A Quilt for Joy!

I hope everyone had a most glorious day of Thanksgiving; we had a wonderful time with a couple of friends.  Today we head to Denver for a little Christmas shopping and to help sort boxes for Operation Christmas Child.  Before we head out, I am thrilled to have another finish, albeit for a customer.

A couple of posts ago I shared "A Quilt for Rose":  a beautiful little girl quilt completed with the Turning Twenty pattern for five year old Rose.

This quilt is for three year old sister Joy; both are to be given for Christmas by the grandma.  The quilt pattern is more of the square in a square concept but both were made with the same fabric by Riley Blake.

The body of Joy's quilt was quilted with the same design I used for Rose's quilt,  with the same 40 weight soft pink Signature Thread.  The quilt design was taken from Tracey with Whirls 'n Swirls Quilting out of Canada.  Tracey has great, unique, quilting designs she presents each week on youtube.com.  If you are a longarm or free motion quilting, definitely check her out.

Another difference between these two quilts is that Joy's quilt has a large red border in which I quilted simple free form feathers.

And finally, Joy's name was embroidered in Blue (torquoise) towards the middle of the quilt.

Like the quilt for Rose, Joy's quilt also had minky on the back but Joy's was done in a beautiful light, soft, pink:

It's amazing to me how two quilts can look entirely different with the same fabric.  Both are beautiful and I'm sure will be most treasured.  

Apparently both children AND their mother have seen the quilt tops and are waiting in anticipation for the finished quilts.  They have no idea that each has been personalized with their name.  I wish I were a little elf in their house Christmas morning!

Enjoy black Friday and all the great deals out there!  I will be taking my computer with me so I can hook up to wifi and check in with http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com and http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com

New Colors of Christmas!

As I look at this this gorgeous Christmas tree skirt which was brought to me for quilting,  I am amazed how much the colors of Christmas have changed from traditional red, green and gold, to include purples, turquoise, light blues, pink and probably any other color one would like to include.

It is wonderful to see how unique each individual is as they decorate for the season.  And colors are beautiful no matter what they may be.

This tree skirt will be given to a new mom and dad celebrating their first Christmas with a baby in the home.  Grandma is ecstatic!

At the request of the owner, the border was quilted simply, yet elegantly, with large flowing feathers in the outside body of the skirt.  A  light lavender Isacord 40 weight thread was used.

After stitching around each appliquéd snowflake, I did simple snowflakes and loops in the center with the same thread.

I think the owner used something from her stash for the back but it actually blends well with the thread.

The feathers show up nicely on the back.

Oh my, Christmas is approaching quickly!  I hope you are ready with all your quilty gifts!

In Memory of Linda Diane (aka Nikki's quilt)

Today is a very different type of post for me.  It is about a quilt for someone I have never met and do not know because of someone they love very much who I also have never met and do not know.  It is amazing how people can be brought together.  Nikki was put in contact with me through the wife of my huband's nephew in Texas; they are close friends.  You can read the full story of Nikki's Quilt in the posts at the beginning of my blogging:  http://pennyquilt.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2015-01-17T16:40:00-08:00&max-results=3&reverse-paginate=true and here:http://pennyquilt.blogspot.com/2015_01_01_archive.html

I had a hard time making myself finish this quilt because I have been swamped with quilting AND because I was terrified.  For those of you who have done t-shirt quilts, you may understand my concerns.  I have heard that it is difficult to quilt on t-shirts and that it can be a disaster.  The only part of this quilt that was t-shirts was the backing so that helped.  The front of the quilt is from cotton blouses and the border is from a blue jean top.  However, the blouses were often worn and seemed somewhat thinner than I would have liked so they were a slight concern.  Soooooo, I used the best of everything when I put this quilt together.  I can't remember the stabilizer but I did a lot of research and made sure it was put together well.  Because of that, the embroidery and quilting were absolutely no problem.  I am thrilled with the finish and Nikki is too!  If you haven't read the older posts, this quilt was made from clothes worn by Nikki's mom, Linda, who died from cancer.

So my finish for this week:  Nikki's Quilt (in memory of her mother, Linda Diane).  Please note that I have removed part of Linda's name in these pictures.  So if the top part of the quilt looks funny, I used a tool I found to cover part of the name.

I made a very simple rail fence, because I understand Linda was a very simple lady.

The two pieces at the top were actually taken from a t-shirt that Nikki remembered her mom wearing.  I couldn't fit it into the blocks so I cut these pieces from the shirt.  They have crystals on them and showed up beautifully on the quilt.

The embroidery was completed with my Bernina 770 and worked like a charm.  I used to do this by hand with free motion embroidery but creating it with software was much easier.

The border on the blue jean fabric was quilted with feathers but I used very simple free form feathers to keep the quilt clean and simple but yet elegant.

The crystals on the appliqué show up well in this photo:

Here is the backing.  The center was created from two themed t-shirts and then surrounded by other t-shirts.  

The quilting in the center was done using a light blue Signature 40 weight cotton thread.  I was concerned about using the heavier thread with the top but the quilting was simple with loops and large petal flowers.

All I know about Linda is what Nikki has shared but I understood Linda to be a very simple lady and yet elegant and the goal of this quilt was to mimic the feeling of who Linda was.  Nikki is very happy so I would say "mission accomplished".  

I'll be linking up my finish today over at http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com.   Come join me and see what other's are making.  Have a wonderful weekend and consider how you can be a blessing to someone else!

A Quilt for Rose!

Sometimes it feels like life has become overwhelming!  I've been in that boat again!  So it's time to rein in the wandering mind and get back to enjoying life.

I've been qulting a couple of my own quilts but can't seem to get the binding completed so hopefully that will be soon.

In the meantime, everyone is wanting quilts done!  Must be getting ready for Christmas.  So today I completed a very precious quilt for a five year old granddaughter of a special client.  Kelly asked me to embroider her name on the quilt as well.  That was a first on my Bernina since I've gotten embroidery but it turned out great and was a good challenge.  Rose loves purple so although the quilt does not have purple in it, the finished product looks beautiful.

Here's a close up of the embroidery:

The fabric is by Riley Blake and the quilt was quilted with 40 weight Signature cotton thread.  the embroidery was completed using Isacord.  The quilting is a design by Tracy with whirlsnswirlsquilting.  You can find her designs on youtube.  They are great!  I believe Tracy uses an APQS longarm; I use my Bernina sit-down.  Here are a few close ups of the quilting.  I also threw in some occasional feathers.

I just love this design; it is fast and cute.

I was a little nervous about the backing: a minky by Shannon Fabrics..  I haven't used minky much but it was fantastic!   No slipping or anything and the quilting shows up well.   I am thrilled with how this turned out.

Kelly is happy and is now waiting for the second one for grand daughter Joy.  My boys are going hunting this weekend so I hope to get a good bit accomplished.  

Join me today as I link up my finish with http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com

Have a great weekend!

BERNINA Training / Quilted Shadow Box Quilt

I will be in training  in Chicago at the Bernina Creative Center so there won't be much sewing this week.  It will be so exciting to learn about each machine and the extent of options for each one.  It appears we will be completing a small project as well.

Before leaving Wyoming, my new companiom, Princess "B", completed her first quilt.  Princess "B" is the new Bernina Q20 sit down long arm.  She has 20" of throat space, two stitch regulators and awesome tension control.  Her cabinet home is 36" deep by 45" long but with extensions she stretches out to 77".  She is wonderful! Eli and Antonio from Blakeman Vacuum & Sewing came and set her up for me and made sure all was well before leaving.

This first quilt is probably much less perfect than I prefer because it took quite the adjustment to learn to quilt with stitch regulators running.  But that was expected and the reason why it was a good time to complete one of my own. quilts.

It's not bound yet so it may be a good time to show just a sneak preview.  Since this is my own quilt, the major blocks were filled with (can you guess?) feathers.

The brown around that block were simple: "l"s and then some swirls and leaves in the borders.  

I will be binding this upon return to Wyoming and will then show the quilt in its entirety but overall I am very happy with it.

Have a fantastic week and join me as I link up in the evenings with http://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.com, http://myquiltinfatuation.blogspot.com, http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com and http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com.

Zipper Pouches & Pin Cushions

I'm teaching a My Bernina class for new Bernina owners over at Blakeman Vacuum & Sewing in Cheyenne.   The ladies asked me to  end the series with a project so they can put their education to use.  So we chose to do an easy zipper pouch.  I spent some time this week coming with design options.  My first is a simple zipper pouch in two colors with a 2" squared bottom:

The next was the same pouch but I added two vinyl pockets inside AND added some decorative stitching on the contrast fabric:

The last one was made a few inches shorter and longer plus I covered it with vinyl and added vinyl pockets inside.  I did some decorative stitches on the diagonal prior to adding the vinyl but did NOT square the bottom.

This one is actually my favorite.  The vinyl was a little bit of a challenge  but I love how it turned out.

So that was it!  I was done:  here are all three pouches together:

Goal accomplished!

But wait!  An "aha" moment!  Then I thought:  I could use the scraps and make some mini pin cushions to go with each of these zipper pouches and they would make great Christmas gifts!  I've never made a tiny pin cushion but it's been on the "try it" list for some time.  So that's what I did!!!

I love zipper pouches!  They are so easy to whip up and only take about an hour of time while using up more of my never-ending stash.  I have one zipper pouch alone in which I store my Wonder Clips. And the mini pin cushions?  Well, "addictive" might be a good adjective!

I am thrilled with my fantastic finishes this week.  Join me over at http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com and http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com for more great finishes!  Have  a magnificent weekend!  God is faithful and He is truly good.  We are blessed.

Another mini!

Thought I would sit and sew today for just a few minutes after hubby left for work and before I headed over to Blakeman Vacuum and Sewing for the day.

Oh No!  Another mini pin cushion:  2 1/2" square finished!  Check out yesterday's post for my mini four patch pin cushions.  Those finished at 3" square.  These are sooooooo cute!

A mini log cabin!  Whoo hoo!

I have found that I do like them better once they have been added to batting.  I did that accidentally with some left over sandwiched scraps and I like the more stiff feeling to it.

These pin cushions will be so great as Christmas gifts along with what I am making to go with them.

Join me today as I link up with http://myquiltinfatuation.blogspot.com.  There are some awesome projects today!