The finished big brother quilt

It's finally done.

I think it took so long because I wanted to do the quilting myself. Not on my home machine, or by hand but using a long arm. In february I took a class at the Quilt Haus and it was great. So then I rented some time to practice and it was an unmitigated disaster.

It took awhile to get up the courage to try another class. The sweet 16 handi quilter. It's a long arm but not on rails, you move the quilt versus moving the machine. I loved it. So I rented some time and did the Wonky Heart Quilt, and once could manage, I rented some more time to finished the Big Brother Quilt.

Here's the finished piece.

While quilting

the quilt pattern

My Signature

The big brother with his big brother quilt

It's not even a twin size quilt, it misses the mark by a foot, but still it was too large for the handi-quilter. Just too much quilt mass to move around. But as I had already basted it, and was wary of the 24' machine, I went with it. I made up my own pattern, I like it. I was bored with the idea of a basic wandering path.

Still, I like it, and I like quilting. We'll see if I'll try it again.

The Wonky Heart Quilt

I recently finished a baby quilt for my new niece Nora. I had found some large gingham check fabric at a Walmart that still sold fabric one day. I had thought I would make Lucy a dress in it but never got around to it. I decided to instead, do another quilt.

My attempt was to piece a large heart, and then long arm quilt it with a wandering heart pattern. It didn't quite work out as well as I wanted, I had to improvise a lot more than I was expecting, and the heart got mishapen and the edges never matched up.

There fore it became the "Wonky Heart".

Wonky Heart Quilt

Here's how I started.

Ugh, curves. Why did I cut them in curves!?

Re-working the set up

None of the slices matched up because C*RVES, are always a bad idea when you are pressed for time and sloppy. So to disguise the lack of matching (see left side) I reworked some slices to fit and then added sashing between all the slices.

The Greek Flag re-imagined by Strawberry Shortcake.

I then spray basted the layers together (huge sticky mess on my nasty vinyl floors) and rented some time on the Sweet 16 long arm quilter at The Quilt Haus in New Braunfels. I wasn't terribly satisfied with the final quilt top, but I had come up with a neat wandering heart stitch I wanted to try out. I'm in a heart phase I think.

I like the pattern!!!!!

Gee, I love large scale gingham.

Finished with my sweetheart trying it out.

 

 

My son using it as a cape

I even tried mitred corners on the binding, which went horribly awry.

Now, onto  finally quilting the big brother quilt which is way overdue. (I finished the quilt top in October of last year)

Until then....Ruth

Austin Quilt Con

This past weekend I went to the Modern Quilt Convention in Austin. I had been looking forward to it for a year now as many of the bloggers I follow had mentioned it on their blog.
The Quilt Haus in New Braunfels also was there so I just had to go.

I took a bajillion pictures of some of the quilts I really liked so here's a bunch.

I'm a Parks and Rec fan so the Ron Swanson quilt caught my eye

Anyone who has ever tried to quilt has said this word, a lot. It made me smile.

This one had the most intricate quilting.

Close up of the quilting

Love this

This was the best in show for quilting, I really like how they
turned the double wedding ring quilt on it's head

My gorgeous sister and my darling daughter.

So cool

I really liked all that I saw, and I got two free charm packs from a Andover, a fabric vendor.

I LOVE THE PEARL BRACELETS

In other news I took a long arm quilting class from the Quilt Haus a week and a half ago. I get to use the machine on my own to practice this next wednesday. I'll try to get more practice time on Project Linus Quilts before I finally try to quilt the Big Brother Quilt. 

By the way, project linus quilts is a great organization that pairs critically ill children with hand made quilts that they get to use and keep while in the hospital. Judy at the quilt house told us to practice on donated project linus quilts first, since they always need those quilted and it's good practice, and it goes to a needy child. She also said that they get a bunch of quilt tops, but mostly need donations of batting since they rarely get that donated. I'll plan to donate batting when I do the project linus quilt. Anyway, just a note.

I'll let you know how it goes....

Ruth

Spiderweb quilt finished!!

So, after many many (10 or so) months of stalling and stopping and finally finding motivation....
I  finished the spiderweb quilt.

I'm so glad my neighbors are so friendly and let me use their fence to photograph
the quilts I make.

Instagram fun

Picnic anyone?

A little piecing in the back is my favorite thing.

Onto the recipient, my sister Laura who's been asking for a quilt
for years now.

I had originally found the tutorial from CrazyMomQuilts blogspot. But instead of paper piecing, or sewing onto a small kite shaped piece of fabric, I used a muslin triangle, and just sewed on top of it until I was finished. That way I don't have to pull off paper, and I've got a perfect triangle and built in stabilizer. The quilt was heavier that way, and because of all the piecing and the under layer it was a bear to quilt through. My long arm quilter Kelliegh called me and told me the 12 layers of fabric at the thickest point was too much to fit under her presser foot on her long arm machine, and we decided on a lazy stipple for the pattern as opposed to a pantagram. And I love it, it's not too overwhelming for such a busy quilt and it allowed her to avoid breaking her machine and numerous needles.

 You can find Kelleigh at:

http://www.kellsquilting.com/

Next on my mind is a quilt for my daughter, to be joining us November 26, 2012. Talk about Thanksgiving.

Ruth

Maelyn's Layette-Finished

Well, in the midst of finals, final assignments, and the dreaded XHTML coding debacle I have found myself in. I finished a layette for a sweet little girl soon to be born.

Here name is Maelyn.

Here's the picture.

Now some of you may be saying that the use of the word layette is incorrect.  True, it's no clothing, but bedding and other necessitates is involved.

I made a:

Quilt

Crib Bumpers

Diaper Bag

Pillow

I'm pleased with the way it turned out. I just mailed it yesterday so I'm hoping the recipient will like it too.

Now back to my XHTML coding issues.

Whew.

X and O's quilt is finished!!!

Maybe if you've been following this blog you would have remembered my blue and white quilt. It was called the "Single girl in a Batik dress", "Devil in a blue dress", and now I'm calling it X and O's. Or hugs and kisses. Which I hope will become pretty obvious to you.

I'm very pleased at how it turned out.

I didn't do the all-over quilting myself. I used Kell's Quilting.

Kelleigh did a masterful job and I am really happy with my tic-tac-toe quilt. I just can't stop renaming it can I?

You can find Kell's quilting at:

www.kellsquilting.com

She is one great girl!

All thanks to those who helped out, mainly my husband who is always very accommodating to my quilting/crafting obsession.

Ruth