Sarah's Story Book - Girl's Quilt

Good Afternoon family and friends,
Just finished quilting this little girl's quilt. It measures 28 x 46". I made it from a piece of sweet fabric I got at the quilt fair in January.
It's called Sarah's Story Book by Beverlie Manson for Blue Hill Fabrics Pattern #7499. Cute little girl fabric. It sounds like a book panel. But it's actually higher quality fabric than most of those book panels and was intended to be a book.  100% cotton and I used Fairfield 80/20 batting and an all cotton backing of pink with tiny hearts. I added a little green and a pink (also hearts) border to it. I enjoyed quilting this one very much. Added some new techniques for me. Pebbles and cross hatching in the middle with fans in the corner's of the squares and pink flowers in the border.  I quilted this quilt completely with my micro handles free hand and used my small longarm ruler for the straight lines. I love quilting when I don't have to mark it.
This quilt reminded me of my niece named Sarah Beach. She's getting married soon so may-be this can be a baby quilt for her some time in the future.
Thanks for visiting and take a moment to view the pictures at the bottom of my blog from my etsy store. I added about 10 vintage items to the store today.

   

Great Tip-How to check your fabric's color stability

I no longer wash all my fabric before I start sewing. I don't like to sew it after the sizing is all removed by washing. But I do sometimes wonder if something is going to fade onto other fabric but I'm too lazy to go to the trouble of soaking a sample in water.
This is a great tip on quickly checking the fabric that someone shared with me.
"You can check the color stability by dipping a Q-tip in warm water and
rubbing the fabric. If no color shows it is probably color fast. I check
my fabric that way. If color shows on the Q-tip, I wash for sure. so far
have had no problems if the tip didn't show color and I choose not to wash
the fabric before the quilt is finished. "

Try it the next time you are preparing your fabic.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by my blog today. 

Appliqued Teapot Block Swap Blocks

I'm doing a swap with some friends of appliqued teapot blocks. One name is drawn each month. We make a 12" square based on whatever colors the other person wants or maker's choice. Here are a couple of the teapot quilt blocks I have made so far. Cute project and fun to swap. Should have enough to make a quilt, wall hanging or a table runner when this swap is completed later in the year. I will add my blocks when my name is drawn. I'm enjoying this swap as it is a little different. These are the blocks I've sent so far.

Thanks for visiting today. Stop back soon and don't forget to visit my Longarm Quilting site if you are interested in having any quilting done. 

 

Pinwheel Quilt-Hippie Baby April 2012

Good afternoon all,

Finished this flannel quilt the other day on my longarm quilting machine and thought I would take a moment to share it. It's 100% cotton flannel. I have stated calling it "Hippie Baby" because it has paisley, tye died pink, lime green, pink dots and all the colors I remember from the 60's in the Hippie days. The baby portion was because I was originally planning to make it smaller as in a baby quilt. No pattern used. I just used my Go die cutter and cut the triangles easily and the strips and so on. I used Fairfield 's 100% polyester high loft batting and really didn't like it. I just tried it for something different. It does give it a somewhat lighter feel to the overall quilt. I thought it was harder to quilt. The backing is also a marble flannel and I also used it to bind it. I pre-washed it. It shrunk 6" in length so I was glad I did.  I quilted it entirely using my Micro handles and rulers and a mylar stencil for the feathers. The quilting doesn't show as good in the pictures as I had hoped.  The pink squares have a large feather, hearts in the pink dotted sashing, small fill in the stripes and also did little loops in the paisley. Stitched in the ditch around the blocks. Anyway it was great to practice on and will find it a nice quilt to cuddle up with this winter. Measures 50" x 80".    

Thanks for stopping by. Stop back soon. 

Unusual Collectibles Today

Hello everyone,
Thought I would take a moment to tell you all that I up-dated etsy today with some different and unusual vintage items. So take a moment and scroll to the bottom of this page and view the merchandise in my etsy store.

As some of you know I'm on a tear cleaning out some of my closets and trying to de-clutter my house again. I want to ready in case the market improves and I can put it on the market to sell so I can move.

I love collectibles but they are taking up too much space. So back soon as I have lots more I will be adding in the coming days.

Thanks for stopping by today.

  Have a wonderful evening!

Northwest Territory Wildlife Bear Quilt Top

Hello All,
I just added a few pictures after I quilted this Northwest Terriotry Bear quilt on my longarm machine. The other picture is my faithful friend and helper. Emmi my Yorkie.

This is a small 75" x 50" quilt top I made the past couple of days. With no points to match or triangles to cut it went together fairy quickly.  I have to get some backing for it before I can quilt it. But thought I would go ahead and share it today since I'm up-dating everything on the Internet. The blocks are 6.5" square and I sashed them with bear paw or green pine cone fabric alternating them. I fussy cut them. Added a 2.5 inch of fishing creel fabric between the blocks and a 1.5 inch green pine cone border, 2.5" bear paw print fabric border and the 4" striped border. Some fun fabric made by Marcus Brothers from their Northwest Territory fabric collection. I purchased it at the Quilt festival in Phoenix in January. It was a five yard bundle from Bolines fabric. Perfect size to quilt on. It is a little different than most fabric that I'm attracted to. But found it interesting since I do love the outdoors and camping and so on. Just the right size for a nap. I'm thinking about how to quilt it now.  It will probably be on etsy for those that love cabin decor.

Thanks for visiting today.
The baby quilts that I added earlier are the next post down.

Baby Quilts Feb. 2012

Recently I made these baby quilts so I could have some samples for my longarm quilting. Didn't have a pattern so just planned them as I went along.  Made from snuggle cotton flannel fabric and regular quilting cotton.  I used a cute baby girl panel for the pink one and added some blocks around the edges and borders. Quilted the design on the panel and added stippling in the center. With Ruler work in the blocks. The green quilt I just used some cotton baby fabric in the center and quilted center with all over small meandering. The green border I did ruler work in and the other borders with freehand designs.  They both measure 35" x 46" and perfect for infants. I used Fairfield 80/20 batting for more of a light feel with the flannel. Makes them feel like a good cuddle up blanket. Found that quilting the flannel on my HQ16 went smoothly. All free hand quilting with a ruler and ruler base. I tried several different designs and found it very enjoyable. Thanks for visiting. Happy quilting!