Quilted Duffle Bag Done!

I finished the duffle bag that I was making for my daughter this morning. I started to make it on Tuesday so it did not take long at all. I am really happy with how it came out.  The pattern was in the book Easy to Make Totes with Zippers by Cindy Taylor Oates.

I originally I bought the cute owl fabric to make my daughter a dress.  Then we were going to make PJ pants with it.  Then it turned into a duffle bag.  I am sure you know how that goes…

Chris

T.Rex and Others Too

Now that I am getting ready to hand quilt a wall hanging for my husband I have been thinking about all of the quilts I have hand quilted in the past.  In fact when I first started quilting that is the only way I quilted.

This dinosaur wall hanging quilt I made for my daughter when she was very young and was into dinosaurs.  It was a based on a pattern by Debora Konchinsky. She has tons of patterns.  Go here if you would like to see them. Critter Pattern Works.

I picked my daughters favorite dinosaurs of all the choices that were offered.  This was one of the first times I used fusible web in a quilt. In fact I used a fusible web made by Aleene’s.   I sure miss seeing that craft show on TV. Plus I learned to do satin stitch for this quilt and sure knew how to satin stitch by the time this quilt was done!

I echo quilted quilted around the dinosaurs with mostly pink thread and quilted the names of the dinosaurs in the border.  I  made the most elaborate label I ever made for a quilt for this one.  My daughter named the quilt.

Chris

Wedding Rings and White Roses

I have been meaning to blog about this quilt for a while.  I finished this queen size double wedding ring about 10 years ago.  It is machine pieced and hand quilted.  I think the time invested from beginning to end was around 800 hours which took about 5 years.  This was my last hand quilted quilt!

I picked out fairly pale fabrics because I wanted an antique look. I think most of the fabrics were not bought in quilt stores! In fact they were bought all over the place including Joann’s Fabrics as well as other fabric stores that no longer exist. I had to use poly batting because they did not have batting that large in cotton back then. 

I quilted roses in the off white spaces because I wore white roses in my hair when we got married.  I can’t believe how thin I was back then!  I made my own dress.  Cost about $50 back then.

My daughter wants me to give it to her when she gets married.  I told her it depends on who she marries. Actually she is pretty much a slob and that has me more concerned than what boy she might marry.

I remember she used to love the back of it because it looked like a white on white quilt from the back.

I have shown the quilt from the front and the back so you can see all the quilting in it.  I won viewer’s choice for this quilt at a quilt show about 10 years ago.

 

 

 

 

Chris

Working on Postcards Again

I am busy working on some postcards for an exchange again. Since I am fascinated by lightning I decided to to a postcard showing a desert lightning storm. I enjoyed using silver metallic thread to do the lightning bolt.

I always get a bit nervous during a thunderstorm since our house has been hit by lightning two times. I usually unplug my sewing machine and the computer. I would hate to have either one of those damaged. The last time we were hit (about 5 years ago) my daughter and I smelled something strange after the strike. I thought maybe we had fire in one of our walls. We called the fire company and were told to get out of the house. I did not think there was any immediate danger and I ran around the house grabbing all of my valuable quilts. My daughter grabbed the cat and the hamster. Turns out the smell was a melted VCR and not a fire in our walls.

Chris

Panda Quilt Quilted, Bound and Washed

I did not do too much quilting on this quilt since I am not that crazy about it. I mainly quilted in the ditch. I meandered around the pandas in the borders. This was a mystery and since you don't know how it is going to come out, it is not easy to pick fabrics for it. Had I known what the pattern was I would have picked a different pink fabric.

At any rate it is done and ready to give to my daughter. I think it will make a good table topper. It did kill my neck and shoulders and made me really envious of all those folks out there with a long arm machine!

Chris

Get the Muscle Relaxants Ready!!!

Well I have the panda mystery quilt ready to be quilted. It was killing my back and neck just to pin it...can't wait to start the quilting...ouch. My daughter is coming home next week so I want to make sure it is done. She turned 20 yesterday and this will be one of her gifts for her birthday. I sent her an Hello Kitty watch and a carrot cake. Yes even a 20 year old loves Hello Kitty. Her big gift was her MIT class ring. I guess the class rings are a big deal at MIT. They bused them from Cambridge to Boston for the ring ceremony.

She will be glad when the semester is done because it has been a lot of work. I am looking forward to her coming home. Hopefully she will want to help me create some rust dyed fabrics.

Chris

Happy Mother's Day!!!

I hope you all are having a pleasant day. Unfortunately I will not be able to see my daughter since she is still finishing her semester at MIT. I did receive a nice package in the mail from Rust-Tex from her. I have been wanting to do some rust dyeing and this little package will be just what I need to get started.

My package consisted of an instruction CD, rust flakes, rust dust and tannin. Now that my semester is over I will be able to start enjoying quilting everyday. I am anxious to see what I can create with the rust.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Chris