3rd week of July

My longarm quilting business is getting a great start!
Quilts completed this week...

This quilt top is made by my good friend Beckie. This is her Hawaiian quilt

All but one of the fabrics were purchased while she was visiting Hawaii.

She added the yellow batik in the center to complete her top.

Love her fabric choices and colors plus a wonderful block and pattern layout :0)

Beckie loves to use wool batting and I love the loft, it's fun to quilt on!

The quilting pattern is Tropical Garden by Designs by Deb. If you look real close you will see a Toucan bird! The flowers and leaves are perfect for the Hawaiian fabrics/theme.

I used Fantastico #5020, a variegated thread by Superior Threads.

These two quilts were finished for Sandra E...

both are quilts she made from a class with Goldie at Cathy's Sew and Vac/Honey Run Quilters.

This one is made with fabrics from Australia except the 'grout' fabric

Quilted with a design by Anne Bright ~ Sticky Buns

The swirl pattern in a cotton thread called Dogwood was understated and

added a nice texture to complement the fabric prints

and the second one made with batiks and black Kona for the grout

We chose a Dove pattern in black cotton thread.
This will be gifted to a church member, hence the stained glass and dove motifs

Annie's Star Quilt Guild is hosting an evening in September for local servicemen and women. We are busy making Quilts of Honor for the event. I donated my time and quilted two of them this week, this one also made by Sandy E, a guild member

 Quilted with an edge to edge panto of Stars in white thread

 This one was brought to me by Millie,
coordinator and volunteer for Community Service.

I quilted this one with a new panto I found at Sweet Dreams Quilt Studio,
designed by Kim Diamond. She sells a complete QOV bundle for $1.00! Sew nice! 

Millie dropped off one more when she picked up this one on Friday.

Note: these quilts are all being made thru our Community Service program, each of us donate our time and materials. There are several longarm quilters participating along with home machine quilters, piecers and binders all working on these wonderful quilts! My friends and longarmers, Esther of Threads on the Floor and Gail are also working on a few.

Also worked on valances.

It's heating up outside this weekend. We picked veggies this morning from our garden. Now off to work on my quilt projects, Lori and Randy's Medallion quilt and Grandmother's Choice and make tomato sauce! Check back later this weekend at Ramblin' Rows to see my progress :0)

Enjoy the weekend and take time to put in a few stitches! 

Thank you for visiting!

June Jelly Roll top is a finish!

Doreen's June Jelly Roll ~ My version of Willow Weave in Batiks...

... and just in time to finish Doreen's Sewalong while we are still IN June :0) Like Sue, am trying to decide if I want to add borders. I made one change to the original pattern and added a second basket weave band to the other end. I love Doreen's Basket Weave design. a great pattern for a Jelly Roll. Thank you Doreen! This was a fun quilt to make and a big change from repros! Doreen is planning a new Sewalong in August. Check back then at Aunt Reen's Place if you would like to join in!

It was the perfect weekend to stay in and quilt. It is sizzling HOT here in the North Valley! Also worked on my applique pieces for Lori and Randy's Medallion Sewalong.  A big THANK YOU to Randy for the lovely FQ from Life's A Stitch she sent! It was for tying with the most number of sewing machines. Thanks Randy!

June Jelly Roll progress

Making progress on Doreen's June Jelly Roll SewAlong. The pattern is called Willow Weave and it's a mystery so we don't know what the finished quilt top will look like. Knowing Doreen, it's going to be beautiful!

Caught up for this week. Finished all the cutting...  

 Strip sets sewn...

pressed...

laid out...

and sewn into 120 blocks!

A total of (120) 6-patch blocks and (10) 2-patch units with extra squares.  Can't wait to see how these blocks will go together. Doreen tells us there is a twist! Check out the Linky on Doreen's blog post to see everyone's progress for this week.

Next, the last borders on the Medallion Sewalong with Lori and Randy. Click on Randy's Barrister's Block's recent post  "You can never have enough sewing machines!". How many machines do you have? Quilter with the most machines wins a prize!

I was surprised to count 17, there are others with as many!!!
Seven machines I use on a regular basis, some for my business...
My faithful first love... Bernina Virtuosa 153QE, the perfect piecer
Juki TL-2010Q, for FMQ, walking foot and business
Juki Exceed Quilt and Pro, I take this one to classes and for machine applique
Juki 3 spool serger, set up for rolled hem edging
Janome Gem Gold, used to take to classes before the Juki
Janome serger, for my home dec business
Janome needle felting machine
Mitsubishi industrial straight stitch, for home dec business
US industrial hemmer, for home dec business
Gammill Optimum longarm, business
Singer 221 Featherweight, for fun! Love the sound of it while it sews beautifully!
Singer 66 Redeye Treadle with 7 drawer cabinet
Singer Treadle, not sure of the model or decals, it's not a Memphis
Singer 201 portable in a bentwood case
Singer Sew Handy Model 50 (Toy machine)
JC Penny's 1950s home sewing machine in a cabinet
Montgomery Ward Precision Round Bobbin Model 188
There are four that could find new homes and one is promised to my son. That would bring me back to a dozen :0) I read about an organization that restores and ships treadles and hand cranks to 3rd world countries. That would be a good thing

The new block and story posted this morning for Grandmother's Choice was interesting... Cats and Mice and hunger strikes. How Suffragette's in 1909 GB were force fed following a hunger strike in prison. Ugly :0( History repeats itself...

Flag Day

... and it's Friday!!!

What are you up to this weekend?

This is on my to do list...

Strip sets for Doreen's June Jelly Roll SewAlong

Applique border for Lori and Randy's Medallion SAL 

 Grandmother's Choice BOW 

It's going to be a nice weekend, our weather is nice 

I like that word... nice

 A sign we saw while in Texas read...

If You Can't Be Nice

You Can't Come In

You all have a wonderful weekend 

Include some stitching!

2nd Pieced border for the Medallion Sewalong

This weekend I tackled my stack of little cut triangles to finish the second pieced border on Lori and Randi's Medallion Sewalong.  Ta Da....

Normally I like to work on sampler/block of the weeks. Because of my crazy schedule and life right now, a block a week is very doable. The downside is that it takes up to a year to finish. Well, life got a little crazier so I changed gears and went for instant gratification!  Well, not that instant... there was allot of piecing involved! :0) which I love. This second block is called Southern Belle. Here is a link to my first post. We have one more border to go with more fun applique! Lori will post it Tuesday. I am very happy to be caught up and in time for the Link-up party (for the first time)! Makes life just a little sweeter :0) Head over to Lori's "Link-up party" to see more quilts and progress on this sew along!

We had a wonderful weekend with a visit with Michael's family, JJ and Jennifer and the two most beautiful girls, Emma and Katelyn. We had so much fun. Emma turned 4 in April and Katelyn is 2. I quilted a pair of placemats for the girls and Emma helped. Then I made her a block, the same Southern Belle as I was working on for the medallion but in fabrics for her. It was fun to see her so interested in what I was doing on the sewing machine. They left this morning after we went out for breakfast. We miss them already, even Crystal, my German Shepard kept watch at the door for their return.

Ending with some pics of my Orchids that seem to be very happy as well, they liked the warm weather... sweet dreams!

Quilting progress on Medallion Sewalong

I'm working on 2 applique projects. One is a block for Green Tea and Sweet Beans and the second is the center for Medallion Sewalong with Lori at Humble Quilts and Randy of Barrister's Block. Over the weekend I finished the first pinwheel border and cut all the triangles for the second pieced border. Using mostly CW fabrics from my CW quilt plus some surprises like a piece of batik for the bird :0)

I am using lots of colors from poison greens, cheddars to turkey reds to make it sparkle. I love how Kathie at Inspired By Antique Quilts is able to do that so well. Here is a picture of the applique before borders. I added a small 1/4 inch border to frame the center block. More borders to come...

My applique is a combination of fusible and turned edge... stems and leaves are fusible, the rest are turned edge and all are machine stitched. The stitching on the edge of the basket is one of five different blanket stitches on my machine, this one gives it a nice outline edge. The stems and leaves are a different stitch using a green Glide thread. Click HERE if interested for a tutorial on how I do my machine applique. I don't always use fusible but these leaves were really small, the stems are very curved and the block is 13" x 13" so I opted for fun and easy! Thank you Lori and Randy!

More projects in the works. Doreen at Aunt Reen's Place is hosting a new project June Jelly Roll sew along starting this week and Judi of Green Fairy Quilts just posted her first sew along using one of her really cute patterns Flower Patch. Judi plans a tutorial for quilting designs! Love her work! Sew many great projects! Just not enough time :0)