finishes

It has been a week of finishes for me. YoYoville (pattern by Anne Sutton from Bunny Hill Designs) is completed. YEA!I have also finished the applique on my Civil War Bride Quilt. YEA! YEA! I found a great fabric for the back and I think I am going to try this same backing fabric for a piped edge on the front. My binding is the same fabric as the background, would a thin line of line of green look odd on the edge?

The quilt has been layered and I have started the outline quilting. It is so full of applique there is not much room for much else than background filler around the applique in the center blocks. For now I have not marked anything and I am just going to start quilting around all the applique.

My DH is always so supportive of my quilting hobby, always willing to check out shops in areas we are traveling through. He is also my expert with a spoon, closing safety pins on the layered quilts. What a gem!!!

Happy Stitching,

Cheri

CWBQ Border

I have been focusing most of my quilting time on the CWBQ. I think this is going to be my arrangement of the blocks. I did replace a couple of the lighter leaves in the strawberry block - block 8 in this arrangement. I think between placing the block in the center of the quilt and replacing those leaves it does not stick out as the lightest block in the quilt anymore. I am working on the two side borders. There are probably less leaves in a border than in some blocks.

My favorite color of YLI silk thread - 235 - a muddy brown that seems to match with almost all civil war fabrics is getting thin. I can actually see thru to the spool . I have never used a complete spool of thread on one applique project.

Machine quilting on YoYoville continues, this quilt is killing me. I just can't make myself stay in the sewing room and work on this quilt. I think it is all the 4 inch blocks in the center of the quilt- 300+ that is slowing me down and all that repetetive is boring.I have also been looking into the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative. I would like to make a quilt for them, and I am thinking a little Hawaiian Quilt, I have been playing around with a pineapple papercut - trying to fill in a rectangle instead of a square.

Have a Happy Valentine's Day,

Cheri

DD's trick

The quilting on YoYoville (Pattern by Anne Sutton from Bunny Hill Designs) continues.

I have been spending much more of my quilting time on hand applique and have finished my 18th block for that quilt.I really like to hand applique but now that I have done this many blocks, I must say I have not really improved on leaves. I can turn under the point but the tips look sort of pulled in. What ever...

My dear daughter has a couple of my quilts in her home, strictly on beds or on the couch to cuddle under. She does not like them as wall hangings or table clothes and really has no interest in quilting, so last weekend when she asked me if she could look thru some of my fabric stash I was mildly surprised. She took a few scraps of fabric with her that day and as she was leaving she said she would like a sewing machine. Wow, I immediately started looking on Ebay for a smaller Bernina thinking maybe she is going to start being interested in quilting. On Tuesday she came over and asked if I would help her sew something. This is what she needs the sewing machine for:

Scrapbook pages. Beth is a wonderful scrapbooker and she is working on an album with some of her wedding pictures. (She also crochets and does the cutest hats, check out Hooked with Love on facebook) So for now I will add the fancy stitching on needed scrapbook pages, no need for sewing machine shopping :(

My thoughts and prayers are sent out to all of my quilting friends in Australia, the devastating flooding and loss of life is beyond comprehension. Lizzie has a beautiful post about her beloved country.

Happy Stitching all,

Cheri

Rearranging Blocks

I have finally started quilting YoYoville (a pieced and appliqued quilt from Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs). Because of all the cute little yoyos appliqued on the top I did not want to put this quilt in the long arm and crush the yoyos in the roller bars so I am quilting it on the Bernina.

While I am quilting I keep looking at my finished blocks from the Civil War Bride Quilt I have pinned to my cork tile wall. I am getting close to finishing the blocks and the rearranging of blocks has begun. This is the pattern arrangement:

I kind of like the idea of having the bride with the empty leaf blocks on each side of her, so I also tried pulling the crazy falling bird block down a row and then getting all the fruit blocks on one row:

I also kind of like the four "star" bird blocks kind of in the center and pulling that 3rd vase block down to the bottom row and keeping things nice and symmetrical (type A personality showing):

I just finished that third vase block, I got a little heavy handed with the glue basting and it needed a bath and is currently drying before I trim it and photograph it properly.

Anyway, this is the fun I am having this week in my sewing room. With the new year there are some wonderful new sew along projects, exchanges, and free blocks out there in blog land. Here are some of my favorites:

Lori is sharing a Midnight Star doll quilt. She is such a good teacher.

Sheryl Johnson from Temecula Quilt Co. did a wonderful applique for the 12 days of Christmas called Christmas tide. It is inspired by an antique version of a collage applique quilt.

Christine at http.//onceuponaquilt.blogspot.com/ is hosting a couple of doll quilt swaps.


Anne Sutton from Bunny Hill Designs gives a free pattern on the 5th of each month and this years quilt is a cute pieced and applique quilt called Henrietta Whiskers featuring a cute little squirrel.


Barbara Brackman has started a new blog commemorating the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the civil war. She will be posting an 8 inch block each Saturday this year. She is a great historian and a great read even if you are not interested in doing the blocks.



Lots of fun opportunities out there in blog land.
Happy Stitching all...
Cheri

I Love Thread

It is with a little angst that I have to admit I have ordered a bunch of thread again. Here on my couch is the latest CWBQ block and all of my silk threads. I know, one of the advantages of using silk is you just need a couple colors and they just melt into the fabric and are hardly seen. And I have used a grey for most of the applique on the bride so far because it goes with so many of the civil war reproduction fabrics I am using, but...aren't those tubes the thread is in just the greatest? And really, what is the point of ordering empty tubes so I just got a few (11) more spools of thread also.

Fabric does not tempt me the way thread does, I never just buy fabric without a purpose just because I like the color or pattern, thread is a weakness, it is sooooo pretty, like crayons in a box.

Oh well

I have finished sewing the YoYoville top and it is now resting before the quilting starts.

Actually I am not sure how I am going to quilt the middle, usually I struggle with what I am going to quilt in borders, but I knew what I would do with these four borders when I first saw the pattern. The yoyos are the problem, I ended up hand sewing all 197 of them so they would not get crushed and I need to quilt around them. So the quilt is resting on my tables in the laundry room and every time I go to do a load of laundry I stare at it and wait for a pattern to jump out at me.


I have also finished a small quilt that a friend asked me to make for an office wall. It is a cute little patriotic quilt and it is actually the second time I have made it, a fun little project with 4th of July coming upon us.

So now with YoYoville moved to the waiting to be quilted list, and my quilts I am doing for others all completed, I am going to start doing some machine applique on Ladies of the Sea (pattern by Sue Garman). Just look at this great box of THREAD I use for it...


Happy Stitching All....
Cheri

A Little of This, A Little of That

The Lake Forrest quilt is finished and it is to it's new owner. I always enjoy working on McKenna Ryan quilts, the batik fabrics are so gorgeous. The raccoons in the middle turned out so good, they just make the whole quilt come alive. Jan (the owner of the quilt) thought they looked like they were about to crawl out of the tree. It is always nice to complete a quilt and now I get to take it off my current project list.

I have been spending a little time this week on some other quilts from my list. I have the whole center of YoYoville finished.

The yoyos were fun to make, I used one of the clover yoyo makers and that really made perfect little ones. I was going to machine applique them down with invisible thread but it just crushed them. So I tacked them down by hand, they just looked better that way. So now I am machine quilting the border with a blanket stitch. I am using a cream colored sulky blendable variegated for all of the little houses. I really just wanted to save time and thread and use the same thread. I am going to do the little yoyo flower stems in green, again probably a variegated so I can just use it on all the different fabrics used for the stems.

So during the day (on my day's off work) I work on projects in the sewing room and in the evening I work on the CWBQ while talking to DH or watching TV. I am working on block 7. I just finished those bird feet, I have a gift for making clunky, chunky three toed bird feet which every bird in this quilt is going to have.

I just got my confirmation for a class I am taking this September at Baltimore on the Prairie.

http://baltimoreontheprairie.tresajones.com/

I have choosen a class with Jan Carlson who is teaching a no template applique class. Maybe I will get some good tips for dealing with bird toes. Anyway, I am having fun, isn't that blue and green fabric just delicious - bird bodies are next.

Happy Stitching All....

Cheri