Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Sew Busy!

Where do I even begin? Lets see... this morning I headed over to the in-laws house to drop off my SIL's quilt that I made for her in Christmas 2004. The only thing I didn't finish was quilting around the stars. I didn't have free-motion quilting at the time, so my only option was to hand quilt. Big ouch!! I used the highest loft of batting I could find and then fleece on the back. It was important to my husband that the quilt was thick and warm. I think we covered that. ;)


So while the in-laws are on vacation, I "steal" the quilt and finish free-motioning the stars. It looks so pretty on the back! But I'm glad to have the stars done.


After dropping off the quilt (and making her bed with it) I mailed a bill and headed to WalMart to get 3 new shirts and juice. Got back home and checked the mail - there was a note saying a package was waiting for me... dare I hope it to be my thread?

The sad news is that Huckleberry Quilts are no longer going to carry Aurifil thread. They still have quite a few spools left, so if you wanna grab some at $4.40/spool/1422/yards, now's your chance!

Last week I had the chance to test out a quilt pattern for Cathy - it turn out pretty nice! Now the thing is that she's going to make it a mystery pattern for her Yahoo group... so I can't show you the results. Not until she does the mystery, which should be about September. So here's a teaser, my fabric choices:

I also took step-by-step photos of each clue and Cathy will be using my pictures for the mystery. The quilt finishes at 60x60 without borders and it looks like a great picnic quilt. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Some mysteries can turn out bad if you pick the wrong combination of colors, but this one didn't. :)

I'm working on a quilt for a customer - a simple 36" square baby quilt, sex unknown. She asked for red and cream, and here's what I came up with!

Last night I finished making all the blocks, now I need to put it together and piece the backing. I don't have enough yardage left to make a full backing, but it should turn out ok - maybe even look like a two-sided quilt! There's no mistakes in quilting, just opportunities. :)

Also last night I pieced this block the Birthday Block swap I'm in. I'm already behind in the swap - thanks to the move. :(

It's a 4-Patch Nine block. I had a hard time telling where to place the focus fabric, but this is what looked best to me. Hopefully the birthday gal will agree! :)

The other news is that I finally finished the Around the World quilt.


I had the hardest time trying to figure out what to quilt in the border. I finally decided on loops up and down - felt like I was quilting cursive L's. :)


And what to do with the spare blocks that didn't make it to the top? Toss them in the backing of course! :)


I've also been working on this quilt, but have nothing to show for it yet. Definately been keeping my machine humming!

Last night I got an email from my mom and she said that we'll be going to Pine Mountain Lake (near Yosemite) when we visit in July. We will rent a cabin by the lake and can blast hours away with the pool table, canoe and swimming. I love to swim in freshwater lakes - hopefully it'll be plenty warm! :)

Leah

9 comments:

Shelina said...

You do good work. I like the log cabin/ stars and the 4-Patch Nine block the best. The Around the World is good too, and the quilting look like S's to me.

Unknown said...

Boy - have you been busy! - I love your SIL's quilt - always love purple and green together :o)

Joyce said...

You've been a busy girl! I'm impressed. Lovely quilts.

kim said...

Wow! That's a lot of checkmarks off the 'to do' list. Good job. I really like the log cabin & star quilt! Keep up the good work!

Quilts And Pieces said...

Oh my gosh! YOu've got so much done! I want to come sew at your house!!! Everything looks so wonderful. I love your 4patch nine block - very cute! And the loops up and down in the border looks great - that was a good idea! I"m totally jealous now!

Serena Smith said...

Wow, you have been so busy and gotton so many things done!! Fantastic!!

Great job on the freemotion stars...they look great! I still struggle with freemotion quilting, although stippling I can do without any problem. I love the colors in this quilt also!

Laura said...

You have been one busy girl! And a trip to the lake sounds wonderful!

Kayla said...

Wow! Your quilts are gorgeous!

Helen in the UK said...

Gosh you have been busy - and so productive. Love the log cabin with the stars in the sashing. The baby quilt looks interesting too - different to the usual pastels :)