 I am finishing up two more table runners. These are a very different style than the adorable snowmen. I found this beautiful snowflake batik fabric at a vendor's booth at a local quilt show this fall. Batik fabrics are really my favorite to work with, and I couldn't resist this piece and the fat quarters I found that coordinate. I had enough to make two of these cool runners. The pattern I used is called "Around The Corner," another one from Heather Mulder Peterson of Anka's Treasures. The colors are unique for winter time - black with rusty orange, red, and burgundy. The pattern also gives it a very contemporary feel.   The back and binding is black Moda fabric, and I quilted it used a snowflake pantograph with black thread.  I just have to finish up the binding on the other one, and these will soon be for sale in my Etsy shop. Two great finishes for this Friday!
I'll be linking up over at Crazy Mom Quilts. Have a great day!
2 Comments
 I am happy to say that November has brought a spike in sales in my Etsy shop! All of my Christmas/winter table runners have sold which means I better make some more. I think table runners are fun to make because they just don't require as much time as a large quilt. They are also so easy to quilt on the longarm compared to quilting on my little Janome which I used to do. I have four table runners in the works like this one. I used two charm packs of the Moda fabric line Be Jolly by Deb Strain and a little extra yardage for the background and star points. These snowman prints just make you smile even if you aren't crazy about winter.  Above you can see all my pieces cut and ready to be sewn. I separated the charm packs somewhat by color so that I have one with black, one dark blue, one red and turquoise, and one red and green. I am using a pattern that I just love called Little Charmers III by Heather Mulder Peterson. I have made quite a few table runners using this pattern.   So I made all my flying geese units and finished piecing one whole one today. Not bad considering it was a busy day with kids at home.
I'll be sharing this post over at Work In Progress Wednesday at Freshly Pieced. Thanks for reading, and I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!  This week I quilted for Jenny. She had this nice big top stored away for years and decided it was time to get it quilted. Something special about it is the doilies she incorporated into the center medallion. They belonged to her husband's grandmother, probably hand made by her, and she wanted to find a way to make use of them. I think it is a really special addition to the quilt. Jenny chose a pantograph called Twizzle which is a larger scale design, and it really looked good over the whole quilt. The thread is a golden brown.   Thanks for letting me quilt for you, Jenny! Last Friday night we went to visit Aunt Brenda and Uncle Dave. Brenda helped my kids create some new stockings. Have you seen the new pattern from The Sweet Tea Girls Patterns? It's called Holiday Cheers, and it is for making wine totes that look like elf boots. They are super cute. Well, Lydia saw them and thought it would make a great stocking for her. You can see below why she thought she need a new one with her name on it.  Back in 2012 Lydia learned how to write her name, and she decided she would write her name on her pretty princess stocking (picked out for her by her brother). She found a Sharpie marker and took care of things. I think this is hysterical, but she thinks it is messy and a new stocking is in order. She chose some fabric from my Christmas collection, and Jakob did, too. Brenda has this awesome Bernina which does embroidery. The kids picked out their thread colors and font for the print, and Brenda worked her magic with the Bernina. Today I finished up the stockings. This is really an easy pattern until you get to the binding on top. I bought some bias tape because I didn't feel like making my own. Jakob's needed something extra, so I hand stitched the bells on. I'm still deciding what else might look good on Lydia's stocking.   Thanks for stopping by and checking out my quilting projects!
I'm Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish It Up Friday.  I quilted two customer quilts this week for Susan. The first was this one with the animal panels and prints. This is a really pretty quilt - pretty but masculine! We weren't sure what edge-to-edge design would look right on this one, but as I studied it more, I thought about the wispy grass in the panel around the animals, and I remembered a panto that I have that is actually called "Grass." It is such a simple design that I was a little nervous it would not look right, but I am very pleased with it. It really does mimic the grass and gives a really nice overall texture to the quilt, and it keeps the masculine feel of the whole quilt.    This pantograph is from a packet that Aunt Brenda bought at a quilt show last year. There are many designs on single sheets, and you have to photocopy them and tape them together, but it is a great value for around $22. They are very nice for beginners. They really are simple, and there is a nice variety of designs to choose from. If you are a quilter just starting out with pantographs, you might want give these a try. We got our first snowflakes here in Western Pennsylvania this week, and I also quilted my Snowflake pantograph for the first time this week! Susan also brought this panel she will use as a wall hanging. The snowflakes are really sweet and dainty on it.   My photo of the panel above doesn't do it justice. It is really beautiful with metallic silver and gold details.
I am currently working on another customer quilt. If you have something you would like quilted for Christmas, it's not too late. I would love to quilt for you!! Please contact me. I am linking up with Finish It Up Friday over at Crazy Mom Quilts. Thanks for reading!!  Last Friday I shared how Mom, Aunt Brenda, and I spent a day quilting, and I pieced this top together. This past week I quilted it, and I'm now finishing up the binding. Wow - I'm finishing a quilt in one week! That just might be a record for me. I purchased this fabric (everything but the backing) in the Outer Banks of North Carolina on our vacation in 2013. Like any normal quilter would do, I sought out the local quilt shops while we were there, and the fabric was my souvenir. While we were there in 2013, we visited the Bodie Island Lighthouse and also the Currituck Lighthouse. Bodie was packed with people when we went, so we didn't go up to the top, but we did go to the top of the Currituck Lighthouse, and it was an amazing view. So, back to quilting... I have been wanting to spend some more time practicing my free motion hand-guided skills on the longarm, and several months ago I had purchased a class from Craftsy, Machine Quilting Negative Space with Angela Walters. So I finally watched the videos and used what I learned in the class to quilt my lighthouse quilt. I used the swirls and circles designs together, and in the lighthouse blocks I did a different design that I copied from a book I have. The class was very good. I would recommend it, especially to beginners. It was a lot of fun to work on. At first I was happy that the fabric prints are mostly so busy that you can't notice the quilting. Even the backing fabric is a print which doesn't show the quilting. After I was finished I wished the quilting would stand out more because I am really happy with it. I tried to take some pictures to show the quilting, and the texture is really nice over the whole thing.   Now this winter my family can cover up with this awesome quilt and dream about the great times we had at the Outer Banks and hopefully another beach vacation sometime in our future. This souvenir is better than a t-shirt any day. Something else very cool to share with you is I found my Astronomical Star quilt block in one of the quilts at the Houston International Quilt Festival!! Remember this one? Quilters from all over the world sent in blocks for the quilts, and 28 quilts were made from the blocks collected. Click here to see an article about it.    In the picture above, my block is in the second row from the top, 4th block in from the left side. I was so excited to find it in some Facebook pictures this week.
Thanks for stopping by and reading about my week in quilting! I have some customer quilts I will be working on next. I'll be liking up at Finish It Up Friday over at Crazy Mom Quilts.  I am determined to persevere and not let these disappearing hourglass blocks become a UFO! I keep sewing, cutting apart, sewing cutting apart, sewing, with some pressing mixed in. Working with these beautiful fabrics is keeping me going, plus a little deadline that I have set for myself.   I need to get this quilt done soon and finish up some things for Christmas! I am also working on a few customer quilts on the longarm.
Thanks for visiting. You can check out other quilters' works in progress at WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced where I am liking up. |
This is me...I LOVE to quilt, and every day I must sew for my sanity! Archives
March 2020
Categories |
RSS Feed
