Grandbaby Quilt!!

Nope...not my granddaughter. This one is for Carolyn's granddaughter, Addy. Its so bright! I love it.

 

 Kid quilts just don't require lots of quilting. To keep this one soft and nice, I just did loops and double loops allover. It does have wool batting though, so the texture is great!

 

Thanks for stopping by!!

Dory

Its Pumpkin Time!!

Isn't Joyce's quilt adorable?  I love these pumpkins and how fun they are!!

 

I've never seen this pattern, but from what others have told me, Joyce did some extras. I don't think the original had the same sashing and there was something about the actual blocks as well.  I don't remember what, but whatever it was, it worked!

 

I did the same geometric border (I'm really loving it for texture) as I did in Betty's QOV. The sashing has leaves with that same geometric in the cornerstones. Stippling behind and in the pumpkins and then a different design in each inner square...in ORANGE thread.  I rarely do that, but decided to chance it this time.  

I think it worked out okay. What do you think??

Small shot of the back so that you can see the border and sashing designs more clearly. 

My Country Quilt of Valor

This quilt is from a new Cabin Fever Quilters customer, Betty. She made this for her son from the Fons & Porter magazine pattern. I love patriotic quilts and this one is no exception. Red is one of my favorite colors and the red Betty used in this is just perfect.

 

Quilting decisions on this one were a bit harder to come by. I was fine with the borders and the log cabin blocks, but those split Ohio Stars had me thinking.  I didn't want to change thread in each of the parts; I wanted to do something to help with continuity. Luckily another quilting friend suggested stitching both the red and blue portions with blue thread.  I still had to change to white thread for the white parts change to red for the red borders, but I think having the OS blocks be all one thread color in the red/blue parts worked.

 

The border design, above, was a new one for me. I'd just seen it done by Cindy Roth over at Longarm University and wanted to try it...this seemed like the perfect quilt for it. Its all freehand with no rulers (except the travelling diagonal line) and is so forgiving!

Below is a pic showing a bit more of the overall design.

 

My final design idea was to put this star in the corner using blue thread to pick up the blue in the blocks. I didn't want the red parts of the OS blocks to be the only blue on red quilting.

And, of course...a few shots of the back.

 

I just love when people do plain backs; the quiltling is so fun!!!

 Dory

More Americana from Paula

Paula does these beautiful Americana-themed quilts. I wish I could show you her house--these quilts fit in it so well. She has a wonderful sense of color and style that I envy!

We talked a bit before I started this one and I completely changed my plan after our conversation. I had planned to do a separate border treatment and then do a meadering feather on the inside. After our conversation though, I realized Paula wanted more design-driven quilting.This pic shows a bigger pic of the design I used...

 

After studying the quilt, I saw there was a pattern I could follow using the design of the blocks. On the Rail Fence blocks, I feathered the outside "rails" and did lines in the center. The stars had stippling on the outside and CC's in the center triangles. This made the centers "pop" out more.

 

And closer still, you can almost see the definition of the center flower in this pic. I used Quilters Dream Puff batting--its the best for obtaining that definition.

 

The backing had many different fabrics, but this pic shows the quilting a bit. Thought I'd share it because we all love the backs!!!

 

Thanks for hanging in there with me!!

Dory

Carolyn's Bali Wedding Star Bed Runner

I love, love, love these quilts!!!!  Its just one of my favorite patterns and Carolyn is an excellent piecer, so its a win/win!

Carolyn started this bed runner at Asilomar last year in Judy Niemeyer's class. It was her first JN pattern and her first time at Empty Spools.

The quilt is twice this long, but since it would have been dragging on the floor, I folded it in half for photoing.

 

A close-up of the design...similar to, but not the same as, Debbie's quilt a few months ago.

 

And closer still--I sort of went overboard with the feathers.  I didn't take any pics of the back as the fabric was too busy for much quilting to show.  Judy's quilts go together so well and this one is just amazing!!

 

Thanks for your patience...more pics coming!!

Dory

Best Laid Plans...

Things never work out the way you plan...at least they don't in my life!

I think I'm batting around 500 (is that 50%?).  I'm sticking to Evernote--the real test will be when I get our tax stuff ready for our accountant.  I'm exercising almost every day and for the month of February, I'm have NO SNACKS.  That means no chocolate, no muffins, basically no sugar except that which goes in my coffee.

Now...if you're reading my blog, you know the twice a week bit isn't working out too well.  However, I do have a good excuse (the dog ate my blog post...hmmm, that doesn't seem to work). In January, I became a grandma for the first time! Amelia "Millie" Jane was born on January 9.

 For that first week, my step-daughter's mom stayed with her,  but then that grandma had to go back to work. So I volunteered to go down for a week and was greeted with open arms and an adorable baby.  I had my iPad, but no computer and no sewing stuff...a whole week went poof!

Now I'm back and so far behind it isn't funny. (Imagine the papers stacked up are really quilts)

 I've been quilting for HOURS every day trying to get caught up before I take off again for Empty Spools. The good part: I'm getting quilts done. The bad part: I've done nothing about my class! I'm taking the Lone Star from Jan Krentz and its something I've always wanted to do. I'll be designing my own (I do have the design in my head--its sort of a la Jinny Beyer), but I need to commit it to paper, make a mock up and buy some fabric (oh darn!)

More posts are coming soon...promise.  After all, I know you all are suffering from withdrawal--right????

Dory