At the very end... I'm seeing dots

Someone told me once, that the binding is the last creative chance you have to influence your quilt.  So true.  I decided on the Michael Miller dots.

I had used them several times in the arcs and in the centers and I liked the way they kind of forced your eye to travel across the quilt.

I decided to quilt points in the grey arcs to mimic the pickle dish arcs (they are kind of hard to see). But it balances out the border blocks.

And I finally got to the store for red thread, so it's done except for stitching the binding down.

Good thing I really like this part. 

I can't believe that this is it, I'm at the end. When the quilt looked like this, I wasn't even sure where it was going. That's kind of normal for me when I design a quilt that's in my head.  But it's been a fun journey and I'm so happy with where Pink Pickles ended up.

Stay warm and have a great Saturday.

Karen

A Slight Detour

Since I'm out of red thread, and haven't been to the store yet, I switched gears and quilted this sweet baby quilt for a friend's grandson.

I used the motif found in several of the fabrics and just did a freehand overall swirl.

Such a nice change from all the ESS  and custom quilting on Pink Pickles :)

It's amazing how fast this goes, I'm almost done.

I had the perfect variegated thread, yellow, gold and orange.  I love how the colors change as they move over the blocks.

My friend chose a pattern from Kim Brackett's Scrap Basket Surprises - one of the best.

This is made from the line Sunkissed by Sweetwater, such great colors.

It's done and waiting for binding.  Feels so good to have a finish (even if it's not mine) :).

Off to work today, hope it's a great one,

Karen

Pink Pickles - Almost Done

I can't believe it's been a week and a half since my last post.  Besides working (at my paying job) and continuing to hand quilt my Jubilee quilt,  I have spent LOTS of quality time at the sewing machine working on Pink Pickles.  I had some areas of the border that needed to be un-stitched, so while I was sitting out on the back porch this afternoon doing that, I thought I'd do an update.

The centers are finally done with the teacup design - YAY!!!  The melons are all outlined and quilted - all 56 of them.  The pink points are all done, but I ran out of red thread so there are still 18 of the red point arcs left to do.

After much deliberation, I decided against doing the teacup design for the outside border area that I did in the centers, and went with just straight line quilting.  I must say that one thing that has taken so long is stitching in the ditch for every little part of this quilt.  When I took the classes with Cindy Needham last spring, she talked about ESS.  That's Every Single Seam or Every Stinkin' Seam.  And while it's a pain, it does make a difference in the final look.

All in all it looks really cool.  I always have trouble getting good pictures that really capture the quilt.  You can see the outside grey arcs are not done yet.  I'm still deciding how I want to quilt those.

 I can't believe that I am almost done and that it has taken me so many hours.  I started this quilt last July on vacation, I ripped the paper arcs in August during my husband's surgery and then spent most of September trying to figure out how to piece the blocks.  Then I spent weeks putting the blocks together and agonizing  deciding how to quilt it. But now the end is almost in sight.  I've learned a lot with the quilt and I'm really happy with it.

Hope your weekend was happy -

Karen

Some Texture for Pink Pickles

Just a quick update.  I have finally quit procrastinating on how I'm going to quilt Pink Pickles and yesterday I just started!

I'm not sure that looking at all the wonderful blogs by long armers and their incredible quilting is helping me.  The truth is I will never accomplish what they do and I don't want to feel frustrated.  Quilting on a domestic is so different than quilting on a long arm and I have to remember that.

But I'm not whining, because I am doing something. It's not perfect, but this quilt will be done - and it will be done by me!

And I know I will have learned something and maybe I'll be a little better.

I think when it's all done, I'm going to be very happy with the end result.

I'm off to work so no quilting today.

Have a great one,

Karen

A Different Look

I decided to try my Nine Patch Pineapple quilt on the couch this year.  Last year it was not quilted.  I was scheduled to teach this technique as a 2 day workshop last January. So I needed to quilt this one and then decided to make another quilt (the Christmas table topper). 

I must say, I do think it looks quite wonderful!!  With all the light areas, it brightens up the couch.  It's not an exact color match, but still very "fallish" looking with a great graphic pattern.  I'm enjoying having it out where I can see it every day.

This simple quilt is the one I normally use on the couch during the fall.  I made it years ago in fabrics that almost exactly match the couch.  This year I decided to try it in the foyer on the deacon's bench.  Love it!!  With the morning sun coming in, it looked so pretty.

And last to put up for my fall quilt decorating, is my "One of Kind" fall sampler.  I finally decided to put a sleeve on this instead of just pinning it up.   It looks so much better that I sometimes wonder why I procrastinate so long on something so simple. Still love this one.

And this weekend in downtown Pensacola, was the Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival. The Pensacola Quilters Guild had a booth in the Heritage Arts section.  We were able to hang "Vintage Blooms" and sell tickets.  

I was told that it earned an award and won $100.00!!  Yippee :).  So happy, this quilt just makes me smile every time I see it.  And to think that for one mere dollar, it could go home with someone. :)

It was a great weekend - this is a beautiful time of year along the Gulf Coast. 

Thanks for stopping in,

Karen

A Sweet Memory - Blogger's Quilt Festival

Welcome to my quilt for Amy's Fall Blogger's Quilt Festival.  Be sure to pop in and see all the great quilts.

 

It all started 2010.  I had discovered Kaffe Fasset and began collecting some of his fabrics and some brights that coordinated with them.  I'd made several "bright" quilts but was still wanting to make one more.  I found a pattern in a magazine and modified to suit me and decided to see what happened.

I prepped some strips for a road trip and was able to cut a bunch of blocks out.

They all looked so pretty.

I was really liking where this was going.  Not sure where I would end up, but I was happy.  The only constant was that each block had the same Kaffe fabric.

I must tell you, making these blocks was addictive.  They grew and grew.....

until I had this many.

 

And then my granddaughter and her family came for a visit.  She brought her own sewing machine and wanted to make a quilt.  She was 7 years old that summer!!

She saw my Kaffe quilt up on the design wall and wanted to make one just like her Nana Girl :).  Of course I couldn't say no.  She went thru my stash and picked all the fabrics herself.  She made her own choices for each block and auditioned them on hew own design wall.  Her instincts were spot on!

Here she is sewing the blocks together - she got really good at that 1/4" seam allowance too.

And then it was time for me to quilt it.

She looks so proud...

 

and here we are together with our matching quilts.

Since then, I have finished my quilt.  It stays over the back of my quilting chair and I get to enjoy it every day. 

Here are the little bright kitties.

I did an overall meandering feather vine.

The journey of this quilt is indeed a sweet memory.

Have a great day,

Karen

All the Little Stitches

I have finally finished the 1 1/2" grid of my jubilee quilt. Yay!!!  So, if I were to be finished at this point, I would say that there are a ton of stitches.  But the fact that the grid quilting is only about half way done is a little mind boggling.

The rows were a little hard to keep straight so I'm really glad I've finished this step.

Now it's on to quilting 1/2" lines.  What a huge difference!  These rows can be marked in my lap as I get to them.  It's a big time savings plus I'm done with the pins.  I've noticed that this part of the quilting is going much faster.

I'm quilting up to the little red leaves in the border.  My plan will be to finish these lines then move on to the border.

You can see in the top left corner where there are still some 1 1/2" areas, what a big difference the 1/2" quilting makes to the design.  I guess I'm close to being almost a quarter of the way done.  Trying to do a little every day and trying not to think about how much is left.  I'm really glad the quilt show is more than five months from now.  Hopefully my hands will hold out!!

Happy stitching,

Karen