this…my oldest UFO before the end of the year.