One Stitch At a Time

Well, after 3 days of ripping, all of my hand quilting stitches are gone from my basket quilt. I'm using a wool batt, so those little darlings were way down in there - arghhhh!! But I truly know in my heart, I would never have finished HQ this quilt.First off, it got way too big, and secondly, the quilting marking design was almost impossible to see.
So I am happy that one day my beautiful baskets will be done.

My problem now is.......... how to machine quilt this. Here's my basket post from a few months ago. As always, any suggestions are more than welcome.

Have a great day,
-Karen

They Call Me Mellow Yellow

I am not sure how it got to be almost the end of September. I've been off in North Carolina being "Nana Girl" to my newest granddaughter and my 2 older grandies. What a blessing and what fun!! Before I left I had been working on this - my latest T-shirt quilt ready to go to Dallas, TX. Binding is done, it just needs a label.
The 2 biggest challenges with this quilt were the color palette for UCF (which is black and gold) and the fact that my niece is a size zero and these were the smallest t-shirts I have ever seen!!!!!! Her husband is also a UCF alum, so she included some of his shirts too. My first ever his and hers in the same quilt.
This block best shows the black and gold color palette.

There was also a navy shirt - oh well, I just had to ignore that one. But the quilting does show up good :). I free motion quilted an overall flower pattern.

Instead of going with the gold I decided to lean more toward the yellow.

I found a line of fabrics called Mellow Yellow that were kind of retro looking and so fun I knew immediately I would build the colors around that.

I found a black batik with yellow dots and swirls and a geometric in black, grey, gold and white which were not in the line. Perfect to even out all the daisies and flowers.

All the other fabrics used in the sashings were from the Mellow Yellow line.

The shirt is the top left corner was one of my nephew's shirts and I had to leave the placket in to be able to include the little knight. Looks kind of cool I think.

I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. Each t-shirt quilt has it's own personality and that's the part of the process I like the best.

Until next time,

-Karen

September Office Art

Fall is in the air, even here in Pensacola and it's time for new office art. This is my quilt from our Guild Challenge "Chasing the Rainbow". I absolutely fell in love with this project. I started out with a totally different idea that just didn't work with the challenge rules. After completely starting over, this quilt began to evolve and I got very excited.

I've never done a black quilt before and that was a personal challenge for me that had nothing to do with the contest rules. Besides being limited to only using colors found in the challenge fabric, the quilt had to be 40" square and contain at least one "square in a square" block.

After I'd pulled my matching fabrics, I just started making blocks - at this point, not having a real plan or design in mind. These are 4" paper pieced blocks I drafted on EQ7.

I decided to hand quilt this due to the design element I wanted to add.

Once I started placing the bright blocks around the center, I realized that I couldn't completely surround the center medallion - which had been my first thought. So I shadow quilted the remaining border with the square in a square design using different colored thread to mimick the actual blocks. I hope you can click on these to enlarge them to see how pretty the different colors look. I added small bits of piping for color interest and the gold border finishes at 1/4" (cut 3/4"). It's such an intense color I didn't want too much contrast with the black.

The fabric I picked for the basket lent itself perfectly to be quilted along the lines and it looks woven. Remember that each fabric had to be present in the challenge fabric to be used. Most of these came from my stash and the guild free table - how fun is that??!

Last, but certainly not least, is my kitty.

So far, I've had very favorable comments from fellow workers. This is kind of different from my usual hangings. I'm having issues (huge problems) with the mq in my autumn tree, so this quilt may get to hang for a while!!
Until next time,
-Karen

How to Make The Perfect Quilt

Have you ever wondered how to make the perfect quilt? I think I have the answer. First, start with an overall theme, pick some fabulous fabric and search for just the right pattern and layout. Then spend about a month making the quilt and enjoy every single second of the process.

Next, wait nine months for a precious miracle to arrive and place her in the middle of the quilt. Of course, make sure you pick a cute outfit that will coordinate perfectly with the quilt :).Watch your DS, your own baby, stare at the little miracle he has helped bring into the world.

Take about 50 pictures, searching for just the right one. Even if they're not perfect, they are still adorable.

Savor the moment, seeing your granddaughter lying on the quilt that spent weeks being planned and quilted and just treasure it. Change positions and get her eyes open for one moment.

Then watch as she drifts off to sleep - remembering she is only 3 days old.

So, in my life right now, I have made the perfect quilt!

Until next time,

-Karen

I am a Nana again

We finally got the call we've been waiting for - our baby was on her way. Here is her nursery all ready and waiting. Doesn't the Kumari Garden look wonderful for the curtains?
Here is her new quilt waiting for her. It looked perfect on the chair, just as I'd hoped.

And here she is, barely 12 hours old. After an emergency C-section, she made her long awaited arrival.

After driving for 9 hours, arriving at 1:00 AM and sitting in the waiting room with her other grandmother all night, we welcomed her at 5:18 AM on Friday morning. I then spent the better part of 3 days just staring at her.
Here she is at one day old - I'm still just staring at her.

And here she is being held by her great grandfather, sleeping so peacefully.

I've got a few more (LOL!!) pictures, but this is it for today. She is perfect, my DDIL is feeling better every day and we are so blessed we were able to be there for this miracle.

Thanks for sharing in my joy,

-Karen

Empty Space Filled

Here's my tree with the little inner border. I still need to decide how big to make the outer border. I'm trying to decide how I want to quilt it, that will determine how big I cut it. I'm not 100% sure I like it, but I wanted something different with this tree (my 3rd). It was fun seeing your predictions for my empty space, but I guess I'm too predictable. It is indeed a kitty :)!!
But this is a special kitty. Sitting there like this, he has the exact same profile as Rodger. And I made him light grey, just like Rodger. It's always hard to lose a pet, but it's been especially hard since I don't know what happened to him. But now, he will always be on guard, sitting in my tree.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Until next time,
-Karen

Full Bloom

My tree is in full bloom. I've moved these leaves until I'm pleased with the layout. Unless something really bothers me in the next few days, I'm going to leave well enough alone.
Here's a close-up of the fabric I used for the tree. It has some blue in it which I thought might bother me, but from a distance you don't notice. Up close I like the dimension it gives. Hopefully my quilting will add and not detract from this. Not sure what I'm going to do yet.

There are still several elements left as you probably noticed the hole on the right side. Guess what's going in there?? Plus I'm going to add a border this time.

Hope your Saturday is productive and fun.

Until next time,

-Karen