Clearing the Decks

Or better known as clearing the table! Every so often the rush of customer quilts slows down enough that I am able to quilt my own quilts and the past couple of weeks I have been doing just that :)

Here are a few that have been done so far...

 

I call this "Pure Mood Swings", Pure is the name of the fabric line used and Mood Swings is the name of the quilt pattern.

 

I quilted a panto called Turbalance (2)

 

This one is the Bonnie Hunter's 2014 Fall Mystery quilt called Grand Illusion 

 

I chose the panto Slick for this one

 

This one was the very first mystery Bonnie Hunter did on her Blog called Carolina Crossroads the pattern can now be found in her Scraps and Shirttails book 1

 

I quilted a panto called Starletts on it

 

This quilt was another Mystery quilt of Bonnie Hunter called Orange Crush

 

I chose a panto called Sweet Indigo on it

 

If you quilt it you need to bind it...these are the bindings I have prepped for the quilts I have been quilting

 

these need the bindings machine stitched to the top of the quilts

 

then they will sit until I get around to hand stitching the binding down to the back of the quilts

 

This is all that there is left of my own stuff that have been piling up for years waiting to be quilted.

All there is left to do is 7 lap quilts and the rest are table runners or mini quilts.  Hoping to finish these off in the next couple of weeks!!! 

It Finally Got Quilted!!!!

If you have been following along for the past few years you know that I love working with hexagons. My very first hexie project I started back in the spring of 2009, it was the traditional Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt using 1" hexagons. It took 5 long years to hand piece the queen size quilt top. Then it sat, and sat, and sat some more... waiting for me to quilt it. OK just to shed some light on why it has sat so long to be quilted, well... if truth be told after it took so long to piece it I couldn't stand to look at it any longer. Yup I was so mentally DONE with that quilt, LOL. Finally I decided it sat long enough and I just needed to push myself to quilt it, so it could be bound and be out of sight...period :)

 Here is the whole quilt finally quilted...it took 8 hours to quilt!

 

 I used a pantograph called "Jessie's Swirls" and scaled it down so that the quilting was pretty dense.

  

Here is the close up of the quilting. Now that the quilt is FINALLY done! I actually like how it turned out. Will I do another grandmother's flower garden quilt? Not on your life! But will I be doing more hexie quilts? Of course, in fact the 1/2" hexie quilt I started last year (or maybe a little bit before that) is half way done.
 

 

 This is just a couple of the blocks for the 1/2" scrappy hexies, I have 22 of them done out of 36 that I want to have for the quilt. Just looking at them makes me smile...love all the color!

 

  

But a quilt this size requires A LOT of little hexies. Here's a pic of me cutting some more from my stash using the accuquilt go. When it is finished I will let you know how many hexies it took to make this quilt...here's a little hint; thousands!

 

Happy Valentines Day!

It's hard to believe that it's the middle of February already. It's been a very busy week.

 

 While I was  my longarm was working on customer quilts....

 

I was working on long over due quilt labels for my quilts that have been in the pipe line for years.

 

  

Of course Ares was waiting patiently for me to take a break and play with him.

 

  

I ended up making 17 quilt labels. My Carolina Christmas quilt has been done and I have been using it for the past 2 Christmas...however I got lazy and wrote out a quilt label for that one using the Micron pens and well....the ink faded so much that I will be replacing it with the one above. I also need to replace the label on the Grinch Quilt as well, it too is fading over time but that label was printed off on the printer. Live and learn, there is no substitute for a good quality quilt label. 

 

So the last time I posted, I mentioned that I was working on something for Valentines Day.

This turned into....

 

 

This! 

The pattern is Hopscotch Butterscotch from Bonnie Hunter's Adventures with Leaders & Enders book. Looks pretty cool in Valentine colors and prints.

  

I quilted the "Hug Snuggles" pantograph on it, I just love the XOXOs! The great thing about this quilt is that the backing is pink flannel, so as soon as the Christmas decorations get put away each year, I will also be able to put away the flannel Grinch quilt without getting a bunch of static from the kids!

  

This is what was on my design wall for most of the week.  

 

I've been wanting to do this quilt for awhile, finally got it done!

 

I quilted the "Smitten" pantograph on this one. Turned out great and will be used as a wall quilt in the future.

 

 

The following quilts are my valentine quilts from years passed. This one was featured on Alex Andersen's Simply Quilts and the pattern is called "In Love With Lace"  

 

I also crocheted the doilies that are sewn into the blocks. 

 

This one hangs in my quilt studio. 

 

and last but not least is this little mini calender quilt, that I made last year.

Meet Ares, and UFO Update

 

Ares is the new Grand-puppy :) he is a red husky puppy with one green eye and one blue eye.

 

He belongs to my daughter Rachel and her boyfriend Zach.

 

Until he is a little older we need to keep Hosa (our other daughter's dog) separated from him because Hosa plays too rough with him and has sent Ares yelping in fear.

 

He loves his toys!

 

and he howls when his momma goes to work and I need to keep an eye on him. 

 

Anyways, besides the new puppy I had to cut some more hexagons to work on my 1/2" hexie project. I still don't know how large it will end up being, whether it will be a lap quilt or a king sized bed quilt. I guess I will just keep plugging along on it until I get tired of working on it and what ever size it will be, will be.

 

Back in November, while I was waiting for the Grand Illusion Mystery quilt to start, I started Bonnie Hunter's Carolina Crossroads Quilt (It was her very first mystery she did on her blog). Nothing helps get you in the mood for working on one of Bonnie's mysteries than working on one of her patterns. I now have the center completely pieced together all that is left to do before quilting it, is to add the inner and outer borders to it or just 1 more day of working on it.    

 

This is one block from the Grand Illusion Mystery quilt.

 

Last but not least is this little project...OK, I know that this was not part of my UFOs (the other 3 are though) and in my defense, well....I was in the mood to work on something for Valentines Day

 

So I pulled red, cream, pink and white fabrics from my stash and started to play. I just took it off my longarm yesterday...it turned out so cute! but since it's a valentine quilt I thought that I would save the final reveal for Feb. 14. 

Happy New Year!

I am so looking forward to 2015.

After all it's a new year which brings new hope. I have been thinking this week (the last week of 2014), about what I want out of the new year...besides the obvious (health, love, & happiness, which I am doing pretty well in by the way). I was looking at all of the on line sales that have been going on in quilt shops all across the web and each time I would sit and fill up a cart with fabric for my stash, I just could not get myself to press the send button. HMM, I wonder why this is? Could it be that I am "all stashed out"? Reached my limit of "stash consumption"? No...that couldn't be. I love fabric, I love adding to my stash and watching it grow in size and color. But I do have quite a FEW projects in the works, better known as UFO's (unfinished objects). Sit back and take a look at how many I have waiting to be finished. **WARNING** picture heavy blog post :)

 

This is the current 2014 Fall/winter Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt, Grand Illusion 

DONE!!!  

 

This is wall quilt that will be hanging in my quilt studio one day

DONE!!!

 

This is a 2014 block of the month quilt from the quilt doodle blog

 

This will be a circle denim & flannel rag quilt using Grinch flannels

 This is a flannel lap quilt 

 

Another Grinch lap quilt quilt (The Grinch is an all time favorite in my family and with 5 kids all fighting over the 1 and only flannel Grinch quilt that I made for their father a few years back is not pretty... so there will be 5 or 6  different Grinch quilts in my future to make everyone happy)

 

The Bali Wedding Star quilt. This will be a king size quilt when finished and it was bought earlier this year to mark our 25th wedding anniversary 

 

This has been around for a while, it was going to be a lap quilt for one of my kids teachers 

This is a child sz pinwheel quilt that will be donated to charity one day

 

This doesn't look like much now but when finished it will be the Cider Mill quilt from art to heart (will replace my current kitchen wall quilt) 

 

Stepping Stones

 

Moda Sunshine fabric made into the chocolat moda university pattern

 

Glory in scraps I started a few years back, will be a lap quilt when finished

 

Hocuspocusville all embroidered just needs to be pieced together   

 

Sunny Lanes Twin sz quilt

 

This one just needs the paper pieced border 

 

This is another embroidery quilt called winter wonderland

 

Been wanting to do the Omigosh quilt for a while now

 

Here's a embroidered gingerbread house quilt

 

A winter flannel quilt

 

Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street

 

Baltimore Halloween Quilt I want to try needle turned applique

 

This is my oldest UFO, It's a Biblical Block Sampler quilt

 

a tree skirt for my sweet treat Christmas tree

 

An  ASU quilt for my daughter's boyfriend Zach

 

Acorn Hollow quilt from art to heart 

FED BACK INTO STASH-

 

Wild and Goosey Blocks

 

English paper pieced 60 degree diamond stars

 

Random hexagon designs

 

Bonnie Hunter's Blue Ridge Beauty quilt in browns and creams

(which I think I will start using as my 2015 leaders and enders project to get it moving along)

 

My count it mini calender quilts that I started last year then got shelved to do the memory quilts for my nieces and nephew

 

A Halloween 1" hexie table runner (just needs the last few black hexies sewn on) 

 

A Valentine apple core table runner 

CRUMB BUCKET-

 Playing around with 5/8" hexies, was making a flag table mat
CRUMB BUCKET-

 

2" hexies for a bungle in the jungle kid quilt

 

La Passion 1/2" hexie quilt using kona cotton solids

 

My go to evening 1/2" hexie scrap large lap quilt (may even goes as large as a king sz, not sure yet) 

 

Here is 1 block section, I have 15 of these done

 

My Dear Jane quilts, yes I am doing 2, one in blue and white and one that is done using kaffee fabrics

 

Shell we dance wall quilt

 

My Moda Pure queen quilt 

DONE!!!

 

My Thimbleberries Hometown Christmas  Quilt

 

Bonnie Hunter's Orange Crush Quilt 

DONE!!!

 

Moda U Gingersnaps Flannel quilt 

 

My gecko drunkards path quilt

 

Spool Stack studio quilt

 

Summer Basket lap quilt

 

Maypole quilt 

 

Corner Flower Shop quilt

 

Bonnie Hunter's Floribunda quilt

 

Thimbleberries Pansy Park quilt

 

Quiltmaker Snowflakes quilt

 

Bunny Hill Designs 1)Rabbits Prefer Chocolate, 2)Chicks Jubilee

 

Buggy Barn's Going in Circles quilt

 

Prairie Star quilt (someday will hang in my living room)

 Art to Heart Jolly Holly Christmas tree skirt

 

Art to Heart Reindeer Games quilt

 

Art to Heart Jolly St. Nick quilt and a Gingerbread house quilt

 

Bonnie Hunter's Carolina Crossroads quilt

DONE!!!

So if I counted correctly this makes 61 53 UFOs I have on hand (there are under 20 various sized quilt tops that still need to be quilted, labeled and bound but I am not counting them as UFOs any longer. I plan on fitting them in around customer quilts in 2015). So with all of these UFOs waiting to be done I have decided that for the year of 2015 I will NOT buy any more fabric, I am hoping to make a huge dent in what I have listed here and what ever I finish piecing in 2015 I will quilt them in 2016 (because I am pretty certain I will have to buy some fabric for the backs of these UFOs). So for 2015 my motto will be "finish what I have started"