I have an open house to go to today but before that I hope to get a border on one of my quilts. I worked on a disappearing 9 patch last weekend & all it needs to finish is the border. Its a hot & humid day so a good reason to stay inside & finish up one of many projects in process. I’m trying to stick to finishing up some of my older projects but its hard with all the newer fabrics calling my name.

Its creeping up on the 4th of July already. How can that be?? I have one top I wanted to finish before the holiday & I’m not sure its going to make it. I picked up the center part of the quilt on ebay when I first started long arm quilting many moons ago for practice. I decided it wasn’t very attractive & I needed to do more with it. What was blue & white has become red white & blue. I was going to add some cherry print borders but I’m a little short fabric so the borders will be smaller. I figure it will be nice enough to sit in the grass on. lol  Maybe I can get that loaded tonight if I don’t get too loaded myself at the open house. 🙂

Enjoy the sunshine & all the summer heat, or better yet, stay in out of it & quilt!

Summer is here & its one of the best times of the year to get a quilt finished fast. My current turn around for quilting is 1 to 2 weeks!

Here are this months new digital designs

Please call between 10am & 7pm for an appointment

Enjoy this summer weather!

I recently quilted a throw for Portrait Quilt Artist Aniko Feher. I have to admit I was not familiar with Aniko’s work until she left my house and I looked up her webpage. Needless to say, her work is stunning! It’s a lot of fun to have close encounters with such talented quilters. There are so many different ways to express ourselves with fabric. If you would like to take a look at some of her portrait quilts here is a link.  http://www.quiltsbyaniko.com/qba/quilts.html

You will also see the throw I quilted for her called Triangles Blankie.

Sew on!

Its so nice to have spring finally here. Memorial Day in Michigan is usually a big planting time.  We are a little ahead, with planting our vegetable garden. I still need to plant some flowers but I’m watching and waiting to see what plants survived the very cold winter.  It looks like I’ll be replacing some shrubs.

This weekend I intend to do some sewing of my own! I have several UFO’s I need to get working on again. I hate to admit that some have been in process for years. The biggest decision will be which one to start with!

Its so nice to open the windows & let the air flow through the house. I’m going to turn on some music, open the windows & get some projects done!.

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend!

It’s getting closer to graduation time & this is the time of the year to make T-shirt quilts for the young adults going off to college or that just might have a crazy number of shirts hanging around.  They are an easy and fast quilt to piece. Make sure the shirts are stabilized with some lightweight fusible stabilizer before cutting your blocks to size. They sell these at most fabric shops.  It’s nice to use a sashing between shirts to make the seams less bulky. Two shirts together can leave a heavy seam that is hard to press open & often results in a raised up seam.

I’m asked often about quilting t-shirt quilts. I think cotton fabric backings work the best with these. The more shirts in a quilt top the heavier the quilt. They can get heavy fast so more is not always better.  Adding fleece or flannel along with batting makes them even heavier so in my opinion, cotton backs work the best. Consider using wide cotton backing or a good quality wide muslin if you are working on a budget.

I can quilt through the logo’s on t-shirts. It is important that any 3 dimensional items are removed or not added before quilting.  That includes things like heavy patches, scout badges, buttons etc. The rubberized adhesives we quilt right through without any trouble. I prefer using a more open simple design, like swirls, flames, circles and have a large selection of designs to choose from.

Here are a few pics of quilted T-shirt quilts (click to make larger):

I started making this quilt in Dec 2013 for my mother-in-law. I finished it the end of April & was finally able to gift it to her for her birthday so I can share photos now without spoiling the surprise. The pattern is called ‘Just can’t cut it’. It pieces up pretty fast & is a nice pattern for large prints & fabrics you don’t want to cut up smaller. I quilted it with a dense rose pattern, hobbs 80/20 blend batting & a cream thread. It makes a good sized queen.

I want to share a great video by Bonnie Browning on how to make a sleeve for hanging your quilt.  Its a great quick video worth watching!

How to make a quilt sleeve

This is another older mystery quilt I’ve finally finished & need to bind. It’s from a mystery night class I took back in 2006. The pattern is called Lakeside Dreams by Debbie Caffrey. It calls for 3 high contrasting fabrics & I had no idea what I was making when I choose the fabrics but love the final outcome!   All it needs now is a little solid black binding. Doesn’t it remind you of Good & Plenty’s?

Sew on friends!

I quilted another of my older quilt tops that was getting dusty in the closet. I hate to admit but I have several sadly ignored quilt tops in my own quilt closet not getting their rightful attention. I’m making the commitment to put one on and quilt monthly or when I can squeeze it in. The latest is pretty bright so you may need to put on your sunglasses before looking. I pieced this top over 5 years ago when I was part of the Quaint Quilters Guild. Its a Thimbleberries pattern. I loved the border fabric & choose brights to go with it (a little out of my comfort zone). Most of the others in guild were not using bright fabrics at the time so I thought I would for comparison sake.  I wanted to do Custom quilting but knew that nothing would show up in that deep border so I found a nice allover design & I’m pretty happy with the results. I used Hobbs 80/20 batting & a bright green thread.

My quilt with Tracery quilting design by Keryn Emmerson. (Click to see larger)

We welcomed in spring with a little snow today. At least the sun is out & if I’m going to be shut in thank goodness I’m shut in with a stash of fabric!

Spring is a great time to refresh.  I thought I would share some tips from the pros at Missouri Star Quilts.

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/craft-advice-from-the-pros-10-tips-for-sewing-and-quilting-missouri-star-quilt-company-201448

Happy Sewing!