Finally Finished

Whew!!!
Finally finished the latest pillow/cushion on Quilt Shop Gal's freemotion quilt challenge for April
to see the finished pillow and view the process check out the Pillow Talk tab above.

Pillows are not all though I actually went through all the drawers in the chest I use in the sewing room, amazing how much stuff just gets stuffed away.

Still waiting is a cuddle quilt for our guild, and I am currently working on a BOM at the guild too.

Slowly I will get it done this month.  Of course red is my new black.

Thanks for visiting.  Geri

Spring is here

Spring has arrived although we are expecting rain over the weekend.  Pretty standard for us Easter almost always has weather.  After that we can plan on pretty nice weather although we need rain BADLY.

My lilacs are in bloom and the butterflies are busy which inspired me to make up this little wall hanging.

It is a challenge to figure out a design for 1" sashing but the little flower and leaf vine worked well.  On the borders the celtic circles one of Diane Gaudynski's designs worked very well although there are a lot of starts and stops as each spiral begins in the center and works out.  Over all kind of fun to do.

Next up is to design another pillow for April.  This has been a fun experience and challenging.  To join this Linky party go to www.quiltshopgal.com 

Until next time have a great weekend.

March Happenings

March has been a busy month for me.  Two weeks had three days of the seven out and about.  Add to that DH and I celebrated our 53rd. anniversary (yep still have the same one.)

Three weeks were spent on this.  From the time I finished the Train Pillow till March 11 our anniversary.

The name of this one is Something Old is New Again.  The center doily is old.  Background fabric is a pale blue Fossil Fern.  Threads are YLI silk, Isacord poly.   I got really lucky and found the lace edging  at Beverlys  then spent three days beading.  The lace edge is beaded on, the diamonds have beads in the center of the cathedral windows and the inside oval is beaded twice.  Over all I am happy enough with it to enter it into the Smoky Mountain Quilt Show in Tennessee.

Oh yes MAJOR blunder not once but TWICE.  I ran off the vinyl overlay I was working on to figure out my feather spine and got Dry Erase marker on the fabric.  First time just a little, second time BIG TIME.  Back to the internet.  Murphy's Oil Soap!!! It works.  Other soap doesn't even touch it.  No trace left.

Next it was on to this month's pillow.  Just finished today.  So check out Pillow Talk above.

February Pillow

Just thought I would let everyone know that I have posted the pillow for the February FMQ Challenge on the PILLOW TALK page above.

My Doodle

Last week was busy.  Bobbie and I worked at our local quilt show for three days.  We usually do the Boutique for a couple of  hours each day which is fun, but by the time we go down and come back most of the day is gone.

We finally got some rain too.  So badly needed.  Now this week it is sunny and warm.

Yesterday I was kind of under the weather so didn't do much, just doodled some.  Here is what I came up with.  No real effort as I keep some test sandwiches sitting around.  So I just pulled one of them out of the stack, marked the circle and one diagonal line and free handed the rest.  When I started quilting I just tried different things.  After dinner I started the beading and got all but part of the flower done.  Finished that this morning.  Turned out kind of cute.


Original doodle.


















Here it is finished.  If I were to seriously do it again I think I would trapunto the flower head with the stipple on the trapunto layer then just outline when I added the final backing.  Yesterday was just a play day and no real effort involved.  I do like the way the zig-zag worked for the edges of the leaves.

 

Now I am off to contemplate a design for the FMQ challenge that www.quiltshopgal.com is sponsoring.

Have a great day.  Geri

Thank You

First of all Thank you for all the terrific comments on my pillow.  It was fun to do.

Sorry it has taken so long to post but my isp cut our speed down to less than a snails pace.  Guess we used it too much.  With two of us using it and we download "a lot" of books from our library.

Anyway I have been busy with a couple of things.  I got back the Card Trick quilt from the quilter so took three days and got the binding done.

It is a twin/full size machine pieced and quilted with wool batting which is great to work with.








Although it doesn't show well in the photo the border is quilted with oak leaves and acorns.

This is the back. I like the pieced back.

Other than this I spent another three days doing a cuddle quilt for our guild.  All I had to do is quilt it as another person did the piecing.  These are great practice pieces to improve your quilting or test out a new design.

Now I am working on another small piece.  I will post that story later.

Again thank everyone for their great
 comments.

Geri

My First Pillow

Finished!!!
Today I finished my first pillow for the FMQ Challenge.  And it has been a bit of a challenge the last couple of days. 

First my Bernina decided to let me know it needed attention.  A few drops of oil later and it was humming right along.  That is until my thread started giving me fits.  Sewing right along then up pops a loop, thread shreds and breaks.  Problem the cone I was using had been wound wrong.  A phone call to Superior Threads and a new cone is on the way.  Terrific customer service. 

In the meantime I decided to remedy the problem by winding a bobbin and using that in the needle.  This works fine as long as your bobbin is wound very smooth and even.

Anyway to see the finished piece check out the Pillow Talk tab above.

Have a great day.

Geri