Tuesday, January 31, 2012

January Free Motion Quilting Project

Well it is the last day of January and I am barely getting in my January free motion practice piece for SewCalGal's (see the link on my side bar) free motion quilt challenge. This months practice is leaves. The instructor is Frances Moore and she has many more wonderful tips on her blog. My photo does not show the quilting well, or maybe it is my fabric, but the leaf motifs are fun to do, just think hearts. I am looking forward to spending a little of my sewing time practicing some new quilting motifs and techniques.
I am also participating in the Just Takes 2 quilt from Gay at Sentimental Stitches and Brenda at Dear Jane. I am using a turkey red fabric and only have four blocks done, but my annual winter retreat with my quilting buddies is coming up in a couple weeks and I will be working on the blocks then. The eagle is for yet another quilt that I hope to be working on at retreat, the states quilt.I am not getting to my new projects because I have been spending most of my quilting time on Bella Garden, I have the appliques all quilted and the water portions finished and am now starting on the background fillers for the center block. Now I can throw in a few leaves here and there thanks to the Free Motion Quilting Challenge :)





Happy Stitching All,

Cheri

Friday, January 27, 2012

Great Backqround Quilting

I was looking thru my quilt pictures from quilt shows looking for a background filler design for Bella Garden. I came upon this embroidered quilt and remember taking the picture because I liked the way the quilting went right up to but not over the embroidery in the blocks. I also liked the way the quilter echoed the embroidered butterflies and posies into the quilting. I think this background quilting looks like water and I think it will be good in the center of the Bella Garden quilt. I also came upon this picture, this little quilt was just divided into six sections and a different background filler was quilted in each section.Just another little idea I need to keep in mind.

Have a good week and Happy Stitching!
Cheri

PS..It is tulip time again-my little winter treat to myself! Yea Walmart, they have them in every color of the rainbow, 7 fresh flowers for $5.00

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

The Last Ones

I have finished a couple quilts recently and they signal the end of a stage for me. I have closed my little quilting business and sold my long arm machine. The blue and beige quilt is a hidden 9 patch made in all flannels, a nice cuddly quilt for Judy. And the tshirt quilt was made by Donna for a friend. It features tshirts from the college world series, an annual event here in Omaha Nebraska every June. Check out that fun baseball fabric on the borders.
I pretty much just used my long arm machine for pantographs and always felt I could do custom quilting better on my Bernina. Today I start quilting on the latest McKenna Ryan, Bella Garden.

I am looking forward to working on some of my own projects.

Happy Stitching,

Cheri

Friday, January 20, 2012

An Old Fashioned Quilt Tying

My son in law brought me this denim quilt his Grandmother made him several years ago. The back and edges were wearing thin and he want me to mend it. We decided to put a new fleece backing on it and to keep it the same as his Grandmother had made, I am tying it with yarn. This is the first quilt I have ever tied and I must admit pushing this needle thru the seams is a little hard on the hands.I think I am about to put safety pins where I want the ties and then I am going to take it off the tables and continue the tying in my lap while watching some old movies on the television. It is freezing cold here in Nebraska today, 15 degrees, and it sounds good to have this quilt over me while I work on it and put the new binding on it.


I also did some quilting on this little quilt for one of my daughter in laws friends and then sewed on the binding. I love great big open white squares to put quilting in.


Blogger has been hard to use lately, it will not let me move my pictures around in my post, anyone else having issues?


Have a good weekend all, and happy stitching.Cheri

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Working on a McKenna Ryan



I have been working on McKenna Ryan's newest quilt Bella Garden. Lots of fun little creatures in this one so far.










Happy Stitching,

Cheri

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Red and Green Applique








I came across another antique red and green applique quilt at a recent quilt show. I just can not get enough of them. This one was dated between 1850 and 1875. The zigzag border is what really caught my attention, a nice contrast to have a pieced appearing border (it was actually appliqued) surround the floral blocks. The cross hatched background quilting (described as waffle quilting ??? I had not heard that description before) blended beautifully into the border zigzag echo quilting.

The red fabric was all the same for the whole quilt but there were two green fabrics used. They were both also used in the border.
I always like to figure out the blocks in a quilt, there are 4 different applique blocks in this quilt, can you spot them?

Happy Stitching All,

Cheri

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

In the Sewing Room With Friends

This was the scene in my sewing room this past week. My daughter came over in need of some of my sewing skills.



She was lying on the floor under my cutting table looking for clip art on her Ipad to use for applique shapes. Jasper, our Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, came in and decided to join us. It took a bit of arranging, but he finally found the most comfortable spot in the room : )


Beth was making onesies for baby gifts. (She got the idea from Pinterest - have you checked out this website? Everything from crafts, to recipes, to decorating ideas, to fashion - be ready to loose time - this website is habit forming! )


The onesies turned out really cute, she dyed them first and then came over for my help with the appliques. These are for two little baby boys whose Daddies are outdoor and sports enthusiast.

Happy New Year

Cheri