I Just Couldn't Wait...

I found this picture and realized I had forgotten to put it in the last post.  This was the stage where I had ripped out 8 scallops and 56 petals. :(   At least the hand applique came out easily.

Here's the finished top waiting to be basted (not my favorite part).

It took a total of almost 4 hours, watched a cute movie "Leap Year".  Not riveting my any means, but entertaining.

Almost finished - yea!

And here's the first few stitches.  I know it should seem overwhelming to hand quilt a large quilt like this, especially when it will have LOTS of quilting.  But it is so exciting to me.  I know what's waiting to come out.  I'll outline all the vines and flowers and then start the background.  That will be a ways off.

I won't bore you with lots of updates, but had to share that "Jubilee Tribute" in officially on its way.

Karen

Jubilee Quilt Update

This quilt has taken me on quite a journey.  Today I finished hand appliqing the last little piece (at least I hope so).  Last year I feel like I spent weeks staring at the borders trying to figure out what to do, I finally made a plan.  A big thank you to Janet from Quiltsalott.  I sent her pictures and asked for her opinions.  What she told me it needed was exactly what I had thought, but I needed someone else to say it.  So thanks Janet.

The first plan was 4 scallops with 9 petals on each scallop.  That grew to 5 scallops on each side with 11 petals.  Then came the flowers, a variation of the the center flowers complete with those fussy little leaves.  Then what to do at the bottom of the stem.  A decision to make 2 berries for each flower - seemed to be perfect........ until I sewed the borders to the center.  I didn't really know what I was doing, so I didn't measure very well.  I ended up needing to rip out 8 of the 20 scallops - 2 of them completely.  Then I had to rip out petals - a total of 56!!!!!  Oh well, live and learn.  But I am proud to say, it is done!!!!

It is so hard to remember a year ago when it started out looking like this.

I found this piece about 6  months ago and knew if was perfect for the back, it is absolutely beautiful.

Thank you Jo :).  So I'm ready to baste and then start the hand quilting.  It needs to be done in time for our quilt show next April.

I sometimes thought this day would never come.  I know it's not done, but it's a whole lot more done than it was 6 months ago.  I'll share quilting updates from time to time.  I still love everything about this quilt :)!

Karen

Soft Breezes

My neutral quilt is finished except for the binding.  I'm very happy with the way it turned out.

These really are "quiet quilts".  So different from the bright, happy fabrics we see so often.

I quilted an all-over design, one of my favorites.  I call it meandering vine feather.  Kind of covers it all I guess :).

It's going to live at someone's else house soon - I hope she likes it.

The back is a soft yellow - you can't really tell from this.

This is the first quilt I made from this pattern, I asked our guild members for yellow or blue strips and created this for a program I did for the guild called "Miagia" which stands for "Make it and give it away". 

It's a summery looking quilt.

This is the 2nd quilt I made, I call this one Autumn Breeze.

It's all batiks, each block usess a different light batik for the background.  It's still a flimsy, I need to finish this soon.  Can you tell I really like this pattern??? LOL

This is original quilt "Summer Breeze" done in soft Robyn Pandolf's early fabric lines.

It's from Kim's first book - so many great patterns.

I'm off to work, have a great day.

Karen

My New Light is Amazing!

This is the new light I bought at the Cindy Needham workshop I took last month.  It is fabulous!

This is the first project I quilted after I installed the light.

My friend made this darling Amy Butler quilt for her new granddaughter (due in a few weeks).  I quilted it for her.

I did an overall design and it turned out darling.

The new mom loves butterflies so I added one.  It's hard to see from the front, but shows up well on the minkie side.  This was my first time to work on minkie, and it behaved perfectly.

This is how my workspace normally looked before my light.  I've started working on the new neutral quilt.

Here's the same thing with my light.  It is absolutely amazing how much better I can see.  It was especially helpful this time as the thread blended into the neutral colors and was very difficult to see.  I am so happy.  Too bad I didn't see a big improvement in my quilting LOL!

I should be finished by tomorrow - yea!

-Karen

Shopping at My Favorite Store

I bet you thought I was taking a trip, well, I was.... to my stash.  I realized years ago, that buying the fabric I really liked was like starting my own fabric store where everything in it was my favorite.  So when I look at my stash, I think of it as my own store :).   I keep most of my scrappy pieces (and some bigger pieces too) in these plastic containers.  They're folded so I can see each piece.  

I am starting a new project, and decided I wanted to do low volume neutrals.  So I pulled fabrics that I wanted to use and cut 2 1/2" strips of each.

The strips on the left will be the focal points with the lights being used in the main body of the quilt.

Of course, I always make sure I have a kitty that fits into the color scheme.

Here are some of the blocks up on my design wall... I think I'm going to like it.  Recognize the pattern??  This will be the 3rd time I've made this pattern - guess I kind of like it :).

And today I say good-bye to my sweet calendar girl.  How I've enjoyed having her in my kitchen each day, but it's May 1st and I know Tammy and Avis are excited it's their turn now.

Have a great day, I'm off to do some hand quilting on our Opportunity Quilt :).

-Karen

Courthouse Steps Update

                                                           After a long search, I finally decided on a border fabric.  Thanks to my recent trip to Morgan City, LA and a visit to their LQS "The Quilt Cupboard", I found this beautiful stripe.  A stripe or border fabric had been my first instinct, but I didn't have anything like that in my stash, and hadn't found the right piece.  After adding a small brown inner border I was ready to quilt.

                                                            I decided not to do an overall and not to hand quilt.  That leaves me in a very uncomfortable place, way out of my comfort zone - custom quilting.  I'm still not very good at this, despite having recently read several great books on the topic of customizing your machine quilting.

I made the decision to quilt it on point but now I'm seriously re-thinking that.  My question is do the feathers look to big?  I still kind of like the idea of feathers, but not sure of the size.  Thoughts??

 

I like the way the center part looks.  The math didn't come out exactly perfect, but I'm okay with that.

 

                                                           I'm really happy with the way the corners turned out and the colors in the border.  It's brown, cream and a very soft, browned pink.

Perfection!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, I need to decide whether to keep going in this direction, or rip out and start again. 

 

Happy Saturday - it's a beautiful day in Pensacola.

 

-Karen

P.S. Please excuse the spacing - blogger isn't cooperating for me today :).



Fun Weekend in Louisiana

I got home Sunday from a wonderful long weekend in Morgan City, LA.  On Friday I taught a workshop based on this pattern - printed in 1986.  I made 3 of these quilts back in the late '80's and early '90's.  It's a pattern called "Momoe's Star".

It's a cross between Grandmother's Flower Garden and Cathedral Windows.

I met some new friends - always the best part :).

My students came well prepared (and were happy not to have to drag their machines to this workshop).  We learned two basic skill builders - hand applique and hand quilting. 

They were hard at work...

and they all went home with several finished blocks.

This project is totally hand done, portable a great quilt as you go project.   Thanks for lunch Sheryl, it was a wonderful day.

 

 

On Saturday, I was the guest speaker for the quarterly meeting for GSQA.  My lecture/trunk show is called "Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Taken". 

A new friend, Carole, took some pictures during the program.

The quilts tell the story of my journey.

See how much my hand is helping??? :)

This last one is a little blurry, but I'm explaining some of the finer points in my Going Home quilt.

 

What a wonderful time.  Thank you Sew Happy Quilters Guild for making me feel so welcome.

Have a great day,

Karen