She Sewed!

 Wonders never cease. I finished squaring up the Kira blocks. Laid them out on the bigger design bed (mine) (after throwing not very helpful Bella out) and after several hours of sewing have a finish quilt top.

Even though I took the picture about 5 minutes ago (nighttime) the colors are fairly true. It's a very muted quilt of black, gray, cream, and a goldy brown. After looking at this picture I probably should have spent a little more time moving blocks around. A few of the very dark blacks are a little close to each other...oh well.

The top is roughly 68 x 85. I'd really like to put minky/cuddle on the back. Shannon Fabrics makes a 90 inch wide back that would be the perfect size. I've never put cuddle fabric on a back before - since this is a gift I'm not too sure about using it for the first time on this. If I don't use the cuddle, I'll use a very soft flannel (if I can find one). Since I have no idea how I'm going to quilt it I probably don't need to rush into buying a back.

Currently on the frame:

I think I'm going to play a bit with this...a little bit of rulers and a little bit of free motion.

I have jury duty this week so I'm not sure how much more sewing will happen.

Actually Quilted

 Haven't sewed a stitch but I did finish quilting my leader-ender quilt (need a better name).

Don't look too close at the quilting.

For some reason, lately I've been having problems quilting borders. The sides are okay but the top and bottom are terrible! Oh well, it's done.

I'm going to use the backing fabric for the binding. Who knows maybe tomorrow the binding will get sewed on. My sewing machines don't know who I am anymore.

Rogue Valley Piecemakers Quilt Show

 My guild had their quilt show this past weekend. The guild puts on a very nice show with lots of vendors, raffle baskets, make and takes, a silent auction, boutique and lots of quilts. This year's theme was "Every Quilt Tells a Story". Members were asking to make a 12 x 36 inch quilt that told a story. I drew a complete blank so didn't make one, but here are few:

Sew creative!

Here are a few of my favorite quilts from the show:

Loved the above quilt!

So cute!

The above quilt was HUGE.

I thought the two quilts above were a fantastic use of border fabric and colors.

This quilt was hand appliqued and quilted. Beautiful!

Again, I didn't do any sewing this past week. I really need to get out of this rut.

I did get this quilt actually loaded on the frame versus laying across it.

And here's a blast from the past:

I haven't touched my blackwork project in over a year. I started working on the dogwood this morning at today's guild meeting and finished it this afternoon. My poor dogwood only had two blossoms this year. 

Vintage Find

 I didn't get any sewing done last week. My mom and I took a quick trip to Lakeport, CA to visit her best friend. While there we ate lots of good food, played lots of cards (oops, I might have won all the games) and shopped at a lot of thrift stores.

I saw this at one thrift store:

I've never seen the pattern before. 

It is made of two different red with white polka dot fabrics. The quality is wonderful. All hand pieced. No stains or fade marks. About 68 x 86 inches.

It is half hand quilted with no batting. The muslin on the back is really brittle feeling, stiff - the only downside of the quilt. One side has been brought to the front and hand sewn as binding.

Since there is no batting, the quilting is really hard to see, but they are very little stitches. It was half off and I offered less - and bought the quilt. I just love it.

Now I have to decide what to do with it. What would you do?

Quiet Week

 It's been a quiet week. I mention in March that I was making GE Design's Kira quilt using an old Moda Basic Gray layer cake. I messed up the first two blocks I cut then decided I needed another layer cake to have a large enough quilt so I ordered another Moda Basic Gray layer cake. I cut everything out before I went to Nancy's and took the project with me. I got the initial blocks made at Nancy's.

This past week I ironed the blocks flat, did the second cut, sewed the blocks back together and have almost all of them squared up.

Here is kinda sorta what the quilt will look like:

Very muted colors. This is not the final layout. I need a bigger design bed. The finished quilt will be 8 x 10 blocks measuring roughly 64 x 80 inches. I like the pattern and the blocks were easy to make, but my fabric choice may be a bit busy for the pattern. Oh well, it is what it is, and I will finish it.

I made absolutely no progress on my April UFO challenge other than deciding on a pattern. May's UFO challenge is another new quilt. This is looking to be a busy month with not much time for quilting so I think both quilts are going back in que. I really don't want to start another quilt. What I really need to do is get a quilt loaded on the frame and finish something.