Family Ties Finale

The series of Family Tie Quilts is complete.  In the past nine months or so, I've made four queen size quilts, all the same design, but with a different background fabric for each.  My client gave me about 150 ties to work with, and there is at least one piece of each tie in every quilt.  If you'd like to read more about the process, click here for past blog posts.  All four were quilted by a local friend of mine, Sue Brought of Studio Sue's Longarm Quilting.  I'm so pleased with how she quilted these!

One of the challenges was to make each quilt, yet keep enough tie fabric reserved for the remaining quilts.  At first, I wasn't sure if we were using the same design for each, so I had no way of knowing how much tie fabric each would require.  I guess I was a little too frugal with them, because when I finished the 4th quilt, I was a little surprised to see how much was left.

These tie fabrics were just too beautiful not to use, so rather than see them go to waste, I decided to make a little log cabin quilt with the leftovers.  This was a little added bonus for my clients, and from what I hear, they are thrilled to have it.  The blocks are 8" square so it ended up being about 40" x 48", just right as a wall hanging, or to drape over a chair.

I had fun quilting this one myself using a design I found on Pinterest - a really cool wonky square spiral design.  You just follow the logs, stitching diagonally from corner to corner, starting in the center and working your way out.  I marked the stitching line with a piece of blue painters tape to keep me going straight and it worked great!  I just love how this little quilt turned out - it was so much fun to make!  I think I see more scrappy log cabin quilts in my future!

Cheers!

Tasting Table Tuesday - Lots of Projects

My oh my...  So much to catch up on...

A few weeks ago (this post) I told you that Family Ties #3 was out to be quilted.  It came back from the quilter looking gorgeous, as expected.  Then I added the scrappy binding using even more of the neckties from my client, added the label and shipped it off to it's new home.  Family Ties #4 is next.  The last in the series.

And remember the Vintage Hankie Quilt I mentioned in that same post?  Well, that is now assembled and ready to go out for quilting as soon as I find the perfect backing fabric.  I painstakingly stitched each hankie to a background of Essex Linen in Natural, using a narrow zigzag stitch and matching Aurifil 50wt thread.

The thin Aurifil thread virtually disappears on most of the hankies.

If you remember, I was on a mission to find fabrics for the sashing from an old collection called Morning Glory by Robyn Pandolph.  I used these fabrics to make a quilt for my daughter several years ago and they are no longer available.

But I just knew it would be perfect for the scrappy sashing strips...

I spent hours searching the internet, then discovered that one of my good friends just happened to have some in her stash!  Oh Happy Day!  When I combined hers with mine, there was enough to do all the sashing as well as a scrappy binding!  Like she always says - "sometimes it's not what you know, it's who you know".  How true!

I added a 6" border of the Essex Linen to give the longarm quilter room to do some of her exquisite custom quilting.  The quilting alone is going to make this a show stopper - I guarantee!  Her work is amazing...  just wait and see...

This weekend I took some time out and worked on a "me" project.  Have you guessed what it is yet?

That's right!  A new purse - and it's mine!

It's the Two-Zip Hipster pattern by Dog Under My Desk.  I've made this bag a few times for customers, but never for myself.  You see, I'm going to the Machine Quilter's Exposition (MQX) in New Hampshire next week and wanted something easy to carry that would also hold my iPad.  This fits the bill perfectly!  And I've been in love with this gray IKEA fabric for ages and was just waiting for an excuse to make myself something with it.

The outer slip pocket will be perfect for stuffing brochures and papers that I pick up along the way, and the zippered one will hold all my little loose stuff.

I lined it with a pretty light aqua cotton, and it has slip pockets for my digital camera and phone.

And of course, every new bag has to have a matching wallet!

Did I mention that I'm going to MQX next week???  I'm so excited!  I was there five years ago and have wanted to return ever since.  I've signed up for several lectures, as well as a Judy Niemeyer Paper Piecing class taught by Jackie Kunkel of Canton Village Quiltworks.  I've followed Jackie's blog for quite some time and am in awe of the projects that she and her students accomplish.  When I discovered that she was teaching at MQX this year, I jumped at the chance to take one of her classes.  This is the block we're going to make.

Like I said before - I'm SO excited!!!

Cheers!

I'm Back!

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last blogged!  Unfortunately, my daughter took sick shortly after my last post and was hospitalized for 5 days.  I dropped everything and drove to New Jersey to help take care of her 3-year old daughter while daddy drove back and forth to the hospital each day.  Then, after she was released, she still needed alot of assistance, so I stayed for a second week to help her at home.

It started with severe flu-like symptoms and it took several days and 2 trips to the Emergency Room before they diagnosed her with a form of shingles called Ramsey Hunt Syndrome that affects the nerves on one side of the face - in particular, the ear (inside & out), tongue, and facial nerve, which results in Bell's Palsy - a paralysis of one side of the face.

Fortunately, the shingles have cleared up and the palsy is almost gone now, but she is still dealing with vertigo from the effects on the inner ear.  But she is improving and getting stronger each day.  Hopefully she'll be back to her old self before much longer.

So, now I'm home, and trying to pick up where I left off...

I finished piecing the top of Family Ties #3 and dropped it off at the long-armer this weekend, so #4 (the last) will be on my work table soon.

I also met with a new customer yesterday to discuss a new project.  She has a fantastic collection of her mother's vintage hankies and I have the honor of creating a custom quilt with them!

Maybe this will become my niche in the quilting business... quilts from vintage items.  I didn't plan it this way, but in the past few years I've used men's shirts, neckties, now hankies. While it always seems a little daunting before I start, I love the challenge involved with these quilts and the thrill of seeing them to completion.

Now I need to find the appropriate vintage floral fabrics to use with this quilt.  The collection I want is no longer available.  It was an old Robyn Pandolph line for Moda called "Morning Glory" and I made a quilt for my daughter with it in the 1990's.  It would be perfect for this quilt, but haven't had any luck finding it, so I'll have to come up with something else.  Darn...  But it gives me an excuse to go fabric shopping!  Yay!

I've also been busy making things for my little grandchildren, but don't have pictures ready to post yet, so check back soon to see what else I've been up to!

I'm glad to be back.  I missed you all!

Cheers!

Binding Family Ties #2

Family Ties #2 is back from the longarm quilter, and just like Family Ties #1, it's beautiful.  Thanks Sue!  I just love the quilting design she used.  Here's a shot of the back so you can really see the quilting.

The binding is a scrappy  mix of all the tie fabrics, and it adds so much interest to the quilt.

I sewed the binding to the front of the quilt last night, then machine stitched it to the back this morning.  I'm really hooked on this method of stitching-in-the-ditch to secure the back side of the binding, now that I've got it down pat.  I think it's much more secure than hand stitching, and should last a lifetime - hopefully several!  The first few times I tried this method, I had to go back and redo a few spots where I missed the edge of the binding, but on the the last few quilts it has turned out perfect!  I guess a little practice helps afterall...

Now it just needs to be labeled and shipped...

Cheers!

Tasting Table Tuesday - Family Ties #2

Family Ties #2 is all pieced and ready to take to the longarm quilter.  But first I have to find a suitable backing fabric.  Then it will be on it's way to be quilted.

And I just realized how close we're getting to Christmas!  Only a few weeks left, so I'd better get started on my shopping and sewing!  So please forgive me if I don't have a lot to share in the next month or so, because I don't want to give away any surprises...

Cheers!

New Juki Update

Out with the old...

And in with the new...

I know - you don't see much difference.  In fact, if I hadn't told my husband what I was doing, I bet he wouldn't even notice that I have a new machine!  But don't let the similarity fool you - I'm so very impressed with this new model.  I love that fact that it's just like my old one, so there's no learning curve to go through, but it's just "better"...  They have really made a noticeable improvement to the speed control of this machine, and after several hours of "playing" in the last couple of days, I've not had any thread breaks, or tension issues (knock on wood!).

Then I tore myself away from my new toy and made some really good progress on the next Family Ties quilt.  My client picked out a rich burgundy for the background on this one.  It's from P&B's Suede collection.

I've got all the pieced strips done and hope to cut the solid alternate strips tomorrow.  We'll see how far I get with the assembly...

Cheers!

Tasting Table Tuesday - Another Pennsylvania Mountain Quilt

The first of the Family Ties quilts has arrived safely at it's destination, and my clients couldn't be happier.  It always makes me feel so good to hear back from a happy customer.  They have selected the background fabric for the next three quilts, but for a quick change of scenery, I'm squeezing in a custom baby quilt before I start the next one.

You may remember this post about a series of Pennsylvania Mountain Baby Quilts I've made for a return customer.  She loves to give these baby quilts as gifts.  They are quilts that are reminders of the beautiful mountains in this part of northcentral Pennsylvania, and because they don't exactly look "baby-ish", they will last as these kids grow up.

My client always gives me a color palette for each quilt, and this time she has requested lavender, sage green, light blue, and gray.  Here's what I chose...

It's hard to get the colors to show up correctly, but I've selected some assorted soft, silvery grays for the "sky" of each block, and pastel shades of lavender, blue & green for the mountains.

I make my mountain blocks using my own method of piecing, that starts with 2 squares - a sky fabric and a mountain fabric.  Each pair makes two half-square-triangles that I slice, trim, shuffle, then sew back together to make a mountain.

The border fabric is a gorgeous batik that contains ALL of the colors in this palette.

More on that in a future post.

Now I'm off to lunch with "the girls".

Cheers!

Family Ties No.1, finished

The sun is out and it's a beautiful day, so I took the opportunity to take some pictures of the finished Family Ties quilt, as promised.  I'll be saying goodbye to this one tomorrow as I ship it off to it's new owner.  I hope they enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed making this one.  The collection of ties they gave me to use is just fantastic.  The prints and colors really bring this quilt to life.  It's difficult to do it justice with my amateur photo skills, and looks much better in person, but at least you get an idea...

Tasting Table Tuesday

Although the Family Ties quilt is officially finished, it poured rain today so I've been unable to take it outside for a photo shoot.  But the weather looks good for the rest of the week so I'll try and post some finished pictures in a couple of days.

But just to tide you over, here's a few shots I took during the binding stage...  First I cut TONS of strips for the scrappy binding (after fusing interfacing to the back of all the ties).  I like to trim the ends to a 45 degree angle and chop off that little "dog ear" before I sew my strips together.  I just find the strips go together so much easier that way.

A roll of finished binding long enough to go around one quilt...

Stitching the binding to the top of the quilt...

Then I machine-stitched-in-the-ditch from the front to finish the binding.  I'm SO glad I decided to go with the scrappy binding on this one.  Wait till you see the finished pictures and see how it completes the quilt!

Cheers!

Tasting Table Tuesday

It's a beautiful fall day here in Pennsylvania.  I've watched this vine on one of our maple trees gradually turn from green to this magnificent red.  I can see these colors becoming the inspiration for a quilt, can't you?  (I once learned of a website that would generate a custom color palette from your photograph, but I don't remember the name of it.  Can anyone refresh my memory???)

Speaking of leaves, the first Family Ties quilt came back from the long arm quilter yesterday, and I really like this leaf design she quilted on it.  It softens up all the straight lines in the design of this quilt.

Now I'm ready to start working on the binding.  I plan on making a scrappy binding out of the tie fabrics.  We'll see how it goes...

I should head into my Cotton Cellar right now and get started, but I've got a pot of soup simmering and leaves that are begging to be raked.  Can't pass up this sunshine, so I'll sew tonight instead.

Cheers!

Tasting Table Tuesday - Trip Time!

The first Family Ties quilt traveled to the longarm quilter's today.  The long border strip you see at the bottom of this picture actually runs down both sides of the quilt.   I added triangles to the corner of each long rectangle to look a little like bow ties.  We picked the quilting design and the thread, and I'm excited to see how this looks after the quilting is done.  Knowing Sue, I'm sure it will look fantastic!

The colors and prints of all the ties are so attractive together!  The green and blue one here is one of my favorites.

Now I'm off on a trip of my own!  I'm headed out for three days of shopping with a good friend of mine.  We've been doing this trip for many years and always look forward to our annual "girl's weekend".  We'll see what bargains we can find this time!

Cheers!

Tasting Table Tuesday - Family Ties Progress

I've made some good progress on this Family Ties quilt since returning from Florida.  I was hoping to have the top pieced in time for today's post, but didn't quite make it.  These are the strips in the center section and there will be some longer additional blocks for side borders that will really set this off.  

Each tie block is surrounded by a blue/gray linen-look cotton from French General.  It looks quite gray in the upper picture, but it actually has a nice heather blue look to it.  I believe it's called "Woad Blue".  I think it resembles the look of men's suiting fabric, so it's a perfect compliment to the ties.

Stay tuned and I'll share pictures of the top as soon as it's finished - any day now!

Cheers!