Taking a Blog Break

I'll be back, just need to unplug for awhile.

Keep stitching,
Sharon

You'll Need Kleenex

This is a news clip of quilts made in the Pacific N.W. that have been shipped to Newton, CT  Carol posted over at Fabric Etc Blog, that's where I got the info from.
Click here for a 5 minute news video.  I was not part of this, I'm just sharing the information.
News Link

Sharon

Upgrade from Meander

Finally...............  
This is the most quilting I've done on a quilt.  It's been on my machine for a month.  Remember, I also work f/t, so that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

 A few years ago, this might have been considered show quilting.  Not anymore.  If it's not quilted within a 1/4" of each seam, then there's not enough quilting.  I've also been reading that the standard for show quilts now is two layers of batting.

 I don't quilt for show, but I am very pleased at how this one turned out.  It's a bit of an upgrade from the meander pantograph that was picked out. I'm assuming a wash will remove the stitch marks from the previous quilting.

 There is a lot of ruler work that isn't noticed like the feathers, but that is the basis of this quilt.  I want my customers to get their quilt back and think it looks better than they thought it could. 

I want the piecing to sing, it's their quilt, not mine.  When you look at this, you are not overwhelmed by the quilting, this is all about the piecing.

 There's a lot of thread on this baby.

 I used Hobbs Wool for a batt, So Fine for thread. Quilt is 88 x 88 with round corners.

I'll be hand delivering this to the owner next Friday.  I am excited about that because I rarely get to see their reaction to my work.  I put it in a box, ship it off and hope for the best!

Now I want a quilt of my own quilted like this.  Mine all seem to have edge to edge designs, as I tend to "squeeze" mine in between customers tops.  I do have a log cabin that I want to feather so it languishes in a box under the machine.

Have a great weekend
Sharon

Slackers

This is Maxamillion.

He's a stray, a wild one, born out in the elements,

an outdoor cat who catches mice in our truck yard.

We should all have a cat like Max

Dresden Addiction

I warned you in my last post, this desden ruler can be addicting.  I wanted to show another Dresden version for my class on April 27th at Fabric Etc and when I saw the post Randy did about her purchase at Sisters, I knew what my next project would be.

The flowers were machine appliqued and so were the stems. The top part of the stem is also a dresden blade on the 2 half flowers. The pot, leaf and center circle were hand appliqued. Once the center was done, I knew immediately that a border was necessary. The problem was that I started the center on Thurdsay at 5:30 pm and when I finsihed the hand applique, I had to get to bed; it was midnight!

As I layed in bed, my mind would not shut down, it continued to pondered my options and I kept having visions of this spiky scrappy border, a la Gwen Marston. I really like the bits of green and cheddar in the border, I think it really adds to the overall look of this piece. If I was to do it all over again, I'd have put the side borders on first, then ran the top and bottom borders to the edges.  Just a design decision, but I'll live with it like this. 

So here's the details. The finished size is 30 x 50, the border pieces are 4" wide, and the bottom left flower had to be unsewn and then restitched so I could add the border. Now it floats a tiny bit into the border.  All fabric came from my stash, so no fabric budgets were hurt in the process of this. The border is a bit time consuming, but worth every minute.  I'd do it all over again!

I look at this and I smile so that must mean that it worked.
What makes you smile?
Sharon