Black and White Quilt – Last Finish of 2009

Well it is almost 2010 and I just finished binding the Black and White Quilt.  I quilted it today.  I have been wanting to try a freehand Baptist Fan design so that is what I did.  I used a grey thread that blends into the black and whites and allows the quilting definition to take over instead of the thread.

I really like how it turned out.  Here are a few close-ups of the quilting.

 

It was fun to do the fans and I think this will look good on a lot of busy quilts.

Tomorrow is a big day at the quilt shop and this quilt will be ready to hang.  I also cut kits for this project so others can make the quilt.  Last year New Years Day was very busy at the shop so hopefully it will be again tomorrow.

Melinda

Dog Quilt for Terry

Terry finished her dog quilt this fall and I finally got it quilted.  Her husband picked it up today while I was at the shop.

This was made from a Block of the Month that I ran last year.  The dogs are designed by Amy Bradley and are wonderful!  Amy suggests that doggie sayings be embroidered into the yellow border but Terry didn’t do this.  I decided to quilt them in the border but I am not sure you can see them.

The top border says “The more I know about people, the more I like my dog”  Unknown. There are other quotes on the other three borders.

I have most of my quilt put together and want to get it done early in 2010.  I think it just needs a couple more borders and then of course, I have to quilt it.  It is such a cute quilt.

Melinda

Kids Camp

I taught at the shop today.  We had 5 young girls and they made composition book covers.  Although I have made a lot of covered books, I needed to design a simple book that they could make.  Here is my sample.

I wanted to use a couple of different fabrics but still make it simple.  We did all the cutting and ironing for them.  The first thing they did was pick out two fat quarters to make their book cover from.   Next we cut the front fabric and the two flap pieces.  They then sewed them on each end of the front piece.  Then we used basting spray (we went outside to spray) and put the cover on batting.  The girls then did simple straight line quilting to hold the batting to the cover.  After quilting, the cover was cut to size.  They then made a pocket for the front and sewed it on. 

Next was turning under the flap edges and sewing them down.  Lastly we fitted the cover to the composition book and they sewed the top and bottom.  After turning them we managed to put the composition books into the covers.  Here are the finished books.

and here are the kids with their books.

I had a lot of fun, but it was exhausting even though I had two adult helpers.

Melinda

Black and White Quilt Top Finished

I put the borders on the black and white quilt top today.  Now to get it quilted.

I really like it.  I found a great backing for it and hope to quilt it tomorrow.

Melinda

Design Wall Monday

I finished the rest of the blocks for the Black and White Quilt and they are on my design wall waiting to be sewn into a top.  This is a very easy quilt but because of the black and white it is quite striking.  If you would like to see other design walls this Monday you can look here at Judy’s blog.

The blacks look kind of gray in the photo but it is much more dramatic in real life.

I am going to go try to sew them together and maybe I can get the borders on tonight.  I stopped at the shop and got an extra wide for the back.  I love when I can get a back that I don’t have to piece.

Hopefully I will have the top finished to show tomorrow.

Melinda

Black and White Quilt Started

I made four blocks of the black and white quilt this morning and am liking how it looks so far.  Unfortunately my math was lacking and I didn’t have enough strips cut. Somehow I only cut half as many as needed.  When I went to the shop today, I cut the rest of the strips and have kits cut and packaged up for when I bring the quilt in.  I hope to finish the rest of the blocks in the morning.

Here are the first four blocks!

Melinda

New Project

Now that Christmas is over, it is time to start a new project.

I am going to make this for a sample for Tiny Stitches.  The pattern is in the newest Quick Quilts Magazine dated March 2010.  The fabric at the top is a printed fabric that looks like a piano key border when cut into strips. I cut 5 1/2 inch strips of this fabric for the borders.

For the body of the quilt, I picked out 14 fabrics and I cut the 2 1/2 inch strips and rolled them into a jelly roll for each kit, using the AccuCut.   I cut two strips each of 7 black on white and 7 white on black strips.  I really do love black and white.  The solid black will be an inner border and the binding.

Tomorrow we have a kids camp and they will be working on a pillow.  I am going to cut strips for them so they can take a Sunbonnet preprinted motif and do courthouse steps around it until it is large enough for a pillow.  Once it is big enough, we will sew a back on it, stuff it and have them sew the opening up.  Should be fun.

Melinda

Advent Swap

I opened up my last gift from the Advent swap today.  Doriana gave me these beautiful towels that she embroidered.  They are in my favorite lime green!

 

The large towel has Melinda on it while the small one has just my initial – M.

This has been a wonderful swap and I have enjoyed it the whole month. It was also fun picking out the presents to wrap and send.

Melinda

Christmas Gifts

We had a quiet day at home – just the two of us and the little doggies.  We had a lovely dinner with honey-baked ham, cheesy potatoes, broccoli casserole and homemade rolls.  Everything was great.  We also had chess pie and pumpkin roll.  Very nice.

Bill and I exchange small gifts.  He gave me an acrylic table for my Janomme Platinum (of course I went out and bought it myself) and I gave him another sock monkey to add to his collections.

Then we opened up the gifts from my sister Robin in California.  She made my gifts this year and I love them.

First is a loyalty card wallet.  She made a lot of them for her friendship group and I was lucky enough to get one. Next I received one of her purses – she calls the pattern the Letty’s Bag.  You can order the pattern from her.

Isn’t it wonderful?  It is a large bag and will be so useful.  I love the fabrics she used.

Thank you Robin!

Melinda

SSCS Gifts

I opened up my SSCS gifts today and am very pleased.

Here are the small gifts that came along with the main present.  First there is a pattern for a tissue cover and glasses case.  These would look great on my bedside table.

Here is the main gift – isn’t it lovely?  I love the stitching, the piecing and especially the prairie points.  Trudi obviously put a lot of work into my gift and I am delighted with it.

This is such a fun swap and is so well organized.  I am looking forward to joining in again next year.

Melinda

Final Advent Gift before Christmas Day

Look what I opened up today.  A Santa timer for the kitchen.  It came in handy because I made a chess pie and a pumpkin roll.  The pumpkin roll isn’t finished yet – once it is cool I will put the cream cheese filling in and dust it with powdered sugar and it will be ready for tomorrow.

Melinda

Advent Gift and Jane’s Quilt

This is the next to last gift for the Advent Swap.

It is a lovely sachet made from embroidered cotton.  It smells very nice.  One more small gift and then the main gift on Christmas day.  I went out to the grocery store today with about half of the population of Marietta.  They have a very large parking lot and it was full.  I had to wait for a parking place to open up when someone finally left.

I had to get a few last minute ingredients to make pumpkin roll tomorrow.  It wouldn’t be Christmas without pumpkin roll.  Bill picked up a honey baked ham earlier this week so we are almost ready.

I also delivered one more quilt today that needed to be done for Christmas.  Jane made two of these for weddings and I still have one more to quilt right after Christmas.

The embroidery on this quilt is wonderful and I quilted all around it to let it be the focal point. 

I finished one more quilt today and called the maker but don’t know if she wants to pick it up tomorrow or wait until after Christmas.  I will take photos of it tomorrow.

I have one more photo to show – we have a wonderful customer at the shop that makes shortbread for us each year.  I had a small piece on Friday and was anticipating having another one in the evening when I went back to work – it was all gone!  I googled recipes and found one that sounded like she had described.  It was easy to make and tastes great and I only have to share it with Bill, not everyone at the shop.

I also made two loaves of sourdough bread today.  It seems like it is getting better each time I make it.  I think the starter gets better as it gets used and replenished.

Melinda

Christmas Dinner

My little friendship group, the Monday Morning Mavens, met for dinner last night.  Unfortunately, Jan and Nancy were unable to attend so it was just three of us.  While we missed them, we had a great time anyway.  We ate at Aspen’s here in East Cobb.  I was going to take photos of the food but forgot my camera.  I had a wonderful scallop entree and crème brulee for dessert, plus 1/2 of a salad I shared with Lynda.  Wonderful food and wonderful friends to share it with.

After dinner we exchanged small gifts.  I got a beaded bookmark for each of them but forgot once again to take a photo before I wrapped them.  Lynda made cranberry bread and included tea in her package while Danielle got us wood quilt earrings.  She picked them up a couple of months ago from one of the vendors at our guild quilt show.

I love these women and am so happy to have them as part of my life.

Melinda

Advent Update

I have been opening up my advent gifts every day but finally got around to taking a photo.  Doriana has been a great partner and has sent some wonderful things.

As you can see in the upper right corner, I still have three gifts to open.  This has been a really fun swap.  First, it was fun finding 25 gifts to send and then equally fun to open one each day.

Melinda

Apron from Guild Holiday Party

I realized today that I had not posted a photo of the apron I received from the apron swap at the East Cobb Quilters’ Guild holiday party earlier this month.  I made the selvage apron and Bella and I were matched up to exchange aprons.  I think she was pleased with the apron I made and I was very pleased with the apron that Bella made for me.

It is made from embroidered denim and is very comfortable to wear.  It should wash up easily so it will be an apron that I actually use frequently.  I love that it has a pocket also.  That gives me a place to hold my MP3 player while I quilt.

Melinda

Jean and Valerie’s Quilts

This is another quilt I delivered to Jean yesterday.  It is a king size batik quilt in a wonderful variety of colors.  I put feathers in the border, double circle loops in the small border and my swirly allover in the center of the quilt.  I love the texture it gives the quilting.

Beautiful quilt!

I also delivered this one to Valerie.  It is another king-size quilt that is made from the Saturday Sampler blocks from last year.  We used a Moda line called Prairie Paisley in lovely red, white and blues.

Valerie turned this quilt into a king-size with sashing and large borders.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get an overall picture of the quilt but you can get a good idea from these blocks and the border.

Melinda

Jennie’s Quilts

I delivered two quilts to Jennie today.  The first is Noah’s Ark.  She bought a kit after I made my Noah’s Ark for Noah quilt earlier this year.  She wanted it quilted like I did Noah’s quilt.  It isn’t quilted exactly the same but turned out great.

The second quilt was an embroidered one with Nursery Rhymes on it. It is for one of her grandchildren.

Melinda